aireese's pieces

Chilled Soups - Take One!

2011-07-30T12:02:00.000-05:00

Chilled soups... are they SO 2005? I think not. Gazpacho has been popular for decades in the restaurant scene, but I'd like to think that different varieties of chilled soups have gained its fame only in the recent few years. Once a dish becomes popular in restaurants, it's only a matter of minutes till it becomes popular in home kitchens.

So here was my shot at a chilled soup made with honey dew melon, cucumber & mint!

I simply blended all of those ingredients w/ a dash of salt but I'm pretty sure some kind of stock and or thickening agent (yogurt?) would have gave it more "umph."

Garnished with super crispy bacon, I liked it a lot! However I wouldn't serve this at any traditional dinners since most of my guests were more amused by the concept than swoon over by the taste.

Celebrating America's Birthday

2011-07-06T12:09:00.001-05:00

Happy (belated) Fourth of July! (Above: gorgeous sunset from my patio...)

Since everyone's holidays are hospitality professionals work days, I celebrated July 4th a day late. We served barbecue on the function that I worked on the actual 4th, so I definitely needed to create my own!

I picked up two racks of pork baby back ribs and chose two recipes for the dry rub & the babecue sauce from none other than Ms. Paula Deen. For the dry rub, I added everything on the recipe list I also added few dashes of: celery salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper powder, ginger root, and Chinese five spice (thanks Jess --my roommate-- for the awesome selection of spices from Sprouts!)

With some nice rub down, the ribs were ready to go in to the 350 degree oven to start baking.

After 2 hours, they were starting to form nice crusts... and they also had my apartment smelling like a smoky barbecue joint!

The barbecue sauce required some bourbon, which we saved some for cocktails later!

Corn on the cob was in the oven alongside the ribs then tossed in parsley butter...

And the beans were out of the can added with some crispy bacon!

Roasted cauliflower & brussel sprouts for the veggie aspect.

That is fall-off-the-bone goodness!

To wash this big dinner down we threw down some gin + ginger ale cocktails with my berry tarts served with butter pecan ice cream (the tarts are the same recipe as this, just with berries).

Boy was I sleepy after this meal...

I would have loved to spend the holiday with my family and friends back in Midwest, but I had my furry baby so it was aaaall good. I mean, there will always be a coulda, shoulda, woulda, but I'd rather take what I have right at this moment and be thankful! It's the little things that keep a smile on this girl's face! Speaking of smilin'... guess what this oddly pretty picture is!

My barbecue pan soaking in soap water. Ha!

Choc & Chix

2011-06-28T23:57:00.002-05:00

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If you know me, you should know that I'm not too big of a "sweets" person nor a baker... but for some reason I've been craving a homemade chocolate cake. So what better way to end a relaxing day-off then to bake the Pioneer Woman's "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever?"

Well aside from the endless amount of utensils and measuring needed, here's another reason why I stray from baking... it's always a MESS!

The only switch I made from the original recipe is using dark cocoa powder rather than regular, and skipping on the pecans simply because I didn't have any around the house...

Prep took longer than the actual baking time which was on 20 minutes! Love it.

Sooooo yummy and luxurious. Well I suppose with the amount of butter that went in it, it ought to be yumolicious!

With some vanilla ice cream it was purrrrrfection!

Since I'm on a low grocery budget after the move-in expenses, dinner was another brainstorm of things to cook with what's on hand. Open fridge: chicken. check! lemons. check! capers. check! Chicken piccata it is! :)

I pan seared the thin strips of chicken first... (simply w/ some s&p and dried oregano)

Then I sauteed diced shallots and crushed capers in the same pan with some fresh lemon juice and caper liquid! mmmm LOVE zappy, zingy, citrus-y sauces!

Then in goes the chicken, more caper liquid and lemon juice w/ lemon slices on top. Everything to simmer.

I threw it next to some leftover pasta that I sauteed with carmelized onions, baby arugula, and EVOO. So pretty on my purple plate.

Not sure what I will come up with next with what I've got in the fridge (which sadly isn't a lot), but one thing I know for sure is that I've got me chocolate cake for dayssss. Haha.

One hundred seventy-four days later...

2011-06-28T14:49:00.019-05:00

1. I moved! No more of that tiny "kitchen," but a REAL one!

2. I got a promotion! Yippee! Now begins my life as a salaried peep... oh, and I won the "Employee of the Year" award. :D

3. I threw my good friend Walezka's baby shower...

4. ...and she had her baby, Miah Christine! She's so tiny.

5. I spent Mothers' Day at home with the best moms in the whole wide world.

6. And I learned how to make summer rolls over at my friend Mags'...

7. I went to my very first rodeo over at Snowmass,

8. and before the rodeo had the VERY BEST THING EVAH! (burrata salad with watermelon, serrano ham, heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, FIGS) From my favorite restaurant in the valley: Tempranillo

9. I passed my intoductory sommelier exam, so next step is certiefied sommelier exam next May!

10. Summer has finally come to the Roaring Fork Valley...

11. And I'm really starting to love this place more and more everyday!

... and I'm so excited to blog all abooot it :D

Happy 2011!

2011-01-05T12:44:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Yeah, yeah I am five days a little too late but better late than never!

2010 was quite an eventful year for me. I lived in 3 different cities (Milwaukee, Chicago, Aspen) and made a few personal changes (for the better).

For 2011, I want to stay as optimistic as possible -- always able to see the bright side of things. I also want to switch up my diet habits, really upping the ante on the veggie and fruit and trying to stay as far as possible from starch/other carbs.

So here it is, my first 2011 blog post meal: a ginormous salad!

It’s pretty much everything but the kitchen sink: spinach, raisins, pomegranate, apples, red onion and wheatberry & roasted corn salad from my grocery store’s Mediterranean bar!

It was uber fillin’. Then the next day I switched it up for lunch with the similar stuff plus half of a giant red grapefruit and taste + pumpkin butter and toasted almonds!

So awfully tired, but I must go on! Again, Happy New Year everyone! :)

Back to my roots 3 - Singapore street noodles

2010-12-25T01:40:00.001-06:00

Merrrry Christmas! Ahh, I can’t believe it’s Christmas yet again. I especially don’t feel as festive as other years perhaps due to the fact that it is my first Christmas on my own away from my family in...forever!

But it sure was an exciting Christmas for my pup Yoshi with a big bag of presents from our landlord and her pup!

Yoshi even got homemade dog cookies from his neigbor maltese puppies Ike and Julie!

He loved his new furry toy...

And I got my cookin’ on by sauteing some chicken breast and onion yellow-fied by some curry powder! This was the first step to my attempt at a homemade Singapore street noodles: a Chinese take-out favorite of mine.

Then some Christmas spirit with red and green bell peppers...

The Singapore street noodles that I love usually have shrimp and roasted pork, but given my budget and time constraints, I just sauteed some tofu instead.

All in the pan,

and voila! Goes the mei-fun noodles and dinner is served.

Although it was quite a lonely Christmas Eve, I enjoyed some time with my rugrat puppy Yoshi who I won’t get to spend much time with in the next few days... I love him, he’s become my baby! Anywhoooo... MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! Since I work ALL day tomorrow (and for other reasons ;) ) my Christmas won't really begin until the night of the 26th. What do I mean by that? You'll see!

Back to my roots 2 - Short Ribs

2010-12-21T09:45:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it? FOUR days till Christmas!?! Yowza. Amidst all the Christmas shopping bonanza, I am actually not doing presents this year....because I have a better plan in mind. ;) Until then I just have to resisted all the temptations of all the retailers’ e-mails.

It’s been quite dreary in Aspen as the warm climate made the estimated 5-10” of snow all into rain falls... And despite the absence of snow and/or ice, I somehow managed to fall on my butt while on my morning walk with Yoshi. Talk about a wake up call! Ugh.

Contemplating on my next Asian-inspired dish, I was browsin’ through the aisles of the good ole City Market when... ding, ding, ding!!! Short ribs were on sale! For $3.99/lb, I scored big hunks of short ribs that got me thinking about short ribs soup- another Korean favorite of mine.

After a jolly trip to the store and a phone call to mom for “recipe,” (my mom has no recipes, it’s usually ‘a little bit of this and a little bit of that’) I got cooking!

I browned the hunks o’ meat...

Then sweat some yellow onion with whole smashed garlic cloves,

Then back in the pot they all went to boil and simmer for about two hours.

I added some half-mooned zucchini and yellow squash with the traditional toppings of scallion and some serrano pepper. (Oh, it’s mei-fun noodles in the soup by the way since I couldn’t find the classic noodles).

Not gonna lie, but it was a big disappointment. Not only did I forget to put the daikon in the boiling pot (ugh!) but I don’t think I simmered it long enough. The soup was definitely missing the “umami” if ya know what I mean...

