Where I am now?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, sorry about that! I’ve been primarily using my Facebook to keep in touch with my fans, but I realize that some people don’t have facebook and others might find me for the first time via this website. I decided to give you guys a brief rundown of what I’m doing now.

I left Canada at the end of January. For a variety of reasons, my boss and I both felt like it was a good time to leave. I spend a few days vacationing in Montreal, and then flew back to Dallas, where Ben Starr, his partner Christian, their roommate Chris, their neighbor Sharon, and the lovely Jennie Kelley have been my friends and family for over a month. I’ve served as the Executive Sous Chef at the 3 Valentines day FRANK dinners, purchased a fun little convertible, signed a lease for an apartment, and last but not least, got hired as the Executive Chef/Kitchen Manager of the Kessler Theater. A lot has been going on, so I apologize if I haven’t been as interactive as I’ve been in the past.

The job at the Kessler is an incredible opportunity. I will finally have the chance to create my own bar menu, from conceptualization to execution. I’ve shared my food twice with the public: once for a tasting during the hiring process, and once for a special open house event. I’ve had to do everything from running around purchasing equipment, to establishing relationships with vendors like the Dallas Mozzarella Company (check them out, they’re amazing!!), and interviewing/training staff. It’s a LOT of responsibility that I haven’t had in the past, and while inevitably there will be some bumps at the beginning, I am confident that I will be able to grow into my role quickly. The kitchen will finally open for full time service over the next couple of days, so stop by for a drink, see a show, and have some small bites :) .

Thanks for your continued support you guys! I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate it. Some days, knowing that I have an army of people pushing me forward gives me the determination to continue when I want to take the easy way out. Now things are slowly falling into place, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me :) .

With love,

MC

 

Posted in Fans, Jobs, Travel | Leave a comment

Q&A, Edition #1

Posted on January 16, 2013 by

I recently announced a Q&A session on Facebook telling fans that they could ask me whatever question they wanted, and guaranteeing an answer to every question. Here are the questions I received and my responses.

Which cities/states in the US have you visited?

By visiting, I suppose you mean actually gone out and explored a little bit, not just pass through :) . Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, South Padre Island, Austin (duh), Norman (Oklahoma), New Orleans, Atlanta, Washington DC, New York, Miami, Boston, Baton Rouge, Tallahassee…that’s all that I can think of for the moment.

Have you been to Chicago?

Outside of flying through ORD, no, unfortunately :( .

What is your favorite comfort food?

Tough one. Macaroni and cheese has always been up there. Fried Chicken gets me every time.

Do you have any soup idea you would recommend?

I love putting kale in soups! Brown some italian sausage and leeks, add chicken stock and potatoes, after potatoes are cooked add some fresh herbs, and toss in some torn kale a minute before serving. Delicious, and (if you drain the fat from the browned sausage) healthy!

Any advice for coming out to people that it might be hard to come out to?

Coming out is always very personal and unique to each individual person and their situation. What I’ve always done is to prepare myself for the worst case scenario and make sure I have a way out/can handle it. The first person I ever came out to was to my best friend at the time, a week before I left for college. I reasoned that if he rejected me and wanted nothing to do with me, then I was about to go off to college anyways and have a fresh start. In college, I came out to the friends I made very early in the friendship, before we got really close, so if it ended up being an issue with them, then it wasn’t a big deal to shrug it off and find somebody new to hang out with. And even with my parents, who I knew wouldn’t like the news, I came out to them on the way to the airport for MasterChef (with me in the driver’s seat, just in case), so even if they took it poorly, I had something to look forward to. The key is to make sure that if the “worst-case” scenario comes true, you have a way to handle it. It’s a terrible thing for somebody (say, a 13-year-old kid) to come out to somebody (say, his parents), to be rejected, and to not have a way to escape that rejection. That’s why I caution people against coming out too early, and am very thankful that I had the chance to come out when I did. It really was the perfect time for me.

I have been dating this guy for a month now and in two weeks he will come over to my house for dinner. What can I possibly make to impress him? He likes to eat pork.

