Taste Cooking Residency (2018)

One of my missions when I left my day job in 2017 was to bulk up my writing portfolio. I had never freelanced with writing before, so I wasn’t sure where to start. I wrote a couple articles here and there but it really wasn’t enough to get a career going. I attended the 2018 IACP conference as a scholarship fellow, a select group of "emerging and mid-career professionals under the age of 40”. That fateful week was where I met Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard in person. We rapped about a few of my story ideas and they wanted to tell me more about a writing residency they started at TASTE.

TASTE is an online magazine for people who love to cook at home and enjoy reading about approachable recipes, popular and emerging ingredients, and stories reported from the frontlines of today’s quickly moving food culture.

The next week, I was learning the ins and outs of pitching and got to writing my first piece. Three months passed by and here I am with an actual writing portfolio, expertly edited and massaged by Anna. Click and read on, I’d love to hear what you think!

Special thanks to all of my photographers Sarah Keough, Mackenzie Smith, Jerm Cohen; advisors Bernadette de la Vega, and Minda Miranda; and Kickstarter for letting us use the kitchen.

Randwiches 2017 Year in Review

What 👏A  👏Year 👏👏👏 I've made many strides and checked off a couple boxes off ye olde bucket list. The biggest news is that I've left my job at Flipboard and amped to pursue a career in food for all of 2018. You can read about all the things I want to accomplish on my Services page.

Before I march on, I wanted to take a look back at the big projects that brought me to this point.

Kickstarter Make 100: Last year, my friends at Kickstarter launched the #Make100, a creative prompt to jumpstart our brains. Make 100 of anything, they said! I decided to host a party called the #Eggcentennial where we'd pop 100 egg yolks on camera to make a big montage. Along the way, I wrote a few guides to running a successful Kickstarter project.

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Smallhold mushroom challenge:  It's not every day a friend asks you if you'd like a giant king oyster mushroom. Fireworks went off in my head as I tried to make as many small dishes as I could from the single fungi.

Check out the Smallhold shipping container farm and agtech that allows restaurants to grow their own 'shrooms.

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Put A Egg On It 13 & 14: Our charming little zine is bi-annual and chock full of recipes, art, food illustrations and interesting conversations.  It's been fun to recruit home cooks and chefs to contribute recipes. 

We also partnered with Misen to create a basic knife skills video. 

Stay tuned for our 10th anniversary issue slated for this spring. You're invited to our party on May 19, 2018 in Manhattan.

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Darrenkamping: Every year or so, my friends and I like to camp out in Lancaster, PA. I try to push the limits of cooking outside and this year was no exception. When I heard that the crew had a vegetarian chili going on the fire, I prepped a bunch of tasso ham and dug a pit for a DIY smoker.

Psst...the recipe for tasso ham is in my cookbook.

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Showdown cookbook release & tour: Whoa, what a trip! I was amazing to bring my first cookbook to Barnes and Noble as well as independent book stores. You can see where I went on my Book page. Thank you to everyone who came to hear my story and for buying a signed copy. 

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#LetHawaiiHappen: I was honored to visit Oahu with a few other writers to explore the local cuisine. Highlights included Tonkatsu Tamafuji, a tour with "Captain Hawaii" Gooch and a dinner at the home of Roy Yamaguchi. 

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Sam and Nico's Burrito Wedding: These two love burritos. I'm not kidding! All they wanted for their wedding was burritos so that is all we served :) Guests had a choice of chipotle chicken, vegetarian or building their own bowls. Thanks to my crew, John and Emily, for making that dream menu happen.

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Upstate Mezzescape for SF and Jen: I was unable to coordinate catering a fried chicken wedding upstate for my Put a Egg on It friends, but I agreed to help source and arrange the appetizers for their 75 person wedding picnic. I covered a picnic table in butcher paper and styled an epic crudite spread fit for a magazine editor and a fellow chef :)

Photo by Kelly Sweda.

