Status

Hey, Guys..

I just revamped my blog to fit my growing personality and so that means some major visual freshening up.

The premise is still on food, restaurants, recipes and a tablespoon of travel.

 I am also considering starting a photo blog but I still don't know if and when that would happen.













Thanks for sharing the journey and and the support.
Love the cabbage
Logan

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

The long wait is Over

IKEA


The long wait is finally over, Memphis has an IKEA! No more going to Atlanta for all those cute and well planed kitchens. 
Ikea is huge. Well, it's bigger than huge, it's massive and filled with everything you need to live(excluding a cat tree) including a Swedish market and mini restaurant. All this inside a furniture store, crazy. I think I could survive the apocalypse in there. 
It is really hard not to give the Swedish food a try, there are two restaurants one in the front and one hidden inside. I ate in the hidden one. I had the legendary meatballs, a cup of chicken soup and shared a salad plus the special juices. Mom got the marzipan dessert. The meatballs were tasty and just really classic. The sides were mashed potatoes, lingon berry jelly, roasted vegetables and gravy overall it was a nicely composed simple, classic dish with nothing to dislike. In retrospect I should have gotten the extra side of meat balls. I could have eaten another scoop and managed to eat some of Mom's. I was surprised how juicy the meatballs were cause they looked rather dry.

The soup was ok and the salad was fresh. It was just a salad. Mom had marzipan dessert and said it was good.  

I really really want Ikea to redesigned my kitchen and help tame the chaos with all that organization and innovation. I mean it they have the coolest kitchen stuff. I loved the non electric mixer, and those pull out drawers. Some teens have slept overnight inside of Ikea all though that is not approved it still sounds like fun.  When you live in 100 year old house the kitchen is a dinosaur compared to the IKEA design.

Shoot me an email with your favorite IKEA item so I can go pick one up too!

Love the Cabbage Leaf
Logan

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

Food Fanatics Orientation for a Jr Chef

The food fanatics are a fanatical group of Chefs that are supported by US Foods. 

US Foods supplies restaurants with food, silver ware, cups, cook tops, prep-stations, and basically everything else a restaurant would need to operate.

There are only 31 food fanatics and they know how to rock and roll! 
Chef Jeff invited me to go to the Us Foods convention in Roanoke Virginia and do a demo. 

This might not seem like a big deal to a lot of people but if you want to be a Chef it is amazing. At the conference there were lots of cool products, I saw a lot of plates that I liked and there was a whole line of  sustainable bamboo paper plates. They had the US Food lines as well as some cool local products and even some specialty foods like New York bread.

They had meat, seafood, deli products, bread, appetizers, and most importantly the new products US Foods is offering. They had bone marrow, stout onion rings, and beer cheese with pretzels and a lot of other higher end food items.

It was very interesting to see where food trends are heading in Virginia, like the new grass fed beef rib eye and beef burgers it is nice to know that food is going to a more sustainable and tastier way. 

I met a lot of really cool chefs and got invited to be an honorary food fanatic!

That is me a Food Fanatic!

I know, I have been ignoring my blog and my writing is a bit rusty, ok a little more than just rusty!

Logan

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

I was on Inside Edition!

I was asked to do an interview for Inside Edition on the topic of should kids do reality TV shows? The whole kids doing reality TV has really taken off with Master Chef JR being the first and now there are kid versions of a lot of reality shows.
Which is really good for talented kids who want to show off their passion. One of the questions that they asked me was if the stress was to much for a kid to handle? Reality TV is very stressful even for the adults on shows, the stress on kids is evident but is it too much I don't think it is. When I think about kids that play competitive sports it does not seem quite as drastic as the stress of TV.
One of the things that I did not think about when I auditioned for Master Chef JR is that I needed more than just talent I needed parents who would support me though out the show and the journey luckily I have supportive parents.
Should the parents decide if the kid should be on a reality show? I really just don't know about that question it is pretty tricky to answer because on one hand it is the child's decision
but on the other the parents have to do whats best for the child it just really hard to answer. The nest question was if it was fun to do the show the answer to that is very easy
yes it was a lot of fun and an amazing opportunity. Over all it was cool to be on Inside Edition.

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DIY Pancakes at Staks

Flipping out for your own pancakes?
Try Staks on Poplar.
The new breakfast joint has it going on, a carafe of pancake batter and a do it yourself table top griddle.

I really had a lot of fun making my pancakes and adding in extras. I have to say it was pricey for breakfast but it was fun.

My Grandma ordered some pancakes from the kitchen and she really liked them.
The local banana was good and all the ingredients were fresh just the amounts were small.

