Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 402: Hawaiian Family Cooking That Feels Like Home with Chef Sheldon Simeon

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Episode 402: Hawaiian Family Cooking That Feels Like Home with Chef Sheldon Simeon · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You are listening to the Cookbook Love Podcast with
• 0:04
  Speaker: Maggie Greene, episode number four hundred two.
• 0:11
  Speaker: Welcome to the Cookbook Love
• 0:12
  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
• 0:14
  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
• 0:16
  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
• 0:18
  Speaker: clubs.
• 0:19
  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
• 0:21
  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
• 0:23
  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
• 0:25
  Speaker: Greene.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the cookbook Love Podcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker: How's everybody doing today?
• 0:37
  Speaker: Hope you are all doing well.
• 0:39
  Speaker: I am wrapping up my Thursday here in my cookbook bunker.
• 0:45
  Speaker: And then between doing podcast
• 0:48
  Speaker: interviews and I'm going live to
• 0:50
  Speaker: do a free chat about cookbook
• 0:54
  Speaker: writing foundations, I'm doing
• 0:56
  Speaker: laundry and packing my suitcase
• 0:58
  Speaker: because we're headed to Chicago
• 1:00
  Speaker: tomorrow to enjoy the weekend
• 1:02
  Speaker: there with our sons and their
• 1:06
  Speaker: fiances, and celebrating the
• 1:09
  Speaker: graduation of one of my sons
• 1:12
  Speaker: from his master's degree
• 1:13
  Speaker: program.
• 1:14
  Speaker: We're going to take in a White
• 1:16
  Speaker: Sox Cubs game, and from what I
• 1:19
  Speaker: understand, share the city with
• 1:21
  Speaker: all the people who are also
• 1:22
  Speaker: there.
• 1:23
  Speaker: Going to the Bruno Mars concert
• 1:25
  Speaker: and the National Restaurant
• 1:26
  Speaker: Association show.
• 1:29
  Speaker: So I don't know if I mentioned
• 1:30
  Speaker: this on the podcast before, but
• 1:32
  Speaker: I've been talking to guests and
• 1:33
  Speaker: I've been talking to students in
• 1:35
  Speaker: my programs about May and I have
• 1:38
  Speaker: a private coaching client I was
• 1:40
  Speaker: talking to yesterday about it
• 1:41
  Speaker: and, um, may being called may
• 1:45
  Speaker: simmer.
• 1:45
  Speaker: I feel like I've said that to
• 1:46
  Speaker: you guys before, but it's
• 1:48
  Speaker: fascinating how this month gets
• 1:50
  Speaker: so packed with different things
• 1:52
  Speaker: to do.
• 1:53
  Speaker: All fun things.
• 1:54
  Speaker: You know, we got Mother's Day,
• 1:55
  Speaker: of course, in Kentucky, we have
• 1:56
  Speaker: the derby day, derby day, we
• 1:58
  Speaker: have college graduations, high
• 1:59
  Speaker: school graduations, um, just
• 2:02
  Speaker: many, many things that get
• 2:03
  Speaker: people to enjoy the good things
• 2:06
  Speaker: in their life and some
• 2:07
  Speaker: celebrations.
• 2:08
  Speaker: So I hope everybody's doing well.
• 2:10
  Speaker: And if you're having a may that is packed with activities as
• 2:14
  Speaker: well, uh, be safe, have fun and enjoy the connection with the
• 2:19
  Speaker: people you care about.
• 2:21
  Speaker: So today on the show, I have an
• 2:23
  Speaker: interview with Chef Sheldon
• 2:24
  Speaker: Simeon.
• 2:26
  Speaker: Sheldon is the author of Ohana
• 2:28
  Speaker: Style Food from a Hawaii for
• 2:31
  Speaker: Your Family.
• 2:33
  Speaker: He was raised in Maui.
• 2:34
  Speaker: He is a chef and restaurateur,
• 2:36
  Speaker: husband, father and former Top
• 2:39
  Speaker: Chef competitor.
• 2:40
  Speaker: Along with his wife, Tiffany, he owns the restaurants called
• 2:44
  Speaker: Tiffany's and Tin Roof Maui.
• 2:47
  Speaker: Today in the conversation, Chef
• 2:50
  Speaker: Sheldon and I talk about the
• 2:51
  Speaker: deeper meaning of Ohana and how
• 2:54
  Speaker: the spirit of hospitality,
• 2:56
  Speaker: Family and community have shaped
• 2:58
  Speaker: his life.
• 2:59
  Speaker: His cooking and the spirit that
• 3:01
  Speaker: he hopes to invoke in this new
• 3:04
  Speaker: book.
• 3:05
  Speaker: You'll hear Sheldon describe the difference between Indigenous
• 3:09
  Speaker: Hawaiian cuisine and plantation era immigrant influences.
• 3:14
  Speaker: Why he wanted to write the cookbook, how pantry ingredients
• 3:18
  Speaker: and shortcuts can create meaningful and delicious meals,
• 3:22
  Speaker: as well as creative techniques for building smoky, flavor
• 3:26
  Speaker: making, plant based alternatives, and some recipe
• 3:30
  Speaker: inspiration for tuna patties.
• 3:33
  Speaker: Animal crackers, pork belly, and mochi.
• 3:37
  Speaker: Sheldon also reminds us that
• 3:40
  Speaker: growing up in a house where
• 3:41
  Speaker: people are constantly gathered
• 3:42
  Speaker: around food.
• 3:44
  Speaker: How those experiences shaped his
• 3:46
  Speaker: understanding of generosity and
• 3:49
  Speaker: connection, which he carried
• 3:50
  Speaker: forth in his restaurants and his
• 3:53
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 3:54
  Speaker: So without further delay, let's
• 3:56
  Speaker: dive into this interview with
• 3:57
  Speaker: Sheldon.
• 3:58
  Speaker: Simeon.
• 4:00
  Speaker: Hi, Sheldon.
• 4:01
  Speaker: Welcome to the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 4:04
  Speaker: Oh, Mahalo for having me.
• 4:06
  Speaker: Uh, yeah, super stoked to be here.
• 4:08
  Speaker: Yeah, very excited to have you.
• 4:10
  Speaker: Can't wait to talk all about your beautiful new book.
• 4:12
  Speaker: But before we do, why don't you
• 4:13
  Speaker: tell everybody a little bit
• 4:14
  Speaker: about who you are and what you
• 4:16
  Speaker: do?
• 4:18
  Speaker: Uh, well, I'm a, I'm a chef, author, a father, a husband, uh,
• 4:23
  Speaker: from the island of Maui, Hawaii.
• 4:25
  Speaker: I was born and raised in the islands, uh, there.
• 4:28
  Speaker: And, uh, my cooking is inspired by my upbringing in Hawaii.
• 4:33
  Speaker: I cook the food of Hawaii.
• 4:36
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 4:36
  Speaker: And you cook professionally at a restaurant?
• 4:40
  Speaker: I do, I, uh, we, I own two
• 4:42
  Speaker: restaurants along with my wife,
• 4:44
  Speaker: uh, Tiffany's in Wailuku and Tin
• 4:47
  Speaker: Roof Maui.
• 4:48
  Speaker: Wow.
• 4:49
  Speaker: What's it like to run a restaurant?
• 4:51
  Speaker: Uh, well, nowadays it's extremely difficult.
