Having ChatGPT Design My Birthday Dinner

AI is a powerful tool with many capabilities, but have you ever thought of having it make you a recipe?

Hello! This is Izzy, the kid foodie, and my do I have the story to share!

For my 17th birthday dinner, I decided to have a home-cooked meal. But this wouldn’t just be any meal, I wanted it to be Michelin Star quality. I had the supplies to make something extravagant and was especially curious to try utilizing my whipping siphon and maybe including some gels.

I began planning my dinner by searching for unique recipes that I had never made before.

I landed on a meal, which would include: beef carpaccio with a homemade anchovy aioli and handmade saffron fettuccini pasta smothered in a creamy roasted garlic and lemon pasta sauce. For my last dish, I wanted something crazy, unlike anything I had ever tasted. That’s when I thought of…ChatGPT. That’s right, I had AI create me a recipe!

I began with what I wanted the recipe to entail. I shared my vision of a Michelin-quality dish. I wanted to use my whipping siphon, and I was especially eager to try making edible pearls. With this request, it created: Beet Tartare with Horseradish Espuma, Dill Oil, Black Garlic Pearls & Crispy Rye Crumbs. Wait what? My first thought was that it mistyped ‘beef tartare’ as “beet tartare”. Then I thought, what in the world is ‘espuma’? This recipe sounded more extravagant than anything I had imagined. However, I would be lying to say that I wasn’t curious how the beet tartare would taste. So, I tried it!

Here’s the ticker: I wasn’t going to tell my family that the recipe was from AI until after they ate it.

The days leading up to my birthday, I began grocery shopping, as I knew that my recipes were calling for some unique ingredients. I went to Safeway and then Whole Foods to acquire all of the ingredients the recipes called for. However, I had to special order black garlic paste (for the black garlic pearls) from Amazon, after not being able to find any at either grocery store.

I’m sure that you’re wondering by now, how did the dinner turn out?

Beef Carpaccio with Anchovy Aioli

The carpaccio was tricky to slice thin, so I resorted to using a mandolin. However, I recommend not doing this, as I quickly noticed that the fillet was becoming deformed by the machine. This left the slices a bit too thick for Michelin quality. The anchovy aioli was good, and I enjoyed using the remaining sauce as a Caesar salad dressing later, throughout the week.

Handmade Pasta (Great! Just typing those words and now I’m hungry.)

I have made homemade pasta in the past and find that my Villaware pasta-making machine works very well for this. Homemade pasta is so much more delicious than store-bought. I highly encourage you to try making it at some point. While recipes often call for the dough to rest overnight, the hands-on process is actually quite simple, mostly entailing feeding the dough through your maker to thin and cut it. The sauce that I made to pair with the fettuccine was pretty good. However, I have found that a very simple sauce is preferable so that the fresh pasta can shine, rather than the sauce overpowering.

Lastly, the Beet Tartare!

Firstly, be careful when handling beets, as their strong pigment can easily stain your clothes, cutting board, and skin. Secondly, oh my, this was delicious. This recipe blew my parents and my expectations away. Each aspect contributed a unique texture, ensuring that my mouth could hop in on the flavor party of my birthday.

The beets were fresh, the (freshly grated) horseradish espuma (culinary foam) was frothy and added a unique texture, and the crispy rye crumbs were so good (don’t tell anybody, but I ate them by the spoonful as an “amuse bouche”). The black garlic pearls had strong potential, but didn’t quite turn out. The process for making them required dropping the black garlic flavored liquid into ice-cold oil, in which its agar agar powder would solidify into droplets. Looking back, I released too many droplets into my small beaker at once, so the pearls began to stick together. This left little room for incoming droplets, causing deformed pearls.

My birthday evening became just the culinary adventure I had hoped for. Even though not every dish turned out perfectly and dinner finished way later than expected, it gave me the experience of trying recipes out of my comfort zone, and I learned so much about these advanced culinary methods. I recommend that next time you have a rainy day or extra time to make dinner, you try something crazy! (P.S. Just make sure to have a yummy snack, like cheese and crackers, to make sure nobody gets hangry while cooking.)

Would you try an AI recipe?

Here are the recipes that I used. Feel free to try them out yourself! Drop a comment if you do, or if you have any unique recipe recommendations to try next.

And I just had ChatGPT write this. Just kidding!

Beef Carpaccio Recipe

Creamy Roast Garlic and Lemon Pasta Sauce Recipe

Handmade Pasta Recipe (I made the saffron variation)

Chat GPT Beet Carpaccio Recipe

The Dessert of Summer: Strawberry Shortcake 🍓

With summer having just begun, I’m sure that we can all agree to having a bit more time on our hands for wanting to work on the things that make us happy. Lately, I have found that cooking has been one of those things for me. My favorite recipes include using fresh produce and fruits. The other day, I was discussing what my favorite fruit was, and I came to the decision that there isn’t just one fruit that I love the most, but rather what ever is the ripest. I have had blackberries that fill my mouth with sour juices, but also had them when they taste like nature’s candy.

