Dish #46 - "Brunch"

The Dish: I made waffles this morning for breakfast at 11:00am. Well, it should not even be called brunch because it was a total of two pieces of waffles topped with strawberries and maple syrup. This is obviously not nearly exciting enough to go on The Life Cooking Project. I took a picture of it anyway.

Dish #45 - The Life Cooking Project.

The Dish: As I mentioned in Dish #44, I was thinking of starting a third blog.  I have one where I rant, one where I write random things that pop into my head (mostly while I'm sleeping) and there is only one other activity which can equal my love to bitching and sleeping: eating/cooking. Thus, The Life Cooking Project begins! 

While AutoCAD-ing (a really boring truss) at work today, I thought "Why wait until the perfect moment to start this blog?" There will never be the right moment for most things in life; you just have to go for it. This blog will capture moments of my success and (numerous) failures in cooking, baking and other food related activities such as restaurant experiences. It will highlight happy times and showcase please-do-not-attempt kitchen disasters. Do check it out - I've linked it in the sidebar here! Although, it won't be fully up and functional for a week or so as I add and tweak various elements and have had time to set some goals and challenges for myself to complete.

Dish #44 - Cupcakes.

The Dish: Aiwen and I made chocolate cupcakes with various frosting and toppings tonight. I love cupcakes. They are easy to make and so cute to look at, not to mention super tasty. I'm thinking of starting another blog just dedicated to me making lots of food, eating lots of food, recipes, all my cooking/baking fun and exciting adventures with food and kitchen tools. 

Fresh out of the oven. They resemble Kogepan! :)

Our homemade frosting tube.

Attaching the funnel to our tube...

yes the masking tape we used is in the background.

Frosting with Vanilla Icing!

The final product! Mmmmm!

Dish #43 - "No screwing around. No-shows will not be tolerated."

The Dish: I received the reply email from Charlie's Burger last night at exactly 9:58:41. I must, of course, follow up on this story and share their poignant words with you. You think I should email them back? Especially knowing that the potential of me paying 150 dollars to chew on critters is significantly high, I think I'll hold back from replying. Although, the probability of them serving 6+-legged creatures in the near future is pretty low. Hmm...and I am okay with eating strange foods like tripe and raw bananas. Nah, I think I'll pass on this one.

Charlie's Burger's response:

CHARLIES BURGERS
The Anti-Restaurant
www.charliesburgers.ca
The Anti-Restaurant is about the food experience first. It is not-for-profit, so the costs involved resume their proper place as something simply incidental to the event.

WHEN? At random intervals.
WHERE? At random locations.
WHO'S COOKING? A Chef who CAN and still loves someone whose love of a kickass meal has not been dulled by soul-crushing food and beverage managers and bean counters someone creative, innovative and fun. We've got a long list here in Toronto but more suggestions are welcome.
HOW MUCH? Total cost of food divided by number of attendees our goal is to keep it around $75 - $150 per person.
WINE? Paired appropriately.
DRESS CODE? No, but we don't want your chest hair in the salad, got it?
WHO? FOOD LOVERS. No screwing around. If you can't/won't eat certain things, this is probably not for you. Chef rules. This isn?t Fear Factor but there will be meat, seafood, raw stuff, and occasionally something from outside the mainstream experience. Duh, that's the point of the Anti-Restaurant.

HOW DO I GET IN? Pay attention. Email us back with your answers to the questions below. If you are for real, we put you on the potential invitee?s list If you get in, one day you will receive an e-vite notifying you that Charlie is having dinner. This e-vite will indicate the chef's name, cost, and menu. Those who RSVP first get in, another small group will get stand-by status. Either way you will get an email confirming your status.You will be able to RSVP for you +1. If you want to get 15 of your friends in, you can't- they'll have to go through the process just like you are doing now. If you can't make it please do not email saying just that. If we don't hear from you we will assume you are busy. Please don't worry, you will NOT be removed from the list unless you want to be. Please make sure that you can actually attend when you RSVP!!!!!!!! RSVP-ing before checking your schedule and then canceling is frowned upon.

IMPORTANT! NO-SHOWS will NOT be tolerated. If you can't make it, contact us in advance so we can give it to a stand-by. Failure to show this sort of basic decency gets you on the blacklist seriously, no more burgers for you. Show up. Eat, drink, pay your share, go home and dream about the next one. Name (first and last) & email (again) & best number to reach you to reconfirm the day of the event.

What is your occupation?
Where did you hear about us?
What are your 3 favourite restaurants in Toronto? What would your last meal on earth be?
Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
Please don't tell us you like food and cooking.
Get creative and don't be shy.

If you know anyone who loves food and eating well please refer them to www.charliesburgers.ca
NOTE: Please check your junk mail folder as sometimes our correspondences get filtered out. CB Team PS. Follow Charlie on Twitter. http://twitter.com/CharliesBurgers

They want to be mysterious...yet somehow they promote Twitter?

