A Great Figure Eight Or A Tiny Infinity

When you’re young, time is infinite and you feel invincible.

I was 8-years-old when a tornado swept through our neighborhood. Not fully understanding death, but thinking we were going to die, my main concern was to save the two most important things in my life - my stuffed monkey "Spunky" and our family cat "Min." Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold both. So I had to choose. The family cat won. She wasn’t a cat that enjoyed being held and due to all the commotion she ran off to hide under my parents bed. I quickly grabbed the blanket that hung on the back of our living room couch, the one my Grandmother had knitted for my parents as a wedding gift. I was determined to wrap the cat in this blanket so she would feel safe and be easier to carry. The blanket would also act as a shield against her long, razor-like claws because I knew she would fight for her life, despite the fact I was trying to save her life. I pulled the long haired feline out from under the bed by her tail! I had to. I couldn’t reach her under there and time was wasting! In panic and most likely in pain, she swatted at my forearm, cutting it open. Instead of being angry with her, I remember trying to comfort her by stroking the velvety orange stripe on her forehead. Or maybe I was trying to comfort myself?

With the cat now tucked in my arms, my sister Jen and I ran to get our First Holy Communion Rosary beads and slung them around our necks. Our oldest sister laughed at us while Dad remained incredibly calm during the storm. I remember him saying, "Hmm, it really does sound just like a train." He was right and while he marveled at the sound of it, that freight train was coming right for us! My Mother was a frantic mess! She started to read how to survive natural disasters from an old Good Housekeeping book that the previous home owners had left behind. She instructed Dad what windows to open and what windows to keep closed to help minimize the impact if, or rather when, the tornado ripped through our home. Dad finally realized the severity of the situation and unlocked the door to the crawl space where we were to take shelter.

"Get the kids!" He hollered out to my Mom. It's then she turned and saw us. My sisters and I stood motionless in a row in front of the bay window - eyes wide, jaws hanging open. My Mom let out a blood curdling scream for us to get away from the window, but we were too paralyzed by fright and in aww to move. We watched as the sky turned from grey to black to green (yes, green). We watched a stop sign slice through our lawn like a surgeon’s scalpel making its first incision in virgin flesh. And we watched the giant funnel of wind and debris sweep everything in its path clean, traveling east to our neighbor's house and not down the hill to us. That's when I realized we were going to be spared. Our neighbors would not be so lucky.

The entire neighborhood was without power for nearly 2 weeks and the amount of destruction left in the storm's aftermath was mind numbing! Still to this day I wonder why we were spared? Why was I spared? Why do I continue to be spared? At age 8 I was spared from death after a devastating tornado. At age 12 I was spared from death after an attempted suicide. And at age 23 I was spared from death after a brutal motorcycle accident. In fact, the accident was so vicious that the first cop on the scene declared me "killed on impact." But yet, I’m here today. Why?

When I was a child, 8 was my favorite number. It was just fun to draw! As I grew older, 8 became my lucky number that I would repeatedly win on in Vegas. I find it rather interesting that I was 8-years-old at the time of my first brush with death. The suicide attempt happened just before entering the 8th grade. And the motorcycle accident, the drunk driver slammed me into a cement barrier while going 80mph. All coincidences? Maybe. But I’m thinking my next tattoo will be a great figure eight or a tiny infinity.

By the way, Min lived a long and full life. She died at 18.

How NOT to be Mistaken for the Food Paparazzi

It’s no secret that I love taking pictures of food. But I cringe whenever people lump me in with the food paparazzi — a growing movement of so-called serious foodies documenting everything they eat in pictures, as portrayed in a recent Los Angeles Times feature.

Sure, for fun I have a “food paparazzi” feature on my blog, but that’s when I pretend to be a paparazzo after I spot a celebrity chef or famous food person in public. But the people featured in the Times article, and a similar one in the New York Times, are those who are almost obsessed with photographing their food, taking minutes to set up a shot, leaving a reservation if they don’t have the right lens, or blasting the dreaded flash in the middle of the dining room.

What I found interesting were some of the comments from chefs, a couple who were offended by people taking more time to photograph their food than eating it. Chef/Owner Grant Achatz of the famous Alinea restaurant in Chicago has vented — in the article and elsewhere — about how people photographing the food has affected the restaurant’s operations, causing an already long tasting dinner to stretch out longer because the food paparazzi has thrown off the service’s pacing.

Chef Ludo Lefebvre of Los Angeles (who also appeared on “Top Chef Masters”) originally welcomed food bloggers, even inviting them to a special tasting and setting up a portable light box for them to take their photos with the right light, but then turned on them when they took so much time taking pictures and letting their food turn cold.

I know some chefs are artists and feel their food needs to be served at the right time and temperature, but I’m of the camp that believes “I paid for that food and if I end up eating it cold, that’s my own fault.” Some chefs have now recognized that food bloggers and our ilk are a necessity of life because every time we post a photo of their food, we give them free publicity and buzz.

However, I don’t believe it’s fair for the chef, the restaurant, and other patrons when food photographers slow down the pacing of the service because they spend so much time setting up their shots.

