Chocolate Sabotage

Working at the W Hotel has been a wonderful experience. I've never learned so much in new pastry skills so artistic and appreciated. The Pastry Chef is awesome. Everything is made from scratch. The first time i tasted this dessert I was in total awe. Can you believe? White Chocolate Sorbet? Yup. Still in awe.

This dessert consist of (from left to right): Warm chocolate cake with whipped cream, chocolate panna cotta, white and gianduja chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache and white chocolate sorbet.

The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Part III

(A Blog Series by Chef Maika)
Consumer deception to buy a product is the number one goal of marketers to bring in the profits. They might not lay it all out to you that way, but, this is in fact what they are doing. In addition, once you put one and one together, the truth will come out. Marion Nestle shares this finding and points out “The foods that sell best and bring in the most profits are not necessarily the ones that are best for your health, and the conflict between health and business goals is at the root of public confusion about food choices” (7). However, if you were strolling down your grocery aisle, this controversy would not pop into your head. You shop with confidence. “Hey, I know whole grain is good for me, I will buy whole grain bread”. Then you instantly find that amazing popular brand of bread you see every day on television that says “Made with 100% Whole Grain!” How simple was that? Sorry to disappoint you, but did you ever notice how much sugar that product contains? Now, wouldn’t that defeat the whole reason why you bought the bread in the first place? The food marketers got you! I stumbled upon a website called “On the Menu: Nutrition Consultants to the Food Industry”. I was astonished to read the following, “Here are some proven ways we establish a health conscious image without compromising the creativity of your food product.” (On The Menu, LLC, 2004). In others words, “Give us your sour gummy bears and we will market them as Fat-Free with Vitamin C! Even though, they are saturated in glucose syrup and other crazy complex sugars that can stick to your mouth and cause tooth decay!” And guess what, it doesn’t stop there. Did you know with foods labeled Low-Free, you are more inclined to eat 50% more of the product than you would regularly? Taking on more than 90% more in calories (Helm, 2006)? You were thinking guilt free, so you ate more; which eventually gets you nowhere when it comes to losing weight. Again, that’s why it’s so important not to turn on your auto-search pilot brain driver when going down the food aisle when making important nutritional decisions. You must use your nutrition knowledge to get what is more beneficial to you, not what a marketer tells you. In Marion Nestlé’s book “Food Politics”, it breaks down the whole system on how far marketers have gone. They didn’t just stop at consumers; they went all the way to the United States House of Representatives where advocate lobbyists were present pressuring governments for favorable regulations and the White House for favorable trade agreements (95). Whoa! I almost felt like I was in another world! Everything around me is simply not what it seems anymore. You & I have been influenced whether right or wrong, to buy those products. High demand for health products are actually created by the demands of consumers who were influenced by the health products marketers themselves. Could you believe that a market company would actually pay $60,000 each time for their product to be placed in a television program series (Zied, 2006)? Well believe it. Don’t believe the hype, get your facts straight. I’m not trying to sound like a schizophrenic when I say “They are coming to get you!” This is just how the marketing world works and it is your responsibility to learn how to decipher the truth. Dr. Robert Osgoodby agrees, stating you have “to learn how to properly read product labels and interpret marketing catch phrases.” For example, they may state only 100 calories per serving on that muffin package. But did you look to see how much serving is for that one package? Look, it says 4 servings. So basically, you are only allowed to have one bite, and have to save the rest for tomorrow! In reality, no one is going to do that!

Crema Cantalana

Pastry Chef Antonio has done it again. This weeks special dessert is a great treat. Crema Cantalana, I never heard of that word before, always learning something new. Anyways, this version of the famous creme brulee was a custard made from Greek Yogurt and burned with sugar like the creme brulee. It was thick, rich but lightly sweeten. Served with Watermelon Soup, Cantaloupe Confit and Honeydew Sorbet. So refreshing and light. plus, it reminds you of fruit yogurt. Very interesting way to have something so common in a rare way.

Heavy Cream to Butter?