• 4:55
  Speaker: Uh, it's, uh, being especially
• 4:57
  Speaker: out in the middle of the Pacific
• 4:58
  Speaker: Ocean.
• 4:59
  Speaker: Uh, but, uh, we're very grateful
• 5:00
  Speaker: for every single guest that
• 5:01
  Speaker: comes through our doors
• 5:03
  Speaker: nonetheless.
• 5:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 5:04
  Speaker: Do you find that a lot of locals or people who are traveling to
• 5:07
  Speaker: the islands come to visit you?
• 5:10
  Speaker: Uh, we're blessed with both.
• 5:11
  Speaker: We like to think of ourselves as a neighborhood restaurant, uh,
• 5:14
  Speaker: that is open to, to visitors.
• 5:17
  Speaker: Uh, and, uh, we're, we're so
• 5:20
  Speaker: stoked that, uh, you know, I get
• 5:21
  Speaker: to travel around this whole
• 5:22
  Speaker: country.
• 5:23
  Speaker: I talk about it, and there has been so many people that has
• 5:26
  Speaker: visited, uh, our restaurants and, uh, we're, we're so lucky
• 5:30
  Speaker: to have that.
• 5:31
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 5:31
  Speaker: I understand you had some experience on Top Chef.
• 5:35
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 5:36
  Speaker: Uh, good or bad experience?
• 5:38
  Speaker: Uh, we're still trying to figure that out years later, but I have
• 5:40
  Speaker: been on two seasons of Top Chef.
• 5:43
  Speaker: Yeah, I think it's interesting, um, going on a show like that,
• 5:46
  Speaker: I'm sure that it's exciting to be chosen to get selected, but I
• 5:50
  Speaker: would imagine also it's kind of an interesting Experience to go
• 5:53
  Speaker: through the show and tape the show and have the results of
• 5:56
  Speaker: whatever ends up happening.
• 5:58
  Speaker: Oh yeah.
• 5:58
  Speaker: It's a whirlwind when you get on the show and you never know what
• 6:02
  Speaker: to expect day to day.
• 6:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 6:04
  Speaker: And you know, I did it for two
• 6:06
  Speaker: seasons and, uh, I'm sure that's
• 6:08
  Speaker: enough, but, uh, never say
• 6:10
  Speaker: never.
• 6:10
  Speaker: That's right, that's right, that's right.
• 6:12
  Speaker: So tell us a little bit about, uh, your experience of the food
• 6:18
  Speaker: and cuisine of Hawaii.
• 6:20
  Speaker: I'm sure growing up, you know, what you had available, what you
• 6:24
  Speaker: ate, and then what you brought from that to the work that
• 6:28
  Speaker: you're doing now.
• 6:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 6:31
  Speaker: Well, I'm the grandson of
• 6:33
  Speaker: Filipino immigrants that came to
• 6:36
  Speaker: Hawaii.
• 6:37
  Speaker: You know, I think, uh, to talk
• 6:39
  Speaker: about the food of Hawaii and the
• 6:41
  Speaker: islands, you need to talk about
• 6:42
  Speaker: its history.
• 6:43
  Speaker: Um, you know, uh, and I, I break
• 6:46
  Speaker: down Hawaii food in two parts of
• 6:49
  Speaker: where first would be the
• 6:50
  Speaker: indigenous cuisine of the
• 6:52
  Speaker: Hawaiian people.
• 6:53
  Speaker: The kanakas, uh, those, uh, ocean travelers that came and
• 6:57
  Speaker: settled in Hawaii.
• 6:58
  Speaker: And then the next part was from
• 7:00
  Speaker: my grandparents and all the
• 7:01
  Speaker: other immigrants that came to
• 7:02
  Speaker: work on the sugar cane
• 7:04
  Speaker: plantation.
• 7:04
  Speaker: So, uh, I was grew up surrounded by food by parents who hosted,
• 7:10
  Speaker: uh, everyone in their family.
• 7:12
  Speaker: Uh, my mom had eleven siblings, my dad had nine.
• 7:15
  Speaker: And our house was the center of that all.
• 7:18
  Speaker: Uh, so any type of holidays,
• 7:21
  Speaker: family gatherings, birthday
• 7:22
  Speaker: party, or just lunch or dinner
• 7:25
  Speaker: or hanging out, it was at my
• 7:26
  Speaker: house.
• 7:27
  Speaker: Uh, so I was surrounded by food.
• 7:29
  Speaker: My dad is still probably the best chef that I know.
• 7:32
  Speaker: Not by trade, uh, but just by the food and his love for food.
• 7:37
  Speaker: Um, yeah.
• 7:38
  Speaker: Uh, my brothers, uh, also a chef.
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  Speaker: Uh, so we're just constantly was
• 7:43
  Speaker: around food and inevitably we
• 7:45
  Speaker: became chefs.
• 7:46
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 7:47
  Speaker: And the influence of your
• 7:49
  Speaker: parents being from the
• 7:50
  Speaker: Philippines.
• 7:50
  Speaker: But let's talk about the
• 7:52
  Speaker: difference between the
• 7:53
  Speaker: indigenous food of Hawaii, the
• 7:56
  Speaker: ocean travelers you spoke of,
• 7:58
  Speaker: and then the other immigrants
• 7:59
  Speaker: that came into the country or
• 8:01
  Speaker: the state.
• 8:02
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:02
  Speaker: I think it's a stereotype that Hawaii food is, you know, it's,
• 8:06
  Speaker: uh, palm trees and tropical drinks, uh, when it's very,
• 8:10
  Speaker: very, uh, robust and, you know, comes from deep roots history.
• 8:16
  Speaker: So the Hawaiians, like I said,
• 8:17
  Speaker: the ocean travelers that came
• 8:20
  Speaker: and settled in Hawaii, they were
• 8:21
  Speaker: very simplified in their food,
• 8:23
  Speaker: but they were very connected to
• 8:24
  Speaker: the land.
• 8:25
  Speaker: Uh, so they had growing cycles with, uh, with the vegetables,
• 8:30
  Speaker: uh, that they brought with them.
• 8:32
  Speaker: Uh, they call these, these ocean, uh, canoe crops that they
• 8:36
  Speaker: brought with them breadfruit and kalo or taro, uh, some bananas.
• 8:42
  Speaker: Uh, so that was planted.
• 8:43
  Speaker: They cultivated the land and
• 8:44
  Speaker: then they would season those
• 8:46
  Speaker: things, uh, very simply with,
• 8:48
  Speaker: with Hawaiian salt or seaweed
• 8:50
  Speaker: that they would get from from
• 8:53
  Speaker: the shorelines.
• 8:54
  Speaker: Um, everything cooked over fire or or preserved.
• 8:58
  Speaker: Um, uh, not until, uh, the
• 9:02
  Speaker: second wave of influence where
• 9:04
  Speaker: you see, uh, the in influx of
• 9:07
  Speaker: different ingredients where you,
• 9:09
  Speaker: uh, come to know what Hawaii
• 9:11
  Speaker: food is.
• 9:12
  Speaker: Uh, so Japanese influence where they brought the soy sauce and,
• 9:16
  Speaker: you know, and noodles and Chinese workers, um, Portuguese
• 9:22
  Speaker: brought bread, uh, Puerto Ricans with spice, Filipinos with
• 9:26
  Speaker: umami, uh, Korean, uh, with their, uh, preserved things.
