... a tall glass of milk with chocolate chip cookies.
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
I love Boston!
Boston is one of my most beloved cities. I was pushed by my family to go there for college because there is a large Indonesian population there. Being the rebel that I was, I chose not to. I don't regret that decision and I've been fortunate enough to visit Boston because my cousins and sister are there. I especially love Boston's food! When I visit Boston, I always try my best to eat as much seafood as I can due to the lack of good seafood here in Chicago.
So, anyways, I went to Boston over Easter weekend to hang out with the sister and here are some of the places we went to. I had French-style macarrons for the very first time at a little chocolatier named Burdick near Harvard. I fell in love instantly! I've read a lot about how delicate and delicious and irresistible they are on a favorite blog of mine but I've never had them! Imagine that! Anyways, thanks to my sis' adventures, she got wind of this exquisite little place and brought me there. The store front is very charming and quaint, with a green-and-white striped awning and glass window and door.
The cafe/chocolatier itself occupies a very small space inside supposedly because most of the store space is used for chocolate-making. My sister ordered their specialty thick drinking chocolate and macarrons while I wanted to try out some of their chocolates. Although their chocolates are just ok, the macarrons were to-die-for! We had the raspberry, lavender and pistachio-flavored ones. The lavender and pistachio macarrons were exquisite while the raspberry is rather "common" if you will. But their texture was perfect: crunchy on the outside with a chewy, even creamy, middle.
I made the mistake of not getting more of these macarrons to bring home. We first went to Burdick on Thursday and thought that if I bought them then, they wouldn't be good any more by Sunday. So my sis said that we could go again on Sunday, right before I leave for Chicago. We trekked down to Burdick on Sunday afternoon, only to find out that they're closed for Easter. *SIGH*
Since my sis had a pretty long weekend (her school is Catholic so they celebrate Easter), she came up with the idea of taking a mini road trip to one of her favorite patissiers in Providence. I thought it was rather silly to drive all the way to Providence for dessert, but I relented. She brought me to Pastiche, a little charming bakery/patissier in Providence's Little Italy neighbourhood. The store front is pretty and the interior is very cozy.
Pastiche had quite a large selection of pastries and coffees; from cheesecake to rugelach. I'm starting to salivate just thinking of their beautiful and delicious creations. My sis decided to get a slice of their fruit tart and I craved for something chocolatey so I got a slice of the chocolate gateau. My chocolate cake with raspberry sauce was sooo good! It's super chocolatey, moist and rich, which hit the spot for me!
My sis had always been raving about how she couldn't get a fruit tart like Pastiche's in Boston. I tried a bite and agreed that the custard layer was really yummy and I loved the freshness of the fruit but the crust wasn't quite there. The crust was a tad dry and tasteless. But isn't it just so pretty?
After our delicious lunch (yes, that was our lunch), I wanted to walk around the neoughbourhood since I had never been there before. We stumbled upon a large Italian grocer, Costantino's. The smell that hit us when we entered was of cured meat, cheeses, garlic (I luuurve garlic) and olives. The store was super clean and super crowded. They sold everything from olive oils and espresso pots to pre-made stuff like lasagna, tiramisu and meats. There were also tables in the store for those who want to eat there. I was in heaven, except that we were already full and couldn't eat any more. I managed to sneak in a picture of their deli counter before a staff told me not to *oops* Maybe I'm just being sensitive but in Providence, I didn't feel very welcome. Maybe it's just an East Coast thing.
Back in Boston, we went to one of my (and my parents') favorite spots, Shabu Zen. It's a Japanese-style hot pot place in the heart of Boston's Chinatown. Shabu shabu is an Asian do-it-yourself "cooking style" where each person on the table cooks his/her own food by dipping it into a boiling pot of broth. It's kinda like the more familliar Korean bbq, except with boiling broth instead of a grill. It's plenty of fun doing this with friends and family and you get to pick and choose your own food. A unique thing about Shabu Zen is that they also have a DIY system for your dipping sauce. They supply 4 different ingredients to add to your soy sauce: minced garlic, chopped scallions, chili flakes and a spicy paste thingy that I don't know the exact name for. You mix whichever ones you want in whatever amount you want. Ta-daaah! Individualized dipping sauce! I usually just dump everything that's given to me into the medium-sized bowl and ask for more garlic. I cannot get enough of garlic!
The other cool thing about Shabu Zen is that they have a few different varieties of broth that you can choose to cook your food in besides the normal chicken broth. My family and I always pick the kim chee broth because we love spicy stuff! Other offerings include some mushroom broth or a ginseng thingy (Ewww). But anyway, they were kind enough to bring some kim chee to start off because by the time we were finally seated, we were famished! This place is so popular, especially on weekends, that the wait can be rather long! The bad thing is, they don't accept reservations.
The things we ordered included enoki mushroom (yum!), beef tongue (sounds gross but is quite delish), assorted tofu, baby bok choy and fish paste (our absolute favorite!). I'm not really sure what fish really is but it's probably a mush of fish, starches and water to form a paste. The paste is then portioned into tablespoon-sized "balls" to be boiled. It's very chewy and has a very nice un-fishy flavor.
Another Asian place we went to is Dok Bua, a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant in Brookline, the neighbourhood that my sis used to live in. It's a very cozy restaurant with a rather odd decor that consists of murky aquariums with some fish in them, a tiki-like bar section and a mini mart-like section by the cashier selling random Vietnamese snacks and spices. This place is also one of my family's favorites because their cooking is quite similar to Indonesian cooking. We started with the tofu soup that was highly recommended by my sis and it provided us with a tasty warm counterpoint to the cold weather.
My sis recently found out that she likes Vietnamese summer rolls. She used to only like the deep-fried spring rolls so I was quite surprised at her conversion. The summer rolls at Dok Bua were very refreshing, what with the lemongrass, veggies and rice wrapper. Summer rolls are quite bland so the nutty, spicy dipping sauce that came with is gave it a nice flavor.
