My future diner logo

A logo I am probably going to use down the road. I'm going for a simple helvetica type face with black on white. It kind of has a European look to it, similar to those oval stickers people put on their bumpers...Having simplicity in logos and signs is very few and far between these days. Using black and white as the primary colors will also make it stand out, especially when its back lit as a sign

The Food I Make (pt.3)

The only time I have cooked whole trout. Stuffed it with garlic, ginger, onions and lemon, and seasoned with some sea salt as well. I wrapped and slow baked it for 2 hours at 220d. It turned out very moist and flavorful. The only thing I would do differently is add some texture, like a panko breading.

 This a simple but delicious street noodle salad made from vermacelli rice noodles as a base, and is served luke warm to cold.Toppings can change to suit your needs, as well as the dressing. This particular variation used a thai style dressing of vinegar, sugar, chillis, fish sauce and fried garlic. I sliced some roast pork and added bean sprouts, diced red pepper, cilantro, and lettuce. The round disc is a fried eggroll wrapper. These salad are nice when you are limited for time, and also on the go.

 Perilla leaf kim chee is my new favorite thing to prepare! And eat! The leaf is also known as shiso in Japan and has a taste like mint, basil, lime and cilantro mixed together if you can imagine. Its very potent to say the least, and when you make kim chee with perilla, the flavor gets very pungent. 

 This noodle dish is a spin off on Tonkotsu ramen. I say spin off because I didn't have half of the necessary items needed to pull it off correctly, but is still satisfied my hunger. One thing to note, adding an over easy egg to ramen dishes is a great addition.

 When I make rice bowls, I tend to add everything I can that is in my fridge, so they tend to look crazy as seen here. Like the noodle salad, this is also easy to prepare, especially if you have some left over rice. I used leftover turkey leg meat that I made into a stock, and added some simple condiments like kim chee, perilla leaves, and hoison. I shaved some carrots, added a handfull of radish sprouts, cilantro and sesame seeds. Done.

 This picture is a bit low quality but the best out of 4 taken. Salmon might be my favorite fish to eat. I sauteed the fish in chives, oil and salt along with some mango strips. Then I paired the fish with buckwheat noodles and spinach. I've been trying to add super foods to whatever I cook or prepare lately. Super foods pack the highest nutritional value at low calories and thats what makes them so great to eat. A lot of these dishes from this round use spinach as the base. Anyway, the sauce for this salad is a Korean style soy vinagrette, made from soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, brown sugar and garlic

 Giant spring rolls. I always think of it as a salad wrapped into a rice paper. Ingredients: pickled carrot, cucumber, rice nooles, purple cabbage, broccoli stem, cilantro, thai basil, mint, roast pork, and shrimp

 Tilapia rice bowl  (on a plate...) For this dish, I pickled the cucumber and carrots in sugar, vinegar and fish sauce, sauteed the tilapia with oil, sesame seed, and sea salt, then added a bit of cilantro. Quick and easy.

 Japanese Tonkatsu, or pork cutlet breaded in panko. Spinach base with mirin mushrooms and cooked asparagus, pork cutlet on top, followed with sliced avacado, then basil tomato relish and chives.

 Tonkotsu Ramen Soup. I was finally able to pick up the ingredients I needed from United Noodle in Minneapolis. They literally have every Asian product you can think of, and I easily spend 2 hours at a time there just looking around and shopping. Im in the experimental stage of cooking, and will always be. I could go into the details of how to make this soup, but it would take entirely to long. I will say that the whole process takes 6-7 hours, but its well worth it.

Hot Wok Delivery Menu design

The Food I Make

The Food I Make (round2)

These are some different styled spring rolls that I wanted to try out. Instead of the usual julienned style inserts, I left most of the ingredients whole (cucumber, avocado, imitation crab) The carrot and noodle were the only exception here. They were good but I would make them the other way and slice my ingredients like I usually do. I used hoisin for a dipping sauce...trial and error right?

This was my great attempt at a healthier option spaghetti dinner. I chose to go with spaghetti squash from the local grocer, then I baked it for an hour at 350d. After that the squash loosens up and can be forked out after cooling. When it gets removed, the squash actually comes out in shreds which resembles noodles, but of course are not. I chose to make my sauce from scratch which takes many items (mainly tomatoes and seasonings and a lot of simmering), but would have more a less been the same with the jar stuff. I decided to also cook up some ground lean chicken that I seasoned with fresh basil and rosemary while cooking. I also wanted to try some Gorgonzola cheese to top it with and this turned out awesome! The garnish is fresh basil and some toasted seeds from the squash:) 

 One of the things I like to make when I have about 3-4 hours is sushi. This particular roll we will call the catfish roll, mostly because it has panko breaded catfish. When cooked, the fish itself lacked flavor, so I decided to hit it with some mirin- a Japanese style cooking wine, which gave it depth. I wont go into too much detail here, but I did not use sushi style rice, but I did flavor jasmine rice with sushi style vinegar. The inside of the role has strawberry, microgreens, yellow squash, and catfish. Garnished with a Unagi sauce (eel).

