QVC, Amazon, and other online goodies!!!

I've ordered quite a few things online recently, and today was the first day of Christmas.  I got some coffee cups and large cappuccino mugs.  The cups are a speckled green which doesn't go with any of our current dishware but I don't really care.  I just like green and so far am very pleased with the coffee cups.  The large cappuccino mugs are a shiny black.  At first I was really exited about these but one had some paint chipped, and another had,"Hilton Napersville" barely etched on it.  Where the "H", "E" double hockey-sticks is Napersville?  No mean to offend if you live there, just never heard of it.  It must be somewhat of metropolis to have a Hilton Hotel there so congratulations!

Back to the cappuccino cups.  I would not recommend getting shiny black or shiny dark colored anything in dish ware.  It shows your fingerprints all up in there and our first customer who received a beverage in it said it didn't keep it quite as hot as the usual pint glass with sleeve.  (okay, rewind.  We own a restaurant business; another something something I may not recommend unless you're Martin Yan addicted to coke.  I am neither of these so sometimes find it a challenge.   Hmmm... why am I writing this and not sleeping?  Again, no judging.  I have no idea.  In any case, don't order shiny black mugs.  We did and now have to live with them and polish them like our finest silver... or stainless steel? aluminum? Okay no fine silver here.

The other day a mini hoover vacuum was delivered by the UPS guy.  Apparently he like to bake on the weekends and had all these buttercream questions for me.  Sugar syrup? Meringue powder and shortening?  Ew, no!  I do the "hot and snot" method.  (someday I'll tell you).  Anyway this lil vacuum is great on hardwood and tile a bit more powerful than the swiffer vac which was becoming a disposable item though we weren't disposing.  It basically sweeps and that's great, who likes sweeping.  I'll report back in 2 months when that goes in the pile with the swiffer vac... or not (let's be optimists).

Still to come.  da da da daaaaahhh....  A Cuisinart 2 qt ice cream maker and Dyson pet brush attachment.
The ice cream maker will be delivered to the restaurant.  Last summer we tried ordering artisan organic ice cream from a local ice cream shop.  Super yummy, super expensive.  Would have loved to still keep ordering it, but would like to actually make a profit on it.  I figure we're always making Creme Angliase, so why not make our own ice cream?  Thought it might be wise to just experiment on a $60 model first before investing $2000+ into some commercial get up.   Should get this by March 24th.

Last but not least I'm am super exited, actually exuberant to get the Dyson pet brush.  All right, I am not getting paid by any of these companies (why would they when so far my audience is I, me, and a couple of facebook pals).   But seriously.  Go look at the demo and you'll be ordering one of these in no time.  No dog?  Well go get one, and then order one.

What's in a name?

Today is day one of my new blogging adventure.  It took me a while to get started as I was running into unexpected hurdles as well getting sidetracked reading other blogs.  First coming up with the name.  As a professional cook and non-professional eater (although you should see me eat pho - I should get some sort of monetary reward) I felt my blog name should reflect food in some way. 

First mirepoix.  It's a mix of carrots, celery and onion, which is often the start off point of several recipes.  ...taken. 

Second, chicken skin anyone?   Several years ago I thought a chicken skin sandwich should be part a bistro menu where I was working.  Given the clientele, they thought not.  boo... I do love crisp chicken skin and have not been afraid to ask my fat gram counting neighbor "...hey you eating your skin?"  So googling this I see it's been done.  KFC seems to be a favorite chicken skin element in a chicken skin lettuce tomato sandwich.   Not that this is popular fare anywhere yet, I still wanted to stay somewhat original.   I would recommend making this at home, by using the standard breading procedure and panko bread crumbs.  Throw it on some toasted ghetto white bread, with sriracha mayo, iceberg, and some garden slicing tomatoes and you've got a sandwich that'll beat a BLT anywhere. 

Okay, so how about kim chee?  This is something I make by the case, last batch made used 70 pounds napa cabbage.   I think that was actually a crate, even more than a case.  Well there are lots of blogs out there regarding kim chee and I didn't really want to make that just my focal point anyway.  Being an adopted South Korean, I know how to make kim chee but as far a korean food goes, that's about it. 

"It's BACONNNN!!!!!"   Bacon is a staple in our household.   As long as you have bacon you can make a killer meal without many other ingredients.  Carbonara is quick fix when all you have is bacon, eggs, and dried pasta.  Kim Chee Bacon Fried Rice (again 3 ingredients are staples in our house).  How about bacon waffle sundae using those eggos in the back of the freezer?  Toasted Eggos, bacon, ice cream and real maple syrup.  okay... getting sidetracked again.  Anyway, Bacon didn't quite fit the bill and hundreds even thousands of bacon blogs are out there already.

Finally I settled on "The Norwegian Korean."  As I mentioned before I was adopted.  My adopted family is norwegian and so are the in-laws.  Pickled herring, lefse, smoked salmon, swedish meatballs, kringla, etc. etc. have been even more previlent than kim chee in my upbringing diet.  My in-laws don't really care for kim chee - they can't get past the smell.  So in anycase I figured, well that's me in more ways than one.  I am 100% korean.  And 99.9% norwegian.  just minus the blue eyes and blond hair. 

So what is this blog for?   Oh, I dunno.  My own personal diary to start.  We'll see where it goes.