The emergence of the food paparazzi is a mixed bag for me. On the plus side, the more people taking pictures during dinner the less I stand out when I’m doing it too. On the flip side, there’s a possibility of a backlash and I don’t like how some people stare at me wondering if I’m going to set off a flash. (And I really hate it when a server or diner next to me sees my camera and say “is that for Yelp?” Ugh, puh-leaze. I do not Yelp.)

While the media is putting the spotlight on food photographers, they’re also guilty of encouraging it. The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, has joined up with Foodspotting to see who can photograph the Top 100 list and win a dinner with its restaurant critic Michael Bauer. And 7x7 Magazine has also teamed up with Foodspotting (slut) for the magazine’s “The Big Eat” list.

In today’s world, there’s no avoiding the food paparazzi. But I do believe there should be some etiquette when it comes to photographing food. So I’ve come up with this list of rules on how to photograph your food at a restaurant that hopefully will make you less the food paparazzi and more the welcomed fooderati:

Rule No. 1: No flash. This is what gives food bloggers a bad name. The blinding white light not only turns into a washed out photo, it’s inconsiderate to those around you. The only time I’ve used a flash is when I’m traveling and I’m sitting far away from guests such as when I took this picture at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I was sitting in the garden at night and was two tables away from the nearest diner. If you’re worried about lighting, try changing the ISO setting on your camera, which affects the camera’s film speed. For dark lighting, you want a film speed around 800. (The result might be grainier images but that’s fine if you’re only using it for the Web.)

Rule No. 2: Turn off your shutter sound. You can fly under the radar if you don’t make that snapping sound. When I carry my digital SLR camera, I unfortunately can’t turn off the sound. But when I use my smaller point-and-shoot camera, I put it on mute mode so that it won’t make a snapping sound.

Rule No. 3: Two’s the limit. When I take pictures of my friends’ dish, they always ask me if that was it because I typically take just one shot — at the most two — because I don’t want them waiting any longer to dig into their food. My rule is if you can’t get the shot in two takes, then don’t bother.

Rule No. 4: Leave the tripod at home. I can’t believe anyone would even bother carrying around a tripod to dinner along with the camera. But some people have gotten so serious about this that I’ve heard that’s what some people do. Don’t. There are other ways to steady your camera, such as placing it on top of a vase or salt shaker, but don’t bust out a tripod at the table no matter how small. It just says “geek” in so many languages.


Rule No. 5: Don’t stop the server. At some restaurants, the server will prepare some food at the tableside or do things like pour a soup or drizzle some sauce at the table. I always think that’s a nice touch, but when it happens, do not stop them so you can turn on your camera and take a photo. If you want to take this “action” shot, then have your camera turned on and ready. (This means planning ahead and thinking about your shots after you’ve ordered.) Telling them to stop just throws off their rhythm and pacing of the courses, as well as make them more self-conscious.

Rule No. 6: Ask first. When I’m dining with friends, especially for the first time, I ask them if it’s all right if I photograph their food instead of just pulling out the camera and snapping away. It’s just a way to respect their personal space and put them at ease when I do bust out my camera. But after they’ve dined with me a couple of times, then they just expect me to take a picture.

Test Kitchen: Basil Crusted Leg of Lamb

This month’s Test Kitchen is a promise of Brazil and Provence — two very exotic food destinations. And the recipe, from the April edition of Food and Wine magazine, is courtesy of Daniel Boulud, the famous New York chef.

Chef Boulud’s Leg of Lamb with Lemon Vinaigrette recipe beat out other choices in this month’s poll. 41 percent of you went for the lamb, which I admit is a great choice for spring, over marinated sardines (30 percent) by Chef Mario Batali and mussels with piquillo rouille (27 percent) by Bay Area’s own Chef Chris Kronner. (Maybe I should have based the poll on the names of the chefs and then it would have been a popularity contest?)

I admit the photo of the lamb in the magazine (pictured to the right) looked especially enticing. So it was going to be a challenge to duplicate it.

What I also realized is that chef’s recipes (not surprisingly) are a lot of steps and work and equipment. And I should have read the recipe more clearly before putting it up for the poll because Chef Boulud’s lamb recipe required a lot of equipment I didn’t have (namely a food processor and a flame-proof roasting pan). But because I always follow through with my promises, I powered through and the following is how it all went down in my kitchen.

Just a reminder, as the Single Guy, I wasn’t about to cook a 5-lb. leg of lamb for myself. So I cut the recipe in half. As always, you can get the full recipe at the Food and Wine Web site.

I started off by toasting some pine nuts in my oven. Why are pine nuts so expensive? Luckily, I bought it at the bulk section of Whole Foods so I only got the small amount I needed instead of a whole bag.

Next I had to prep the basil leaves, blanching them first and then pulverizing them in a food processor. Like I said, I don’t own a food processor but I remembered that I had a food chopper attachment for my hand blender. So that’s what I used to create a puree with the basil and olive oil. (It might not be as smooth as it was supposed to be, but I think it does the trick.)