 One of the best soups Ive made. Its a Japanese chicken stock soup with distinct ginger, sesame, mushroom, cream and asparagus tastes. I make my own stocks at home when I buy chicken especially, because I like to buy whole chickens to fabricate and use the bones and extra fat for the stock. The stock has to simmer and be skimmed of oil and residue but its worth it to me. I also added some chicken that marinated in the original stock, but was then Sauteed in soy and mirin. Delicious.

 Kanji soup. Basically rice, water and salt. I spiced it up a bit with some leftover spanish rice to sub-in for normal rice. I also added chicken stock ( because I have so much) and garnished with sliced tofu, chives and green onion.

 Korean style pork ribs. Marinated the meat and bones in a Korean rub that is used for bulgogi and many other traditional dishes. Its soy, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, sesame seeds, and sesame oil. I topped it off with chives and let it sit for 2 hours in the fridge. I then wrapped the same pan in Reynolds wrap and preheated the oven to 225d so it would cook slower and therefor be more tender. I could have also smoked these with a cherry wood but didn't have any on hand(next time). The process took 10 hours of cooking, so I made sure to prepare these babies right before I went to bed. I like a little heat so I sliced a serano pepper and also added gogchujang, which is a hot pepper paste used in Korean dishes.

 A kosher chicken leg from Trader Joe's that I confit'd in the oven for 60 min. Then I seared the skin for another 6 min on the stovetop. I ladled a cilantro relish made from vinegar, cilantro, tomatillos, parmesan, and a dash of kosher salt to keep with the theme. The red hued mash that you see is made from baked eggplant, beets, and garlic. I roasted them from 30 min to soften and blended them down to a puree mixture. I let it simmer for another 30 minutes with sour cream and basil to finish. The bok choy is just steamed. Crispy eggplant shaving garnish. 

 Oisobagi Kim chee, or cucumber Kim chee. A less fermented version that is also slightly sweeter.

 Korean dessert pancake filled with brown sugar and toasted pistachio. I used a typical dough mixture with more sugar and egg added to the mix, but no measured amounts:) I usually don't measure anything actually...

 I like to drink sometimes too! This particular cocktail involves Absolut Vodka. I have a juicer which I used to get passionfruit, orange, and mango puree from. I also boiled down some sugar to form a simple syrup, and cracked an egg for the {white} part. I shook these ingredients over ice and garnished with bitters and rosemary. I would cook the sugar with a sprig of rosemary while the syrup is forming next time, and maybe go easy on the vodka....oooor probably not.

 Chicken pot stickers made from the lady. Ahh her first cooked meal. I think I may be rubbing off on her...The soy contains sugar, garlic, scallions and ginger.

 Spicy spinach ravioli. These were made from the same pot sticker wraps that we purchased above. I cut out the circle shape using a glass cup top to press down and cut. Then filled the shell with parsmesan, ricotta, garlic and spinach. I took another shell to adhesify to the other with an egg wash. On top is a half Brusselsprout that I sauteed with a balsamic reduction with sherry wine. I garnished with shaved horseradish, balsamic reduction, and sriracha!

This is a gyro meets Japan if there were such a thing, and there is now. Sliced medium cooked tenderloin, ricotta cheese, mirin cooked oyster mushroom, romain lettuce, cucumber somewhere in there, and dashed with Unagi sauce. Mushroom accented and garnished with capers. Quite good.

 Since I worked for a mexican restaurant, We had the idea to do chimichangas or otherwise known as deep fried burrito. The fillings can be whatever and thats what we did. The basic meat, rice, veggie combo. I made a pork Chili Verde which spruced this baby up a bit. Its roasted and charred- onion, garlic, tomatillo and serrano pepper- simmered for 2 hours in a pot with fatty pork and a cinnamon stick. I cant guarantee authenticity but flavorful it was. Melted american, and cheddar cheese, and avocado also involved.

 Happy Easter from a sugar cookie!

Kristina and William's wedding

Some photography from a wedding I shot in April.