• 9:32
  Speaker: So all of these things, uh, now
• 9:34
  Speaker: in this modern day is
• 9:36
  Speaker: influencing the food that we
• 9:37
  Speaker: eat.
• 9:38
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:38
  Speaker: And when you, someone is, goes
• 9:40
  Speaker: through your cookbook or starts
• 9:41
  Speaker: to use your cookbook, are they
• 9:43
  Speaker: going to see a mix of this or do
• 9:45
  Speaker: they actually see just the
• 9:47
  Speaker: indigenous native Hawaiian
• 9:49
  Speaker: flavors?
• 9:50
  Speaker: No, you'll definitely see a mix of all of that.
• 9:53
  Speaker: And also.
• 9:54
  Speaker: Well, my first cookbook, uh, Cook Real Hawaii, really spoke
• 9:57
  Speaker: about those, uh, traditional dishes that you see in Hawaii
• 10:01
  Speaker: for my new cookbook.
• 10:02
  Speaker: I just wanted to celebrate that feeling of family.
• 10:06
  Speaker: Uh, the feeling of what we eat in Hawaii.
• 10:09
  Speaker: Uh, not necessarily by the
• 10:10
  Speaker: ingredients, uh, but that aloha
• 10:12
  Speaker: spirit.
• 10:13
  Speaker: Uh, what what comes with our food?
• 10:15
  Speaker: Yeah, I love that.
• 10:16
  Speaker: And I think that, you know, you
• 10:17
  Speaker: hear that mentioned about books
• 10:19
  Speaker: that people are trying to evoke
• 10:20
  Speaker: an emotion.
• 10:21
  Speaker: They're trying.
• 10:22
  Speaker: And you said the feeling of family or the aloha spirit.
• 10:25
  Speaker: What is that?
• 10:26
  Speaker: If you could put that into words.
• 10:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 10:29
  Speaker: Uh, you know, ohana means family.
• 10:32
  Speaker: And that's not only by blood and
• 10:34
  Speaker: not only by, uh, you know, your,
• 10:37
  Speaker: your siblings or your immediate
• 10:38
  Speaker: family.
• 10:39
  Speaker: Ohana is your, your circle of people.
• 10:41
  Speaker: That's the people in your community.
• 10:43
  Speaker: Uh, maybe it's your, it's the ranchers, it's the fishermen.
• 10:47
  Speaker: It's the guy at the grocery store.
• 10:49
  Speaker: Your mechanic, that fixes your car.
• 10:52
  Speaker: Uh, and that all encompasses Ohana.
• 10:54
  Speaker: And it's, uh, those people that surround you and mean the most
• 10:58
  Speaker: is what do you eat together?
• 11:00
  Speaker: What type of food you, when you,
• 11:03
  Speaker: uh, you cook when you gather
• 11:04
  Speaker: together.
• 11:05
  Speaker: Uh, that's the feeling of it.
• 11:06
  Speaker: And it's a feeling of generosity, of wanting to take
• 11:09
  Speaker: care of each other.
• 11:10
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 11:11
  Speaker: And I would imagine with having a family of your own, and then
• 11:14
  Speaker: coming from parents that had eleven children on one side and
• 11:19
  Speaker: nine on the other, family, like you said, has always been a big
• 11:23
  Speaker: part of what you do.
• 11:24
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:25
  Speaker: We were so blessed to have
• 11:26
  Speaker: those, uh, you know, um, those
• 11:29
  Speaker: gatherings and as, as I reflect,
• 11:31
  Speaker: as I was, uh, writing this
• 11:33
  Speaker: cookbook, I was, man, I, I
• 11:34
  Speaker: watched my parents be these, you
• 11:37
  Speaker: know, these hosts to these
• 11:38
  Speaker: people.
• 11:39
  Speaker: And like, I was very lucky to, to witness that.
• 11:42
  Speaker: And, you know, that translates into how, how we run our
• 11:46
  Speaker: restaurants as as if we're inviting people into our homes.
• 11:49
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker: I want to ask you a question.
• 11:51
  Speaker: A lot of times we do watch our parents do stuff like that.
• 11:54
  Speaker: I came from a big family, um, eight children.
• 11:57
  Speaker: Everybody went on to get
• 11:58
  Speaker: married, you know, so there's
• 11:59
  Speaker: grandchildren.
• 12:00
  Speaker: And when I saw my mom, not well, just like feeding ten people
• 12:05
  Speaker: every day, like she got the food, she cooked the food, she
• 12:09
  Speaker: served the food.
• 12:09
  Speaker: Now, we always had to help her
• 12:10
  Speaker: set the table or wash the
• 12:12
  Speaker: dishes.
• 12:13
  Speaker: Um, but it seems so easy.
• 12:16
  Speaker: And then I was tasked with doing the same thing.
• 12:19
  Speaker: Or other people are tasked with doing the same thing.
• 12:21
  Speaker: What was it like for you when you watched your parents the
• 12:24
  Speaker: very first time that you cooked for a big group?
• 12:27
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 12:28
  Speaker: Oh man.
• 12:28
  Speaker: I think I took it for granted that there was always constantly
• 12:32
  Speaker: food that always evolved, uh, through our, through our pantry.
• 12:36
  Speaker: You know, my dad, uh, was a welder by trade.
• 12:39
  Speaker: So he'd have, you know,
• 12:41
  Speaker: fishermen and hunters give him,
• 12:43
  Speaker: uh, um, some meat from their
• 12:46
  Speaker: hunts or, or my, my mom would
• 12:48
  Speaker: have, uh, you know, gifts from
• 12:50
  Speaker: my aunts.
• 12:51
  Speaker: And there was always food
• 12:52
  Speaker: evolving, but it was amazing how
• 12:55
  Speaker: they were able to just have food
• 12:57
  Speaker: always made.
• 12:58
  Speaker: And no matter how many people showed up.
• 13:00
  Speaker: But I talk about that in certain
• 13:02
  Speaker: recipes on my cookbook, where
• 13:04
  Speaker: they were so ingenious of how to
• 13:07
  Speaker: make a quick meal, uh, with
• 13:11
  Speaker: whatever they had in front of
• 13:12
  Speaker: them, uh, just so that they
• 13:13
  Speaker: could host whoever was at the
• 13:15
  Speaker: house.
• 13:15
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 13:15
  Speaker: What were some of the quick meals that you could always
• 13:18
  Speaker: count on from them?
• 13:19
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 13:20
  Speaker: Um, my favorite, uh, recipe from
• 13:23
  Speaker: the book is Papa Ray's Tuna
• 13:25
  Speaker: Patties.
• 13:26
  Speaker: And that's my dad's tuna
• 13:27
  Speaker: patties, where he took a can of
• 13:29
  Speaker: cream of mushroom, uh, two cans
• 13:32
  Speaker: of tuna, an egg, and a bag of
• 13:34
  Speaker: potato chips.
• 13:36
  Speaker: And I'd watch this guy, uh, you
• 13:38
  Speaker: know, trick everyone into making
• 13:41
  Speaker: a gourmet meal and it was always
• 13:43
  Speaker: delicious.
• 13:43
  Speaker: Everyone always enjoyed it and it didn't really matter what was
• 13:47
  Speaker: was on the plate.
• 13:48
  Speaker: It was that feeling of creating something and cooking for for
• 13:52
  Speaker: someone that I think was magic.
• 13:54
  Speaker: You just kind of blew my mind with the potato chips.
• 13:56
  Speaker: I can imagine those added salt.
