Not Feelin' the Bloggin' Tonight

I had a few preconceived ideas about what I would write about tonight. None of which I will actually write about since it is already 12:45 AM and I have essays about medicine and science to write about. Gotta love that carefree senior year (wait what?). So, think of this post as an ultra-hip alternative, creative writing exercise. Or something. Just go it with.

1) Nilla Wafer Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

My friend's and I do this little thing called "Wolfpack Mondays," which started off as a singular evening of cheese and bread to celebrate a dear friend and to commiserate with a rather unfair rejection. Given, we are all seniors, the urge for nostalgia and friendship formed Wolfpack Mondays. It's actually quite a nice little tradition, though like all college extra-curriculars, its fallen a bit by the wayside during the midterms/ahhh I have to deal with real life things.  And honestly, I'm mildly a sucker for waxing in exclusivity when it comes to friends. Which is a rather poor combination when your negative personality (as demonstrated just now) tends to make forming great friends a rather uphill battle. But hey, the most negative people are often the most idealistic because they hold such high expectations about the world right? But anyways, I've been trying to make Wolfpack Mondays into an excuse for me to make food night. It's been a bit of a hit/miss. On one had, I did manage to make oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies. But on the other hand, the attempt to make Nilla Wafer ice cream sandwiches with sliced strawberries ended up becoming an eat Nilla Wafers and strawberries party when the ice cream turned out too be a bit too goopy for forming structurally sound sandwiches. 

Oh, btw, there are only 5 Mondays left, including commencement, for those who are wondering.

2) Gluten Free Pasta Partay

My second alternative after Monday night Nilla Wafer ice cream sandwiches were a dud was to make a little post infused with science on gluten-free pasta, what it means to be gluten intolerant, what celiac disease is exactly, and why you should not consider switching to gluten-free just because you think its healthier. On Thursday, I attended a special Pasta E Basta guest chef dining event that featured a gluten-free pasta menu (sponsored by Barilla), that included a little demo on how to make pesto and boil pasta (since that is a skill...?). Alas, since listening to an America's Test Kitchen podcast episode where they discussed the practice of taking pictures while dining out, I've been a little self-conscious of the act. Regardless of pictures or not, the pasta was really excellent. Barilla definitely gets major props for making a fine mixture of corn/rice taste and have the texture of normal wheat pasta. Plus, the macaroni and cheese they served was to die for.

But, speaking of gluten free, definitely check out the blog Science Based Medicine about gluten sensitivities  (list of gluten related posts). I've also linked one of their more recent posts that gives a good overview of celiac vs. non celiac gluten sensitivities. Gluten-free is definitely a little confusing since it is both a serious disease for some, and a rather silly diet fad for others. I remember thinking that both celiac and gluten sensitivity were primarily a fad diet thing before I found out one of my childhood friends has celiac and she made me realize that there are several people out there who do suffer serious consequences from eating gluten. Celiac is actually a very specific autoimmune response to gluten that can kill you if you don't eliminate gluten from your diet. There are other non-celiac gluten intolerances that are an active area of medical research, which you can read more about in the links I have posted. Some of the fad-diet gluten-free labeling is actually detrimental to people with actual celiac because they can only tolerate a very specific parts-per-million (ppm) of gluten in foods. However, currently there isn't very strong regulation about what this ppm is, so companies looking to cash in on the gluten-free diet fad may label foods as "gluten free" when in fact they have a higher than tolerable ppm of gluten in them.

I think this post turned into just a 2x as long post rather than a short, hey look at the things I was thinking of writing about. My bad. Also, I apologize for the lack of food photos, but check out my tumblr on the left side bar if you ever need to stare at food pictures. Or you know, go to foodgawker.

An Egg Sandwich Tale

This is again that part of the year where I don't really bake or cook because I'm occupied with eating in the dining halls and thinking about how happy I am to have gotten a 40/75 on an exam (only 2 points below average! hell yes!). 

