Le Cordon Bleu Graduation 2011

sharing my edible arrangement from Ashley

Donning my leis from Ashley

my one guest Ronda from Austin TX.

Shared my leis with the ladies.

The Power team. Thomas, Alyssa and Me

My carpool buddy Frank

Balloons from Ashley and Flowers from Canlis

Everything happens for a reason.  When something in your life happens that seems to be a negative, reverse your frame of thought and think of how this can work to your advantage.  Last year I had a grand 'ol time working on the Seafreeze for US Seafoods as a galley wench.  Prepping veggies, filleting fish and helping the Cook one way or another. While taking out the trash on what was a fairly mild day I went to step over the water tight door and the boat went Up and my foot caught the edge and over I went and after a meniscus tear surgery and rehab I went back on the boat only to have it swell up and be a freaking pain.  Literally...

And so I'm surfing the net and watching the Food Network on TV and I come across an ad for Le Cordon Bleu and "click here for more information" and it was all so very "curious" so I clicked the nice little colorful button and answered all the questions so that I could get "More information".  Now I would have been just fine if they had just sent me the brochure that I would have looked at and made into a nice little Coffee table decor but NOOOOoooo I get a phone call from Robbie, LCB admissions, and she'd LOVE to talk to me about Le Cordon Bleu...

I picked up my graduation Jacket from school and went to get it altered because Large is too Small and XL is too Big.  When I started school I was 253 pounds and by graduation day I was down to 226.  Go figure, I'm learning how to cook and i'm losing weight lol.  So I go to the first Dry cleaning alteration place and the Asshole there tells me that all he can do is hem up the bottom of the jacket.  To take it in and make it fit right would be a LOT of work and would cost me more than $100.  As if $ was an option here, dumbass.  So I tell him that if that was all he could do for me then I could just do that myself and I took my jacket and walked out the door.  I went to the next place and as I walked through the door I sitting at the sewing machine was a sweet looking Asian woman.  I told her what I needed, she had me put the jacket on, started hemming and pinning and and adjusting and she said it would cost about $50 and done by Thursday.  If she had any questions she'd give me a call.  Thursday came and I went to pick it up and it was a perfect fit... Jacket for Graduation.  Check...

Both sets of my parents have passed away, most of my family live out of state and are busy raising their families and Darcy and Ashley are on the Boat in Alaska being Sugar Mama and Suka Baby, and my 1 friend Ronda that said would come to my graduation sends me a message saying that her whole family is sick and that she wouldn't make it.  Alrighty then it's me, myself and I at my graduation.

Packages were showing up at the front door from Ronda and I was given explicit instructions not to open them.  The day before Graduation the doorbell rings and there's a box from Hawai'i from Ashley and George and it's full of beautiful Leis.  Then later that day the doorbell rings again and Ashley and George have sent Balloons, teddy bears, chocolate covered strawberries and a HUMONGOUS Edible Arrangement.  And so I sat and read the card that was attatched to it and Ashley felt that the Leis were "not enough"...I got on to Facebook and posted photos and wrote my thank yous and all the while tears of gratitude streaming down my cheeks.

Oh, and on Facebook my "Friend" Ronda writes and says "GOTCHA hehe" her family was sick but all will be well enough without her and she's hopping on the plane to come from Texas to Washington for my Graduation.  Yay!!!  =}  If I were a leprechaun I would have been doing the Jig next to my pot of gold. 

I picked up Ronda from the airport on Thursday night and we went to eat at the Saffron.  While waiting for our meal Ronda went to the facilities and I checked my FB and there on FB was a message from Darcy saying that perhaps we should stop at the Saffron for dinner. LOL Great minds...

The next day We got up and ready and Ronda made fun of my tiny blow dryer not being adequate enough in size.  I guess when it comes right down to it when you're getting blown size does matter...d'oh.

Leis, check.  Edible arrangement, check.  Jacket, check.  Class/School ring, check.  Address to auditorium, Check.  And off we went to pick up Alyssa and Will.  We got to the auditorium and it was packed with students holding or wearing their 9" chefs hats and Honorable cords donned.  We made our way downstairs to check in and pick up our own hats and cords and placed the edible arrangement on the table for people to help themselves to.