• 13:58
  Speaker: They added crunch because a lot of times people put plain
• 14:01
  Speaker: breadcrumbs in it, but there's no flavor to a plain breadcrumb.
• 14:04
  Speaker: Yeah, ain't nothing like a bag
• 14:06
  Speaker: of sour cream and onion potato
• 14:07
  Speaker: chips.
• 14:08
  Speaker: Exactly.
• 14:09
  Speaker: And I could see you probably could even use barbecue chips.
• 14:12
  Speaker: You could use any flavor of chip in the tuna cake or tuna patty
• 14:16
  Speaker: to make it, uh, filler.
• 14:18
  Speaker: Wow.
• 14:19
  Speaker: Fascinating.
• 14:19
  Speaker: There's a recipe.
• 14:20
  Speaker: Um, I took my first two
• 14:22
  Speaker: cookbooks were about food of
• 14:24
  Speaker: Kentucky, and there's a recipe
• 14:27
  Speaker: that I got from a restaurant for
• 14:29
  Speaker: a beer, cheese, macaroni and
• 14:30
  Speaker: cheese.
• 14:31
  Speaker: But they and they use the potato
• 14:33
  Speaker: chips, which are like a local
• 14:34
  Speaker: chip for the crunchy, you know,
• 14:36
  Speaker: topping that goes on top of the
• 14:37
  Speaker: macaroni and cheese and, uh, so
• 14:39
  Speaker: many people that bought the
• 14:40
  Speaker: book, it was just like mind
• 14:43
  Speaker: blowing for them to do something
• 14:44
  Speaker: like that.
• 14:45
  Speaker: And so I love it when we take foods that we just like normally
• 14:49
  Speaker: would eat out of a bag and we add them to something cooked and
• 14:53
  Speaker: it's just like, mhm.
• 14:54
  Speaker: It's just such an expansion and it's so much.
• 14:56
  Speaker: It's simpler than, you know, browning breadcrumbs or, um,
• 15:00
  Speaker: seasoning your own breadcrumbs.
• 15:02
  Speaker: Just use the potato chips.
• 15:03
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 15:04
  Speaker: You know, this, this book was a study in that, as you know, I
• 15:07
  Speaker: was like, I mean, now my probably twenty fifth year of
• 15:10
  Speaker: being, you know, cooking professionally, I went through a
• 15:13
  Speaker: period of my life where you're like trying to source the most
• 15:17
  Speaker: rarest ingredients and, you know, those those special
• 15:20
  Speaker: ingredients to make a dish.
• 15:21
  Speaker: And those are important, you
• 15:23
  Speaker: know, your connection with the
• 15:24
  Speaker: farmers and cooking, what is
• 15:26
  Speaker: seasonal and what is around you
• 15:28
  Speaker: too.
• 15:28
  Speaker: But I'm just trying to invoke that same, that same feeling of
• 15:34
  Speaker: when, when you eat a, eat a dish or when you take a bite of
• 15:38
  Speaker: something, it's like, oh my God, it was a perfect strawberry at
• 15:41
  Speaker: the perfect time of the season.
• 15:42
  Speaker: Or it was this tuna patty that was made for me because I just
• 15:45
  Speaker: came home from work and I was I was exhausted and that was in
• 15:48
  Speaker: front of me.
• 15:49
  Speaker: So amazing.
• 15:49
  Speaker: I think I'm, I think I'm chasing
• 15:51
  Speaker: that feeling more than I'm
• 15:53
  Speaker: chasing the ingredient these
• 15:54
  Speaker: days.
• 15:54
  Speaker: It's wonderful.
• 15:55
  Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about the book.
• 15:57
  Speaker: Uh, one of the features of the
• 15:59
  Speaker: book is that a lot of the
• 16:00
  Speaker: recipes are creative, plant
• 16:02
  Speaker: based spins on traditional
• 16:05
  Speaker: recipes.
• 16:05
  Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about the plant based spins that you
• 16:09
  Speaker: make on the recipes.
• 16:10
  Speaker: Yeah, we want to include everyone.
• 16:12
  Speaker: And I think, you know, like, uh,
• 16:15
  Speaker: taking a look at, uh, what is in
• 16:17
  Speaker: front of you and what is, what
• 16:18
  Speaker: is healthy.
• 16:19
  Speaker: We wanted to have those options.
• 16:21
  Speaker: So you see a lot of plant based, uh, things where, where we use
• 16:25
  Speaker: instead of cream, you can use like, you know, coconut milk and
• 16:28
  Speaker: some of the patties.
• 16:29
  Speaker: Um, what else?
• 16:31
  Speaker: So these recipes, I'm kind of
• 16:33
  Speaker: going through the book right
• 16:33
  Speaker: now.
• 16:34
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 16:34
  Speaker: One of them that I saw was you instead of, uh, raw fish.
• 16:37
  Speaker: For example, you use pan seared ripe avocado.
• 16:42
  Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
• 16:43
  Speaker: I think again, you're trying to invoke that same flavor.
• 16:46
  Speaker: And I think using a ripe avocado
• 16:48
  Speaker: in that sense is, is, is
• 16:50
  Speaker: delicious.
• 16:51
  Speaker: It mimics the, the fattiness of, of a piece of sashimi in there.
• 16:56
  Speaker: But then you have that bright, beautiful vinaigrette that goes
• 16:59
  Speaker: alongside with it.
• 17:00
  Speaker: You also had one where you used mushrooms to create escargot.
• 17:05
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:05
  Speaker: That's one.
• 17:06
  Speaker: Uh, you know, escargot has a lot of umami flavors.
• 17:09
  Speaker: And when you cook down some mushrooms, it kind of gives that
• 17:12
  Speaker: same texture as escargot.
• 17:14
  Speaker: So we just flavored it in that same way.
• 17:17
  Speaker: Um, everybody doesn't have the
• 17:19
  Speaker: ability to get some escargot
• 17:20
  Speaker: from France.
• 17:21
  Speaker: Uh, yeah, but I know that they can get a tray of mushrooms from
• 17:24
  Speaker: down at the, the grocery store.
• 17:26
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:26
  Speaker: That's a perfect example of what you mentioned before.
• 17:29
  Speaker: When sometimes these ingredients
• 17:31
  Speaker: that you source for a restaurant
• 17:32
  Speaker: might not be always available to
• 17:34
  Speaker: people in their homes or where
• 17:35
  Speaker: they live.
• 17:36
  Speaker: But avocado and mushrooms are
• 17:38
  Speaker: certainly something that people
• 17:40
  Speaker: can buy.
• 17:41
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:42
  Speaker: Yeah, totally.
• 17:43
  Speaker: Uh, man, this book is for everyone.
• 17:45
  Speaker: Well, we we encourage it.
• 17:48
  Speaker: We just wanted to people, uh, to, to get out there and, and,
• 17:51
  Speaker: uh, and try things.
• 17:53
  Speaker: And I think a lot of people are
• 17:54
  Speaker: intimidated by a lot of
• 17:56
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 17:57
  Speaker: And, uh, you know, we really
• 17:58
  Speaker: wanted to strip down these
• 18:00
  Speaker: recipes and make it approachable
• 18:01
  Speaker: so that people, you know, cook
• 18:03
  Speaker: with their family, cook with
• 18:04
  Speaker: their friends or, or for
• 18:06
  Speaker: themselves.
• 18:06
  Speaker: I grew up having those memories and I took it for granted
• 18:09
  Speaker: cooking alongside my parents.
