Leah Kinsella

ABORIZO RICE!!! Grab a large container, fill about 3/4 with rice, and store your black truffles in there.... its great and keeps them fresh for a long time. Don't worry about mold, sounds grose but it is fungus anyways.

well well well... try having gout as a 21 year old woman not so pleasant either. I have tried every trick in the book.... every trick and nothing has worked except two things which I had just slipped upon 1.) NO TIN FOODS... it is incredible, i still eat meat now and again, i still enjoy my red wine every other night, and lets not forget salmon... mmm so yes, no tin foods is a must. 2.) My recent trip to Sri Lanka was life changing. We went to organic farms where they showed us what cardamame, peppers, pineapples, mango etc are used for. They offered me this bottle of PURE honey with cardamame and citrus... It was special for Gout... this was two years ago, I took it for three months and I haven;t had an attack since. Anywho, flushing out your body is incredibly important. Now and again i feel my toe ache and I know I have to pound back a few ltrs of water in 1 hour... and it works... i stay away from all tin foods and eat meat once a week... try eating Cherries as well. they are a natural healer Good luck and welcome to the life of Gout

You want enough water in the Baine Marie to cover the same amount of liquid (approx) in the glass, but make sure the water in the Baine Marie is already boiled. And if you getting a lot of foam, I would either suggest finding a new recipe or use a whisk and stir gently, just enough to mix the ingredients and that is all Middle rack, good idea. If at any point the top turns a little to dark for your likeing, TIN FOIL If none of this works for you, rest the baked dish in the fridge for 24 hrs, it will set.

haha is the kitchen Japanese? Well, we do have quite a few people from Japan who work in the Kitchen, and yes they do stpeak French (very little ). The food is aboslutely amazing!!! There isn't one plate that is athentically JUST JAPANNESE OR FRENCH, they both are intertwinded to create fusions (of course). They speak a lot of Japanese in the Kitchen as well... the Exect. Chef/Owner studied in Japan for many years, and he is fully capable in speaking Japanese... so he does. haha It's kind of odd actually. How long were You in Japan for? ← I was in Kurume and Fukuoka, Japan for 2 years, working at a hotel and 2 satelite restaurants. I also found everyone to be more receptive to me as long as I made the effort. Losing the self consciousness and not worrying about grammar and all that made it easier to communicate. In Paris, I had the same experience, the more I stumbled thru my french, the more they stumbled thru their english. It was funny at times as would occasionally command in english, I would respond in french, or I would ask in french and they would respond in english. Good times, and good luck. ← wow! what an experience. What make you want to go to Japan? Its been almost a month here in Pernand. I had a one week streak of sanity! My Garde Manger left a week ago, leaving me as "Garde Manger"... I swear I work my ass off, but for some reason, it feels like it's getting harder to ask questions, be personal and above all, try to explain myself and what I am doing and WHY... shit. I can;t believe how strainging it is. I can cook, just not in a French kitchen. haha I love cooking, but are internships really this brutal? Humiliating? and I'm not learning ANYTHING but being able to handle the Exec. Chef tell me "ca c'est pas common a faire!"... ahah my God. DId you honestly have a hard time in Paris!!!???? I'm going through so much coffee and Ginseng to keep me going man.

and how true you are I think when you finally become comfortable with a language (whether it being 100 % or not) others seem to open up with their capabilities in languages. Just yesterday, I went for a few drinks, nervously trying to spit out whatever it was I had to say and once I stopped "thinking" about what I wanted to say, it rolled.. funny enough, the two guys started asking me questions in English and clearly not very well but the point is, why wouldn't they try speaking English with me before? If others only knew how difficult it is to JUST THROW yourself in there, then the Culinary World would be a much happier place. ahahah I think we should all throw ourselves in and no matter how difficult it is, it's the Culinary Adventure that gives up the thrill to keep going... isn't it!

haha is the kitchen Japanese? Well, we do have quite a few people from Japan who work in the Kitchen, and yes they do stpeak French (very little ). The food is aboslutely amazing!!! There isn't one plate that is athentically JUST JAPANNESE OR FRENCH, they both are intertwinded to create fusions (of course). They speak a lot of Japanese in the Kitchen as well... the Exect. Chef/Owner studied in Japan for many years, and he is fully capable in speaking Japanese... so he does. haha It's kind of odd actually. How long were You in Japan for?

Every Monday I find my fridge looking completely empty. Every Monday I tend to make the best dinner throughout the week (due to a minimul amount of food and having a creative mind) Filet de Salmon, Fond de Crevette and a wild mushroom / fiddlehead cream melange... Sliced my Salmon very thin. Then cooked some risotto in the Fond de Crevette and mixed it with the wildmushroom and fiddlehead cream mixture... then! just wait, THEN for desert, I cooked some rice (4 minutes in water, drain, then 4 minutes in milk). Blended the rice with some pan toasted muslie, rolled it out onto parchement paper, very thinly and covered it with parchement - popped it in the oven on low and let it for a few hours... boom.... delicious, serve some ice cream if you have some, or just fresh bananas.

Try fried capers on a Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict!!! Texture is amazing!

After finishing 3 months of Culinary Education in Cap D'Agde, Languedoc Roussillion, I was fortunate enough to get a Stage in Burgundy at a 1 Michelin Star restaurant. Le Charlemagne is half Japanese and half French cuisine... let me tell you, after killing myself with French Vocab for three months, I really should have learnt Japanese. It is quite interesting, I thought I knew enough to get by, but once I got in a Michelin Star Restaurant, where NO ONE speaks a word of English my love for food became a nervous humiliation. I can't seem to get make myself to talk to anyone or get inspired. I love this industry with all my passion. From running a restaurant, cleaning dishes for 10 hours and most of all being in the middle of Dinner/Lunch rush. For some reason, I feel so nervous being in a place where I can't express myself properly to others, let alone understand whats going on around me!!!! If anyone has experienced this odd humiliation... advice!!!????

Learnt French, Japanese Mousse, TUILLES (which I honestly had to do a good 9 times to get the perfect consistency) and most of all, working very FAST!!!

I have already tried burning that God awful "thing" Truthfully, there is no reason for it. If there is s and p already on the table... then there is no point. The food that the customer orders should already be perfectly seasoned. If not, they will ask for more seasoning... but please, whomever reads this, please do me a favor and try your best to burn that "thing"!!!