So instead, we have another long rambling food ode. This time, on the more savory side. This story is rather a star-crossed tale if you believe in the mildly endearing, alumni donation campaign better known as the Harvard-Yale rivalry. While my family is currently solidly in the dark blue camp of things (I mean, come on, dark blue is just such a swoon worthy color), there was once a period of time a few years back where we may have become a split H-Y household. My sister stood balanced between these two schools. One with a strong undergraduate community filled with student organizations and passions teetering at the edge of overpopulation and catastrophe, the other with the best damn egg sandwiches ever. Ok, so technically Crema Cafe, the location of said best egg sandwiches is not actually at Harvard, but Harvard square is approximately the same thing. Just with more tourists.

Egg sandwiches are a classic at any point in your life, but even more so during your college years. Late night snack, morning hangover "cure" (the eggs may help a little but thats about it), and you've basically covered the two most important meals for a college student. Unfortunately, the go-to place for egg and cheese sandwiches over here is no longer a place I can visit due to a they-don't-pay-their-workers kerfluffle. Nevertheless, even if those egg sandwiches were made by paid workers, they still wouldn't be as good.
The perfect egg sandwich must not only consist of bread, eggs, and cheese at a minimum, but also must combine said pieces in the appropriate ratio. Each component must also stand alone as an edible individual food. This means, perfectly toasted english muffin, fluffy eggs so light and perfectly shaped you'd think a special mold was needed to make then (which is true), sharp white cheddar cheese that cuts through your sandwich like a long, lost friend. And in this particular case, a perfect slice of tomato that doesn't get awkwardly pulled out in its entirety on your first bite.

There are few things quite as lovely as a perfect english muffin. No, those thomas english muffins are not the perfect english muffins. I don't have much experience with english muffins to be quite frank, but I want all my future english muffins to be like the ones from Crema. So flipping light and soft, with such a deliciously crispy outer layer. The perfect exterior for the perfect toasting--not too mushy, not too crumbly. Combined with my endless love for quality cheese and my immense appreciation for fluffy eggs, well, lets just say I would gladly accept warm egg sandwiches as payment in lieu of cash.
I may be a bulldog/yalie/whatever half endearing, half pretentious name you'd like to use today, but when it comes to egg sandwich loyalties, you'll see me up north in a square surrounded by crimson.

Quesadilla Remixes: The Infinite Playlist

By infinite, I mean exactly three. I was going to save this post for later after I've accumulated many more quesadillas that I have photographed. But then, I didn't bother to take pictures of my meh Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies stuffed with mini oreos since it felt mildly like cheating, and lighting at night in the student kitchen is mildly embarrassing. So instead, quesadillas! 

I already can tell. Quesadillas are the things that are gonna get me by next year when I am out in the big scary real adult world with no meal plan. You'd think a person running a food blog would be tizzy about the idea of getting to cook up elaborate, fun, fantastic meals. But this person running a food blog is also seriously lazy and has a hard time getting off the couch once she's sat down with her laptop for the evening.

Granny Smith Apples, Cheddar Cheese, and Pumpkin Butter

The best thing about quesadillas is that they can be endlessly varied and still taste great. After all, if you think about it, the tortilla is really just a vehicle for the ooey-gooey and whatever else inside. You could easily fill your daily meals with a breakfast quesadilla (eggs anyone?), two normal cheese quesadillas, and a dessert quesadilla (that melted pb and nutella guys) without much thought or effort.

Grilled Mushroom, Cheddar, and Avocado (yea its a repeat, sorry!)

And once you get bored of your most basics of basics, you can experiment with literally every part of the quesadilla. Tired of white flour tortillas? Try whole wheat! (they aren't that good tbh) Corn tortillas! Larger tortillas! Mini tortillas! Sick of cheddar? Stuff in every cheese you have ever loved for a giant oozy cheese party! Hell, you could even put ice cream in a tortilla (lightly baked with cinnamon sugar of course) and have yourself an ice cream quesadilla. 

Peanut Butter, Nutella, Banana

Qusadillas are the potatoes to my meal planning. I may not care for mashing, frying, baking potatoes or real food sometimes, but I've always got my quesadillas. And I could always just stuff one with a baked potato if I really wanted. Maybe.

