For my Grammy

This weekend I visited my grandmother for her birthday, which is today. One of the things I was most looking forward to was Grammy's homemade food. She always makes this pasta sauce for my sisters and me and it's so delicious because all of the vegetables are from her own garden. One of my other favorite foods from visits with Grammy are her pierogies. She doesn't actually make them, we buy them from the polish festival every year, but they are glorious ( yes I feel that strongly about them). For this visit, I was hoping my grammy and I would be able to make some blueberry pierogies together because we usually have potato and cheese pierogies. My grammy got out blueberries, which she picked herself during the season, from the freezer to defrost. Unfortunately, my grammy is very ill and was too weak make them. Maybe next time. I thought I would post this for her as a sort of tribute. Even though she couldn't make her wonderful food for me this time, at least everyone reading this will know how wonderful her and her food are. I've posted below a recipe for blueberry pierogies. It probably isn't the recipe Grammy would have used, but I'm sure it will still be delicious.


http://suite101.com/article/polish-blueberry-pierogies---fruit-dumpling-recipe-a277449

The Embarrassing Cheesecake

"Hey Mom! This is my girlfriend Lakota. She's goes to my school and she makes the best cheesecake... My Mom loves cheesecake."

"Really? It's nice to meet you Lakota. You just have to make me a cheesecake one of these days."

"Nice to meet you too and yes of course (hee-hee)."

This was one of the most on the spot, embarrassing days of my life. The day I decide to finally meet my boyfriend's mom is the day he tells the whole world I bake cheesecake! (It wasn't really the whole world. It was just his mom but it felt like a million people were in the room.) All I could think was, "Wow now I have to bake her a freaken cheesecake. Oh great!" 

As soon as my boyfriend and I got to his room, I slapped him so hard in his chest and said, "Great! Now, why would you do that for? What if I bake her a cheesecake and she hates it? Then she's going to hate. Thanks a lot Jeremie!"

 His mental thinking was, "Great my mom loves cheesecake; my girlfriend bakes cheesecake. She'll love her."

That night, I went home and pulled out my favorite "New York-Style Cheesecake" recipe and began baking. Everyone in my house loves my homemade desserts so, of course, I had to bake two:

New York-Style Cheesecake

Total Time: 12 hr 10 min
Prep: 10 min
Inactive: 9 hr 0 min
Cook: 3 hr 0 min
Yield: About 8 servings

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Cheesecake:
24 ounces cream cheese
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Make the Crust: Stir all ingredients with fork and press into 8-inch springform pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the Filling: Allow the cream cheese and eggs to sit out for about 1 hour before mixing. Mix the cream cheese and sugar in a mixer on low speed. Add the eggs 1 at a time; then add the vanilla.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake at 275 degrees F for 90 minutes. Turn the oven off but do not open the oven door for 3 hours. Refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from the pan.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/new-york-style-cheesecake-recipe/index.html 

The next day, Jeremie came by to pick up the cheesecake for his mom. A few hours later I had gotten a phone call from her say how much she loved my cheesecake. I guess everything turned out for the best. Well except for me and Jeremie's relationship; that came to an end!

Ina Garten

I am not one to follow the celebrity world and I don't get googly-eyed over Channing Tatum. I don't know a thing about who is doing what and who is marrying whom or the names of any actors. But there is one celebrity that I love and her name is Ina Garten. 

If I had the opportunity to meet one famous person, I would chose Ina Gaten. No question about it. But no one truly understands why. When I bring up her name, half of the people don't even know who she is and the other half raise their eyebrows, cock their heads, and smile awkwardly not knowing how to respond for my deep passion for this woman. But she's great and here's why:

1. I have been watching her show on the Food Network since I was nine years old. Her show hasn't changed because of the new trends or times and it hasn't suffered from the "food needs to be crazy and entertaining" culture that dominates a lot of the food television genre today. It was The Barefoot Contessa then and it is The Barefoot Contessa now. 

2. She actually cooks food you would want to cook. I have her cookbooks (4 to be exact) and I use her recipes often. The food is easy to prepare and really good when you do. 

3. She is predictable and simple. Her kitchen is plain and her hair is always done in the same way. She only wears button down shirts in shades of blue or black and always sports the same smile. I am drawn to her apparent strong sense of self and confidence in who she is and what she cooks. 

