Where have we been???

Our apologies dear fans for not keeping up with our blog. We have been very busy and have big things coming this fall. We will get our website completed this month and our blog will dwell on Trancancook.com instead. I hope you guys enjoyed our  lateset Banh mi episode. Our next episode will be Banh Xeo, which is prepared almost like an omelette, but made out of flour with tumeric to give it that yellow color. My moms banh xeo below contains pork, shrimp,  bean sprouts , white and green onions and served with red lettuce and nuoc mam (fish sauce). Hopefully we will have this episode out this month! You will definitely enjoy it!

In need of a new post

Ladies and gents,

We are almost at the finish line for posting up our videos on food2.com and will wrap up our other video soon!

Decisions and 3 O'clock snacks

Oh man! Sorry guys for taking so long to keep everything up to date especially with new episodes and blogging! We will get this under control I promise you this!!!
So we are still working with Food 2 to make sure everything is kosher both ends before being set up on their site and both Viet and I have been sooooooo busy juggling everything around.

A lot of moves have been going around with work and with that being said it's hard to grab a bite to eat when you want to soooooooo..... I've been accustomed to eating light snacks around 3 PM to keep the metabolism running when i can't get a full meal at lunch! Usually some jello and a fruit of some sort (i prefer apples, bananas, and oranges).

In March we will have a collaboration with fitness guru M.C. Barao(http://mcbarao.blogspot.com/) where she will be showing us one of her favorite tofu dishes and a healthy light papaya salad. You definitely don't want to miss that episode so stay tuned, check out our other videos if you haven't, subscribe, rate 5 stars, and comment cuz we want to know what you think!

Ciao guys!

KT

TRANCANCOOK meets THE ROCKSTYLIST

So we decided to visit the Rockstylist (Christopher Do) to help him with a video shoot he wanted us to film. He was going to be cutting and styling local fitness model, M.C. Barao's hair (http://mcbarao.blogspot.com/), and had asked for our expertise. Not only do we cook, but we can film and edit too!!

It was a lot of fun so be sure to be on the lookout for this up and coming star - The Rockstylist.




In other news, Tran Can Cook is currently working on their website to be finished VERY soon along with some products to be sold on the site. (So be excited about that!) :)
We also just finished filming the Banh Mi Episode and footage of feeding the homeless right after!! This episode will be edited to emulate Anthony Bourdain's show, NO RESERVATIONS. It's a fresh style that we're sure you're going to enjoy!

Don't forget to watch our other episodes on our youtube channel and subscribe, rate, and comment if you havent already! We'd like to know what you think. (http://www.youtube.com/user/TranCanCook)

What a Month! Food Network contacted us!!

Sorry Ladies and Gents for the long absence of Tran Can Cook! After Dec 12. I (viet) went on a week vacation to Denver with Michelle and my son. Although we didn't get to go skiing, I still enjoyed the many beautiful sites of Denver.(Red Rock Amphitheater)








A week past by and its already 5 days till X-mas. I prepared Tyler Florence's Ultimate Bone-in Ribeye Roast, which is the ultimate crowd pleaser. I had to make one for her family and mines!

BAck to Tran Can Cook!  We probably had the best week yet. Food2.com, sister site of Food Network, contacted us and want our cooking show on their website! They want to have a series of us! We were on Cloud 9 that day! So now we are scrambling to get our website up before we give them the green light and also in process of getting our tshirts made. Their both going to be incredible!!

This is a bowl of Mi Quang which is probably one of my favorite Vietnamese noodle dishes. This is a sneak peak of whats to come with our new Banh Mi episode. We hit up several spots in Houston... its going to be an epic episode!!!

VT

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