You should make my pork ribs! A famous family recipe :) . Take some pork ribs (baby back or back ribs preferred), and sprinkle them liberally with salt (about 3 tablespoons per rack, depending on size), sugar (double the amount of salt), sliced green onion (about 2 stalks per rack), julienned ginger (about 2 ounces per rack), soy sauce (3 tbs per rack), and pepper to taste, rubbing well after each ingredient. Let it marinate for at least an hour in the fridge, up to overnight. Place on a baking sheet, cover TIGHTLY with foil, and roast at 400F for 1 hour (for one rack) or 1 1/2 hours (for two racks). Carefully remove from oven and set oven to BROIL (if you don’t have a broil setting, just use the highest temp possible). Uncover ribs (be careful with the steam), brush your favorite barbecue sauce on top of the ribs (if homemade, even better!), and when your oven comes to temp, pop it under the broiler until the top gets all caramelized and bubbly (about 5 minutes, depending on your oven. Carefully remove, slice into individual ribs, and serve. Hope you have a fabulous date!

Is it true you kissed a girl and didn’t like it?

Ha ha, I have never kissed ANYBODY in a romantic way before. No guys, no girls. Remember how I said that I didn’t believe in dating in high school in my MasterChef audition? In retrospect, I might rephrase my sentiments to say “Most people should avoid dating in high school because they are not ready for the responsibilities that come with a relationship. I sure wasn’t!” but I digress… I have given a few pecks on the cheek (bises), but the only person that’s pecked me on the lips is the lovely Jennie Kelley, haha!. We were saying our goodbyes before I left for Canada. It came as a surprise and made me blush, but it wasn’t romantic :) . Still waiting on that first kiss…

What is your favourite dessert to cook?

Umm…not apple pie. Creme brulées are always good, because the ingredients are readily availble, and if you have a reliable oven (and a blowtorch), it’s fairly easy to make and always impresses. Dessert is probably the one type of food that I have the least mastery over, though.

Who is your favorite person on MasterChef?

Probably Christine, because we started a friendship fairly early, and after filming was over I was able to go down to Houston fairly often to visit. I watched my elimination episode with her at her house and cried while holding her hand :P . But I love all of my fellow MC3 cast members! If you’re talking about the judges, probably Chef Ramsay, because I genuinely felt like we had a bit of a connection, and he was always the most fun to talk to.

What is your favourite Thai food?

Ohhh man. I love all sorts of curries (not too spicy though, please!), green papaya salad, any form of coconut dessert. I don’t know the names of most of the Thai food I eat (I just look at the descriptions on the menu, haha!), but Thai food is one of my absolute favorites.

Have you ever been to Vietnam?

Unfortunately not. The only Asian countries I’ve “visited” (using the same criteria as above for visiting cities) are China and the Philippines. Never been to Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, etc, though I’ve flown through the last two. If I have the means, I’d love to visit someday!

If you were to have your own cooking show, what would be the show’s name?

Hmm, never thought about this. It would depend on a lot of things actually, like that the theme of the show is (is it quick dinners? unique ingredients? food with finesse? comfort food? etc). What I have thought about is if I open a restaurant someday, I want my flagship restaurant to be named M.C.

That’s all the questions I have for now! If this is popular enough I may make this a weekly thing. Start thinking what you want to ask for the next edition :) .

Posted in Fans, MasterChef, Recipe, Travel | 5 Comments

A year for the history books.

Posted on January 2, 2013 by

At least my history book ;-) .

Some notable things that happened this year, many of which you may be familiar with already. But it’s a good reminded for me to see just how much this past year changed me as a person with all the shenanigans it threw at me.