It is Samoan Tradition to wear flower and/or candy leis for such occasions and as I started to put mine on I was informed that I was not "allowed" to do so.  So I put my Leis on, walked out to the auditorium and had Ronda take a photo of me with them on and then took them off for her to hold during the commencement.

A whistle was blown to get everyones attention and then they started herding us around like cattle lol.  We were instructed to form 2 lines and it seemed to be a hard task for those of us who were supposed to be graduating lol but it all came together as we started to file into the auditorium following Chef De La Cruz and Chef Carpenter down the aisles with the sound of Pomp and Circumstance billowing in the air.  Up the stairs and across the stage we went to sit in our respective, uncomfortable, sit like I have a stick up my butt chairs. 

Master of Ceremony Chef Chadwell made the introductory speech, followed by the President Michael Giacomini.  I'm sorry but the man can NOT and should not be making speeches.  Perhaps he should think about taking public speaking classes because, Seriously?  Is he for real?  With his finger planted on his paper with the large Font big enough for me to read from where I was sitting, and reading his speech in a monotone drab voice.  It was Extremely hard for me to sit there listening to him struggle through his speech.  Onward.

The Highlight of our Graduation was listening to our Graduate Speaker, my good friend Thomas Dodd address the audience.  Before we go to our Externship site we are asked to vote for someone in our Graduating class to give the speech at Graduation and I voted for Thomas.  He did such an awesome job.  I could here it in his voice and pauses that he was trying to keep from crying.  Albeit, he kept himself composed and gave us a most memorable speech that encompassed our 9 months of study and his humorous depictions of our illustrious Chef instructors had the auditorium rumbling with laughter.

And then a word from our Keynote speaker Executive Chef Perry Mascitti of the Tulalip Resort & Casino...blah blah blah...Is it time yet?  I apologize, I don't mean any disrespect but honestly, He was better than the President but I was kind of expecting "more" from a keynote speaker.  It's just that I've sat through some pretty awesome and inspiring speeches that when a speech falls short of awesome then I just can't get inspired.

Finally they got to the part where we go around the back, hand our index card over with our names written Phonetically so that the announcer could read our names as it should be correctly...Um that didn't work too well for me lol.  What did I write?  Solo owl but without the "L"  Teh oh.  Did she get it right? No lol but it's all good, I know it's a little bit of a mouthful when you have a name like mine to have to wrestle with.  Maybe I should have just gone ahead and changed my name to McKenna Chan but eh, I think my name is cool and if you can't say it correctly well, I won't hold it against you.  Just call me Sol for short lol.

And so we walked across the stage when they announced our names, we bowed our heads so that we could recieve our silver Cross of the Holy Spirit dangling on what else but Le Cordon Bleu.  As we returned to our seats we remained standing until each of us recieved our medals I felt a feeling of elation, relief and sadness that this chapter of my life was coming to such a bitter sweet close.

And so into the History books we go, the Graduates of Le Cordon Bleu 2011.  Off with the hats and into the air they went to the sound of applause, whistles, laughter and cheer. 

It is the end and the beginning.  As an end to a perfect day Ronda took me to Canlis for dinner.(http://www.canlis.com/) A High end restaurant that has been around since the 50s and one that I had been longing to try but required deep pockets full of gold.  Darcy had made arrangements and booked reservations before she left to go fishing and had left explicit instructions for Ronda to follow.  There were beautiful flowers at the table, the view was fabulous, and the food was magnificent.

First I thank God for the Blessings bestowed upon me and my family day in and day out.  I thank my parents for the love and support they gave me as a child and through my growing years.  For the example that they set for me to be persistent, pursue my goals and dreams and to work hard to achieve them.  My Guardian Angels whos spirits I feel linger near as I walk through my lifes passage.  Thanks to my family and friends who cheered me on and offered to taste test my dishes to show their support.  Thanks to my Instructors at Le Cordon Bleu Seattle, Chefs Knaup, De La Cruz, Mah, Carpenter, Frerichs and Cook for their inspiration and feeding the fuel of my aspirations of becoming a Chef.  Old dogs can learn new tricks lol. And a very special Thank you to the Love of my life Darcy Ann Jenkins for without her love for me and financial support none of this would have been possible. 

