#bookouttakes

[starrykitchen]

#bookouttakes the COLOR(+cropped fer the ‘gram+for extra dramatic effect😎) version of me trying #timhowan in HK, the (former+at the time) cheapest Michelin Star restaurant in the world☝️. A week from today is Christmas, and admittedly I’ve done a pretty shitty job BOMBARDING y’all with messages to “buy #adventuresinstarrykitchen as a gift for your loved ones, doctor, dog sitter, and your secret insatiable #garlicnoodle lover😅... in the ‘BOOK!’ link above👆🙏” and some other hustle like that. As an unapologetic #bananasuit wearing, megaphone toting and (crispy tofu) balls-to-walls hustler... I can’t quite explain if it’s because I’m in a weirdly different mental place in my life OR if its for these 2 reasons that seem to make the most sense to me: #1: being so (actually) broke for the majority of our #StarryKitchen history nearly reprogrammed me not to traditionally participate in the act of gift giving simply because we couldn’t.🤕 #2 (the cheesier+probably the honest reason): like this “Holy SHITBALLS BATMAN” (to me at least😱😭) amazing Baked BBQ Bun I tried for the first time that literally brought me to tears that prompted my friend/photog @baomnguyen to ask me, “Are you crying?!”... this book is so “SHITBALLS” special to me since I gladly spent 2+ years of my life writing/editing/drowning in it and because of that I feel almost nauseously weird forcing it down y’alls throats (like I normally would do lol) and just hope that those that got it enjoy it enough to buy it for others. Those that wanted it have someone close enough to them to know and got it for them. Or you gifted it to yourself just because of #crispytofuballs #chilicrab or your love of depressingly hilarious underdog stories! Oh, OR it could be that I’ve been VERY focused on a new project that I’ve personally shared with more than a few of you and... like anything we’ve done I’m pouring incredibly intense energy into it to will something that shouldn’t be happening into a crazy #failingupwards reality... And if you still want to buy the book after all that incessant emotional jibba-jabba above, THAAAAAAANK YOOOOOOOOU🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻 (at Tim Ho Wan)

[starrykitchen]

#bookouttakes (in Singapore drinking fresh soymilk in my FAVORITEST nostalgic SE Asian way to drink many a thing, with a straw in a hanging plastic bag😋) Sometimes the beautifully simple things in life are inexplicably... the best. Tomorrow, Nov. 25th, I will have lived (without dying, climbed Kilimanjaro or having eaten a live squid... amongst other things😅) for 40 years, and contrary to what is predictably consistent with this milestone (and seemingly my big personality), I'm just going to pick up a sandwich and eat lunch at my favorite place in ALL of LA that I discovered from the movie, #TheUsualSuspects that I know many Angelenos still haven't been to - the Korean Friendship Bell to take it ALL in... Oh, and whomever wants to come... PLEASE come! (From 12-2p... probably longer😉) After that, I'm playing it all by ear and y'all are welcome to tag along (even though I'm leaning towards just chillin' at a Korean spa🙌🙌🙌). I have so much to be thankful for that there simply isn't enough room in a simple post to summarize it all including our kid #CillíantheCute, @skkitchenninja still (barely😂) tolerating me🙇🏻🙇🏻🙇🏻 and the craziest being @harperonebooks making the mistake (but no take backsies😁) of working with me for the last 2 years +publishing my #AdventuresinStarryKitchen book😱 (still available especially for the holidays AND I'll figure out how to sign or send signed bookplates to EVERY book... in the 'BOOK!' link above👆🙏😬). This life is precious. I feel very fortunate (even amidst all the unlucky times we've come across in life and in this business as a whole). And... if someone wants to bring some awesome snacks, grub and/or drinks to share... I wouldn't hate that one bit. Oh, I think someone's bringing a cake (+I'll tell anyone that shows up a secret surprise I can't quite post about) too🎂😏👍 #failingupwards #starrykitchen #happythanksgiving (at Maxwell Food Centre)

[starrykitchen]