• 18:11
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:11
  Speaker: And I want to continue that with my children.
• 18:13
  Speaker: And hopefully others get to have that same, same experience too.
• 18:18
  Speaker: I find that one of the most
• 18:19
  Speaker: fascinating things about growing
• 18:20
  Speaker: up, because the point at which
• 18:22
  Speaker: we realized that we should have
• 18:23
  Speaker: cooked more with our parents, we
• 18:24
  Speaker: can't really go back and do it
• 18:26
  Speaker: anymore.
• 18:27
  Speaker: No.
• 18:27
  Speaker: No. Uh, although nowadays I'm
• 18:30
  Speaker: dragging my dad alongside with
• 18:32
  Speaker: me.
• 18:32
  Speaker: Well that's true.
• 18:33
  Speaker: Right.
• 18:33
  Speaker: All these book tours.
• 18:34
  Speaker: And so he's doing he's doing the opposite.
• 18:37
  Speaker: He's got he I had to be the guy
• 18:39
  Speaker: that the, uh, the go getter and
• 18:41
  Speaker: grab things now and he's tagging
• 18:43
  Speaker: along and I'm having him do all
• 18:45
  Speaker: of that.
• 18:45
  Speaker: That's great that he's able to
• 18:46
  Speaker: and willing to go along with
• 18:48
  Speaker: you.
• 18:48
  Speaker: I shouldn't say he's willing,
• 18:49
  Speaker: but I guess the fact that he's
• 18:50
  Speaker: able.
• 18:51
  Speaker: Right.
• 18:51
  Speaker: Uh, no. We've been having a blast on the on the stops that
• 18:54
  Speaker: he's able to.
• 18:55
  Speaker: Well, he sounds like he's been a big inspiration to you, so I can
• 18:58
  Speaker: totally see why you would want to bring him along.
• 19:02
  Speaker: So one of the other things you talk about in the book is some
• 19:04
  Speaker: shortcut cooking techniques.
• 19:06
  Speaker: Uh, for example, I saw that you, uh, seared tuna in a hot wok or
• 19:11
  Speaker: pan to mimic smoking.
• 19:13
  Speaker: Tell us a little bit about that technique and how we might be
• 19:16
  Speaker: able to do that at home.
• 19:18
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:18
  Speaker: And that, that technique is, uh, is from the Chinese.
• 19:23
  Speaker: Uh, you know, the wok is, means the breath of the walk.
• 19:27
  Speaker: And they, they use that as an
• 19:28
  Speaker: ingredient, that flavor of, of
• 19:31
  Speaker: ingredient hitting a super hot
• 19:33
  Speaker: pan smoking this on using the
• 19:37
  Speaker: the soy sauce that that
• 19:38
  Speaker: caramelizes.
• 19:39
  Speaker: And once it hits the pans gives
• 19:41
  Speaker: that smoky flavor as if it was
• 19:43
  Speaker: being smoked in a in a
• 19:44
  Speaker: smokehouse.
• 19:45
  Speaker: So again, we're trying to evoke these memories with what we have
• 19:49
  Speaker: available, uh, for us, uh, we want to have smoky fish.
• 19:53
  Speaker: Don't have a smoker.
• 19:54
  Speaker: Let's use a hot pan that we have in front of us.
• 19:57
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:57
  Speaker: You also mentioned using a
• 19:59
  Speaker: Chinese using a dry walk to make
• 20:02
  Speaker: fish sticks.
• 20:04
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:06
  Speaker: Oh, man, that that was that's one of my favorite recipes.
• 20:10
  Speaker: And, uh, like, no one's got time to.
• 20:13
  Speaker: Oh, no one has the availability to get the perfect, you know,
• 20:15
  Speaker: piece of fish.
• 20:16
  Speaker: But I know that they've got fish sticks and.
• 20:18
  Speaker: Yes, and putting it in a non-stick pan with all these,
• 20:21
  Speaker: all these beautiful, bright, big flavors, uh, I think it's going
• 20:24
  Speaker: to kick some fish sticks up a notch throughout this country.
• 20:27
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:28
  Speaker: I think it's interesting.
• 20:29
  Speaker: Uh, another guest on our, on the
• 20:31
  Speaker: podcast, we're talking about
• 20:32
  Speaker: fish sticks the other day and
• 20:34
  Speaker: how, at least for us even
• 20:36
  Speaker: growing up, I mean, that's the
• 20:37
  Speaker: kind of fish that we really knew
• 20:39
  Speaker: was sticks.
• 20:41
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:42
  Speaker: And that's what mom served us was just fish sticks.
• 20:45
  Speaker: So people do know those and they do have those.
• 20:48
  Speaker: And I'm sure that, uh, it's fascinating to think that you
• 20:51
  Speaker: could use a dry wok style cooking to cook the fish sticks.
• 20:55
  Speaker: What kind of things do you put in the saucer on top of them
• 20:57
  Speaker: when you cook them?
• 20:58
  Speaker: Uh, so we've got on that.
• 21:00
  Speaker: We've got like dried chilies, uh, also some, some bright
• 21:04
  Speaker: herbs, some basil that goes along with it.
• 21:07
  Speaker: Uh, we've got some, some Szechuan spice that spices it up
• 21:12
  Speaker: too, but, um, ton of ton of, uh, big bold flavors.
• 21:17
  Speaker: Uh, that's going to kick that up.
• 21:19
  Speaker: Amazing.
• 21:20
  Speaker: And then the other thing that you do is you talk at the book,
• 21:24
  Speaker: a lot of your recipes, uh, combine these sweet, savory and
• 21:28
  Speaker: tangy flavors together, um, into just adding a multi layered
• 21:36
  Speaker: approach to flavor.
• 21:38
  Speaker: Um, how can people achieve that in their own homes through some
• 21:41
  Speaker: of the ingredients that you use?
• 21:43
  Speaker: I think as you become a better
• 21:45
  Speaker: cook and a better chef, you
• 21:46
  Speaker: start to learn these different,
• 21:49
  Speaker: uh, parts of your tongue and
• 21:50
  Speaker: flavors that, that, that, that
• 21:52
  Speaker: make, uh, a dish delicious to
• 21:54
  Speaker: yourself.
• 21:55
  Speaker: Uh, so by cooking in this way where you're layering, you know,
• 21:59
  Speaker: adding acid and salt, uh, you mommy, uh, spice to it, uh, that
• 22:06
  Speaker: all encompasses the, the works of making a successful dish.
• 22:10
  Speaker: Uh, so my cooking always hits,
• 22:12
  Speaker: uh, all those different parts,
• 22:14
  Speaker: uh, whether it's hot,
• 22:16
  Speaker: temperature, hot and cold or
• 22:18
  Speaker: crunchy with something that is
• 22:20
  Speaker: soft.
• 22:21
  Speaker: I'm always trying to, trying to
• 22:22
  Speaker: build flavors and textures in a
• 22:24
  Speaker: dish.
• 22:25
  Speaker: And I think that's what, uh, makes the dish very delicious.
• 22:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:29
  Speaker: Would you be willing to talk
• 22:31
  Speaker: about a few of the specific
• 22:32
  Speaker: recipes that I wrote down that
• 22:33
  Speaker: really seemed.
• 22:34
  Speaker: Yeah, let's get into it.
• 22:35
  Speaker: Okay.
• 22:36
  Speaker: Very good.
