What I've Been Cooking: June 2012

Maybe there's something in the air or maybe it's from the crazy temperature swings in DC lately, but I've felt a little...well, off lately in different spheres of my life. Over the last couple of months I've found myself getting so close to great things only for them to fizzle out, blow up in my face or leave me in a state of perpetual hand-wringing limbo. I'm well aware that I tend to get all excited over saplings of good ideas, that I get myself so worked up that I often have to run a few miles to bring myself back down to earth. And when I hit that lull after the storm of frenetic energy, when I'm trying to prevent or stop the worrisome hand-wringing, I usually find myself in a place I'm most comfortable: the kitchen. For the record, my kitchen is actually quite uncomfortable in the summer and doubles as a sauna, but you get what I mean.

I always come back to a quote from Gabrielle Hamilton that sums it up rather nicely: "What I have loved about cooking my entire life, especially prep cooking, is the way that it keeps your hands occupied but your mind free to sort everything out. I have never once finished an eight-hour prep shift without something from my life--mundane or profound--sorted out."

So I've been doing a ton of cooking lately. That is to say, I've been grilling four pounds of shrimp, two pounds of tequila lime fish tacos, and slicing up bowls full of pineapple, watermelon and mangos with fresh mint at backyard parties. I'm pretty sure my friends don't mind when I ask if we can grill at their house when the end result is all of us being so satiated we end up napping on various couches (yeah, that happened).

On my own I've been whipping up lightly fried soft shell crabs, lightly battered zucchini blossoms stuffed with herbs and ricotta, pork chops with a spicy black coffee rub, summer succotash with fresh corn, patty pans and baby zucchinis. Oh and there was the entire pot of fettuccini with frutti di mare, honey lavender ice cream and lavender shortbread cookies dusted with lavender sugar. And the batch of quick dill pickles. And the fresh pesto with salty ricotta mixed in.

In the midst of all this hoping and waiting for good things to come to fruition, at least I'm making some good food.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi

One of the best parts about my side gig over with We Love DC is that I get to interview and learn from a lot of chefs around the District. It's fascinating to tell their stories, to hear what made them move into the kitchen and whatever path brought them to wear they are now. I've always enjoyed the art of telling stories through photos, theater or in this case, written features, and I've noticed a particular fondness I have for telling other people's stories. 

So it was no surprise that I was sucked into the documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, story about world-renowned sushi chef and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, Jiro Ono. While I'm not going to review the film in this blog post per se, I'll tell you that if you haven't seen it you absolutely should. Sure there are the mouth-watering food porn-esque shots of sushi, with the flesh of the fish glimmering as the camera captures the slow-motion settling of each piece as it's laid down on the plate. But the movie as a whole tells the story of one man's dedication to his craft along with a glimpse into who he is.

After leaving the film there was a part that stood out in my mind, a quote from Japanese food critic, Masuhiro Yamamoto. He listed the five attributes to a great chef, which included:

1. Take your work seriously;
2. Aspire to improve;
3. Maintain cleanliness;
4. Be a better leader than a collaborator; and
5. Be passionate about your work.
I think that sums up quite a few of the chefs I've met in the last year or so.

Go see Jiro Dreams of Sushi for yourself. The documentary directed by David Gelb is currently playing at the West End Cinema in downtown Washington, DC.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.