Food Adventures: Sweet + Savory

WARNING: You may get hungry...and a little jelly

I wanted to share with you some of the places that I've been drooling to try and finally did! AHHH! I love food so much I am just so excited to talk about, revisit my experience and be reminded of the deliciousness that has went to my hips and thighs. LOL.

1. Halal Guys - Combo beef and chicken plate

 

East coasts meets the best coast! I waited 2 hours and 10 minutes for this New York delight when a chain opened up in Costa Mesa,CA. Months later, they are opening up one 1.5 miles from home. YAY!

2. Cookie Good - Pancake maple bacon cookie

Tastes just like breakfast. I thought this was going to be too much going on and too sweet, but OH MY DANG!! This is amazing.I crave this weekly. 

3. Honeymee - Honey affogato

On that day, I tasted heaven. Pure milk ice cream topped with honey and coffee....who would have thought honey would go SO WELL with ice cream...and then coffee on top. Foodaliciously orgasmic. Oyyyy...drooling. 

4. CottonHi - Tiramisu

When your ice cream is as frizzy as your hair...Growing out my brows..relax

Organic cotton candy + fresh soft serve. I got the tiramisu. My cotton candy was coffee flavored. 

5. Georgetown Cupcakes - Lavender Earl Grey Teacake

Sadly, this is only a seasonal flavor, but dang is it delicious!! Not too sweet. It's delicious, light, and just heaven. There's no other way to describe it.

Even though I just ate dinner, I somehow feel hungry again...HMMMM. 

Please let me know of any must-try places in the Los Angeles area!! 

Xoxoxo

Food Adventures: MUST TRY!! Po'boys, kimchi pasta and pie!

WARNING: YOU MAY GET HUNGRY ;)

I was originally going to write about a few eateries where the food was beyond good. But as I started writing, there were only two that really stuck out as must-try's with one honorable mention.

I hope you just ate because if you didn't, you will be hungry!

1. Orleans and York Deli

Shrimp and oyster po'boy

Three words: OH MY GOSH. I do not know what I did to deserve such heavenly delightfulness, but I am very thankful I found this spot!! This is only half the sandwich as one whole was way too much. The oysters and shrimp were so plump. PLUMP. No skimping on the size or quality. 

As I was looking up po'boys in the Los Angeles area, restaurants described their po'boys as "a new twist on the po'boy" or "LA version" or blah blah blah...I wanted something close to the real thing. This sounds dramatic, but I think about this po'boy AT LEAST 1x/week. I am in love. Don't judge >_<

2. Yellow House Cafe

Kimchi pasta

Pasta is not one of my go-to/favorite foods. And I can barely stand kimchi (overeating it in elementary and high school has turned me away). So why in the world did I order this dish? Because it was spicy! LOL. I can't resist my spicy food.

I was very surprised and impressed with this dish. I never would have imagined that the dish tasted the way it did. Surprisingly, it did not taste like kimchi. It was creamy goodness with a kick of heat.

The Honorable Mention: Pie Hole

Earl grey pie

The earl grey pie is one of the most popular items on the menu. It definitely lives up to the hype! The slice is creamy, fluffy, and airy with the perfect amount of sweetness. Delicious. 

If you're ever in the LA area, you must give these places a try! You won't regret it! :)

Now off to the next adventure!

<3<3<3

In The Kitchen: Chocolate and Avocado

I thought I would start a series of food I make here and there. I already have one recipe on my blog about Baked "Fried" Pickles (if you love pickles, you will love this recipe!). When I remember (and have time), I love taking pictures of what I make. I am one of those who enjoy taking pictures of food. I share them with my mom and my boyfriend. It's like I make them a part of meal? Now how sweet and inclusive am I?! LOL. Just kidding, just kidding. 

I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I make and recipes I try. I enjoy reading these kinds of posts and I hope you do too!

Chocolate covered strawberries

Funny thing is I used to HATE chocolate covered strawberries probably because I hate strawberries. I made these once for my coworkers and fell in love. Fun fact: I still can't stand strawberries by itself.

