3R: Relaxation, Raku, and Robert Horry?

A relaxing and eventful night at Raku , a new sushi joint in midtown Houston. Whats phenomenal about this restaurant is that they get fresh sushi direct from Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan that is flown in the day after its caught! I selected 2 piece butter fish(left ) and amberjack(right)

The butter fish was excellent!  I see where it gets its name from cause it does taste like smooth butter. It has the texture of escolar and almost the taste of toro. The amberjack was very fresh as well and had a very unique sweetness.  Highly recommended if you like sushi, but Raku has their daily updates of whats flown in on their facebook so please become a fan.

2006 Provenance Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford Hill- was a very surprising nice cab. It surprised me on how light and complex the flavors  were for this Cab. The wine’s aromas open with lush black cherry and blackberry character, infused with subtle hints of mocha, flinty minerality and black tea. Its expansive fruit flavors are packed with ripe berry, currant and plum—-with dark chocolate and toffee nuances, as quoted on the bottle. Did i taste all that?...i don't know about the mocha, but the black tea and black cherry/berries i did. I give this wine a 8 of 10.

Chicken strips!!! How do they compare to ours.. I still like ours better ha!! but they would put a good throw down. Raku uses slices of dark meat which really makes it tender and almost has  consistency thats almost raw like tuna, but very flavorful. We noticed the batter had hints of lemongrass and perhaps garlic.

Kevin went for one of his favorite sushi pieces:
Peppercorn Tuna... can't go wrong.











Raku seems like the new place soon to be..Check out who we got to kick it with ..

ROBERT HORRY, the man with the most nba rings! 94-95 Houston's Championship. He is a A class guy. He actually made the effort to say hey , "what's your name?" following up with a firm handshake! Of course he was chilling with some ladies but we got to speak to him for a good ten minutes.  Cool Guy!!

.. and guess who else was there... Frankie J!! tiny dude, but my cousin managed to get a pic with him.

What a night!

VT

The days wrapping around Episode 6!

Yet another endless night of post production after a weekend of shooting! As you can see we are trying to catch any chance of shut eye we can get in between. HA!

The shoot went about 4 hours OVER what we had expected but you gotta learn to expect the unexpected especially in the world of film. Far too many take for granted the REAL work these guys do behind the scenes to entertain us! Oh but don’t get me wrong we love what we do, and we’d love to continue doing this for many years to come.

Sooooo we finally finished editing by 330 AM last night and (surprisingly enough) the upload didn’t go through this morning so we had to meet up for lunch at one of our hot spots for some ‘dirt cheap’ yet amazingly delectable Vietnamese food, VINH HOA (Bellaire and Corporate).

Many locals know about the fresh seafood here but one of our must haves is the Duck!

To compliment our  ‘wild game’ we ordered Canh Chua Tom (sweet and sour soup w/shrimp), Suon Kinh Do (Peking Pork Ribs) and Muc Rang Mui (Salt toasted Squid)!!!

I tell ya nothing beats a delicious meal like this after a stressful night and for only $24 BUCKs!!! HA!

Anyway look for our 6^th Episode Double Dipped 5 Flavored Street Strips coming out today on our youtube channel! Hope you guys ENJOY! J

http://www.youtube.com/user/TranCanCook

KT

A Winter's night and preparation con Vino

First, let me just say what a historic day it has been for Houston having snow that could actually be measured!!!! We saw so many snowmen outside!!!

After work , we continued to refine our script for tomorrow's shoot over a bottle of Alexander Valley Cab. It is rich in color with concentrated fruits from 4 different types of grapes to create a unique blend (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot). It has a bold taste with  a nice clean finish that carries a smoothe note similiar to a pinot noir. This gets us thinking... could we shoot an episode at a vineyard nearby......what do you think?

We just finished our script so we should have a clean and smoothe shoot tomorrow morning!

Double Dipped Five Flavor Street Strips recipe testing complete.. YUM!

We are excited about our final recipe for our chicken strips  Its our new episode that will be shot this Saturday.We are very satisfied of the distinguished and delicious taste that is uniquely Tran Can Cook. We created a one of a kind and simple hot sauce that will surely be a hit. Stay tuned guys for our coming episode!

What a great and productive day!

What a productive day it has been! First off a great lunch at Central Market as usual discussing about our new episode that we are going to shoot this Saturday and finalizing our recipe. We know that you guys have been waiting for awhile, but we got some major plans in the next couple of months so you guys hang tight. I assure you that you won't be disappointed.

After our day at work, we meet up at 24hr fitness for some back and bicep work. Let me tell you how great it feels to work out again. Before, its been very difficult to find the time to work out  when I had 2 jobs, a family, and Tran Can Cook. I feel more vigorous and well balanced.  After our hour workout, we head over next door to Chinese Cafe for a greasy meal to negate our workout ha. What we order?

Crab puffs and Beef strips and bean curd with sliced jalapenos.. decent meal for quick and easy bite before we head out for the highlight of the day....our meeting with Kevin (different Kevin) at Popscreen.com.

Kevin is a successful entrepreneur from the past tech boom and has his eyes set on his next venture of Popscreen.com. He gave us very good insight and vital information to elevate our cooking videos to the mainstream market. We will keep you posted on our new avenues shortly next week. Please vote for him on http://topstartup.nyvideo.org/ and click the arrow next to Popscreen to vote. They are currently in second place. ....man do we know the feeling.Overall a great day ..I got to get some sleep! 12:15 am

VT