Celebrating 7 Years of TASTE WITH THE EYES with Gelato Bars!

Celebrating 7 Years of TASTE WITH THE EYES with Gelato!

Celebrating 7 Years of TASTE WITH THE EYES

Dear Friends,

I have no recipe to share today. I simply want to take a moment to thank you for your kindness over the years. Your enthusiasm, encouragement, and interest are huge motivating factors. Nothing makes my day more than hearing from you – that you tried one of my recipes and loved it! And not only did you cook my dish, you took the time out of your busy day to let me know. How cool is that? You rock.

Seven years ago, I uploaded my first photo, one of a dinner at Charlie Trotter’s Kitchen Table in Chicago 2006. One that is especially sentimental now, with the sad news of the Chef’s passing last November. He was my hero.

Not knowing how to link a website, nor understanding that I should actually say something about the meal, I naively thought Taste With The Eyes would be a blog about food and restaurant photos. I’ve learned a lot since then. I never realized how this little project could lead to making friends all over the world, all the fun to be had, and all the skills I would acquire. It has been such a sweet experience. So, the theme for the anniversary is “blogging is sweet” and since desserts are few and far between here, as I am definitely a savory gal, I thought I would share a few shots of Chef Perry’s house made gelato bars taken at Terranea Resort’s Sea Beans restaurant.

It is my hope that Taste With The Eyes continues to inspire you just as reading your blogs and hearing your comments inspires me. I’m grateful for the people this blog has brought into my life. It has turned into quite a passion over the past seven years! As a direct result of blogging, I am now a food writer and photographer for a local paper, I photograph food for a world-class resort, and have my Korean recipes featured weekly in the Korea Herald Business. 감사합니다 K-Herald! And who knows what fabulous people I shall meet and what fabulous opportunities lie ahead? I hope our paths cross soon and often. It is an honor and pleasure to know each and every one of you.

Merci Beaucoup.

Your Friend,
Lori Lynn

Celebrating 7 Years of TASTE WITH THE EYES with Gelato Bars!
Vanilla Bean Gelato Bars

“The pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite – toujours bon appétit!” -Julia Child

Celebrating 7 Years of TASTE WITH THE EYES with Gelato Bars!
Strawberry Gelato Bars

“ I want the amateur diner to enjoy the food as much as the connoisseur.” -Charlie Trotter

Celebrating 7 Years of TASTE WITH THE EYES with Gelato Bars!
Peanut Gelato Bars

With the utmost gratitude… -Lori Lynn

An Incredible 5-Course Gourmet Dinner for $25?

Los Angeles Harbor College Culinary Arts Program

Los Angeles Harbor College Culinary Arts Program

It’s one of the best kept dining secrets in all of Southern California, where the food is impressive, the service is genuine, the ambiance is unique and the cost for a 5-course gourmet meal is … $25.

The students of the Los Angeles Harbor College Culinary Arts Program benefit from community participation and this is a secret they don’t want us to keep.

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Understanding UMAMI

Shaking Beef

Understanding UMAMI

“Those who pay careful attention to their taste buds will discover in the complex flavor
of asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat, a common and yet absolutely singular taste
which cannot be called sweet, or sour, or salty, or bitter…”  – Dr. Kikunae Ikeda
Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, Washington D.C., 1912

You recognize it in the meaty taste of a sizzling rib-eye steak hot off the grill. Beyond salty, you sense it in the savory tastes of aged Parmesan and cured anchovies on a Caesar salad. Beyond sweet, your mouth waters over the flavor of a warm ripe heirloom tomato picked right off the vine.

Can you taste it yet? In addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter…it’s umami, the fifth taste sensed by the human tongue.

Umami is defined as the savory taste and round mouth-feel imparted by glutamate and nucleotides such as inosinate and guanylate.

Over a century after its discovery, there is a huge fascination with this fifth taste because understanding the science behind umami can help cooks create more luscious dishes and help foodies better appreciate their meal.

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Liquor License Ordeal has Happy Ending for Chianina Steakhouse

Chianina Steakhouse
Chianina Steakhouse

It will eventually be known as one of the premier steakhouses in Southern California.

But what started out as a routine 30-day waiting period for a liquor license turned into a business nightmare. It is one that sadly affected not only successful businessmen but the little guy as well. Theirs is a story about an uncooperative state bureaucracy, bad luck, and perplexing alcoholic beverage policy, but through the team’s perseverance and commitment, resulted in a happy ending.

Just down the street from their other restaurants – Michael’s on Naples Ristorante and Michael’s Pizzeria in Long Beach – the partners of Michael’s Restaurant Group negotiated a lease to open a high-end  steakhouse called Chianina (KEE-a-NEE-na). The opportunity arose when the owners of Kelly’s, the previous restaurant in that location, chose not to renew their lease but still maintain the rights to their liquor license.

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Modern Cuisine – Cooking on the Cutting Edge

catering @ experium science academy
catering @ experium science academy

Modern Cuisine – Cooking on the Cutting Edge

“I think it is a sad reflection on our civilization that while we can and do measure the temperature in the atmosphere of Venus we do not know what goes on inside our soufflés.” —Nicholas Kurti

It’s the ultra-modern style of cooking. Although, all the way back in the 1800’s cooks and scientists were interested in understanding food chemistry. But it was not until 1988 that the term “Molecular Gastronomy” was coined by French chemist Hervé This and Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti. They began holding workshops to investigate the transformation that occurs when food is cooked.

making ice cream with liquid nitrogen
making ice cream with liquid nitrogen

The molecular or modernist cuisine movement really began when chefs took those scientific discoveries and applied creativity to that body of knowledge. They take the basics of classic cooking and craftsmanship then apply chemical compounds and elements such as liquid nitrogen for instantaneous freezing and techniques such as spherification (forming a liquid into a solid orb which remains liquid on the inside) and gelification (turning a liquid into a gelatinous form by using a gelling agent) to push the culinary envelope.

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