  1. I withdrew from Texas A&M just a few days before classes started (people were already moving in!). It was one of the scariest moments of my life. I had spent virtually my whole life preparing for a path that I was now going to deviate from. At this point I hadn’t been officially cast for the top 100 yet. What if I didn’t make it? What was I going to do then? Granted, I had the option of returning to the university in the fall, but still, the thought of potentially wasting a semester of time when I had just finished the previous semester on a high note scared me. It was the first of many big decisions that I would have to make where I had to weigh the numerous pros and intimidating cons very carefully.
  2. I came to terms with my sexuality. I started coming out to close friends in 2011, and throughout the fall semester there was a lot of soul searching and conversations with God about my sexuality and how I should handle it. In the end, I felt like God was blessing me to embrace all parts of my identity, including my sexuality, and by the beginning of 2012, I was comfortable enough to identify myself as “gay”, even though I was still only “out” to a few close friends.
  3. I took a memorable road trip with the one and only Ben Starr to Atlanta, GA for a psych evaluation and more interviews related to the casting process. Before you ask, yes that was the closest location to Austin that they had for this MANDATORY test/interview.  Tanya (one of the top 18, @MC3Tanya on both FB and Twitter) was originally supposed to join us, but made plans to fly to San Francisco at the last minute to visit some friends along the way. We shared our life stories, he helped calm my nerves, we ate chicken and waffles twice, stayed in a charming boutique hotel, finished my test/interview in an hour (the drive was almost 30 hours roundtrip, btw), stopped in Baton Rouge for a Cajun FEAST with Cory, one of his good friends, dropped me off back home in Austin, and thus, an amazing friendship was formed.
  4. I basically hid from my friends for a semester. Not wanting to spark any suspicious questions about what I was doing in Austin when I was supposed to be in College Station, I stayed home for the most part. Even going to the grocery store was nerve racking, so I either went during school hours or on the weekends. That way, if I was spotted at least I could give the “oh I’m home for the weekend” excuse.
  5. I got cast for MasterChef! When the call finally came from the casting team, I was so elated, even though I had been borderline EXPECTING it at this point. It was probably due to the fact that part of me refused to believe that I had jumped through all these hoops and withdrawn from school for nothing. Soon my flight and hotel info was emailed to me, I started packing, and steeled myself for #6.
  6. I came out to my parents. At that point, I had already become quite comfortable stating the fact that I was gay to people that I felt should hear it. The number of people that I was “out” to was nearing a dozen. Believe it or not, I didn’t go onto MasterChef with the explicit intention of talking about my sexuality, but I knew that it was something that would POTENTIALLY be discussed. I wanted to clear the air first with my parents just so I wouldn’t feel compelled to hide who I was if it was relevant. It just didn’t seem right for some story producers working for a TV show to know about my sexuality before my own parents did, even though I knew they weren’t going to take it well. So as we left the house that morning with my luggage in tow, I demanded to drive (since I had no idea what to expect…just in case), and on the way to the airport spilled the beans. Without going into detail, my dad’s response was about what I expected it to be. Nothing crazy, but most definitely not the outpouring of support I was hoping for.
  7. I participated in Season 3 of MasterChef, and made it to the top 16. Crazy things happened. The judges LOVED my dumplings. I came out to them on camera, and therefore to the world. I cried on national tv TWICE. I cooked for 200 marines, almost got flattened by a helicopter, and put cheese on an apple pie (I still stand by the idea, just not the execution :P ). I met some of the most amazing people in the world who, far from being your typical backstabbing reality TV contestants, gave me the love and support I needed during this particularly tumultuous time in my life. I still remember Tanya standing up for me when a contestant that shall not be named made some homophobic remarks. I remember letting Felix giving me a lap dance and just giggling like mad at the looks on the other contestants’ faces. And one of the most heartwarming memories was having Christine pull me to the side after she heard my full story, and telling me “Hey, I live in Houston. If it gets bad at home with your parents or whatever, you can ALWAYS come crash at my place.” It was a mere 5 days earlier that we had exchanged our first words to each other. Without this kind of love and support from my MasterChef family, I would not be the person I am today.
  8. I started my journey in the culinary industry. After getting eliminated from MasterChef and recovering emotionally/moping at home for a few days, I started working in kitchens, starting out in a food truck owned by one of Tanya’s friends, then eventually staging at Barley Swine and Uchiko, working as a station cook at the Intel campus in South Austin, and finally as the a chef in a small Canadian restaurant. My growth has been immense, and I’m excited about what the future holds, though I know I still have a long way to go before achieving my ultimate dream of opening my own restaurant. You are all invited to the opening night when that happens ;-)
  9. I came out publicly, FINALLY, on May 9th, via Facebook. I coincided this post with the press release of the top 100 contestants, so to my friends it was a bit of a double whammy. The outpouring of love and support I got, both from new friends and from people I haven’t talked to in years, still warms my heart when I read it to this day.
  10. I moved out of my parents’ home and rented my own living space, effectively becoming financially independent, for the first time. Thanks Eddie! It provided a much needed respite from the constant tension between my parents and I.
  11. I bought my own car for the first time. As a “moving out of the house” gift, my parents helped pay for a big chunk of the first car I had titled to my name, a 2002 Honda Civic EX Coupe. The best part about it? Averaging 34 MPG combined city and highway driving!
  12. I sold my car and my motorcycle (a 2003 Kawasaki Ninja 250) to prepare for my move to Canada, dealing with flaky buyers and navigating the roads of Craigslist with relative success.
  13. Had quite a few travel adventures, including jetting up to Boston to visit Anna and AJ, as well as taking two trips to Canada (one to scope out the place first and one to settle there for a few months). Spent the night in an airport for the first time (one of the worst nights ever, especially without reliable wi-fi). Met up for dinner with some “fans” for the first time, first with Kevin in LA and Greg in NY (Thanks guys!!).  Flew first class TWICE, once on a short Boston-JFK flight and another much longer flight from LAX-JFK. The difference is like eating at a Michelin starred restaurant vs McDonalds. How am I ever going to go back to flying coach :( . Haha, I kid.
  14. Spent two whole months in a foreign country for the first time! Befor you all go like “It’s Canada, they speak English, it’s not that bad.” Well, it is! Quebec the province is basically it’s own country, and especially in the small towns like the one I’m staying in, the VAST majority of the people are francophones. My social life has been virtually nonexistent thanks to the massive language barrier. My french is getting better, but it’s nowhere near “fluent” yet.
  15. Spent the holidays away from home for the first time.

