Fabulously Fierce Friends, Erin

1. Who are your role models - food related or otherwise?
Ina Garten aka The Barefoot Contessa is my food related idol. She kicked her boring day job (at the White House no less) to the curb and followed her heart to buy and run a specialty food and catering shop on Long Island. The food she cooks is very simple but really maximizes what the right combination of the right ingredients can create, and you can tell cooking really makes her happy. I am also pretty into Jacques Pepin and my older brother Kevin.
2. What is your drink of choice?
Champagne, please.
3. What is your favorite cookbook or other food related book?
Mastering the art of French Cooking, obviously. The basic skills and detailed instructions can make a chef out of anyone. Mastery of just a handful of the recipes in this collection translates to eating like a king for a lifetime!
4. What was your most memorable meal and why?
It would have to be the birthday dinner I made for my mother’s 40th (approximate) birthday, probably one of the first times I cooked for a crowd. I made a whole beef tenderloin with roasted asparagus and potatoes au gratin; a meal complied of the most classic of dishes but everything came out perfect. Along with my newly found talent for cooking, this meal was the first time I realized that cooking for the people I loved made them feel loved. The satisfaction I felt from this realization was so pleasant that I very quickly morphed into one of those people that love you with food.
5. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?
Spoon – mix, stir, and most importantly food to mouth vehicle.
6. If you had to make dinner with ingredients at your home right now, what would you make?
I try to be well stocked at all times, so my response to this might be a bit unfair. I would make Tilapia with tomato sauce – super easy to put together. Pan-sear a couple of tilapia filets in olive oil until they are just about cooked through, remove from pan and set aside. Sauté a whole onion sliced with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Add in one can of stewed tomatoes (or fresh chopped tomatoes with green pepper and celery if you have them on hand). Sauté for a few minutes. Add in about a quarter cup of warm water. Add in a few tablespoons of dried parsley (or a handful of fresh). Gently put fish back in sauté pan and nestle into the sauce. Add in a large handful of chopped kalamata olives, and sauté for a few more minutes. So quick, so satisfying, and so delicious!
7. What kind of music do you like to listen to while you cook?
Anything, as long as it is loud enough to drown out my singing!
8. What is your philosophy on cooking and eating?
Relax, enjoy and eat what you like.
9. Are there any foods you can not stand to eat?
I know what I am about to say may disturb some of your audience, but I just don’t like foie gras. I try and try and hope that someday I will be part of the secret club that can’t get enough of the stuff, but I just don’t enjoy it.
10. If you could use any super power in the kitchen, what would it be and why?
I am never short of amazed when I see someone detect the temperature of meat with just a prod of their finger, so I would ask the super power grantors that my fingers be as talented.

