Sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil
1 pound flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions

1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable in a medium saucepan over med/low heat. Don’t get the oil too hot or you’ll get a major spatter when adding the other liquids. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

2. Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4-inch thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.

3. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

4. As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it’s nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don’t need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon or a spider to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

An oyster harvester picked up an oyster and said, “You’re more beautiful on the inside that you are on the outside”. The oysters reply…”Aw, Shucks!!”

Ok, pretty lame joke–but honestly–it was spur of the moment, and really just fits a ‘food’ blog. There are so many restaurants that serve oyster, even the Chef’s restaurants featured Oyster on the Half Shell for Mardi Gras. I personally haven’t had raw oyster since I lived in Japan. But every year you hear about more and more people getting sick because of Vibrio vulnificus bacteria that can be found in some Gulf oysters. You can keep yourself safe just by studying up a little. Over at BeOysterAware.com you can get all the facts on raw oysters, the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria you need in order to keep yourself and your family safe. They also have cooking tips and recipes that may just bring out the Oyster lover in all of us!

This weekend has been amazing to watch. Ever since the restaurant appeared on the Chicago television show, 190 North, it has been mayhem! They spent most of Friday and Saturday night on a wait list of over an hour. And people waited. Those who didn’t want the wait, went up the street to the first restaurant. They had people in from all over the Chicagoland area and from as far away as Hammond, Indiana–all because of this TV spot.

My husband comes home exhausted, but also shocked, amazed and exhilarated all at the same time! Hopefully this will keep up–it really is a GREAT restaurant!

I was hoping to get a copy of the video of The Chef on this blog–but unfortunately–it’s a podcast and I don’t know how to do that. But I do have a link! Those of you that have been reading my blogs for awhile have heard about the two restaurants that my husband has opened, and here you get a chance to see them. If you notice the window behind Sweet Baby Ray when he’s explaining how they came up with the sauce–you will see the curtains that I sewed. Each little loop has a little silver piggy button–so cute! Anyway–my “Chef” isn’t in the video at all–but hey, it’s still fun to watch!

Click Here

This past Saturday night the Chef’s restaurant was featured on a local television “What’s New” kind of show. It was really fun to see and to hear this famous news man talking about the restaurant, and to see faces of people I know, on TV. What was also fun? The pigs! The restaurant is a barbecue joint, so they hand out cute little pink pigs in t-shirts as promotional items. Every person at the table had a little pink piggy.

Corporate Gifts and promotional items are a proven way for a business to get their name out there. There are a number of different summer festivals that the restaurants participates in throughout the summer, and each one of these is an opportunity to build the brand’s name. There are pigs, coffee cups, magnets, calculators…you name it, there’s a logo on it going out to the masses. Because they are gift items, they are a lot more effective than just the standard business card. It’s amazing how inexpensive it can be to cover your customer base so completely, and it brings a lot of return business in as well.

I will try to find a way to put the TV moment on the blog–and if nothing else–I’ll at least get you the link for it.

I do have to say, on a more personal note…having a work-a-holic, professional husband takes a huge toll on me. Just in the normal day to day activities that go along with raising kids and running a home. At the restaurant my husband has a small army that keeps all areas of the restaurant clean and in working order. At home, it’s just me!

House Cleaning has never been a real strong point for me, in that I would so much rather play with my kids. In fact, I told my husband that if we were millionaires I would have a baby a year. He joked that I would then need a nanny. I corrected him and said that I would be the nanny, I would want to hire a housekeeper and a cook.

We are so lucky these days that there are services out there like maidpro.com. People who come to our homes (or businesses) and clean up after us! I got flowers for Valentine’s Day, but honestly next year…I’m asking for MaidPro.com!! They have a vision of beds made, floors polished and vacuumed all over the world. Why not my house!

With the Chef in the professional world you come across a number of times during the year when it would be nice to be able to send out a little something to either your workers or your customers. Gift Baskets from thefruitcompany.com is a great way to do this. I was over at their website and it’s amazing. Not only do the fruit baskets look beautiful and tasty, they have an entire dessert section as well. Chocolate covered cherries or blueberries, brownies and cheesecake. I’m sold!