The basil puree now needed some toast and pine nuts. (Also, the recipe said to add a clove of garlic and lemon zest but I have to admit I forgot the lemon zest.) For the toast, Boulud specifically calls for three slices of packaged white bread. Since I was doing just half the recipe, it meant I only needed 1½ slices of white bread. I don’t eat white bread, and I wasn’t about to buy a whole loaf just to use 1½ slices. So I just used the whole grain bread I typically buy and used a slice of that. I’m sure the white bread was more for aesthetics because it’s white and will show up better than the brown whole grain bread.


After pulsating the ingredients, I spread the puree onto my flat leg of lamb. The recipe calls for a boneless leg of lamb, and the one I got was about 2 pounds. So more a stub than a leg.

Then you’re supposed to tie up the lamb with kitchen string. I’ve found that the only reason for doing this when cooking any leg or loin is to just keep the nice round shape of the piece of meat instead of it looking flat and spread out. Here’s my handiwork with the tying. (I didn’t have to tie it that many times since the lamb was such a short leg.)

Now the recipe called for browning the leg of lamb in a flame-proof roasting pan, which I don’t have. These are the type of roasting pans you can place on top of your stove and cook with. I think it works best with a gas stovetop but I have an electric stove. So I improvised by browning the leg of lamb in a large pan and then transferring it to my aluminum foil-lined cheapy roasting pan.

I was supposed to cook the lamb for 1.5 hours, but I thought since it was just half the size of what the recipe called for, it might not take as long to cook. So after 45 minutes, I checked the temperature using my instant-read thermometer and it was at the 130 degrees for medium rare. Then I was supposed to cut off the strings, and when I did, the lamb fell apart and unfolded, showing the inside parts were still pink. Ugh, so I had to push it back into somewhat shape (no way to re-tie it when it was so hot) and shoved it back into the oven.

After another 30 minutes, I was pretty sure it was done, and then I spread the remaining basil puree to create the crust on the top. Then I set the lamb under the broiler for five minutes like the recipe said. Then I was supposed to take it out and let it sit for 20 minutes before cutting into it. When I serve it, I was supposed to create the lemon vinaigrette using lemon juice, Dijon mustard and olive oil.

But what the recipe didn’t say was to sprinkle a whole bunch of bread crumbs on the top of the leg of lamb, and I’m pretty sure that’s what the Food and Wine editors did because if you look at the picture above, no way was that lamb simply encrusted with the basil puree, right?

So I got some croutons that I had leftover from a salad, and I just broke them up into little pieces and topped my cooked leg of lamb with it. The result is pictured below. Again, my photo is at a disadvantage because it doesn’t depict a whole leg of lamb, so it might look stunted. But what do you think?

My tips and warnings about this recipe:

1. Like I said earlier, you probably want to sprinkle some bread crumbs (with maybe some chopped pine nuts) on top of your leg of lamb before serving, just for better presentation.
2. Swapping out the white bread with my whole grain bread didn’t seem to make a difference, I think, because you hardly could taste the bread in the puree.
3. Lamb lets off a lot of oil when cooking, so you might want to use a splatter guard when you’re browning it on your stovetop before placing it inside the oven.

Ease of cooking: The recipe was easy to follow, but it felt like a lot of work — from roasting the pine nuts to pulsating the basil to tying up the lamb and then searing it on the stovetop. And I sure had a lot of things to wash in my sink after I was done cooking.

Taste: I don’t know if I’ve made leg of lamb before (I’ve made lamb meatballs and lamb chops), but this part of the animal is so tasty and tender! My lamb came out very soft. Not sure if it was where I got it or if all leg of lambs are tender, but it was tasty. As for the recipe, I realized while eating that the basil puree really just sounded like pesto. So I wondered why he didn’t call this a pesto-encrusted leg of lamb? The basil flavor, though, was really subtle after being pureed and cooked in the oven. So I’m not sure how much it added to the overall lamb-eating experience. The lemon vinaigrette you drizzle at the end is a nice, fancy, cheffy thing to do and did add a nice zing.

Overall grade: B- because it was a lot of work and created a lot of dirty dishes and overall I didn’t feel the basil came through. But I love eating lamb and this seemed like a fool-proof recipe.

Don’t forget to vote in the poll on the upper right-hand column to let me know which recipe I should test from the pages of the May edition of Food and Wine.

Previous test kitchens:
Pork Tonkatsu
Winter Vegetable Chili
Penne Rigate with Spicy Braised Swordfish
Five-spice Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Walnut Toffee

Exciting Times Ahead for Ottawa Senators!

When Pascal Dupuis put the puck behind Pascal Leclair on Saturday April 24th at 9:56 of first Over Time the Ottawa Senators' season ended abruptly. It was heart breaking since Ottawa had a 3 goal lead mid way through second period and started the third period with a two goal cushion.

The amateur ending of the season can be attributed to lack of personnel and lack of experience this spring.

First, Ottawa was without the two of its top six forwards in Milan Michalek and Alexi Kovalev which left huge holes in first and second lines respectively. Second ten of the twenty players on the roster had between 0 to 9 games of playoff experience including both goalies, four of the six defense, and the complete 4th line.