Dok Bua apparently had been pretty renowned for their pad se eu. They supposedly have the very best in Boston, so we decided to go with that, in addition to a beef and veggie stir fry dish. Both were very yummy: the pad se eu was glistening with oil but was very well-spiced and the beef was awesome. They gave so much meat!
As I mentioned, I'm a bit of a seafood fanatic, so whenever I visit my sis in Boston, we always have to have sushi at least once! One of our most beloved Japanese places is New Ginza, a Jap restaurant right next to my sis' apartment building! Can you imagine that? If I lived right next to a good Jap restaurant, I'd probably eat there or order take-out 5 times a week! But anyway, despite being owned and operated by Chinese people, it's a great Japanese restaurant. It's very clean, the service is always very good and the food ... ohhhh ... the food is just amazing! There's this broiled mayo-scallop dish that my father loves but I always start off with a humongous pile of seaweed salad! Can you imagine getting such a big serving of seaweed for less than $4?!?!? In Chicago, for $4, I'd probably get a pile of iceberg lettuce that has been concealed with a thin layer of seaweed!
I then had 3 fat pieces of heavenly salmon sashimi and my sis had their eel-avocado roll.
My trips to Boston are always great. Not only do I get to see and hang out with my dear sis, the food scene there is great! There are many other places we missed that weekend (yes, we missed at least another handful of good restaurants), which I hope to eat at when I'm there again (which is not too far away because my sis is graduating in less than a month!). Yay!
So, anyways, I went to Boston over Easter weekend to hang out with the sister and here are some of the places we went to. I had French-style macarrons for the very first time at a little chocolatier named Burdick near Harvard. I fell in love instantly! I've read a lot about how delicate and delicious and irresistible they are on a favorite blog of mine but I've never had them! Imagine that! Anyways, thanks to my sis' adventures, she got wind of this exquisite little place and brought me there. The store front is very charming and quaint, with a green-and-white striped awning and glass window and door.
The cafe/chocolatier itself occupies a very small space inside supposedly because most of the store space is used for chocolate-making. My sister ordered their specialty thick drinking chocolate and macarrons while I wanted to try out some of their chocolates. Although their chocolates are just ok, the macarrons were to-die-for! We had the raspberry, lavender and pistachio-flavored ones. The lavender and pistachio macarrons were exquisite while the raspberry is rather "common" if you will. But their texture was perfect: crunchy on the outside with a chewy, even creamy, middle.
I made the mistake of not getting more of these macarrons to bring home. We first went to Burdick on Thursday and thought that if I bought them then, they wouldn't be good any more by Sunday. So my sis said that we could go again on Sunday, right before I leave for Chicago. We trekked down to Burdick on Sunday afternoon, only to find out that they're closed for Easter. *SIGH*
Since my sis had a pretty long weekend (her school is Catholic so they celebrate Easter), she came up with the idea of taking a mini road trip to one of her favorite patissiers in Providence. I thought it was rather silly to drive all the way to Providence for dessert, but I relented. She brought me to Pastiche, a little charming bakery/patissier in Providence's Little Italy neighbourhood. The store front is pretty and the interior is very cozy.
Pastiche had quite a large selection of pastries and coffees; from cheesecake to rugelach. I'm starting to salivate just thinking of their beautiful and delicious creations. My sis decided to get a slice of their fruit tart and I craved for something chocolatey so I got a slice of the chocolate gateau. My chocolate cake with raspberry sauce was sooo good! It's super chocolatey, moist and rich, which hit the spot for me!
My sis had always been raving about how she couldn't get a fruit tart like Pastiche's in Boston. I tried a bite and agreed that the custard layer was really yummy and I loved the freshness of the fruit but the crust wasn't quite there. The crust was a tad dry and tasteless. But isn't it just so pretty?
After our delicious lunch (yes, that was our lunch), I wanted to walk around the neoughbourhood since I had never been there before. We stumbled upon a large Italian grocer, Costantino's. The smell that hit us when we entered was of cured meat, cheeses, garlic (I luuurve garlic) and olives. The store was super clean and super crowded. They sold everything from olive oils and espresso pots to pre-made stuff like lasagna, tiramisu and meats. There were also tables in the store for those who want to eat there. I was in heaven, except that we were already full and couldn't eat any more. I managed to sneak in a picture of their deli counter before a staff told me not to *oops* Maybe I'm just being sensitive but in Providence, I didn't feel very welcome. Maybe it's just an East Coast thing.
Back in Boston, we went to one of my (and my parents') favorite spots, Shabu Zen. It's a Japanese-style hot pot place in the heart of Boston's Chinatown. Shabu shabu is an Asian do-it-yourself "cooking style" where each person on the table cooks his/her own food by dipping it into a boiling pot of broth. It's kinda like the more familliar Korean bbq, except with boiling broth instead of a grill. It's plenty of fun doing this with friends and family and you get to pick and choose your own food. A unique thing about Shabu Zen is that they also have a DIY system for your dipping sauce. They supply 4 different ingredients to add to your soy sauce: minced garlic, chopped scallions, chili flakes and a spicy paste thingy that I don't know the exact name for. You mix whichever ones you want in whatever amount you want. Ta-daaah! Individualized dipping sauce! I usually just dump everything that's given to me into the medium-sized bowl and ask for more garlic. I cannot get enough of garlic!
The other cool thing about Shabu Zen is that they have a few different varieties of broth that you can choose to cook your food in besides the normal chicken broth. My family and I always pick the kim chee broth because we love spicy stuff! Other offerings include some mushroom broth or a ginseng thingy (Ewww). But anyway, they were kind enough to bring some kim chee to start off because by the time we were finally seated, we were famished! This place is so popular, especially on weekends, that the wait can be rather long! The bad thing is, they don't accept reservations.
The things we ordered included enoki mushroom (yum!), beef tongue (sounds gross but is quite delish), assorted tofu, baby bok choy and fish paste (our absolute favorite!). I'm not really sure what fish really is but it's probably a mush of fish, starches and water to form a paste. The paste is then portioned into tablespoon-sized "balls" to be boiled. It's very chewy and has a very nice un-fishy flavor.
