Thai!

This is my first attempt to review a restaurant in the city and I'm just going for it. Lately I've been going to weekly girls nights with some close girl friends and we decided to try this Thai place near 2nd and South Street called Tamarind.

Let me start off by saying the place is small, but somehow looks like it could manage a busy weekend night and still manage to make the customers happy. The decor is a bit outdated, but gives one the right quaint feel one needs to sit and have a cost-efficient, delicious meal.

One thing I can say is that is BYOB, so most customers take advantage of that, especially because there is a Wine and Spirits Shoppe a few blocks West on South. The second thing I'd like to point out is that it is incredibly vegetarian and vegan friendly. I had many choices laid out for me on the menu and I didn't have to pay a lot for it either!

The ladies and I enjoyed a tasty meal together and with the fast and friendly service we could have been in and out in less then an hour, but there were five of us, so we weren't in a rush. My meal consisted of spring rolls (the vegetarian alternative to egg rolls) and though they were a bit greasy and I had to pat them down a few times, they were filled with flavor and had a nice crunch when chewing the cabbage and vegetables stuffed inside. The orange sauce on the side was so sweet and a perfect match for the rolls. Next, my entree was the tofu and vegetables sauteed with garlic and Thai red chiles and served with rice on the side. Well, I asked the waitress to make the dish fairly spicy for me and gave her the rating of a 4 out of a spicy scale of 1-7, so I didn't expect it to be that spicy. Apparently, a 4 is more like a 40 and the spiciness of the sauce burnt my tongue a few times and made my eyes water. My mouth was on fire! I wish I would've known how the scale worked- if my dish was a 4 who in the world could manage to eat a 7 dish?!?!

I was delighted and definitely pleased with my meal at Tamarind and would recommend the restaurant to those interested in a different spin on Asian cuisine right on South Street. Just make sure to be very specific of how spicy you want your food!

Gettin' back into the food

Recently I have been experimenting with different flavors and foods, especially with working in the vegan restaurant kitchen because I am able to see how professional chefs put ingredients to work and create fantastic dishes! It is so amazing to be able to work in a kitchen of a restaurant in the city and to be able to make desserts for them and prepare foods for the main dishes. Just being in the kitchen gives me a feeling of comfort. I am inspired to cook, to be creative and to do research about new recipes.

I worked incredibly hard this week and after each shift, I feel completely exhausted, but also like I actually did something with my time. Serving people might not be the most ideal position for some, but for me I enjoy analyzing the customers and watching for their reactions to the food. It can be very emotionally and physically draining and I think that's what affects me most at the end of the night.

This past Saturday night was a bit rough because I had to learn all of the new desserts features on the menu and I had gotten so accustomed to the old desserts that I had to rewire my brain to make the new cheesecake dish, chocolate tart dish and the others. Though they are so incredibly delicious and totally fun to prepare and present to the customer, it takes mental and physical power to successfully create the dessert dish. Up until now I have been working on the desserts, but I just got news that I will be promoted to working on cold appetizers because of my ability to quickly prepare dishes and accurately time out the prep work. How exciting! Sweet deal! Time to get my fingers dirty in food other than powdered sugar and chocolate- hmmmmmm. Also, I learned where not to touch a knife. I got cut twice at work because my fingers slide across the sharpest point on the knife and that is right near the handle. It's the sharpest because it is never used! Apparently my fingers were drawn to this point and I had to wear two band aids and two gloves to shield my cuts. I thought it was pretty funny, but the pain and annoyance of sprinkling granola and scooping pear slices into the desserts while wearing gloves was not so funny! :P

Talk the talk, Walk the walk- Blog, Blog, Blog

I have been blogging for about three years now and every time I post a new blog I have a feeling that it isn't good enough or interesting enough or I ask myself why would someone want to read this? Then I remember why I started this blog and I realize that it doesn't necessarily matter how many followers I have or how many people actually like my blog posts, but more that I am able to do this freely.