Fabulously Fierce Friends, Elizabeth

I don't like to write about myself(first or third person) so this will be odd. I grew up in Utah, land of the family-friendly chain restaurant and pretty much didn't think food came much better than what the Olive Garden served up. My mom always made sure we had dinner together as a family though. More often than not, that dinner included Lawry's seasoning salt, but hey, at least I won a scholarship because of it. (The prompt: What inspired you to enter the foodservice industry? My answer: Lawry's.) I graduated from the CIA's pastry program in 2008 and as a result, I am no longer capable of having a meal without dessert.
1. This list could be long or short depending:
Alton Brown - makes food fun and fascinating
My parents - I want what they have and nothing less will do
My brother - follows his dreams
Anyone who does what they love - they're the most interesting
2. This is completely PG, probably due to my years in a certain state, but it's a tie between fresh lemonade and cream soda. Although if I have to grow up a little, I'll say an Amaretto sour.
3. Any of the CIA's books, particularly Frozen Desserts and Chocolates and Confections. The photography is beautiful (trade secret: the photo studio is located next to the dumpsters of one of the dorms) and it's gotten to the point where I only care for cookbooks that are in weight. Non CIA: On Food and Cooking, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Kitchen Confidential, and best of all, Cake Wrecks because you have to have a sense of humor about what you do.
4. I can't tell you the name of the restaurant or even what I had, but my best meal was the last night my family was in London. It had probably been the most hectic vacation of my life and I think we were running on about 8 hours of sleep between the four of us. It was about 10:00 at night and our flight was leaving early the next morning, but we stopped for dinner and just talked about our trip and what we'd remember.
5. I refuse to bake without a scale, except when it comes to my Grandma B's chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I'm also in love with my Thermapen, and I'm saving up for a refractometer. Other things to be found in my pockets include a calculator, mini offset spatula, box cutter, mini ruler, and paring knife (knife guard on, of course).
6. So I fall into the category of chef who doesn't cook when she gets home. But I could probably scrape together my mom's wicked spaghetti sauce (Lawry's not included) or a mean bowl of cold cereal.
7. I like songs, not genres. Consequently, my playlist is about as diverse as it gets. To give you an idea of how random my tastes are, the next five songs on my shuffle literally are: You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, G Code by Geto Boys, Crazy in Love by Beyonce, Devil in Disguise by Elvis, and Preludio from Partita No. 3 by Bach.
8. Cook simply, but it cook it well and use the best ingredients you can find. A little innovation is fun though, both in technique and flavor combinations, but when the dish becomes all about the gimmicks, you've lost me because NO ONE has ever gone home thinking "Wow, that freeze-dried shrimp foam really hit the spot".
9. Cilantro. I can taste the smallest bit of that stuff in anything. I don't feel too bad about that though because they just discovered that people who don't like cilantro don't have the receptor to properly taste it. Other things include dill, bell peppers, and raw onions. I'm also not a huge fan of sweet/savory combinations for main course (I love sweet and salty desserts though) like barbecue, which I'm pretty sure means I'm not allowed in the South, at any tailgait, or really any function where hearty men (and lady)folk get together.
10. I would like the power to make the perfect amount of food so there would be no leftovers. (Soup is the sole exemption to this rule.) I have never liked leftovers and thankfully, my dad took on the role of human garbage can with relish as I was growing up. I think the best I can hope for it to marry a guy who likes leftovers.

Fabulously Fierce Friends, Meaghan

Meaghan Heinrich: Orchestra Education Manager by day. Weekend Warrior Oboist. Lover of music, art, books, film, food, drink, and all things that make life truly fabulous.

1. Who are your role models - food related or otherwise?

Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food) and Mollie Katzen (Moosewood diva--who happens to also be an oboist!)

2. What is your drink of choice?

Red wine, craft-brewed beer, or single malt scotch. My favorite cocktail is the Sazerac, a New Orleans favorite: rye whiskey, Peychaud's bitters, sugar and a little lemon in an absinthe-coated glass. Heaven. Oh, and I can't resist a good mojito in the summertime.

3. What is your favorite cookbook or other food related book?

The Original Moosewood Cookbook. I just keep coming back to it.

4. What was your most memorable meal and why?

After I ran my first marathon in Cincinnati, I went to my favorite resaturant, Myra's Dionysus, and ordered hummus, homemade soup, and gado gado. It was the best that food has ever tasted in my life.

5. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?

My German spatzle-maker. You press dough through it to make homemade boiled noodles, kind of like dumplings. It's the traditional Heinrich Family wedding gift!

6. If you had to make dinner with ingredients at your home right now, what would you make?

Probably a frittata. I'm nearing the end of my grocery week, and as long as I have eggs, I can always turn out a creative and tasty frittata.

7. What kind of music do you like to listen to while you cook?

Jazz for dinner, classical for brunch.

8. What is your philosophy on cooking and eating?

My mom always said "If you can read, you can cook." I believe that cooking simple meals and eating well is much easier than most people think, and that if they would just give it a try, they'd be healthier and enjoy life more. Convenience food is the devil.

9. Are there any foods you can not stand to eat?

Despite being a vegetarian and choosing not to eat meat, I don't think there's any food I truly don't like. I won't touch fast food, but that's more related to question #8.

10. If you could use any super power in the kitchen, what would it be and why?

The ability to chop an onion without getting the smell on my hands.