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Eat It, Maria! To aid the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Put a Egg On It volunteered in the kitchen with our friend Chef Maria Grubb. We raised over 10K for Serve PR, a new nonprofit formed to help restaurants recover from damage.

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Local Roots Pickle Classes: I teamed up with Wen-Jay Ying of Local Roots to teach Etsy and The Wing how to pickle their fall season produce. You can pickle anything!

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Thanksgiving: I returned to Fort Kickass in Bed Stuy with a last minute ranch dressing flavored turkey. I made a rich tarragon and caramelized onion butter that I stuffed under the skin. It was glorious.

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#MitchellAndAdam: What a way to conclude 2017! I was more than happy to cater the wedding of my dear friends Mitchell Kuga and Adam JK at The Strand Rare Books Room. We worked together to mash up their Hawaiian-Japanese and Jewish food cultures. Read about it in NY Times: Vows.

Randwiches: January Availability

Whoa, we’re already in the second week of January! I’m hoping to post my availability every month to help you plan events with me. For catering, please fill out my inquiries form. For all other projects and collaborations, my email is randwiches@gmail.com.

Here is a shot of a sunset in Maui, where I spent my Christmas and New Year holiday. I'm ready for you, 2018 !

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January 10-21, 2018 - San Francisco

Available for random sandwich deliveries (minimum 4 orders!), private cooking, cheese pairing classes up to 4 people and photo shoots.

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January 22-26, 2018 - New York City

January 27-February 7, 2018 - New York City

February 8-22, 2018 - New York City

February 26-March 3, 2018 - New York City

Available for all services including catering, food styling, private classes and more. See my complete list of services here.

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If we’ve ever worked together, please connect with me on LinkedIn and leave a recommendation. 

#ShowdownBook Giveaway x Parabo Press 📸

Get a signed (and maybe doodled) copy of my cookbook Showdown: Comfort Food, Chili & BBQ plus $100 credit for Parabo Press. I printed these cute cards as exclusive thank yous / DIY recipe cards for the nice people that pre-ordered my book. Use this prize $ to make your own zine, album or prints from your own photos. Especially awesome for cooks who are trying to show off their work.

To enter:

1. Follow both @Randwiches & @ParaboPress on Instagram.

2. Comment on this post with your favorite summer food.

3. Tag a friend in the comments to increase your chances of winning.

A winner will be chosen on Friday, 5/5/2017 at 12:00 PM ET. Everyone who enters gets a prize!

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I met Parabo Press at Alt Summit: Winter 2016. Here's more about their rad printing company:

Parabo is a different kind of print service for design-minded photo takers. Inspired by small batch print processes, we’re all about making fine art materials and printing techniques accessible.

Here's What You Get When You Pre-order #ShowdownBook

We have less than a week until my first ever cookbook Showdown lands in bookstores! As an extra incentive to reserve your copy, I have a couple fun surprises for my early birds. The first 25 people who email me at randwiches+win@gmail.com your preorder receipt and mailing address will get the following:

Signed & doodled book plates! If you don't live in Brooklyn, this is one way to get your copy autographed. The first batch have fun food doodles from my talented friends. When you get yours, peel off the backing and stick it on the inside of the front cover. 

Food hack card! I got special cards printed at Parabo and on the backs I'm going to give you extra food hacks to supplement the book. I want to jump start your brain and get you thinking the way that I think about food (so you can cook more!).

Heirloom Tomato Salt! I have a story in the book about getting a fine dining cookbook for the first time and feeling overwhelmed. The only thing I could make was tomato confit. Tomato salt is my tribute and super easy cooking hack. I've made a batch as a thank you. It is made made with sea salt from Pangasinan, Philippines; it really smells like tomatoes.

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If you prefer to get your copy signed and doodled, please join me at one of my book parties!