What makes these baskets truly unique is the fact that the fruit is grown in orchards that are owned and operated by the same family owned company. That just brings a special touch to these already amazing gift ideas. The company has been featured on some great press, including Oprah’s own magazine and has been listed among the “Top 50 Best of the Web” sites for internet businesses. Quite an honor. I can see why though, take a moment and check out their website, it really does make me think about sending my mom a gift basket instead of flowers for her birthday this year!

How was your Valentine’s Day? According to ‘The Chef’, everything went amazingly well at the restaurant and a huge number of Chicago’s finest had a darn fine evening thanks to him. We, on the other hand, didn’t do much! I know, we plan on celebrating on Sunday, so we should be fine. But really-that’s the hard thing about being married to a chef. Your holiday takes a back seat to everyone else’s. We did just fine and sadly I sat home and ate hundreds of little chocolate candy bars that the kids brought home from school. I read each Valentine card as I stole the chocolate off of each one–I named each up and coming zit the name of the child that so generously gave my son the chocolate. I’m going to need to be looking into some Proactiv a little later to take care of the damage. Ok, not really! I was reading over at the Acne.com website and it is true that chocolate does not cause zits. To be quite honest, I was surprised at just how much information there is on the site about this skin condition that has dogged me since adolescence! To end it though, Acne.com has an entire section on prevention. I’m going to have to pour over that one to help my kids as well!

So far this holiday, we’ve covered limos, flowers, restaurants, and chocolate! What could possibly be left? You guessed it, jewelry! What woman doesn’t love getting jewelry as a gift? Honestly, I rarely wear any jewelry yet I love to get it as a gift. When we were first engaged, my then boyfriend asked me what my favorite diamond cut was. I told him honestly, I love Trillions. Followed by Princess cuts and Baguettes. Little did I know that he was working with a jeweler to create my ring. When he proposed he brought out a ring with a Trillion cut center diamond with Princess cut diamonds and Baguettes swirling around it. It was stunning! What made it even more special was the fact that he had designed it himself, just for me.

At the time there were very few custom design jewelers. Most of them that I had seen were not the highest quality of pieces, but this ring was made by a professional and it took my breath away. I could hardly wait the three months between engagement and marriage to get the second piece for it. But today there is a great place to go for custom pieces, and it’s got an easy name to remember, YouCreateWeDesign.com. They have a section to build your own piece, bridal jewelry, children’s jewelry, and for those of us who are already hitched…there’s a huge selection of beautiful gem stone rings. I’ve got my eye on a beautiful Emerald ring, as it’s my birthstone. Whatever your needs, they’ve got you covered!

Long story short, if you are looking for an intimate way to bring a smile to your Valentine’s face, I would highly recommend giving them a piece of jewelry from your heart. Design it yourself and she’ll love it. I certainly did!

I mentioned in another blog post that I accidentally discovered the Chef’s Valentine’s Day surprise when I looked at the bank account and found flowers and chocolates had been ordered. I’m sure this seems like old hat to a lot of people, but you have to understand, I threatened the man before we got married to never buy me flowers. They cost so much, and they die. Last year was the first time he actually ventured away from my threat. On our 10 year Anniversary I got my first ever flower delivery, and it was awesome! This year he also purchased chocolate from a local company, although, I didn’t tell him I’d found that purchase.

I’ve never gotten chocolate as a gift. Usually the Chef makes his own, which is amazing–but it’s kind of fun to get the little heart shaped box. There is however, a new chocolate on the market that intrigues me. It’s called Intentional Chocolate and it appears to be the “Zen” of all other chocolates. Their claim is big…Just one 1oz daily serving of Intentional Chocolate has been clinically proven to make you more energized with a heightened sense of well-being after only 3 days! Let me just mention here, that I am totally willing to put this to the test. I know, I’m totally willing to eat chocolate everyday–so it shouldn’t be too hard. They offer a calming, more energetic life, and who isn’t for that?

It’s too late for Valentine’s Day tomorrow, but this is something I really do want to look into!