(upbeat music)
- Hi, it's Rie.
I'm wishing Tasty a very happy birthday.
I want to share some of my favorite memories
and videos to celebrate Tasty's fifth anniversary.
(upbeat music)
I joined Tasty 2016, April and it was exciting and new.
I was hired as a Tasty Japan recipe developer.
I was always interested in shooting videos
and I was always curious like how it's made.
So I was very excited for my new journey.
So my first video is a little bit embarrassing
but that is one video I'm still proud of.
It went viral.
That video is animal shaped eggs four ways.
This is my first viral video.
I remember when I was little, I enjoyed eating boiled egg
shaped like rabbit.
My mom prepare for me.
So it's basically, you decorate boiled egg
and just make it look like rabbit.
Just on rabbit, I felt like it was not enough,
so I decided to make different shape of animals.
So for this video, I made rabbit, hedgehog, owl and mouse.
For the rabbit, I used black sesame
and a carrot for nose.
For the hedgehog, I used straw and used black sesame
for the eyes and black whole pepper for the nose.
For the owls, I used greed olives for the eyes.
For the mouse, I used carrot for the ears, black sesames
for the eyes and pink peppercorn for the nose.
So this video is very special to me
because my mother used to make this rabbit shaped egg for me
and maybe in the future, I'm going to make one for my son.
It was so cool to see a lot of people tagging their friends
and saying like let's make this together.
I'm glad to see the video inspired a lot of people
and probably that was first time I realized
how powerful food video can be.
2017.
By 2017, I was comfortable shooting food videos
but it is my first time being in a video.
This video was fried chicken cook-off and I showed how
to make Japanese style chicken wings called Tebasaki.
So when you cook fried chicken, I think a lot
of people is worried about if it's completely cooked.
So the method I showed in the video, it's a double fry.
You fry lower temperature first
so you make sure chicken is cooked through,
and you raise the temperature so chicken is crispier.
So for Tebasaki fried chicken,
we usually use potato starch to fry.
We call it Karaage.
For the sauce, I used soy sauce, mirin, sake,
sugar and garlic.
So soy sauce, mirin and sake, I feel like
that is holy trinity of Japanese seasoning.
So we use it for a lot of dishes.
The sauce has a very intense flavor,
so you don't need to season our chicken wings.
And I kind of toss with sesame seeds.
It's optional but I think they kind
of give it a nice toasty kick to it.
Even though I was very nervous
on camera, it was very cool experience sharing my recipe
I always make at home.
2018 was one of the craziest
and the busiest year at Tasty.
Another video I'm very proud of was dumpling around Asia.
So I showed this video
for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
I wanted to showcase dumpling recipes
from different cultures.
I asked my co-workers to share their own recipes.
The first one is Korean Mandu.
I thought that it was interesting because he used tofu
for one of his ingredients,
and from there, he adds pork, beef, scallions,
onion and kimchi.
I think Mandu is unique.
Because they put kimchi in there, it has very flavorful
and spicy kick to it.
It was so different how I make my dumplings
so it was very fun to watch him to make Mandu.
So next dumpling is made by Lisa
and she is Chinese-American.
I thought this dumpling is very close
to how we make Japanese dumpling.
She uses Napa cabbage.
I think one cool tip from this cooking is sprinkle salt
to Napa cabbage so you can extract moisture
from Napa cabbage.
If you don't do it, it's gonna get very soggy dumpling
while you're cooking.
So next one is Nepali Momo.
My co-worker Sanjana showed us how to make Nepali Momo.
I've never had a Momo before.
The interesting part for me was eating with chutney.
I thought it was very interesting
because she used turmeric, garam masala and gee,
and she used chutney as a dipping sauce,
and it was so delicious.
The final dumpling recipe is my own
and this is my mom's recipe.
She used a lot of Nira chives.
The unique way of preparing is I think
when you fry this dumplings because we make slurry
and pour over to make this crispy edge we call Hane.
It's crispy and it's delicious.
I'm so glad to make this video
because my mom doesn't use recipe.
She just eyeball everything.
I had to measure out everything
so I can make it same every time.
And end of 2018, we shot our very first Make It Fancy.
I thought it was very interesting challenge
because I have to think outside of the box
and I'm not used to cooking with a lot of rules.
So it was very challenging to me.
The first episode, we made the instant ramen fancy,
and I used my holy trinity, sake, mirin and soy sauce
and I fried the ramen block.
Also, I used everything.
I used like seasoning came with it.
So I'm pretty proud of what I made.
If you are watching Make It Fancy
from the beginning, you might remember my hands were shaking
because I was very nervous.
So the first episode, I created this Make It Fancy dance.
Make It Fancy.
We didn't plan it or anything.
It just naturally came to me.
(laughs loudly)
I feel like Make It Fancy was very catchy title.
So I was like, oh it's like.
Make It Fancy.
At that time, I didn't know it became my signature move.
Since then, we made more than 20 Make It Fancy episodes
which is crazy and because of Make It Fancy, I get
to try bunch of ingredients I've never tasted before.
I never tried Lunchable, Fruit Loops, you name it.
I never try it.
But I think it's also challenging
because those ingredients are new to me.
I'm excited to make more new episodes.
2019, I started making more YouTube video
instead of recipe video,
and I started making more documentary style video like
how it's made.
We visited Mexicali and Chef Esdras, he showed us
how to make Al Pastor.
I never knew how to make the trompo like Al Pastor
and it was really cool to see.
Also I went to Beekeeper's House
and I shot how honey is made.
I didn't know how honey was made and it was really fun
to learn new information.
So one of my favorite show on Tasty is I Draw You Cook.
I've been in a lot of episodes and it's always fun
to work with kids and make their crazy, amazing imagination
to real life dish.
One of my favorite episode is Fairy episode.
Lynden was very energetic and she was so much fun.
She drew shooting stars and she wanted something powerful
so I put pop rocks in a dessert.
So I wasn't sure she had pop rocks before.
- What are those noises in my head?
Stop it.
- She had a quite cute reaction.
One thing really cool about this episode, I get
to compete against Alix, #Ralix.
She's my BFF.
It's always fun to cook with her.
2020, I started producing this video series
called Recipe Exchange Student
where I teach my recipe in Japanese.
(speaking foreign language)
- All right, you're gonna need to slow down on that one.
- Also like my co-worker teach me their recipe
in their language.
(speaking foreign language)
- Perfect. - Five.
(laughs loudly)
I really like this series especially the
one I shot with Alix.
I tried to teach Alix how to make Inari Sushi
which is one of popular style of sushi in Japan.
So recipe's a little bit complicated
to begin with and on top of that, you have
to teach her in Japanese.
So it is very challenging but she did a great job,
and we made juicy Inari Sushi.
So it's a good challenge but cooking, it's all language
and also they did a lot of body language.
It's super fun to learn other culture's cuisine
and the food is so good.
I think one of the coolest thing
about Tasty is we are showcasing a lot
of different culture and cuisine
and audience can learn recipes from all over the world.
I think that is really cool.
Again, happy birthday Tasty.
It's been a great five years
and I'm excited to many more happy years to come.
- [Narrator] Oh yes.
(upbeat music)