Gordon Ramsay wasn’t there. The end.
Ok, I didn’t really expect him to be there, but I had high hopes of it. Several friends have told me that I really need to share what the experience was like, so here it is. A mere 8 months later, but who’s counting?
The process begins a few months out; they announce the call for submissions and allow you to pre-register. I later found out that this pre-registration means you get to pick the time of day you want to show up for the audition, which can be especially significant depending on the city you’re going to. Anyway, I completed the application, about 12 pages of it, printed it and held on to it to carry it with me on audition day. You don’t submit it ahead of time.
The requirements to try out are pretty simple. No professional cooking experience, i.e., if you’ve worked in a restaurant you’re out. The availability to be their beck and call girl or boy for about 10 weeks, if selected. The completed registration. Oh, yeah, your signature dish, prepared before hand, ready to plate and be judged. No cooking, reheating, no plug-ins, nothing to be done on site. Just plating. That last bit sent me into a tissy.
First of all, signature dish? Me on a plate? I have this really, really bad habit of cooking a kickass dish, loving it, having The Hubbz rave about it, then never making it again. I’m on to something else. For weeks I deliberated over what to make, a decision made more difficult by the fact that it had to be something that would taste just as good if it wasn’t hot. Because, let’s face it, I’m not a dessert kinda chica. I didn’t decide on a dish until about a week before I was supposed to be in San Antonio. More on that later, first let me paint the picture of what was happening leading up to the audition on September 20th.
My day job was nuts and I was traveling to Oklahoma and New Mexico conducting training sessions for most of that month. Then, the weekend before the audition, I went home for this…
Auntie of the Bride – aren’t we cool?!
Yep. My gorgeous niece tied the knot and I just HAD to be there for the festivities. So, I made it back to Houston on Wednesday, to head on to SanAnton Saturday…, just a tad bit close. The last 2 episodes of the season played while I was traveling, so I caught up upon my return. In hindsight, I probably should’ve waited until after the audition because that’s when I realized that the grand prize was $250,000!!! For some reason, I had it in my head that it was 100K. That was manageable. But $250k just freaked the heck out of me. I almost wimped out. Don’t worry. I didn’t.
Once my little crisis had passed, I got busy figuring out a way to keep my dishes as hot as possible and shopping for said tools to accomplish that task. I know. I should’ve done that weeks, months earlier! I know. I bad. Finally on Friday I found what I was looking for and it was just a matter of getting my dish together. Raviolis de Otoe con Cordero Guisado. Is this my signature dish? I don’t know. Is this me on a plate? Oh, yes!
This is a dish I came up with a few months ago; I filled pasta with a mash of otoe, one of my favorite root vegetables which is also known as malanga, and a soft cheese flavored with masala spice. It is then topped with a lamb stew I made following my own recipe for Carne Guisada and pickled veggies over top to add another dimension and texture. The dish is me on a plate, without a doubt–I live to take traditional cuisines of the world and spin them a bit with the flavors and ingredients I grew up eating and the flavors on this dish are evocative of my youth in Panama.
So, Saturday morning comes, I wake up waaaay too early for my taste and proceed to cook the raviolis, reheat the lamb and sauté the veggies for the topping. I pack everything up, microwave the heck out of those jelly pouches that conserve the temperature, get dressed and off we go. San Antonio or bust!
Auditions were held at the Embassy Suites, I arrived right around 9am for the 10am group. First thing that struck me was how low key it all seemed. I expected to see a myriad of hopefuls standing in line outside the hotel, but I didn’t. Even the valet counter was readily available. Anyway, I walk in and get my official documents and I’m sent to the waiting room. There were about 100 or so people in the room and they would ‘audition’ you in groups of 20; I went in with the 3rd group.
We’re not in Kansas anymore!
In the second room, they had set up tables into a U-format and you just lined up around it in numerical order. Someone from the team walks in and gives you instructions about what is and isn’t allowed, then starts the timer and you have 5 minutes to plate and clean up your area. No pictures allowed, so the shot above is from my test run.
Round 1: a local chef, I believe, comes by and tastes your food, then asks you questions about the dish. Mine wanted to know if I’d made my own pasta: Yes, Chef, what were some of the flavors in the lamb, I mumbled them off. Then he said I should’ve cut the veggies a bit larger, as they were slightly overcooked; Damnit, Chef! I’m sorry, Chef! In the end, he complimented me on the dish, saying, and I quote, “This is very good, I really like it and great presentation.” Yup, uh huh, that’s what he said! I was very happy with my plating, but a bit disappointed in the veggies. Nonetheless, it was good enough to secure me a spot on the 2nd round; the interview with the talent people!
