Can we talk flats for a minute?

Since freshman year in college where I walked the numerous streets of NY on a daily basis, flats have been my go-to shoes in the months of October through April/May.

I don’t know if it’s just my feet, but I don’t tend to fall in love with any type of flats the instant we meet. I would say it takes a couple of months until they are almost molded to the shape of my feet as they start to make me feel as though I’m walking barefooted.

Therefore when it becomes time for any of my flats to retire, I get a tiny bit…uh...emotional…?

My, once favorite, $16.99 flats before retirement in NYC. :(

And here comes the confession. The emotional attachment always only happens with the super inexpensive, badly beaten, hole-bearing pairs.

Since I want to save my nicer flats for “special” occasions, I tend to walk out of the house always with my cheapies hence the stronger attachment to those pairs. I guess as long as I’m living in the same budget category, I don’t feel comfortable “trashing” any pairs that cost more than a few Andrew Jacksons, if ya know what I mean.

As temperature keeps dropping, my poor feet are shivering in my flip-flops, longing for my flats. I grabbed my cute cheapie leopard print flats that I bought from Target last year until a few days ago I found a rip on the sole causing the rain to get all my toes completely soaked. UGH! It was so sad when I tossed them in the garbage. SO SAD!

my $29.99 AE flats that I've grown to LOVE over the past year. :( 

Now the only pair I have that is up to the same comfort level are these moccasin looking ones that were also super inexpensive and badly beaten, but luckily no holes yet. But like a mommy before sending her first child to his or her first day of school, I know that these will also have to go soon. Letting go is TOO hard!

 The Target $12.99 cheapies! 
 

So I’m headed to Target to buy me another cheapie flats that will become best friends with my feet for the next few months. I need to find a versatile color, but something tells me that I will walk out with the same leopard pair (still the same price too, only $12.99!).

I don’t know if I’m the only one with such an odd story or opinion about flats, but I just had to put it out there…somewhere!

And now that the flats talk is over, my favorite twitpics via my BB tour:

 Top (Left to Right):

- fluffy challah french toast, cheeseless caprese, scruffy puppy Yoshi, perfect bite of smoked salmon.

Bottom (Left to Right):

- favorite carbonated drink, Korean buffet (need I say more?), sweetest kiwi evah!, first time with my iron skillet.

Easy Beefy Stew

With more time under the clouds than the sun here in the Midwest, my stomach kept yearning for something heartwarming and comforting. And I think everyone knows that there is nothing as satisfying as a nice beefy stew on an early fall day.

But I didn’t want to slave over the stove all day so it needed to be easy and simple yet not sacrifice the stewy flavor that I was craving. And unless the stew is Julia’s bœuf bourguignon or something magical out of the slow cooker overnight, I always found it a little boring so I wanted to give it a little twist.

So what’s the “twist?” I threw in minced jalapeños when I sweat my onions for the kick that I feel beef stews lack. The next part of the “twist?” Instead of just plain ol’ potatoes, I mixed it up a bit and added sweet potatoes in the pot also.

 

This stew was done within 2 hours, and I spent most of those 2 hours simply lounging on the couch while the stew was simmering away. The chopping was the most complicated part, if you could call it that!

My sister who cringed at first at the idea of sweet potatoes mentioned that it was the best part about the stew (aside from the beef of course), and since I deveined and deseeded my jalapeños, the kick was subtle yet definitely present. I cooked this at my mom’s, so I didn’t have a bottle of wine handy… If I was at home, I would have definitely replaced some of the beef stock with the leftover Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Now THAT would have been ideal!

 Aww, little Yoshi knew something beefy was goin' on in the kitchen...

Easy Beefy Stew w/ a Twist (serves 6-8)

printable version

Ingredients:

- 2-3lbs beef chuck roast

- 2 medium sized potatoes, cubed

- 1 large sweet potato, cubed

- 5 small carrots, diced

- 2 jalapeños, minced

- 1 yellow onion, diced

- 1 bundle Italian parsley

- 3 dried bay leaves

- 28oz can of whole tomatoes

- 32oz beef stock

- Salt & pepper for seasoning along the way

- 2 fresh roma tomatoes, diced (optional)

Dice the chuck roast into 1” cubes, season with salt and pepper then brown on all sides in batches. Put browned meat aside.

In the same pot, sweat/sauté the onion along with minced jalapeños.

Once the diced onions become translucent, sauté the carrots, potatoes, and the sweet potatoes (and tomatoes if desired). Salt and pepper to taste.

When the vegetables are browning, add the browned meat.

