The concept of freezing  something on a cooktop instead of cooking it  is something that you would only see in sci-fi movies. I think its important since you can make frozen desserts in minutes and can make profit out of it. I would love to own one in the future but it is very pricey ( goes for $1,299.95 on PolyScience culinary).

During theory, we learned about diets and dietary restrictions . We were challenge to choose one of these diets, cohere for a week and record our experience. I chose Pescetarian, it like vegetarian but I am allowed to eat seafood. This has to be one of the hardest challenges I have ever done. It wasn't the food that was the problem ( okay, maybe it was haha ), it was the transition.  

Day 1 Sunday, March 15- It was a lazy day that so I barely ate anything and mostly played video games all day. I ate only an orange for breakfast and lunch but for dinner it is a whole different story. For dinner, I went on date and ate at an all you can eat sushi restaurant called Itamae at Don Mills Rd and Gate way Blvd.

Day 2 Monday, March 16 - I had my food, beverage, and labour cost control class at 2pm so I had time to make lunch ( well a snack ) for myself for school. During that time I made eggplant chips. I seasoned them with paprika,  crushed cumin, pepper and a bit of crushed coriander and baked them for  10 mins at 350°F ( I did not know we were doing something similar to this in our concepts class ). I also brought an orange and grapefruit.  For dinner, I ate a cabbage soup with rice that my Mom made.

Day 3 Tuesday, March 17- This day I barely ate anything except for during dinner. The reason I barely ate anything was because I was stressing out over my Art of  Eat & Dine class quiz and I was stressing over my careers assignment that was due later that day. For dinner, I ate a Shrimp and Opo squash stew with rice.

Day 5 Thursday, March 19- I didn't eat that much that day except 2 oranges ( for the whole day ) and tried Chef Jacheckis  food during our demo class. 

Day 4 Wednesday, March 18-  This is when I failed the challenge. For breakfast, I made a grilled cheese sandwich with spinach and tomatoes. When I took one bite, I basically realized what happen and I couldn't take back my action but that did not stop me from trying to continue it. For lunch, I ate extra pieces of sushi I made in our foods of the world class. For Dinner, I brought home extra trout from class. I marinade it in teriyaki sauce, pan seared it and ate it with rice. ( sadly no picture but it was good )

Day 5 Thursday, March 19- I barely ate that day.  I only ate 2 oranges and a bit of the demo food at the end of class that Chef Jachecki made.

Reflection- I felt bad messing up the challenge but in the end I stuck to the end.  I would say variety as an advice to myself. I can't keep eating sushi. I would experiment with food. 

Conclusion- I don't think I will continue with this diet. I love seafood and all but I am in a committed relationship with meat. Hopefully there is a protein based diet. I would totally try that for a week. 

Today I went to the farmers market with a group friends to get to know a farmer ( would be great to have a farmer as a friend in the future ).  

Upon entering the farmers market , I was a amazed on how many people were here ( first time to a farmers market so I don't know how many people would usually be here). We walked around for until we found a farmer that didn't look busy so we get to know him/her.

We found a farmer named Wes of Sovereign Farms and was happy to talk with us for a bit.
Wes Sovereign grew up on a farm in Burlington but barely remembers anything the farm  since his family left the farm when he was only 5 years old. In his teens he knew an older couple who often went to farmers market. The husband of the older couple died on the farm so Wes's family helped out. Soon after they kept it going on till the summer, bought some crops from there, and then  they eventually rented the land to help the  widowed lady. They sold the land of the farm and now became an IKEA.  Wes eventually got married , worked at a Tabasco factory in Hamilton when the economy started , and finally found a new farm in Waterford ( near Brantford, ON ). Wes said he was scared at the time since people were getting laid off and it would be his turn eventually. He doing fine now and paid off his payments for the farm this year.

Wes is not an organic farmer but does not condone non conventional methods. He does integrated pest management which introduces new bugs to control most pests control like white bugs. He also grows with a circulation system instead of the common plants in soil system. The water goes through a trough ( a  narrow open container ), runs through mixers and recycles the water so it saves the water fertilizer and minerals. Once in awhile the salts build up so it has to be changed. Wes really enjoys what he is doing and working in his green house but he can only control weather to a certain degree. It becomes a hassle in the summer since its hotter and it can increase the temperature in the greenhouse but he can cover so its a bit cooler. He needs to control the humidity our everything will be ruined.  We asked him his political/ financial views and he told us that farmers need a license to grow when you have more than an acre or  have more than 1 greenhouse and follow a food safety guidelines. 

This was an amazing experience for me. I learned many things that day, found a new place to buy produce and even made a new friend.

During the Christmas break, I went to many ramen shops because eating a hot bowl of ramen is a great trade off to the cold Canadian weather. Returning back to the school life we were assigned to do a review of a restaurant that is chef driven with a partner and what perfect a chance to try another ramen shop. I searched online for chef driven ramen shops and Momofuku, founded by Chef David Chang, kept popping up so I asked my partner, Marko Kovc, and he was down for it.   

Upon browsing the momofuku website, I found using reservation online easy to use and comfortable instead of awkwardly calling them in. The restaurant itself is easy to find, just a 5 minute walk away from St. Andrew Station. First impressions entering the restaurant, I felt a bit discouraged because Marko and I were dressed casual and Momofuku is suppose to be a pristine restaurant. We were greeted by a friendly young lady dressed casually and we got seated immediately. The table was already set and we were given our menus. While seated, the vibe was very relaxing and felt like we fit in. 