I think they should move the coffee from the front to maybe the back or some where and hire a barista - it was off putting to have the girl taking my money making my coffee and when my cup was cracked and dirty she just dumped the coffee into another cup! I did not want to drink it.

The interior was cute and fresh- it felt very fun.
The layout was a bit confusing with the door right next to the cash register.

Overall I had a good time but with our breakfast for three at $40 I am not sure when we will go back.




Love the cabbage Leaf
Logan

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

Blue Chef Coat Double Thumbs Up To Blue Apron

Everyone really knows I love to cook and I just kind of create and plan out my ideas and menus in my head. I keep a recipe book, so that I don't forget. I also have a food journal and even a sketch book.

So when I started hearing about companies that send fresh food to your door, I was curious. What would this be like to get a box of food? Easy? Boring? Dull? Expensive?

I ordered a 3 meal, 2 person plan from Blue Apron and to say I skeptical would be an understatement!

The website was easy to use, the recipes and food looked creative.

My first impressions were very positive.

When my box arrived it was on time and perfectly packaged! The food was in great shape and it all looked really fresh.
Now I am a very adventurous kid chef so to have three new ingredients was very surprising. I had heard of these ingredients, just never cooked them, so that got me even more excited.

First, I prepared the Lamb Burgers with the harrissa spread, and wow were they good. The directions were simple and straight forward, the pictures made it easy to follow.

I don't cook from recipes but I tried my best to stay straight with these.

 Had I been hacking them ,I would have added some mayo or yogurt to the harrissa and used the extra arugula in a side salad with the harrisa as a dressing. 

The carrot side was so simple and good we have made them since. The carrots were seasoned with caraway seeds and cumin. The meal did require some prep work but it was definitely worth it! I really loved my lunch.

It was a thumbs up! And I was starting to get impressed

Next up the Tamarind glazed cod.

The dish has included the glazed cod some zesty rice and a jicama cucumber topping.


I could not resist pan searing one piece of fish, I just needed that extra bit of control, all in all this was a great tasty dish! The tamarind was the new item for me and I really liked it. I plan to buy a bottle for the pantry.

The simple addition of lime zest to the rice just was genius and added a bunch of brightness to the plate.
I had lots of extra jicama and cucumber so I made a salad and that was a bonus.
Another thumbs up!

Last was the baked chicken with potato latkas and celery root.

The celery root was new to me and it was fabulous definitely a buy again! What a pop of fresh flavors! Now, my mom makes the best potato pancakes, so these were just ok for me. But if your mom does not make the best potato pancakes then these would be good.

I liked the apple mustard chutney and have made it several times since.

While one piece of chicken is technically enough for a serving I could have had another.

The roasted cabbage was very unusual and it was also unusual plating.



All in all the roasted veggies, pancakes and chicken made a great meal.

So you ask would I get it again?

Heck yeah! Hot lunch or dinner, fun to cook, easy but just a touch chefie, perfect packaging and ease for a busy schedule! Also this gets you cooking and gets the creative juices flowing!


If you are going to be a loyal Blue Apron customer then I would invest in two or three refrigerator bins to keep all the food together.

I hope to get another box ASAP!

And as an added surprise here is a special link from Blue Apron just for you!

Get 2 Meals Free On Your First Order!

Happy cooking
Love the Cabbage Leaf,
Logan

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

Meeting The Master Chef

A Master Chef.

Now almost everyone knows I won a show with Master chef in the tittle but that does not make me a true Master Chef.
yes I can cook and I am a culinary prodigy sort of but I have never met a Master Chef until I met Chef Jose Gutterias 

To say there is a difference is an understatement. It isn't really the food or the class of restaurant. It is simply knowing you are the best and at the top of the game.

I have to say there is a down side to being crowned champion there is a high level of food to which I now feel almost convinced I must produce. Some of the pure fun is gone. There is more scrutiny.

Chef Jose understands. He is a top professional - simple or complex his food must be the best.

I met him and tried his TV dinner now when you think of a TV dinner you think of something from the frozen isle of the grocery store. But what Chef Jose presented was a simple mini 3 course dinner complete with salad, entree, and dessert. The entree included sole perfectly seared with an herb butter sauce and purée of sweet potato topped with red cabbage and apple and green beans. Excellent. A simple pear salad clean and fresh. And slice of pecan pie with a deep flavor it is hard to explain.

I loved it! Loved the time the chef spent with me and will be forever grateful.

Don't wait go- experience food at its best. You won't regret it.

Logan

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