After 3-5minutes, add the can of tomatoes with the beef stock. Crush the whole tomatoes with the spatula while in the pot.

Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low.

Chop about 1/2cup of fresh parsley for garnish.

Top the pot with the bay leaves and the leftover bundle of parsley.

Close the lid, let simmer for 1.5 – 2 hours until vegetables are soft and meat is tender.

I thought about adding the butter + flour mixture to thicken the stew but with patience and over time, the stew thickened itself…

Once finished, salt and pepper to taste, remove bay leaves, then garnish with fresh parsley.

Random Pie Makin'

This past weekend was gloomy for the most part, and gloomy weather in my book calls for a few specific things in the kitchen which include pies and stews. So that’s exactly what I did. I made some crostata with my dear friend Maggie on Saturday, followed by a beefy stew with a twist on Sunday (next post).

Since peaches were everywhere, I used the gorgeous fruit as well as some raspberries which happened to be on sale.

The fact that I was running out of time is such a sketchy excuse for me using store-bought pie crust, since I am naturally a lazy baker/measurer. I found the crust easy and perfectly crusty with an easy egg wash and some sprinkle of maple sugar.

Maggie and I, being not too big on sweets, cut down on the amount of sugar so the crostata turned out to be a little too tart. However, I think a dollop of freshly whipped cream or sugared mascarpone would have done the job to fix the tart fruitiness.

By the way I am in love with her kitchen table as well as baby roses (if you couldn’t tell!).

Simple Things

So what I thought was the end of a quick cold turned itself into a horrible sinus headache, therefore I'll keep it short and sweet.

This is a traditional accompaniment to Korean BBQs, especially alongside grilled pork belly (sam-gyup-sal ?). The onion-y bite with the pepper flakes contrast really well to the porkiness. However, I actually like this on top of any Korean grilled meats including everyone's all time favorite -- kalbi (marinated short ribs). 

There are several variations of this where the way the scallion is sliced into very thin slivers, or chopped simply in little rounds. Also I have had it with julienned carrots and radishes amidst the scallion as well. But since I like to keep it fairly simply and easy, I just used diagonally sliced scallions and scallions only! 

This makes for an excellent bite of ssam or simply on top of the grilled meats! But I need to warn you of the extreme onion-y flavor. Not recommended if anticipating any sort of close contact/kissing after this dish! 

Quick Scallion "Salad" (3-4 servings)
Ingredients:
- 6 bunches of thinly sliced fresh scallions/green onions
- 3 tbsp of low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp of mirin
- 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 3 tsp (or less) of Korean chili pepper flakes 

Mix all ingredients and gently toss! It can sit overnight, but I find it perfect even after just 30 minutes of sitting!

Long Overdue Dinner Date

Despite the craziness of last weekend, I did manage to end the weekend exhausted, but on a good note.

After Matthew got out of work, we roamed up and down Rush Street to find a decent eatery to have our long overdue dinner date. With "life" happening, we didn't have an actual dinner date in the city of Chicago even after nearly 6 months of me living here...

Only after a couple of blocks and a couple of menu-reads, we ended up in Tavern on Rush.

I had a half dozen Prince Edward Island Oysters (yum!) and Matthew ordered the heirloom tomato salad with fresh mozzarella.

For our entrée, we shared the Chateaubriand, a filet mignon that was carved tableside along with perfectly grilled vegetables.

Courtesy of the bar manager who Matthew had become acquaintances with working at Le Bar in the Sofitel Water Tower, our dessert was complimentary. Tiramisu & mango sorbet...

 

 

It was the most calming dinners I have had in quite some time. We were seated over at the balcony overlooking the rumored "viagra triangle." 

My ideal dining out experience consists not only of good food, but a perfectly suiting ambiance with the people I adore...and this was definitely one of those. 


PS. Matt is the definition of a meat-and-potatoes guy, with a more "sophisticated" palate who has a great appreciation for simple food with good ingredients...except for seafood. However, I did get him to try one of my oysters. This is what he thought:

"Why would anyone eat that?"

Meatless FAIL.

So I have a confession to make. I can't do this 10 Meatless Days challenge anymore. Well I suppose it all began on Saturday...

After a long but successful shopping trip, I was having major junk food cravings. So I thought a trip to the good old McD's for the Fillet-O-Fish accompanied by small fries might do the trick. Well...on my way to McD's, I spotted a Wendy's much closer to my apartment. I figured I'd just save me some time and grab Wendy's instead. The tragic truth? At Wendy's, the fish sandwich is only sold only at "select locations." Yup, you guessed right. THIS location did not serve the fish sandwich.