But not to worry! I turned this downer to an upper! With the leftover zucchini and yellow squash I whipped up some buttery beef “stir-fry” to serve up alongside some chewy brown rice. Ingredients? Butta’, stir-fry beef, veggies and S&P. Mmmm. I love how the impromptu meal topped off the planned meal.

mmm check out the butter! haha

Since I have some leftover mei-fun noodles, I think it’s time for me to experiment with my favorite Chinese take-out dish next. Singapore mei fun! :D

PS. Is it weird that I find raw meat appetizing? Agh, such a carnivore I tell ya!

Back to my roots - Eggplant bulgogi

2010-12-13T09:33:00.000-06:00

Back to my Asian roots that is...

Ever since I moved out here to Colorado, now and then I would crave some yummy Korean and other Asian grubs which seemed to be so much more accessible back in Illinois and Wisconsin. There are a few Asian bistros and restaurants around town, but I have yet to try one that I can call legit. I still haven’t gone to Phat Thai in Carbondale or Matsuhisa in Aspen, but until then I figured I could give it a shot in my tiny hole-in-the-wall kitchenette.

I first went to the store with the intention of buying ingredients for bulgogi (a famous Korean beef dish), but these gorge purple eggplants caught my eyes while I was browsin’ around the produce section. So I thought, ‘heck, why now? Eggplant bulgogi?” Which is all ironic since the “gogi” in “bulgogi” means “meat.” bah!

I marinated the cubes of eggplant in the traditional Kim household bulgogi seasoning: soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ground black pepper... (photos courtesy of my good ole Blackberry, haha)

Note to self: two eggplants will serve about 10 people not 3.

Then a quick sauté/simmer on the pan with carrots, broccoli, green bell pepper, and red onion...

Topped off with slivers of green onion! (I used a few sprinkle of flour to thicken the sauce)

Served alongside chewy brown rice... what a perfect and hearty vegetarian meal!

I’ve decided that since I’ve been so homesick craving for my mom’s good Asian home cooking, I’ve decided to dedicate the next couple of posts to Asian cuisine! Yipee! :)

G'bye turkey, it's been a good week

2010-12-04T21:19:00.002-06:00

I finally demolished all evidence of thanksgiving this evening with a super easy dinner: ~~chicken~~ turkey soup. I had some chicken stock in the fridge from some leftover rotisserie chicken last week, so pretty much all I had to do was chop, throw in the pot, and bring to simmer/boil!

I started my soup with some jalapeno then added the cubed pieces of turkey leftover!

I sauteed the turkey + jalapeno mixture along with some sliced carrots...

Then in went the chicken stock (lazy version: rotisserie chicken bones, celery, onion, bay leaf).

Ever since my friend from Mexico Angeles showed me, I loved to garnish my clear stock based soups with cilantro and red onion with a squeeze a lime to follow. It definitely brightens up the whole soup and cuts through any fattiness.

For dessert, some gala apples with my fave: white chocolate wonderful PB. I bought another jar today at the store! I sense an obsession coming to surface. Oh, and I can’t wait to try the “Oats in a Jar” that’s been roamin’ around the food blog world quite q while now. YUM.

Despite the rumors of snow, it was so warm in Aspen today. Bad news for the skiers/snowboarders, good news for a non four-wheel drive owner: moi. Speaking in the French tongue reminds me how awesome of a glass of wine I’m having right now. It’s Folie a Deux’s Menage a Trios which is a mixture of Chardonnay, Mescato and Chenin Blanc. After a long week, I was definitely craving some wine to rewind with and I remembered this wine specifically from a few weeks back at my work when testing a few whites.

Ahhh with a satisfied tummy, and a yummy glass of wine with my puppy next to me...I can’t think of a better way to end my Saturday evening. I am going to sleep like a baby tonight.

Thanksgiving that keeps on giving

2010-12-01T09:28:00.000-06:00

What do you do for at least three days after the biggest feasting Holiday of the year? If you’re like me or my family, you’d reach in the fridge to find mounds and mounds of goodies such as leftover roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and more.

Although I didn’t get to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family this year, I had plenty of leftovers from a Thanksgiving buffet over at work (one of the perks of working in the food and beverage industry!). Some food purists or in a bad way “snobs,” would refuse to touch the leftovers as if their palates are in a way superior to leftover foods but for a single gal like me trying to live on a limited budget, leftovers are always welcome :) I probably saved over $30 this week not having to shop as many groceries as I probably would have if it weren’t for those leftovers. So don’t trash leftovers, utilize them to the best of you ability!!

First Thanksgiving leftover remix required the following: ham, cranberry sauce, whole grain bread, and veggies. I bet you had some too! I put the ham in the middle of my two fluffy and grainy multi grain bread and smeared the cran-pom sauce on top. For veggies? Easy. Just pop ‘em in the microwave!

I mean.., need I say more?

Next was nothing extraordinary. Just a reheated plate of turkey thigh meat rolled with fresh herbs and garlic next to mashed potatoes. Just bumped up the veggie volume by adding sauteed pencil asparagus (that was on sale for $1.79/lb << a total steal).

The mountains have been definitely getting a ton of snow lately as I whip up my little bottom on walks to and from the bus stops. I am definitely going to focus on investing in some ski apparel to take advantage of my four-mountains pass. Yesterday was my first day at my part-time and although I loved being in Aspen and interacting in other ways aside from the restaurant, my feet/legs felt the pain when I woke up this AM. Anyways.... HELLO DECEMBER! :D

Thanksgiving for the service peeps

2010-11-27T21:46:00.003-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

What? I’m 2 days late? Uh.... well Happy Thanksgiving Week! My Colorado friends and I, being employed in the lovely hospitality/service industry, worked our little booties off on Thursday hence the feasting celebrating on Friday. Friday celebration was fine with me, since we had more than enough food to stuff our faces with...I guess we did the holiday proud.

I was in charge of cornbread w/ butter, roasted asparagus, and cranberry sauce. Nothing extraordinary on the first two; I just baked a box of Jiffy mix with whole corn kernels to be served with softened butter mixed with chopped thyme while the asparagus simply roasted for 15 minutes in the oven alongside smashed garlic cloves. One thing that was a bit more near and dear to my heart was the cranberry sauce!

What makes mine so special? Well first of all I had to go through with permanently staining one of my favorite zip-ups...thanks to POM! These little things are what I love about my cranberry sauce. I almost bought a short-cut already separated arils for $4.99, but for $1.99 ended up with a whole pomegranate and a brochure that simply read, “EASY OPEN.” ‘nuff said.

I never knew the trick with the water! But like the brochure said, all the arils sank to the bottom leaving the white chunks float!

I used a can of whole berry cranberry sauce, jellied one, an orange and last but not least the POM!

I bring the sauces into a simmer then get a good squeeze out of the orange,

then I add the POM and simmer again for another few minutes. How easy, no?

Well I guess it wouldn’t be a Thanksgiving post without pictures of the bird (the juiciest turkey breasts!):

And here goes our assembly line!

We all squeezed and sat around Amy and Jeffrey’s gorgeous dining table...

Then got ready to FEAST!

The night was capped off with a round of good ole Cranium and Jay's famous Apple Crumble Pie with vanilla ice cream. Good food and good company always equal good times...

This year, I am thankful for so many things... first and foremost my beautiful family who gives me so much support from so far away. Then my wiener of a boyfriend and his family who I’ve come to call my own. :) I’m thankful for dear friends back in WI and NY/East Coast, as well as new friends out here in the mountains... Thankful for my jobs, thankful for Yoshi, thankful for my car... thankful for my God who allows me to wake up every morning and be thankful everyday.
So which post next? Well I believe after Thanksgiving comes the bestest leftovers!

aireese's pieces' pieces

2010-11-21T11:07:00.001-06:00

As per usual, I was reading through a few of the awesome food blogs from my blog roll, and somehow it got me to go back on my blog archive. I started to read my first few posts, and boy my blogging "style" has gone off lately. I read this one, this, and this and I had to think 'whoa, did I really write that?'

I think I took my affection for photo-heavy posts a little bit too seriously. And granted I have flippin' 10 posts for this month, but which ones actually count for having quality content? Okay, don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question. haha

One of the reasons for my short and sweet, photo-heavy posts could be the fact that I feel like I need to be a posts-pumping machine and try to squeeze in any posts I can without delay. So what was I going to do when I'm going to be overloaded with work starting next week? Just post pictures? Hmmmm...

I need to take some time and make sure I put out the good stuff. In the meantime, back tracking through the blogs led me also to this post which will be my inspiration for the next cooking extravaganza. :)

Kudos to my BB :)

2010-11-20T10:25:00.001-06:00

I've been going to Smoke (the modern barbecue) a lot. First, it's right by my place and second, the prices are right up my alley, and lastly the food is deeeelish. I went to another ladies' brunch and had this humongo plate of pulled pork salad. Can you see the crunchy fried okra bits?