Blogging is become such an art form for people interested in writing and who are technically savvy enough to create a user name and type up some thoughts onto the compose page of the site. It has become a way for people to express their feelings toward specific things or in some cases general day to day events and things that he or she comes in contact with. I enjoy blogging about my life and food and my travels. A lot of what I write about may not seem focused, but my mind never really is, so it is a true representation of my thoughts and feelings.

I recently spoke to a journalism class that I actually took last school year and I stood in front of the class to talk about my blog and give advice to the students. Initially I felt honored and couldn't believe that I was actually asked to talk about this blog. I made sure to explain my background in journal writing and why I wanted to start this blog. It was interesting to hear the reactions and see how some people were bored with the whole idea of blogging. It was then that I realized how I was the same way. I never wanted to start blogging and was so annoyed by the idea of it, but once I started I got hooked. It's a matter of knowing your objective and adding your creativity to the mix of all the blogs in the world.

The one thing I would say to someone thinking about blogging is to do it if you want a way to express yourself and a way to be creative and don't mind people reading about it. I surely don't mind and I will continue to post about my travels, about my food encounters and about my lifelong journey. So continue to enjoy if you have been reading and if not, welcome and I hope you will continue to read my blog.

Student I am once again!

Well well well...I am officially a student once again. It has to be a dream come true now that I have been reassigned as a student, but this time a graduate student. I am not full-time yet, but I hope to be in the spring. Some may say I am all over the place with my ideas and my plan for life, but really I am experimenting with some things and settling on some more. I have decided to go back to school because I feel most comfortable in the academic setting at times, especially when it comes to advancing myself in the career world. No jobs were circulating my way, but what was circulating in my head was the idea to pursue my newly found career path through graduate studies in Public Health.

Public Health will give me the opportunity to learn about health communication, health education, sending messages to people about health risks and creating new programs to reverse the negative affects. I have high hopes for this program, especially for what I want to do. It will open me up to learn more about health related problems, social behaviors among people and so on and so forth. I have two classes this semester, so let's see how they go!

More to come...

New Recipes for Success!

Ciao! I have been getting the ball rolling with my newly realized goals in life, so I have been trying to cook up interesting recipes and do a lot of research on my own for alternative ingredients and tips on healing methods using foods. Working in a restaurant has allowed me to be more aware of what I eat and how others eat. It's so interesting to watch the different types of people come into a vegetarian/vegan restaurant some having never tasted tofu or seitan, but still enjoying every last bite of their meal. It's the talent and skill that comes with being a chef and being a "foodie." If the customer is satisfied, well the job is done and done quite well.

I have been shadowing some of the chefs and workers at my job and it is great to see how they prepare the ingredients to make exquisite dishes. The time that goes into making an appetizer or entree or even dessert is so precious and so exact that they mass produce the food, but also give each dish a special touch for the individual customer to enjoy. It's as if they were cooking for a close friend or family member.

The restaurant has a lot of fantastic people who are totally passionate about food and the business. It is a tough industry to work in because customer service jobs can be testy at times. Customers don't make the servers' lives easy, but if you know how to work with them and get the job done it will be a very easy and successful shift. I enjoy every minute of preparation and service that I have to do at my job. It is a comfortable environment for me and I can't believe I'm just discovering that right now. I go in to my work shift with a positive mindset that I will have a great night serving people and helping them to enjoy their dining experience, as well as helping my co-workers with their jobs. By the end of the night, even if my feet are sore and my brain is fried, I am able to say I had a great night and made people happy all the while getting experience in a vegan restaurant!

Oh the possibilities are endless in this industry and I am willing to test almost all of them. With time and the proper footwear I'm sure I'll be able to do so. I still have many ideas and plans in terms of culinary school and different master's degree programs, but I'm finding a way to mix some things together...

Dish of the week:
Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup sold at Horizons on South Street in Philadelphia
The light flavors of cucumber mixed with the dense and hearty consistency of avocado make this soup so delightful, especially after being chilled and topped with cumin oil, mint and toasted pumpkin seeds. It is a great dish for this time of year as we escape the heat in search of a refreshing dish to satisfy our taste buds.