I should have been stronger, but I was tired and I just opted for my favorite (and the unhealthiest) spicy chicken sandwich. But still I felt guilty for breaking my own promise, so I figured I'd skip that day from the 10days of being meatless.

Then came Sunday. This was yet another sleepless, tiring day. Perfect day to whip up some Korean rice-cake soup with the oxtail broth that my mom brought... problem? Oxtail. But feeling cranky and lazy for justification, I just made the soup and scarfed it down. Then I figured since I already had meat for the day I'd just count the whole weekend out of the equation from counting my 10 days. So I snacked up on prosciutto, and even went out for steak dinner (which I'll blog about next).

YOWZA, right? 
 
And here I am today. Meatless breakfast, lunch & dinner. My mom called longing for a friend to cook up some late night Korean barbecue. I felt bad, so I told her to come over. At first, I was going to just keep her company and stay away from the meat, but who am I kidding? I was definitely going to want a bite or two at least!
 
So I'm thinking...'uhhh...count this day off too? Maybe I'll make today a 1/2 day?' Then it came to me. This whole challenge is just stressin' me out more than anything!
 
Now my mom is feeling under the weather so our barbecue plans have changed. However, what didn't change is my decision to forego my 10 Meatless Days challenge. I am deeply ashamed and embarrassed that I couldn't fulfill the mission, but I love my meats. On top of that, I found out today that i've gained 3lbs. So for the lack of meat, not only have I overloaded on seafood but also carbs to fill the void of meat.
 
Vegetarians of the world, I admire your persistence and applaud your strength for the ability to carry on a mission that was just too difficult for me and my tummy. For me, I think I'll stick to my regular meat-y diet. Maybe Meatless Mondays? Hmmm now that one, I might be able to do...

10 Meatless Days Pt.2

So I'm in day 5/10 for my "meatless" challenge. I don't find it too challenging yet, but I do feel guilty in a way since I haven't had a complete vegetarian meal... I've been substituting the absence of meat in various forms of seafood, and I wonder if that is sort of, uh,...cheating.

Last night after an awesome session of kickboxing, I planned to make my calamari & shrimp stirfry. But then I thought of all the chopping, rice cooking, etc. that would delay my dinner time, so I decided to pick up some smoked salmon and make a nice cucumber sandwich with them.

Well, what I found at the grocery store next to my gym was an extremely limited selection of smoked salmon which were all fairly overpriced. HOWEVER, sitting pretty, next to the overpriced smoked salmon, was the fresh salmon fillets. Far less expensive!

With a simple seasoning of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried oregano my salmon fillet only took about 8 minutes to cook. During those 8 minutes I just chopped up some tomato, cucumber, and red onion which were dressed in lemon juice and olive oil as well as salt, pepper, and dried oregano (to echo the "mediterranean" flavor of salmon).

Another short cut? My deli counter favorite: greek orzo salad. Each grocery store makes their own versions, but not one has yet to fail me. It's a simple orzo salad that always has feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, often times kalamata olives and even lemon juice.

So not only was this dinner speedy, but definitely hearty! I know I'm trying to be healthy but I left the salmon skin on. The crispy, salty goodness was crazy good! Oh, and obviously I need to practice my salmon cooking skills!

The meal delivery at work was also meatless! So I think I might make this Sunday a cheat day and enjoy being a carnivore, since I'm planning a visit over to Chicago's Navy Pier. I mean, I can't go to the Navy Pier and not have a hot dog, right?

PS. Can't believe it's already been 9 years since the tragedy...remembering those who lost their lives and loved ones 9/11/01.

10 Meatless Days Pt. 1

As you can tell from my previous post, I had one heck of a weekend just FEASTING. But the feasting didn't end there... Not only did these girls leave me leftovers in the fridge, but they had graciously forgotten a small box of Chinese baked goods (char siu bun, the sponge cake, etc.) in there as well.

The good news was that it really helped me cut down on the groceries spending for the week. The bad news? Well let's just say that what meant to be a weekend of "cheating" from eating healthy turned into a week-long event! And the worst part is, because of my work events I couldn't even hit the gym. Not even once. I am so embarrassed!

To make myself feel better and to in a way detox my system from the yummy yet not helpful "junk," I decided to try out "10 Meatless Days." Right now I am in day 3 and so far so good. Went to the gym for the past two days, but I can definitely feel the lazy muscles. The only times I wouldn't be able to go completely meat-free are days when my work buys me dinner delivery (during 13hr shifts, yikes) so I'm skipping those days from my "10."