I ordered the momofuku ramen ( house ramen ), BBQ pork bun and their famous milk bar soft serve with corn flake crunch. The momofuku ramen consisted of pork belly & shoulder, fish cakes, scallions, pickled cabbage and a poached egg. The ramen itself was excellent and the presentation was simple . The pork was succulent and the ramen noodles itself taste fresh. I didn't like the fermented cabbage because it was too sour but I might be bias since I don't like sour foods. The ramen as a whole has to be the best ramen I ever had but it is very pricey for the amount you get. Next was the BBQ pork buns. It was a steam bun filled with mayo, slaw, sweet pickle and of course BBQ pork. This meal made me want to buy 50 more. It was juicy and it melts in your mouth. The bun was light and fluffy. The presentation looked sloppy though. The final order was the milk bar soft serve, famous for tasting like a bowl of cereal. This was highlight of my meal. Taking one bite gave me the sensation of eating cereal on an early Saturday morning. When we asked for the bill, there was a little mishap with our orders being on each bills but that was solved quickly. In conclusion, everything was fantastic  but very pricey ( average cost would be $20 a person ) . 

Rate 8/10 really good

After all the words of wisdom from Paul, I went back to school and tried to find books that would have recipes on how to cook Kangaroo loin. Unfortunately, there weren't any books on how to cook my cut so I went home and searched online. I found a cooking website that actually specializes on kangaroo meat, they even gave a link for you to download their cookbook. The cookbook is called " Roocipes, 80 of Australia’s best Kangaroo recipes" and the author is the website I'm guessing.

How would I cook it? I would try cooking it like how my mom would cook her pork tenderloins. I would first marinate the loin in whisked mixture of olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper and leave it in a bag for an hour in the fridge. Next I would take out the loin, put it in a baking tray and pour the marinade over the kangaroo loin. Afterwards I would put it in a preheated oven for 45-60 mins at 350 ( would change the cook time since its not pork ).

I would charge the same price it is selling online for at $40 for 1 lbs ( that's really expensive ) 
The special accommodations for cooking kangaroo meat is that its an exotic animal and is very pricey.
In the end, I believe serving kangaroo meat is a hassle since it is very pricey but it would very interesting eating it. 

Trying to make a soft boiled egg was pretty easy for me ( even if my egg was the same size as my shoe)
The reason it was easy for me is because I would put a soft boiled egg in my instant ramen or when eating toast. That is what I would eat my soft boiled egg.

What I do is let the water first go to boil and then slowly place the egg in with a spoon and let it sit in there for 5 minutes. To boil 50 eggs, I would say leave the eggs in for 10 mins since there are more eggs
the water temperature would drop down. Same applies to 500 eggs, they would stay in the water longer but I am not sure how long.

This soup is inspired by my Moms own soup she would make me when I am sick.
Ingrediants
- 1 cup of baby carrots or carrots
- 1 cup of celery
- 1/2 an onion
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 pound of pork 1 inch cut
- salt and pepper for taste

I tried the soup and I wish I halved the portion of carrots in the soup since the baby carrots overpowered the soup. My Mom also tried the soup and she agrees. This tells me that NOTHING can beat your own Moms cooking

This pickling recipe is a traditional Filipino way of pickling peppers that my Mom and Dad taught me when I was small. You will need;
1 peck of peppers
1 tsp of black peppercorns 
1/2 tsp of salt
1 clove of garlic
and enough white vinegar to fill up the jar

The peppers can stay in the jar for 2 days to even 2 years. I actually messed up by filling the whole jar with vinegar. Filipinos will actually use the vinegar more than the peppers itself,  I use the peppers when ever I can during a meal since I love spicy foods. It has a bit of a sour taste but has a better kick before it was pickled. What I would do is add sriracha sauce and paprika so the peppers will infuse in it so it could even get a bigger kick. Those picked pickled peck of peppers that were picked to be pickled for my pickling project now have a pinch of paprika. Now they would be a hand picked pickled peck of peppers infused with paprika were picked to be pickled for my pickling project ( say that 3 times fast ) . 

In the vast urban jungle of Toronto, my fellow hunters and I were searching for fruits we haven't tried or heard of. We went to Chinatown to find exotic and unique fruits. We have found a Chinese supermarket called Kai Wei Supermarket. Outside the store were fruit stands and that is when the hunt began.

After browsing through the market, this one sign caught my eye. It said Longan and the first thing that came to my mind was a character from a game I like to play. I wanted to try it so I asked my friend to buy some.

The Longan Fruit or also known as the dragon eye since it darkens with age and contains 1 pit or seed.
Its botanical name is the Euphoria langana. It is a very complimenting name since it is a very sweet succulent fruit and is very tasty. Mostly found in Southeast Asia and mostly produce anytime between mid and late summer.
 With this experience I should try to find more foods named after characters in video games because at the end of my journey that day, I found a great treasure.

 About a few days ago, my friends and I wanted to try tempanyaki since we wanted entertainment and good food. As we were about to enter the restaurant, it was closed. At this point we were tired from walking in the heat and needed to cool down. About a block away from campus, we found a small store specializing it Gelatos.
How do I know this? The stores name is G for Gelato. I didn't know what gelatos were so I ordered vanilla. First bite in, and it was like eating a soft serve ice cream that was very rich in texture. At that point I realized that gelato was ice cream that was made differently. It was a good thing that tempanyaki restaurant was closed or we would not have found that hidden gem.