Both the above factors can lead to a sweep series of playoffs for most of the teams however Ottawa not only managed to drag the series to 6 games, but they did it against the Stanley Cup Champions, and two out of their four losses were one goal games!

Obviously for any hockey fan playoffs elimination is a disappointment however the early exit should not underscore Ottawa Senators' achievements this season (refer to my previous article) or over shadow the fact that moving forward Ottawa will be a much better team.

Looking back I believe that Ottawa Senators achieved more than majority of the experts had expected and/or predicted. To add icing on the cake Ottawa is a much better hockey organization today than they were at the same point last year and they are very well set for the years to come since:

• Ottawa has 17 of its 20 man roster under contract for next two years
• Fifteen of Ottawa's current players haven’t reached their prime yet (as evident from their lack of experience in playoffs)
• Both goalies (Pascal Leclaire and Brian Elliot) showed the upside and promise of being better next year – each of them yet to reach their prime
• There is a surplus of young and NHL capable defense including Erik Karlsson, Brian Lee, Jared Cowen, and Patrick Wiercioch
• There are four legitimate forwards on the team with no roster spot including Shean Donovan, Jonathan Cheechoo, Ryan Shannon, and Zack Smith
• For the first time in five years the Binghamton Senators are full of NHL caliber talent including Robin Lehner (G), Mike Brouder (G), Patrick Wiercioch (D), Eric Gryba (D), Bobby Butler (F), David Dziurzynski (F), Colin Greening (F) to name few
• The coach (Cory Clouston) has completed his first full season in NHL and he will only become better with experience
• There is a well defined system that coaches and management have identified which is always key to success of any organization
• Last but not the least an owner in Eugene Melnyk that has always shown (through his actions) that he is committed to win and make the team better

Overall it’s an encouraging time in the Ottawa Senator’s franchise so the organization, the team, and the fans should look forward to exciting times ahead with this hockey club.

I am anxiously awaiting the next season. Are you?

Thanks for reading.

For more information please visit:

http://www.musthafaebadi.com

Sooo Cute You'll Need Another Word For Cute

Puppies are cute. Kittens are cute. Most baby animals in general are cute. Some human babies are cute and other human babies...well, we just say are cute so we don't hurt the parent's feelings. As a society I think we throw the word "cute" around too much. Just yesterday I heard a girl call another girl's hair cute. Cute shoes. Cute dress. He's cute. She's cute. You look cute. It's all so cute, cute, CUTE! It's kind of sickening, but kind of cute too. There is even an entire website dedicated to too much cuteness - www.cuteoverload.com Now I hate to be a hater, but there are two things I hate in this world - cutesy pet names and singing children. Although this video has BOTH and it is by far the cutest thing I have ever seen or heard in my life, EVER! (Yes, even cuter than my Bulldog Diesel and me cuddling on the couch.)

So without further ado, I present to you...

The Cuppycake Song, sung by "A Real Life Cabbage Patch Kid"
You're my Honeybunch, Sugarplum, Pumpy-umpy-umpkin.
You're my Sweetie Pie.
You're my Cuppycake, Gumdrop, Snoogums-Boogums.
You're the Apple of My Eye.
And I love you so and I want you to know, that I'll always be right here.
And I love to sing sweet songs to you because you are so dear.

I can't help replaying this video over and over again. I honestly melt into a puddle of goo every time! Which is rather surprising because I usually find other people's kids to be annoying, especially ones that sing. But this kid is serious cute overload, to the point where I can barely stand it! I want to squeeze the shit out of him and smoother his round cheeks in a parade of kisses. I want to hold his sweaty little hand, skip to the nearest playground and laugh and play all day in matching white Beefy Hanes tees. Basically, I want to hangout with the "Real Life Cabbage Patch Kid" (in a non-creepy way obviously). He's just that fucking cool!

I. LOVE. THIS. KID.

Seriously, I want to adopt him. Can anyone help me make that happen, Xavier Roberts? My dog is a chick magnet for me as it is. So can you imagine all the girls I would get rolling with the World's Cutest Dog AND the World's Cutest Kid? We would have to fight the ladies off with cupcakes and gumdrops! I know, I know. It's wrong to use a dog or a child to pick up women. And you shouldn't throw perfectly good food at people. Blah. Blah. Blah.



***NOTE***
If anyone makes a comment about how fat this kid is, I will personally hunt you down and punch you straight in your suck hole. He has kidney problems and has to take steroids, which explains his dough ball-like appearance. Although even if he was just a chubby kid, I would still love every last pound of him. I should also note/confess that some girls are just so ridiculously cute sometimes that it causes me to inadvertently act nauseatingly sweet to them and a pet name may slip out. You may go vomit now.

Skewers near Oakland’s Lake Merritt

Business Lunch Gets a Mediterranean Twist
1999 Harrison St. (at 20th Street), Oakland
Uptown/Lake Merritt neighborhoods
PH: 510.452.2700
Open weekdays, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
No reservations, major credit cards accepted

Looking at some of the new lunch options around my offices, today I feature a spot that’s literally across the street from my building near Oakland’s Lake Merritt.