The sweet spot for strawberries is April through July, meaning that now is the perfect season to get some locally. I was with my dad driving to a butcher and across the street was a farm stand with a big sign advertising ‘fresh strawberries’. As soon as I saw the sign, I knew that I wanted to get some. Once we brought them home, I saw that they where at peak ripeness and needed to be eaten that day. That’s when I knew it. I had to make my favorite summer dessert: strawberry shortcake! (Although, you could make this dessert with really any berry or stone fruit like peaches, blueberries, raspberries, etc.)

The first step is always washing and cutting up the berries into quarters and sprinkling with sugar. This helps them release their juices. After waiting for about an hour, they will be sitting in a delicious strawberry sauce and will taste way sweeter. This juice is just what you want to have soak into your shortcake biscuit. Speaking of shortcake, next was making the scrumptious biscuits. To do so, I used the recipe below.

Lastly is the final touch (or smother) of whipped cream. I LOVE making homemade whipped cream, in which I use a siphon and add whipping cream, a little vanilla, and some maple syrup (not too much that it the consistency becomes too watery). This will tie together the whole dessert.

I recommend enjoying this dish on your deck (if you have one) while watching the sunset. There you have it, your very own bite of summer.

Warning: You may become obsessed with strawberry shortcake. (I now have a pint of strawberry shortcake ice cream in my freezer and I had a strawberry shortcake crepe yesterday.)

Shortcake Biscuits

2 and 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for hands and work surface

1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt (I recommend fine sea salt)

3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed

1 cup (240ml) cold buttermilk*

2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or buttermilk

Coarse sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

Start with the strawberries: Stir the strawberries and 1/4 cup granulated sugar together in a large bowl. Cover and set in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Make the biscuits: Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large food processor. Pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients by pulsing several times in the processor. Pulse until coarse crumbs form. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.
Pour buttermilk on top. Fold everything together with a large spoon or silicone spatula until it begins to come together. Do not overwork the dough. The dough will be shaggy and crumbly with some wet spots. Pour the dough and any dough crumbles onto a floured work surface and gently bring together with generously floured hands. Have extra flour nearby and use it often to flour your hands and work surface in this step. Using floured hands or a floured rolling pin, flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle as best you can. Fold one side into the center, then the other side. Turn the dough horizontally. Gently flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding again. Turn the dough horizontally one more time. Gently flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. Repeat the folding one last time. Flatten into the final 3/4 inch thick rectangle.
Cut into 2.75 or 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter. You should end up with around 10-12 biscuits.
Arrange in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or close together on parchment paper or silicone baking mat lined baking sheet. Make sure the biscuits are touching.
Brush the tops with 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or buttermilk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown on top. Remove from the oven, then cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before assembling.
Slice the biscuits in half and layer with strawberries and whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Thank you for reading this publication, I hope that you enjoyed it.

-Your favorite kid foodie: Izzy

Asheville Adventures

For my last break, I visited Asheville, North Carolina. I went for 6 days. Here is what I did and how I liked it!

I (of course) had to visit the famous Biltmore (Vanderbilt) House. December is a great time to visit, as it is decorated for Christmas. I went on the audio tour of the home and listened to a choir perform multiple holiday songs as I entered.

The night was perfect and the sunset was the cherry on top

There wasn’t spot on the grounds that didn’t sparkle with lights

For dinner, I ate at the Biltmore’s Bistro. The restaurant is a bit like a carnival with its atmosphere, but has scrumptious food. Each bite was filled with flavor and presented beautifully. Dining here is definitely pricey, but also deserves acknowledgment for the wonderful dishes.

I ordered…

French onion soup, which wasn’t the highlight of the show, but was very well put together

Warm mushroom salad, which had well-paired flavors that I never thought of combining

Estate raised carpaccio, that I couldn’t stop eating

Trio of artisans bread, which I recommend as a tasty filler

Estate raised lamb ragu, which had deep flavors and fantastic seasonings

Artisanal lettuces, which made the meal well rounded, dressing was perfect

And lastly, the five cheese artisan cheese plate, which was delicious and well put together

My top three favorites were the carpaccio, artisan breads, and the artisan cheese plate. The cheese plate included candied cranberries, bread crackers, a blue cheese, a mix of soft and hard cheeses, and my favorite, a whipped goat cheese. With the cheese plate was a paper with where the cheeses where from, my favorite one was from a local goat farm, Round Mountain Creamery. After a bit of research, my family discovered that this farm does tours and so we booked a tour for the next day. We were lucky to have a one-on-one tour with the guide. We got to look at the goats and taste their different cheese flavors. The cranberry zest was my favorite (this was the same cheese that was on the Biltmore cheese plate). I definitely recommend this tour, as it doesn’t take long and is the perfect excuse to eat cheese.