Wine and Cheese Cupcakes: White Edition

This is exciting! A new baking post! For the first time months! For the first time in forever (not really, but I just really wanted to slip in a vague Frozen reference).
I didn't have much time to bake while I was at home the past two weeks, so I had to plan the one day I set aside for any cooking/baking fun carefully. Since cupcakes brought me into the world of baking, it seemed appropriate to rekindle my baking with some.

I first saw this recipe on Cupcake Project back last summer and instantly knew that I wanted to try baking them. It seems that I continue to have a strong attraction to baking with alcohol, probably simply because its still a novelty for my oh so youthful 20s. But I have a feeling these white wine and goat cheese cupcakes will likely be baked again even if cupcakes or alcohol baking has lost its novelty for me in a few years. These are definitely some of my best baked goods of 2014. Well, this is mostly due to the fact that I was on an ice cream making spree earlier (which, rest assured, will continue).

As I was skeptical of my baking abilities, I sought to use the cheapest of white wines. Yep, the two buck chuck. I can't even remember the real name of that stuff anymore (I want to say Charles Schwab, but thats a bank that I'm pretty sure doesn't do a joint business in wine). I don't really actually know anything about wine quality, but I do know that the specific taste of wine was distinctively obvious in the cake. There was some goat cheese added to the cake batter as well, but that flavor was a bit less noticeable, or straight up lacking. I get the sense that the cake flavor varies a bit with the type of white wine used, so this might be a fun area of further exploration.
The frosting is a pretty simple variation of a typical frosting, except with goat cheese, butter and powdered sugar. I found that the frosting was a bit on the sweet side with a cream cheese tang. However, I ended up using only about 75% of the amount of goat cheese called for in the recipe so this may have been why the frosting was more on the sweet rather than tangy side.

I'm still working a bit on my frosting and decorating game a bit. The goat cheese frosting had cream cheese frosting symptoms and was a bit droopy in the first few minutes after I piped it, but it crusted fairly well after five minutes so that it stopped leaking. Though the leaking effect does have its own sort of charm to it.

Recipe from my one true baking love, Cupcake Project. Given the fidelity of the wine and cheese combo in everyday fancy dining appetizers, there must be endless ways to adapt wine and cheese into a sweet cupcake version. Cupcake Project has a chocolate/red wine cupcake that is also on my baking list, so we can do a little comparison in the future. :)

California Cuisine: Some Dining Out

It's been a bit of a hard week in the staying positive and being self-confident area of things. I know its a bit toxic and not particularly healthy, but I also know that in the end it won't matter and where ever I end up in life, I'll be content with it. Which brings the question of why I should subjugate myself to so much self deprecation when the end is definitely not guaranteed and likely the same as if I just saved myself and everyone some disappointment. I guess the main difference, and the one I so bitterly (stubbornly?) believe in is the fact that at least one way I know I tried. Even if I'm often not exactly sure if I'm trying hard enough since a lot of my trying hard involves wasting time on the internet. 

Anyways, not much to talk about on the food end of things, even though this is supposed to be a food blog.  My parents have become quite enthusiastic fans of dining out as they pass through their mid-life. With most of the kids out of the house, and just one with three more years to go, I think that ~retirement~ horizon has got them in the fine dining mood. Lucky for us kids, our parents are really far too generous and take us along with them.
In this case, we went to Downey's, a classic California/American restaurant for a birthday this week. By "California," I mean the typical organic, locally sourced meat/poultry/fish cooked over beds of also organic, locally sourced vegetables and the likes all impeccably plattered. While everything tasted great, I'm not sure it was worth the price. We've definitely eaten at other places with slightly lower prices that were both better and not as formal. Formality, like, the whole three-five course French tradition fixed meal sort of thing is not something I'm particularly into. But hey, if you like that kind of dining mixed with some great fine dining California cuisine, try it out.

