hello goodbye

It has been so long. I have been so lazy with this, but with a generous prompt from Pai, who own's Pai's Food Truck, I have decided to pick up again. A lot has happened since I last posted. A big congrats to our Sous Chef, Brian, for getting hitched. He spent a lovely two weeks in Hawaii with his new wife, Megan. Also we had our one year anniversary, which we unfortunately did not celebrate. Boo! We did a few catered parties at the restaurant. We busted out the steam tables and everything. One was a lovely baptism, one was a birthday, and two were graduations. We custom made desserts and arranged the menu to our customers' liking. I'm somewhat jealous that I didn't get a party when I graduated from UW. Come to think of it, I don't remember even getting birthday parties. :( But yeah, look us up if you are thinking of having catering. If you have no space at your place give us a call and we can see what we can do.

On another note, soon we'll be losing a member of our kitchen team who has been with us since the beginning to Engineers without Borders. Nate Janega will be using his schooling for good. I say yay for putting someone like Nate in the world, but boo for losing him. He'll be heading to a remote village of Bolivia to help sustain a fresh water source. We will miss his humor, his hard work, his dedication, and most importantly his washboard abs (really, you guys should ask to see them before he leaves. He has a Calvin Klein model stomach). We tease him a lot for being a serial killer, but really he is all heart and no evil. We here at Cheeky wish him the best of luck and we hope he does not get typhoid or lice (It would be a shame to shave his lush head of hair). We look forward to any converse he might be able to get to us. I promised him a carrier pigeon, but being Chinese, I am better at eating them than training...heheheh j/k. Anyways, come see Nate before he leaves at the end of the month. He will be the one in the woolly hat and a bob haircut. As Nate would say, PEACE. Oh before I forget, we have set up our website, Cheekycafe.com, to accomodate my blogs. So if you need a does of Cheeky, check out our website for updates. Oooo...while we're at it, join us on Twitter: Twitter.com/cheekycafe. Yeah! Okay, bye for reals now.

Kind and Generous

You've been so kind and generous

I don't know how you keep on giving

For your kindness I'm in debt to you

For your selflessness, my admiration

And for everything you've done....

...I want to thank you

~Natalie Merchant - Kind and Generous

So it has been a couple weeks since we held a makeshift fundraiser for the victims of Japan. It was so nice to see people come out to show their love for people that are half way around the world. I felt a swelling of the heart that I must imagine most parents feel when they they hear their child say I love you for the first time. I felt so touched and I thank everyone who came out that night and the people that came after to donate. A portion of what we made that day and whatever extra money people donated will be going to Red Cross. Unfortunately, the company that we were planning on using to match our funds has hit their max, but another company, a knitting company, in West Seattle said they will be matching our funds. Infact, the owner said she will be coming out real soon to meet us. She sounds like a lovely person. If I can just recall her company's name. I heard she has all the knitting needs that any one can ask for. She even has materials that are hard to come by on the internet. I most likely will be stalking her store when I get a little bit more free time. I've been trying to finish knitting my friend's scarf for the longest time. I'm just grateful that my friend isn't a grudge holder. I was suppose to have it ready for her last Christmas. If you can imagine, I have my head hanging in shame at the moment. Oooh...on top of our own fundraising effort, we are also working along side the Million Cranes Project. You can check them out at: http://millioncranes.wordpress.com/. It is a group put together by a few darling people in the Seattle area who are using Senbazuru in a creative way to raise money for the earthquake victims. So far they have achieve over 1,000 origami birds and about 175 of them were lovingly folded by our Cheeky customers. The Million Cranes Project has gotten a company to pay $1.75-$2 for each crane that is folded and the money collected will be donated to the relief efforts in Japan. If you are ever in the neighborhood drop by and fold a few cranes. You can bring your own paper or we have quite a few here from which you can select. The birds go for a good cause and once a million is reached, they will be strung together and sent to Japan for luck and benevolence and to show that our thoughts are with them. Well, anyways, that's what is new at Cheeky. I hope everyone is doing fantastic and that spring brings luck and much love. Hope to see more cranes come this way. Take care! Oh, before I go, you guys should come and try our Chicken Tender Tuesdays. Mmmm...so yummy! It is served with mash potatoes and corn. I was told a put together some bomb ass corn by my cousin. So if not for the chicken than try my corn :p. Okie-dok. Bye!

Bitter and Sweet

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I have no excuse, but being lazy. :) Anyways, what an exciting week for us. We were honored by the presence of Jamie Ford, the author of the New York Times Bestseller Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It is such a good book. In fact, it had some hand in giving me inspiration for our menu. The book really made me reflect upon the whole dynamics between immigrant parents and american born children and the loss you never realized will be lost when someone passes. It is a very heart felt book. Makes me think about my family and what I take for granted and makes me laugh when I see the similarities between my grandmother and parents' school of thought compared to that of mine. Yes, my siblings and I are not alone! Also, along the same line of excitement, we are super amped that we got a chance to serve Lori Matsukawa. From where I stood, my little spy perch in the kitchen, she looked just as lovely in person as she does on TV. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to her, but my sister said she is very kind. Thanks to the Japanese Cultural Center for sending both of these amazing people our way. Virtual high five guys.

