All Posts Filed Under ‘Food’

On Friday, June 3 aboard the FantaSea One in Marina del Rey, we celebrated with the Bagla Family, their Silver Wedding Anniversary.

It was a festive party right from the start as we began with traditional Indian cuisine passed as appetizers and a belly dance performance by the Ballenco Dance Company.

As the evening continued with dinner, the guests enjoyed the beautiful sunset and a program of songs, toasts and roasts to the couple put together by their children.

The dancing began with a surprise dance performance by Smita and Gunjan and continued the rest of the evening with more belly dancers and a lively dance floor filled with all of their guests.

Congratulations Gunjan and Smita on 25 years of wedded bliss.  We wish you many more years of happily every after!

Well last Friday, Stephanie and I put on our aprons and went upstairs to our main kitchen and joined Executive Chef Edward Valles, Ruben and Wilson in action and made a 5 course Thai meal for our office staff. Stephanie and I had just returned earlier in the week from a trip to Thailand and we were eager to show off our new skills. We were talking boldly as we headed upstairs, but, truth be told, I was a little nervous as this was my first time back in the kitchen in some years since cooking an Indian meal for a 150 guest engagement party. I was becoming more talk than action and I needed to put my reputation back in order.

With visions of Iron Chef and Kitchen Stadium in my mind and a 1 hour clock ticking beside us, we quickly stepped into a busy Friday morning kitchen. Let me say at the outset, our kitchen team rocks and I have extra respect for the flow, dexterity and physicality of working in a hot and busy kitchen. Our guys were moving in unisom as they busily prepped for that weekend’s 9 parties. When Stephanie and I took our places on the line, I felt a little like Moses with a parting Red Sea as our guys cleared space and gathered round with perhaps a raised eyebrow.

Our Menu:

• Larb Gai (Minced chicken salad)
• Tom Yam Koong (Spicy prawn soup with lemongrass)
• Gai Phad med Mamuang (Fried chicken with cashew nuts and chili)
• Phad Thai (Thai style fried noodles)
• Kluay Baud Chee (Bananas in coconut milk with sticky rice.) (We added the sticky rice as how could you go wrong with some sweet rice to dip into the coconut milk.)

Our first action was to survey our ingredients and double check our recipes. A couple minutes into working together, Stephanie and I decided, as much as we may love collaboration, in the kitchen, it was about control and efficiency. So we quickly divided up the menu. Stephanie made the Phad Thai and dessert and I made the soup and chicken dishes. Lunch was set to be served at noon and we entered the kitchen at 11am, so we were very time focused calling out the passing minutes to add a little pressure and drama as well as keeping us moving along. Stephanie and I are very goal oriented, so there was no way we were going to be late.

Looking back now a week later, we sure had fun. It was great to be back in the kitchen again and certainly we were proud and impressed to be next to our kitchen team. We even managed to turn it into a little cultural episode with our 3 year old daughter who joined us the night before dashing to Bangkok Market in Hollywood to pick up the last ingredients and some fresh lemongrass. Finally, like any artist, it was the compliments of our office staff, during lunch, which made our day.

One of our guests, Alla, served up a fruit buffet that was fresh, fun and fantastically sweet for her birthday at FantaSea. After all, at 50 she is still all of those things! Check out the beautiful work and bon appetît…