2 9 F E B R UA RY 2 012
ISSUE 1
KITCHEN CRASHERS
A
N E W
S E R I E S
B Y
G I N G E R
www.t hisisginger rose.blogspo t.com
FEATURING: JANELLE H C H I C K E N T E R I YA K I S T I R - F RY W I T H Q U I N OA
R O S E
PAGE 1
GINGER ROSE
A
L E T T E R
GINGER
F R O M
ROSE
I started Ginger Rose almost three years ago with a clear goal in mind, to inspire my friends and family to conquer their kitchen fears & find the joy in cooking a delicious home cooked meal. At the time, I felt like a bit of an anomaly, with pretty much all of my friends claiming to not know how to cook, or claiming to be the best cook & never moving past kraft dinner and muffin & pancake mixes. Food was one of my biggest passions & it felt so wrong to not have anyone to share that passion with. I wanted to share ideas, swap tips & tricks, learn about new techniques & restaurants, create something spectacular using multiple palettes, but other than my immediate family there was no one. As my blog grew, so did the response. I found myself completely overwhelmed by the positive response I was receiving from friends, family, acquaintances, friends of friends, & even strangers! Those that shared my same passion started to come forward & make their presence known, as well as those that had never really given cooking a shot but were now encouraged to try. I watched as former fearful cooks broke through their limits to create dishes that they could be proud to serve & call their own. Those that had barely even touched a stove were now sharing recipes that they had found success in, making 5-course dinners to impress their loved ones, & in some cases even starting their own customized cake business’. Now, nearing Ginger Rose’s three year anniversary, I can confidently & proudly say that I have achieved my goal! So where do we go from here?
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GINGER ROSE
Although I have achieved my goal of getting my own friends & family excited about food and cooking, there is a whole other generation of young men & women who are in that same place that my friends & family were three years ago. I’m talking about those young adults who are leaving the nest for the first time, unfamiliar with the pressures & time constraints of becoming an adult. I want to help ease that pressure & inspire people to take control of their lives & their diet, but this time I can’t do it alone. After talking with so many fearful cooks about their apprehensions & fears in the kitchen, I have learned that one of the most encouraging things to say to them is “I’m just like you”. I have never had any formal training, I have certainly had my share of kitchen disasters, I have learned from those disasters to divert them in the future, & I still have my own kitchen fears yet to conquer. With my food blog as much apart of my identity as my flaming red hair, it’s trickier to get people to buy the “I’m just like you” line, & this is where my network of friends, family, & acquaintances come into play. With the help of my incredible network of friends, I would like to introduce Ginger Rose’s new series, Kitchen Crashers.
W
hat is Kitchen Crashers you ask?
Well, it’s exactly as it sounds. I want to crash my friends kitchens! I want to be that fly on the wall, learning how others approach cooking, how they select ingredients & plate dishes to create a final product that they can feel proud to call their own. In each post Kitchen Crashers will feature one inspiring individual, revealing their history in the kitchen through a Q&A, & featuring that persons “signature dish”, along with a recipe for it. Through the Q&A you will be able to see the incredible diversity in terms of how people approach cooking, as well as the diversity of the different people represented in each post. Of course ones cultural background has a great deal of influence on their outlook on food & cooking, but what someone does for a living & their hobbies also greatly affects their approach to food. As the series grows, I want to represent people from all different cultural, economic, social, & creative backgrounds, representing the fantastic mosaic that is Toronto. I’m hoping that through Kitchen Crashers my readers will be able to identify with someone who is truly “just like them”, & be able to walk away DA N I E L L E R O S E feeling inspired to take a chance in the kitchen themselves! E D I TO R O F G I N G E R R O S E
Cheers to the next step!
Ginger Rose DO YOU FOLLOW ME? DO YOU LIKE ME?
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GINGER ROSE
“cooking able
to
myself...& take
means take being
risks
&
being
care able try
of to
new
things in hopes of having a delicious experience!”
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GINGER ROSE
W JANELLE H
ho’s kitchen are we crashing?
J E W E L R Y
D E S I G N E R
S T U D E N T
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A
G
T W E N T Y
E -
O N E
STUDIES F H &
I
N I
E S
C
L
A T
A
R
O S
R
S
I
T Y
C
S
Y E A R S COOKING 6 W
E
B
S
I
T
E
W W W . L E N Y B T O N . C O M
M
O
N
T
H
S
GINGER ROSE
PAGE 5
“When
I
moved
c o n d o
I
h a d
freedom kitchen, m e
t o
to
t r y
my
a b s o l u t e
use
which
into
my
own
encouraged
m a k i n g
n e w
things.”
Q A &
Favourite food?
I love love Italian food, but t hat's probably because I’m addicted to c heese & all t hings c heesy! I also crave sushi on a regular basis, & I can't forget about Korean food since it's what I grew up wit h. It's kind of like Stoc kholm syndrome, I of ten disliked it growing up because I was forced to have it, but now I can't help but miss t hose home-cooked meals made by my mum, if t hat makes sense.
Favourite smell in t he kitc hen?
Freshly baked cookies or cupcakes. I also love the smell of
lemon on my f ingers.
Favourite restaurant in Toronto?
Bistro 990
How long have you been cooking for?
I’ve been cooking ever since I moved out entirely on my own, so I would say I began t his past summer. I lived in a house wit h two girls, one of whom was Italian, & always tried to organize a weekly dinner for t he t hree of us. Then when I moved into my condo, I had absolute freedom to use my own kitc hen, whic h encouraged me to tr y making new things.
GINGER ROSE
PAGE 6
“Beautiful pictures of food inspires me to imitate what I’m seeing. Pictures that are colour ful & vibrant always attract my attention.” - On what inspires Janelle to cook.
Where did you learn to cook?