4. She's fearless. 

5. The relationships she has with food and the people she serves it to is what I believe food should be about. She believes in buying and using what is the best, what is in season, and what just looks good. She cooks to nourish others and express love. She cooks food that is supposed to taste really good because she believes you should always be eating really good food. 

6. She radiates positive energy and joy. You can feel it through the television screen!

People remind me that I don't actually know Ina Garten and that maybe she is just a great actress and none of these reasons why she is great are true, but keep those thoughts to yourself; don't crush a girl's dreams.

Eating and Working Out

You can find me at Olin tackling weights and machines about three to four days a week. It takes motivation, but at least one of those days has me leaving my dorm to have breakfast at 7:00 AM and run off afterwards. I usually eat a lot beforehand, as "fuel" I guess  - more than I would eat on a day where I'm not working out. Today I started to wonder if that is a good idea. I have never had negative side effects - cramps, nausea, and other commonly cited maladies - from eating right before working out, but would it be better to eat less or even after my time at the gym?

I took a look at a Mayo Clinic entry on eating and exercise and found that what I am doing tends to go against what the site says is wise. They say I should be eating less - especially since I just run off to the gym and don't give myself time to digest. At the very least I'm eating the right types of food.

The article talks about whole grains, milk - carbohydrates mostly. I always try to get in a protein as well, because in my mind I feel like the presence makes me stronger! I usually have some sort of bread and milk at breakfast, so all is well there. Another thing that I'm doing right is eating afterward as well - I have a stash of protein bars and chocolate milk in my room that I go to afterward. Overall I guess I do pretty well, though I could afford to eat less I suppose, since I'm working out hard afterwards.


This looks pretty good!

Eating and Exercise Tips by Mayo Clinic

Portland homecoming!

If you have read my first post on the blog, you may remember that I love to cook with two of my friends in Portland, Erica and Dave. They are very committed to making any food they want, no matter how complicated. That said, one of our favorite things to make together is pizza, however simple, probably because of how fun it is to roll out the dough, spread the sauce, cover in handfuls of cheese, etc. But somehow it never quites turns out the way we want. The crust is too thick and thus doesn't cook fully, there's too much sauce so the crust gets soggy, etc. Since moving away from Portland (and, consequentially, away from them), however, I have discovered the perfect pizza recipe. Here it is (from my memory and with ingredients approximated, my favorite way to cook):

• 2 pizza crusts (I use the packets that you mix with water, though I imagine it'd be better with the real stuff)
• 1/2 cup of pesto
• basil
• oregano
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tomato, finely chopped
• a handful of spinach leaves (10-15), finely chopped
• 1 cup feta cheese

Prepare the crusts (make sure to spread them thinly enough!) to make two pizzas. Lightly coat in olive oil, and sprinkle basil, oregano, and parmesan cheese on top. Spread a thin layer of pesto overtop. Add the tomato chunks and spinach over the pesto, followed by a substantial layer of feta. Cook according to the directions accompanying your crust package/recipe.

Here's how it looks in the making:

While cooking:

And after: 

Luckily I was able to get plane tickets to Portland for spring break, so I will soon have my long-standing wish to make this pizza with them come true! Expect more blog posts about Portland + food in the remaining weeks leading up to break (and, let's be honest, probably in the weeks following as well).

Slow Foodie

I have realized that I am what some would call a "slow" cook. I really believe that taking time to let each food cook together and individually to desired state results in the richest and most delicious of flavors. Of course, though, certain foods are meant to be cooked quickly and with varying temperatures. But for most of the meals that I cook myself, there seems to be a common theme of slow and on low temperatures. One of my specialties is my paste sauce. My Italian blood bubbles enthusiastically at the thought of a delicious pasta dish. People often regard pasta as boring, but I love it quite passionately. I have an array of different sauces, different vegetable combinations, and different meats that I like to dress my pasta with. It is in every way my comfort food.