I was inspired to make this two weeks ago because I was craving them. And I just wanted one. I was at the mall and stopped by Godiva to buy one chocolate strawberry. One strawberry was $9.50. YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! It was one for $9.50 and 6 for $12.50. I could have bought 6 but the others would have gone to waste. I walked out of there thinking, Who the heck do you think you are, Godiva?! Call me cheap, but I would NEVER pay $9.50 for a strawberry dipped in chocolate.

The next day, I made some myself for under $9.50. And as you can see, I made more than one.

Banana walnut bread

I got this recipe from Sonia from Youtube's sccastaneda. She had a video sharing her banana bread recipe. I have been meaning to make it but all of my bananas would be gone before they had a chance to get overripe. The only change I made to the recipe is to add dark chocolate chips on top and to decrease the brown sugar from 1 cup to just a little less than 3/4 cup. 

My parents actually LOVED it! They are very hard to please when it comes to my baking saying everything is too sweet. The bread was perfectly moist and had the right amount of sweetness. My mom has even special ordered a batch for her office. YES!

Frozen chocolate peanut banana bites

I saw this on Instagram. My version is not as pretty as the original, but it sure was amazing! :)

Egg in avocado

Avocados have been so trendy lately! I've seen mashed avocado on toast (which I eventually tried and loved!) and I've been seeing this egg avocado bake. Totally weird idea, but it was pretty good. I would totally make this again, but I would probably gravitate towards the avocado mash. It was faster to make and I enjoyed it more.

Frozen coffee cubes

I am still trying to master the perfect iced coffee. It just doesn't come out like the coffee shops do. For starters, my coffee would always get diluted when I put in ice cubes. I tried the trick of freezing some coffee cubes (here, I froze about a small Styrofoam sized cup) to put into my coffee. I don't know what went wrong. The coffee was too bitter, but at least my it was not diluted?

Chocolate walnut clusters

With my leftover walnuts and dark chocolate chips from my banana bread, I decided to make some chocolate walnut clusters. So easy to make and you can control how chocolatey or how walnuty you want it to be. LOVE! It is sometimes hard to find just walnuts and dark chocolate, two of my favorite things. 

Here's how I made it:

I hope you enjoyed a look into my kitchen eats. If you have any amazing recipes to share or tricks on the perfect iced coffee, please do share! :)

<3<3<3

Food Adventures: Asian, Mexican, and Ice Cream!

WARNING: YOU MAY GET HUNGRY ;)

Just like most people, I love food. I love trying new food whether it be the latest hip-happenin' spot or a hole-in-the-wall. I just love food and I'll eat almost anything! If it's not a bug or moving, I will try it at least once! :)

I decided to start a little mini series of my food adventures. I'm one of those that post food pics on Instagram and look up food pics. I love food so much that I even enjoy staring at it. I do love food posts and decided to share my own adventure. 

Here are some of the yummies I've come across in the last few weeks:

BELLY & SNOUT (Koreatown, Los Angeles)

A fusion of east meets west, combining American favorites with Filpino favorites.

Pork Adobo Grilled Cheese

I encouraged Ben to NOT get this, but of course, men don't listen. The first few bites were okay, but the cheese was just way too creamy that, after a a few bites, it was a bit too much. Creamy cheese should be a good thing, I know...but the creamy in this sandwich was not working for me. A little disappointing as grilled cheese is one of my faves!

Sisig Hot Dog (most popular item on the menu)

This was pretty good...until I ate half. There's just some weird creamy texture that makes it no longer enjoyable and this texture disrupts the palette. 

How can I describe it? Have you ever had so much sushi that there's something about the texture and flavor that makes it challenging to go on? And then you need to eat a piece of ginger to refresh your palette? That's how I would describe the two items above. 

Would I go again? YES. Even though I don't give the two above 5 stars, I would like to try their Sisig tater tots or fries. 

I am very proud to see Filipino food up and coming. It's totally underrated and overlooked. I will definitely be supporting this fusion Filipino food restaurant! Thanks, Belly N Snout! :)

HOME RESTAURANT (Los Feliz *Hipster town*, Los Angeles)

Traditional American with dishes from across the borders

Chilaquiles

I've mentioned this before in a previous post, chilaquiles is one of my most favorite Mexican dishes. Nothing beats a homecooked chilaquiles meal, but there are some out there that are pretty good and this is one of them.

