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Behind the Scenes- The making of a segment...

A while back and I mean a while, i got this email saying hey would you want to do an episode of Galileo Tv.  I said yes, of course, sounds fun!

After about 400 emails well really 500- the shoot was set and my Mom had planned out all the aspects of the segments to shoot here in Memphis. It might seem easy but with everything there are phone calls and asking and email and more emails...

When the Crew arrived they brought me some goodies from Germany and then seriously we got down to work.
They are the top of the game and true professionals. As always it was loads of fun but some serious work and retakes. Understanding how much thought and planning goes into a segment can really blow your mind.
I shared my City with them and sent them to Graceland with Mom, gave them the best BBQ in Memphis at Central and we filmed.

For the first time I created a new spice blend live. It came out perfect to my vision and it was just so much fun to share the creative process with the Crew. For me the evolution of a spice blend has always been done while the cameras were not rolling so to be able to share how I make one was awesome.

I always get nervous for about 10 minutes after I film and worry about the EDIT. I had nothing to worry about, when you work with pros it makes every aspect of a video go from good to the best.

This piece is first class, perfect and I loved it even if I can't speak German!

Here is a big shout out of Thanks to the Galileo Team for making me look great!


Thanks for joining my journey
Love the Cabbage Leaf

Logan

P.S- here is the link so you can watch the segment.
"Youngest Chef In The World" by Galileo

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My Interview with WKNO. PBS interview in Memphis,TN

My Interview with WKNO. PBS interview in Memphis,TN

This was so much fun and my last local tv station to be on. Yes, I have even been on Library TV.






WKNO, thanks for having me.

Love the Cabbage Leaf,
Logan

You can also Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Vine.

Wolfgang Puck's The City Walk LA

While I was in LA I got to go to The City Walk several times and try some of the food.

My first stop was Wolfgang Puck's, he is a pretty famous chef and the restaurant looked fresh and clean. It had a fast food, sit down style mixed together. You order at the front and then they delver pretty good food. 

I love fried calamari so I ordered that and a meatloaf. The calamari was fresh, lightly fired and pretty darn good. It is the first time I have been served the tentacles which I see is a trend now. I am not too sure I like that. The little O's have a better flavor and mouth feel. 

I did not like the meatloaf and had some envy for the huge burger my Mom ordered. This time she did not give it up because she hates meatloaf so I was stuck with it! Sigh.. I mean it would have been good if it had been a bit fresher or less dense but it was not. Fortunately we had the calamari so I did not go hungry. My mom's burger looked fantastic and she ate every bit! She said it was fantastic.

So if you are wandering around the city walk try it! You might like it too. Just stay clear of the meatloaf!

Love the Cabbage Leaf

Logan Master Chef Junior contestant

Wolfgang Puck LA Bistro

Bounty on Broad

I really like Broad Ave. It has a true Memphis feel and is really trying hard to revitalize itself. I have taken some classes at the 5 in 1 social club and really enjoyed them. Now when my Dad said he wanted to try Bounty I was all for it so off we went.

Bounty is cool looking very Hipster chic and the view of the water tower is killer! It feels clean and fresh. I liked it.

We ordered three plates of food - it is family style tasting plates and she recommended 4-5 for three of us. She meant it. We tried the quinoa stuffed peppers, the fried oysters and the hanger steak. 

The peppers were good- the quinoa stuffing was dense and had a nice flavor. It had chorizo and onions maybe. There was a roasted red pepper sauce that was pretty nice. I like the dish. It was good, but felt vegan. For me it was missing just a hint of something, I have not figured out what. But it was good.

The oysters were good fresh and tasty. They had a nice clean taste and sat on a slaw bed with green onions. The apple cider sauce was really nice.  I like this dish. I got some extra sauce and I really enjoyed it.

The hanger steak was tasty too. It was a little too rare for me but it had a good flavor. The stak sat on a brussel sprout bed with some great oyster mushrooms stir fried in. I mean these really were the stars of the dish. They had a great flavor.

I am glad I went but not sure if it is an I cant wait to go back place. 

Love the Cabbage Leaf

Logan HDM 

The Ultimate Meat Extravaganza Texas de Brazil

Texas de Brazil is downtown and it is fancy. It is known for the endless meat, it just keeps coming endlessly. I think it is an Brazilian steak house. The guys who bring the meat wear gaucho pants and are always carrying meat.