Fabulously Fierce Friends, Ray

Ray writes: Grew up on a farm in Eufaula, Al where my mother taught me the way around the kitchen. Held the position of head cook of the Creek Steak and Seafood restaurant form age 15-19. Put myself through college (University of Montevallo-BMP Trombone) by cooking and waiting tables. Moved to Boston to attend grad school at the Boston Conservatory (Master of Music Education second master’s in Trombone performance). Was a waiter at Abe & Louie's steak house, Biba, L’espalier and several other hot spots in Boston (twenty years total in the industry). Completed a third masters in orchestral conducting from the University of Nebraska Omaha. Toured Rome, Italy as a trombonist as well as freelanced in Boston. Conducting positions include assistant conductor, Metrowest Symphony; Symphonia conductor at Philips Exeter Academy; Conductor the Nashoba Youth Orchestra; and current position of assistant conductor of Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra as well as founder and artistic director of “3rd Sundays @ 3” concert lecture series. My website is www.dmdaniels.com. I’ve been married for almost seven years, and I have a 15 year old cocker spaniel.

Here are the questions:

1. Who are your role models - food related or otherwise?

My Mother and father: My mother is a great cook and with my dad, they rearded 12 kids together…simply amazing…and growing up, I thought it was normal.

2. What is your drink of choice?

Beer and a shot: (Makers Mark on the rox and a half of splash of sweet vermouth with a Newcastle or Amstel light to wash it down with.)

3. What is your favorite cookbook or other food related book?

The Joy of Cooking

4. What was your most memorable meal and why?

As I stated before, I was brought up on a farm in Alabama. Growing up we had to pick peas and shuck corn and all sorts of things that broke modern day child labor laws. Well, the longest time I spent away from home was nearly three years. All that time, I was eating frozen or canned foods from local big chain supermarkets. Upon my return, I walked into the house and was greeted by my family like the prodigal son. I was immediately sat at the table for a meal, which is customary at my house regardless of the time of day. The sweet corn and fresh peas with country fried venison simply brought tears to my eyes. I have no words that would justly depict the moment.

5. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?

My kitchen Aid

6. If you had to make dinner with ingredients at your home right now, what would you make?

Simple roasted chicken with fresh rosemary and a side of Sriracha

7. What kind of music do you like to listen to while you cook?

Anything really, but my favorites is old school jazz like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Coltrane. I also really like Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians (It is the quintessential cooking/entertaining music.)

8. What is your philosophy on cooking and eating?

It’s the same as rehearsal and performance. What more can you ask for?

9. Are there any foods you can not stand to eat?

Believe it or not, it’s my mother’s squash casserole. It’s amazing that she’s the best cook in the world, and she can create something that is so detestable.

10. If you could use any super power in the kitchen, what would it be and why? 

Well, if I had the power to brine, salt cure or smoke something by waving my hand over it that would be simply fantastic (maybe that’s three super powers). I love to do all of these things, but the brine and salt cure process does nothing for me except builds my anticipation which I think is absolutely necessary, but it takes up to much space in my fridge (no I do not have a walkin at home). The smoking process is also absolutely necessary in many meaningful ways, but I live in a condo (no backyard and my neighbors already hate me because of the fire alarm situation, also liquid smoke should be banned).

Fabulously Fierce Friends, Han

1. Who are your role models - food related or otherwise?

My grandmother who raised me to appreciate and not be fussy about what I eat, but at the same time to learn how to enjoy fine cuisine.

2. What is your drink of choice?

Americano (not the Starbucks coffee drink)

3. What is your favorite cookbook or other food related book?

Kitchen Confidential

4. What was your most memorable meal and why?

Toss up between snake soup in Taiwan and dog stew in Korea. Most memorable because I can recall in precise detail the experiences. It also convinced me that exotic foods are still eaten for a reason - because it's actually good!

5. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?

Chinese butcher knife - one knife to rule them all. Seriously, it fulfills almost every knife function around my kitchen.

6. If you had to make dinner with ingredients at your home right now, what would you make?

Baby bokchoy with oden (fishcake) steamed in oyster sauce

7. What kind of music do you like to listen to while you cook?

Jazz

8. What is your philosophy on cooking and eating?

Eating: Never say 'no' to trying something at least once...unless it's diseased cow shit. Cooking: Be solid in your basics around the kitchen, but always look to experiment.

9. Are there any foods you can not stand to eat?

I'll eat the neighbors cat if I have to.

10. If you could use any super power in the kitchen, what would it be and why?

Mind control - so I can simultaneously cook and direct the amateur help around the kitchen.