Another Asian place we went to is Dok Bua, a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant in Brookline, the neighbourhood that my sis used to live in. It's a very cozy restaurant with a rather odd decor that consists of murky aquariums with some fish in them, a tiki-like bar section and a mini mart-like section by the cashier selling random Vietnamese snacks and spices. This place is also one of my family's favorites because their cooking is quite similar to Indonesian cooking. We started with the tofu soup that was highly recommended by my sis and it provided us with a tasty warm counterpoint to the cold weather.
My sis recently found out that she likes Vietnamese summer rolls. She used to only like the deep-fried spring rolls so I was quite surprised at her conversion. The summer rolls at Dok Bua were very refreshing, what with the lemongrass, veggies and rice wrapper. Summer rolls are quite bland so the nutty, spicy dipping sauce that came with is gave it a nice flavor.
Dok Bua apparently had been pretty renowned for their pad se eu. They supposedly have the very best in Boston, so we decided to go with that, in addition to a beef and veggie stir fry dish. Both were very yummy: the pad se eu was glistening with oil but was very well-spiced and the beef was awesome. They gave so much meat!
As I mentioned, I'm a bit of a seafood fanatic, so whenever I visit my sis in Boston, we always have to have sushi at least once! One of our most beloved Japanese places is New Ginza, a Jap restaurant right next to my sis' apartment building! Can you imagine that? If I lived right next to a good Jap restaurant, I'd probably eat there or order take-out 5 times a week! But anyway, despite being owned and operated by Chinese people, it's a great Japanese restaurant. It's very clean, the service is always very good and the food ... ohhhh ... the food is just amazing! There's this broiled mayo-scallop dish that my father loves but I always start off with a humongous pile of seaweed salad! Can you imagine getting such a big serving of seaweed for less than $4?!?!? In Chicago, for $4, I'd probably get a pile of iceberg lettuce that has been concealed with a thin layer of seaweed!
I then had 3 fat pieces of heavenly salmon sashimi and my sis had their eel-avocado roll.
My trips to Boston are always great. Not only do I get to see and hang out with my dear sis, the food scene there is great! There are many other places we missed that weekend (yes, we missed at least another handful of good restaurants), which I hope to eat at when I'm there again (which is not too far away because my sis is graduating in less than a month!). Yay!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Oh, the weather outside is frightful!
It has been so cold and windy outside that I minimize my time outdoors. I had to come to work this past weekend and I was skeptical of the regularity of the weekend bus service so I decided to walk to campus. Was that a big mistake! The walk is usually pleasant and takes about 15-20 minutes. By the time I reached campus, my thighs were frozen and when I entered the building, they were so cold that it felt like they were burning! I'm guessing that was frostbite? It happened to me a few times because I was too stubborn to cancel a sushi date with a friend (yes! My sushi buddy's finally baaack! Yippee!).
With cold weather, along comes hot foods (and drinks too!). I decided to mull some wine this past weekend with some mulling spice that I bought at Williams & Sonoma. They were on sale ($2.99 for a whole box!) and I couldn't resist. I've also been wanting to try mulling some wine! On Saturday, after my sushi date, I stopped by at Trader Joe's and bought a bottle of their two-buck-chuck Syrah and mulled that. Talk about Trader Joe's, I love love love them! But that's another topic altogether. Next post, maybe. Anyway, mulling wine is very simple yet subtle. The only ingredients required are wine, some sugar and the mullling spices, so in that sense, it is very simple. The mulling spices include cinnamon, allspice, cloves, etc.
Now, the subtlety comes from how you mull it. I've read that you absolutely CANNOT boil it, you're supposed to simmer it gently for about half an hour. Otherwise, it'll turn out mucky and taste like crap. I followed the directions and even stood by the stove most of the time to ensure that it is simmering, not boiling. However, I got distracted by an urgent phone call and let the wine boil for maybe less than a minute! Fortunately, it turned out ok. I served it warm with a cinnamon stick as garnish and added flavor. It was a delicious winter drink but unfortunately, didn't taste so good when it has cooled. So if you do mull wine, try to finish it before it cools down. On the can of the mulling spice, it says that the mulled wine/cider can also be served when it's cool but I'm just guessing it's not to my taste.
Another thing I've been quite enamored with is a new brand of breakfast cookies that I recently discovered on Amazon.com. I've enjoyed Quaker's breakfast cookies that come in oatmeal raisin and apple cinnamon flavors but this new brand I found is way, way better! I encountered it on Amazon while I was browsing around and chanced upon Baker's Breakfast cookies. I read the reviews and found that overall, people really enjoyed the taste of these cookies in spite of the fact that they're really healthy. How healthy? Think 6g of fiber, 6g of protein, 0 trans fat and 0 cholesterol for under 300 calories! I was still skeptical but ordered some anyway. I chose the double chocolate chunk cookies and unfortunately (an fortunately) Amazon only sells them in packs of 24. Unfortunate because I wasn't sure that I was going to like them and fortunate because it turns out that I love them!
I love them because they're not only good for you, they are actually very tasty. The texture of the cookie is very soft and chewy so I guess this won't be for you if you like your cookies crisp and snappy. It is also very very chocolatey and I love biting into one of the rich chocolate chunks. It is also very filling and satisfying with the ample protein and fiber in it! They're perfect for on-the-go breakfast and snacks. Thesedays, I've been one almost every day (as part of a balanced food plan, of course) with a mug of freshly brewed piping hot Harrod's Earl Grey or delicate green tea. It's just so comforting to savor a delicious cakey cookie with a warm caffeinated drink. They'd probably be delicious with some strong coffee too. I can't wait to try out the other flavors, in particular peanut butter because I'm crazy about all things nuts! Haha~
I was rather adventurous last week and decided to try making chocolate souffle (yes, that intimidating dish that puffs up in the oven like nobody's business). It wasn't as intimidating as I thought, only rather detailed. I found that you absolutely have to butter the souffle dish thoroughly and then sprinkle sugar in it thoroughly too. And then, before sliding the souffle into the oven, you have to slide a finger between the souffle and the dish and go around so that the souffle can rise maximally. I only dipped a finger halfway down the dish on the side (should've been all the way down so it touches the bottom) and my souffle didn't rise as magnificently as I believe it could have. However, it was still awesome tasting. It wasn't too sweet and the texture was very dream-like: light, fluffy yet moist and smooth. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was the perfect dessert: a mix of cold and warmth. The only disappointing thing is that the souffle almost immediately shrunk when I pulled it out of the oven because of the cold temperature in my apartment (yes! It was THAT cold!).