Round 2: The Panel of Personalities Experts. Five of us went in at once. My competition was a cute mom of a toddler, who was also an Army wife, had tried out for several endurance type shows in CA and had a penchant for wearing clothes she made herself out of Disney motif fabrics. 
Then there was the guy who had taught himself how to cook in a year and documented his weight loss on Instagram and had something like 200k followers. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his cooking skills or the fact that he often took bare-chested selfies with the food he made. At least I had 1 more personality than the other 2 people in the room at the time, still, I didn’t make the cut.
He’s not Gordon, but he was super sweet!
It was a really fun experience, though. After I was done hyperventilating for weeks on end and even though my nerves got the best of me as I spoke to the various selection people, I loved it. I would do it again and will likely do so this year, if travel permits. I learned that rejection isn’t as painful as regret or wondering what might’ve been. I won’t lie and say I don’t still sell myself short, I do, but not as short as I used to.
There’s a big wide world out there and I’m part of it!
Anamaris
PS: oh, I did have a brush with celebrity…
PS2: I haven’t seen any of the people who were in my group either. There’s always next year!
Amidst the what ifs, maybes and ultimately, not nows of my day job, I’ve found myself looking for an outlet, for a way to express my true self and take control of my future. I got back in the kitchen, inspired by the foods and spices I learned about through my travels and the Cooking Channel 
I started remembering dreams I had, promises I’d made to myself and slowly a new picture dream is beginning to emerge.
This past April I hosted my first pop up event at home, I’m calling it Secreto Pop Up Dinners. Essentially, I’m opening my dining table to 10 diners and preparing Latin focused dishes that are paired with wines from South America, Spain or Portugal. If you remember my recipes, you know that I usually take classic recipes and tweak them by adding Latin ingredients. I’m doing the same for these dinners. The menus thus far have included things like Beef Wellington using chorizo and sofrito instead of the traditional mushroom filling, otoe raviolis, lamb in a creole sauce, and a passion fruit curd napoleon. That last one was a serious hit!
I’ve been gleeful during and after the chaos of entertaining formal dinner parties and I’m slowly, though steadily, getting back on the horse. I promise to share the things I did, some of the foods I ate and the amazing places I saw, only this time I’ve also promised to be kinder to myself . What I will not offer us this time around are empty promises. think of me as that great friend you hear from every so often, but can’t wait until your next catch up session. You know the one. No matter how much time or spaces elapses, you have the certainty that the wait will be well worth it.
Ready? Go to the next post!
One door closes…
It’s been 3 years since my last post. Life got hectic, nomadic and I just lost the joy that cooking and blogging brought to it because I always seemed to be chasing the clock. The pressure I put on myself made it feel like another job, it was no longer my time to envision, create and be delighted by the dance of spices and fire. As always, life is in constant flux and things have slowed down and are different. Day job priorities have shifted, new business decisions were made and with that I’ve refocused as well.
I might’ve shared this before, but part of the reason things were so out of balance these past years, was a possible move to the South America region to grow the department I work in. That was certainly an exciting prospect, one that required a lot of travel to set the groundwork. It was crazy, I tell you! I traveled over 60k miles in 2012 and 2013, which allowed me to see some beautiful places, meet amazing people and eat incredible food. However, as it often happens, goals were reexamined, departments were restructured and new decisions were made. So no transfer for me, at least not as a result of my day job. It has taken time to get over that realization, to let go of those dreams and plans for a life in a different locale.
As I mourned that loss, I found myself slowly getting back to that joyous space, back to the solace my tiny old kitchen so kindly offers me. Between the memories of my travels and my continued obsession with food channels, programs and books, my cooking is much more inspired and inventive. I remember everything I saw and ate and experienced in the past two years, so they weren’t a loss; instead, I’ve translated it all into the flavors that now come from my kitchen. A new dream is beginning to be dreamt and defined and it has something to do with a new way to share the joy of cooking and eating and visiting with people as obsessed with food as I am. Well, maybe not AS obsessed as I am, but still avidly curious.
Two different things will be happening here: I’ll post about the places, things and foods from my travels; so if you’ve always dreamed of visiting some of the countries in South America but haven’t made it yet, or if you moved away and are feeling nostalgic about home, or if you just love to hear stories and talk about food, then this is the blog for you. The other focus is molding an emerging dream, though I’m not sure what the final destination will be yet. A few months ago I began opening my doors to ten diners and serving them the dishes I create. I’m part of the underground, the pop up dinner circuit, I’m cheffing for strangers! At least, that’s the plan. I’m about to host the 5th of these dinners and my friends keep signing up for them. I’m surrounded by an amazing and supportive group of friends and I know that as these develop, more and more people will come into my circle and I’ll be able to share with them the fascinating food from this continent.