Dish #42: Charlie's Burger - Underground Bug Fest.

The Dish: During my lunch breaks at work, I usually shuffle through the office's newspaper (my big boss subscribes to the Globe and Mail) in search of something interesting to read while I eat my leftovers from the night before. Today, I chose the Life section. The photos that graced the headlines were not particularly graceful nor were they tasty. As I unfolded the paper, I saw bugs. I saw food. I saw photos of bugs in food.

Hmm? Obviously, I read on. I was apprehensive of my choice. It definitely wasn't the most appetizing article of the day. But as most of you know, I love food. I just couldn't help but be slightly terrified yet intrigued at the same time.

The article speaks of an underground "anti-restaurant" called Charlie's Burger, created by an anonymous man/men/woman/women who calls him/herself/themselves Charlie Burger. They reach out to famous chefs "to create whatever menu they want, with no boundaries whatsoever".

Filled with curiosity, I decided to Google this mysterious food fare. To my surprise, they don't have a real website. I was confronted with a photo of a door which I pressed and "entered". Hoping to find photos of great plates, samples of past menus and short blurbs of the chefs who had joined the event in the past, I was instead confronted with a black page that asked me for my email. Apparently, they will get back to me. (Screenshot of their website below.) Completely confused, I did some more research. There is no real location of the secret dinner party and not everyone is allowed to eat there. Guests were asked to meet at strange locations at precise times with $110 dollars of cash donation per person. Yup, pretty underground to me.

Let's go back to the bug article which started this investigation in the first place. Chris John, the author of the G&M article, was given the opportunity to taste a 10-course meal that revolved around various bugs (farmed mostly in Thailand) which was prepared by chefs Jeff Stewart and Matt Binkley with the donation of $155. Ouf. Here are some of the dishes he sampled: Roasted Forest Nymphs, Ancient Chinese Scorpion Soup, Queen Ant Thai Salad, charlie 'Bugger' Micro Chickpea and Bean Burger and Risotto con Quattro Vermi (vermi means worm by the way).

I will spare you the details of which bug went into which course. I was quite repulsed by the idea. I love food. I love people being innovative with food. However, there is something we call a food chain. There is an hierarchy. I don't care how much batter you dip these little critters in before frying them or how long you sizzle them in vegetable oil or how hot the water is when you boil them. There is something about rhinoceros beetles that I will never find appetizing.

To be honest, the concept of an underground, moving restaurant is quite interesting. But the concept of eating bugs has been around for a very long time in Asian cultures. Western cultures found it disgusting, dirty and cheap. It goes to show how hypocritical we can be. If you hide the food from the public, charge a ridiculously amount for it and be brave enough to call a queen ant a delicacy, people will fight in line to try it and you can make a business out of basically anything.

Charlie's Burger's Webpage (Click to enlarge.)

Caramel Crickets as Dessert

Link to Globe & Mail article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/charlies-burgers-waiter-theres-a-bug-in-my-soup/article1445207/

Dish #41: HOT vs. Seriously NOT

The Dish: I've been cruising under the radar for the past months. In the name of the New Year, I feel that it is necessary to lay down some basic ground rules. Here’s my "Top 10 What's Hot and (Seriously) What's Not in 2010"

#10
HOT: Natural-looking grey hair styles. It’s time we embrace the aging, natural look. People go out of their ways to colour their hair to all sorts of crazy shades and colours. Sometimes, the colours that they choose do not match their skin colour and can make the appearance of lines, age spots and wrinkles even more prominent. There are some really cool grey cuts out there that can feel fresh and uplifting. Just look at Jamie Lee Curtis.
NOT: Washed out highlights that remind everyone of how awful the 90s was. Dry, coloured split-ends and vibrant colours that are clearly not the same shade as your eyebrows should both stay where they belong: two decades ago and secured in the yellowing Nice ‘n’ Easy box they came out of.

#9
HOT: Celebrity marriages, divorces, hook-ups and breakups. Let’s face it. Our lives will never be as interesting as those millionaire bastards down in California. As much as we hate how rich and untalented most of them are, we don’t mind delving ourselves into their soap opera world once in a while. A little juicy fresh gossip makes all our boring cubicle monkey lives a little brighter, one “Taylor Swift is dating John Mayer!?” at a time.
NOT: Celebrity deaths and drug scandals. This is not to be confused with sex scandals because we love knowing that Tiger Woods is hiding in shame somewhere in the world. It’d be nice to take a break from the Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Brittany Murphy stories for a while.