This pleasant souffle experience has inspired to make a cheese version with Gruyere and Ementaler some time in the near future. How exciting!
I've also been more motivated to knit recently not only because it's just so comforting to feel the soft yarn in my hands when it's cold, also because I've been trying to minimize my trash TV time on weekdays. I'm trying to limit myself to one hour of television per day; however, I'm still watching a crapload of TV during weekends though. Anywayz, I've been learning two techniques: multi-color knitting (also known as intarsia) and cables. I know how to knit multiple colors in rows, but I've been interested in acquiring the skills on how to knit patterns with many colors, not just rows. The first swatch (or knitting sample), I did with some scrap leftover yarn from my legwarmer project and I decided to do a heart pattern. It was a little bit complicated with the sparse description in my Stitch'n'Bitch book but I managed to do it! It looks so cute and awesome from the front but is rather messy in the back due to the need to twist the yarns and start new colors often. I thought that it's sooo cute that I decided to make a coaster out of it. So I made another one just like it and seamed them back-to-back together. It turned out to be a bit on the chunky side but it's a good coaster!
I'm so inspired that I plotted out a star knitting chart and I'm going to knit another coaster with the star pattern with my scrap yarn! I've also mastered the fine (and deceptively easy) art of knitting cables. Cables are those snaky patterns that twirl back and forth, very popular on sweaters. This time around, the Stitch'n'Bitch book was very very helpful because not only are there step-by-step illustrations, there are also step-by-step written instructions, making it very idiot-proof for people like me. check it out!
That'll be it for the next week or so because I'm going to St. Martin for a 8 days starting next week! Yes! Can you believe my luck? I'm going to be basking in the Carribean sun, lathered with an SPF 50 lotion, reading trashy, easy chick lit novels while sipping on a ice cold alcoholic beverage with a teeny weeny paper umbrella. Fortunately, St. Martin is also known as one of the best culinary destinations in the Carribean! I'm sooo loooking forward to fresh seafood and innovative food, which I'll update you with when I come back (... if I come back, hah!).
With cold weather, along comes hot foods (and drinks too!). I decided to mull some wine this past weekend with some mulling spice that I bought at Williams & Sonoma. They were on sale ($2.99 for a whole box!) and I couldn't resist. I've also been wanting to try mulling some wine! On Saturday, after my sushi date, I stopped by at Trader Joe's and bought a bottle of their two-buck-chuck Syrah and mulled that. Talk about Trader Joe's, I love love love them! But that's another topic altogether. Next post, maybe. Anyway, mulling wine is very simple yet subtle. The only ingredients required are wine, some sugar and the mullling spices, so in that sense, it is very simple. The mulling spices include cinnamon, allspice, cloves, etc.
Now, the subtlety comes from how you mull it. I've read that you absolutely CANNOT boil it, you're supposed to simmer it gently for about half an hour. Otherwise, it'll turn out mucky and taste like crap. I followed the directions and even stood by the stove most of the time to ensure that it is simmering, not boiling. However, I got distracted by an urgent phone call and let the wine boil for maybe less than a minute! Fortunately, it turned out ok. I served it warm with a cinnamon stick as garnish and added flavor. It was a delicious winter drink but unfortunately, didn't taste so good when it has cooled. So if you do mull wine, try to finish it before it cools down. On the can of the mulling spice, it says that the mulled wine/cider can also be served when it's cool but I'm just guessing it's not to my taste.
Another thing I've been quite enamored with is a new brand of breakfast cookies that I recently discovered on Amazon.com. I've enjoyed Quaker's breakfast cookies that come in oatmeal raisin and apple cinnamon flavors but this new brand I found is way, way better! I encountered it on Amazon while I was browsing around and chanced upon Baker's Breakfast cookies. I read the reviews and found that overall, people really enjoyed the taste of these cookies in spite of the fact that they're really healthy. How healthy? Think 6g of fiber, 6g of protein, 0 trans fat and 0 cholesterol for under 300 calories! I was still skeptical but ordered some anyway. I chose the double chocolate chunk cookies and unfortunately (an fortunately) Amazon only sells them in packs of 24. Unfortunate because I wasn't sure that I was going to like them and fortunate because it turns out that I love them!
I love them because they're not only good for you, they are actually very tasty. The texture of the cookie is very soft and chewy so I guess this won't be for you if you like your cookies crisp and snappy. It is also very very chocolatey and I love biting into one of the rich chocolate chunks. It is also very filling and satisfying with the ample protein and fiber in it! They're perfect for on-the-go breakfast and snacks. Thesedays, I've been one almost every day (as part of a balanced food plan, of course) with a mug of freshly brewed piping hot Harrod's Earl Grey or delicate green tea. It's just so comforting to savor a delicious cakey cookie with a warm caffeinated drink. They'd probably be delicious with some strong coffee too. I can't wait to try out the other flavors, in particular peanut butter because I'm crazy about all things nuts! Haha~
I was rather adventurous last week and decided to try making chocolate souffle (yes, that intimidating dish that puffs up in the oven like nobody's business). It wasn't as intimidating as I thought, only rather detailed. I found that you absolutely have to butter the souffle dish thoroughly and then sprinkle sugar in it thoroughly too. And then, before sliding the souffle into the oven, you have to slide a finger between the souffle and the dish and go around so that the souffle can rise maximally. I only dipped a finger halfway down the dish on the side (should've been all the way down so it touches the bottom) and my souffle didn't rise as magnificently as I believe it could have. However, it was still awesome tasting. It wasn't too sweet and the texture was very dream-like: light, fluffy yet moist and smooth. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was the perfect dessert: a mix of cold and warmth. The only disappointing thing is that the souffle almost immediately shrunk when I pulled it out of the oven because of the cold temperature in my apartment (yes! It was THAT cold!).