They have a huge salad bar in the middle of the restaurant with tons of yummy things to eat with the meat - like olives, cheeses, black beans, the chimichurri sauce and, well, salad.

I LOVE to go. Normally I don't eat much meat but at Texas de Brazil the meat is so good, I get stuffed. I really enjoy the flank steak, the sirloin, the ribs, the sausage, the lamb, the fillet and sometimes even the chicken - basically all the meat. It is all  really delicious. I even like how they will bring it out and cut your pieces for the perfect temperature for you. I like medium rare. I think they brine it first to make it tender and juicy.



Dad likes to go for lunch instead of dinner because it is a bit less expensive and he has all day to get over eating all that MEAT.

So if you want an endless array of yummy roasted meat in a super cool atmosphere with great sides this is the place for you and ME!

Love the Cabbage Leaf
Logan

PS. I really like the blue glasses and the meat!
Just so excited I forgot to take the photos!

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Osaka to Memphis 6,816 miles or just around the bend

I just watched a great documentary about SUSHI. It was really cool to see someone make the sushi. The star was Jiro, he is 85 years old and a sushi samurai. His restaurant seats only 10 people and his sushi sells for $300 a plate.He earned 3 Michalean stars. This is an honor. The Movie Jiro dreams of Sushi is all in Japanese, I really liked even though I could not understand a single thing they said. Reading subtitles is hard they go b quickly. After the movie was over I was so hungry and not for popcorn. I begged to go for Sushi, well, really to go to Japan but I settled for sushi.

A new restaurant opened close by my house called Osaka (Not in Japan). It is beautiful and the price was not not 35,000 yen either, just $2 a plate on this really awesome conveyer belt. I got to try several great rolls. My favorite was the Dino dynamite I ate it so fast I cant tell you what was in it but it was great. The sushi dude was extremely friendly and he made some rolls just for me. I also really liked the tornado roll which has salmon, cream cheese and avocado fried just a bit. The Sushi Chefs have been making sushi rolls for more than 8 years. My Mamma cant eat too much seafood and he was very careful to make some items just for her.

What I like best about sushi is the seafood is experly cleaned and cut. I like seafood so much but it has to be clean. Huge bites of mushy raw fish not too good but perfect sushi is FABLULOUS. The wasabi, pickled ginger and seaweed just add to the yum factor.

I am getting hungry for some right now....
I am dreaming of Jiro dreaming of Sushi...
Love the cabadge of the sea
Leaf

Ps. I really need a passport....

Round up yer Lil' Corn Dodgers

Once every 365 days a huge festival happens in Grand Junction Tn., Aka, the middle of No-where. This is the gold standard of Festivals for me and every other festival is judged by it. The Ames Plantation Heritage Festival!

First the Food then the Fun.



Every festival has burgers, hot dogs and some kind of Nacho, but I have to find the Good food. Ames has A CHUCK WAGON! They cook like a real chuck wagon , serve food like a real chuck wagon, look like a real chuck wagon, and they are a real chuck wagon! I tried the beef stew which was flavored by Beef. Yum! Huge hunks of carrots and huge chunks of onions and huge chunks of beef.  Also I had a favorite Corn Dodgers!! Fried corn meal, crispy, fried,  hot...yum! Her Pots are Hug! The strangest part is when we went back for a second plate she was almost out. Did I mention she also made hot dogs, chicken and dumplings, pinto beans and ham and cobbler, well she does.

They had a demonstration on hog butchering, not for the faint of heart!  I don't like anatomy and blood, so it was a bit creepy. However, I got to try the fresh sausage they made out of that HOG and it was tasty; very ,very tasty. there was only one problem they were not selling it so I could not take any home. The nice lady did give me a bunch of samples. I now want to try and make my own sausage too.

I had some Amish ice cream that was just so yummy. Made from cream and turned by an old fashion engine. it was worth the rather long line. It was not really the best thing there- that was the sausage but it was a great cool treat right before I had to leave.