On another note, every Sunday we will have jazz night. A kind gentleman by the name, Frank "Stainless" Steele will be performing every Sunday evening. You should all come down and have a nice quiet dinner then sit back and relax with a nice glass of red wine and a creamy pate choux as Frank titillate your senses with his smooth notes. Sounds so sexy doesn't it? Maybe I'm in the wrong business. I should write ads or something. Oh well, in the next lifetime I guess. Okie dok, you all take care. I'll check back in real soon. Come check out fried chicken Tuesday, Oxtail Wednesday, Adobo Thursday, Korean braised ribs Friday and our new beers we have on tap! Before I go, this is for KK....hella! Okay, that's out of my system. Update soon!

Do you know who you are?

Happy New Year! How did you all spend your new year eve? Meet some special people? Get some numbers? Well, whatever you all did I hope you all had fun. Here at the restaurant we've been brainstorming what to do for our specials. We've come up with fried chicken Tuesdays, oxtail Wednesdays, short ribs Thursdays, and Adobo Fridays; it's still in the works, but we'll let you all know once we get it down. Still need to do some recipe tests and such. On a side note, we've also been checking if any of our staff members are psychopaths. There are these set of questions you ask people and if they get the answers right then you probably most likely want to stay clear of them. Don't worry we're all pretty normal here. Only one of us got 2 out of 3 correct. We're giving that person the benefit of the doubt that he isn't plotting something sinister against us at the moment. It he/she is then atleast I know it will be methodical. So here are the questions. It has nothing to do with the restaurant, but it is interesting to see how people respond. Okay, here we go. Question #1: You are inside an apartment building and your looking outside your window. You spot a man stabbing someone to death. You're about to turn away and call the police, but before you can the murderer turns around and you two make eye contact. The man looks up at you menacingly and then he wages his finger back and forth in your direction. Why is he doing that?.................................I'll give you some time to think. Are you ready? Have you put in all your guesses. You can go as crazy and outside of the box as you want, but the answer will be that he is counting the floors. Creepy huh? Question #2: A lady is at her uncle's funeral. From across the room she spots a man and she says to herself, "That's him. That's the man I'm going to marry. He is the one!" I know that most of you are thinking that I don't have to go any further. This chick is crazy, but how crazy? Well she goes home and she tells her sister about this guy. She then finds out that this guy is her sister's boyfriend. The following day she kills her sister. Why? Any guesses? This one is pretty messed up. The reason she killed her sister is not out of jealousy, but because she is positive that this man will show up to her sister's funeral. Messed up, right? The last and final question #3: You're robbing someone's house. The owner of the house comes home and walks right into the room you're in. You both make eye contact. That person just saw your face. You now have to kill this person. Before you can get to this person, he/she hides in the closet. How are you going to off this person? This one is not as exciting, but can give some insight as to how some people think. Are you ready? You can use any manner to kill this person, but you would like to prolong the process by pulling up a chair and enjoy watching that person skirm in horror as they think of what you are going to do to them. So here are the questions posed to my staff. Lucky us we only have one person answer 2 out of 3 correctly. Wooo...we're safe. :) Anyways, happy new year. I hope to see you all soon and I hope you all found the questions entertaining.

Holidays are here!

So Christmas is just around the corner. Woohoo! Can't wait to sit my butt down and do nothing. Recently, we've had some changes to our menu and we have added people to our staff. Feel free to stop by and say hi to our new members: Zack, Hawaiian Brian, and Jake and look through our new menu. There has also been request to add our chicken fried steak to our lunch and dinner menu, but I'm not too sure about that. Do you know that each piece of meat is hand pound? I don't know if my hand can handle pounding so much meat....hehehehehe. I know. That was not very tasteful, but I never claimed to be classy. Anyways, I'm still contemplating. Alrighty, I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful and happy holidays. If I do not post again before the end of the year, please have a safe and joyous new year. May the coming year bring you all good health, fortune, and happiness.

Stuff this....

So I was having a discussion with my staff the other day and they uncovered a deep dark secret of mine; I have never had stuffing.....hmmm. It was shock and slight disgust all around. "What?! You've never had stuffing?" they all chimed. "Well," I responded, "I'm chinese. My family barely even eat turkey let alone stuff one." Following that was an almost uncomfortable, but magical time of nostalgia from my staff that I'm not sure if I should censor. "Mmmmmm....stuffing made right is....oooooooh" "Ahhhh.....stuffing." "Yeah, pistachio...." I felt that I might have dodged a bullet on trying this thing called stuffing. It seemed like stuffing might be a cleverly disguised form of crack. They were all rubbing their hands together or their bellies. Euphoric bliss was hanging from the slight upturned corners of their lips and their eyes were hooded and rolled back as if replaying each bite they had ever taken of stuffing. They all say I need to try it. I'm leaning towards caving in to peer pressure. In fact, they all did make me feel hungry. I'm thinking of making this crack during the December holidays, but there are so many different ways that people prefer their stuffing. What do you all think? What is your favorite stuffing of all time? Well, that is all I have to recount since the last posting. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Sippin' on gin and juice....maybe just juice.

So we've started happy hour 3pm-6pm. We would love to offer you all some hard liquor after a hard day, but unfortunately all we have is some hella good beer and some hella tasty wine. With a purchase of an alcoholic beverage from each person in your party all small plates will be 1/2 off excluding spicy mac. We also have some yummy port fo $4 a pour and $12 pitchers of beer. Just to refresh your memory we have Mac and Jack, Roger's Pilsner, Manny's, and IPA from Fremont Brewing. Our seasonal beer is the Powder Hound, winter ale from Missoula, Mountana. Yummers! Come join us! Kick back and relax.