Next, I visited a waterfall in Pisgah Forest. This waterfall was pretty, but I wish it had a hike in order to get to it rather than just off the main road.

While planning a trip, it is always good to leave some down time to explore the town and understand what it’s like to be a local. One way that I did this was by visiting local breweries with my parents and bringing a game to play while there. I also enjoyed shopping in local boutiques. I had a delightful surprise when there was a Christmas parade on the streets one morning.

I did a hike in Montreat, which was great! It was difficult, but not impossible. It’s a great hike if you have kids or are looking for a mild exercise. The view is great! Tip: Park by the start of the trail for a less tiring hike. I made the mistake of parking on the College grounds and was already getting tired by the time I reached the trail (there is a big hill).

I did a foraging adventure with ‘No Taste Like Home’. We got to hunt (with professionals) for anything edible in a forest. We found wild mushrooms, fruit from bushes, onion grasses, and other interesting wild plants. They then made a dish with us out of our harvested ingredients. We had the option to take the leftover ingredients to select restaurants which they will use them to make you dinner. I had reservations to do this, but didn’t get the ingredients to them soon enough. I didn’t let this put me down. Instead, I made my own dish out of the ingredients at our airbnb, it was great! My family had fun creating a few new recipes to use what we found. Looking back, I am happy that this is how my evening ended up.

The following day, I got breakfast at Stay Glazed…Donuts, which had unique flavors, like miso maple and blueberry bacon pancake (both were great).

I finished the day with La Bodega by Cúrate. This was a great find. Curate is a well known Spanish tapas restaurant that gets very busy. I didn’t have reservations, and the wait would be a while. I did some quick research and found their bodega just around the corner. I believe that the menu items are similar. There was no wait, and the atmosphere was a lot less busy. My waiter was a little edgy, but I have no complaints on the food. I tried many of their dishes and they were all good in their own ways.

The tartar, mushroom dish, and salad where my favorite. The fish with the tartar was very yummy. The salad was phenomenal, with its mandarin oranges, crushed pistachios, and shredded parmesan. Mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

On our way to the hike, we stumbled upon The White Duck Taco Shop and it was the perfect stop for a bite. I recommend these tacos if you are looking for a lower in cost but still delicious lunch.

The Green Sage Cafe was just down the street from my rental house and was a great breakfast/brunch spot. I had their huckleberry bowl (granola base), which was a nice healthy breakfast (sometimes it is difficult to find healthier and lighters meals while traveling). I also went here one morning to read while drinking a smoothie.

Old Europe Pastries has a great quiche that they make fresh every day.

That’s it for my Asheville, North Carolina trip. All of these destinations that I visited, I would love to return to. If you were looking for trip ideas, I hope that you will be able to enjoy these spots and embrace a little adventure. Sometimes it’s best not to know what you are going to do in the afternoon, take time to experience what’s around you. Feel free to stop into that bakery you have had your eye on. That’s the joy of traveling!

Croatia and Hungary

My last trip was to Croatia and Hungary. My dad and I took a plane into Zagreb, Croatia. Where we rented a car and drove down to my uncles place. The next day my dad and I drove over to Budapest. Budapest is in Hungary. While we were there we went on an amazing food tour called Taste Hungary. This tour was terrific, it taught us about food and it’s history. And brought us to plenty restaurants. The first restaurant was owned by the same people that owned the tour. One thing I learnt was that Budapest is actually Buda and Pest there two cities separated by a river. I would give this tour 5 stars. The next morning we went back to Zagreb but a new apartment. And went on a tour called Zagreb BIG tour. The guys were super funny and shared traditional jokes with us. On the tour we learnt that there used to be 40 airbnbs and now there are 5000. After the tour we took a 20 min car ride to the factory of the fastest car in the world. The car is called Rimac Concept Two. 20180418_170631 My uncle works there. We took a tour of the factory. Then we drove back 20 min to the last place we were at and went to a wonderful restaurant called The Witch and the Grich. 20180418_211935 (1).jpg This is one of the things we ordered. This is gnocchi. The gnocchi was very good.

The next day we went to Plitvice Lakes National Park. But on the way we stopped for lunch at a city called Slunj. And the restaurant was call Petro. This is what we ordered.

We got salmon with tomato, a cheese and meat plate and an apple strudel.

The place we went to had a very cute layout. And its own waterfalls and rivers.It was super beautiful. The place we stayed at was called Villa Mukinja. It was terrific! The people who worked there were super nice. And the rooms were very clean and great sizing. We had breakfast and dinner at our place and it was scrumptious.