Top Chef Masters: Final Challenge...

First course: First food memory

Second Course: The experience that makes you decide to be a chef

Third Course: Dish that define you as a chef

Omg... 3 very good question...

My first food memory would be soft boiled eggs my dad try to force me to eat so often, my grandmother's fried chicken wings and soups on weekends, my mum's homemade rice wine, my second aunt's curry chicken and awesome chilli sauce.

I guess the decision to be a chef came gradual during secondary school days. Back in those days i would love to mess around in the kitchen at home making simple one dish meal like instant noodle and fried rice. Then in school we had Home Economics which made me really interested in cooking. For my upper secondary days, i chose Food and Nutrition as my elective. One comment from my teacher i can vividly remember which is i made the best pound cake ever in a practical class. I don't really excel in my studies, just average in language field and above average in maths and science field, thats why i would remember this forever.

The dish that will define me as a chef, i hate to say it but... would probably be a fusion dish. I always think it is possible to elevate local food using modern or western technique to transcend what local food has to offer not to create the confusion of asian or western food. Very good example would be to do bak kut teh the consomme way or hainanese chicken rice's chicken cook the sous vide way. Its not fusion, just making the best out of both world!

Having said that, i can't imagine what i would cook. Every time i watch top chef, i take some time to think about the challenges the chef in the show face and what i would do if im in their shoes. This is the only challenge that draws blank on me.

Tonka Bean!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipteryx_odorata

One reason that makes me stay in DB Bistro for a long long time is because chefs will always bring in special ingredients and seasonal ingredients.

Today I had a chance to see Tonka bean and taste it for the first time in my life.

Something that don't smell good and taste good in its raw form but surprisingly it taste very pleasant after cooking. My chef did a expriment of infusing it into something sweet then churn it into ice cream :)

Finesse

I got screwed badly toady because i can't do a perfect quenelles with one spoon.

Chef said i need more finesse in my work...

Definition of FINESSE

1

: refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture

Finesse, where do i find you?

Meat Glue aka Transglutaminase

I went to google about meat glue after hearing it a little and from the youtube videos it looks bad. But is it really bad?

You can find in reconstituted meat and seafood products like chicken nuggets, imitation crab meat and factory made fish balls. Extracted from animal source, i would say its somehow "natural".

Anyway, meat industry usage of the meat glue have given it a bad name. They are using it to bind trimming and end cuts of meat into a regular or prime cut. That is just cheating!

As for restaurant context, its application is endless.

From wikipedia;
Transglutaminase can be used in these applications:[citation needed]
Improving texture of emulsified meat products, such as sausages and hot dogs.
Binding different meat parts into a larger ones ("portion control"), such as in restructured steaks
Improving the texture of low-grade meat such as so-called "PSE meat" (pale, soft, and exudative meat, whose characteristics are attributed to stress and a rapid postmortem pH decline)
Making milk and yogurt creamier
Making noodles firmer

so how about doing something simple like sandwiching fish with herbs, truffles and butter?

___ Crispy fish skin
000 Fish meat

THB Truffle herbs butter

ooo Fish meat

Then the diner proceed to cut into the fish and find those truffles shavings inside the meat, wouldn't it be amazing?

I wonder...

Cooking is an endless learning process....

Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their

Adapted from: http://ohdarling.posterous.com/nurse-reveals-the-top-5-regrets-people-make-o

By Bonnie Ware(who worked for years nursing the dying)

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly,in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved.Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip.But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks,love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have sillyness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again,long before you are dying.

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My current state...

1) Doing the best i could living my dream by working in the kitchen. However i still wish to travel around the world eating in 3 star restaurants and work in some. Open my own place eventually.

2) I must work hard. I'm destine to be a workaholic. Work satisfy me, makes me feel alive.

3) I do wish i had the courage to express my feelings. I need to work on this as i'm too afraid of changes...

4) I lost contact with most of my friends i meet along the way but i hope to reconnect with them.

5) Happiness sounds simple but yet its complex. Still searching for what makes me truly happy...