Yes indeed. In the kitchen this is a waste!!!!!! I was whipping up some heavy cream to make chocolate mousse. I ended up mixing the heavy cream to much!!! i ended with a mixture of skimmed milk and butter separated in the mixer machine's bowl. Of course I hate to waste food, so i decided to strain the mixture in a Chinese cap strainer. And I saved the butter for future use. :)

The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Part II

(A Blog Series by Chef Maika)
Due to the many issues of manufacturing marketing woes that came about in the early 1900s, from many companies deceiving consumers to make a large sum of money to United States’ concern of malnutrition and the rapid increasing rate of health preventable diseases; Regulations for products came as a result of these issues and created two federal agencies: (1) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and (2) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Food and Drug Administration was established in 1906. Ever since then, they have been working hard to promote and protect public health (U.S. Drug & Food Administration, 2009). In this essay you will see how import and how much effect these two major federal agencies have on us nationwide. In 1982, the Food Guide Pyramid was revealed to help consumers in identifying healthy eating habits. In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was born. This new act regulated how manufactures of processing foods companies give vital information to consumers by the requirement of having “Nutrition Labels” and “List of Ingredients”. FDA & FTC have created a new era and shifted and shook the food industry with these two new concepts. Now, I’m not going to lie and will agree with some critics about how confusing these Nutrition Information Labels can be to a regular consumer who is not a Nutritionist or a Doctor. One may say in a frustrated voice: “So what it has 11g of sodium and 28g of protein? What does that mean?!” But let me just assure you, with great sites like EatRight.org, a little knowledge about your own personal nutrition need and a personalized guideline you will have a great collaboration of powerful tools to help you in this world of confusing labels. Now let’s get back to history class. In the same century, The Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Standard Oil Company vs. United States stirred up and created a huge antirust debate. Congress knew they needed to enforce more strict rules on what companies can and cannot do in the process of trading. Which eventually lead to the signing of The Federal Trade Commission Act in September 16, 1914 by our 28th President, Woodrow Wilson (Federal Trade Commission 90th Anniversary Symposium, 2004). Its overall mission was “Consumer Protection” and to prevent unfair methods of competition in commerce (Federal Trade Commission Website, 2008). Consumer protection is so important in a world that is constantly motivated by monetary needs. Especially, when other important needs of a U.S. consumer is being neglected, which causes the government to take a stand and enforce regulation. Through the endless government efforts of promoting a healthy lifestyle to the public and strict rules to the food industry marketers, the influence of health became a growing trend. More and more consumer wanted more and more healthy food products. This produced a huge creation in the “Fad Diet Craze” to aisle and aisle of supermarket products proclaiming health benefits that in reality deceived their consumers for the benefit of profit from great marketing.

Papaya Cannolis with Passion Fruit Sorbet

This weeks special. Chef Antonio is so passionate with his desserts, you can see it shine when you take a bite. This dessert held sweet memories for me. Especially with the cannoli themselves. The papaya mousse, tastes just like the way my grandma made papaya shake as a kid. So comforting. I just took a huge sigh just thinking of it. Plus, do you see those little beads of fruit on the sorbet? Would you believe that is fruit caviar? Yup it's all science, one day...maybe I'll let on you to it more :) The caviar is a mixture of melon fruits, watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. The juice have been turned it to chewy melt in your mouth fruity beads. The plate was also decorated with diced mango and papaya soaked in spiced rum and passionfruit pudding drops. Such a great treat in this torturing hot sun.

MMMMM...Warm Bananas.

I was inspired with this dish, when I was thinkin' of Tarte Tatin. I wanted something different. And I found, Banana Tarte Tatin. So I tried making something, similar in the Tarte Tatin family and came up with this. It's Basically Puff Pastry sprinkled with Cinnamon and Sugar and Baked til crispy and puffed all the way. Topped with fresh thick sliced bananas. And topped with good ole' traditional Caramel sauce. Heat it up in the oven all together for about 5 minutes and top with ice cream. ohhhh soo good and comforting.