This pleasant souffle experience has inspired to make a cheese version with Gruyere and Ementaler some time in the near future. How exciting!
I've also been more motivated to knit recently not only because it's just so comforting to feel the soft yarn in my hands when it's cold, also because I've been trying to minimize my trash TV time on weekdays. I'm trying to limit myself to one hour of television per day; however, I'm still watching a crapload of TV during weekends though. Anywayz, I've been learning two techniques: multi-color knitting (also known as intarsia) and cables. I know how to knit multiple colors in rows, but I've been interested in acquiring the skills on how to knit patterns with many colors, not just rows. The first swatch (or knitting sample), I did with some scrap leftover yarn from my legwarmer project and I decided to do a heart pattern. It was a little bit complicated with the sparse description in my Stitch'n'Bitch book but I managed to do it! It looks so cute and awesome from the front but is rather messy in the back due to the need to twist the yarns and start new colors often. I thought that it's sooo cute that I decided to make a coaster out of it. So I made another one just like it and seamed them back-to-back together. It turned out to be a bit on the chunky side but it's a good coaster!
I'm so inspired that I plotted out a star knitting chart and I'm going to knit another coaster with the star pattern with my scrap yarn! I've also mastered the fine (and deceptively easy) art of knitting cables. Cables are those snaky patterns that twirl back and forth, very popular on sweaters. This time around, the Stitch'n'Bitch book was very very helpful because not only are there step-by-step illustrations, there are also step-by-step written instructions, making it very idiot-proof for people like me. check it out!
That'll be it for the next week or so because I'm going to St. Martin for a 8 days starting next week! Yes! Can you believe my luck? I'm going to be basking in the Carribean sun, lathered with an SPF 50 lotion, reading trashy, easy chick lit novels while sipping on a ice cold alcoholic beverage with a teeny weeny paper umbrella. Fortunately, St. Martin is also known as one of the best culinary destinations in the Carribean! I'm sooo loooking forward to fresh seafood and innovative food, which I'll update you with when I come back (... if I come back, hah!).
Monday, January 29, 2007
A Wonderfuly Costco weekend!
I luuurve Costco! I'm a huge sucker for cheap stuff and good deals and that's why I love Costco! For the benefit of those who have been living in a cave for the last decade or so (though, if one has been living in a cave, I suppose internet access isn't likely), Costco is an American-based warehouse supermarket for the members. The basic membership costs a little more than $30 a year and membership benefits include purchasing groceries in insanely huuuge quantities for very cheap. I had not shopped for groceries in more than 2 weeks so this Costco trip was waaay overdue. Can you believe I spent over $200? I can't either. But anyway, we did get a lot of stuff (including liquor) so it wasn't too bad.
The highlight of my splurge was the frozen Maryland crabcakes. For the past few months, I have been having a seafood withdrawal symptoms due to the shortage of good, fresh seafood in my diet! Living in the Midwest, it's quite a challenge to get reasonably-priced fresh seafood. Recently, I have been craving for crab in particular. I think those scintillating Ruby Tuesday commercials featuring the new crab cake appetizer dish helps to fire a lot of the seafood withdrawal neurons in my brain. Being the suckah that I am, I did go to Ruby Tuesday (RT) and tried their crabcake. It was quite tasty but at $9 per pop (only one pathetic crabcake per order), it was a bit too rich for my blood. The RT crabcake was a little overcooked (charred) but there were quite sizeable crab meat chunks visible. It was served with a spicy mayo sauce and a mini baby green salad.
Since then, I've just been wanting to eat some seafood all the time. It doesn't help that my one and only sushi-eating friend was out of town for a whole month! Solution: Costco crabcakes. We immediately made some as soon as we got home. There were a few ways to heat them up: (1) microwave, ech(!), (2) pan-fry, or (3) bake and then broil. I chose the third option because I was a bit occupied (which I will get to later) and so, couldn't labor over my pwetty crabcakes the whole time. The turned out beautiful and delicious! I had mine with some Indonesian Cap Jempol chili sauce and it was perfect!
As you can see for yourself, the crabcakes didn't have gigantic chunks of meat (which I would've preferred) but it was very well-seasoned and is really, really good considering they ARE frozen! I mean, really, us beggars in the Midwest cannot be choosers. Fortunately, I bought two boxes of these yummy crabcakes at Costco. It'll have to last me until I visit a place with access to the sea.
Besides a whole lot of frozen seafood and unhealthy stuff, I managed to squeeze in a lot of wonderful fresh fruit. I bought a whole pound of Chilean-imported blueberries. Not only are they nice and plump, they pop and ooze fresh, sweet yet tart goodness when you bite into them. I especially luuurve a handful of blueberries with my morning cereal. Also, I can just eat blueberries naked, all them themselves. Now, THAT is perfection.
However, I have also been in the mood to bake muffins. There's nothing better than a warm blueberry muffin with a cup of hot tea on a cold winter day while you're knitting or reading or just watching TV. But, I restrained myself from degrading my fresh blueberries and made oatmeal cookies with dried fruit instead. It was horribly cold yesterday and the the wind never stopped blowing! I flipped open one of my favorite cookbooks, The Best Light Recipe, and used the oatmeal cookie recipe. Before adding the raisins, I halved the dough into two portions. Into one, I added the classic, traditional raisins. To the other batch, I added some dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.