Solo'Au Patiole Te'o, Graduates as an Ambassador for LCB signified by the Blue cravat that we wear, Recieving High Honors Gold cord for GPA of 3.92 and Red cord for 98% attendance or higher. 

And now there is a new road to follow...

Thats my blip for my BFFs.  Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

Externship at Lisa Dupar Catering.

My Bahn Mi platter

My work station (where the cutting board is)

The Dish Pit. (Hobart is on the Right wall)

prep station and baking and pastry area

Baking and Pastry crew

Chef Eric Johnson

Chef Jonathan Zimmer/husband of Lisa

Wow, I didn't realize that I had completely neglected to write during my Externship.  Bad on me, my apologies.

I did my Externship at Lisa Dupar Catering in Redmond, WA.  During my interview with Chef Ramsey he told me that a while back they decided not to pay the Externs.  And so I made the decision to work just the minimum amount of time there which was 30 hours a week for 6 weeks plus whatever Events they asked me to do.  I was on Facebook and got a message from Chef Isaac Frerichs asking whether or not I was getting paid for my Externship and my response was "No, I'm not getting paid. They are making millions so they can't afford to pay an Extern"...

There is really not much that I could say about my Externship. On occasion very Rare occassions I was at the stove to actually cook something.  I think that happened oh 5 times?  I pan fried crab cakes, sauteed chicken, grilled flank steak and finished it in the oven, um...oh, made apple compote, and deep fried popcorn shrimps. 1 2 3 4 5 yep 5 times.

The rest of the time I prepped veggies and fruits, built sandwiches, made fruit platters or just got stuff ready for an event and Running around like a chicken with my head cut off helping people that were sometimes flailing about "in the weeds" in the kitchen. "In the Weeds" = Way the fuck behind and I need HELP!!!

Every day there was a Family meal prepared for Lunch for everyone.  I would work from 7 to 12/1230, eat lunch then work until 3 or until a project was done.  (once I worked until round about 7)  What? Oh, no I didn't forget.  No, I never took a break.  I never saw Anyone take a break.  It was work until Lunch time...

I was asked a few times to help out at Events and those were "eventful" to say the least.  Most of the time we would wait around for people to finish up a course then rush about getting plates out for the next course.  I would work my full shift, rush home to feed the dog and let her out, get dressed and rush off to an event using my Handy Dandy GPS on my Droid... Thank God for modern technology because I never would have made it to events on time otherwise.  I would be SO lost all the time.  Events were usualy from 5-930/10ish then I'd go home and it would start all over again.

I worked mostly with Chef de Cuisine Eric Johnson and he is a pretty amazing guy with a great sense of humor and patience to run the Culinary team at LDC.  He taught me tons of different cooking and prepping techniques and was very patient with me and my OCD. 

The OCD in me is an issue that I am working on... It slows me down.  Everything in it's place or cut right or... and the list goes on and on /sigh. It makes for beautiful platters, plates and whatnot and like any woman that wears make up knows that Beauty takes time lol...Chef Johnson did write that he liked my attention to detail in my Evaluation so I suppose it's not all that bad to have a bit of OCD.

The Executive Chef at Lisa Dupar is Chef Grover Ramsey and although I haven't seen him "yell" at anyone like Chef Gordon Ramsay, on TV, the similarity in the name is a little "eery"...  In school we were told to "address the cutting board" and so I had to retrain myself to cut the way that they asked... Chef Ramsey came over and asked me why I cut this way because I look like an untrained housewife trying to cook a meal at home.  And when I told him that I had to retrain myself to cut this way because it's how they taught us at school, he told me the I was "mislead".  And so now I "address the board" oops, shift, don't "address the board".  I'm SO confused lol...