Then a side of their famous macaroni and cheese...

Then a few nights after the brunch, I went for dinner where I had a giant plate of barbecue (brisket and chicken), and we shared the nightly special mac n cheese, chicken and mushroom Tuesday. I didn't care so much about the side mac n cheese, but this special mac n cheese was absolutely out. of. this. world. YUM.

All these photos are taken by my good ol' Blackberry Tour. Didn't it do a good job? Oh, and check this Mr. Scruff after sniffing through the snow:

Speaking of snow...we are expected to get about a foot of snow from Sun-Wed! Two of our mountains open up Thanksgiving Day, the town is slowly waking up from the dreadful off-season! Aaaand another reason to be more excited? We have our food tasting for the new menu items at work today, yippeedadoo!

My first official Le Creuset experience!

2010-11-17T19:34:00.000-06:00

My friend Christine recently scored an awesome deal at the outlets and brought home the prettiest little yellow Le Creuset french oven. But the weird thing is, she's not much of a cook so the pretty little yellow pot had been sitting on her stove top for a couple of weeks...until we decided it was time to "christen" the pot!

I started browning some chicken thighs on the bone (for the bone-lovers),

and also some chunks of chicken breast (for non-bone-lovers)...

Any guess as to what it's for? Well...these are my first steps to one of my favorite meals: Chicken Cacciatore! So in the same pot with all the browned goodness went in the mix of mire poix, red, yellow, orange, and green bell peppers...

And some cremini and button mushrooms.

Then the chicken pieces plunged right back in along with canned diced tomatoes, chicken stock & good quality chardonnay (Oops, forgot the tomato paste!)!

After that we just waited...

and waited...

Voila! It was ready!

We served it up alongside some angel hair pasta.

So delicious, and so appropriate for the pretty little yellow french oven! I can't wait to have one of my own...

My newly found sweet tooth & a four-legged furry baby

2010-11-13T13:57:00.001-06:00

Today's post is short and sweet. Let's begin by taking a glimpse at how better of a dog Yoshi has become (not to mention adorable...at times)!

Moooovin' on!... I've always been a savory gal, I always reached for a bag of chips rather than a candy bar, but recently I've had this sweet tooth that I can't seem to shake off! So when I went to the store yesterday, not only did I buy oatmeal butterscotch cookie dough but more importantly... the Peanut Butter & Co.'s "White Chocolate Wonderful!"

I'm not a big white chocolate fan, but this peanut butter is the king of all peanut butters. My best friend from college Sam turned me into this bad boy junior year at NYU. I still have a vivid memory of us reaching for thirds and fourth spoonfuls from the pantry.

I love this so much, I took a spoonful with me on my commute to work! But no guilt, no shame- I can justify myself at least for a bit since this PB has "No Hydrogenated Oils" and "No High Fructose Corn Syrup." You see?

Then another loaf of the store's multi-grain bread...

For only $1.69 (!!), you get this grainy and soft goodness!

Perfect for a strawberry jelly sandwich- no need to be toasted, it's so nice and fluffy!

I suppose it's ciao for now! I have an awesome meal post coming up soon, but who knows when that's to come because I have my fingers crossed for Matt's visit! :)

Rescuing my lentil soup

2010-11-12T10:22:00.000-06:00

Given the limited amount of space and supplies that I have in the kitchenette, I could not think of a better meal to cook than a soup. So there came the inspiration for lentil soup filled with vegetables, turkey sausage, and turkey bacon!

While I browned the meat,

I prepared my mirepoix...

Then I added the mirepoix along with cubed red potatoes.

After that went in the chicken stock, bay leaves, and lentils. And here comes why my soup needed to be "rescued." I added almost the entire bag of lentils. Who knew lentils plump up? Clearly not me. So you could imagine this little pot filled with turkey meat, mound of veggies, plus a whole bag of lentils. I still had yet to put in my kale and spinach! It was nearly impossible to cook off the soup that night, so I resorted to putting it away in containers in hopes of "rescuing" it in the near future...

And rescue it, I did! All it needed was more chicken stock and a tad bit more time for the lentils to fully cook. And wahla! A deliciously satisfying bowl of soup!

Without knowing, I had made about 10-12 servings of soup, so I even brought it over to my friends... and it went beautifully next to her salad filled with spinach, raisins, cherry tomatoes, mandarin oranges, and cheese!

I'm usually not a big fan of cheese in salads, but boy this one worked sooo well with all the accompaniments.

Kudos to Christine. :)

Seeing that I still have tub-fulls of that soup, I know what I'm having for lunch today...

Just another Tuesday

2010-11-09T12:38:00.002-06:00

The pumpkin butter + multi-grain bread has been too addicting!
I've even topped it off with some sliced apples with a dash of cinnamon. Mmmmm.

I also had some leftover chicken tortilla soup sitting pretty in my fridge, so decided it'd make the perfect lunch while I watch the snowfall through my window. Since I didn't have any tortilla chips handy, I cubed the multi-grain bread and toasted it in the pan with some butter...

The bread pieces became ultra-crunchy in a couple of minutes
while the smell of butter wafted throughout my teeny studio.

They made the ~~best~~ second best toppers for the tortilla soup.
Obviously because tortilla strips take the number one spot!

Done under 5 minutes! Agh, I'm such a chunker. :P Ugh, I'm not too crazy about these bowls and plates that came with my studio, but no dinero hence I just have got to suck it up and deal with them!)

So I've been blogging a LOT these days...and that's due to the crazy amount of free time I have because of the "off-season." They say enjoy it while it lasts, but I'm such a naturally hustle-bustle girl so this free time is drivin' me nutso! Can't wait until Thanksgiving week when things start picking up! Oh, and check out these awesome dog cookies that my neighbor baked! They smelled so good, I'm so jealous of Yoshi.

Oh brunch, how I've missed you!

2010-11-08T10:24:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm having all sorts of weekdays off here and there (not to mention daylight savings!), my internal clock is officially gone crazy. But you betcha I was delighted to discover that yesterday was a Sunday, hence my lunch plans with coworkers had turn into brunch plans! I love brunch!

I made my mile walk over to Smoke Modern Barbecue. We sipped on some Bloody Mary made with XXX super spicy hot sauce, and got are grub faces on!

Amy got the bananas foster french toast served alongside grits... perfectly disguised dessert in a brunch meal!

While I munched on BBQ Hash made with crispy "burnt end" has browns, topped with two over-easy eggs with cheddar, tomatoes, and scallions. To. die. for!

I doused my plate with a mixture of the Texas style barbecue sauce (with a kick!) and tabasco! I loved their cute casual atmosphere. So exciting to see a restaurant as "bumpin'" as Smoke seeing this whole off-season dreadfulness in the Aspen area. Can't wait for the winter season to kick off... only 2 weeks left!

I love how Amy's 4-month old Dax's baby bottle is next to our cocktails. Oops!

I've also been experimenting with my oatmeal and cereal toppings these days to jazz up the everyday ordinary. One day I topped my oatmeal with my usual mixture of dried berries, toasted almonds, and coconut flakes. LOVE coconut flakes. To be honest, however, these were too sweet for my already-sweet oatmeal. Sorry coconut flakes!

Then yesterday my usual bananas + cereal mixture got a surprise guest. Blueberries! Talk about boosting my immune system with antioxidants :) . Oh yea, I might've tossed in some coconut flakes in there too, haha.

I changed the color palette of my blog, the white dominance from my previous color scheme was a bit freaky don't ya think?

Story of the spaghetti with garlic and broccoli...

2010-11-06T10:12:00.001-05:00

I was invited over to my 2nd potluck style dinner over at the lofts, so it got me thinking again... what can I make in this tiny kitchen? Main entrée was barbecued chicken breasts, and my friends also took up salad, bread, and dessert so I figured the only thing missing was starch! Mmmmm, carbs. :)

Considering I only have one medium-sized pot, it would've probably made more sense to make penne, rigatoni, farfalle, or any kind of small pasta but I've been wanting to twirl around long strands of noodles around my fork for weeks so I went with spaghetti.

I wanted to make a pasta dish filled with veggies sans tomato or cream sauce, so I retrieved a food memory of mine over at Carmine's in NYC. Their pasta with garlic and olive oil!

After reading about it here and there, I finally bought my first EVER pumpkin butter. I spread it on top of multi-grain slice of bread and it was the perrrfect snack while I got my cookin' on!

I had bought some turkey bacon for soup so I used a little bit of it to sauté the broccoli...

It probably would've tasted just as excellent right there! Then I simmered slivers of garlic in olive oil to get it nice and toasty not to mention infuse the oil...

Wahla! Toss in a big bowl and enjoy the deliciousness!

