If you follow Bravo's Top Chef and LOVE Padma Lakshmi you should check out KCRW Guest DJ Project. Padma is one of the listed guest DJ and she tells DJ Garth Trinidad about the music that inspires the creation of her culinary masterpieces.

It's only 09:12 minutes and in the end, you might catch yourself replaying it again hoping to hear more from Padma.

Here's a transcript quote about cooking to Led Zepplin's "Ramble on".

"I love this song because it never ceases to make me happy, happy as a dog’s tail. You know, in the kitchen, barefoot, with the music up, with a big, wide wok in front me and all my spices. I think of my spice box as a painter’s palate, and I often I just go to the market and buy vegetables or some protein. I usually have tomatoes or coconut milk or something like that, and then I just do what I refer to in the book as “MacGyvering” in the kitchen. And what I mean by that is just taking what you have and really creating something spontaneously. And I love the kind of tooling, rambling on, you know, attitude of this song. It just makes me want to keep humming, keep on my path, and really inspires me to kind of just keep creating -- whatever form that creativity takes shape in is fine".

To listen to the entire show go to:
http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/gd/gd080618padma_lakshmi

With the weekend quickly approaching, here is a suggestion for the grilling meats.

A dry rub is a great way to gain flavor without adding a gazillion calories.

Williams-Sonoma recently came out with a dry-rub called Adam's Steak Rub.
The blend consist of roasted garlic, black pepper, Moroccan cracked coriander, dill seed, yellow mustard seed and red pepper.

Just mix together your choice of protein, olive oil, rub mix & cut up onions and your ready for the grill! If you're going for a true dry rub crust, omit the olive oil.

This also goes great with chicken and pork.

Mesh Grill-Top Chef's Pan
(Available @ William-Sonoma)

This mesh fry pan is AWESOME and if your grilling veggies your thing, you may want to pick this up before the weekend!

Because it has an open mesh bed pan, your vegetables will get that delicious summer smoky flavor. I personally love grilling asparagus and this pan makes it easy to get the job done without having any stalks casualties!


Made from stainless-steel and dishwasher friendly. ;)

I have been mostly blogging about cooking tools, but this is what this time of year is really about.

BEAUTIFUL FRESH ORGANIC Southern California grown produce!

These BEAUTIES were freshly picked from Cynthia's Garden in Redondo Beach, CA.

Tonight I'll have the opportunity to enjoy these juicy German Tomatoes, beautiful Summer Squash and freshly picked Basil...YUMMM, can't wait!

All-Clad Electric Indoor Grill

I have mixed opinions about this BEAUTIFUL grill.

Pros: The grill lets you control temperature easily. The two sides of the grill have their own dial control so you can have two different temperatures going. The surface is made of a nonstick surface and All-Clad includes a cleaning brush.

Cons: The cleaning brush is not substantial enough to get the job done. I used a clean kitchen towel to get into the ridges which is time consuming and not really convenient. But when considering alternatives, the towel seemed to be the best option because it wouldn't compromise the nonstick surface.

It also has a large drip drawer and stainless steel splatter guard. Both are dishwasher friendly.
Make sure you have good ventilation before using this product.

This particular product can only be found at Williams-Sonoma. Retail price $299.95.

Agave 15 Margarita Salt

Earlier I mentioned the Margaritaville Maker and I also want to mention a good salt rim option.

Salts seem to be popular subject of discussion lately and for those people who like having salt on their Margarita's the usual go to product is kosher salt. Williams-Sonoma has an Agave 15 line which also includes salt options.

My favorite BY FAR is the Lime flavor. It has a nice tart-salty-sweet taste.

The Agave 15 line also has a Tangerine and Plain salt mix, but I'm in no rush to have the Tangerine again...EUWAAA!

The Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker...

Normally, you'd reach for you blender to make Margarita's at home, but this is a fun toy to have if your free time involves several on going homemade Margarita's.

Pros: Makes shaved ice, rather than chopped up ice...nice.
It has an ice reservoir and a water reservoir to collect any melted ice. Mostly easy to operate. Great for entertaining.

Cons: Bulky and pricey.


It also good for making daiquiris, pina coladas and smoothies.

Woo hoo! It's summer time and if KRUPS has come out with a BeerTender product that makes it easy to enjoy draft at home. (Think of all the mula you won't need to spend on taxi drivers).

Yes, anyone can have a full size keg at home, but I personally don't need that much beer at home.

Technically this product uses a dicarbonated pressure system in a mini-like keg. I watched a demonstration of how this BeerTender works and was impressed. (Maybe because I really love beer and the thought of a pouring a cold draft at home just thrills me).

I'm aware of two model of this product. The better model has a digital display that indicates temperature, days of freshness and beer level. It hosts a 5 liter canister, which once open will stay fresh for 30 days.
Currently Heineken is the only available canister that is intended for this product, but a reliable source tells me that next year we can also look forward to additional beer options including New Castle beer.