Throughout this year, I’ve been through some really intense highs and really low lows. Socially it’s actually been quite tough, and I’ve grown distant with a lot of people I used to be buddies with, due to a) me being a hermit for a semester, b) people seeing me as a “celebrity” and being unapproachable, and c) discomfort with my sudden openness about my sexuality. Here’s hoping that in 2013, I will continue to grow both as a person and as a chef, to be able to show abounding love and grace to EVERYBODY, even those who hurt me, and for me to make lots of new friends while keeping in tough with the old. Oh, and hopefully find a boyfriend too ;-) .

 

Cheers!

Posted in Austin, Fans, Jobs, MasterChef, Travel | 5 Comments

Life in Canada (so far)

Posted on October 30, 2012 by

Just popping by with a brief update for my blog readers out there to let yall know what is going on!

The restaurant I’m at is great! I’m about to start my second week of dinner service. The first week was relatively light (only open two nights, served 34 customers) but since I’m the only chef in the kitchen with some minor help from the dishwasher, it kept things interesting. My multitasking was tested, as I frequently had 3-5 burners going at the same time but in the end there were no major screw-ups and no complaints, which is always a relief.

One thing I’m noticing is that the language barrier is QUITE significant up here. Everybody speaks French, and unlike in a bigger city such as Montreal, French is pretty much the ONLY language you will see/hear spoken in public areas. I took 3 courses of French in high school and did pretty well, but you all know how well those courses stick -_-. Nonetheless, my reading is actually not bad (can understand/infer about 90% of everything that I come across), but in terms of listening and speaking I know only the basics. I usually don’t have the confidence to speak even if I know what to say for fear of mispronouncing it and making myself look like a fool. I spent 5 minutes debating whether to tell the dishwasher “Vous devez couper les oignons completement!” before finally caving and just cutting them myself.

Besides that, soon I’m going to be putting specials on the menu! This week it’s going to be a brined pork rib roast with pineapple caramelized in fish sauce. Our taste test is tomorrow, so hopefully it turns out delicious :) .

Till next time,

MC

Posted in Experimenting, Jobs, Travel | 1 Comment

Turning a page

Posted on October 3, 2012 by

In less than two weeks, I will take a trip across the country and continent, ultimately culminating at a small city located in Quebec, Canada. This will be the first trip I have taken in which there is no guarantee of my return back to my hometown of Austin at the end. If I spend time thinking about just what that means to me, and all the memories and past friends that I’m leaving behind, I will piss my pants. Instead, I’m thinking of the future, and what opportunities this trip will give me and the things that I will learn, and my mind is confident that this is the path that God wants me to take.

For the time being, I cannot reveal the exact nature of where exactly I’m going and what I’m going to be doing. I can say that I will be working in a restaurant and taking on a lot more responsibility than I have ever had in the past. I also know I will learn so much doing what I’m doing, and those lessons will serve me well if one day I am to fulfill my dream of being the chef-owner of my own restaurant.

Austin, you will be missed. I’ll cherish the last few days I get to spend with you, in the company of great friends from MasterChef. But this is the next step in my culinary journey, and it’s time for this chapter of my life to close and the next chapter to begin.

Posted in Austin, Jobs, MasterChef | 3 Comments

Chipotle Southwest Potato Salad

Posted on September 17, 2012 by

Hey guys! Thought I’d post a quick recipe. I came up with this one quickly one day while at work, and the end result is pretty tasty (one of my favorite salads I’ve made yet, and I make a LOT for my job haha).