As for you, unless you’re in Houston and can come to one of my dinners, I invite you to sit with me while I rediscover my old digital files, recollect life changing moments and tell you about the food. Oh, the food of South America and mine.
Cookingly yours, again,
As I browse through my blog, I can’t help but notice how often rice seems to come up. I really can’t help it, I have a love affair with that little grain. My only hope is that I offer some variety for you. That said, this is a rice post. Yep. Mas arroz.
In Panama, we prepare rice in many different ways; sometimes with coconut milk, or various beans and peas. Anything you want, really. Two of my favorites are Arroz con Frijoles Negros (rice with black beans) and Arroz con Camarones Secos (rice with dried shrimp).
They’re both easy to make and follow the same process as the recipe for Arroz con Guandú. For the black beans, I used dried beans and cooked them in the coconut milk, as detailed in the recipe below, but you can use canned beans . For the one with the dried shrimp and guandú, I cooked both of those in the coconut milk first, then followed the recipe.
For the Arroz con Coco y Frijoles Negros (Black beans & rice)
2 cps rice
1/2 cp dry black beans
2 cps coconut milk
3 cps water
1/3 cp salt pork or bacon
1 tbsp vegetable oil
For the Arroz con Camaroncitos Secos y Guandú (Rice w/dried shrimp & pigeon peas)
2 cps rice
1 cp frozen guandú (pigeon peas)
1/2 cp dried shrimp
2 cps coconut milk
3 cps water
1/3 cp salt pork or bacon
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Method for both versions:
In a pot with a tight-fitting lid, brown the salt pork/bacon rendering some of its fat. Add the guandúes (pigeon peas), coconut milk. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat until it simmers. Cook it until the peas are tender, about 40 minutes. Strain the liquid and measure, add enough water to make 3-1/3 cps of liquid, set aside.
This recipe uses the frozen peas, however, if you are using the canned variety, just skip the step above. Instead, drain, rinse and strain the beans, then add coconut milk and water to measure 3-1/3 cups. Fry the salt pork or bacon just before adding the rinsed rice.
Add oil to the pan with the peas, rinse the rice and add it to the pot stirring all the ingredients. Add the liquid, check the salt, stir this well. Make sure you remove any drippings that may have been stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring it to a slow boil; once the liquid boils do not stir it again. Keep the temperature on medium high.
Once the liquid is almost completely evaporated, bring the temperature to low and cover with the lid. Allow to steam undisturbed for 40 minutes. When you remove the lid, all the peas will be at the top, go ahead and stir them into the rice. You’re done!
Note: The flavor of the coconut milk will intensify with time. You can cook the peas a day ahead to allow the flavors to meld together.
Remember these?
Patacones or Tostones (fried green plantains)
Bacon-wrapped asparagus
Salmon with Beurre Blanc Sauce
Lavender-Crusted Lamb
Seared Scallops with Red Pepper Sauce
Kick-ass Pasta Salad
Hungry yet?
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
I’m a lucky girl; I have a pretty cool day job. When they’re not making me work for my money, I get the opportunity to accrue travel miles. Imagine my delight when I found out I was Argentina-bound. As The Hubbz’ new t-shirt says ‘Buenos F*ckn Aires’. Yeah, baby!
I have often dreamt of visiting this city and getting lost in its architectural beauty. The dream didn’t include spending hours upon hours locked up in a basement attending a conference, but hey. I’m a clever girl, I found ways to sneak away and play a little.
As I share some of the pictures with you, let me tell you my impressions of Buenos Aires. The layout and architecture reminded me of 2 of my favorite European cities: Madrid and Paris. It especially reminded me of Paris, buildings so ornate and fancy looking. Incredibly wide thoroughfares dissected by tiny-cobbled streets. Plazas at every turn. Locals casually, yet elegantly clad.
I think I’ve mentioned my love of Paris, well Buenos Aires felt to me much the same, but better because I was surrounded by fellow Spanish speakers. There is just something that makes my heart sing when I’m surrounded by Latinos. The guys were GORGEOUS, there are some seriously good genes running through those veins. I hadn’t even made it out of the airport before I was texting my single friends to book their next vacation to Bs. As. Seriously. It didn’t matter what age they were, young teens to old men in their 70s, they looked GOOD! Then they start talking and swoon over their accent. Sigh.
