The second dish I mastered was this very weird cream cheese pasta someone taught me how to make, which I loved because it contained vegetables, especially tomatoes, peppers, leeks, onions and green onions cut in such a tiny way that it was almost a samurai game for my 9 year old self. That wasn't the reason I loved it though. The reason I loved it was that it contained a truckload of cream cheese, which would then turn pink thanks to the vegetables. Just like in Steel Magnolias (yes, I'm mentioning this movie yet again!), pink was my signature color.

Then came my obsession with watching cooking shows. Forget cartoons. I would watch Rachel, Emeril, Martha, Julia, Mario, and then I would pretend I was the host of a cooking show when I cooked on a stool in the kitchen because I couldn't reach the countertops. That image of me explaining to my dogs why you had to sift the flour in a cake makes me laugh since that's basically what I do now, only now I have humans as an audience too!

I remember watching my mom and my uncle Aly making their famous omelettes, which I could never quite master as well as they could. I remember learning all the basics of French sauce making from my uncle too, and how he made pan gravies right in the baking pan over a fire like straight out of A Chef's Table episode.  Speaking of sauces, I also remember the millions of times my mom tried to teach me how to make a hollandaise sauce, and how I would get so mad as a teen because I just didn't get why if I followed the directions and amounts it would sometimes break apart on me. By sometimes I of course mean 50% of the time... oh boy.

I can also tell you about one of my favorite food memories, the one that I think sealed my fate as a cook forever. It also happened to be my very first celebrity sighting EVER, and that kind of just sticks with you.

When I was 14, my grandmother took me to my first trip to Paris, one of my favorite cities in the world. I haven't told you about my grandmother a lot yet in the blog or our podcast, but if you've ever watched The Gilmore Girls, Mrs. Emily Gilmore had her down to a tee. She was very posh, always spotless, very critical and mean sometimes, perfect manners, always perfectly pressed clothes, incredible taste in restaurants, and in Paris, with her then only granddaughter by her side (that's me!), only the best Parisian food would do. We dined at the most incredible restaurants, and on one of our last nights there, she decided it was time to take me to the Crillon Hotel, one of the most famous and high end hotels in Paris, where the Crillon Ball takes place and all sorts of fancy stuff I didn't understand. Keep in mind my usual lifestyle and home was hippie-land, dream catchers on the wall, flow-y clothes all the way. In fact, I was on that trip to Paris with grandma only because mom was trekking across India meditating with the monks. Talk about contrast! We walked into the restaurant of the hotel to have our lunch, and as soon as our meal arrives, I see my grandmother's eyes widen as she tells me someone was sitting behind me.

It was Julia Child.

Yes, THE Julia Child.

Remember how I told you about my cooking show obsession? Well, I knew who Julia was, and now I could have leaned over and stolen her buttered roll.

Her voice was just as it was in her videos, and yes she was THAT tall. She felt like a force to be reckoned with. When I came back home I became even more obsessed with her and cooking, and I think it's no coincidence that I started seriously cooking and taking classes when I was 15 and 16, soon after coming back from that trip. Her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in spite of it including instructions on how to de-bone animals, is responsible for so many of the things you've learned from me at Brownble. 

Suffice it to say, I have had many culinary teachers and mentors, from the hosts of all those cooking shows I would watch for hours on end, to my mom and uncle, to my official cooking instructors, cooking teachers, cookbook authors and friends. I've followed many of these closely, and that always brings about two things. First, you realize that every cook has his or her style, even if you were to line them up and ask each of them to make you a grilled cheese sandwich, some would use panini presses, others would melt butter in a frying pan, others who love to get fancy pants would add caramelized onions or cranberries, some would make their own cheese. Each cook is unique in their techniques, go-to ingredients and style. They're also who I've learned countless kitchen tricks and hacks from, and today, just like we do with our food pairings series, I'm teaching you some of my favorites, and we're getting the ball rolling for future posts and episodes in which we go through even more!

These little cooking hacks are great, because no matter what you're making or who's recipe you're diving into, these will stick to mind and will help you get a great result every time. They're little culinary secrets, tricks and steps that can help you get delicious ingredients to shine even more.

Are you ready for the first batch of cooking hacks? Let's do this!

Batter it up hack

Whenever you're making something fried with some kind of batter or breading (think country fried seitan, or seitan scaloppini), add a bit of baking powder to the flour mix. It will help it crisp up much more!

Crispy and fried hack

I know the love of placing things on paper towels after frying something runs deep, but even better for the perfect texture is to let fried foods rest on a rack, letting any excess oil drip down. You can then pat with paper towels too, but having air circulating all around the food while it's on a rack means foods won't steam and will remain crisper (think perfectly crispy vegetable tempura!).

Wasaaaa-bi avocado hack

Lemon or lime juice can go a long way into helping avocado not turn brown too quickly, but add some wasabi for an Asian style guac, and it will stay green as the grinch for so much longer! You can make our Asian seitan fajitas with wasabi avocado cream to practice.