And he talks SO FAST.  It's like a tape recording you're listening to on fast forward.  I know he would just look at me and think, "What a retard. Hello? Is anybody in there?"  I would stand there and stare at his lips and try to process what my eyes saw and what my ears heard before I would respond.  It was all so intimidating, I know I've developed a stutter/stammering tick.  He came over one time and was all pissed off that I didn't have a project ready on time and well, it wasn't my fault really...I would ask ok "what and how do you want me to do this?" and I got, do this and when you're done come and get me and we'll go from there.  ALL morning long it was this ask, wait, show and do process then come crunch time Chef Ramsey is all "You need to ask questions, you can't keep saying I don't know.  It's called cooking and if you can't do that then you're of no use to me in the kitchen."  He was asking me about did I make the veggie stock and I'd say no, because I was sent home the day before without making it and I don't know if Eric had someone else do it.  "How many pounds tomatoes did you cut?" "I don't know, he gave me the whole case and told me to cut them." etc...Then he'd grill me on the whys of cooking or not cooking things that are different sizes or why we don't add the tomatoes just yet and why is the squash not cut in batonnet like he asked.  Then he went on about how I need to think for myself.  Anger and frustration was building because ALL I had been doing the Whole freaking Morning was ask questions and so when he was done with is "lecture" I looked at him straight in the eye and said "I was just doing what I was told." 

Me = Samoan with Chinese, Scottish and French = Very bad temper...All I have to say is that I just kept telling myself that it was almost over, I'll be Graduating soon.  No rein on the temper = Fired = No Graduation...And so later on that day Chef Ramsey was trying to make a funny and says out loud to the other workers..."Don't get her mad because I'd hate to see her pissed off."  And this comment leads me to believe that I probably had a very pissed off yet composed look on my face after being tossed into the Ramsey flames.  Thank God for Over achievers R Us because while I was being Grilled with culinary questions I answered them all right...

And so...I was asked to stay on as a paid employee with Lisa Dupar Catering and I graciously turned them down as I will be working with Chef Zephyr Paquette at her new restaurant called Skelly and the Bean on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  She just signed the papers for it and just got into it on Nov 1 and there is a Lot of work to be done before it opens up on Dec 1 (hopefully) and I'll be volunteering my Cabinet making/Carpentry/Painting skills to help get it up and running.

FYI I met Chef Paquette through Chef Wong whom I met through my CAC instructor Chef Cook.  Chef Wong did a Pig butchering demo at school.  The day of the demo Chef Wong asked Thomas and myself to work at an event she working called Out for Sustainablity and that is where I met Chef Paquette.  I spoke to Chef Cook (Herman) and told her what I was planning to do after my Externship and she said that I could use her as a reference to try and get in with Chef Paquette and so I worked it and "used" Chef Cook (thank you very much) as my reference and Chef Paquette responded with "A reference from Chef Cook is good enough for me."  And so I say unto you... Networking, it's a beautiful thing.

Chef Eric Johnson was not so very happy with my response when they asked me to stay and said "I don't care about other Chefs" then changed the subject, and perhaps under a different set of circumstances I would have stayed especially just to learn from him.  I met a lot of great people at LDC and the guys that work there know a HELL of a lot more just from experience than I do and I will miss working with them but it's time to move on and learn other things from other people.

I did my time, I didn't lose it, I recieved a Fantastic evaluation from Chef Johnson where he said that I'm the best Extern they've had, and then it was time to turn in all my paperwork and Graduate...

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Shannon and Kirby Oct. 1, 2011

And so I walked into school early on the day that there was to be a Pig butchering demo by Chef Sarah Wong.  I walk through the door into the CAC kitchen and right there is Chef Herman and she calls me over and says "I want to introduce you to Chef Wong.  Chef Wong, this is Sol, she'll be helping you with my wedding"  I'm like  huh?, so, i'm helping you with your wedding?  I know you were kind of hinting but you never really asked me.  And she says, "I just did!"  Well alrighty then... "Good to meet you Chef".

And so that is how it came to be that I was at Chef Hemans wedding along side with my good friend and classmate Thomas Dodd who was Bartending the event. 

