Cooking my Life (In a Nutshell)

I'm still alive, just having trouble getting back to real life. I know...I just kind of left everyone hanging.

I just came back from an ethereal two week stay at Green Gulch Zen Center , working full time as a Benji (assistant to the head monk), washing and bussing dishes three times a day, composting rotting remains in triple digit weather. All this, to be able to attend Edward Espe Browns "How to Cook your Life" workshop.

After all those 5AM Zazen (meditation) sessions, sore muscles, undesirable decomposing odors in triple digit weather...it was worth it. I learned to "wash the rice, when I washed rice, to cut the carrots while I cut the carrots and to stir the soup when I stirred the soup"....I learned to be even more mindful of food.

But if it wasn't for the freshly baked bread of the day--that I still had to cut the slices off the loaf of-- still warm from the oven, jagged, crisped crust and sensually soft interior, along with the daily soup and gourmet vegetarian dinners I had every day, 3 times a day...I don't know if I would of lasted.

Anyways, I will post on the following as soon as I have any sort of chance.

1) The filming and joining of the "Bizarre Foods" show at my house and rest of L.A.

2) My soon to be published book in the works on how food saved--or ruined--my life (I know, I know!)

3) The MILK OPEN HOUSE EVENT (tender, cloud like corn bread made with local corn and stuffed with little raspberry preserves and whole corn kernels, blended green teas with thick, tart cream dollop)

Be patient...

Green Gulch Zen Mountain Center
39171 Tassajara Road
Carmel Valley , CA 93924

Everything is coming up...Glutster! (What is Happening?)

Magazine Articles about me (my stuff got published!)

Food Network paying attention to me (pitched in my story of how has food saved my life, and they actually called back!)

Getting interviewed for The Daily Bruin , the U.C.L.A newspaper (also will put up as soon as they have it)

And of course the aforementioned T.V spot!

what the hell is happening?!!! so many "good" things happening out of nowhere!

TEENAGE GLUTSTER ON BIZARRE FOODS!!!

I've learned my lesson from little appearances on Hell's-Kitchen 2 competitions, (won't/can't say much, but it involves me, blogging about stuff, and nearly owing FOX $2.5 Million) so, I won't say much yet.

I'm still awing in disbelief, but Bizarre Foods is coming to my house next Sunday to film an episode in my house.

How did this happen? I have no idea...

Just Another Lazy Sunday: Pleasure Palate Dim Sum and a Stickly Sweet Songkran

Sundays used to be one of my favorite days of the week...back when my brother was here, it was the only day I knew for sure I was going to eat out. But lately, it's just been another looooooooooong, boring, day. Yesterday was different though...

I somehow made it to the Seafood Village in Rowland Heights, taking only streets, on my Vespa, at 9:30 AM. I'm so glad I made the trek though, I finally met other people like me! Well, maybe not as obsessesed or my age, but close enough. And what happens when you put together 8 foodies on a table? ...........TOTAL FOOD DEGUSTATION! Two, even three orders of almost half the menu! Well not really, but we did get A LOT of food (Dim Sum menu's are epic) with enough left overs for myself to have another complete Dim Sum Fest in my house the next morning (using some frozen Durian, Whole Wheat steam bread, Taro and some scallions I had laying around)

Anyways, the Pan Fried Radish Cakes and Water Chestnut Cakes seemed to be the stars, or at least one of the most adored dishes by everyone. Both brown and crispy on the edges, creamy, no, more like this super-light creamy/starchy texture that wasn't as heavy. The Radish cakes--of course--embedded with little, tiny bits and shreds of pork belly, like any other ones i've had so far...to add that difference of porky, fatty richness that almost everyone loves(and is o.k to eat every once in a while). The water chestnut ones--technicolored yellow and all--had a flavor profile just as deep as their eye-stunning hue, filled with julienned strips of crisp water chestnuts. Their was a lot more stuff: Chewy Chive-Leek Dumplings, Translucent Pea Leaf Dumplings, limp Shrimp Rice Cake Rolls, steamed fish cakes wrapped with cabbage, Mustard Greens with the fish caramel known as Oyster Sauce, Water Spinach with this fallic-liquid like Fermented Tofu Sauce...and these were just the one's I chose to sample...

