Chef Wannabe: Asian

Showing posts with label Asian. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

An Asian dinner: a repeat (2011)

The same menu need not go with the same decor, so with this Asian repeat I scoured my cabinets in search of items to style my dinner. You don't have to look far to create these table settings. I chose simple flowers to sit in clear glasses and an ornate Asian silver tea canister I found in my kitchen. I borrowed a striking red Vietnamese table runner from my sister and used a Buddha incense stick holder given by my brother-in-law. For another table, I used an old glass water pitcher with silver trimming, an ornate Asian looking silver pumpkin any my gold table runner to go with my red tea light holders complementing the setting. Put together, it gives it an Asian vibe.

An Asian dinner 2011

By now, I'm kinda getting the hang of hosting, cooking and plating dinners. So here's another challenge I decided to accept. A group of doctors decided not only to try my private dining but to watch me prepare their dishes! This was new to me and although I warned them that my kitchen cannot accommodate all of them at one time, they were open to moving in and out of my kitchen in groups. This was exciting and it turned out to be another fun evening as not only did I demonstrate the cooking, I asked them to actually try doing some of the procedures called for in the recipes. With their laughter adding spice to their dinner, everything just turned out right!

Again it starts with the menu, Asian this time, and everything else follows. I always choose to do my own hand embossed menu cards to create my brand so that is a given, then the styling just flows with the evening's theme. Not to forget the music to complete the ambience.

Sauteed scallops with Cilantro chili butter and Orange jicama salad

Asian mushroom soup

Thai barbecue chicken with Jasmine rice

Asian poached pears with Ginger chocolate truffles and Caramel lychees

Monday, August 19, 2013

Food Photography Workshop

It is very common nowadays to see people having their plate served to them in a restaurant and letting their food go cold just to take that obligatory food shot. Well, if you can't lick them, might as well join them. And since I'm guilty of it too, why not take print worthy pictures then. You see my daughter used to take my food photos until she left for college. So on October 2010, I joined a food photography workshop given by Joy Jesena-Barcelon. Interesting as she actually taught us how to, among others, make do with common items that can give you that extra lighting you need, a flashlight! Yes, you read it right, a flashlight! We're not professional photographers you know, so naturally we don't have any of their sophisticated equipment. But you will be surprised at just how you can take good photos even without these. Of course a good SLR camera will help although these were just taken with a Canon iXus but besides that, composition is really the key. Again, I was honored to have been asked to provide my salad rolls while the others provided dessert for us to shoot.