The Fun-

They always plant a field of Cotton so you can pick your own bag right from the brush and then take it over to the Cotton gin and catch your seeds and gather your lint. How cool is that!  this year they had heirloom rust color cotton and Green color cotton and some traditional white cotton. I did gather a whole bag of only green and I got myself some really green cotton. You could have a nice lady spin your lint into string! My brown and green looked cool together.

I found the blacksmith shop and he made a skewer and he answered all of my questions. it was cool. He had a huge bellow, and a hot coal fire. At the end of the day he let me back into the smith area and I got to make a horse shoe into a fish. I used the bellows. I had a lot of fun with him doing the blacksmithing. 

They had a group of Alpacas which were very very fuzzy! So cute and soft! they had alpaca balls that you put in the dryer to help it dry faster and dewrinkle your clothes. I did not get any but I sure wanted to. 

Here are some other things we got to do and see











Civil war renacting, flint knapping, goat milking, early farm house cooking, the Stencil house, archeological dig, leaf pounding, story telling, music, vintage engines, horse shoeing, bee keeping, candle making, tobacco harvesting, brick making, and just a bunch more- the gold standard of festivals!

See ya next year!
Love the Cabbage,
Leaf

Hug From The First Lady PRICELESS! 

We flew into Reagan Airport in DC and took the Metro to our hotel. In the lobby we found all the other contestants and we got a room. It was an exercise room with a stationary bike and a weight ball. How cool is that! It was a great room.  I love hotels they are the best.

We could see the pool out the window. 

We went to the Smithsonian Muesum and we saw Julia Child's Kitchen. The curator gave us lots of secret behind the scenes information. I liked how she wanted her stuff in the same place and she had pictures so that people would put stuff back in the right place. We had time to poke around the muesum and it was really cool.

Next up was a great healthy pizza party. All the kids were there and we had fun. Sam drew a finger mustache for me, I wish I had a picture of it! We did a big cook book signing. I felt like a star! I am in a cook book! It looked like a great party. Thanks Epicurious for the amazing pizza party. 

I know what you are hungry for - 

The hug-
Love the Cabbage,Leaf

Tuna Quinoa Salad $4.00..........

 

Well, You all know that I love to cook, and I have tried a contest or two, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that I entered The Epicurious First Kids' State Dinner contest and that I won for Great State of Tennessee. 

I found out about this contest while Mamma was looking for nutritional facts for the Cub Scouts. I really was not sure I wanted to enter it, but after some convincing I decided it could be fun. The prize was extravagant. 

First, I wanted to make one of my favorites a Grits Bowl,
 I will give you a recipe for that one day soon. I did learn that grits are not a whole grain, they did not met the My Plate Standards. I saw Quinoa on the list and got curious, epically curious. 

I learned to cook it like rice, it is not hard. I tried lots of different ingredients before I realized that just plain Tuna was the tastiest. I added my favorite veggies and one I don't like onions. I had a great salad but no ideas on how to plate it! We tried a lettuce wrap, or carrot chips and the salad as dip but they seemed boring. My Auntie came and she thought to stuff a pepper acept what kid wants to bit through a whole pepper! Mamma and I sliced them in half and they looked like boats so my Tuna Schooners where discovered. They sailed me all the way to the White House. 

My recipe is in a cookbook available for free from the USgov web sight, along with the other great healthy winners.

More on the great trip and the White House tomorrow-

I promise

Love the Cabbage

Leaf

The Great Spice Rack

Maggie's Pharm in Midtown Memphis is the best place to find every spice imaginable. It is tucked away by Memphis Pizza Cafe and has been there forever.

They have a bunch of funny items like Titanic ice cubes, which I got for my Mom, lots of soaps, perfumes and oils. But the most exciting thing in the shop is the huge spice WALL. I think they have every spice imaginable.





I love the selection of Mexican seasonings like chipolte chili powder, and hot chili powders. I love cayenne pepper too. All the spices are organic and you can get small amounts for a little money so you can try lots of them. They put them into little zip lock bags.

My favorite though are the exotic salts. I love these and have a started a collection of my own. My favorite is the apple wood smoked salt. These salts add a ton of extra flavor not just saltiness. I have tried the black salt, pink salt, and dead sea salt.

My apple wood smoked salt

So take a peak at my video just bellow and then stop by Maggie's and Spice Up Your Day. Tell them I sent you!

Love the cabbage,

Leaf