For my entree I had the duck, which was quite good, but again similar to what I've had at other restaurants while dining on the parent's money. I did find it charming that they gave out truffles rather than mints with the check. In this case, they added a candle and some birthday writing to make up for the fact that no one in our family had space in our stomaches for actual dessert.

My insistence to post once a week is eating away at the quality of posts, so if you didn't make it this far, don't worry, there wasn't much you missed.

CA Food: The Hits

By hits, I mean basically the most rapid-fire, condensed version possible of foods that embody California to me. There are some gross omissions, but thats due in part to my locking-myself-in-the-house-and-studying mode that I seem to always be in during spring break these days. I suppose this could be my suggested dining plan for someone who had only 1 day in CA and insisted on only eating 3 meals. Which is ridiculous when we all know there is second breakfast (fun fact, this is a real thing in Bavaria and Poland), mid-morning snack, mid-afternoon snack, lunner, linner, dessert, night cheese, midnight snack, late-night greasy food ect ect ect. But that more detailed dining list will have to come at a later date.

 Above are probably the two things that embody CA food the best. On the left, a berry-topped acai bowl from Backyard Bowls consumed by your stereotyped granola crunchy, goin' with the flow, health conscious (though hopefully scientific about it!), yogi/surfer/climber/runner-type. But, as I am only 30% that type of person, clearly the popularity of these types of fruit/smoothie bowls derives mainly from the fact that they're just flipping delicious. Plus, who wouldn't want to eat acai bowls every week if the weather was always sunshines and fresh fruit? Granted, your wallet might not like you a lot, but definitely worth at least a weekly visit!

On the right is the classic, the historic, the #vintage In-N-Out burger with a touch of intense LA #sunshine. Just look at that slightly charred, buttery bun, the gooey melted cheese, the slathering of "special sauce" at the bottom. Can you really say Shake Shack or Five Guys can beat this for only three dollars? No, I didn't think so. I mean, Shake Shack and Five Guys are great, but no one can beat In-N-Out for cost:quality ratio. Especially with that not so secret menu you guys all know about anyways thanks to buzzfeed.

Obviously no blitz summary of CA food is really complete unless something Mexican is included. In this case, a garlic-mushroom, avocado, cheddar quesadilla. Not really the classic queso-oozing to the brink of coronary bypass status of a quesadilla you'd probably find at a restaurant, but hey, part of the charm of a quesadilla is its flexibility. Breakfast quesadillas, dessert quesadillas, so many options! But obviously, any quesadilla (except for dessert I guess) is always infinitely better with a slathering of avocado and salsa when possible.

I should mention, Happy Pi Day! Gotta love 3.14. Sad fact about myself, I really only have pi memorized up to 3.14. I think there's a quiz game you can play to improve your memorization. Though honestly, memorizing pi was one of those nerd skills that only gave you cool points back in high school. Except, if you do know pi out to a large number of digits, you get gold stars from me if not cool points. And specifically on this year's pi day, 3.14.14, the Veronica Mars movie comes out! The one that made history in online crowd funding and broke Kickstarter's record for most money raised for a project! I mention all of this to you because if I had the time to bake, there probably would have been a marshmallow pie post instead for Pi day and Veronica Mars day. You know, since Veronica is really just an adorable marshmallow under all that tough crime-busting stuff she normally does. But seriously, for anyone who is just chilling during their spring break or wants a break from work/studying, check out Veronica Mars! Here are some links to the trailer and the opening scene  of the movie which gives a pretty quick and fast overview of the tv seasons. Not convinced? Kristen Bell (most recently, Anna in Frozen) is just straight up adorable.

Throwback: I'm on a boat

A pita chip boat that is.

Things that this post could have been about:

• look, something that isn't cake!
• the overwhelming relief of spring break.
• the fond memories I have associated with this pita boat about asteroid summer camp. Seriously, some of the friends I made in those stupid(ly great) 6 weeks are among people I talk to the most in a given week. And I'm definitely not the stereotype bff 4lifes camp chippewa type.
• a brief investigative report on the identity of the elbow in the picture.

Things that this post will be about:

• All of the above and including this mildly meta line.