Skewers opened a few months ago and even though its address says Harrison Street, the entrance faces 20th Street between a dry cleaners and Starbucks. It used to be a tired, old sandwich spot where these ladies made sandwiches that looked so home-made I resented whenever I had to pay $5 for something I could have brought from home.

So I was happy to see Skewers take its place, with its fresh décor and large dining area. The casual restaurant specializes in meat like lamb and beef cooked on a spit and thinly sliced off to create sandwiches, or like the name says skewers grilled and served as platters or wraps.

The Mediterranean feel took me back to New York, where this type of cooking is so popular for lunch because of its convenience, flavor and ability to make you full for little money. Skewers’ white walls are decorated with a few travel pictures, mostly of London, another city like New York that welcomes a good falafel or gyro.

Side note: Skewers have a few prepared salads in the refrigerated section. I would avoid this because once I got the chicken Caesar salad and the chicken was fine but the croutons in the salad were soft and spongy. It really threw off my overall impression of the salad.


For the rest of the menu, you order at the counter and get a number so your plate will be brought to your table. My first time, I ordered the Chicken Shawerma Wrap ($7.50), which was made up of chicken shavings from the spit with lettuce, pickles, red onions, and maybe tahini?

The wrap looked pretty big and was packed with chicken meat, which kind of made up for Skewers’ slightly higher lunch prices. The chicken was good and rustic, almost meaty like lamb because of the way it was cooked. I liked how the wrap was nice and warm with the grilled marks so it’s like a toasted burrito. My favorite part was the bits of pickles, giving the wrap a nice twist now and then when eating.

Next time I ordered a Lamb/Beef Gyros Wrap ($7.50) that I brought back to my office. The wrap seemed longer than the shawerma, almost foot long (don’t hold me to it since I didn’t have a measuring tape). It seemed very similar to the shawerma with the lettuce and pickles. The only difference was the yogurt, which there was a lot near the end. Overall, the taste was good but I felt like it wasn’t packed with much lamb and beef, which were just a few thin slices hidden in the center.

On another visit I decided to order a skewer platter, which, I know, is a lot to eat for lunch. The options include chicken, lamb, or beef, or the mixed option where you choose two. All the platters cost $10.95.

I got the mixed grill platter with chicken and lamb. The platter was huge with the two skewers sitting on a big puddle of hummus that was so creamy it was like whipped batter. I liked it, especially when I dipped the two pita bread that came on the side. The chicken skewer was slightly yellow, making me think it would taste like curry but it didn’t really have any distinct flavor. Maybe it was tumeric?

The chicken was tender and moist, which was a good thing. The lamb, though, was chewy and I think I like the lamb cut into thin slices in a sandwich instead of as cubes on a skewer. The rice was a big scoop of long grain rice with nuts, and the salad was fresh like a Greek salad with tomatoes, cheese, and kalamata olives.

There are also items that try to appeal to more traditional tastes, like the grilled sandwich options. Choices include salmon, chicken, eggplant and hamburger. On one visit, I got the Grilled Mediterranean Chicken ($7.95) and it really didn’t look like it came from a Mediterranean kitchen.

The grilled chicken was on a bun that almost looked like an egg bun in texture but not as yellow. It wasn’t my favorite kind of bread to use because of its height, but the chicken was very tender and tasty. It was sandwiched with spinach leaves and sun-dried tomatoes with creamy feta cheese. You can get the sandwiches with French fries or a huge Greek salad of fresh greens, cucumber, tomato and feta with a very light vinaigrette (in fact, it may have just been oil and vinegar).

One visit I brought along my co-worker Sue, who did order the hamburger. It looked a bit odd because of the square patty shape, but Sue seemed to enjoy it although a bit dry. (I know she especially enjoyed all the free chips that they were serving up).

I was tempted to try the falafel sandwich, but couldn’t get past the idea of the falafel being deep-fried. So instead I tried something I never had before called a Mosakhan Wrap ($7.50). This was made up of chicken bits that’s like ground beef smothered in onion, although you really can’t see the onions. It had just a slight onion taste.

The mosakhan, which supposedly takes a long time to cook the meat to create it, included nuts that I think were almonds. Everything was compressed to create this nice, savory wrap that was rich and filling. The wrap itself was almost like a flaky pastry because it was breaking near the center from the filling and the oil. It was served with a bowl of cucumber Greek yogurt salad.

Because of the prices, I can’t eat at Skewers every day, but it’s nice to know it’s there as an option. It’s so convenient to my workplace and the counter people and server are always friendly. While I’m not a big fan of the lamb and beef, I do find the chicken to always be tender and tasty.

Single guy rating: 2.75 stars (Nice alternative to sandwiches)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner



What's for lunch?
Trueburger: "Upscale Burgers Arrive in the East Bay"
Chef Edwards' BBQ: "A New Version of an Oakland Classic"
Kim Huong: "When Gimmicks Trump Authenticity"

Food Gallery: Summer Kitchen

Visiting my blog you can probably tell that I really love to take pictures. I've been taking pictures for years, and since I started this blog I've been specializing in food photography. And now I no longer do it just for love.

