Ravioli and White Mushroom Sauce

Mmm, mmmmm... I love Italian food. I'm no Italian food connoisseur, but I know what I like! Tonight I had an appetite for pasta but not a lot of spare time because next week is going to be busy, busy, busy, with preparing for tests and writing essays, etc. So needless to say, I needed to do something quick. Thankfully, the dish I prepared had its main components ready-made (hey, I'm a college kid!). This first time around, the sauce was a bit lumpy from my lack of judgment (too much flour!). But hopefully, I've made the necessary adjustments for the next time around, which there certainly will be!

Ingredients
About 5 ready-made spinach and ricotta ravioli (or whatever kind of filling you want)
Tblspn oil
4 or 5 sliced white button mushrooms
1 Chopped green onion
Salt
Oregano
Pepper
4 Tblspns butter
1 tblspn flour
1.5 cups milk
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
3 chopped slices of deli turkey meat

Procedure
Boil 2-3 quarts of salted water
Boil ravioli for 5-8 minutes
In a pan over medium-high heat, heat oil
Add mushrooms
Salt mushrooms
Add a dash of oregano and pepper
Add green onion
Remove from pan into a seperate container (plate, bowl, etc.)
Melt butter in pan over medium heat
Add flour, whisking and allowing flour and butter to combine
Let flour/butter mixture to cook a bit (approx. 3 minutes)
Slowly add milk
Add pepper and salt
Let thicken
Add cheese and mushroom mix
Stir and top ravioli with white sauce, any left over cheese, and chopped turkey

And Bon Apetit!

Una Fiesta en la Boca!

For those of you who are spanish-impaired, the above title means "A Party in the Mouth!" And that is exactly what I mean. I didn't make this dish today, but a few days ago. I had made plans to make good, authentic, LA-style tacos for a while and I finally did it. Now, when I mean good, authentic, LA-style, I mean real tacos. I don't mean tacos slathered in sour cream (though I have no objections to sour cream) or mexican-mix cheese (also love this stuff). I mean tacos with just the good stuff--meat and onions. Now, this may not sound appetizing, but anyone who has been to King Taco or any taco truck knows that is the only way to do it if you want to do it right. It is really a good testament to the idea of simplicity. Why try to mess with/jazz up something that is already so delicious with just it's core ingredients. Of course, at home, I can't help but add a few extra goodies, but I try to stay as true as possible.

Tacos por Eileen:
Ingredients
4 small white corn tortillas
Beef cut into small chunks
Diced onions
Roughly chopped cilantro
Minced garlic
Dash salt
Cayenne Pepper
About a tblspn of oil
optional additions: guacamole, salsa, & Tapatio hot sauce

Procedure
Warm up/toast tortillas on a pan, both sides
Combine onions and cilantro
In pan, heat oil on medium-high
Add garlic
Stir until browning
Add beef
Constantly stir to prevent burning and sticking
Add salt and dash of cayenne pepper
Cook fully

Combine tacos in whichever way desired
I usually go meat, onions, guacamole, salsa, hot sauce, EAT!

19 and Hungry

My name is Eileen.
Almost two decades ago, in sunny Los Angeles, a baby girl was born on the third month of the year. Flash forward 19 years later, and here I am, a sophomore in college, in Boston of all places. People ask me all the time, "What in God's name made you leave 60 degree winters for 15 degree ones?" And truthfully, I don't know. It was probably a combination of things. Parents, friends, myself, they all somehow convinced me to pick the winter-y winters of the east coast. True, last year was a rough roller coaster for me. I wasn't the happiest pickle in the bunch--in fact, I think I was the sourest (if that metaphor even makes sense and if I even used real words). But I learned to appreciate the opportunity that I was thrust into. I was able to get through it--the classes, the homework, the dorms, the cafeteria--HOLD ON. The caf!?! Am I seriously saying I got through that? Well maybe I stuck it out, but I was certainly not eating my way to happiness through french fries, hamburgers, dry chicken, soggy vegetables, and salty rice. Which brings me to my current point in life--19 and hungry.

I've always loved food and in some ways I think food has always loved me :]. And to show my love more culinary compassion, I am proud to say that this year, I am living in an apartment, equipped with a refrigerator, a toaster oven, and a gas-burning, pilot-light-constantly-going-out, uneven temperature distributing, stove! And thus, God hath given man fire! And with fire, he (or she) actually made something edible! So here's the point: I plan on not just crawling my way through my sophomore year, scrounging up frozen foods and microwaveable lean pockets, but to actually wield a spatula, a chef's knife, a frying pan, and to cook.
I promise there will be dissapointing dishes, but there will also be delectable delights. My aim is to blog and record my adventures and misadventures, and come out victorious for going on the journey at all!

Let this be one little nudge for me and one tiny shuffle for all foodies alike!