That night, when I got home from everything, with my dad just snapping at me for no reason (he can't stand my presence when I eat Southeast Asian or Middle Eastern Food, and since I was at the Songkran Festival in Hollywood later on, and returned this candy-sweet Green Papaya Salad and got this custom-made, จริง (authentic) one with lots of fish sauce and garlic)

I realized...today, was a good day.

Seafood Village
1463 Nogales St
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 913-2338

'Theo' Chocolate Taste Test and a Ride Plea for the S.F Chocolate Salon This Saturday

Another benefit of that hitchhiked retreat was meeting so many nice, diverse people, something my annoyingly introverted self really needs, I had no idea though...

When I got home from school one day--ravished as usual--there was an actual package for me waiting for me. Yup, stuffed, addressed to me, with MY NAME on it. And the contents? Five artisan chocolate bars from Theo chocolates, this company in Seattle who were the first importers of organic, fair trade beans in North America. (thank you Marjorie for providing much-needed sponsoring for my blog!!!)

Ohhh yeaaah....an excuse for eating chocolate, I love it when this happens...

Here is my palates take on them:
(Region and Cocoa Content)

Venezuela 91% : Direly robust and earthy, "wine-y", wave after intense wave of bitter assault on the back part of the tongue and finally a faint sweetness to cool you down. (my favorite)

Ghana 84%: Mellow, light, with a creamyness that lingers through out the mouth.

Ivory Coast 75% (single origin) : "Muddy" a short, compact hit of flavor as if the molecules in the chocolate fit perfectly with each other resulting in a more direct result (as opposed to multi-sourced "lightness" or delay)

Ghana Panama Ecuador : Coffee with faint undertones of fennel, chocolate taste kind of underdeveloped.

Madagascar 65%: Fruity, tropical with vanilla base carrying it through out.

UGH!@#$ I would consider this a "preview" of the chocolate gluttony to come at The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon but I have no ride there, if anyone is reading this and is going, or knows anyone that is...can you help a starving student food blogger out? (almost sounds like an oxymoron)

100th Post Spectacular!!!

This is my 100th post... that's about it.

Sorry, it ain't my take on some expensive, 'special-occasion' restaurant somewhere, money's been kind hard lately.

Anyways, thanks to anyone out there who actually doesn't get bored of my image-less stuff and doesn't get frustrated by my lagger postings, and of course, to all those random clickers who found me by accident.

I never thought this thing would last so long, I hope this is only the beginnning...








(by any chance, is anyone else going to the San Francisco Chocolate Salon? I'm on the press list but have no way of getting there! oh, and I am allowed to take one other free guest with me so...

The Perfection of Wisdom and Food: Green Gulch Farm Zen Center (Green Dragon Temple; "Soryu-ji")

Where does time go? What is time anyways? ...Sorry, things haven’t been the way I’ve always thought them to be lately. After being out for so long, I forgot all about the infamous American college crunch, and how it tends to cripple you. Between that, and still trying to “discover myself” by me hitchhiking to San Francisco all by myself for a Zen retreat, my posts to my blog have sadly and unknowingly, become fewer and fewer in between. Well that, and not really having any financial fuel to keep my passion burning as smoothly as it used to (just like everything else).

I finally made it to one of Edward Brown’s teachings. He is the author of The Tassajara Bread Book and star of the movie “How to Cook your Life”. A Zen priest in the “get real” school of Zen, ordained by Suzuki Roshi and who happens to have a passion for food; the whole experience was probably one of the best in my life so far.

Not just because of the three daily meals made from the farms organic gatherings (although, it did play a huge part), their were things like freshly made Coffee Cake (both a regular and vegan one), still-warm Granola and other cereals, stewed fruit and fresh yogurt for breakfast every morning, For lunch it would most likely lean towards some of their famous GGF (Green Gulch Farm) organic fresh baked bread filled with their own potatoes, spreads of all kinds (tomato whip, hummus) , soups according to the season (potato leek soup, super hardy minestrone both one with and without noodles), gorgeous salads for, and more varieties of cooked greens than you even knew were edible for dinner (golden beet greens, this sort of kale –like meaty one). Not to mention, the plethora of organic teas that were offered 24/7, ooh…and that tantalizing smell of Fair Trade Organic Coffee every morning as we got up for Chi Gung and Meditation at 5:00AM (and I don’t even drink coffee).

He said it was going to be hard coming back to “real life” but I had no idea…


Green Dragon Temple (Soryu-ji)
1601 Shoreline Hwy
Muir Beach, CA 94965
Main Office: (415) 383-3134