• 22:36
  Speaker: What about the pork belly?
• 22:38
  Speaker: Is it tocino?
• 22:39
  Speaker: Tocino with tocino?
• 22:41
  Speaker: Yeah, with garlic rice.
• 22:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:43
  Speaker: So the tocino is, uh, of.
• 22:47
  Speaker: I love that Filipinos can have pork belly for breakfast.
• 22:50
  Speaker: Oh, my.
• 22:51
  Speaker: My favorite vegetable.
• 22:52
  Speaker: Pork belly.
• 22:54
  Speaker: Uh, uh, but this pork belly is marinated in this beautiful,
• 22:57
  Speaker: sweet, uh, sweet sauce.
• 22:59
  Speaker: And I believe our recipe uses ketchup, uh, in that, um, but
• 23:04
  Speaker: then you, you serve it alongside this garlic rice that is
• 23:08
  Speaker: perfumed, uh, to the point, you know, where it's, it's pretty
• 23:12
  Speaker: neutral, but the only thing that you get is that sting of that
• 23:15
  Speaker: garlic, uh, in a great way, because you get the sweet and
• 23:19
  Speaker: tanginess of the pork belly, uh, that served alongside with some,
• 23:24
  Speaker: uh, akara is, is a beautiful breakfast that I don't know if
• 23:29
  Speaker: it's going to start you off on the right path, but it'll make
• 23:31
  Speaker: you definitely happy.
• 23:32
  Speaker: Well, I think it's I think it's
• 23:34
  Speaker: neat to explore and not always
• 23:37
  Speaker: having sweet things for
• 23:39
  Speaker: breakfast.
• 23:39
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 23:40
  Speaker: Savory foods.
• 23:41
  Speaker: And, um, you know, even when we
• 23:43
  Speaker: travel or go to a hotel, it's
• 23:45
  Speaker: more and more common to not only
• 23:48
  Speaker: see, you know, the waffle maker
• 23:50
  Speaker: and the, the bagels there, but
• 23:51
  Speaker: also, uh, savory side savory
• 23:54
  Speaker: dishes.
• 23:55
  Speaker: But also on the side of that,
• 23:56
  Speaker: all these condiments and
• 23:58
  Speaker: toppings that they're adding
• 23:59
  Speaker: based on the people who come to
• 24:01
  Speaker: the hotel.
• 24:02
  Speaker: Um, and go there, you might see garlic chili paste, soy sauce,
• 24:06
  Speaker: hot sauce, different things like that that people are obviously
• 24:09
  Speaker: using at breakfast, because this would only maybe be a breakfast
• 24:12
  Speaker: bar that's open for breakfast.
• 24:13
  Speaker: So I think it sounds delicious.
• 24:15
  Speaker: And, uh, something that people can find.
• 24:18
  Speaker: And I know that in grocery stores, pork belly is pretty
• 24:20
  Speaker: easy to find and, uh, source.
• 24:22
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker: Uh, and I love that it's, you know, for the most part, it's,
• 24:28
  Speaker: it's ingredients that, uh, that you can get, uh, maybe the
• 24:32
  Speaker: annatto, uh, you won't get it, but you can also use paprika and
• 24:36
  Speaker: turmeric in that.
• 24:37
  Speaker: But, uh, you'll be cooking, uh,
• 24:40
  Speaker: some Filipino food and some
• 24:41
  Speaker: very, very like this is a food,
• 24:46
  Speaker: a dish that, that Filipinos eat
• 24:48
  Speaker: daily.
• 24:48
  Speaker: So you'll be right in the mix.
• 24:50
  Speaker: If this is going to be your
• 24:51
  Speaker: first Filipino dish that you
• 24:52
  Speaker: ever cook.
• 24:53
  Speaker: Sounds great.
• 24:54
  Speaker: So what about the stir fried olives?
• 24:57
  Speaker: They have ginger in them.
• 24:58
  Speaker: Tell me how that, uh, fits or
• 25:01
  Speaker: works in the, into the, um, the
• 25:04
  Speaker: types of foods that you're
• 25:05
  Speaker: talking about.
• 25:06
  Speaker: Well, that's funny how, uh, sometimes how recipes, uh, start
• 25:09
  Speaker: off by mistakes.
• 25:10
  Speaker: And this is one of those
• 25:11
  Speaker: recipes, uh, that happened, uh,
• 25:14
  Speaker: by mistake.
• 25:16
  Speaker: Um, I ran a restaurant, uh, in Wailea years ago was actually
• 25:20
  Speaker: two restaurants, Mala restaurant, which served
• 25:23
  Speaker: Mediterranean island food on one side and then a migrant which
• 25:28
  Speaker: served, you know, in Hawaii.
• 25:30
  Speaker: Food.
• 25:31
  Speaker: So, uh, two, two menus, one line clashed and, uh, we had a hot
• 25:36
  Speaker: walk that needed to be hot because we was cooking some
• 25:39
  Speaker: noodles all the time.
• 25:41
  Speaker: Uh, but then there was some beautiful mixed olives that
• 25:44
  Speaker: should have been warmed lightly in, uh, in a saute pan.
• 25:50
  Speaker: Busy night that those olives hit this super hot walk.
• 25:55
  Speaker: You get that walk, that smoky flavor.
• 25:57
  Speaker: And I was like, man, I'd rather have it that way.
• 26:00
  Speaker: Uh, so let's build on that.
• 26:02
  Speaker: We added some aromatics, some, uh, some orange peels and some
• 26:07
  Speaker: ginger and some garlic.
• 26:08
  Speaker: And then you have this beautiful
• 26:10
  Speaker: dish that tastes, uh, almost
• 26:12
  Speaker: Chinese in a way, but, uh, was
• 26:15
  Speaker: born and raised in the
• 26:15
  Speaker: Mediterranean.
• 26:17
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:18
  Speaker: Sounds delicious.
• 26:19
  Speaker: And I think that, um, looks like in the picture of the recipe
• 26:22
  Speaker: that a cast iron skillet.
• 26:24
  Speaker: If you don't have that or don't have a wok would work as well.
• 26:27
  Speaker: Exactly.
• 26:28
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 26:28
  Speaker: Or even just nice and hot and,
• 26:31
  Speaker: uh, cooked and then stir fry the
• 26:34
  Speaker: olives in the wok or in that
• 26:37
  Speaker: dish.
• 26:37
  Speaker: Yeah, it only takes a second
• 26:39
  Speaker: once it hits that pan and that
• 26:40
  Speaker: just that little moment in the
• 26:42
  Speaker: pan where it with sizzles and it
• 26:45
  Speaker: smokes, gives that, that dish so
• 26:47
  Speaker: much flavor.
• 26:48
  Speaker: Is there a recipe that's
• 26:49
  Speaker: reflective of the indigenous
• 26:51
  Speaker: ocean travelers in the book that
• 26:52
  Speaker: you're bringing to the, uh, the,
• 26:54
  Speaker: with the family style, uh, feel
• 26:58
  Speaker: something that we can make in
• 26:59
  Speaker: our homes.
• 27:01
  Speaker: I mean, the closest thing would be the smoked ahi dip again.
• 27:05
  Speaker: Um, but that almost, that starts
• 27:07
  Speaker: almost, uh, in, in the style of
• 27:10
  Speaker: a poke, uh, and poke was, was
• 27:14
  Speaker: just cut up very simple with,
• 27:15
  Speaker: with some sea salt and some
• 27:17
  Speaker: seaweed.