THE ORIGINAL RAMEN BURGER (Koreatown, Los Angeles)

A burger patty sandwiched between two ramen stacks with a secret shoyu sauce

Ramen burger with spicy sriracha macha

Very delicious. A little too saucy. Not spicy at all. It was actually sweet, reminiscent of teriyaki sauce. Inside is the patty, arugula, secret shoyu glaze, and sriracha macha (not sure what macha is). Totally a must try! I would go again and again and again! :)

CARMELA ICE CREAM AND SORBET (Beverly Grove/Miracle Mile, Los Angeles)

Garden-inspired flavors such as herbs and spice, flowers and seasonal fruit (description retrieved from their website). Won awards as best ice cream in Los Angeles in years past

Fresh mint with cacao nibs

I'm usually not a mint person unless when it comes to ice cream!! It was really good, but as I kept eating, the minty flavor subsided. It was still delicious and I would get it again. 

Other flavors I tried:

- Lavender honey (tasted like flowers!! and then a sweet kick of honey at the end)

- Champagne pear sorbet (taste like a cold, icey pear puree)

- Nutmeg (so that's what nutmeg tastes like!)

Hope you enjoyed my first installment of my Food Adventures :)

Are you hungry? I sure am!

<3<3<3

What I Ate Wednesday: Stress Day!

I love reading Anna Saccone's "What I Ate Wednesday" posts. I love food. I love looking at food. And I love seeing what other foods people eat. 

I have done one of these posts before. I must say, it's difficult for me to keep up because I forget to take pictures! Whoops!

Today was a bit of a stressful day at work so I had a tendency to stress eat. I controlled myself a bit as I'm trying to lose some of the holiday weight (my work pants are tighter!). 

Here's how today went:

Breakfast:

I usually only drink smoothies during summer, but I've eaten so much since Thanksgiving, that I felt I had to bring the green smoothies back to cleanse my body. I put in water, bananas, strawberries, and as many leafy greens I can fit in. I usually use whatever fruit is on hand.

I bought these fiber cakes a Trader Joes after a fellow digestive problem friend told me these help him. It tasted like sweet cardboard. It was also really grainy. At the end of the day, I need my fiber. I gotta do what I gotta do.

My breakfast :) Green smoothie plus a fiber mini cake.

Lunch:

Amazing ravioli from Trader Joes! A must try!

This was a semi-homemade lunch meal. I added garlic and red chili flakes to Trader Joes' pumpkin soup and let it all simmer for about 20 minutes. I added in the ravioli for another 4 - 5 minutes. I added more chili flakes at the end as I do enjoy spicy food. I was able to yield two servings: lunch for today and tomorrow.

Snacks throughout my workday:

Korean brand tiramisu cup cake

Pumpkin spiced Milano cookie

A bite of kale chips from Trader Joes

Spinach & kale Greek yogurt dip with whole wheat pita bread. AMAZING!!!!!!

A small piece of spicy Asian beef jerky

Cold water with peach blossom green tea

[Not pictured: Candy cane Kiss chocolate]

Dinner:

Yoshinoya dinner

Stressful days call for not-so-good-for-you food. Beef dinner with rice, veggies and dinner. On the bright side, I did get a load of veggies.

Half an unfrosted strawberry poptart. 

I know what I ate today doesn't help with my Operation Lose-the-holiday-weight. A stressful day is not an excuse for poor eating, but it does make it easier! LOL. 

Tomorrow is a new day and I do hope it brings me less stress and better eating options.

Take care and be healthy :) but don't feel bad if you fall off the wagon  day or two this week. It happens :)

I'm thinking of posting my typical weekly food routine, pre- and post- holiday feasting! Stay tuned :)

<3<3<3

Fall Treats: Oh My Pumpkin!