Spaghetti with garlic and broccoli (serves 4-6)

printable version

Ingredients:

- 1lb box of spaghetti

- 2 medium-sized heads of broccoli (cut into florets)

- 4-5 garlic cloves (sliced thinly)

- 1 cup diced yellow onion

- 1/2 cup turkey bacon (optional)

- 4-5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- 1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano

Sauté the turkey bacon until browned, add the diced onions when ready.

When the onion is translucent, add the broccoli florets. Once they become tender, put the mixture aside in a big mixing bowl.

Heat the olive oil in low to medium heat, add the garlic cloves and gently simmer in oil. Be careful not to burn them!

Cook spaghetti according to directions on the box. Save pasta water!

Once the spaghetti is cooked, transfer warm pasta right on top of the broccoli mixture in the mixing bowl.

Top the bowl with garlic olive oil, sprinkle with parmigiano and toss!

Add bits of pasta water if the pasta is too dry...

And when the consistency is just right, enjoy the deliciousness! :D

Hiking up an appetite

2010-11-03T18:51:00.000-05:00

Almost a month into my move over to Colorado, Yoshi and I finally went on our first hike! It was the Mushroom Rock trail over at the Red Hill in Carbondale.

It was definitely a beginner's trail, which took us about 30 minutes to complete. It probably would have been even quicker if I didn't take the mini breaks to take pictures of the gorgeous view!

Downhill is of course my faaave. :)

I spotted some cacti on the way down too!

Yoshi was such a good sport.

Then on my drive back home, the hike definitely worked up an appetite! Whoever said 'never to go grocery shopping with an empty stomach' was right, because I almost... ALMOST bought this carton of glazed doughnut holes! GASP! Instead, I went with my favorite chips- (which I munched on while prepping my salad...hehe)

Three ingredients! Gotta love that.

I picked up some tuna and avocado rolls made with brown rice at the market. There is a little section where the sushi guys come by every day to whip up fresh sushi. Yum!

Then leftover salad on the side...

Of course dessert!

Oh boy, I went aaall out on that lunch. So much for hiking! I probably need to do at least 3 more hikes to burn these kcal!

Hello November!

2010-11-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

On the very last day of October 2010, I finally broke the "dry spell" and finally got dirty in my lil' kitchenette! Unlike other times I cook when I'm inspired by simply something I crave or something on sale, I had zero inspiration... UGH. I was definitely dreading the little space and lack of my beloved kitchen supplies. Then I suddenly had a craving for goat cheese and squash. Mmmmm that was inspirational enough!

Prepping the acorn squash was a pain and a half. I'm such a squash newbie! Was I suppose to use a peeler that I don't have? Or did I do it the right way? Seemed like I wasted a ton by not peeling it close to the skin.

Then the cubed acorn squash sat on my sauté pan with a sprinkle each of brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. It sat on there long enough for me to take my little Yoshi guy on a walk!

Then while the walnut halves were toasting, I tossed some baby spinach, roma tomato, and red onion slivers with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar... Not to mention my "bloody" Halloween-y kitchen thanks to the can of shoestring beets, haha!

Lastly I crumbled bits of goat cheese on top...

This was a perrrfect meal to end the month of October! With organic sparkling apple cider that was on sale, wee!

For such a carnivore like me it's hard to have a salad with no meat or fish, but this salad definitely had me STUFFED. So cooking in the kitchenette wasn't all that bad. A bit inconvenient at times, but definitely doable!

Breakfast talk

2010-10-23T11:01:00.000-05:00

Let's start this post with yet another amazing view outside of my work.

Sigh....

You've probably heard it said, and you'll hear me time and time again... Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

I'm not a picky eater at all, so I eat pretty much anything for breakfast (cold leftover pizza? yes please!). However, my go-to breakfast items are usually instant oatmeal or cereal with fruit. I'm an oatmeal newbie, so I've only been making the Quaker flavor variety ones simply with dried berries mix and sometimes diced fresh apples... but when the time comes, I'm definitely interested to try the infinite varieties of oatmeal that I can whip up on my own by adding my own little flavor twists.

In terms of cereal, I usually mix two different ones so there is optimal level of "crunch," but these days I just throw in whatever fruit I have handy (i.e. sliced banana or strawberries) to amp up the volume of the boring old cereal.

But did you know that a serving of cereal is only 3/4 of a cup?! I still remember those days where I'd pour more frosted flakes when I'd see leftover milk from the first batch... but that probably was like what? 1 and 1/2 cup? Yowza! When I learned that a healthy serving of cereal on average is 3/4 to 1 cup, I had a major dilemma because I definitely eat with my eyes, and there was no way that a 3/4 cup of cereal will satisfy my eyes!

So here's my spiffy little trick that I've been using to volumize the same amount of cereal.

I put whichever fruit on the bottom of the bowl before the cereal.

That way, when you pour the healthy serving of cereal on top the fruit...

It looks like a heaping bowl when it actually is a "fake-out" thanks to the healthy scoop of fruit on the bottom!

I know it must sound silly, but trust me- it really works! I've also been trying the Kashi GoLEAN cereals that has "as much protein as an egg!" I had the honey almond flax flavor last time which was de-lish, and now I have this toasted berry crumble which has dehydrated cranberries and blueberries! Two totally different flavors that are equally yummy!

Looks like my next post will be about some "real" cooking in this kitchenette. And considering my lack of kitchen supplies, it'll most likely be a one pot meal... any guesses? :)

Me, myself, and my kitchenette

2010-10-21T13:20:00.002-05:00

Last night, my friend Christine and her boyfriend Jay treated me out to a fried chicken dinner over at 689 in Carbondale.

For 20 buckaroos you get a salad, a big plate of fried chicken served alongside mashed potatoes & gravy, braised greens, biscuits, and a fruit crisp! What a deal, no?

I LOVED the mashed potatoes and the unique coating on the chicken.

I also moved into my “home” for the next six months last night. I love the cozy little place that is the perfect size for me…but if I could present a teeny problem, it’d be the kitchenette.

It seems perfectly feasible for any single gal or guy out here in Colorado for the ski season, who would probably spend most of his or her time out on the slopes, but for this gal who likes to spend a good chunk o’ time in the kitchen… Hmm yea, a bit problematic.

But fear not, I have not give up hope! When I imagined myself cooking in this kitchenette, it immediately reminded me of Linguini’s apartment in the movie Ratatouille.

See? Nothing’s impossible! Instead of the Eiffel Tower, I simply have a view of trees changing color and mountains in the backdrop.

There will definitely need to be a change in my cooking style or even potential menu items. It’s actually sort of exciting to think what I might be able to cook up in this kitchenette!

Back to "cooking"

2010-10-19T11:09:00.002-05:00

First week in CO, I made a simple salad made with red and yellow bell peppers, roma tomato, baby spinach, red onion, and avocado. I went a little veggie crazy at the grocery store and got SIX bell peppers. Oh what to do, what to do…

So this salad easily turned itself into a tomato/pepper chicken stew without the avocado…

Then when I had more bell peppers left, I made a veggie pasta dish simply with diced up bell peppers and yellow onion, the leftover baby spinach and a dab of butter! Talk about multi-tasking ingredients!

To celebrate my last couple of days before work, my friend Christine and I also went over to White House Pizza in Carbondale. We shared the spinart (can you guess what’s in it? ;) ) dip,

and I had the arugula and clam pizza!

Both so delicious!

Tomorrow, I’m moving into a tiny little place that I can call my own. Considering that I left pretty much ALL of my kitchen supplies back in WI (sad!), I don’t know what cooking in the studio might turn into. Moreover, it’s got a kitchenette with two little burners, tiny convention toaster oven, and a mini fridge! This is definitely going to be a challenge/adventure!

As for exploring the beautiful hiking trails, I have been kept busy nursing a sick puppy (healthy now!) so hopefully by the next post I can really put up exciting photos! Since it’s the off-season out here in the Aspen area, things are definitely quiet…and it makes me miss home so much more!

In the meantime, check out this awesome view outside the patio at my work (the peak of Mt. Daly in the far center!):

Last Weekend in WI & A Sneak Peek at My CO Life.

2010-10-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

Aside from the fabulous company I had for dinner at Trocadero followed by my kind of a low-key night out with the favorites at Hi-Hat Lounge, here are some pictures from my last weekend in WI:

I went over to my friend Maggie’s to help her prep for her new supper club, “Nights of Juniper.”

My little nephew Julian came along for the fun. Chewing on a piece of baguette he kept asking Mags, “Hey, why is your bread hard?” pointing out the signature crustiness of the bread. (:

I made apple tart to bring over to my boyfriend’s parents’ for a going-away dinner they threw for me.

The recipe was adapted from Pioneer Woman’s where I added cinnamon and nutmeg with less brown sugar. I had a ton of apples left over too! Good for snacking.

My first time using store-bought puff pastry! It was so much fun!

Then Rosa (my boyfriend’s mom) made an awesome dinner which included marinated grilled beef tenderloin with sautéed mushrooms and onion, her signature Italian salad, roasted peppers,

this AMAZING tortellini pasta salad,

and my favorite of the meal: warm olive bread dipped in this Israeli olive oil dipping concoction!