How I learned to cook has been an amalgamation of experiences, suc h as what I learned from my mum at home (who put as many veggies as she could into ever ything), or what I learned from my roommates t his summer, from t he internet and T V, & from my friends. I never had the intention of learning how to cook specif ically, but I learn t hings here & there just from watc hing curiously.
What inspires you to cook? Pictures
Beautiful pictures of food inspires me to imitate what I’m seeing. are colour ful & vibrant always attract my attention. I’m also inspired by
that
seeing ot hers having fun & enjoying t hemselves while cooking, like on Rac hel Ray. I also love my iPhone’s All Recipes app, whic h allows me to save photos & recipes to come bac k to when I want to tr y something new. & last but not least, I’m inspired by Ginger Rose! I swear, c hec k my tweets!
Do you follow recipes?
Hardly ever to a tee. I of ten leave out a few ingredients here & t here depending on whet her I have it or not & if I’m too lazy to go pic k it up from t he grocer y store. I don’t mind improvising eit her.
Favourite ingredient to cook with? Cheese! I love watc hing it melt. But if you asked me whic h ingredients I use t he most of ten, I’d say c hic ken breast and olive oil, but t hat doesn’t count does it? It ’s so boring!
What does cooking mean to you?
I t hink ultimately cooking means being able to take care of myself, as in really care for myself, as well as ot hers, & being able to take risks & tr y new things in hopes of having a delicious experience! It sounds kind of lame & generalized, but it ’s something a lot of young people don’t do.
GINGER ROSE
PAGE 7
THE DISH C h i c k e n
T e r i y a k i
w i t h
S t i r - F r y
Q u i n o a
Why did you c hoose to make this dish & where did you learn to make it?
I learned to make quinoa from my lovely friend Ali, who made salmon & asparagus stir-fried quinoa for a friend & I once. I never even knew what quinoa was before then! Af ter that dinner I was hooked! One day I decided to improvise with what I had, whic h was c hic ken breast, lots of veggies, quinoa, & teriyaki sauce! I love this dish because it ’s so f illing, yet decently healt hy & colour ful, whic h makes it nice to look at!
GINGER ROSE
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R E C I P E INGREDIENTS: •1/2 cup quinoa •1 cup water or broth •olive oil • 2 t s p g i n g e r, f i n e l y c h o p p e d •1 clove garlic, f inely c hopped • 1 / 2 r e d b e l l p e p p e r, c h o p p e d • 1 / 2 g r e e n b e l l p e p p e r, c h o p p e d • 1 / 2 y e l l o w b e l l p e p p e r, c h o p p e d •2
boneless,
skinless
chicken
breasts, cut in strips • 1 1 / 2 c u p s V H Te r i y a k i S a u c e •1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved •salt and pepper to season
R E C I P E
B Y
J A N E L L E
•lemon wedges for garnish
DIRECTIONS: 1. C o o k
quinoa
according
to
pac kage
directions.
While
quinoa
is
cooking,
season c hic ken strips. Heat a medium grill pan to medium-high heat and drizzle wit h olive oil. When oil is hot, add t he c hic ken strips. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on eac h side or until c hic ken begins to turn golden in colour and is cooked through. 2. I n a m e d i u m s k i l l e t h e a t o l i v e o i l , g a r l i c & g i n g e r a t m e d i u m h e a t . A d d r e d , green, & yellow peppers and sauté until slightly sof tened. Add t he cooked q u i n o a t o t h e p e p p e r s a n d s t i r t o c o m b i n e . S t i r i n t h e t e r i y a k i s a u c e . Ta s t e a n d s e a s o n w i t h s a l t a n d p e p p e r, i f n e e d e d . 3. P o u r i n t o b o w l s o r a s e r v i n g d i s h a n d t o p w i t h c o o k e d c h i c k e n a n d g r a p e tomato halves.
Garnish wit h a lemon wedge and ser ve!
GINGER ROSE
S o m e
PAGE 9
p i e c e s
f r o m
L E N Y B T O N
“The fact t hat I was being inspired during classes was huge for me, because I f inally felt a real reason for wanting to learn more and see more ar t. I of ten relate my jewelr y making to a quote by Joan Miro, one of my favourite ar tists: ‘The painter works like the poet ; f irst word, then the t hought.’” - Janelle
GINGER ROSE
PAG E 10
H ow lo n g h a ve yo u b een ma ki ng jewelr y?
It ’s been almost three months but it feels like muc h longer.
What inspired your jewelry line?
What inspired me initially was t he city & elements of t he city. I would be sitting in a cof fee shop, studying for sc hool, & looking out the window, I’d like t he shape of a lamppost, or t he way t he leaves had fallen onto t he ground, & I’d sketc h the lines & shapes onto my notes wit hout the intention of making jewelr y. I’m ver y visual in an abstract way, whic h people of ten don’t understand or f ind weird. But to be honest, I’m not entirely sure how the idea of making jewelr y came to me, it just did! I love fashion & I’ve always loved craf ting little things since I was young. I suppose somehow in my mind fashion plus little craf ts became jewelr y. As I made more pieces, I began to f ind inspiration in t he ar t I was learning about in sc hool, Dada & Surrealism specif ically. This isn’t to say t hat I consider my pieces Dada or Surrealist jewelr y, but t he ar tists ideas spoke to me. The fact t hat I was being inspired during classes was huge for me, because I f inally felt a real reason for wanting to learn more & see more ar t.
CREDITS SERIES BY GINGER ROSE EDITOR DANIELLE ROSE
PHOTOGRAPHY ( E X C L U D I N G PAG E 12 ) DANIELLE ROSE
PHOTOGRAPHY ( PAG E 12 ) JANELLE H
TEXT DANIELLE ROSE
JEWELRY LENYBTON
RECIPE JANELLE H