The Jonathan Lung’s Cooking Show Episode 1- Madeleine Cookies

The Jonathan Lung’s Cooking Show

Episode 1- Madeleine Cookies

Int. Kitchen. Day

The camera pans from the top right to the mid left with instrumental music playing. The camera zooms in on the narrator as he introduces himself to the camera.

Narrator- Hello folks and welcome to the Jonathan Lung’s Cooking Show. Today we are making the famous “squat, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines,’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell”, straight from the except of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.

Narrator grabs the book and shows it to the camera. Camera zooms in on the front cover of the book for a few seconds while the narrator does a voice over.

            Narrator- This book is amazing. I highly recommend reading this novel at your own time. However, I’m here to talk about the amazing madeleines and how to whip up in no time. First, we are going to need some ingredients.

The camera will zoom in on the right side of the counter top focusing on each ingredient as the narrator talks about each ingredient, picking up each ingredient and moving it slightly across the counter closer to the camera.

            Narrator- We will need 2 eggs, ¾ teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup of white sugar, ½ cup of all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of lemon zest, ¼ cup of butter, and 1/3 cup of granulated sugar for decoration purposes because who doesn’t love sugar. If you don’t, you are not human. *chuckles*

Camera switches from a medium shot to a zoom up shot on the action that is being done. Music continues to play softly in the background.

            Narrator- First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius for all non-American folks. (Close up shot of narrator turning the knob on the oven) Next, you want to butter and flour the molds. (Close up shot of narrator buttering and flouring the molds while he continues to talk) It looks better if you want the scallop shell mold but honestly any mold will do if that is inaccessible to you. That is probably most of the folks out there.

Camera goes back to the medium shot. 

            Narrator- Next thing you want to do is the melt the butter and then let it cool to room temperature. (Narrator grabs a small bowl with a whisk) While you are waiting, lets start mixing eggs, vanilla, and salt. (Zoom in on the bowl) I prefer to hand mix it with my own small whisk but you can use a machine to mix if you need to as well. (Moves back to medium shot of narrator) Personally, I like mixing it myself because it makes me look cooler in the kitchen especially when I am around friends. Kidding. (Zoom back at the bowl) While you are mixing the ingredients, add the sugar very slowly. You want the mixture to look thick and ribbon like at the end of it. (Picks up whisk to show the thick texture; zooms in on the whisk briefly and then on the mixture) Normally this will take around five to ten minutes.

Camera zooms back out to a medium shot for a few second

            Narrator- (Picks up the flour) Now you want to add the flour about a third at a time while you are mixing. (Zooms in on the flour being sift in the mixture) Make sure to do this so the flour doesn’t clump up. (Back to medium shot) We aren’t making chicken and dumplings, which will appear next episode. Spoilers? My producers might not be happy with me. *chuckles* Now we need to add the lemon zest and the melted butter (zoom in on the mixture) and mix them well.

Narrator bends down to grab a wooden spoon; camera moves back into a medium shot.

            Narrator- Now after you are mixing the mixture, use the spoon to fill the mold. (Zoom in on the spoon as the narrator fills the mold) The mixture will mound over the mold but that is ok. (Back to medium shot) Now we bake this for about 14 to 17 minutes. (Zoom in on narrator putting the mixture into the oven and back to a medium shot) A good indication that it is ready is if the cookie is golden brown and if the top springs back gently after pressing on it like this.

The camera follows the narrator walking to the left side of the counter to a pre-made cookie. Zoom in on narrator’s hand pressing on the cookie. Camera moves back to medium shot

Narrator- Now after they are done, use a knife to loose the cookie gently and invert the pan onto a container. Now for the finishing touch, sprinkle granulated sugar onto the warm cookies.

Zoom in on narrator’s hand sprinkling the sugar for a second and then move to the close up shot of the sugar falling onto the cookies. Move back to medium shot.

            Narrator- This is best serve with coffee or tea especially as leftovers. I personally love eating them right after they are baked for the best flavors. Some people love to dunk them into their coffee or tea like Oreos with milk. Now some people like to have different variation. For example, (pan shot from top view down of trays of different types of cookies in sequence to the narration) you can have chocolate, maple, peanut butter, and even jasmine green tea madeleines. (Back to medium shot) All of them are great for parties and gatherings. I personally love them all. (Music increase in volume) Now go try some on your own. And thank you for watching!