Not only am I a slow cook, but I am also improvisational. I combine, experiment with flavors, and rarely ever follow a recipe. With that in mind, here is the paste dish I made for dinner Friday night:

Friday's Slow Sauce 
Thinly slice an onion. Put the onion in your pan and drench with olive oil. Cook on a low heat, and dash with Cayenne (sparingly), Paprika, and Rosemary (fresh is best!). Let onions cook in oil for twenty minutes or so on a very low heat. Then chop three substantial cloves of garlic and cook for a mere three minutes or so. Add a can of diced tomatoes and tomato puree (I was cooking for two). Add more delicious herbs and some salt  and pepper (basil oregano etc.) Keep heat very low and simmer for fifty minutes.

Meanwhile, in another pot, begin to cook your vegetables and sausage. My combination tonight included: red pepper, mushroom, kale, and mango chipotle chicken sausage. First cook the pepper in olive oil, then add sausage, then kale, and lastly mushroom. When all the ingredients are nicely cooked throw em in the sauce! Let them soak it up for another five minutes and then voila! Enjoy with pasta of your choice (spaghetti was mine)!

Puffy Pillow Pancakes

Hello, my name is Rachel and I have an obsession with pancakes. Meaning, I know when National Pancake Day is (February 5th), I have already written a few (three) essays for school about pancakes (not elementary school, but high school), not to mention the fact that I can down a stack of pancakes no problem. Of course, you could trace this obsession back to my lovely memories of pancakes: large Sunday breakfasts, my birthdays, seeing my best friend at the Original House of Pancakes in Denver, and the list goes on and on. Have you ever seen that episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch where she discovers that everyone in her family has an extreme weakness for pancakes? It's one bite and she's hooked. That's what is like for me, although I think I am a bit less extreme about my cravings for pancakes. But once I see pancakes, I can't stop thinking about them until I have them. For example, I just watched that episode of Sabrina on (total coincidence) Pancake Day, and ever since, the idea of a piping hot stack drizzled in New England Maple Syrup has been nagging at my tongue. Unfortunately, life in college is not so conducive to making pancakes 24/7, so I haven't been able to satisfy this craving. However, my house is planning a Breakfast for Dinner night, when my palate will finally be satisfied. I don't know about you, but this far in my blog post and I am getting really hungry.

Until I can have my pancakes though, I wish to share a recipe with you that I discovered over winter break which makes excellent poofy pancakes. It is by the Post Punk Kitchen, started by one of my favorite chefs (who just happens to be a vegan): Isa Chandra Moscowitz. Below is her recipe, enjoy!

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup almond (or soy) milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center.

Measure the milk into a measuring cup. Add vinegar and ground flax seeds, and use a fork to vigorously mix the ingredients until foamy. This will take a minute or so.

Pour the milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients. Add the water, canola oil and vanilla and use a fork to mix until a thick, lumpy batter forms. That should take about a minute. It doesn’t need to be smooth, just make sure you get all the ingredients incorporated.

Preheat the pan over medium-low heat and let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

Lightly coat the pan in oil. Add 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake, and cook for about 4 minutes, until puffy. Flip the pancakes, adding a new coat of oil to the pan, and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Pancake should be about an inch thick, and golden brown.

This recipe makes about eight medium sized pancakes, but don't let that deceive you, they are really filling! I highly recommend this recipe, in fact, it is my favorite recipe for pancakes! Let me know if you try this recipe out, and if you want to but don't want to cook, call me and I'll be there in a flash!

The Post Punk Kitchen site: http://www.theppk.com/
The pancake recipe: http://www.theppk.com/2011/12/puffy-pillow-pancakes/

Spring Break Homecoming

I can't be the only person imagining exactly what they want to eat when they go home (or simply away from here) in three, yes three, weeks.
The other day when I was walking back to my room and chanting "Three more weeks" in my head, the only thing I could think about is all of the delicious foods that I will eat when I get back. The first thing I will eat is a wonderfully fattening and delicious cheesesteak with an order of 50 "Suicide" wings from our (my dad and I) favorite pizzeria. I can just imagine the silver tray with a bag of chopped celery and carrot sticks and blue cheese dressing with my steaming hot cheesesteak wrapped up next to it - YUM!
 Besides my homecoming meal, I've got a whole week to eat everything I want, and eat everything I want is what I'll do! I'm just so excited! However, I think I'm most excited about being home for the first day of Spring. Back home, we have this place that's like Dairy Queen, but instead of ice cream, it's water ice, or Italian ice. The place is called Rita's, I think it's a chain that goes through the Tri-state area because I haven't seen one in New England at all. But anyways, on the first day of Spring, they serve free water ice for the entire day! The lines usually wrap around the parking lot and I usually don't participate in it, but when I go home, I will certainly wait in line for it. Now that I think about it, I'm just excited for water ice season to be back in the swing of things because all that means is that we are getting closer and closer to Summer and closer and closer to me packing my stuff and getting the heck out of New England!