Chipotle Southwest Potato Salad

  • 1.5 lb waxy potatoes (I used Yukon Gold), cut into large dice (1/2″)
  • 2 ears corn, stripped from the cob
  • 1 small red onion, diced
  • 2 red bell peppers, diced
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
  • 1/2c sour cream
  • 2 canned chipotle peppers
  • 2 tbs lime juice
  • 2 tbsNew Mexico chili powder
  • Oil
  • S+P
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Toss potatoes in oil to coat them generously. Sprinkle with a couple of pinches of S+P and the chili powder.  Spread out on a sheet tray and roast in the oven for ~30 mins until the outside is browned and the inside is soft.
  2. Prepare all your vegetables. Keep the corn separate, but feel free to mix the rest in a large bowl.
  3. Heat a large saute pan over high heat until blazing hot (it should smoke slightly). Add a tablespoon or two of oil (which should also smoke) and immediately add the corn stripped from the cob. Toss in a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir occasionally to frequently, allowing some browned/charred bits to develop. Once corn is cooked (bright yellow instead of pale yellow), remove from stove and add it to the vegetables.
  4. In a blender/vitamix, combine chipotles, sour cream, and lime juice. Puree until smooth, then add a few generous pinches of salt and pepper. It should taste a bit “salty”, but you should still be able to detect the cream, chipotle, and lime individually.
  5. Pull potatoes out of the oven, mix with the vegetables and the dressing. Taste, adjust for seasoning, garnish with chopped cilantro if desired, and serve warm or cold.

Easy, economical, flavorful, even vegetarian! Leftovers are great for lunches. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Posted in Experimenting, Improvisation, Jobs, Recipe | Leave a comment

A Stage’s Worst Nightmare

Posted on September 8, 2012 by

40 pounds of edamame.

That’s approximately how much I spilled onto the kitchen floor during the busiest part of dinner service at Uchiko.

That’s how much ingredient I had to sweep up and toss in the trash while the other cooks/chefs in the kitchen looked on.

This is what caused me for a brief second to consider running out the door, driving to a remote desert in the west, and living in a cave for the rest of my life. A brief second, but the thought was there nonetheless.

So my task was to open a ton of frozen edamame pods, empty them into a lexan, and then put it into the walk in. The problem started when I finished covering and labeling the lexan and was taking it into the walk in. I approached the walk in door with my hands full, looked around and saw everybody preoccupied with some task or the other, leaned one edge of the lexan against a table and reached for the walk-in door with my free hand.

The edge slipped.

In less than a second, all of my hard work was sprawled ALL over the floor and PILED up at my feet.

&$@*#9$)(#*%(*@#&$ is what I said.

Everybody in the immediate area glanced up at me and then slowly looked back down. Nobody even said anything because the realize the shit that I had just gotten myself into. All I could do was mutter “I’m sorry, I’ll clean it up.” as I walked back and grabbed a broom and a dustpan and started sweeping up the mountain of edamame.

Inevitably, Chef Tim (who bless his heart, had greeted me again today with a smile, handshake, and an enthusiastic “Good to see you!”) turns the corner, sees the mess/waste that I just created, and bellows “What the FUCK is this??” On the verge of tears out of humiliation and kicking myself for being such an idiot, I manage to stammer out a brief explanation of what had happened. He lets loose a scowl and points around the room as he yells “There are 5 able bodies in this area that can help you. Why didn’t you ask for help?” Being unable to explain myself further, I can only look down and continue my profuse apologies.

As he walks away shaking his head, I consider my time at Uchiko. It was a a great run, I tell myself. You learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and be prepared to accept your punishment. The possibility that I wouldn’t be asked to return burned brightly in my head.

Throughout the rest of the evening, none of the other cooks in the kitchen bring up my stupid error, or give me a hard time about it. I’d gotten so used to the antics in other kitchens that I work in that I was waiting for the jabs. That’s something that I really love about Uchiko. Jokes are still made, fun is still to be had, but professionalism is almost always maintained when it should be.

After I finished up my duties for the night, I saw Chef Tim in the corner sharpening his knife. I debated slinking out the door without saying anything, though quickly decided that that wouldn’t be a wise move. So I slowly made my way over to him and squeaked out a “I’m heading home for the night, Chef. So sorry about earlier….”

Without hesitation, he looks me in the eye and says “It’s okay, just don’t try to be fucking Superman. You have to ask for help when you need it. Still, thanks for your help tonight.” And with that, a smile and a pat on my back, and he sent me on my way.

I still feel horrible about the mistake I made, and keep replaying the moment in my head and all the ways I could have avoided putting myself in that situation. However, there is hope that this is not the end-all-be-all of my amazing experiences there, and the bright side is that I learned from my mistake (definitely won’t be doing that again). In the culinary world, this is especially true: Shit happens.

Posted in Jobs | 4 Comments