• 27:17
  Speaker: Uh, these ones.
• 27:18
  Speaker: Uh, so it started off as an indigenous, uh, cuisine where
• 27:22
  Speaker: you make pork very simple.
• 27:24
  Speaker: But then we add some soy sauce
• 27:26
  Speaker: and some oyster sauce and hit it
• 27:27
  Speaker: in a again, that that quick sear
• 27:30
  Speaker: in that pan is, is our smoker in
• 27:32
  Speaker: your house?
• 27:33
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:34
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:35
  Speaker: Very good.
• 27:36
  Speaker: So, um, I'm fascinated with the desserts and drinks as well.
• 27:40
  Speaker: And one of the ones that jumped
• 27:42
  Speaker: out to me was the, uh, animal
• 27:44
  Speaker: crackers.
• 27:45
  Speaker: You make your own animal crackers?
• 27:47
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:48
  Speaker: Uh, no. Not not necessarily.
• 27:50
  Speaker: Make your own animal crackers.
• 27:51
  Speaker: You definitely.
• 27:52
  Speaker: You actually, uh, season them then?
• 27:54
  Speaker: Yeah, we just season them up.
• 27:56
  Speaker: Uh, and this is fun because, uh,
• 27:58
  Speaker: it you usually see, like trail
• 28:01
  Speaker: mix.
• 28:01
  Speaker: Uh. Oh, yeah.
• 28:02
  Speaker: Yeah, I just looked at the picture.
• 28:04
  Speaker: Now I can see what I just visualized.
• 28:06
  Speaker: What's happening here.
• 28:07
  Speaker: Go ahead.
• 28:07
  Speaker: There you go.
• 28:08
  Speaker: So like, I usually do like a trail mix kind of where you,
• 28:12
  Speaker: it's that salty sweet glaze, but we add the introduction of
• 28:17
  Speaker: Furikake, which has all these beautiful flavors of umami, of
• 28:20
  Speaker: nori and seaweed and, uh, and sesame in there.
• 28:24
  Speaker: Uh, but those are addicting.
• 28:26
  Speaker: Uh, that has been the most, uh, shared and reposted, uh, um,
• 28:31
  Speaker: recipe from the book so far.
• 28:32
  Speaker: And I've seen people put them in
• 28:34
  Speaker: bags and give them as gifts and,
• 28:36
  Speaker: uh, everyone's always stoked
• 28:38
  Speaker: with that.
• 28:38
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 28:39
  Speaker: It's wonderful.
• 28:40
  Speaker: And, uh, the seasoning, the, you
• 28:42
  Speaker: know, that blend of the sesame
• 28:44
  Speaker: seeds, um, something people buy
• 28:46
  Speaker: already.
• 28:47
  Speaker: They might even have it in their cabinet right now.
• 28:49
  Speaker: They can use that, buy some
• 28:50
  Speaker: animal crackers and it just has
• 28:52
  Speaker: agave syrup, soy sauce, a little
• 28:54
  Speaker: bit of oil, some sugar and
• 28:56
  Speaker: butter.
• 28:57
  Speaker: And you mix it up and coat these
• 28:59
  Speaker: and then bake them and let them
• 29:02
  Speaker: cool.
• 29:02
  Speaker: And you've got this nice, uh, like kind of like kind of like a
• 29:06
  Speaker: snack mix or check mix or.
• 29:08
  Speaker: Yeah, we had that on, we had that on some macadamia nut ice
• 29:11
  Speaker: cream the other night.
• 29:12
  Speaker: And it was, it was great.
• 29:13
  Speaker: Sounds delicious.
• 29:14
  Speaker: Sounds delicious.
• 29:15
  Speaker: All right.
• 29:16
  Speaker: The page before that says shortcut Spanish rolls Using,
• 29:22
  Speaker: uh, crescent roll.
• 29:23
  Speaker: Do you?
• 29:24
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:25
  Speaker: We didn't want to leave.
• 29:27
  Speaker: No, no stone unturned of of what is available to you.
• 29:31
  Speaker: You know, it was like my favorite TV show coming up on
• 29:35
  Speaker: Cooking Network was, you know, semi-homemade and using using
• 29:39
  Speaker: things with what you have with store bought stuff.
• 29:41
  Speaker: So yeah, uh, yeah, yeah.
• 29:42
  Speaker: See some, uh, crescent dough and, and, uh, fill them up with
• 29:46
  Speaker: some sugar and some butter.
• 29:47
  Speaker: And you have this beautiful Spanish rose.
• 29:49
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:50
  Speaker: And would you be willing to talk people through a little bit
• 29:52
  Speaker: about making the mochi?
• 29:53
  Speaker: You have a recipe for Mandarin microwave mochi.
• 29:57
  Speaker: Yeah, because that's very popular.
• 29:59
  Speaker: And people thinking maybe I can't make that at home.
• 30:02
  Speaker: But now I think you're telling
• 30:03
  Speaker: people that they can, which if
• 30:05
  Speaker: you get the cookbook, if you
• 30:07
  Speaker: look at, uh, the photograph, uh,
• 30:09
  Speaker: on there, uh, that was actually
• 30:11
  Speaker: my, my nephew's first time ever
• 30:13
  Speaker: making, uh.
• 30:14
  Speaker: Oh, yeah.
• 30:15
  Speaker: That's amazing how old, uh, at that time, he she would have
• 30:18
  Speaker: been eleven, probably.
• 30:21
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 30:21
  Speaker: So for the eleven year old can make this so can literally the
• 30:24
  Speaker: first time he ever made it.
• 30:26
  Speaker: And then I said, yeah, let's shoot it for the cookbook.
• 30:29
  Speaker: So it's it was pretty amazing.
• 30:31
  Speaker: And I it's all it is, is taking
• 30:32
  Speaker: patience of kneading the dough
• 30:34
  Speaker: in the microwave where you take
• 30:36
  Speaker: this sweet and glutinous flour
• 30:38
  Speaker: mochiko, uh, mix it together and
• 30:41
  Speaker: you're slowly kneading it and
• 30:42
  Speaker: letting it cook in the, in the
• 30:44
  Speaker: microwave.
• 30:44
  Speaker: And then you just get some store bought Mandarin canned, canned
• 30:48
  Speaker: mandarin oranges and then rolled it over the top of it.
• 30:53
  Speaker: Yeah, it's and then it's mixed and flavored with some jello
• 30:56
  Speaker: jello box, uh, packets.
• 30:58
  Speaker: It's yeah, really, really fun idea.
• 31:01
  Speaker: It is a fun idea.
• 31:02
  Speaker: And it's a beautiful, uh, orange
• 31:04
  Speaker: color and I bet they taste good
• 31:06
  Speaker: as well.
• 31:07
  Speaker: They're delicious for sure.
• 31:09
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 31:10
  Speaker: All right.
• 31:10
  Speaker: Cookbooks.
• 31:12
  Speaker: Your cookbook, we're hoping will
• 31:14
  Speaker: be come part of what people are
• 31:16
  Speaker: enjoying reading and cooking
• 31:18
  Speaker: from and using in their own
• 31:19
  Speaker: home.
• 31:19
  Speaker: But growing up, did your parents
• 31:22
  Speaker: have cookbooks or was there a
• 31:23
  Speaker: cookbook that influenced your
• 31:24
  Speaker: work?