• 5/2/2017 Release day at WORD (Brooklyn, NY)
• 5/7/2017 Release party at Atelier Roquette (Brooklyn, NY)
• 6/24/2017 at Barnes & Noble (Palmdale, CA)
• 7/6/2017 at Green Apple Books (San Francisco, CA)

Already pre-ordered? Help me spread the word, here's how!

Showdown! My First Cookbook (& How You Can Help)

Ah, it's real ! My first ever cookbook is coming out on May 2,2017 on Page Street Publishing and distributed by MacMillan. 

For every copy of the book sold, we are donating to 1% for the Planet. 

Order your copy from your choice of

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• IndieBound (use their search to find a store near you!)

The first 25 people to email me their receipt and mailing address get a special prize! Send me a message here: randwiches+win@gmail.com

I'm also putting together a book tour and here are all my stops so far (latest list on my book's webpage).

• 5/2/2017 Release day at WORD (Brooklyn, NY)
• 5/7/2017 Release party at Atelier Roquette (Brooklyn, NY)
• 6/24/2017 at Barnes & Noble (Palmdale, CA)
• 7/6/2017 at Green Apple Books (San Francisco, CA)

Here's how you can help:

1. Preorder the book :)
2. Ask your local book store if they will carry Showdown (if not, send them this page!)
3. Invite friends to my book events
4. Help me share the book info on social media:

   • When posting please include the following:

   • Hashtag: #ShowdownBook

   • Link: http://amzn.to/2nMjpId

   • Twitter tag: @Randwiches

   • Facebook tags: @Randwiches, @PageStreetPublishing

   • Instagram tags, if possible: @Randwiches, @PageStreetPublishing @ColinClark

5. Share a story about how we met

6. Share a story about eating my food

7. Share a story about us eating together

8. If you know a book shop where I can have an event, please tell me!

9. If I can take over your restaurant or space for a pop up, I'd love to.

Thank you and I'm excited to share these recipes with you.

Put a Egg on THIS! Celebrating 1 Year as Editor-At-Large

That was quick! I'm celebrating 1 year as editor-at-large of Put A Egg On It zine.  What does that mean? It sort of means that I'm a roving reporter, on call to brainstorm and execute features or projects. We announced this last year on my birthday and with this post where I made a version of Momofuku's Bo Ssam for my fellow Egg staffers.

Since then, we've been busy cranking out new issues, coordinating pop-ups and making videos. Visit our shop to grab a copy of our latest issue or ask your local independent book store why the heck they don't carry this zine, GOSH.

Here are highlights from the year:

DINNER WITH CHEF MARIA GRUBB AT XILLI LAB

PUT A EGG ON IT #12 + DINER JOURNAL #32 + FBF2016

BASIC KNIFE SKILLS + CONTEST

VINTAGE RECIPE CARD (styled for issue 13)

From our long, long out of print recipe card library! Here we have one of our cocktail party mainstays - Cheesy Cheer. Goat cheese and cream cheese whipped together with garlic and topped with sage, created by our editor-at-large @randwiches, astoundingly many years before her birth. With the Put A Egg On It Recipe Card Library you will NEVER be without fabulous, scrumptious treats for your party guests. Look for it on eBay. #vintagerecipes #cheese

53 Likes, 4 Comments - Put A Egg On It (@putaeggonit) on Instagram: "From our long, long out of print recipe card library! Here we have one of our cocktail party..."

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If you're interested in contributing to Egg, here's what we're all about:

Put A Egg On It is looking for writing, photography and drawings by people who love food. We’re interested in essays and art that document the culture and community surrounding eating and cooking; work that explores the historic, artistic and metaphysical qualities of food. We’re looking for personal stories – not journalism. You don’t need to be a “food writer” or a “food photographer.” Everyone eats! 

For essay proposals, please write a short abstract, at least 250 words, and email to  submit@putaeggonit.com.