I recently started a side business as a food photographer. What I do is take pictures of food for people like restaurants and other food-related businesses that they can use for their Web site or publicity shots. The following is one of the shoots I did for the Summer Kitchen Bake Shop of Berkeley. I took some photos for their Web site, and below is a series of shots I did in black and white.

You can check out the color food shots on my photography site. And please send anyone who need some food shots done to my site. I don't have a referral fee, but you'll get lots of good karma. :)

This Year Ottawa Senators Were a Better TEAM!

When the 2008 - 2009 regular season wrapped up Ottawa Senators failed to clinch a spot for playoffs. Their lack for success early on in the season and their inability to win close games cost them a berth in Playoff Express Journey.

The lack of playoff qualification was a big failure for the franchise and their fans since over the last 11 years Ottawa Senators finished in the top echelon of teams every year,they won division title six times, won the eastern conference and president’s trophy once. To couple this success Ottawa Senators had a trip to Stanley Cup finals less than 2 years ago.

The Senators received another big blow when on the eve of Stanley Cup finals the disgruntled yet top winger Dany Heatly demanded a trade from Ottawa after signing multimillion dollar deal and signing bonus couple of months ago.

This distraction was a big enough shock, surprise, and dejecting for the organization and the fans, however, all the three aforementioned expressions were multiplied exponentially when the trade was made public.

The rest of the summer was consumed by distraction of "Dany Healty Trade" saga before he was finally traded mid way in training camp. At the beginning of the year all the experts predicted that Ottawa Senators will miss the playoffs for second year in a row due to the distractions of summer, losing a 50 goal scorer, lack of proven goaltending, and a defense that lacked chemistry. The only group that picked Ottawa Senators to make the playoffs was their loyal fans.

On April 1st 2010 when Ottawa defeated Carolina Hurricanes in overtime by 4 -3 the Senators clinched a playoffs spot and reunited themselves with Lord Stanley. When it was all said and done Senators not only made the playoffs the finished 5th overall in east with 94 points an improvement of 11 points from last season.

To me there was one big difference between this year's Senators and last year’s Senators and I have one word to describe it: TEAM.

From the end of the last season to the distraction of Danly Heatly saga to losing their top players to injuries in training camp there was one common phrase used by everyone in Senators organization and that was that they were a team.

The credit of improvement from last season goes to the adoption of team mentality and the credit of making bringing that mentality and playing, functioning, behaving, winning, and celebrating like a team goes to their coach Corey Clouston as :

• As soon as Clouston took over he brought a system that he believed in and started to get his players buy in
• He identified a structure and defined roles for every player on the team
• He encouraged and motivated the team even when the chips were down such as having 5 core players down for stretch of 7 games
• He held the players accountable for their performance and their role in the team
• He worked on bonding the team and made them closer with each other
• He rewarded his players who performed and recognized them for their hard work
• Further he also brought a winning attitude and transformed it to most of his players

Looking back at the season the above mentioned points ensured that Ottawa Senators made the playoffs after losing over 200+ games to man injuries during the course of the season, losing a 50 goal scorer, and having nine new faces in the starting twenty player roster.

What I want to convey from this post is that every organization achieves its goals as a team, surpass the expectations, can reach the heights that no one can predict if they perform as a team.

In order for the organization to bond, gel, work, and achieve as a team you have to have the right leadership to bring what Cory Clouston brought to Ottawa Senators regardless of setbacks, distractions, and adversity.

Way to go coach and this is just the beginning of many great things to come to you and Ottawa Senators!

I will once again give the credit of my success in life to my teams that I have had.
All I did was to bring the leadership to make them a true team and they did the rest.

Thanks for reading.

For more information please visit:

http://www.musthafaebadi.com

Oh Fiddlehead! Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I’d post this photo just because these things are soooo green. What are they you ask? Well, they’re called fiddlehead ferns and I spotted them recently at the Far West Fungi shop at the Ferry Building.

It was unusual to see them at Far West, 1) because it’s not really a fungus but a fern and 2) it looks like curled up snails. But if you believe Wikipedia (and really, who doesn’t?), it’s supposedly cooked like a vegetable in Asian countries like Indonesia and Taiwan and in Native American dishes in North America. (Also, if you believe Wikipedia, then lightly cooking the fiddleheads is a bad thing because you can get sick if they’re not cooked properly.)

The fiddleheads are the sprouts of the fern before they unfurl, which gives them that curly look. It’s not something that’s farmed, but when found and harvested, you’re supposed to just cut off two to three fiddleheads and not all because that can kill the entire plant. (Gee, I guess I did learn something from Wikipedia.)

I’m not going to be rushing to my condo’s garden to look for fiddleheads among the fern plants, but it’s nice to hear on Earth Day that some people don’t waste anything on this planet and a use can be found for anything naturally grown — a good lesson to keep in mind as caretakers for this world.