As far as my Colorado life, my puppy and I are still getting slowly adjusted. First day of work today, and moving into a cozy little studio on the 1st! More posts to come, but here’s a sneak peek for what is to come! The morning view out the window from my friend’s where I am staying!

Countdown to CO: 4 Days & Questions to self.

2010-10-01T12:04:00.000-05:00

I am bidding adieu to my "home" here in the Midwest, and venturing out westward to the beautiful land of Colorado in just FOUR days! So how do I feel about this? Excited. Scared. Happy. Nervous. Stressed. Optimistic. ?!?!?!?!

I have been filling the weekdays with running around at work, getting things organized for the newcomer who will be replacing me. During the weeknights and weekends, I’ve been going through clothes, kitchenware, and more miscellaneous items to toss and to keep.

At first, I had a cold which gave me horrible body fatigue. That was combined with a gloomy series of rain which didn’t uplift my sickly body at all. Not to mention the fact that I can’t remember the last time I visited the gym! Ugh, the stress of relocation… but on a positive note, I know it will ALL be worth it this time next week when I will be looking at the Colorado mountains. :D And for the past few days, the sun has been shining here in the Midwest…it’s been giving me an extra jolt of energy and positivity about everything!

Despite the craze that is all around, a girl’s gotta eat, right? Since I will be most likely having major Korean food withdrawals (with guesstimated lack of it out there), I’ve been cooking with a lot with my motherland’s ingredients.

Last week I whipped up my signature Ddeock Bok-ki (Rice cakes simmered in chili-paste sauce), then I also made an impromptu Korean style tuna salad with miso and chili paste to top my peppery arugula babies.

Matt brought home some good quality steak meat, so we’ve been indulging while my iron skillet has been getting a ton of lovin’.


The "Man" plate.

My healthier version :)

He doused his with A1...


And I had leftovers for lunch the next day!

But all this cooking aside, what am I doing with this blog and where does it fit in?

These two questions have been wandering in my head for days, hence the “questions” part of this post’s title.

I've been reading a lot of FANTASTIC food blogs where the vision and the message is clear. The focused theme makes for relevance and readability...whereas compared to those, I feel that mine is a little lost.

I suppose I’m having a bit of a blogger-identity-crisis. I really need to give this some more time and let all these thoughts marinate before I bring out what truly could be a great blog.

I think by the time this move is complete, the thought process might be finsihed! Hopefully as the outcome of all this thinking, I can really start devoting my time and effort to create something relevant, relatable, informative, and fun all at the same time.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to shoot me an email: aireesespieces@gmail.com :)

Can we talk flats for a minute?

2010-09-27T19:27:00.005-05:00

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

2010-09-25T10:13:00.001-05:00

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'

2010-09-22T22:23:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-20T12:22:00.010-05:00

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

2010-09-16T09:13:00.003-05:00

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.

2010-09-13T20:45:00.001-05:00

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

2010-09-11T10:57:00.010-05:00

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

2010-09-09T09:26:00.001-05:00

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

2010-09-05T13:10:00.006-05:00

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.

The Ahris Fried Rice

2010-08-25T16:46:00.010-05:00

What is the "Ahris Fried Rice?" Well... such a thing doesn't exist. By the name I actually mean the traditional Korean Kimchi Fried Rice. When my youngest sister was much smaller (she's now 14), I used to trick her into thinking that the kimchi fried rice was my very own creation hence the name "Ahris Fried Rice." She used to believe me until she was old enough to realize it didn't exist!

Anywho, I grew up on this stuff. This was, believe it or not, my very first meal I was able to make for me and my sisters when I, being the oldest, was often in charge of lunch when my parents were away. The best variation of them are usually found in Korean BBQ eateries- where they will use the same pan that was used to cook the meat, to make the fried rice. The bottom gets all crunchy with the meaty bits that were left over, and the whiff of deliciousness that hits your nose as the cook throws in the chopped (or seldom just torn) nori into the mix...? Out of this world! I actually saw an amazing variation of the dish that was featured on Cooking Channel's Foodography where the Good Fork in Brooklyn NY features "Steak and Eggs, Korean Style" which is "grilled skirt steak, kimchee rice, fried egg."

No two kimchi fried rice can taste exactly the same, because the key ingredient to the success of the dish is in the kimchi itself. And as many of you might already know, no two kimchi taste the same. In addition, it also depends on what kind of protein you choose to cook it with. Some go completely vegetarian without any meat at all, some use up left over kalbi (Korean Barbecue) or bulgogi (Another Korean marinated beef), but I... I proudly choose none other than the almighty SPAM.

I mean, clearly the difference is dramatic from the mystery meat product to the taste of marinated short ribs (aka the real stuff), but who has kalbi laying around all the time? I find Spam amazingly economical with an unbeatable taste for the value.

I have many memories of this dish and many of them involve my family, more specifically my two sisters. I often whip up the fried rice when Kimchi is "overripe," and I make it in a huge pan where we're able to eat big portions not only for that one seating but more likely for lunch the next day also.

Sometimes I mold it into a small round bowl and do the old-fashioned trick where you "slam" the bowl upside down onto the plate to make a pretty dome of fried rice... but that can be tedious at times. :P

Kimchi Fried Rice (4-6 servings)
printable version

Ingredients:
- 1/2 can finely cubed Spam
- 2tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 cups finely chopped, overripe kimchi
- 3 tbsp butter (cold, cubed works best)
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 5-6 cups of cooked day old rice (don't use freshly cooked rice to avoid wet mess)
- 1/2 dry strips of nori (optional)

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium-medium/high.

Brown the cubed Spam until you see a bit of color develop on each cube.

Remove the Spam and put aside. Cook the chopped kimchi in the same pan, this time with 1tbsp of toasted sesame oil.

The edges of the kimchi cabbage will slowly start to turn light brown. Add the cooked spam.

Stir together until it becomes on homogenous mixture then add the cooked rice.

Mix everything together so that the white rice becomes orange/red like the colors of kimchi.

Scatter the butter around the skillet and stir the rice so that all of it gets a good coating of the butter.

Sprinkle the brown sugar and stir. Also make sure you salt and pepper to taste. As long as you buy well-seasoned kimchi, you won't need too much salt since not only is kimchi salty but so is Spam.

For extra crunch, let the fried rice sit in medium/low heat for about 5-8minutes so that the botton develops a crust.

When ready drizzle the last 1tbsp of sesame oil and garnish with strips of nori and overeasy fried egg.

"And that's the way this wheel keeps on working now..."

2010-08-24T16:22:00.005-05:00

After two months of much-needed time of contemplation and self-recovery, I am happily re-blogging. sigh.

The endless days and nights of pondering brought me to a very happy place -- a place that I haven't been for years. Not only did it change the outlook on my life, but also the role that my life plays in others' as well... Yowza, how is that for deep thought?

So what really happened in the last two months?

- As sappy as it sounds, I am now a firmer believer of the commonly coined phrase, "things happen for a reason." I'm not, by any means, happy that the crappy stuff happened...but I am definitely thankful for the lessons that I'm beginning to take away: one of them being the realization that I can't truly care for and love another without having done so for myself.

- I lost 8 lbs. Woo hoo! happy, happy, joy, joy!? I've been meaning to shed a few pounds just to feel better and reach a healthier weight goal- and having mucho time on my hands and myself, I finally did it! :) Now I have about 8 more lbs to go so we shall see how that unfolds...

- How did I lose those 8 lbs? I haven't been cooking = :( Well I actually have, here and there, but nothing extravagant. Lots of my cooking has been "healthy" meals that are low in carbs. I'm not badmouthing health foods here, but come on- nothing beats the taste of bacon or... fried chicken! And not being able to cook with fat and without any restraints?! tough = no fun!

-I deactivated my facebook account. GASP!? It's actually quite embarrassing that I had to go as far as deactivation, but I lost self-control and facebook become too addictive and toxic for my life. I became to reliant on this website and few things(or more specifically, few people) on there were just simply irritating. If you are able to use facebook in moderation, I applaud you! But me,... I just couldnt. My friend Frank actually deactivated his before mine... is this leading to a trend? Hmmm, we shall see.

I'm not a fan of lenghty, wordy posts without pictures, but here I am with the epitome of one. I have a few things on my camera with recipes on stand-by and also exciting things happening soon which will all be posted shortly! Some of them include: Burts Place & breakfast pizza, Big Taste MKE, Booby's & XOCO... but I'm most excited for this weekend's main event a.k.a. my friends Sam and Crystal's very first visit to the Midwest. Our itinerary is filled with food, so definitely a couple of posts on those! With pictures of course!

