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GyozaQuest is a non profitable site,

Thomas Keller, and

On one of my trips to Asia, I brought the "Spanglish" DVD.

From Spanglish: comparing sod to life. (sod is those pre rolled carpets of grass that landscapers use to make an instant lawn)
"Why can't everything be like sod? There's no wait, no dung, nothing you have to do right and yet it's perfect. It covers up all your dirt and makes things immediately pretty..then, the miracle, if you just give it time, it roots and you can't tell it from the real thing.
"

I like the movie, or maybe I'm just bored... Maybe because the main actress (Paz Vega) is the absolutely beautiful type that guys dream about in their spare time. Maybe it's just because Tea Leoni is in it, and I always liked her role in "the family man"

Anyhow the male lead, is a Thomas Keller type. Thomas Keller is now a celebrity chef, who was a good cook in NYC, but wanted to get out of the city, and opened a small restauraunt just south of Napa Valley. In one of the scenes he cooks for the woman in the kitchen of his restaurant, as she watches. The thing I can't understand, and I still wonder about though... Is it that romantic to watch someone cook? But there's not that many movies about cooking.

I was in Portland last Christmas, I stayed at a bed and breakfast, just as a business traveler. Usually I would have just stayed in the hotels that the company reccomended, but I found a bed and breakfast in Camus WA. (next to both Vicki Riviera, and Rick Knapp's homes) Rick, our office manager, didn't particularly like the place, because they thought the owner was a little bit obsessive and controlling, of not outright neurotic at times. I could see that, you'd have to be to get all the décor of that six bedroom house perfect. Not to mention having the gumption to build something like that way out in Vancouver WA.

The first two days I said I wasn't going to join them downstairs for breakfast, I was going to just leave early for work, so asked them to put out some coffee, and I would just go to the office. But after a few days, I decided to sit down amongst the vacationers, and newlyweds and have a proper breakfast.

However, the thing I remember most about the place. Was that they also ran a bit of a catering company, as the house was big enough to hold small functions, and had a nice patio out back. I guess you could have a wedding there, then retire to one of the rooms in the hotel for the night.

Coming back one evening, and they'd just finished hosting a light dinner or something. The staff was packing up. As I came in, I said hello to the owner, and some of the staff. Just niceties, and they'd asked me if I'd eaten, which I said I hadn't. So I guess one of the chef's there, decides to offer the leftovers to me.

But this isn't just leftovers. This is leftovers from a catered meal. In a normal restaurant, they've already cut and prepared the ingredients, and all that's left is the 10 minutes to finally sear the meat, drizzle sauce over it, and elagantly place it on the plate. As it happened, he heated up, up being just a bit of beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and some light vegetables.

I think I understand what the alure of those cooking shows is. Jjust seeing how the skilled the chef operated. He got out the pan, lightly seared the beef over that DCS stove (it's one of those, Pro-sumer grade stoves). I just stood in the kitchen, got a glass of white wine from the fridge, and watched him work. And noted how smooth he was, and how things seem to be prepared for the next step.

In the end the food was good, but not exceptional. But it could be sensual to watch someone else cook.