I have often heard that Argentines are stuck up, as a matter of fact, they’re referred to as the French of South America. I’m here to tell you that I didn’t have an unpleasant exchange with a single person in Paris or in Buenos Aires. There was a dismissive waiter at the first cafe I stopped at for lunch, but even the local sitting next to me found him to be a pill. It really was no biggie, though. OK, I tend to limit my advice tidbits to the kitchen, but let me share this little travel nugget: when you go to another country, think of it as going to someone else’s home.
My new bestie!
If you invited yourself to someone’s home, you would go out of your way to be gracious, unimposing and to appreciate their customs and traditions, even if they didn’t resonate with yours. You would respect their space and find enjoyment in their way of living. It’s the same with travel, once you let go of the mentality of the way things are supposed to be, which is probably based on American standards, and open up to the way things are in this new, undiscovered place, I promise you the locals will welcome you with open arms and hearts and your visit will be unforgettable. Trust me on that.
Anyway, no more talking or typing, for more shots, follow this link. It will take you directly to the photostream. It seemed every time I spoke to an Argentinean and thanked them for their help, they had this little reply which I need to commit to memory:
Me: Muchas gracias (thanks so much)
Them: No, por favor! (no, please!)
As if to say ‘it was MY pleasure to help you’, ‘really, don’t mention it’. I will take that with me and make it a part of my repertoire.
Still crying for more Argentina,
Anamaris
Yep. A dog. I’m dealing with The Terminator of allergy attacks, but hope I’ll soon say: I’ll be back.
About a month ago, I had the pleasure of heading out to Portland for about a week. Unfortunately, it was on business, but believe me when I say, I made it my business to get some fun in. I managed to see bit of the outlying beauty of this city, but mostly, I managed to get a LOT of awesome food in. Lots. Loads. Really, a lot! Oh and some awesome beer and wines and coffee, and…, well, you get the picture.
I’ve told you about my FoodTV obsession, so it should be no surprise that I’m an avid fan of Unique Eats and Guy’s DD&Ds. Why do I mention those shows, you ask? Because, Portland is ALWAYS all up in there! Man! That’s a really ‘good food’ food-town. Let me share some highlights, if you don’t mind.
By pure accident, we bumped into VooDoo Doughnuts.
We were trying to drive out to the coast and the NaggiGator kept getting confused and making us drive around in circles when all we were looking for was a drive-thru. But, maybe the navigation system knew better and tried to make sure we didn’t miss out on this little gem.
If you like doughnuts, probably even if you don’t, you’ll find something here to tickle your fancy. I did, and I’m not a huge fan of doughnuts, if they’re not piping hot off the fryer and simply plain-glazed, I’m not interested.
Enter… The Maple Bacon Doughnut. O.M.G!!!
This thing was good, like crazy good! So good, we went back right before leaving to bring some home for our loved ones. We’re nice that way.
Another memorable moment happened at Public Domain, a nearby coffee shop. I had a cup of a Panamanian brew, but it was the way it was prepared that had me entranced.
They call it a Pour Over and the barista takes about 10 minutes to hand pour the water over the grounds.
He mentioned that they pour at different speeds and on different spots to vary the flavor of the final cup. It was mesmerizing.
From there, a proper breakfast at the Byways Cafe in the Pearl District. I had the most awesome Corned Beef Hash, next time I’ll skip the bell peppers, though.
The other thing I loved about Portland, was the street food scene. Oh my! The little carts were EVERYWHERE!
I stopped by the Frying Scotsman and had some fish & chips. Cute chef, great accent, awesome halibut and fries!
The other FoodNetwork find was Pine State Biscuits. These guys are rocking the biscuit! Anything you can dream of, they put on a biscuit and do so with gusto!
I had the most popular one, The Reggie.
Yep, that’s fried chicken breast. No, that’s GOOD fried chicken breast. Topped with bacon, gravy and insane amounts of cheddar. I want one NOW.
Did mention Portland is a beer town? My! I had some awesome beer at too many places to mention.
But…, I found the home of Rogue Ales… I scored megapoints with The Hubbz on that one.
I ate and drank and walked and had fun and repeated. Oh. I also got some work done (wink, wink). To see more of the food porn, just click here. Go on, you know you wanna.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
I told you there would be an opportunity for you to play along in the Marx Foods challenge. It’s about that time, my friends. Voting time. Go check out all the incredible entries for the Ridiculously Delicious Challenge, there’s some really good stuff there. Then pick a recipe and vote for it. 15 participants will move on to the next round. Hurry, go vote!
aaaaaaaand…, it’s Wednesday! That means I have an entry for Shutterboo’s photo challenge. The theme this week was Large. What do you think? Go here to see this week’s submission.
There were rides and games.
Largely yours,
Anamaris
PS: Don’t forget to vote!
Wordless Wednesday. Sorta.
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For the final shot, click here.
Anamaris