Summertime Chicken Meatball Soup

2010-06-17T10:00:00.012-05:00

Ever since I saw the Barefoot Contessa episode where Ina garten made chicken matzo ball soup, I’ve been wanting to create my own interpretation of the soup. I’ve never made matzo balls, and have rarely eaten them so I didn’t crave it as much. However, a local grocery had ground chicken go on sale, so I figured I’d make “mock” matzo balls with ground chicken!

Being a huge fan of fresh herbs that I am, I chopped up a heaping mound of parsley for my meatballs. I wanted to see the pretty specks of green inside the meatballs and also lighten up the dish. I also would have used more red pepper flakes, but since Matt isn’t a big fan of spicy or any “loud” dishes- I figured I could always add more onto my individual bowl of soup later on.

This soup is so light and healthy where not only you get a good amount of protein but a lot of vegetables as well! Looking to sneak in as much fruits and vegetables as I can in my daily diet, this soup definitely hit the jackpot for me. And for the meat-loving, anti-health food peeps? Well Matt loved it, so why shouldn’t they?

Although tiny tedious steps make this soup seem complicated, it’s fairly simple. To be honest, anyone should be able to wing it without a recipe, because after all it’s almost like throwing any vegetables you got on hand into the pot and cooking them in good *chicken stock!

One of the best chicken soup I have ever had was made by my friend Angeles who now lives in Leon, Mexico. It was with a fairly light broth since she only used the drumsticks to make the soup. In hers, she would put whole corn on the cob to nibble on after the soup is finished. Her soup, along with other awesome Mexican soups such as posole and caldo de camarones (shrimp soup), is what taught me to garnish my soups with finely diced raw onions and a squeeze of lime. Depending on the herbs that is in the soup, I’d often throw in freshly chopped cilantro as well. It kind of reminds me of the tangy Filipino soup of sinigang, and the lime together with the onion cuts down any fattiness the soup may have. Did I mention the freshness and the crunchiness of the raw onion that gives such a textural balance? Now, how’s that for a culinary sentence, huh?

*I make my own chicken stock whenever I make roast chicken. I admire those who prefer and have the leisure to make chicken stocks with whole chickens, but I have neither the money nor the time for that these days. I usually throw in the carcass of the chicken once everything is served from the roast, throw in a couple of garlic gloves, dried thyme (or any herbs used to roast the chicken), a couple of stalks of celery, and a half an onion into the pot and boil with a good amount of water. I boil it for about two days, not consecutively but during the time I am actually home over those two days. The step is simple, and it comes from my mom’s Korean Oxtail soup making technique- Add water boil, skim fat, reduce and repeat until you get the beautiful golden liquid that smells better than anything you can buy from the store!

Summertime Chicken Meatball Soup (4 servings)
printable version

Ingredients:

Chicken Meatballs (for about 24 small meatballs)
- 1-2 lb ground chicken

- 1/3 cup freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

- 1 extra large egg

- 11/2tsp salt

- 1 tsp each of ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder

- a bit of flour for light dredging

Soup

- pan seared chicken meatballs

- 5-6 cups of chicken stock

- 1 medium/large shallot OR 1/2 medium yellow onion

- 3 celery stalks

- 1 cup baby carrots (otherwise use whatever kind of carrots you have)

- 2 plum tomatoes

- 1 green zucchini

- 1 cup thawed frozen corn (if you have the time and the patience, go ahead and take advantage of the fresh sweet corn!)

Chicken Meatballs

Mix the chopped parsley, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder.

Add the ground chicken and the egg to the mixture.

Lightly mix/fluff the mixture with a fork to make sure that the seasoning is well-distributed.

The mixture tends to be on the wet side, so carefully form meatballs to your desired size.

I make mine mini so that it’s not too much bigger than the vegetables in the soup. If you wanted to serve the meatballs with pasta or for sandwiches, go ahead and make bigger ones-

Lightly roll each meatball on all purpose flour.

Heat a skillet with about 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.

Pan sear the meatballs to brown all sides, about 2-3minutes on each side.

I do this in a pot so that I can cook the soup in the same one later on!

If you are making the meatballs for the soup, set aside the browned meatballs to cook in the soup later on.

If you are serving the meatballs not in the soup, finish cooking in the oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Soup

Finely chop the shallots or onion and add to the pot used for browning the chicken meatballs with a bit more drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Chop the celery, carrots, zucchini and tomatoes so that they are all similar in size.

For guests that are not a fan of chunky celery, go ahead and make them into small slivers so that they almost dissolve into the soup.

Add the celery and carrots to the shallots and let all three brown and soften.

Add the zucchini, tomatoes, and corn into the pan.

Salt and pepper the vegetables to taste.

Add the chicken stock and once the pot comes to a boil, add the chicken meatballs.

Boil for about 6-8 minutes and season the soup to your desired taste.

Simmer for about 10-12 minutes and serve!

I like to garnish mine with either finely diced shallots or red onion with a squeeze of lime. It gives an extra summery kick!

Food Memory: Tea & Sympathy, NYC

2010-06-14T11:20:00.007-05:00

I don't know what it is about chilly weather in Manhattan, but my best friends and I tend to always crave warm tea. It could be something about the warm concoction going down your throat to that makes you prep for the long walks to subway stations, or it could just be that automatic warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you step into the little Greenwich Village British joint Tea & Sympathy. Heck, we love this place so much I don't even think the weather needs to be cold for us to make a short trip down to the village. Today, sitting at my work feeling the chilly rainy breeze of June, I am truly craving a visit to one of my favorite places in New York City.

The way we came to discover this little village gem is a bit of mystery, but I have a good feeling that I probably stumbled upon the NYMag's fabulous restaurant guide.

They don't take reservations and seating is quite limited, but let me tell you- it's all worth the wait. Waiting outside on one of their benches looking into the foggy window that reveals the people being soul-fed just makes you even more anxious to sit inside and become a part of the club.

My friends and I usually opt for their great selection of teas(that come in the most quirky tea pots) and the traditional scones that is served with fruity jam and clotted cream. Once in a while however, we would get a couple of dinner items here and there to make sure we're extra warm for the extra cold weather.

Nothing beats a visit to Tea & Sympathy on a snowy winter day with the ones you love, and right now- hundreds of miles away watchin the rain...there's nothing I could yearn for more, than their a cup of warm tea and fresh-out-of-the-oven scones.

PS. Their sister joint A Salt & Battery is quite the rave as well- a traditional british fish fry place that serves up not only excellent fish fry but also fried Mars bars not to mention English charm! (Check out my friend Sam & my picture on the website!!)

"So say, arrivederci! Toodle-loo, and ciao!"

2010-06-12T09:38:00.006-05:00

Next time I bake, I must bake these.
On a brighter note, I'm buying a camera today- yippee!

Food Memory: Las Vegas

2010-06-06T19:47:00.005-05:00

The lack of a digital camera, not to mention time to spare during weeknights, it's become more of a hassle to document my cooking these days. I still make spontaneous dishes here and there with what I have in the fridge, but nothing recipe-writing-worthy. So I decided to take some time these next few weeks(until that PowerShot is in my possession, yay!), to take photos of my fondest food memories from the recent years. A few of my friends, Matt, and I are planning a trip to the steamy Las Vegas late August, and lately I've been making daily mind escapes dreaming up an awesome itinerary that obviously involves a lot of food! The last time I went was January of 2009, and given the short amount of time and lack of dinero-- we didn't splurge much on food. But when we did, it was YUUUUUUMMY. 1. The buffet at the Wynn: When Matt told me we were going to a buffet for dinner, my first reaction was "no, no, no..." He kept telling me that this buffet will change my perspective of buffets, but my initial repulsiveness of the idea buffet struck by an extremely long line- not to mention the hefty price tag- Let's just say that I was not a happy camper. But that's enough about that, and I'll just let my picture explain how that dinner went! 2. B&B Ristorante: This is our most expensive dinner date thus far... and why do I have a feeling that I'll break that record in our next trip? Anyways, the best thing about the meal was Mario Batali's famous mint love letters with lamb sausage. The big veal chop definitely won Matt's heart, and this visit to a Batali/Bastianich restaurant has me torn between Carnevino and DB Brasserie for our next visit!

Brine & Dine

2010-05-31T21:52:00.006-05:00

Lately, I haven't really had time to relax at home... I set a weight-loss/tone-up goal for August, and I've been sweating my life at the gym after work almost everyday of the week which most often results in me passing out once I get out of the shower- hence no cooking or blogging! Phew!

But I MUST, blog about my most recent kitchen success story that happened over a barbecue patio get-together at my friend Maggie's. I've been friends with Maggie since the 7th grade, and she's one of my friends who love to cook/bake. She actually won one of the categories at a local cupcake competition in April.

I've been meaning to try her "savory" sangria (tomato, basil, white wine), and since we're always up for anything that gives us an excuse to cook/entertain- we thought of gathering a few old friends for a casual cookout to kick off the summer. Maggie, being an infamously fabulous hostess that she is, whipped up not only her sangria but also a spicy peanut butter noodle dish-- and not to mention a perfectly juicy burgers!