#bookouttakes This is from the illegal+underground resurrection😏 we had in early '16 so that we could put good use ALL the food we were making to shoot for the book and NOT waste it all... And it's simple moments like these that I toil over ambitiously stupid/amazing events ideas that make it ALL worth it. It's not a long story why the #ChiliCrabCruise didn't work out, and we pivoted. To not lose momentum, to not take for granted ALL the planning that went into it, to keep a relationship with all of you guys that do know- when we commit to something I don't easily back out AND the necessity to cover our costs of our staff and not take their time+effort for granted (which happens quite often- creative solutions born out of the necessity to pay bills that is🙇🏻) to convert to the #MakeAmericaBINGOagain Chili Crab dinner on Oct 7th at @newschoolofcooking in Pasadena. Much of what we do is far less about a man-child-like need to feed my creative hunger, but more out of simple +utter necessity. And in this moment, 2 of these 4 ppl are friends, and the rest... became new friends which makes it all worth it. The moments where the commonality is (our) food and we continue to build community are honestly why we started out of our apartment in the first place. And for that reason alone, whether this new idea that we've admittedly only given you guys a week to plan for (if any of you are interested🙏😅🙏) has only 15 people or 150 people, I'll tell you what told my colleagues helping me plan this behind the scenes: failure IS an option, but being a fucking flake, not following through and just not completing this idea/event is NOT an option. Completion (and stuffing y'alls faces wit #ChiliCrab) is far more important to me than monetary gain. Consider me stupid. Consider me idealistic. Consider that you guys now know why with all the "success" we've had, we aren't really THAT successful AND frankly... I'm alright with that. I've succeeded. I've fallen on my face more than I've succeeded, I get back up and move on... And if you read this far😱, I hope you guys buy tix (👉 http://bit.ly/bingo again 😉), come out+we get to catch up and feed y'all this wkend🌶🦀 (at Banana Suit Enterprises)

[starrykitchen]

#bookouttakes (Seoul, S. Korea) I honestly still can't believe even 3.5 months later since #AdventuresinStarryKitchen has (mistakenly🤔😬) been published that... I have a mother fucking BOOK!😱 I mean- I'm a HUGE nerd and own 600+ "retro" video games (my all-time fave, #gunstarheroes 🎮☝️), have been watching+collecting anime since 1989 before it was mainstream-cool and still even own anime laserdiscs to this day (🙏 #bubblegumcrisis4ever 🤓), was nicknamed by my elementary school teachers "motormouth" and consistently got 0s (of out 100👍) for 'Conduct' because of my incessant talking, got a coconuthead-like haircut in 8th grade (which my sister @roadtripviv "kindly" reminded of over the wkend😅)+skipped school because I was so mortified at the inevitable social ridicule, I was in a math honor society (yaaaaay #mualphatheta ✊) in high school+I still own my BC Calculus t-shirt, I got threatened with a delayed high school graduation for a class project where I wrote "The End" on my friend's bare (white) ass, videotaped+played it for all the (law studies) class to enjoy while my friends were singing like Diana Ross in the video (ok, that was pretty hilarious 👏👏👏), instead of going on the "normal" STD+anti-biotics laced "WILD" spring break trip in college I opted to go on a philanthropic service trip where I double-sprained my ankle like a clumsy idiot while spiritually supporting my friends who helped in my stead with a beautifully destructive prescribed forest fire (to help the natural vegetation flourish🔥🤘🌻) in Arkansas and... I got the amazing opportunity to spend 2 years of my life writing a memoir/cookbook this accidental thing called #starrykitchen that surprisingly more than 1 person has actually enjoyed, AND it makes no sense to me (but I'll most definitely take it👊😭😂😭🙇🏻🙏🙇🏻) #failingupwards #furneaux #danflong #newmansmith #cfbisd4ever #howmuchmorecanigetawaywith 😏 (at Seoul, Korea)

[starrykitchen]

My favorite of the #bookouttakes ("Is the book still avail where ever books are sold to steal our recipes+learn from our fuck ups so you can be more successful than us? Of course it is... friend, click the 'BOOK!' link above friend-O 👆🙄👍😁") in one of my favorite unexpected bar experiences in the world, @mrspoundhk which almost inspired us opening what would have been our potential magnum opus: a crazy-ass version of a 70's/80's HK-Japanese-Asian no-windows speakeasy hidden in plain sight behind a curated Asian chip/snack stand that would have hid a Tiki-dinner spot that we already collected 250+ melodramatic ballad pop songs from that era for the playlist (until I pissed off a member of a notable real estate investment group for being my honest+obnoxious self at a beach party in SF that I was invited to 6 months before, made good on my word to show up+drove up 6 hours just to be at... To obviously wreak complete social HAVOC on😅LOL). It's so hilariously lonely here at the top... Of a mountain that no one else cares to be (except for me, because I'm having lots of solo fun up here😭😂😭haha) 📷cred: @baomnguyen #adventuresinstarrykitchen #starrykitchen #failingupwards #skbookhustlin #mrspoundhk (at Mrs. Pound)

[starrykitchen]

One of my favoritEST #adventuresinstarrykitchen #bookouttakes: eating my favoritEST durian (which took me 5+ years as a kid to finally fall in love with😍)... In front of Singapore's #BigDurian (aka Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay) on my trip in 2015 to travel 9 countries in less than 3 weeks to shoot photography (and honestly eat my way through Asia w/ some self-discovery mixed in there for good measure😭😂😭👍) for the book (click the 'BOOK!' link above to MAYBE buy it 🙄👆😁 +see all the fun pics, read the stories[of a whole lot of hilarious failure😅]+steal all our most popular recipes😋🙌) 📷: the irreverently charming😉 @baomnguyen 💪 #skbookhustlin #failingupwards #starrykitchen #durian (at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay)