Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

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Miami River Wall

Indomania Rijsttafel at Miami River Wall (Updated)

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Beef Rendang

Achar pickles.
Indomania Chef Ineke”s Rijsttafel at Miami River Wall
You can tell everyone enjoyed with empty plates!!

LATEST UPDATE :
Join us for an intimate, sit down 12-dish Indonesian Feast in north end of Miami Beach…
Monday, July 12:7pm. Call NOW, only 32 seats for lucky ones.
Mandatory RSVP & prepayment, click for complete details.

What a lovely way to spend a cool evening, meeting new people and enjoying Indomania Chef Ineke’s exotic Indonesian Rijsttafel at Miami River Wall! The evening was being filmed for Fox Style File news anchor, Belkys Nerey. Don’t blink or you’ll miss me, my husband got more airtime than I did, sniff, sniff. You can hear me though, I have a slight British accent. I also got a chance to video Chef Ineke when she sat down to finally eat her own dinner. If you want to celebrate a special catered event at Miami River Wall, contact them to arrange. It’s a beautiful setting inside with the two exquisite hydroponic vertical plant and herb walls and a back garden right on the river. You can see more where I posted about my Wok Star cooking classes held there.

Very few Miami restaurants serving Asian food give me the “experience” of wanting to be there. It doesn’t have to be fancy, in fact, often that’s a turn off cause you know you’re paying for the decor. On the other hand, many Asian restaurants (in my humble opinion) do not showcase the beauty of Asia in their decor or in their food. Indomania has succeeded in giving me both. When you walk in, you feel transported. The little touches with the batik tablecloth and the beautiful photos (Pieter is a photographer) all make it very personal.

Chef Ineke and her husband Pieter designed their restaurant as if it’s their own dining room. It’s small, cozy and intimate. They come over to chat with you, I know it’s not realistic when it’s busy but I felt truly special to be able to connect with the chef who just made my dinner. Unfortunately, I ate at their restaurant way before I started food blogging so not much photos to show the space so you’ll just have to go and ‘experience’ yourself. Everyone I’ve sent there agree they ‘love’ it too and keep going back.

When Ralph and I went, we shared a small Rijsttafel (see LOTS more photos) which gave us a tasting platter. But during the Miami River Wall feast, we got to taste a lot more and everything was spot on especially her Beef Rendang and Achar pickles. As you may or may not know, my mother was born in Singapore, so I grew up eating many of these foods. Eating at Indomania Restaurant always brings back wonderful memories for me. That’s what food is supposed to do – give you memories and associations. It’s what I tell people when I present my Wok Star cooking classes, it’s not just about the cooking, it’s about creating experiences and memories with people you enjoy!

I hope to organize a Hoh Wok Club gathering at Indomania soon and introduce you to Chef Ineke’s fabulous Indonesian food. But if you can’t wait, go, enjoy and tell Chef Ineke and Pieter you heard it from me.

P.S. Sorry about all the photos bunched together, but still learning new Blogger “editor” and after uploading photos, couldn’t get them to separate to put the text in, so frustrating! I think it’s obvious what the dishes are.

Here are more reviews of Indomania!
All Purpose Dark
Food for Thought
New Times Dining Review

Fairchild's Food and Garden Festival

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What a lovely way to spend a weekend!  I was invited to give a cooking demonstration and blog about Fairchild Garden’s 2nd Annual Food and Garden Festival.

Schedule included a wide variety of cooking demos.

Banana nut cake for Ralph from Native Conch.
By the time I got there, nothing was left in the way of savory food!

I hope you’ll make it to this event next year, it was a lot of fun meeting people who also enjoy fresh local produce and getting to know the farmers.  In the meantime, I encourage you to shop at your organic and farmer’s market or visit Redlands if you live in Miami before it gets too hot!  My post on Seasonal Foods has lots of meal ideas and tips.

Nothing excites me more than seeing and smelling beautiful, fresh produce. 

I was a bit upset I didn’t end up buying any produce because I’d just given a cooking class and always have  leftovers.  My parents went through a war so we were always taught never to waste food.  It drove me crazy to see all the food and not get any.

Selection of colorful and interesting combination of teas!

There was a lovely variety of farm produce.  I will be posting a series since there is so much to share. This first one will give you a little peak.

I had one of Gaby’s Tropical Ice, cold, yummy and creamy mango.
She grows her own fruit to make these desserts!

What I love about giving live presentations is that it gives me a chance to interact with people. It’s a great way to find out the problems people have with stir frying in a wok!

I prepped in Fairchild’s lovely kitchen and practiced what I preach, see the chopping board with grocery bag for the trimmings?

Here’s swiss chard, red bell peppers, mustard greens, zucchini and carrots.
My produce were generously sponsored by Whole Foods Market in Coral Gables.

Shrimp were rinsed and dried with paper towels. A very important step, so you don’t dilute your marinade and also prevents your shrimp from getting tough and chewy.
 I didn’t realize my friend, Irene took this picture behind me. 

My demo was very well attended with over 60 signed up for my free newsletter, thank you for your interest!  There were a lot of questions posed mostly by guys! Thanks to Fairchild staff and volunteers.

 
See Peter Kastan’s Miami River Wall video who was a speaker at this event.  Miami River Wall’s new living, hydroponic herb, chili, edible flower wall will be hosting a series of my Wok Star cooking class so I hope to see many of you there!

Hani Khouri cooking up a fresh batch of falafel.
He was featured in Edible South Florida’s Spring Issue with his cute kid goats and online. Do subscribe or pick up your copy from your nearest Whole Foods Market. It’s full of stories, resources and has a calendar of all things edible and organic. Thanks for listing my cooking classes.
Katie, Edible South Florida publisher/editor and Annie, Special Events, Fairchild Tropical.
 My lunch: Falafel with pickled radish and 
hummus wrap from Hani’s Organics.

In an upcoming series, I’ll share a video of Food Network Celebrity Chef, Simply Delicioso Ingrid Hoffman making a fabulous mango and papaya dish as well as many more wonderful food stalls.