Well as for me, I wanted to utilize what was on sale at the store and chicken drumsticks kept popping up in the ads so I thought to make barbecue drumsticks. But, when I got to the stores around 9pm after my daily workout no drumsticks were found anywhere but only mounds of chicken thighs. I picked those up, and also some sweet corn (only 18cents!) to make a roasted summer salsa to go along with barbecued chicken thighs.

After reading about stories of brining, and how much of a difference it makes in dishes- I had to try it. I found an easy brine recipe here, by Tyler Florence. On the same page there is a recipe for a barbecue sauce, but since I'm making the corn salsa I wanted to find a chipotle barbecue sauce recipe. And lo and behold, the great TasteSpotting came in so handy and led me to this awesome raspberry chipotle barbecue sauce recipe! The only tweaking I made was to use the whole small can of chipotle peppers to give it an extra kick.
The verdict? The brine kept my chicken thighs extremely juicy and flavorful while the barbecue sauce kept it tangy and finger-lickin' good! I made the extra batch of chicken in the oven over at my mom's for my sisters and they were equally delicious. I've officially become a brine convert, and I fully believe in all of its delicious power!

To be a kid again

2010-05-23T22:54:00.005-05:00

The dreary and the gloomy long past us, sun has been shining in the Midwest for maybe 3 days in a row now. Last weekend, my sisters and I babysat my 3-year old nephew(cousin's son) Julian, and we all got to enjoy and soak up the sun.

Back in high school, I worked at the local fairground selling hotdogs and grilled sausages. I suppose the cook in me started earlier than I had imagined. And unlike other carts in the fair that were located inside air-conditioned buildings, mine was outside in the sun through all those 90+ degrees weather days. I mean, I enjoy summer but when there seems to be zero breeze, and when you're standing next to a heated hotdog cart not to mention the firy grill? Phew, it would get STEAMY. But surprisingly, I enjoyed that job a lot. I liked taking special orders such as to grill the hot dogs that are normally just boiled, and seeing the customers bite into the charred crispy goodies. My usual customers would also be delighted to see that I had memorized their preferences; "Grilled polish with celery salt and pickles? You got it."

With my nephew, my sisters and I went back to the fair as I had oddly missed the atmosphere. The cacophony of different genre of music playing outside, smell of freshly roasted corn, old rusty lawn mowers... nothing seemed to have chanced. Julian seemed to be a bit confused tough, as he didn't know where we were. Antiques and used toys next to a small petting zoo and socks? But he looked like he was having a great time, and I even heard him sing his very own new tune, "We're at the fair! we're at the fair--."

Although I didn't have one of my hotdogs(or bratwursts, which were my favorites), I couldn't leave with out having Texas Beef. I don't remember how I discovered it, but once I found out about it- most of my lunches during work were Texas Beef.
I'm not sure if Texas Beef is an actual dish, but as far as I know it's delicious and I will and must attempt to recreate it sometime in my life. The Texas Beef I know is a sandwich on a big soft hero bun with multiple layers; 1) diced potatoes with ground beef, 2) thin slices of braised beef(not sure which cut, but I should ask next time!), 3) melted white cheddar cheese, 4) shreded iceberg lettuce, 5) chopped tomatoes, and 6) squirt of sour cream. You can stop there, but I ALWAYS get a side of giardiniera. Whoa, talking about this actually made my mouth water.

Even if this is a sandwich, for people with average sized mouths, it is impossible to handle this one like you would any other sandwiches. There needs to be a sort of technique for it. For example, what I do is use one clean hand to tear off the bread, and use the fork to gently pile all the components on to the bread. Put the big bite in your mouth and always throw in the giardiniera next. The combination is sensational. The sandwiches used to be $7, which was not cheap for me when I was in highschool- but I definitely thought it was worth the "splurge." When I went back this weekend, the price seemed to have stayed practically the same- but definitely less meat and potatoes.

After a couple of hours roaming around the fair(I did score a whole case of blackberries for only $4) and arcade games, we didn't want to waste such a beautiful day, so we went to the park. Quite frankly, Julian enjoyed the park more than the fair which was meant to be the main event.

We all picked up a cup of Georgie Porgie's milkshakes, and giggled like how we used to years back when we were still kids. Actually I think my sisters and I enjoyed it more than Julian did, it was a bit nostalgic- definitely glad to have done it.

Can you see the pure excitement and happiness in his face? This sums up that day for me.

PS. I really want a camera. Canon PowerShot SD1400 to be exact. It went on sale for $230. I can't afford it yet, it is a sad, sad story. Darn you money, stop controlling my life! :(

PPS. With the case of blackberries along with strawberries that I also bought on sale, I've been making a LOT of these for breakfast:

My kind of "baking"

2010-05-19T21:52:00.008-05:00

Baking was never my thing. I was too clumsy to measure anything accurately, not to mention too impatient for anything that required multiple measuring spoons creating a mess on my counter... And I don't know exactly when the epiphany occurred, but now I've come to appreciate the art of baking hence my attempts at creating desserts from scratch. I've also been meaning to try baking my own bread, like challah and focaccia, so I suppose my baking journey has just begun.

Before these days of stocking up on AP flour and investing in bakeware, instead of baking- I would sort of.. cheat.

And by cheat, I mean boxed cake mix. The boxed cake mix frenzy started when I began baking for high school extra credit projects, end-of-the-year gatherings, etc. I never was a fan of the grocery cakes with butter cream, and I also didn't love everyone's favorite- ice cream cake. So I wanted to be in control of the level of sweetness as much I could, given my lack of baking skills.

The Korean bakeries that I remember from my early childhood would usually top super light cakes with freshly whipped cream and sweetened fruit, which I still think of as the typical birthday cake- and to recreate the fond memory I would bake basic yellow cake, top with whipped cream, and decorate with lightly macerated fruit such as kiwi, mango, strawberries, blueberries, and mandarin oranges.

Here is one of the anniversary cakes I made for Matt a while back... The short-cut is really simple.

1. Bake your favorite cake mix
2. Slice or dice your preferred fruit of choice
3. Sprinkle couple of tablespoons of granulated sugar (or Confectioner's sugar for a thicker mixture) on the prepared fruit. Squeeze a 1/2 lemon. Let the mixture sit about 15-20 minutes.
4. Once the cake is cooled, slice into two layers.
5. Brush in between the two layers with the liquid drawn out from the fruit mixture. You can also do so with fruit preserves/jam.
6. Top the cake with freshly whipped cream (I suppose you can even add real vanilla if you have some!) and decorate with the fruit - which should be drained if too watery.

Another short-cut I take in more of an entertaining aspect is with cupcakes. Here is what I made for my friend and my 21st birthday party back in Brooklyn.

1. Bake your favorite cake mix. Cool the cupcakes once they come out of the oven.
2. Peel the cupcake lining and carefully slice the top off each cupcake.
3. Spread fruit preserves like glue to put back the tops on the cupcakes(in this case I baked a chocolate cake & used raspberry preserves).
3. Mix your frosting(homemade or store-bought) with a few tablespoons of the fruit preserves that was used in step 3.
4. Sprinkle with topping of choice - my favorites are chocolate chips, toasted nuts, or lemon zest.

These really aren't "recipes," but quick tips for those like me who are beginner bakers. They are super delicious, and nobody has to know that they came form the boxes! ;)

Mm, mm, mmMMmm. Seriously.

2010-05-15T20:39:00.012-05:00

When looking for affordable protein in any grocery stores, you can always count on good ground beef(I prefer 80% lean, 20% fat). So when I found awesome ground beef for only $1.99/lb earlier this week, I bought about 3lbs planning to make mini meatloaves and stretch the meat even more for some roasted garlic cheeseburgers.

And of course, my weetle Blackberry's been so diligent in documenting the process, since there is no camera for now.

Although I have one of her cookbooks, I've never tried any of Ina Garten's recipe until this one. And let me tell you- it was easy, simple, and SO tasty. When the meatloaves were about to come out of the oven the whole apartment smelled like a ketchupy giant hamburger, and I don't know about you but I happened to LOVE the aroma. The meatloaves were juicy and flavorful; every bite simply melted in my mouth.

[waiting...waiting... getting there...]

The only problem I had was with my thermometer. It's fairly new so I suppose I should be patient until we become better friends and work more in tandem...

BUT the important thing is that the meal was rib-stickin' delicious and so good that Matt asked for me to make them again next week. He scarfed down the whole plate in about 8 minutes tops. Now I'm definitely stoked to whip out some more of Ina Garten's recipes soon(Individual Meatloaves recipe HERE)!

PS. I made a quick cheddar sauce pasta dish today using a 'high-fiber' pasta(don't know how it got to my pantry). IT WAS NOT GOOD! The texture of the pasta was so grainy and even with the creaminess of the sauce, it really turned me off! yuck...