Bertucci's

As a full-blood Italian, I usually turn up my nose at the chain restaurants that boast tradition and authentic Italian cuisine. To me, chain Italian restaurants were always reserved for times when I was traveling across the country for basketball and the group was too large for any local restaurant to accommodate. On Staten Island, I can basically split our local, family-owned restaurants into two categories: Italian and Other. Italians are about 1/3 of the population on Staten Island, so it's easy to see how the restaurants that meet such tastes are dominant. I am also proud to say that there exists no Olive Garden, Carrabba's, or Bertucci's, a restaurant that appears to be very popular here in New England, on my beloved island.

Last night, I had my first run-in with this New England commodity, Bertucci's, a restaurant that seemed to be loved and well-regarded by most of the basketball team. Given the circumstances, I was skeptical. I would never approach a restaurant like this on my own, but given I was in the care of my coach, I had no say in the matter.

While perusing the menu, I pondered my options. Pizza was out of the question. Nothing in my time here at Smith has met my criteria for a respectable slice. I settled on a pasta dish, because in my mind, it is very hard to mess up pasta. I was pleasantly surprised with what I ordered, Lobster and Basil with Smoked Mozzarella Ravioli. Having never had lobster before, it struck me as very similar to shrimp. I could taste no discernible difference. The light tomato cream sauce was very different from the sauce my mom makes from scratch at home. Most definitely because there is no cream included in my mother's recipe. It was a pleasant difference, not something that repulsed me. I enjoyed the basil that was added to the dish because it gave the sauce some body and texture that I am so familiar with at home, for my mom's sauce is on the chunkier side. The smoked mozzarella ravioli was perhaps the best part, for it reminded me the most of the Sunday dinners I would have at home: raviolis, home-made sauce, and homemade meatballs.

Despite the good experience I had last night, I am unsure if I enjoyed my meal because it was genuinely delicious, or because I am so deprived of Italian cooking here at school that I was desperate for anything close. I suppose I will just have to wait for spring break: the next time I'll be able to enjoy an Italian sunday dinner.

Steamed Cakes

       After I worked on one homework for hours, I find myself surfing through blogs after blogs and point-blankly staring at food pictures from restaurant review or recipes. It is my getaway place. It sometimes distract me too much, but without this de-stressing method, my brain will freeze.

       Recently, I have cravings for cakes, a tasty and healthy homemade cakes made without butter or whipped cream but has the perfect sweetness and still melts in my mouth. A cake that will compensate concern on my diet, it's my perfect match. In fact, some bakeries now introduce steamed cakes and doughnuts made without butter as they listen to people's concern on their diet, especially for the upcoming summer. Sadly, with limited supplies, I find it hard to make them here at Smith, though I wanted to share pictures of this mouth watering cup and pound cakes. Hopefully, you all can take a break from your studying and de-stress yourselves. Sorry if these pictures made you hungry. :)

Cacao Nibs: A Mayan Superfood?

Cacao Nibs

So on one of my many nightly excursions downtown, my friend and I visited Cornucopia, a cute "secret" market on the bottom floor of Thornes Marketplace (to those who haven't visited Cornucopia yet, it's a market that sells healthy options - almost like a mini-Whole Foods in a way). We were browsing through the aisles when all of a sudden, my eyes catch a brown plastic bag labeled, "Cacao Nibs". In that instant, I had felt a strange case of deja vu because I was positive that I had seen it earlier in a YouTube video. Which YouTube video? I have no idea, but I distinctly remembered the YouTuber praising her own bag of Cacao Nibs. So of course, I just had to try some.

