Iron Chef America

Have ya'll been watching this on Food Network? I have to honestly say that when I first saw the original Iron Chef, I found all the voiceovers and translations to be too corny for my taste. But as my interest in cooking started growing, I'd watch for the reason of seeing the different dishes the iron chefs would whip out in yes, only an hour's time. I think 'twas a few years back when William Shatner, aka Capt. of the Enterprise and TJ Hooker (LOL!), became the host of an iron chef show and though I didn't watch it, I heard lots of people making a big stink about it. Needless to say, it didn't last too long.

Some cooking show producers thought it would be dope to bring the iron chef idea across to American shores and thus, Iron Chef America was born. At this point, I've become a huge fan of Food Network. It's become one of my newest addictions (next to Trading Spaces and other home/design shows!) and have replaced the soap operas of old. 'Course, the new show would be based on the original one. But the one major thing that caught my eye was the person who'd be the new Chairman.

I had happened upon The FlavorOnline and there was this article on a Mark Dacascos. Who is he? He's a martial arts figure, an actor, and as it turns out, the new Chairman for Iron Chef America. Oh, and by the way, he's Filipino! How cool is that? On the show itself, he talks about his "uncle" who taught him and passed down important tools that would help him be a good chairman, y'know, for dramatics sake, but people, ya'll gotta check it out. Now, being that his role is a small one, it just makes me proud to see some kababayan out there in mainstream television.

Festival of Nations

I'm back in the circuit of Philippine folk dancing and will be performing this weekend for the Festival of Nations. Though I don't have all the details, it sounds very much like the Ethnic Dance Festivals held at the Palace of Fine Arts in da city. I was checking out the website and was surprised at the diversity of the lineup. I'm excited because I've only performed with CSFA one other time prior. Browse the website and check out the different cultural groups that are representing. They've also got the menu at the Ethnic Cafe that they have over there, too...first thing I noticed was that they spelled "adobo" wrong. Funny, I thought "adobe" was the material used for some houses in Mexico! lol!