First dish I wanted to cook was some kind of substantial pasta dish using mushrooms. To stay in the healthy mode, I skipped on cream and used 1% milk instead. Also, instead of using lots of various cheeses I just stuck to a few sprinkle of grated parmesan. I used both cremini and shitake mushrooms as well as frozen peas and sundried tomatoes. Because I'm not always into creamy dishes, I did use a good amount of ground black pepper and chili pepper flakes.

Don't let the pictures fool you... Although they were indeed edible (could've been worse!), they are not recipe-writing-worthy. Next time when I can use the full-fat factor, maybe then... but these were no bueno. It could've been the peppers, or the tangi-ness of the tomatoes, but something somewhere just didn't click.
 
Second dish I made, however, was deeelicious! I splurged on some fresh shrimp (which was a pain and a half to devein and shell), to use for salad. I threw together baby spinach, romaine hearts, small radishes, garbanzo beans, corn, and fresh cilantro. For the shrimp I just seasoned them with a little bit of salt and pepper as well as some garlic powder. I also found this awesome cilantro dressing at Trader Joe's which went perrrfect with this salad (I found it a bit bland, but a sprinkle of salt fixed that!). 

This salad was not only yummy, but definitely satisfying. I also really loved the dressing, so I can't wait to experiment with it in other ways!

Next up is my shrimp and calamari sweet and spicy stirfry. I'm also thinking about fish tacos sometime next week... or even eggpant parmegiana... I have major grocery shop list planning to do!
 
(I know having seafood is in a way not 100% meatfree, but for a sucker for meat like me...this is a tough one!)

How 3 Girls Ate Their Way Through the "Best" of Milwaukee/Chicago

It's Sunday morning. Drove down from WI at 1AM from a very fun wedding of a dear high school friend. Picked up Matthew at 4AM. Fell asleep at 5AM. Still in my pajamas. The early fall breeze from the balcony is mingling with the waft of turkey bacon broiling in the oven. I'm catching up on Anthony Bourdain on my DVR. So...do I really want to be typing away on my laptop? I promise, the word count on this post will be kept at bare minimum.

 

Here are some photos of the chow-down that went on last weekend when my college friends Samantha & Crystal visited the Midwest for their very first time.

 

I've yelped XOCO before, and I will be yelping about the other joints as well...so more details on the visit then!

 

Night 1: Crazy Water - Milwaukee, WI

chorizo stuffed medjool dates with apple wood
smoked bacon and chipotle pepper
tomato sauce

Yuzu marinated pork belly w/ summer salad

Pistachio crusted veal tenderloin with potatoes au gratin and summer squash(?)

grilled flat iron steak with blue cheese fritters, port wine balsamic sauce,
sweet potato gratin and wilted spinach 

Cranberry panna cotta

Day 2: Pequod's to Go - Morton Grove, IL

Deep-dish sausage pizza w/ extra caramelized crust

Day 2: Hot Doug's - Chicago, IL

Chicago style dog & venison dog w/ fig goat's butter and Raclette cheese

Duck fat fries

Night 2: XOCO - Chicago, IL

Ahogada - pork carnitas torta

Special of the Day: lime marinated pork w/ tomatoes from their rooftop garden w/ avocado & crema

Churros rolled in sugar and their homemade chocolate

Day 3: Apple Holler Orchards - Sturtevant, WI

Country hast w/ over easy egg & chicken apple sausage

Buttermilk pancakes w/ chicken apple sausage and scramble eggs

 

Day 3: Brewer's Tailgate - Milwaukee, WI

- No super pictures for this... but we grilled Wisconsin's very own Klement's Bratwursts. My favorite way to enjoy them are super charred/almost burnt, on a toasty bun, w/ some diced raw onions, sauerkraut and mustart. YUMM. Oh, we also had New Glarus, WI Spotted Cow. :)

 

Night 3: Stack'd Burger Bar - Milwaukee, WI

Grass-fed beef burger w/ fries and dill pickle "coins"

Bison burger w/ jalapeños and fresh fruit

I have yet to recover from the amount of food consumed from that weekend since I've been munching on the girls' leftovers (not to mention yummy buns from Chinatown). My new "challenge?" 10 Meatless Days starting Tuesday. Why Tuesday? C'mon. It's Labor Day tomorrow, it's a legitimate excuse to procrastinate.

PS. I don't know why my paragraphs are uber double-spaced. Too lazy to fix, it's a lazy day y'all.