Tonight's MasterChef Will Be Bittersweet...

Gordon Ramsay's latest TV spectacle debuts tonight on Fox. MasterChef will be a show featuring the best homecooks across the nation vying for a pretty great monetary prize and the chance to do something culinary, I'm guessing... maybe open a small restaurant, coffee shop, or just spend their winnings on new kitchen appliances and cookware and turn into another reality star-slash-homecook.

For me, however, tonight's show will be bittersweet. You see, back in January of this year, I auditioned for the show. It was quite the anti-climactic audition, and I walked away thinking that my audition experience would make for some good party conversation. What I didn't realize was that my audition in January wasn't my last audition for the show.

In the insanity that is a 9-5 job, I forgot to mention on this little blog that I was actually called back a few weeks after that initial cattle-call. On my way to a work lunch, I received a phone call on my cell phone, and I let the call ring to my voicemail since I didn't recognize the number. The caller left a message, saying, "Hi Rebecca, my name is ___, I work for Reveille, the production company for MasterChef. We wanted to see if you are free to come in for a second audition and interview, since we feel you would be great as someone with a strong Latin food background..."

I WAS FLOORED! If you read my previous blog about my first audition in January, then you would be shocked about this phone call too. Apparently, the production company must have read my application. There were sooo many questions on it, I didn't really think that anyone would actually read all of the answers. So at one point, I started answering the questions with some, uh, 'intersting' answers... In fact, if memory serves me correct, I answered the question, "Tell us one thing about you that we would never know by looking at you" with:

"Well, you would never know by looking at me that I am a Magna Cum Laude graduate, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society, and..." another 'interesting' fact about myself that I will not share on this here forum.

That must have been why I got the callback - I'm sure of it... I called the production studio back and arranged for a follow-up audition the very next week.

Reveille's offices are conveniently located just minutes away from the offices of my job at the time, and so it was a breeze to go after work. The second audition was an on-camera interview, and I was ready. I had called my girlfriend who works in reality casting, and she gave me some great tips for the second audition. I drank two huge cups of coffee right before my interview, so you could say my energy levels were 'a bit higher' than usual. Okay, I was bouncing off the walls.

The interviewer asked me a number of questions about where I get my cooking inspiration, what my most embarrassing cooking experience is, and even a general embarrassing story about myself. Apparently I was under the effects of a caffeine induced delirium, because I spilled my guts with one of the most embarrassing stories of my life, which had the interviewer lying on the ground holding her stomach in pain from laughter, and ended with me making the interviewer swear that my video interview would never end up on YouTube or the net. Let's hope for her sake I don't have to hunt her down one day.

Unfortunately, after all my preparation and energy and enthusiasm, I did not make it past the second round. In fact, I thought I saw another Latina in the lobby of the Reveille offices as I was leaving, so perhaps she put on a better show than I did. But I do look forward to watching this show and seeing what "could have been" for me. Who knows if I had made it to the end anyway. But I'm pretty sure, knowing me, I would have probably added another few public embarrassing life moments to my repertoire.

I'm pretty sure the Universe was trying to save me some pain and anguish.

Advertising World = Extra 10 Mad Pounds By Default

So I thoroughly enjoy my 9-5. I work in advertising, overseeing digital efforts by my clients. It can be an extremely stressful job, but it can be equally rewarding and satisfying.

Take, for example, the lovely treats that renown Swedish pastry chef Roy Fares shared with us in our office. Lucky for me, my agency pres knows some incredibly talented and awesome people like Roy and his lovely partner Doug. At 10am one Friday morning, we were greeted with these, handmade chocolate and caramel macarons:



He spent hours the night before making these lovely bites of heaven from scratch. The cream filling was light yet decadent, and the cookie was absolutely buttery.

But that wasn't all: Roy also made a rich parfait with sweet strawberries and a chocolate crumble. I almost felt like I was indulging in a drink first thing in the morning, that's how guilty these delicious treats were.



All I have to say is it's no wonder I can't seem to shed these ten pounds I've been trying to shed for so long. Thank you, Roy, and please feel free to use us as guinea pigs anytime.

Well, if Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce can have their scotch before noon, I can have a macaron at 10am.

The Magical Ghetto Burger Tour Continues!!

Photo credit: DigLounge.net

Some of you may recall about a year or more ago, I wrote about an insanely delicious sloppy burger from Mom's Burger that the boy and I drove into Compton (yes, the "born 'n raised in Compton" Compton) to enjoy. I said that we would continue the Ghetto Burger tour, and we recently added a new burger joint to the repertoire.

