2013 - The Start of Something New

“Earn your way into becoming a chef!” – With all that I’ve read and learnt so far, I understand that in order to earn the stripes of being a chef takes more than being able to cook well and love food. Since I am less than a year-old in culinary years, I convinced myself that I needed to make up for years not served in a culinary school or restaurant. So last year, it didn’t matter what was presented to me, I made it a point to accept. This included teaching a bunch of cooking classes to kids and adults, leading company morale events in cooking techniques, volunteering at food events with local chefs, serving Cajun food out of  a food truck and offering a few menus at a restaurant as a guest chef  – I committed to it like my life depended on it. It was the hardest I every worked, but I enjoyed every second of it and I’m hooked on  this new found career. More importantly I’ve made some new friends along the way and they continue to inspire me everyday.

According to some recent studies, one in four restaurant close or change ownership in their first year. So it made sense to me to start small. This month, I will invest my passion and time into a small space serving Malaysian takeout food. I won’t be doing it alone. Kevin Burzell and Alysson Wilson of Kedai Makan have agreed to let me help with whatever they need to get started. So this is the gig that will keep me busy for two to three months – to start. While we are unsure of the outcome, I’ve already accepted that I will be gaining valuable experience and hopefully having a great time as well..

Kevin, Alysson and Kathleen @ Kedai Makan

The space is located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle. It’s a small and humble space, formally known as Tacos Gringos. It was a two-man operation serving tacos to late night patrons of neighborhood bars. With friends two doors down at Montana, we plan to service their happy hour regulars with small bites of Malaysian food. If there’s demand for it, we will consider expanding our hours to provide brunch or lunch. Kevin and Alysson share similar goals in introducing and providing good quality, authentic Malaysian food to Seattle foodies and hope that this will turn out to be successful in a form of a restaurant someday.

We are at the tail-end of our first week into preparing the space and I am already dreaming up recipes to encourage the locals here to try new flavors already understood by the average Malaysian. But for now, we are focusing efforts on getting kitchen supplies and testing recipes for when we open.

So with this project kick-starting my first week into 2013, I’m uncertain for the future of this blog. At some point last year, I honestly thought that it would get converted from a blog to a website. With the details of this journey into the culinary world constantly changing , I think it might be best to stick with blogging when there’s a good story to share.

Based on my WordPress web report for 2012, I had 7,200 views for the 11 posts I made in the entire year. I don’t know if this is a high or low number. Regardless of it’s significance, I THANK YOU for reading and supporting me. As always, please send in any feedback or suggestions of things you’d like me to blog about.

Here’s wishing you a great 2013!

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