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Weekend Happenings

Sunday night I got invited by my friend Ahrif (owner of Aces of Taste) to join in on a pop-up dinner being thrown at Chef Emmanuel Chavez’s home. 

Brink Dining

Chef Emmanuel has launched a pop-up series he’ll be hosting starting next month called Brink Dining.  Chef talked to us about how many people have lost that “hey, come over for dinner” attitude.  With Brink Dining he hopes to get people back around a table enjoying a meal together. 

There is a funny story behind the name Brink Dining.  Chef moved to the U.S. when he was young and the first English movie he understood completely was Disney channel’s movie Brink.  Do you remember it? I do. 

He said the movie reminds him to cook from his heart and not for money.  I love Disney movies (hello, childhood memories).

On to the food.

First course: salmon skin “chicharron” with guacamole (aka fried salmon skin topped with guac)

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Second course: 24-hr roasted carrots + fried quinoa and carrot reduction

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At one point I asked Chef where he gets his inspiration for recipes from and he replied, “colors.”  Which I thought was such an interesting answer.  He sees food in all colors.  What a happy thing.

Third course: agua chile scallops (aka bay scallops in spicy water with hints of mustard flowers & cilantro)

Claire nicknamed these sea marshmallows.

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Fourth course:  brisket with flavors of pho & an eggplant puree

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Fifth course: dessert rice pudding in horchata

I LOVED this.  I have not eaten enough rice pudding in my life.  The flower petals on top were a pretty touch too.

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Chef said he likes guests to leave satisfied, not stuffed.  If you want to be stuffed, he says you can go to McDonald’s.  It was really the perfect amount of food for me.

Then to finish off the night one of the guests had brought a home brew that we opened up.  I’m not big on beer, but am learning to enjoy it more!

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Fun weekend.  Now ready for the LAST week on my dietetic internship. 

CAN. NOT. WAIT. TO. BE. DONE.

10 comments

  1. OMG last week thats so exciting-Yay! Sounds like a cool dinner- what an awesome time!

  2. Woohoo! Congratulations on almost being done with your DI. Such a big accomplishment! How long do you plan on studying for the exam??

    • Phew I just wanna make it through this week of exit exams and paperwork lol. It’s hard to even think about the exam yet. But I wanna have the exam taken by the end of June! Are you an RD?

  3. Not yet, but I better be by next year! I’m graduating in two weeks with my master’s (I am SO ready to be done) and then I start my DI the following Monday. It’s so exciting to be finally applying what I’m learning. I’ll finish in November and then take the exam some time after that. Being a real adult, here I come!! Let me know how it is :-)  
    P.S. Sorry I had to post a whole new comment…not sure how to respond directly to yours. 

  4. This menu is making me DROOL! I wish there were things like this near me. 

  5. Wow! That all looks so amazing! What a fun experience!

  6. That fried salmon skin with guac!!! Doing it one day.
    This looks like such an awesome dining experience! I love the idea of “hey come over for dinner!” dining. So neat!

  7. I love disney movies and that movie Brink! All the food looks amazing! Congrats on the last week of your DI! I cannot wait to begin mine even though I know it is rough and tiring! lol

  8. Good luck on your exam!!! You will do GREAT! <3

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