Just east of Crenshaw along Slauson Avenue lay a seemingly innocent burger stand with a small parking lot in front. It doesn't look like much, but good lawd' - DO NOT BE FOOLED!

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Fred's Downhome Burgers. With very pleasant and friendly service, Fred's knows how to throw down the burgers and the fries.

We ordered two King Burgers, which are 1/4 lb burgers with American cheese and 'everything on it' including onions, relish and mustard (everything except mayo for me). My BF had been here before, and he recommended we split the fries since one order is so large. The food is made fresh to order, so your best bet is to take a seat in the few chairs out in front of the stand. The range of customers lining up for a taste of Fred's will be entertainment enough, trust me. There's a car wash across the street as well, and we both had a great time seeing all of the tricked out and classic Cadies, Lincolns, etc. roll through it.

After about 15 minutes, our number was called. And let me just restate, for the record, how pleasant and sweet the girl working behind the counter was, FTW. There's nothing worse than dealing with someone who hates their job and makes it undeniably obvious to every customer... Back to the food - the food was definitely fresh, as it was piping hot. Starving after a morning of running errands, we sat to enjoy our meal immediately. The burgers were huge, and the order of fries to boot matched the burger size. Large and in charge.





The burger patty was obviously hand-formed, which helped retain that flavor with a less worked (or as I like to say, a less stressed) patty. It was juicy and charred beautifully. Cooked medium well, it was lightly salted and definitely held a torch to any gourmet burger at a 5-star restaurant, save for the messiness. The lightly toasted bun held together and didn't get soggy or fall apart. Two big thumbs up from me!!

The fries were an absolute site to behold and delight to taste. These were obviously freshly cut, and could easily be taken for thick cut steak frites anywhere else. And Fred's offers their fries with lots of delicious goodies, like chili and cheese, which I hear is also quite a treat. I just didn't have enough stomach room to indulge that day.

But trust me, I'll be seeing you again very soon, Fred. Next time, we're doin the chili fries. Downhome style for sure.

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like SUH-MMER!!!

Hi kids!!! Apologies for such a long delay in updating this little soapbox of mine, but once again, life has made for some interesting and time consuming and tiring events lately... However, I have NOT abandoned you or my many constant thoughts of food. Without further ado, I give you an updated post!!!

This little global warming issue has been causing quite a frenzy in Los Angeles recently. The one thing I have noticed is that the people here (specifically many of my personal friends) are just way too spoiled over the weather, and just down-right impossible to please. For example, while the rest of the country has been suffering with triple digit heatwaves and humidity that can be cut with a knife, we here in L.A. have had very cool and extremely mild summer weather. I have gotten quite irritated with the recent Facebook status updates like "Hey can somebody tell LA that it's July?" and "Rain in LA in July? It's time to move..." I mean, seriously people, you are spoiled brats!!! If you really want to move out of LA because you are unhappy with the weather, besides Alaska, I'm not sure where you are going to go where the weather right now (or any time of the year, for that matter) could be anymore pleasant and beautiful as the 330 days a year here in Southern California.

Okay - phew! Had to get that off my chest. And it seems that finally, the weather has begun turning a bit, for the summery better. And you know what that means: GRILLING!!!


Since the grill is now being used on a regular, I'll keep you updated with some BBQ-friendly recipes and ideas, as well as some great summertime drink concoctions to go with your smokey deliciousness. Over the 4th of July weekend, my boyfriend and I grilled a couple delicious chicken thighs (on my mini-grill fit for my apartment balcony), glazed with a nice fancied store-bought BBQ sauce.

Here is our quick and easy recipe for homemade fancier-pants-than-store-bought BBQ sauce (that's the official name):

1/2-3/4 cup store-bought BBQ sauce (we used a Jack Daniels BBQ sauce)
2 TB bourbon
2 TB hot sauce (Tabasco, Cholula, Tapatio, etc.)
2 TB Worchestershire sauce
1 TB chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp brown sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and adjust to taste. If the sauce is too sweet, add a little bit of white vinegar or beer to offset. If it is too hot, add more store-bought BBQ sauce or brown sugar.

The best way to cook with BBQ is to add it to your grilled items about 10 minutes before they are done cooking on the grill. This will let the sauce set in on your food. And keep some left over on the side because you probably will add more after the food is off the grill.

So for all you weather haters out there, I just have one thing to say: your heat is coming. And when it does, I better not hear you complaining that it's too hot in LA!!

Bon appetit!!!