Walking With a Purpose

After a topsy-turvy month of August, I am beginning to settle down to a way of life that I am pleased with and that I need desperately. It has not been fun and August has just thrown obstacles and decisions and even opportunities at me, but overall it has stressed me out! I came back on August 1 from Europe and since then I have been trying to figure out where my next step is and I believe I found it. After long hours of thinking and many sleepless nights tossing and turning with ideas and plans for the future, I have finally settled down.

Well, I love food and cooking and giving people advice on healthy living when it comes to dieting and changing one's lifestyle, so I have decided to pursue a career in the food and health industry. It's not your average career choice though because I will blend my journalistic skills with my culinary skills, as well as my knowledge of all things vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free/organic etc. etc., and most prominently Italian.

I have found myself exactly where I guess I had been hiding for years now- deep within. This dream has always been in the back of my mind, but for some reason I was intimidated by the fact that the industry is hard and demanding and I could never be as good as some of the top chefs or health professionals, but really I was only denying my deep rooted potential to do great things.

Though being back had it's negative effects, I feel I have tried as hard as possible to turn them into positive things. I have applied to jobs in and around the city involving food and places that will help me get the food experience I need to test the waters. I may have found just the right place for me and now I can take on as much as I want and take advantage of the experiences that await both in the kitchen and out of the kitchen.

It's taken many hours of yoga to slow down my mind and calm my body of the stresses that have been inhibiting me to see clearly what is and has been right in front of me. Finally this life of the Italian vegetarian who loves traveling blog has become the foundation to a lifelong career that I will continue to establish for myself.

P.S. Traveling was a possibility this fall, but I had bigger ideas in mind and going back to Italy seemed to be a sort of regression back to my old way of thinking and wanting to escape reality, but not I have discovered a sort of purpose for my life right now and that is to explore food and health, so I am going to do it. Let's see how it goes...

Let's Get Saucey!

Every year my family and I go to a farm in Jersey to pick tomatoes for our annual sauce making event. Well, because the rules have changed since I was little, we are now forced to go to the farms and just buy crates of tomatoes that have already been picked. It is a bit disappointing especially because it was such a monumental event that I looked forward to as a child. We would get up bright and early and drive out to the farm and get down to business in the fields. It was a bit easier for me to crouch down and pick the tomatoes because I was O so tiny, but it would get a bit difficult for my parents to crouch and bend and crouch and bend, so I would do most of the work ;) (at least I made it seem that way). So every year we would get itchy and buggy in the tomato field and drive on home with crates of tomatoes in the back of our van. A few days later we got going with the sauce making process.

This year, though we didn't pick the tomatoes ourselves, we still loaded up the van with crates of tomatoes and headed on home to lay them out on the porch. The tomatoes were simply beautiful! We gave them a few days to fully ripen and then it was ready to get saucey! My parents and I prepped the jars, the pots of boiling water, the tubes and the tomato machine and we got going. I was the squisher (as I have always been) and when my dad would put the tomatoes at the top of the machine, I was there ready with the wooden spoon to squish them down into the machine so it could do its job of separating the sauce and the skin. Once the tomatoes go through the machine, we take the skin and put it throw the machine two times to get any final tomato sauce out. What we're left with are tubes of red, freshly squeezed tomato juice that we turn into sauce once we jar them, boil them and wait for the seal to pop.

It's quite a lengthy process with little steps in between the actual steps of picking the tomatoes and jarring the sauce, but it is a process that has been in my family for generations. The annual sauce-making day is quite a venture and a bonding experience for the Sellecchia's. No one can deny that having fresh, homemade sauce with your pasta is the best thing an Italian can hope for, as well as those who eat the food ;)

Can't wait to cook up some sauce and get going with the spaghetti. I think the water is boiling now, so I better run and put the spaghetti in! Buon Appetite!