I showed up at High Noon as requested and well, the wedding planner, (if you can call her that... I wanted to shoot the woman) was there with her assistant setting up the chairs under the tent for the ceremony and Nothing else was set up.  Not even the banquet area.  And, nobody else was there so I helped them set up the chairs and while I was doing that people started to filter in. 

The Wedding Planner:  I was listening to this woman talk to people about how she did corporate parties all the time and blah blah blah... My first impression of this woman was not very good.  In my opinion she should have had all this stuff set up already for when the wedding party and friends showed up to decorate for the event.  We start bringing the tables into the banquet area and I'm all like, "Ummm where is the wedding party sitting?  We need to figure this out so we can set up the tables around the bride and groom..."  And All this falls on deaf ears and they just set up the tables for the guests and so... After the wedding ceremony everyone is sitting in the banquet room and they make the announcement... "Mr. and Mrs. Kirby Cook..."  The bride and groom walk in, everyone is cheering and clapping away and D'OH They have NOWHERE to Sit!!!  Shoot the Wedding Planner...

Where is this? "I don't know"  What do we do with that? "I don't know"  How do you want this? "I don't know"  And so my thought is "I don't even know why you're here as a Wedding Planner because you sure didn't plan anything and you don't know Shit!!!"  And while we were cleaning up in the end she is Nowhere to be found but while I'm washing out glasses with a garden hose in the dark she comes up to me and says, "Do you know where Sarah is and if she has any Benedril?  I just got stung..."  I looked up slowly and with what might have been a look of disgust just said "No..."  But what was running through my mind was not very pretty and I told Darcy what I thought and her response was... "omg you should never think like that!!"  Need I say more...

Anyway...Start off with the bad but end with the Fabulous right?  I'm sorry, I just had to put in my 2 cents about the Freaking "wedding planner" that I wanted to go fetch my gun for and other people threatened bodily harm to.

Chef Sarah Wong:  And so this woman studied in Gascony, France how to break down meat and Pig is her meat of choice.  There was pig Everywhere, head cheese, belly, ham, ribs, sausages...All prepped smoked and cooked by Chef Wong.  OMG the Feast was Nommily Succulent.  A Feast for the Gods.  The people were chowing down hard and I couldn't cut the ham fast enough.  I'm on my hands and knees bowing and kowtowing to this woman.  I want to be her apprentice after I'm done with my externship... Thomas is wanting the same thing and we're bickering like brother and sister as to who will get to be the Sorceress's apprentice.  For more information on Chef Wong go to http://outsustainability.org/post/9083689934/chef-sarah-wong.  The food was awesome and I am so happy to have been able to experience working along side Chef Wong.

Thomas:  What can I say?  I love you.  Drinks were abundant and everyone was "happy" lol...Honey, you are going "places" with your badass self!!!  Just remember, I'm your friend...

I must say, it was strange for me to be at the wedding and see all the Chefs from school not dressed in their Chefs uniform and the conversations with them were so casual.  I'm so trained to say "yes chef and no chef" to these people that I was taken aback just a little by the lack of formality lol.

Kirby:  I don't really know Kirby but from what I've observed he's a wonderful, charming & caring man and Shannon is a lucky woman to have him by her side. 

Shannon:  The Velvet Hammer of Le Cordon Bleu, beautiful, talented, witty, strong and the list is neverending.  You never cease to amaze me and I am blessed to have you in my life.  It has been just an absolute pleasure being in your class as a student and I am deeply honored that you asked me to assist at your wedding.  There are no words to express the joy it brings me to see you so happy!

Kirby and Shannon:  And so the Wedding was held at Willie Greens Organic Farm.  All so very simple yet elegant.  There were no fancy tuxedos or wedding dress for that matter.  Jeans friendly was on the invitation.  The Groom wore Jeans, a white shirt and white converse.  The Bride wore Jeans, heels and a beautiful blouse that had long softly flowing material that mimicked a wedding gown train.  So simple, so beautiful, so breathtaking...

Hand in hand they walked into the banquet room to join Family and Friends as husband and wife and throughout the evening the room was filled with music, food, dancing, love and laughter. 

And so, for as bad as the wedding planner was, the evening was a complete success thanks to all the family and friends that came together to make the evening a night of unforgettable memories.