• 31:25
  Speaker: Um, as a, a chef or when you
• 31:28
  Speaker: were, you know, cooking in your
• 31:30
  Speaker: own home?
• 31:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 31:31
  Speaker: I just recently visited my, my father, uh, on the big Island
• 31:35
  Speaker: and he has this whole shelf of, uh, of spiral bound cookbooks.
• 31:41
  Speaker: And these were, uh, many cookbooks from the local high
• 31:45
  Speaker: schools around our neighborhood or, or like bake clubs.
• 31:48
  Speaker: Uh, so those are the books that I kind of like peeked through,
• 31:52
  Speaker: uh, especially the ones from these, the Ganges, which are
• 31:57
  Speaker: the, you know, the Japanese churches and clubs, uh, in our,
• 32:00
  Speaker: but those always had these amazing baked, uh, baked good
• 32:05
  Speaker: recipes from old Japanese, uh, um, aunts and moms.
• 32:10
  Speaker: So I can't wait till I and one day, hopefully, you know, Not
• 32:15
  Speaker: inherit those cookbooks, but, uh, yeah, those spiral bound
• 32:19
  Speaker: cookbooks from from my, uh, from my dad's, my parent's house.
• 32:23
  Speaker: You want to talk about finding some surprising recipes?
• 32:26
  Speaker: Oh, man.
• 32:27
  Speaker: Yeah, those guys are in danger of of utilizing whatever that
• 32:31
  Speaker: they had in their, in their cabinets, for sure.
• 32:34
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 32:34
  Speaker: I think if you ever want to really capture the spirit of a
• 32:38
  Speaker: town or a city or a community, if you're traveling and you go
• 32:42
  Speaker: into a thrift shop or an antique store and you find a section of
• 32:46
  Speaker: cookbooks and there's a community cookbook for that
• 32:48
  Speaker: place, it's totally worth buying if you like to read through
• 32:51
  Speaker: stuff like that.
• 32:52
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 32:53
  Speaker: Amazing.
• 32:54
  Speaker: Very good.
• 32:54
  Speaker: So hopefully you'll get to have those two.
• 32:56
  Speaker: It's nice that your father still has them on his shelf.
• 32:59
  Speaker: Um, he sounds like he needs to
• 33:01
  Speaker: tune in to the cookbook love
• 33:03
  Speaker: podcast and listen all about
• 33:04
  Speaker: cookbooks, huh?
• 33:05
  Speaker: Yeah, sure he will.
• 33:06
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 33:07
  Speaker: All right, Sheldon, so, um, tell
• 33:10
  Speaker: us how people can connect with
• 33:12
  Speaker: you online so they can learn
• 33:14
  Speaker: about all the places you're
• 33:15
  Speaker: going to be and how they might
• 33:16
  Speaker: be able to come out and see you
• 33:18
  Speaker: in person.
• 33:19
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 33:19
  Speaker: So I've got my own website, Sheldon, Simeon dot com.
• 33:23
  Speaker: Uh, you can go and check out all of my different, uh, stops
• 33:26
  Speaker: throughout the country.
• 33:27
  Speaker: I'm still visiting many more cities.
• 33:30
  Speaker: Uh, so check that out.
• 33:32
  Speaker: Uh, you can also go on my social media at, at chef Wonder.
• 33:36
  Speaker: Uh, I'm always posting, uh, those are like the minute to
• 33:40
  Speaker: minute updates of where I am in, in any place or time.
• 33:44
  Speaker: Right.
• 33:44
  Speaker: Uh, but yeah, and come and check out my restaurants in Maui, uh,
• 33:48
  Speaker: at Tiffany's and Tin Roof.
• 33:50
  Speaker: And then we've got a bunch of
• 33:51
  Speaker: projects, uh, coming up in the,
• 33:53
  Speaker: in the near future that will
• 33:55
  Speaker: announce.
• 33:55
  Speaker: Great.
• 33:56
  Speaker: Very good.
• 33:56
  Speaker: Well, will everybody follow along so you can see where Chef
• 34:00
  Speaker: Sheldon is and what he is up to.
• 34:03
  Speaker: And in the meantime, get a copy of Ohana Style Food from Hawaii
• 34:08
  Speaker: for your family.
• 34:10
  Speaker: Mahalo.
• 34:12
  Speaker: Uh, it's great to have you on the show.
• 34:13
  Speaker: I wish you nothing but success.
• 34:16
  Speaker: And I think that fish stick recipe is calling my name.
• 34:19
  Speaker: I gotta tell you something interesting.
• 34:21
  Speaker: You mentioned you were in
• 34:22
  Speaker: Chicago and there's a
• 34:23
  Speaker: restaurant.
• 34:24
  Speaker: I know if you go to, uh, some.
• 34:26
  Speaker: It's the Cantonese style, uh, pepper chicken, but there's a
• 34:29
  Speaker: place in Chicago.
• 34:30
  Speaker: In Chinatown, I think it's called.
• 34:31
  Speaker: I can't think of it.
• 34:32
  Speaker: M m k m c k, I think is what it's called.
• 34:35
  Speaker: But they have the best.
• 34:37
  Speaker: That dry pepper chicken.
• 34:39
  Speaker: Okay, so once you said described how the fish sticks were done.
• 34:42
  Speaker: And then I see the picture, I can see that it's like the same.
• 34:45
  Speaker: It's what it is.
• 34:46
  Speaker: It's it's dry.
• 34:47
  Speaker: There's no sauces.
• 34:47
  Speaker: It's just the, the Sichuan
• 34:49
  Speaker: peppercorns, the, the chilies
• 34:52
  Speaker: and the spicy flavor for the
• 34:53
  Speaker: fish sticks.
• 34:55
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 34:55
  Speaker: Well, I can't wait to see a tag me if you, if you post it
• 34:58
  Speaker: online, I will, I will.
• 34:59
  Speaker: All right Sheldon well thanks again and have a great rest of
• 35:02
  Speaker: your day and appreciate you coming on the show.
• 35:04
  Speaker: All right.
• 35:04
  Speaker: Maggie, Mahalo.
• 35:05
  Speaker: Thank you.
• 35:05
  Speaker: Okay.
• 35:05
  Speaker: Bye bye.
• 35:06
  Speaker: Bye bye.
• 35:07
  Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the
• 35:10
  Speaker: Cookbook Love Podcast again.
• 35:12
  Speaker: All the links can be found in the show notes at w w w dot
• 35:15
  Speaker: cookbook dot co.
• 35:17
  Speaker: And if you are interested in
• 35:19
  Speaker: writing a cookbook of your own,
• 35:21
  Speaker: please check out the free
• 35:23
  Speaker: Cookbook Writing Masterclass
• 35:24
  Speaker: called How to Get Paid to Write
• 35:26
  Speaker: a Cookbook.
• 35:27
  Speaker: It is designed specifically for
• 35:29
  Speaker: food or nutrition experts, and
• 35:31
  Speaker: you can check that out at w w w
• 35:34
  Speaker: dot cookbook writers academy dot
• 35:36
  Speaker: com.
• 35:39
  Speaker: So that's it for today's episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 35:42
  Speaker: This is your host, Maggie Green.
• 35:44
  Speaker: And until next time, have a
• 35:45
  Speaker: great day and keep loving your
• 35:48
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 35:52
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 35:55
  Speaker: You can find out more
• 35:56
  Speaker: information at w w w dot
• 35:58
  Speaker: booklover.