Tis the season for PUMPKINS! Just like most of the world, I am wholeheartedly excited with the seasonal appearance of pumpkins. My family, my friends, and even my coworkers know how much I love pumpkin! They always make my day when they see me and bring me a pumpkin goodie telling me, "I saw this and thought of you." AWWWWWWWW. I am loved! or either very loud about my pumpkin obsession....HMMM ;)

To kick off the beginning of Fall and Fall yummies, one of my best friends and I had a mini pumpkin kitchen party!

Here's what came of it:

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies with pecans and dark chocolate chips

Homemade pumpkin spiced lattes

I take no credit for the recipes. I found both via the web:

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/10/02/favorite-pumpkin-oatmeal-cookies/

I actually stumbled across this recipe by chance on Instagram. I "clicked" on #pumpkin and the first picture was of pumpkin oatmeal cookies. I had to ask for the recipe. And the woman so graciously shared it with me. The online world can be a kind, kind place :)

Pumpkin spiced lattes 

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/234849/quick-pumpkin-spice-latte

It was delicious and not so sweet like the PSLs that you buy at coffee joints. I prefer my coffees not sweet so it was perfect! Of course, you can add more sugar if you like that extra sweetness.

The only thing I would need for the future is a mesh cloth or cheese cloth to strain the milk after everything was mixed. That's the only tool I didn't have. 

Future menu includes:

Pumpkin ravioli 

Pumpkin martinis

Pumpkin poptarts

Stay tuned! 

<3<3<3

Summer 2014 Favorites

Am I the only one super excited to see summer go?! Los Angeles had two weeks of a dry dry heat wave last week and the week before. I am so happy Fall is here! YEEEE!! Hello boots, scarves, and beanies! Well, it's not totally Fall weather just yet, but the weather is cooling down daily. YAAAS!

This summer, I did find some product that worked well for me. I'm so happy I came across them :)

(photo credit: www.benefitcosmetics.com)

Benefit Posietint

At first, I thought it would be too much of a bright pink on me. Boy. was I wrong! It took me some time to understand how to use it. Once I got the hang of it, I fell in love <3

Why I love it: The blush gives me a natural flush and lasts for the full work day and then some :)

Benefit The POREfessional

Why I love it: Definitely minimized my pores. I love the way my skin feels after application - silky and smooth! This also helps my daily tinted moisturizer last throughout my work day.

(OGX Coconut Milk Shampoo, Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, It's A 10 Leave-in Product, OGX Moroccan Oil)

Why I love it: Going as light as I did with my hair can really make hair look dry. I have gotten compliments, "Your hair looks so healthy despite the bleaching of your hair" / "Your hair looks so soft and healthy!" And as an added bonus, the coconut milk shampoo and 3 Minute Miracle both smell like coconut so my hair always smells so tropical :)

The reason why this is so exciting is because my hair is naturally dry. I've spent most of my life with coarse and unmanageable hair. It only took me 28 years to figure it out -__-

Minute Maid Watermelon

Yes, yes, I know super random! This has been my summer drink (beside the iced coffees, of course!). 

Why I love it: It's actually pretty tasty and a great drink for summer :)

What are your summer favorites?

<3<3<3

Food of the Moment: Loaded Oatmeal

Yes, yes. Oatmeal is a random food favorite, but lately, I've totally been digging it this way!!

After seeing +Anna Saccone 's "What I Ate Wednesday" posts and watching her daily vlogs, I decided to recreate her standard breakfast meal: oatmeal, banana, berries (I used raspberries), cinnamon and honey.

And oh gee golly! Amazingness!

Definitely makes eating oatmeal a lot more enticing with a healthy sweetness :) And it is a lot healthier than the regular maple brown sugar which is loaded with sugar. This is my favorite flavor, but as I get older, I am more conscious in reducing my sugar intake. 

Here's to a healthier alternative to plain or sugar-filled oatmeal!

Enjoy :)


<3<3<3

Half Boiled Eggs

I made a salad last week with half boiled eggs. It was heaven. It was simple, yet so very delicious!!