I didn't know that it cost $9 for a bag. I only found out when I was at the cash register, ready to whip out my wad of cash (I wish!) and purchase my goodies. At that point, I thought that I might as well try something new - something "super".

I paid $9 for this!

I also didn't know that it was downright disgusting. When I got back to my dorm, I opened the bag and was immediately taken aback by a huge gust of a very bitter and pungent odor. "Do I really want to try this...? Do I really??" I just shrugged my shoulders - I paid $9 for this, I might as well! So I took a pinch of the nibs (what IS a "nib" anyway?) and threw them in my mouth - very bad decision. They tasted as bad as they smelled. Naturally at this point, I wanted other people's opinions on the nibs, so I asked my neighbors to try them. "Oh man, what IS that?!" "Yeah, that's pretty gross." "I thought it would get better each time I try some, but no, it just gets worse with time." "Mayan Superfood? Well, look at what happened to the Mayans!"

We concluded that these "Cacao Nibs" isn't food, they're a weapon.

I realize now that what we've eaten is the precursor of chocolate - raw cacao nibs. We're supposed to eat them with other foods, such as cereal or yogurt, and maybe we can even heat them up! But for now,  this bag of cacao nightmares will stay hidden in a very dark corner of my room. Perhaps it'll resurface when there's a serious threat - like a robber or a murderer. If we don't get them through the taste of these nibs, the smell will definitely knock them out.

Pinterest

   About a year ago, my friends mom introduced me to a new site called Pinterest. I had heard of it a couple times but brushed it off as another internet obsession like stumble upon or tumblr. But once I tried it...I was absolutely hooked. I've been on the site for about a year and 2 months and have 2,000+ pins...I'm absolutely obsessed.
   The way Pinterest works is you create different boards each with it's category (food, crafts, clothes...etc) and you look through the site and pin things you like or want to try onto your boards. It connects with facebook so you can follow your friends and see what they're pinning. It also has a tool for your bookmark bar so you can pin from other sites. Ever pin has a link to the website it originally came from. I have about 12 boards on pinterest but my most popular board is my food board, Bon Appetit. I have 400+ pins on this board, about half of them are food porn but the other half is things I've that I've made or things that I would love to make.
Pinterest has led me to some of my favorite recipes. Including this super easy and delicious recipe for fried rice:
http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html
It tastes better than take out and only takes about 10 minutes to make.
And this recipe for homemade peanut butter cups:
http://radmegan.blogspot.com/2010/10/candy-is-dandy-cooking-peanut-butter.html
These are better made in the fall or winter. I made them this past summer and every time I took one out of the freezer to eat I ended up with chocolate all over my hands. But regardless of how messy they are, they are VERY delicious. Dare I say, their even better than reeses.

Fruit Art

During Valentine's Day, I began to think of all of the fun little ways people tell each other I love you, and one of the more creative ways people do this is through food art. One of the main places that will create a type of food art for you is Edible Arrangements. These business go out of their way to get fresh fruit all year round and that is both incredible and crazy. It's incredible because it's a statement of how globalization is shrinking, and it's crazy because their need to get fresh fruit creates high prices for the consumer. Also, if we're honest with ourselves, we could probably create those arrangements way more creative and a lot cheaper. But regardless of these facts, we still create an industry that calls for arrangements of pineapple flowers, melon balls, and chocolate covered strawberries. Whether you pull out the carving knife to make your own adorable arrangement or pick up the phone to order an Edible Arrangement these are definitely the way to go to make a statement.

A Second Chance

Similar to how MFK Fisher gave tripe another chance, I decided to give a food that I before did not like another chance.  For some reason, I am not a big fan of onions and this could be that I dislike them since my eyes get really watery when I chop onions up or because it has a bad after taste in my mouth.  Regardless of the reason, I never liked eating onions with anything not even when they were fried.  I do enjoy eating french fries though, so a few days ago I was craving some. 

