Weird Things...

Here are some things I made that came out successfully and not at the same time...

So, this doesn't look too bad does it? Yeah, I think it looks pretty darn good. But it wasn't that great, sadly. It's just a veggie soup with turkey meatballs and farfalle. It was kind of bland, but edible. One thing I must remember: cooked pasta does not fair well in the freezer. I made a big batch of this, put it in the freezer, and when I microwaved it... bleh the consistency of the pasta just turned horrendous. I couldn't eat it after that.

Here's a meal that was pretty good, flavor-wise. It is just some chicken thighs that I marinated in some type of sauce. Pretty sure the sauce was on the sweeter side (no surprise there). But the chicken came out kind of tough because I think the thigh meat is best for low and slow cooking. And the skin was really thick and kind of chewy...

So this was not too bad. But we all know that again, ribs are best when they're done low and slow. I didn't have the patience for that. But the flavor was pretty good. It was a spicy/sweet combo. On top are some julienned korean peppers and sliced almonds. I really like the almost licorice-like element the raw korean pepper added, and the almonds gave it some good nutty notes.

I think the biggest thing to learn here is that you can have something that tastes good, but it won't go as far as it could go without the right texture. I have to remember to have more patience.

Asian Food!

I love Asian food.

But how could I not? I mean, after all, I grew up on Asian food--I'm Korean. Here are a few meals I made with Asian inspiration.

This one here was specifically Korean-inspired. Korean porridge is called "jook" and chicken porridge (pictured here) is called "ddak jook." It's sooooo easy to make. I don't know why I don't make more, seeing as how it's really comforting and hearty at the same time. I boiled some water, added some cooked short grain rice (the only kind I really use with Asian food), sesame seed oil, and then when it was all bubbling together and at the right consistency (like a really thick stew, or similar to rice pudding) I added the chicken. I topped it with a little furikake, which is actually a Japanese seasoning that usually consists of a variation on seaweed, bonito flakes, seasame seeds, etc. If it needed salt, I just added soy sauce. Eat hot!

I haven't made this in forever. It is fried tofu and tilapia, with scallions and ginger. I don't remember how to make it exactly, as there is a certain sauce you need to steam the scallions with perfectly, but it must have some rice wine vinegar in it and that sauce that you dip soba noodles into (I don't remember the name right now!). I need to remember to cook the scallions really lightly--it's best when they still have a bit of that crunch. And I love ginger in anything; it really gives a certain quality of life to the food. Serve over rice and enjoy!

This is fried rice, with kimchi. It is a basic fried rice, but I added baby corn and water chestnuts for some crunch (are those things in there normally?)

Last but not least is a tofu-veggie stir-fry. Woah, it looks so gross in the photo but I swear it doesn't taste the way it looks. No need to go into detail with the cooking process, because it literally is what it is. One thing I might mention is that I always finish it with mirin, rice wine vinegar, because I like it slightly sweet and tangy.

Just for kicks, here's my baby: my rice cooker. I haven't used it all year actually. Sad face. But last year I would make a batch of rice, separate it into individual servings, wrap them in plastic wrap, and stick them in the freezer. That way, it was easy to just take one serving out, give it a zap in the microwave, and I would have delicious homemade rice ready for me in 5 minutes!

Tortilla Time!

Just a bunch of different recipes that are unified in that fact that they use the glorious tortilla!
I love tortillas--corn, flour, small, big, you name it, I love it.

Here I used basic corn tortillas. The filling is a plantain-chicken mixture. I took the dark meat off of a rotisserie chicken, chopped it up and fried it a little more, added some chopped up plantains to it, and there you go! Pretty simple, but pretty delicious. It's amazing how good simple food can be.

Here is the same idea, but with homemade salsa, and no plantains with the chicken this time. Yum!

This actually looks pretty gross... Oh and I'm eating on my bed... Classy... But I'm sure it was good. Pretty sure it was a flour tortilla with some sort of filling (you can really put anything you want in there) and then put on a pan to toast a little. Do it seam-side down first so it doesn't burst open everywhere and you end up with a mess on your hands.

I've also come to realize that all my pictures are pretty gross... Oh well, what can I do? I'm a poor college student without a real camera--all these pictures are from my phone's camera!

Randoms That I Don't Have Recipes For!

I had this when I was in the city again at a hotel restaurant called Niles, I think. It was quite a while ago but I remember I liked it. It is a grilled sea bass filet on top of asparagus with lobster ravioli. I believe the ravioli pasta part had some squid ink in it, hence the dark stripes. Unfortunately, I don't quite remember what the yellow sauce was... All in all, a really good meal!

This is an apple-squash soup that I made with my friend, Brighton, when she visited me for her spring break. As far as making soups go, it wasn't that hard. I don't quite remember what the ingredients were but, obviously there was apple and squash in it. I also think there was a good amount of cheddar cheese in it. This soup was the kind you puree in a blender. Topped with chives, it was pretty delicious and I'm quite proud that we were able to pull it off!

Chiba's!! Oh, how that first visit changed my life. Chiba's is a restuarant in LA (North Hollywood on Saticoy Blvd.) and it has some of the best sushi I've had. Well it was great the first time anyways. Subsequent visits haven't wow'd me like that first time but it has still been consistently delicious. Especially that salmon toro and the scallop with the sauce. The salmon was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, with buttery notes, and the scallop was good, but especially when paired with that light sauce. Can't wait to go again!

Scoops is a delicous little ice-creamery right on LACC's campus. This place always has new inventive flavors. Pictured is what I think was Brown Butter and Blackberry, but I'm not quite sure. The ice cream is always soft and at the perfect texture/consistency, in contrast with the rock-hard ice cream that some places dish out. I really want to try the Olive Oil flavor, and other new flavors they might have now. I believe there is a board that customers can write new flavor ideas on... I think I've suggested garlic--I wonder if they tried it??

hey!

so some of my photos are messed up but im too lazy to care/change it.
going to do a lot of recipes today. not alot of time so just gonna get right into it.