BEFORE
AFTER
The cookies turned out delicious and were crisp on the outside while it was chewy in the middle. Now that they have been sitting around for a day in the tupperware, they have crisped up more. I personally like chewy cookies so I probably should've underbaked them even more but the flavor is good. The oatmeal raisin cookies are simple and you can't go wrong with them. The oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies were quite exciting to me. It has a refreshing combination of sweetness and tartness that I really enjoy. I gave some to my colleagues and they remarked how they couldn't believe the cookies were "light" and that's pretty cool. So far, the light recipe cookbook hasn't disappointed. Even though all the recipes call for lower-fat or lighter substitutes, the flavor and taste is never compromised.
Another thing I tried out this weekend (I sure did a lot of stuff, huh?) was to make mochi. Not really "make" because I just basically heated one dried mochi in the toaster oven. It was pretty cool because the mochi transformed from this flat disc to a puffed-up ball of chewy goodness. I had it with some soy sauce and sugar, but it wasn't as delicious as some other mochi I had with peanuts and sugar. Hmmm... I think I need to get a pack of kinako (soybean powder) that the Japanese traditionally sprinkle on mochi.
Ok, one last thing I did (the activity that kept me from pan-frying my crabcakes) was I (FINALLY!) finished my second knit bag, lining and all! If you remember, a while ago, I made a knit bag for my sister. Since I had so much leftover yarn, I decided to make another one for myself. The second bag is considerably bigger and the main difference is the lining. Instead of a pretty, flowery pink lining, I chose a green tea-ish shade of cotton that matches the green color of the yarn. It turned out pretty awesome and I'm so glad I finally finished this project. And hey, it doesn't hurt that I can use the bag and show my creation off the world. Yippee!
The highlight of my splurge was the frozen Maryland crabcakes. For the past few months, I have been having a seafood withdrawal symptoms due to the shortage of good, fresh seafood in my diet! Living in the Midwest, it's quite a challenge to get reasonably-priced fresh seafood. Recently, I have been craving for crab in particular. I think those scintillating Ruby Tuesday commercials featuring the new crab cake appetizer dish helps to fire a lot of the seafood withdrawal neurons in my brain. Being the suckah that I am, I did go to Ruby Tuesday (RT) and tried their crabcake. It was quite tasty but at $9 per pop (only one pathetic crabcake per order), it was a bit too rich for my blood. The RT crabcake was a little overcooked (charred) but there were quite sizeable crab meat chunks visible. It was served with a spicy mayo sauce and a mini baby green salad.
Since then, I've just been wanting to eat some seafood all the time. It doesn't help that my one and only sushi-eating friend was out of town for a whole month! Solution: Costco crabcakes. We immediately made some as soon as we got home. There were a few ways to heat them up: (1) microwave, ech(!), (2) pan-fry, or (3) bake and then broil. I chose the third option because I was a bit occupied (which I will get to later) and so, couldn't labor over my pwetty crabcakes the whole time. The turned out beautiful and delicious! I had mine with some Indonesian Cap Jempol chili sauce and it was perfect!
As you can see for yourself, the crabcakes didn't have gigantic chunks of meat (which I would've preferred) but it was very well-seasoned and is really, really good considering they ARE frozen! I mean, really, us beggars in the Midwest cannot be choosers. Fortunately, I bought two boxes of these yummy crabcakes at Costco. It'll have to last me until I visit a place with access to the sea.
Besides a whole lot of frozen seafood and unhealthy stuff, I managed to squeeze in a lot of wonderful fresh fruit. I bought a whole pound of Chilean-imported blueberries. Not only are they nice and plump, they pop and ooze fresh, sweet yet tart goodness when you bite into them. I especially luuurve a handful of blueberries with my morning cereal. Also, I can just eat blueberries naked, all them themselves. Now, THAT is perfection.
However, I have also been in the mood to bake muffins. There's nothing better than a warm blueberry muffin with a cup of hot tea on a cold winter day while you're knitting or reading or just watching TV. But, I restrained myself from degrading my fresh blueberries and made oatmeal cookies with dried fruit instead. It was horribly cold yesterday and the the wind never stopped blowing! I flipped open one of my favorite cookbooks, The Best Light Recipe, and used the oatmeal cookie recipe. Before adding the raisins, I halved the dough into two portions. Into one, I added the classic, traditional raisins. To the other batch, I added some dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.
BEFORE
AFTER
The cookies turned out delicious and were crisp on the outside while it was chewy in the middle. Now that they have been sitting around for a day in the tupperware, they have crisped up more. I personally like chewy cookies so I probably should've underbaked them even more but the flavor is good. The oatmeal raisin cookies are simple and you can't go wrong with them. The oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies were quite exciting to me. It has a refreshing combination of sweetness and tartness that I really enjoy. I gave some to my colleagues and they remarked how they couldn't believe the cookies were "light" and that's pretty cool. So far, the light recipe cookbook hasn't disappointed. Even though all the recipes call for lower-fat or lighter substitutes, the flavor and taste is never compromised.
Another thing I tried out this weekend (I sure did a lot of stuff, huh?) was to make mochi. Not really "make" because I just basically heated one dried mochi in the toaster oven. It was pretty cool because the mochi transformed from this flat disc to a puffed-up ball of chewy goodness. I had it with some soy sauce and sugar, but it wasn't as delicious as some other mochi I had with peanuts and sugar. Hmmm... I think I need to get a pack of kinako (soybean powder) that the Japanese traditionally sprinkle on mochi.
Ok, one last thing I did (the activity that kept me from pan-frying my crabcakes) was I (FINALLY!) finished my second knit bag, lining and all! If you remember, a while ago, I made a knit bag for my sister. Since I had so much leftover yarn, I decided to make another one for myself. The second bag is considerably bigger and the main difference is the lining. Instead of a pretty, flowery pink lining, I chose a green tea-ish shade of cotton that matches the green color of the yarn. It turned out pretty awesome and I'm so glad I finally finished this project. And hey, it doesn't hurt that I can use the bag and show my creation off the world. Yippee!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Is it friggin' cold or what?