 

My friends and I decided to go eat at Lamont so I was hoping they were serving french fries.  I became disappointed when I found out that there weren't any french fries.  Although I remembered how much I disliked onion rings, I wanted fries so I decided to give them another try.  As I bit into the onion ring, I got these different flavors in my mouth and realized that they weren't that bad.  It had a nice sweet flavor, as well as, salty enough to give it flavor.  I enjoyed the flavors that the onion rings brought together.  Even though the onion rings were not the healthiest alternative to french fries, I enjoyed every bite of them and their high amplitude. So, I decided not to come to a conclusion on whether I like something or not after one try because it might taste better the second time around. The  onion rings were quite delicious with ranch and now I won't only look forward to eating french fries, but not I will also look forward to eating onion rings.   

 

      

The Perfect Balance of Cream and Vanilla

I am often disappointed with college food. I always thought that it was a stereotype made my a few students that had a bad experience with food while they were in college. But no, it always has too much salt, or tastes like it sat in oil for two days before it was cooked. I am afraid to eat the fish because it is always very tough and I get the feeling that that the white foamy stuff resting on the top of the fish probably should not be there. Nevertheless, being a college student living in college housing I do not really have a choice in the matter. 

The other day I walked into the dining hall and saw a cart by the desert bar. It was completely covered in ice cream toppings. There were rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sauce, M&Ms, etc. It was a beautiful set up of delicious, bad things. 

After I ate my dinner, I said to myself that I would walk up to the bar just to see what kind of ice creams there were. Probably not the best decision. Before I continue, I should mention that I have a very hard time resisting ice cream, particularly vanilla bean ice cream. I am sure that you are all surprised to read that the ice cream that was sitting there was vanilla. I could not say no. I got one scoop of ice cream to prove that I did in fact have a bit of self control. I then turned to the toppings cart. I told myself that I could only have on topping. I chose the chocolate sauce. I sat down to my small bowl of ice cream with a spoon. The first bite was dainty. The chocolate sauce was rich and creamy and it was perfect. The ice cream was the perfect balance of cream and vanilla. I ate my scoop of ice cream with a large smile on my face. 

119 Alum Blog!

It's maybe a bit funny to re-blog a blog on this blog, but--Smith College junior Rebecca Schilling began this excellent food blog while taking English 119 with me two years ago, and it's a wonderful site!  I recommend it! 

Her most recent post is for Chinese New Year.  Vegetarian Potstickers; yummy.

The blog is called Food Love Laughter.  Check it out!

Breakfast

I've been struggling with what to post for this week, hence why I'm posting at 11:47, but this morning at breakfast something struck me. Breakfast was terrible. "There is literally nothing to eat", I said to myself. Let me list what I saw, aside from the normal bread, bagel, and cereal stations: brown bananas, applesauce, butter, cottage cheese, canned mandarin oranges, coffee cake from yesterday's brunch, one and a quarter of a pancake in the bottom of a pan, and a jug of syrup. Where's the protein? Eggs? They always have eggs! I resorted to cottage cheese with mandarin oranges, hoping that the bit of protein in the cottage cheese would get me through the morning. After my morning class I typed "good breakfast helping studying" into Google and came up with an array of articles claiming the benefits of a balanced breakfast on studying. I picked a generic one that confirmed everything I believe about breakfast and listed the link below. This post really isn't about the article, rather it's about my frustration with the lack of options this morning, and more than a few times previously. The article merely validates my irritation. I somehow wish this article could make its way to the people who plan our menu. Generally, the dining hall has perfectly sufficient options, but every once in a while I feel a bit helpless with canned fruit and a soggy pancake as my options.

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/health-nutrition/its-brain-food

Behavior & Food :: Obesity & Change

 One question that comes up when talking about food is how do we effectively deal with the obesity epidemic. More and more people are considering the impact of anthropology and psychology  on individual and collective eating patterns. The impact is clear and thought provoking indeed. Obesity rates are incredibly high and people are questioning how to effectively tackle these scary statistics. Methodology is controversial  but it seems that we can not rely to heavily on one source of treatment. There are many viable options when it comes to treatment, but it must be dealt with in a serious    nature because of the danger that many people are facing with health related issues.

The Atlantic recently wrote an article on a doctor's way to dea with the obesity on the Cook Islands.
Dr. Thein shames and jokes with his patients, harshly displaying to them the absurdity of their physical condition and the immediate danger. Mother's had been feeding their babies warm sugar water rather than breast feeding or warming pasteurized milk. The doctor sees these blatantly detrimental behaviors as opportunities to shame and ridicule his patients for their poor habits.