End credit scene

           

Refection: How Morgan Freeman would narrate the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman

Jonathan Lung

Refection: How Morgan Freeman would narrate the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman

            Writing this blog post was a fun process. I was inspired by the True Facts videos and Honest Trailer videos when I was writing this blog post. I knew I wanted my audience (a key term that I mastered in English class) to be people who wanted a good laugh. I also wanted the blog post to be very informal, similarly to the True Facts videos. During my brainstorming process, I decided I want my narrator to not know what is going on as he is watching the video. However, writing a voice over is very difficult to synchronize. I watched the movie clip over and over for about a hundred times before I could even start writing the first sentence. Even after watching the clip multiple times, I still had to keep watching and pausing to capture the voice over for each scene just perfectly. The timing of the voice over was the most difficult part of the whole writing process. One trick I learn to use was to mute the video and talk over the scene as if I was the narrator himself. This whole process took me several hours to do. After writing the narration, I would check over the grammar briefly to make sure basic subject-verb agreement are in place. That is something I still struggle with if I do not check over my work. One thing about this assignment that I found interesting is the direction you can take with the voice over. Many people chose to voice over like a cooking show or a documentary but few did anything that was purely comical. You have to be creative and funny to make the narration. Overall, I had a lot of fun writing this voice over because it allowed me to live out my dream of narrating in a funny way. The feedback has been positive and approved by a few people.

Remembering the First Taste

Jonathan Lung

Remembering the First Taste

            No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory - this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. I had ceased now to feel mediocre, contingent, mortal. Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? -Proust

            Proust describes in the quote above about how his whole life changed after trying a new food and drink. No longer was his life “mediocre” after the first bite. Much of Proust description about the experience of remembering what a food taste like for the first time is the same experience I often go through when I ponder about food. Foods such as pizza, Chinese leek pie, and Southern fried chicken influenced my life in such pivotal ways.

            Pizza was one of the first meals I ate as a child. I tried it for the first time on Christmas Eve and fell in love with it instantly I placed it in my mouth. It was the Christmas miracle that my parents unexpectedly received since I did not want to eat anything before that day. I was only a year old when this all went down.

            Chinese leek pie was introduced to me when my youngest aunt visited my family in Mississippi from Taipei, Taiwan. She brought Chinese groceries as presents to celebrate my first birthday. My aunt spent a whole day preparing the Chinese leek pie intending to feed my whole family. However, when she set the plate of Chinese leek pie on the table, everyone noticed how I was drooling and pointing at the food. My parents gave me a small piece, and the rest is history. To this day, the food’s nickname is Little Aunt’s Pizza.

            The first time I tried fried chicken was on a bet I had with my father. We had a bet on who would win the NASCAR race one Sunday. Since I lost the bet, I was forced to eat whatever my dad would eat for one whole day. Since I am a picky eater, I could barely shallow most of the different dishes that my dad ate throughout the day. However, my dad took me to a local fried chicken store to pick up some chicken to eat at home. Sitting next to the freshly cooked fried chicken, I was seduced and fell in love eating fried chicken ever since.

            To this day, I often wonder what it would be like to re-experience those first tastings. Of course, I still have a lot more experiences to try for the first time and maybe they will be just as memorable as eating pizza.

The Lover’s Pie

Jonathan Lung

The Lover’s Pie

The pie we are making today is The Lover’s Pie. My pie will consist of chocolate, eggs, salt, milk, honey, and chili pepper. The dark chocolate must be added first. This will ensure initial spark when you take the first bite like a flutter in heart when someone meets someone they are attracted to. Make sure the dark chocolate is crushed so the chocolate is evenly distributed. This is essential because we do not want all of the chocolate in one place since we want to enjoy chocolate throughout whole pie. Once the chocolate is added and spread across the whole pie, add a dose of honey and other sweets to the pie. Make sure the dose is enough to make it feel natural but not too much where it becomes overwhelming and feels forced. A little bit of salt is good for the pie too since salt is a natural ingredient to any perfect balance relationship of flavors. Again, do not add too much salt or the pie will be ruined and no one will want it again. Sometimes I like to add a little spice in my pie, so I add a small bit of chili pepper. This is optional since there are many other spices that will work as well. The eggs and milk are the essential to make any pie work but it is ok to add them later in process of pie making if you want to. Make sure to save extra eggs and milk to make more pies later since pie taste so good.  Once the ingredients are mixed together, make sure to bake the pie until ready; you will know this when the pie is giving off signs it is ready to be eaten. Eating it too early will lead to being sick and in the hospital but eating it too late will be eating the remnants of what could have been an awesome pie. One of the most satisfying parts of making this pie is the hand on experience that you will never forget especially if it is your first pie. Once people smell the seducing scent of a freshly baked pie, everyone will want it so be careful about others stealing your pie. After all, just like your significant other, you would not want anyone to steal your beautiful, amazing pie.