Several weeks ago, I requested some information from you guys on Facebook: I was heading to BlogHer Food in Miami to meet with celebrity chef Lorena Garcia and I wanted to ask her YOUR questions!

You all asked some great ones and Lorena was so incredibly nice and handled each question with ease. Here’s a synopsis of the interview:

Question #1:

How do you think your food shares your personal journey?

In every possible single way. I’m from Venezuela, I’m Latina at heart. When you come to the States, I realized that Latinos are one, in terms of culture. You know, you have Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, I mean, you name it, Mexico even. But when you’re in the United States, it’s really one culture. We have similar ingredients, cook differently, but basically it’s pretty much the same. And what I have realized through the years working in the States is how can I combine those two: my culture with the learnings that I have done throughout all my travels and being an American, I became an American 12 years ago, so I know and I understand the palate of the melting pot of culture that you actually find in the States. So, I try to have that representation, which is not only Venezuelan cuisine or Mexican cuisine, but really taking a little bit of everything and bringing it into one cuisine. And that’s how I represent it in my books, my restaurants, and, you know, pretty much everything I do.

Question #2:

How do you cook rice perfectly?

Let me tell you that I have the perfect, perfect, perfect formula. So you do equal parts rice and water. You put it together, bring it to a boil. Once you start seeing the rice and the water start reducing, you put the lid on, lower the heat to the minimum (meaning 1, from 1 to 9, 1) and forget about it. What happens is when people cook rice, what happens is that they kinda open it up and then that’s it. The steam for the last 20 minutes, if you cook it right, that’s what makes the rice perfect. So, you just take water, a little bit of oil (vegetable oil), a teaspoon of salt, your rice, boil it, reduce the water, put the lid on, reduce the heat and forget about it. Don’t move it, don’t touch it, don’t peek on it, nothing.

Question #3:

How often do you cook your own meals?

Okay, when I’m in my house, I cook everyday. I travel a lot, I will say 80% of the time I’m on a plane, I’m traveling, and it doesn’t allow me to cook as much when I’m traveling, so when I go home, the last thing I want to do is go to a restaurant. That’s the last thing I go to, is a restaurant.

Question #4:

What is your favorite meal?

Things that I absolutely love, I love breakfast. I love brunch. And I enjoy dinner, but dinner is more for my friends and family when they come over and I cook. But the meal that I enjoy is like around 11:30, 12:00 and I just put lunch and breakfast together; and being outside and grilling. I make eggs and pizza, I mean, whatever it is, I just put it on the grill and cook there. I love to do that, you know, during the day because then I have the entire rest of the day to hang out. That’s my favorite meal.

Lorena is passionate about ingredients and tasting the food, which is why she is currently partnering with Colgate. She is hoping to help people understand how to keep their mouths healthy so they will be able to taste different spices, identify different ingredients, and go back to the basics with a clean palate.

Want to help clean your palate? You can head to CVS this week to grab FREE Colgate toothpaste!

CVS Deal:

Buy:
(1) Colgate Total Toothpaste, 4.2 oz, $3
Use:
-$1 off Colgate Total or Optic White toothpaste, 3.4 oz+ printable
-$2 off Colgate Max, Total, 2-in-1 or Optic White Toothpaste, printing at CVS Coupon Center (exp 06/09)

Makes it FREE!

Search for more coupons!