Shannon and Kirby Cook, with much love I wish you all the best in your union of love.  And as I always say...

Love Long, Live Happy.  

That is my blip for my BFFs today.

Mondo French Fry...

And so I spent part of last night and most of this morning cutting Large Fries... and only 1 fry is served... It's more like 1 fry is the size of an eclair.  I cut out one fry from 1 potato and they had to all be the same size and I had to cut 300 of them. 

I started cutting them last night and after getting a sample out to cut out the ones this morning Chef Eric looked at them and said they were getting a little bit on the Fat side so I double checked the width and length on ALL of them.  Just my luck to pick out a Fatty for my sampler, and later Chef Eric came by again and picked one up and said that my potatoes look a 1000 times better than the Last set of Large Fries that were cut and He wasn't mentioning names lol...

There were, gosh I want to say, 7 buckets of Scrap potatoes and 2 1/2 buckets of the fries.  So at the end of the day Chef Eric asked me to get the potatoes because he was gonna start cooking them.  And so I get them and then go back to what I was doing and about 15 minutes later he comes over and says, "OMG Those potatoes look so good, they look like they've been run through a machine!"  Then he said the name of one of the guys'  and said that Joe Blow ('cause I couldn't hear his name) can't believe how good they look, and I look up at him and he looks at me and looks back at the potatoes in amazement and shakes his head while laughing.  LOL  And so I look at Chef Eric and say "Thank you Chef" and he says, "No, Thank you!  I'm impressed!  And, you're a Champion for doing all those fries."

And so...I'm Happy, They're Happy, We're All Happy...It pays to be a wee bit OCD LOL...

It took me so long to do the potatoes that I had to work 12 hours today in order to get done what was on my little work list.  But it's all good.  I'm TIRED but eh, I made an impression and that's a good thing.

I miss my LCB Family...

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Me and My Family...Last day of CAC with Chef Herman 9/22/2011

This class was different from the ones past.  We mostly made the dishes banquet style as a team.  We would be assigned a team to work with then a recipe to knock out in a certain amount of time. 

For the most part it was rather enjoyable learning about the different cultures, spices and thier cooking techniques. 

Chef Herman has a wealth of knowledge and I was extremely fortunate to have been able to learn from her.  She makes her own blend of Garam Masala that is out of this world and it smells just Heavenly it puts "The Best" curries out there to shame.

I hate to admit it but there are people that go to Le Cordon Bleu who will get a barely passing grade and will be allowed to graduate.  In working with these people I fear for the general populace that walks through the door of their place of business.  Some people just don't learn, have bad cooking and sanitary habits and deserve to be shot for some of the things they have subjected us to try while in school.  But when all is said and done, reality will kick in at some point and time and it'll be time for them to get the picture and move on to something that they are better suited for. 

Taste, taste, taste your food while you are cooking.  There is nothing worse than a bland, improperly executed dish.  Nobody is perfect and even Chefs can make a bad dish just by missing a crucial step.
Salt is gold.  It brings out the flavors of EVERYTHING even the sweet stuff.  But remember, it's easier to add more salt than to try and take it away.  One of my favorite quotes is from Somewhere In Time where Christopher Plummer says to Jane Seymour  "Excess within control..." If you think it has enough salt then add just a pinch more and you're good to go.

What have I learned in Culinary School?  Move with a purpose, transcend boundries, use your creativity, Humility and TAAT TAAT TAAT!!! (Taste Analyze Adjust Taste)

Humility is a virtue that should be at the top of everyones list of character qualities.  For without it we lose the ability to learn all that we can.  If you think that you know everything and that it's your way or the hiway then you are only cheating yourself of all the fabulous things out there that are brought to the table by those with minds creative enough to "Bring it On"!  So if you're thinking of signing up to be on the tv show Chopped reassess your Humility levels because there is Always someone Better, Brighter and more Creative than you are and you need to keep learning in order to keep up and stay In the Game.