We’re also always looking for proposals for these regular features: 

• Short pieces on a classic, regional food product: a loved packaged food item that is as much about time and place as it is about flavor. 
• Photo essays of a dinner party: An interesting meal shared by friends and/or family. 
• An illustration of a favorite childhood food memory for the back cover
• Food and cooking-related poetry

Illustrators and photographers should send links to their portfolios; Writers should email a PDF or link to samples along with their proposal to: submit@putaeggonit.com 

Please note: Put A Egg On It does not do product or restaurant reviews.

Enter to Win a Misen Knife (& Learn How to Use It, Too!)

Put a Egg On It and Misen have teamed up to give away one heck of a knife. I loved shooting this short tutorial video. I picked this salad because it had so many elements that displayed the different ways you can cut vegetables. 

Here's how to enter:
1. Follow @putaeggonit on Instagram 🍳

2. Take a selfie in the kitchen and tag @putaeggonit + #putmisenonit. It's ok if you're camera-shy, we accept photos with your hands in it, too.

3. Head to the Put a Egg On It blog to grab a recipe for my gingery garlic and sesame salad dressing from the video.

A winner will be chosen by jury to receive a FREE Misen Chef's Knife! Contest runs March 1st to March 13th! Sorry, U.S residents only. Get snappin' so you can get to slicin'.

Learn How to Cook with ChefShock on Twitch

Subscribe to our show to help us keep the lights on! // See all of my GIFs here

ChefShock is a brand new cooking show on Twitch. Wait, Twitch? Yes, the video game streaming site! It is the first live cooking show where my friend Justin Warner cooks an entire meal from scratch. You can buy the ingredients ahead of time and cook along with us.

I'm thrilled to be part of this show as a chat moderator and 'peanut gallery,' switching off duties with the lovely Kelsey Kinser. See me drop some mad food science as Justin preps the food.

You'll learn basic skills like cutting onions and other aliums...

Meet my personal hero, #SaltPig...

And because we're on Twitch, we still geek out about games...

What I love about this is our anti-Seamless, DIY approach to cooking. It's within reach and totally possible if you learn the basics with us. We live-moderate the chat to answer questions about the recipes and kitchen tools. Plus, we're fun! All of the pixel art for the dishes and titles are by my dear friend Diego Garcia. We have episodes saved if you missed it live. You won't find another show that does this right now, so I hope you watch!

Here's week 1's menu:

Tune in weeknights at 8pm ET or catch up on the previously aired dinners.

Hello [Food] World.

I feel like I need to re-introduce myself online. To give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I've written a couple lengthy essays about my food journey on Medium:

• "Culinary Autodidact," my door-in-face introduction to cooking at a young age.
• "Dirty Kitchens," a self-guided curriculum in the Philippines.

For those of you that only know me from the Randwiches Tumblr, I'll have you know that I practice many hobbies and juggle multiple careers. Plural, yes! CAREERS. Before I jumped head-first into my culinary adventures, I was a radio show host, an alternative periodicals librarian and student government employee in Davis, CA. When I moved to New York, I became a writer for a tv company and an electronic music promoter. Along the way, I've freelanced for music festivals, started a band, volunteered for food events and even interned at a cheese shop. Most recently, I worked on an app called Ultravisual. Just last week I started my new job at Flipboard as a community manager.

I'm one of those people who doesn't watch tv or has much "spare time." I pack every single moment with the things I love. My philosophy about cooking is very much akin to that of my view of the world. There isn't a recipe. There isn't just one way to do any one thing. I'm always learning and am allowed to be wrong or change my opinion. I hope that when you read my posts, you think that you can try it and find your own way to enjoy food.

My goal with this new blog is to pull together the threads of daily posts I've made on Tumblr into longer essays, galleries and guides. Don't fret, I'll still update the Tumblr with my adventures and inspiring sandwich gifs. You can also follow me on Instagram if you want to see what I'm working on.

Enough about me. Let's talk about food~ ! You must be hungry...