The Food I Make

   This is a vegetarian Udon style noodle dish. While it isn't completely made from scratch (the noodles), I like to enjoy this dish when I have little to no time to make a from scratch meal. I load it with spiciness and healthy consistency. It also spares me a full load of dishes.

 

My first Artisan bread try. I followed some basic info from some online sources and took off with a recipe of my own. I added garlic, chives, sugar, salt, my best judgement, and of course, some yeast...The only thing I would have done different is add a little more yeast.                                                                                 

 These Croquettes turned out perfect! I used a left over recipe to make a ragout of a Korean pork dish that I absent-mindedly erased from my camera. The croquettes themselves were a mixture of half flour and half polenta mixture. They were then dipped in an egg wash and dipped into some bread crumbs, to be finished and fried in conola oil.

 My first soft fried egg experiment. I luckily was able to get 2/6 eggs to use properly for our meal. The eggs were hard boiled for 4 minutes and cooled, then I had to carefully remove the shell which took and broke the egg white layer, which then caused the yolk to go with it! One of the more diligent and frustrating tasks I've recently had to perform. Anyway once I got it right it, it was placed on top of some sauteed julienned carrots to resemble a nest. Underneath is a mirin soy marinated tofu "steak", on top of soba noodle with fermented soy bean paste. I used grape tomatos and baby bellas to accent the dish.

 This is a Cornish Game Hen dish. I split and seared the each game hen half in cast iron to make the skin nice and crispy, and after 6 minutes or so I flipped and transferred the the pan directly into the oven over a low temp of 300d. The hens baked for approximately a half hour. For the final 5 minutes, I turned the temp up to a broil and used the top portion of the clarified butter (read on)  to coat the the skins of the hens. While the mini chicks were baking, I prepared a passion fruit Bearnaise sauce. I followed a simple recipe online and took off with my own version. Using the usual egg yolk, shallot, tarragon, white wine, vinegar, butter mixture, I turned out a Bearnaise that needed some sweetness. So I looked to the fridge for something extra to blend in. We happened to have some passion fruit juice that did just the trick. The crab like cake you see on top is actually the same croquette from above.. The base of this dish is actually from a frozen spinach bag of which heavy cream and s+p were added.

 My love for kim chee has brought me to attempt to make this traditional spicy condiment. This is my third and successful batch to date (The first two failed). All of these ingredients were picked up at a Korean foods store. I recommend anyone attempting to make this should locate one in their area.

 A rendition of Chinese leek bread. I added more yeast to make an Artisan style bread. We used a mixture of soy and melted butter to dip-in. 

 Scallop fried rice. I only wish I could have laid out a better presentation because I'm picky like that. Scallops were seared as usual with butter and sherry. The fried rice was made with a basmati rice and about half as much oil, for a healthier touch. Fried rice can be made anyway with virtually any vegetable, so long as you stick to the basic fried rice standards using sesame oil and soy sauce. I finished this with a vegetable curry ragout along the plate.

 Tilapia Spring Rolls with peanut dipping sauce. These rice paper treats were a mixture of tilapia, parsnips, carrots, basil, cilantro, chives, white cabbage, corn, vermicilli rice noodles, and dashes of salt, sesame oil, and vinegar.

 Since I still had tillapia left over to cook, I used it for our next dinner. Nothing fancy here. A simple olive oil s+p mixture to saute the fish for about 3 minutes on each side. Resting underneath is a sweet potato mash using cream, s+p, butter, and garlic. The salad is made from blood orange, avocado, sauteed endive, and a citrus vinaigrette( lemon juice, orange rind, ginger, garlic, vinegar, conola oil) The tilapia is finished with a orange juice gastrique.

Before/After concept

These 2 photos are before and after for an abandoned Chevy dealership in Saint Paul. I started working on this project for the Central Corridor of University avenue. The goal here was to make way for the newer light rail being built along the avenue. Many of the businesses along this street were desolate, so this was a plan to bring fresh ideas to counter the construction battle that will ensue in 2011. This is an idea to bring the Minnesota Street Rod Association to a central home inside this building to show the rooted history that they have along University Avenue dating back to the 50's, racing up and down the street. It would be a place to not only showcase their hot rods, but to also connect with people of like mindedness. The other half of this building is to show where cars and technology are today, with hour rental cars. Hour Car is just that business, using more environmentally functioning hybrid cars for people that don't want to own cars, but still have a need for them from time to time. These two businesses are on the opposite side of the spectrum, but I believe that it would be great to see these two co-exist with each other. I met with the people at Hour Car, but they were not about having a central shop to rent and work on their cars. They would rather bring their cars to local mechanics instead, according to their rep. 

Hour Car         MSRA