The weather has taken a chilly turn and so has my activities. Besides work at the lab and my salsa classes, I don't do anything outside of my home any more recently. I just want to stay cooped up in my cozy apartment knitting, baking or watching TV *sighs blissfully* I really don't mind because I find all these activities very comforting, although I run the danger of not burning enough of the calories from my baked goods. Thank goodness for the gym in my apartment building!
Anywayz, I've been in a knitting mood again recently due to the cold weather. When it's hot out, I just don't feel like having my fingers swathed in beautiful, warm yarn in my wonderful knitting corner.
I'm currently working on two main things: an afghan (also known as a blanket) and a bag. The afghan is going to be so perfect to snuggle within when it's snowing outside. I am knitting it with two different types of yarn together: the first is a basic acrylic yarn with multi colors (yellow/purple/blue combo) called "Monet" and the second is a finer, somewhat "hairier" (if you will) yarn of a pretty magenta shade. The afghan is knit in a sort of checkered pattern, check it out!
The second knitting project I'm working on is a bag, as I mentioned. Actually, I'm making two bags of the same pattern and yarn because I purchased way too much yarn. It is a knit bag with circular bamboo handles and the yarn I'm using has a color combination of light pink and leafy green, it's very pretty. I got the pattern from my very first knitting book, "Stitch'n'Bitch" by Debbie Stoller. I must say that "SnB" is a very good beginner knitting book and the patterns included are basic yet cool at the same time. I've pretty much finished knitting it, now all I have to concentrate on is sewing the lining fabric (so that the bag won't sag under the weight of its contents) and sewing the bamboo handles onto the bag. I'm making one for my sister and another for me. I can't wait to finish them!
So anyway, we ended up not going to a friend's Halloween party out of laziness. He lives really far away and I felt like rewarding myself with a "vegging" weekend in lazing away. I wasn't that unproductive because I baked! Instead of baking the hazelnut cookies as featured on Giada de Laurentiis' show, I baked something similar. It's called "Cyclops" cookies on allrecipe.com, the site where I found the cookie recipe. It is so called due to the presence of a chocolate kiss in the middle of the cookie, resembling Cyclops' single eye. Kinda geeky, check out the recipe here . So, instead of dipping the rounded cookie batter in white sugar before baking (as the recipe instructs), I dipped them in orange sugar for an extra layer of Halloween vibe!
BEFORE ENTERING THE HELLISH OVEN
AFTER RECEIVING CHOCOLATE KISSES
Don't they look awesome? By the way, I luuurve luuurve luuurve my new Silpat sheet liner. It works so well! Nothing, absolutely nothing sticks to it!
Besides these delectable peanut buttery cookies, I also made angel food cake. It was the very first time I made angel food cake with egg whites. The only other time I made angel food cake, I used a box mix because I didn't see the sense in wasting 12 egg yolks (even though I don't really like yolks). So anyway, the angel food cake sides burned but the insides was salavageable and tasted pretty good. I baked it for way too long (damn recipe!!!) and the cake doesn't have as light and airy a texture as I expected. Instead it had a bready feel to it, which is still not too bad. Topped with some whipped topping and served alongside some fresh strawberries, the cake was delicious.
The arrival of winter also means the return of comfort foods. The most recentl comforting creation was grilled ham and (Swiss) cheese on rye. It was simple, uncomplicated and simply heavenly. Have a great weekend!
Anywayz, I've been in a knitting mood again recently due to the cold weather. When it's hot out, I just don't feel like having my fingers swathed in beautiful, warm yarn in my wonderful knitting corner.
I'm currently working on two main things: an afghan (also known as a blanket) and a bag. The afghan is going to be so perfect to snuggle within when it's snowing outside. I am knitting it with two different types of yarn together: the first is a basic acrylic yarn with multi colors (yellow/purple/blue combo) called "Monet" and the second is a finer, somewhat "hairier" (if you will) yarn of a pretty magenta shade. The afghan is knit in a sort of checkered pattern, check it out!
The second knitting project I'm working on is a bag, as I mentioned. Actually, I'm making two bags of the same pattern and yarn because I purchased way too much yarn. It is a knit bag with circular bamboo handles and the yarn I'm using has a color combination of light pink and leafy green, it's very pretty. I got the pattern from my very first knitting book, "Stitch'n'Bitch" by Debbie Stoller. I must say that "SnB" is a very good beginner knitting book and the patterns included are basic yet cool at the same time. I've pretty much finished knitting it, now all I have to concentrate on is sewing the lining fabric (so that the bag won't sag under the weight of its contents) and sewing the bamboo handles onto the bag. I'm making one for my sister and another for me. I can't wait to finish them!
So anyway, we ended up not going to a friend's Halloween party out of laziness. He lives really far away and I felt like rewarding myself with a "vegging" weekend in lazing away. I wasn't that unproductive because I baked! Instead of baking the hazelnut cookies as featured on Giada de Laurentiis' show, I baked something similar. It's called "Cyclops" cookies on allrecipe.com, the site where I found the cookie recipe. It is so called due to the presence of a chocolate kiss in the middle of the cookie, resembling Cyclops' single eye. Kinda geeky, check out the recipe here . So, instead of dipping the rounded cookie batter in white sugar before baking (as the recipe instructs), I dipped them in orange sugar for an extra layer of Halloween vibe!
BEFORE ENTERING THE HELLISH OVEN
AFTER RECEIVING CHOCOLATE KISSES
Don't they look awesome? By the way, I luuurve luuurve luuurve my new Silpat sheet liner. It works so well! Nothing, absolutely nothing sticks to it!
Besides these delectable peanut buttery cookies, I also made angel food cake. It was the very first time I made angel food cake with egg whites. The only other time I made angel food cake, I used a box mix because I didn't see the sense in wasting 12 egg yolks (even though I don't really like yolks). So anyway, the angel food cake sides burned but the insides was salavageable and tasted pretty good. I baked it for way too long (damn recipe!!!) and the cake doesn't have as light and airy a texture as I expected. Instead it had a bready feel to it, which is still not too bad. Topped with some whipped topping and served alongside some fresh strawberries, the cake was delicious.