Being You Is Enough

I'm a competitive freak! I compete at anything and everything. I just can't help it. From sports and business to video games and "how many fruit snacks can you shove in your mouth" game with my 6-year-old niece. (Which by the way I won last time with 3 full bags of fruit snacks in my mouth. I could have set a fruit snack world record by doing more, but she made me laugh, causing me to nearly choke to death at her tea party table! I blame her. I mean, who serves pretend tea to their choking guests?) You are either born with the competitive gene or you're not. Clearly I was born with it, whereas my sisters clearly were not. I must be challenged. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so I challenge it. And you have a body, so why not use it? That is my philosophy. Competition among others is normal and perfectly healthy. However, competition in a relationship is not.

I'm not talking about competing for a girl or guy's attention in some bar. And I'm not talking about competing in a friendly game of miniature golf on a date. I'm talking about competing within the relationship, with one another. That private competition you have going on in your head with them - where you compare your personal accomplishments alongside theirs. Or maybe it's just me who does this? I'm ashamed to admit I've done it, but proud to report I quickly overcame it. And relieved that she never knew I did it! Well until now, depending on whether or not she reads my blog.

While I was completely impressed by her long list of accomplishments, I was also a bit irritated by the fact that she was better than me in so many areas! I didn’t like losing, especially to a girl! I learned she had a slightly higher GPA than me in college and graduated with honors, whereas I just missed graduating with honors. "That’s ok," I told myself. I’m sure she wasn’t a double major like me. And then, I found out she was. Again I told myself, "that’s ok." I’m sure I’m more athletic than her because I attended college on an athletic scholarship. That’s when she tells me she just completed a triathlon. Seriously? Damn it! It was then that I didn’t want to know anymore. Clearly this girl would win in a game of "I Bet You Can’t Top That." I had met my match. And trying to impress her was going to be one hell of a challenge!

Although just as the concern of "how could I impress someone like her" crossed my mind, I recalled back to a previous relationship from a few years ago. At the time I had felt in inadequate. I found it difficult to impress her and often wondered what she liked about me. She seemed so much more worldly than me that I felt as if we were from two different worlds! I would quietly compare us in my head and the facts were clear. My bookshelf is not as full. My music collection is not as deep. My passport is not as decorated. That is when she put all my fears to rest in one breath. She said...

"Being you is enough. It’s definitely enough."

I’m sooo appreciative of those words because even to this day I remind myself of that simple fact. Being you is enough. I stopped trying to impress. I stopped trying to audition for other people’s lives. And most importantly, I stopped comparing myself to the lives of others. There is always going to be someone better looking, more successful, smarter, faster, stronger, just better than you. And while you shouldn’t stop competing in life, you should stop comparing yourself and your life to others. You will exhaust yourself trying to match or triumph them. Because at the end of the day if you find yourself surrounded by people you feel jealous or envious of, maybe the real issue isn’t that they’re beating you, but rather you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough.

So instead of allowing yourself to feel even a tiny shred of animosity toward them, be happy for them. Be proud of their accomplishments. Encourage them. Support them. Help them reach all their dreams and achieve all their goals. Because believe me, when something great happens to someone you really care about, it’s as if something great happened to you.

Passionate Eater lives …

… and She Invited Me to Brunch

This post isn’t so much about food as it is about the people behind the food.

When I first started this blog more than three years ago, one of the early people commenting on my posts was someone called Passionate Eater (I’m going to call her P.E. for short). She also penned her own blog of the same name, which I started to read regularly for the huge photos she’d post and the hilarious adventures in eating she would write about.

But if you’re a regular reader of P.E. as well, you’ll know that she hasn’t posted in nine months, and her last post is the self-flagellating one entitled “Bad Passionate Eater! Bad!” Like that post starts off, you might have wondered “Where in Satan’s name has she been?”

It happens to the best of us. I read several food blogs, and a few of them I follow pretty regularly. Then one day they stop posting and I wonder what happened? Did they get food poisoning? Did they get hacked? Did they move on?

In P.E.’s case, it was a simple case of life catching up with her. A new job, a longer commute, and a new home all added up to zero posts. But I’m here to tell you that she’s alive and doing well.

Recently she sent me an e-mail letting me know about a free food offer at a San Francisco restaurant. (She’s still trying to keep me in the loop.) And we got to talking and she invited me over to her new home in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood for Sunday brunch.

Joining us was our fellow food blogger friend Foodhoe. Rounding out the group was Foodhoe and P.E.’s husbands, and P.E.’s cousin Grace and her friend Arthur. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and P.E.’s new home was a lovely setting for the gathering.

P.E. busted out her fancy waffle maker and her husband made up two stacks of whole wheat waffles and blueberry ones. Foodhoe, who had made some brown-sugar-coated bacon crisps, couldn’t resist making a waffle with her secret ingredient inside.

We munched on Prather Ranch sausages (my contribution) and yogurt with granola (from Grace), along with nibbles of cheese (thanks Foodhoe!) and a huge platter of fresh fruits. But as everyone ate around the table, I mostly laughed from listening to P.E.’s stories.