What made the salad was the eggs. I love eggs! I prefer when the yolk is not fully cooked. And I especially love them runny (eggs benedict is my FAVORITE egg dish)! I know that grosses some people out, but whyyyyyy?!?!?! It's soooooooooooo good. But to each their own.

When Benji of YouTube's BenjimanTV posted his tutorial on how to get the perfect half boiled egg, I knew that I had to try it.

His instructions are so easy to follow. Then again, how can you really mess up eggs? If there is a will, I guess there is a way to do so! However, the method is practically fool proof.

And if you're into runny eggs, you should definitely give this half boiled egg "recipe" a try.

It's 11pm at night and I'm totally digging a salad with egg now...MmmMmm




<3<3<3

In The Kitchen: Baked "Fried" Pickles

Fried pickles are one of my most favorite foods!! I am a PICKLE MONSTER.

I LOVE pickles!!!

And when you combine fried-ness and ranch (I know, I know, not so good for you) to one of my most favorite foods, you get amazingess!!

I randomly discovered fried pickles after college at a bar. I never knew these things existed until then. They are soooo good, but soooo bad for you because they're deep fried and infused with sodium.

I love them so much but I wanted to be able to eat them and not feel totally guilty.

While looking up cooking videos of how to make them, I came across Baked "Fried" Pickles. I was so excited by this!! After failed attempts of not getting them crispy enough, I finally got myself to buy the magic ingredient! Panko! I know I "needed" it for that crunch, but I just never remembered to buy it until recenty.

And because of Panko, I've mastered the baked fried pickle!

Here's my process:

There are plenty of recipes online. This post isn't meant to be a real recipe post, but more just me sharing my obsession with pickles, my process, and an opportunity to look back at my pickle post. Haha. Talk about pickle love!

I use dill spears. I don't like sweet pickles. Dill for the win! And I don't make more than 3 spears at a time. I think 3 is good enough. I pat them as dry as I can get them. I cut them in half for the drenching process (and to make them last longer and make me feel like I'm eating more. LOL)

My working station - I took this picture after I started so that's why it looks a bit messy. I have a bowl of one beaten egg with a few teaspoons of milk. In one plastic bag, I have Panko. In the other bag, I have flour seasoned with garlic salt, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes. I do enjoy foods with a kick!

My process: Dip in flour, dip in egg, dip in Panko, and repeat once more

After 15 minutes

Put in the oven until golden brown, flip if necessary, and ta-da!

Pickle power! Haha

Here's the YouTube video I used as a guide. The woman is pretty hilarious:



<3<3<3

Birthday Nails and Birthday SWEETS

Aloha! I mentioned in my previous post that there was a good chance I was going to change my nails. And I did! I kept my left hand the same and changed my right hand. I turned my nails into a festive birthday extravaganza!! 

(Confetti, balloons, cupcake, candles, and a green bow tie for my emerald birthstone)

The madness - I mixed colors and cleaned tools along the way 

I used my nail kit that I bought online on Amazon. It cost me only $1.57 and it came with free shipping! The only caveat was that shipping time would take 17 - 28 days as it was shipping from Hong Kong. To my delight, it came way sooner than expected. 

To continue with the birthday theme, it was a festive day at work! In our weekly Thursday meeting, we celebrated my birthday! My closest coworkers pitched in to buy me cronuts! Awww. I also received flowers and a cream puff....it was a sugar fest! I've been drinking water all day to dilute all that sugar running through my bloodstream. Haha :)

Hands down, the BEST cream puff I have ever had. There was caramel or butterscotch inside with the custard. mmHmm. And it wasn't too sweet so that was a major plus!

Excuse my partially eaten cronut. I ate it during the meeting, but didn't finish it because I wanted to save my appetite for our monthly staff luncheon.

Top left is coconut. Top right is blueberry and blackberry. The one I munched on was maple bacon. And that little triangle is a lemon poppy seed scone. They spoil me at work!

Tomorrow is my actual birthday. A few of my coworkers are taking me out to eat at Lemonade in Larchmont Village. Good company and good food are all I could ever ask for :) and rumor has it, they're making me wear a tiara ;)

Looks like 28 is going to be a sweet year for me ;)

<3<3<3