I want to thank ALL of my Chef instructors at Le Cordon Bleu Chef Knaup, Chef De la Cruz, Chef Frerichs, Chef Mah, Chef Carpenter and saving the best for last Chef Herman for all that I have learned in the short amount of time they've allowed for this course.  It has been quite the bus ride and only the strong survived.  We started out with 33 people in our class and on the last day there were only 17.  There are 14 in the photo because 3 had to move to different shifts. 

Le Cordon Bleu is my Family.  My classmates are my brothers and sisters.  I love you all and Thank you for the Memories.  I miss you all so much already.

As my beautiful cousin Lua would say... We're Making Memories.  We made great Food, great Friends and lasting Memories.  Now go out and Make some Money!!!  WOOT B Shift Class November 4th Graduates Class of 2011, WE ROCKED THE WHOLE FREAKING CAMPUS!!!

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

My Samoan Koko Recipe...

                                             

And so I woke up this morning and I got it in my brain to make french bread.  Ashley, my niece, came up and asked me what I was doing and after I told her she says, "OOooo, do we have koko?"  Are you kidding me? Darcy loves Samoan koko so much she makes sure we have TONS on hand lol.  And then I'm like, Hmmmm today would be a good day to work out my recipe for Samoan Koko.  So I measured and weighed, added and tasted and came up with the way that I like my Koko to taste.  Here it is folks.  Make it, drink it and weep. 

One of the breakfast of Champians in the Samoan household is Fresh baked bread and Samoan Koko. Mmmmmmmmmm oh so goooooood...  I like it just the way it is or I also like to add Evaporated milk or coconut milk to taste. 

Try it out and if you have the time please leave me a review...

1 gallon  Water
5oz (2cups)   Samoan Koko, Grated with the smaller plane
1 1/2 cups  Sugar

Bring the water to a boil.  Add the koko and stir.  Reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.  Add sugar, stir.  I suggest you start off with 1 cup of suger in case you don't like your koko as sweet as I do.

Yep, it's as simple as that.  The hard part is grating the koko.

That's my blip for my BFFs today...Enjoy!

Lalibela, Ethiopian Cuisine.

Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant.

As we came to the intersection where Lalibela is located one can’t help but notice that the neighborhood is a little rough around the edges and I thought to myself that it would be a little scary walking around come nightfall.  Little Ethiopia is what I would have called it because Lalibela was amongst several Ethiopian restaurants and stores on the block.  From the looks of the outside it seems as though it was once a minimart. 

Opening the door brought the sound of reggae music floating through the air.  The walls are painted a muted merlot hue and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust and as I looked around there were various Ethiopian art pieces scattered about as well as reggae memorabilia, huge speakers in a section that looks as though they might have live music on occasion and party lights that suggested that this place was used for dance parties or celebrations.  The atmosphere was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Our waitress was kind enough to take the time to explain the dishes to us, and after much deliberation we placed our order, I think she thought it was a bit much because she came back a couple times to double check that, yes, we did want Everything and she had written the order correctly.

She brought to our table what looked to me to be Spanikopita on steroids.  It was the Sambusa, both Lentil and Beef.  Biting into the Lentil Sambusa was a burst of flavors and I regret ordering only 6 to share between the 6 of us because 4 bites was not enough and I plan to go back for more.  The next thing she brought out were 2 HUGE platters with various meats and vegetables and 2 baskets of injera.  The injera felt like a Swedish pancake infused with silicone.  I broke off a piece of injera and picked up some of the meat in the platter and OMG my mouth was on FIRE.  I don’t usually like Hot spicy food but it was hard to stop eating because everything was so wonderfully delicious. 

Without writing a novella, the best way that I would describe the food would be India meets Mexico.  Like, taco meat cooked with the pungent flavors of India infused with Hispanic Fire, flavors and herbs. 

It was a fantastic experience, one that I will repeat with family and friends.  And I believe new friendships were formed as well.  Also can I just say that it was fun just eating with my fingers instead of having to wielding a knife and fork.  Barbaric, I know…

So where is this place you ask? 

So this is actually a flex assignment for class and I just copied and pasted so the Font is a little weird but eh, who wants to rewrite everything?

That's my blip for my BFFs today.