#8
HOT: Tights. These sexy wardrobe must-haves go well with an assortment of other wardrobe basics like short skirts, long dresses, long shirts etc. They have been trendy for a while and I just love how many colours they come in. I can even adore the glittery ones because they are just that awesome. Plus, they keep our legs warm and let us go unshaven for days.
NOT: Leg warmers. I don’t understand why they were ever brought back into clothing stores. They make you resemble a poodle. If you’re cold around the ankles, invest in a pair of boots. Oh or here’s an idea, wear pants.

#7
HOT: Leather everything: bags, shoes, jackets, gloves, belts, jewellery; I could even grow to accept a leather shirt. (There is, however, one exception.)
NOT: Leather pants. I'm not even sure if they were ever trendy at any given point since the invention of pants. Club Monaco is trying to bring them back. Bad move. Even ‘Catwoman’ Halle Berry couldn’t pull them off, which, my friends, should be the clearest hint that the rest of us should never ever touch a pair of tight leather pants.

#6
HOT: Donations. Clothes, money, toys or food are always needed in another’s hands. Especially with recent natural disasters and ongoing manmade destruction, it will be worthwhile to take a moment out of our ridiculously privileged lives to think and help those whose lives are thrown into turmoil each and every single day.
NOT: Scrounging. We all do it whether we admit it or not. Isn’t it time we stop ‘borrowing’ little things from other people and went out and bought our own? It’s a new year so everybody should take time to straighten up their behaviour a little. Yes, this includes other people’s food in public fridges, office supplies, garage sales and even makeup - although, technically, you’re paying to collect other people’s junk at a garage sale.

#5
HOT: The Dimensional Shag. This is haircutting trend is quite popular with the celebs at the moment. (Check out pictures of Sandra Bullock, Zoe Saldana and Anna Paquin at this year’s Golden Globes.) It’s described as a deconstructed haircut which simply means that the haircut is less defined so the hair can be worn in more than one style. It goes oh-so-mighty well with bangs. With the right colour, this haircut can be worn in at least 3 different ways. We love getting more than we paid for, no?
NOT: Mohawks, “flicked” hair and the tousled perm, in fact, any form of 70s hairstyles, for the lack of a better phrase, are “just not cool”. They were back when everyone was too high to notice or care. In 2010, we can do much better, yes?

#4
HOT: Thongs that ride up your butt crack. Women feel sexy in them. Men love seeing women in them. We all need a little bit more sexiness in our lives. Plus, they also prevent VPL.
NOT: Super tight work pants that ride up your butt crack. Nobody will find your ass attractive when they are constantly reminded of how skinny it used to be in your early 20s. It’s time to invest in new work pants when you clearly no longer fit into the pair you bought for your first job.

#3
HOT: A healthy lifestyle. Eating a variety of produce and meats, drinking lots of water, consuming fruits and vegetables, exercising and even a regular bowel movement is super in nowadays. Yogurts promote probiotics. Juices now have added extra calcium and vitamins. To my disappointment, everything is becoming whole wheat. I know it’s better for me but seriously it tastes like crap. Next thing we know, candy is going to be 12 grain. Oh well, I might not like it but it is definitely trendy to treat and pamper our bodies in this new decade.
NOT: A healthy lifestyle so healthy that you have assigned your daily 10 o’clock hour to the office washroom to do your number 2. Seriously, a lack of workplace washroom etiquette is a big no-no. I am speaking here from personal trauma. There is this chick on our floor who does exactly this and it’s just not very kind. We can understand the occasional need to use the office washroom for business other than urinating and powdering your nose but turning it to a regular routine is just impolite. There is a place for everything and that we call your home.

#2
HOT: The XXI Olympic Winter Games. Figure skating, alpine skiing, luge, hockey and snowboarding are just four of the 15 winter sport events at which over 80 countries from all over the world will compete against each other starting February 12 in Vancouver, BC. Aside from that the fact that we are hosting the event, what’s exciting is that Canada usually kicks ass during the Winter Games. Plus, we will have plenty of real-time coverage and entertainment on TV for at least two weeks.
NOT: The XXI Olympic Winter Games mascots. Quatchi, a sasquatch, looks like a pedophile. Miga, an orca/kermot bear, looks like a one-eyed pirate mutant squirrel that suffers from ADHD. Mukmuk, a marmot, looks like a hamster. And Sumi, the animal guardian spirit, has five feather-fingers (?!) and it looks like the poor thing has an UFO-looking explosive strapped to his flat little skull. Plus, they remind me of the ones they designed for the Beijing summer Olympics.

#1
HOT: Singing and dancing in public. This is definitely something we need more of. It brings joy to people. Who doesn’t like a good tune from time to time? Think about it, it’d make the commute home every day after work so much more pleasant. Besides, with ‘Glee’ and Broadway musicals becoming more popular with the general public these days, it goes to show that we all need more joyful melodies to uplift our consumerist lives, especially in gloomy economic times.
NOT: Farting in public.

What's your #1 Hot and Not for 2010?