The arrival of winter also means the return of comfort foods. The most recentl comforting creation was grilled ham and (Swiss) cheese on rye. It was simple, uncomplicated and simply heavenly. Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
An All-American Palate
Hullo friends!
I've been having a good week so far and I hope the same goes for you too! Anywayz, my culinary adventure this past seven days has been limited to the confines of my apartment, which is fine by me coz I love to cook. Originally, I had planned on visiting the beautiful Chicago Botanical Garden in the far north suburb but my companion got sick *boohoo* and we had to cancel. What was even more disappointing is that we were planning to get lunch at an Ethiopian place before we make our way to the garden. Sigh~ Such is the story of my life.
As for my homely culinary feats, they have been mostly very all-American. The best meal I made recently consisted of meatloaf with a tangy pineapple/ketchup/brown sugar glaze, garlicky green beans and the blue box mac'n'cheese. I don't know if a meal can get any more American. So here's a picture of dinner prior to assembly:
And here's my pathetic attempt at haute cuisine plating:
Here's a more standard plating style:
While mulling around at home with not much to do (which is one of my favorite ways to spend a day), I was inspired to bake a batch of raisin oatmeal cookies. I haven't baked cookies recently because I'm trying to lose weight (so I can eat more in Indonesia later this month *harhar*) and be fit. Hmmm... note the prioritizing... Anyway, I baked a batch of cookies with the Quaker oats recipe that they always give on the jar cap inside. I haven't been able to bake the kind of cookies that bakeries make, i.e. large, thin cookies with crisp outsides and chewy/soft insides. I thought that this might be achieved by underbaking the cookies slightly. which I did (I baked them for 9 minutes, the recommended baking time is 10-12 minutes, big difference, I know). Right out of the oven, the cookies were delicious and crisp while maintaining the softness inside. However, the next day, they became totally soft and chewy. Sigh~ Maybe the bakery cookies are always that way because they're always fresh? I dunno.
Cookie Monster atack!!! Man, that bite sure is big!
Oatmeal raisin cookies in the TWILIGHT ZOOONE!!! Doodoodooodoodoodoodoodoo *Twilight Zone theme song* ... What a geek.
We've been eating relatively mild stuff the past few days due to J's cold/cough. Lotsa chicken and chicken soup, other soups, salads and (drum rolls) grilled cheese! Yep, good ol' Americana! Anywayz, for the grilled cheese, I've been using this block of Mousehouse Jack that J bought from Wisconsin. By itself the Jack cheese is super creamy and smooth. In the grilled cheese sandwich, it's even better. The warm, ooey-gooey, melted cheese is perfectly sandwiched by two buttered, grilled white bread.
Now tell me that's not the most beautiful grilled cheese sandwich ever!?!?
Okie dokie, that's all for now. I'm being dragged to Indianapolis tonight for a long weekend. Yep, gaming convention. Don't look at me that way! It's J's brilliant idea! Of course, I'm going to try scouting out good restaurants around Indie! Have a great weekend and eat well!
I've been having a good week so far and I hope the same goes for you too! Anywayz, my culinary adventure this past seven days has been limited to the confines of my apartment, which is fine by me coz I love to cook. Originally, I had planned on visiting the beautiful Chicago Botanical Garden in the far north suburb but my companion got sick *boohoo* and we had to cancel. What was even more disappointing is that we were planning to get lunch at an Ethiopian place before we make our way to the garden. Sigh~ Such is the story of my life.
As for my homely culinary feats, they have been mostly very all-American. The best meal I made recently consisted of meatloaf with a tangy pineapple/ketchup/brown sugar glaze, garlicky green beans and the blue box mac'n'cheese. I don't know if a meal can get any more American. So here's a picture of dinner prior to assembly:
And here's my pathetic attempt at haute cuisine plating:
Here's a more standard plating style:
While mulling around at home with not much to do (which is one of my favorite ways to spend a day), I was inspired to bake a batch of raisin oatmeal cookies. I haven't baked cookies recently because I'm trying to lose weight (so I can eat more in Indonesia later this month *harhar*) and be fit. Hmmm... note the prioritizing... Anyway, I baked a batch of cookies with the Quaker oats recipe that they always give on the jar cap inside. I haven't been able to bake the kind of cookies that bakeries make, i.e. large, thin cookies with crisp outsides and chewy/soft insides. I thought that this might be achieved by underbaking the cookies slightly. which I did (I baked them for 9 minutes, the recommended baking time is 10-12 minutes, big difference, I know). Right out of the oven, the cookies were delicious and crisp while maintaining the softness inside. However, the next day, they became totally soft and chewy. Sigh~ Maybe the bakery cookies are always that way because they're always fresh? I dunno.
Cookie Monster atack!!! Man, that bite sure is big!
Oatmeal raisin cookies in the TWILIGHT ZOOONE!!! Doodoodooodoodoodoodoodoo *Twilight Zone theme song* ... What a geek.We've been eating relatively mild stuff the past few days due to J's cold/cough. Lotsa chicken and chicken soup, other soups, salads and (drum rolls) grilled cheese! Yep, good ol' Americana! Anywayz, for the grilled cheese, I've been using this block of Mousehouse Jack that J bought from Wisconsin. By itself the Jack cheese is super creamy and smooth. In the grilled cheese sandwich, it's even better. The warm, ooey-gooey, melted cheese is perfectly sandwiched by two buttered, grilled white bread.
Now tell me that's not the most beautiful grilled cheese sandwich ever!?!?
Okie dokie, that's all for now. I'm being dragged to Indianapolis tonight for a long weekend. Yep, gaming convention. Don't look at me that way! It's J's brilliant idea! Of course, I'm going to try scouting out good restaurants around Indie! Have a great weekend and eat well!
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