The article asks us to consider the different approaches to dealign with obesity, so I ask you: what solutions do you have?


http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/in-some-cultures-a-role-for-shame-in-addressing-obesity/272999/http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/in-some-cultures-a-role-for-shame-in-addressing-obesity/272999/

La Fiorentina

Valentine's Day is a day of excessiveness - pink, cheap Valentines Cards, and chocolate. From all of the shameless chocolate theft I have witnessed in my house, I wouldn't be surprised if VDay was another way of saying "Chocolate Appreciation Day". Now, I must confess - I might have taken a chocolate or two (twenty really) on my way to Calculus, but hey! I needed all that sugar to keep me up for  an intense lesson of second derivatives!

My brain fried and my eyes heavy, I walked back to the Quad and was full on ready to jump into bed when my friend popped in and asked if I'd like to go into town with her. Knowing that I'd choose sleep over a long cold trek down town, she quickly offered chocolate strawberries. CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRIES. She got me hooked instantly.

La Fiorentina is a cute secret bakery hidden behind Thornes Marketplace, a store that could be easily overlooked by its towering neighbors. We browsed through the store and when my eyes locked with the tray filled with chocolate covered strawberries, I knew that I would splurge. And splurge I did.

I ended up buying 6 of the bigger strawberries (the strawberries that the store owners kept in the back for safe keeping) and I don't regret a thing. 

Now about these chocolate covered strawberries - these strawberries weren't like the yucky slimy ones that they hand out in the dining halls. No siree! These strawberries were incredibly rich in flavor, satisfyingly juicy, and sweet. The chocolate layer crumbled with each bite, with bits and pieces of it littering my rug, but I didn't mind at all. 

I definitively recommend these little treasures to you guys, but keep in mind that they are pretty pricy! (1 strawberry is roughly equivalent to a dollar - and the bigger the strawberry, the pricier it is!) But hey, they're chocolate covered strawberries... how can you say no to that? 

          My strawberries were housed in this adorable little box. 

                         

My strawberries - and hey! There's a chocolate smiley face on the wrapping! 

Happy Valentines Day everybody! (even though it's a bit belated now)

The Lady Killigrew

If you have yet to go to The Lady Killigrew (and, by extension, The Montague Bookmill), I implore you to do so as soon as possible... i.e. for your next meal. The Lady Killigrew is a wonderful cafe in Montague, MA, just half an hour north of Northampton. It's attached to the Bookmill, which is an old grist mill now converted into a used bookstore. Together, they make a wonderful sunny afternoon or Saturday activity. And that is exactly what my significant other and I did to celebrate Valentine's Day last week.

After driving through the winding local highways (with gorgeous views of the river, woods, and/or farmhouses surrounding us), we pulled up to The Book Mill. Although we've both been there before, it never gets old. One can easily spend a few hours browsing and sampling books while seated in one of their old stuffed arm chairs. After a little bit of milling around (no pun intended), we headed through the old wooden door into The Lady Killigrew for lunch. Its wall facing the river is made almost entirely of glass, allowing the entire place to be filled with warmth and sunlight. Though we both often go for one of their delicious grilled sandwiches (brie, apricot jam, and marinated apples being my personal favorite), this time we settled on a bagel, eggs, and a peanut butter nutella sandwich, which we shared. Those sound pretty ordinary, I know, but they made them extraordinary. The bread for the sandwich was a great sourdough country bread, and the bagel, despite being "plain," had some sort of extra sourness to it that went perfectly with the cream cheese. Combined with a cup of earl grey, the meal was just what we needed for an early lunch.

Peruse the menu on their website, and I think you'll be convinced to go.

Feeling Like I'm Back Home!

Although the food here at Smith is quite delicious at times, I do miss the food I would eat back home.  I do appreciate when Smith tries to make Mexican food but it just isn't the same.  When I went back home for the winter break, I ate so much food that I had missed.  It was all so amazing and one dish I want to share is called tacos verdes. They are good to prepare for a lot of people or just for yourself.  It is fairly simple to make and worth it in the end. 