The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Source

"THE DECEPTION OF HEALTHY FOOD PRODUCTS" is a blog series that will be running for a month. Here are the sources, of where I get my information from. If you would like to read part one, please read the following blog below. :)

Clifford, Stephanie. “Frito-Lay Tried to Enter Minds (and Lunch Bags) of Women.”
The New York Times. 24 February 2009. 24 February 2009.

----. “Tug of War in Food Marketing to Children.” The New York Times. 30 July 2008.
24 February 2009.

Federal Trade Commission. 90th Anniversary Symposium. Celebrating 90 Years.
Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission Conference Center, 22-23 September 2004.
Federal Trade Commission. Protecting America’s Consumers. A History.
10 October 2007. 20 February 2009

Gardner, Stephen. Litigation as a Tool in Food Advertising: A Consumer Advocacy
Viewpoint. 21 November 2006. 20 February 2009.

Helm, Janet. “Low-Fat Labels Can Lead to Weight Gain.” ABC News. 11 December
2006. 10 April 2009.

Nestle, Marion. Food Politics. London: University of California Press, 2002.
---. What to Eat. New York: North Point Press, 2006.
Osgoodby, Dr. Robert. “How To Properly Decipher Deceptive Food Labels.” Fitness
Catalog. 27 June 2005. 20 February 2009.

Standard Oil Company v. United States. No. 398. Supreme Ct. of the US. 15 May 1911
Summit Street Media. On The Menu, LLC. Food Product Marketing. 2004. 23
February 2009
United States. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA History. 20 February 2009

Zied, Elisa and Ruth Winter. So What Can I Eat?! New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 2006.

The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Introduction

(A Blog Series by Chef Maika)
Health has always been an issue in American society. We have gone far as to create ridiculous machines to fad diets. For example, eat only a grapefruit daily to lose weight. In addition, we have gone from simply knowing “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” to having a bowl of Wheaties to be healthy and strong like Michael Jordan and other well known athletes. Fad Diet Crazes have become popular in the late 20st Century with books like “The South Beach Diet” and “The Atkins Diet”. The food industries like Kraft have hopped on the bandwagon by creating convenient healthy packaged meals like South Beach Living. Now just imagine, staring with their eyes piercing down below from their high towers, CEOs of great food industry companies breathing with the desire and undying will to find out what the next new demand is going to be out there in the bustling world below and how they can get a piece of the money pie. From various market research presentations coming in and out of their office, they have come to the conclusion of the growing health marketing trend. Marketers are now doing everything in their will power from creating to changing old products to deceiving products to appeal to the large health conscious consumer segment that seems to be growing rapidly every day. But what does that mean for us, the health conscious consumer? Ever heard of “Buyers Beware”? Simply this: We can no longer go by what manufactures say on their pretty packaged labels to stay healthy. Health conscious consumers will benefit more by becoming more aware of these marketing tactics and learn how to decipher health food labels and ingredients lists by knowing how to decode manufactures’ wordings.

Laptop for everychild.

Purple Jewels :)

look how deep and vivid these purple potatoes are. Just amazing the many different types of one vegetable you can find all over the world. Well, so far from my research I found out these bad boys originally came from the Andes of Peru. Peru has soooooooo many different kind of potatoes, even pink ones...incredible. You can cook these potatoes like Idaho potatoes. They don't have to much liquid, so they are great for roasting and baking. Warning, if you fry or sear them, they will develop a brownish-purplish skin. They taste awesome in potato salad. Whatever you wish ;)

Spicy Lychee & Passion Fruit Broth

This was pretty interesting to make. It takes the flavor of lychee and passionfruit but on the savory side. I served it with shrimp. It has enough acid to use for ceviche. Or you can use it as a sauce for fish. You can even dice up some pineapples or mango and make a salsa with it, for a pork dish or fish dish. Hey marinate chicken in it. Hmmmmm... the possiblities are endless.

The Broth is made up of vegetable stock, lychee syrup, passion fruit puree, diced lychees, chopped cilantro, red pepper flakes and scallions.

LOL...Hot Chefs?

When I came up with this...I knew there had to be a way to support our "Hot" Chefs :) Chefs are one of the most passionate creative ppl in the world! Wouldn't you say? GoRedChef Designs.