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cooking

Protein Themed Dinner

A good friend came over for dinner, and since he is very into grilling meats whenever I visit, I decided that I should do something meat-related to return the favour. That idea then expanded into a multi-course meal where every course used a different protein.

I particularly liked how broadly I could interpret the protein theme. When people normally think of protein, they tend to think of red meat, but I wanted to use a variety of things like seafood, eggs, milk, etc. The final progression was egg, salmon, shrimp, dairy, chicken, lamb, beef, and then back to egg + dairy again for dessert.… Read the rest

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cooking

Pasta Dinner

black truffle explosions

For our first multi-course meal at our new place in Hayward, I spent a lot of time brainstorming a theme. My initial idea was to base it on ice cream because it would be completely prepped ahead and offer a unique twist. I found some really interesting recipes, including several savory ice cream options, but ultimately, I felt it would be too much sugar and too one-dimensional to be a complete meal.

My second option was to go with a potato theme, especially since I had always wanted to recreate the Hot Potato Cold Potato dish. However, I remembered that the last time I did it was also a potato-themed dinner, so I decided to switch things up and go with pasta and pasta-adjacent dishes instead.… Read the rest

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cooking

Full English Breakfast

When we went to the UK in 2016, one of my favourite things to eat was a full english breakfast. The mix of bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast really hit the spot especially when served with grilled haloumi. Also its a truly iconic meal and we got to try several versions ranging from the traditional at the famous Layer Cake diner and a deconstructed version at the Fat Duck.

Fast forward to 2022 and I had a meal at Gucci Osteria da Massimo Botturo where they served a fantastic American Breakfast dish which consisted of poached quail egg and caviar covered with a potato foam.… Read the rest

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cooking photos

The Thomas Keller Affair

As we got ready to move out of our house in Santa Clara, I wanted to cook a final meal in our fancy kitchen before we left it behind. I had always been fascinated with the famous French Laundry preparation of Oysters and Pearls and very early on decided that it was going to be the anchor dish of this meal. As I kept looking for other dishes to go with it I was intrigued by enough TFL dishes that I decided to go all the way and make this a Thomas Keller themed dinner and to only cook dishes that either his recipes or are served in one of his many restaurants.… Read the rest

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cooking personal

A Michelin Tasting at Home

In the last year of COVID life I only made one multi course meal and it was a collection of old favourites that I put together for a Pandemic Thanksgiving meal. During the meal I was talking to our guests about those recipes when I realised that I hadn’t really made a truly new menu since my Potato Dinner of 2018. We got to talking about cookbooks at that meal and I brought out the Alinea and Manresa books to show people. I then spent the Christmas break going through the two books and marked out a selection of recipes that I thought were both interesting and practical to make at home.… Read the rest