When in doubt, wrap it in bacon.

2010-05-10T22:48:00.014-05:00

Aside from the melange of past pictures left from my (now deceased) Power Shot, my cooking these days is being documented by my good ol' Blackberry. Too bad for my current lack of a digital camera, cause cooking's been quite an adventure this past weekend.

The topic of being camera-less reminds me of another inevitable subject on hand. Being a poor folk. Recently a good chunk of my change has been directed to the state of Illinois toll fees(bleh), rising gas prices, and kitchen stuff that I "need." And by I "need," I mean like the pig shaped cutting board I found for $5 yesterday. Oh silly me... So long story short, I don't have the money to splurge on a cooking spree. So most of my time is spent planning how to efficiently use inexpensive and accessible ingredients either at my local grocery store or my refrigerator.

Yesterday I decided to thaw out a chunk of pork tenderloin leftover from a past weekend and whip up a nice impromptu weekend lunch. I also happened to have some sweet maple bacon, so I figured 'why not kill two birds with one stone?'

Matt said wrapping pork with bacon was like having pork on pork explosion(as if that's a bad thing), but I thought the end result was pure juicy goodness. Bacon got crispy on the outside and thanks to the bacon's double duty, the pork tenderloin stayed moist. To go with the porky dish, I made some smashed new potatoes with thyme. Although equally delicious, I honestly think the bacon wrapped pork triumphed over my weetle supporting actor golden potatoes. I also think the medallions will go great with a nice citrus salad just to balance out the fattiness, but also to pair well with a simple tangy wine reduction that tops them! :)

Clearly I had too much time on my hands, because I also made my very first chocolate souffle yesterday. Due to my unmeasured, taste-and-season-as-you-go cooking style attributed to my mom, I don't bake often. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so to go through so much trouble for such a short moment of satisfaction never drew me in. However, I've gained a new-found appreciation for baking hence my investment in a new hand-mixer. Oh by the way did I mention that I was inspired to make chocolate souffle, because of my another kitchen item I "needed" -- Le Creuset ramekins for $5?!

Bacon wrapped pork medallions (4-6 servings)
printable version

Ingredients:
- 10, 2.5" thick pork tenderloin medallions
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 bacon strips
- 2 tbsp chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup white wine (I happened to have White Zinfandel, which worked out well)
- 10 toothpicks
- 3.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Season the pork medallions with salt and pepper. Keep in mind however the saltiness of the bacon, so season sparingly.

Slice bacon strips into lengths that will wrap each medallion. I slice mine to about 5 inches.

Wrap each medallion with the bacon, securing the ends with a toothpick.

Heat oil in a saute pan on medium-high heat, and start searing the bacon wrapped medallions. Sear for about 3-4 minutes per side.

Take the medallions off heat to rest, slowly removing the toothpicks.

On medium heat saute the garlic in the bacon drippings on the pan. Slowly pour the white wine off heat. Let the combination reduce for about 4-5 minutes on medium-low heat.

Pour the white wine sauce over the pork medallions and serve warm!

Chocolate Souffle - I had a difficult time finding the right recipe that allowed me to easily interpret different ratios since I was only baking for two. I found it here, courtesy of EatingWell.com.

Oh and please don't let me forget. I have to wish my mom who I adore, who is also at times a pain in my little booty, the Happiest belated Mother's Day. Thank you for the constant inspiration umma!

A new kid on the block & photo flashback #1

2010-05-08T17:32:00.004-05:00

Testing, testing… 1, 2. 1, 2, 3...?

Ahhh, here it goes again – Another trial on an outlet for my random rants about everyday life in an ever-so-growing Wide World of Web.

The idea initially came to me back in March, sitting at my new workspace after a recent relocation from Wisconsin to Illinois. I was inspired while browsing through the wonderful and (disgustingly) creative blogs. I’m also not the most organized person; therefore blogging, offering an easy method to a compilation of my life’s little pieces, definitely got me.

So why now, almost 2 months later, did I decide to put up my first post?

Absence of my point-and-shoot: Being a visual person myself, I couldn’t even imagine trying to construct a blog without pictures.

BUT!!!

I can’t escape all of my thought bubbles buzzing in my head seeking for a home….and spending most of my time practically alone, there was really nowhere else but here.

There is hope however, as I’ve made a promise with myself to invest in a decent digital camera around when Best Buy (hopefully) will hold its annual Father’s Day Sale. I know, I know it’s more than a month away but better late than never! The long-term goal is to save up enough to invest in a DSLR after I can replace my junkie laptop- but that's a whole another story.

Until then, it will most likely be flashbacks…the remnants of my dearly beloved Power Shot and teeny pictures from my Blackberry. But who’s to say "epic fail" when Ruth Reichl manages to vividly draw a mental picture in my head with her image-less tweets, right?

When browsing through pictures of food on my laptop, I couldn't resist the consistent re-occurrence of meatballs. Well, if you know me- it might seem a bit random. I grew up chowing down my mom's spicy Korean concoctions and now have an infinite affinity for exotic cuisine. BUT, my boyfriend Matt is 75% Italian, and he constantly raved about his bisnonna's(great grandmother) melt-in-your-mouth meatballs when we first started dating.

Now about 4 and a 1/2 years(whoa!) and more than a hundred batches of meatballs later, meatballs have been my go-to Italian meal that Matt and my friends and family LOVE. Although it's not quite comparable to his bisnonna's legendary meatballs(she passed in the early 2000s when she was over the age of 100 and nobody knows her meatballs secret), when asked if he prefers steak or meatballs for dinner -- Matt most often opts for meatballs. C'mon, meatballs over steak? That's when I know that my meatballs are becoming more and more legit every time I make 'em!

Growing up in a house without measuring cups and spoons(for the most part anyhow), writing recipes is really difficult for me. But with the help of my growing collection of cookbooks and more time spent in my kitchen, I'm slowly getting the hang of measurements but not quite there yet! So here is a rough estimate of a recipe for my meatballs!

Wannabe Bisnonna's Meatballs (6-8 servings)
printable version

Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb ground chuck (80% lean)
- 0.5 lb ground pork
- 3/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
- 1/2 cup grated mozzarella
- 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley (more if you prefer that green herby bite)
- 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I use Progresso Italian style)
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup 2% reduced fat milk
- 1.5 tbsp kosher salt
- 0.5 tbsp ground black pepper
- 5-8 cups tomato sauce (I use Prego Traditional)
- 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Mix the meat with 1/4 cup of the chopped parsley, 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, all of mozzarella, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs and the egg. Mix with your hands until you see a homogeneous mixture while trying not to overwork it. Slowly add the milk in batches to make sure that it doesn't get too watery.

Put the remaining breadcrumbs on a plate.

Take a big spoonful of the meat mixture, roll it into a circle in your hands. Give the meatball a roll on the plate of breadcrumbs to get a nice crumb coating.

Heat oil in a large saute pan on medium-high heat.

One all of the meat mixture is made into meatballs, start browning the meatballs in batches once oil is hot. A batch of about 10 - 12 meatballs should take no longer than 3-5 minutes to brown. Once each batch is browned, put them in a baking dish(I use a lasagna pan).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

After the last batch of meatballs are browned, pour the tomato sauce atop the meatballs just enough so that the bottom half of the meatballs are in the sauce while the top half is "naked."

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, test a meatball to make sure that it is cooked through. Sprinkle with the remaining parmigiano reggiano, and enjoy!

Most prefer it over spaghetti with garlic bread, but I've seen it go so beautifully on top of roasted potatoes in Nolita's Bread, and my family loves to put leftovers on a hero bun for sandwiches.

Easy Garlic Bread
Sprinkle some olive oil onto think slices of crusty bread and either grill to get nice char marks or broil on high for about 2 minutes on each side. Slice a garlic bulb in half with peel attached. Once the bread is grilled or broiled, rubbed the garlic half onto the bread while still hot. Sprinkle with cheese and a bit of parsley.

Back to the present time- Although Matt's super-carnivorous ways make it so darn difficult, I've decided to practice cutting out a big chunk of my red meat consumption. So I am going vegetarian for a day or two a week, and today happens to be my first! I had my usual bowl of cereal for breakfast and for lunch, some roasted potatoes, carrots and onion with rosemary and thyme leftover from the other night's roasted chicken dinner.

And for dinner? I've been making a fair share of zaru soba, which is a cold buckwheat noodle dish that you dip in chilled dashi broth with wasabi, daikon and chopped scallions topped with slivered nori. To be honest, I chickened out a little on the broth(when I even had konbu and other stuff thanks to mom), and used a store bought broth that I diluted in a bit of cold water. Last two times I've made it with daikon, I just couldn't get the right ratio so I'm sticking without it for now.

Well, here's to a better me and a better world!