Even though she hasn’t written about food recently, you could tell she was still passionate about it. She would quiz us about our food adventures, living vicariously through our little food events or experiences dining out. We’d laugh about outrageous things we saw on the Web or new food trends we decided we’re going to start ourselves. (Grace, I still think you should start that vegetable-separating/squatting exercise class!)

Afterwards we just spent some time enjoying the amazing view from their home and walking around their lovely garden. It was great seeing P.E. and her husband happy and doing well, and it just reminded me that there are real people behind the food blogs you read. And at times, these real people might power down their laptops and return to their day-to-day demands.

No food blog is larger than life. And simply blogging isn’t the only thing a life makes. So if there’s a time that I may not be posting as often, or—God forbid!—at all, it’s not because I’ve given up on you, my readers, or on food. It’s just because I’m taking time to smell the coffee and enjoy, well, life.

Previous meals with the Passionate Eater:
When Bloggers Brunch

Monday Night Dinners at Jardinière

Rotating Chefs Helm the Kitchen in April
300 Grove St. (at Franklin), San Francisco
Civic Center
PH: 415.861.5555
Open for dinner nightly at 5 p.m.
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.jardiniere.com

I’ve been meaning to go back to Jardinière for its Monday night prix-fixe dinner since the first time I tried this promotion last year. For $45 (before tax and tip), you enjoy a three-course meal with wine pairings, which is a great deal for the high-level of dishes paraded out the kitchen.

I get regular e-mails from the restaurant with the upcoming month’s list of Monday night dinners, and April’s offerings sounded interesting. Typically, Jardinière dedicates the Monday menu to a specific regional cuisine—Sicilian one week, New Orleans the other, and so on. But this month it was the chefs who would change each week.

Executive Chef Traci des Jardins welcomed back four different chefs who once worked under her in what she called “Alumni Month.” I went to dinner last Monday night when the featured chef was Peter Armellino, who went on to earn one Michelin star for his own restaurant, The Plumed Horse, in Saratoga.

The menu for that night didn’t include any meat, so I asked my aqua-vegetarian (that means he eats fish along with vegetables) friend Ken to join me.

Our dinner began with a seasonal salad of Delta asparagus and buffalo mozzarella, sprinkled with smoked almonds and a few pieces of wild arugula. I can’t believe how many asparagus salads I’ve had at restaurants so far this spring! Still, this was refreshing and light.

The salad was served with a tasting glass of Vincent Ricard’s 2009 Sauvignon Blanc “Le Petiot” from Touraine, France, which I felt was nice but wasn’t as crisp in flavor as I’d like. (Turns out all our wine for the night were from France, so it was like dining in Paris.)

The next course was a green garlic soup served with a few pieces of battered and fried Florida frog legs on one side and chopped pieces of rock shrimp on the other. In the center was a shellfish flan, which was engulfed by the brilliant green garlic soup that our server poured at the table.

It was this course that sparked my interest in the Monday menu because I love frog legs, ever since I had them pan-fried and sautéed in Paris. I rarely see them on menus, so I get them whenever I can. Unfortunately, the frog legs were deep-fried (which I’m not a fan of) and I felt that preparation totally masks the natural sweetness of the frog meat (all you taste is batter). Plus, there were just a few nuggets of the fried frog legs so it didn’t seem to be the star of the course, which really was the green garlic soup and creamy flan in the center.

Side note: I give Ken credit for being a good sport with this course. When I saw the menu, I didn’t think of frog legs as meat and considered it along the lines of seafood. I mean, frogs live around water, don’t they? But Ken reminded me that frogs are amphibians. But that’s still not red meat, right?

Our frog leg/garlic soup was paired with a glass of Domaines Schlumberger’s 2006 Pinot Gris “Les Princes Abbes” from Alsace, France.

Jardinière’s Monday prix fixe is generally three courses, but for some reason tonight we had four. (Maybe they didn’t get enough frog legs, which were the publicized main course, so the chef decided to add another course to make up for the soup?)

Anywho, our bonus course was a small piece of Alaskan halibut. Our server drizzled a ragout of wild mushrooms over the halibut at the table. It was served with a few fava beans.

The halibut was nicely cooked, with a slight glassy texture. The mild flavor of the fish was taken to a bold extreme with the ragout, which had a very meaty flavor like a beef ragout.

The course was served with a Domaine Des Nugues’ 2007 Beaujolais-Villages from Burgundy, France. The red wine was the perfect counterpoint to the rich and intense wild mushroom ragout.

Our last course was a pistachio sablé. I’ve never had a sablé before, but apparently it’s a French cookie. The sable, which was like a thin layer of shortbread cookie, was topped with thin slices of Ortiz Farms strawberries and served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and some pistachio sprinkles.

The sablé was buttery and light, and I wanted more! Overall, it was a very elegant ending to our meal.

The sablé was served with an Ey’s 2007 Muscat de Riversaltes “Vigne lo Clavell” from Roussillon, France.

Jardinière’s elegant settings and the interesting menu from Chef Armellino made it an enjoyable evening. The fact that it was a Monday night made the work week seem to go by faster.

If you’d like to check out upcoming Monday prix-fixe menus, just visit Jardinière’s Web site.