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas
Cheese
Chilli Pepper
Salt
Sour Cream
2 Garlic
Onions
Chicken
Tomatoes
Milk
Butter
Oil

Recipe:
1.  Boil the chilli pepper with the 2 garlic and onions. When ready take out the seeds, and peal the chilli pepper.
2. Blend the chilli peppers, onions, and garlic with sour cream, salt and milk.
3. Shred the chicken. Saute half of the chopped onion, and a tomato. Then add the shredded chicken.
4.  Put 2 tablespoon of oil on a pan to warm up each tortilla.
5.  Once the tortilla is warm, take some chicken and put on the tortilla. Roll into a taquito.
6.  Put lots of taquitos onto an oven tray and then cover them with the previously prepared sauce. Then add cheese over the sauce.  (repeat until the tray is full)
7. Put into preheated oven of 350 degrees for twenty minutes.
8. Serve with chopped lettuce and extra sauce if wanted. Enjoy!
   

 
Now, that I am back at Smith I continue to think about these tasty dishes my family and I would enjoy eating together. Soon I will be back home and get to eat these great foods with my family and friends.  I'm even thinking of making some here at Smith!

Agrifest

   Every year during Presidents Day Weekend St. Croix holds the annual Agriculture and Food Fair. It's basically a state fair with a lot of Caribbean flare. There's educational booths, souvenir stands, animals (my dad showed one of his peacocks this year), a hay bale decoration competition and most importantly, there's  A LOT of delicious food.
 Stuck up in New England with a foot of snow on the ground, I was feeling especially homesick this weekend. I missed the warm sand and salty breeze but most of all I missed all the amazing, heart-attack inducing food of home. Every year I go to the Ag Fair and browse the stands and see all the animals but really...the only reason I go is to eat.

Pates (not to be confused with liver pâté) are a mix of meat and spices fried in a very light puff pastry. They come in ground beed (my favorite), vegetarian, conch and saltfish. They seem pretty straight forward but their one of those foods that's only good when you get it from the elderly west indian women who was taught to cook by her mother with recipes passed down from generation to generation.

Tamarind Balls are a sweet treat with a spicy kick. The tamarind fruit is tangy and delicious. It's even better rolled in sugar.

Johnny Cakes are a delicious and filling snack. Best fresh out of the fryer the fried dough treat is fluffy and sweet. A little denser than a pastry but lighter than bread, johnny cakes are the perfect way to start off a day at the Ag Fair.

Food Safety Scandals That Rocked the World

During the past couple of days I have been really sick so the thought I would take this theme and run with it. I typed in "food stories in the news" into Google and was shocked by the outcomes. There were hundreds of results mostly reporting about gross food or our gross food industry or gross people eating gross food made from our gross food industry (i.e. "Digesting Food News: The Top Food Stories of 2012 and Why They Matter). 

I came across this article on Huffington Post's website called "Food Safety Scandals That Rocked the World." I encourage you to click on the link - there are more lovely pictures like the one I posted here accompanying the blurb about U.K. scandal where "beef" was substituted with horsemeat. Talk about gross. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/food-safety-scandals_n_2694619.html?utm_hp_ref=@food123#slide=2112882

But I particularly interested not in the details of each of the food scandals, but what the article read: "The horsemeat scandal is an issue of food safety, not because people are getting sick but rather because people are expecting one product and getting another. It is an issue of food quality as well, and a powerful example that the global food chain is a complicated and messy affair." Makes me think more about the fact that we really don't know what is going into our food and therefore we don't know what is going into our bodies. Even if we read the labels, there is no reassurance that what it says is what is...

Home Remedies

In our society, food is usually viewed as the cause of ailments: eating fatty foods will increase your risk of cancer, overindulging on your favorite unhealthy food can cause you to gain unwanted weight, or the ingestion of certain foods cause an allergic reaction. In a culture of such privilege, we allow food to be the cause of problems, but in other countries where food is scarce, the only problem with food is its absence. Rarely, do we acknowledge that food plays many helpful roles in our lives.

As someone who is just starting to get sick, I have heard it all from my friends and family members. "I have the perfect tea to help clear up your throat," "Let me make you a concoction for congestion. It has cayenne pepper, lemon, and honey." "Have you tried swallowing a clove of garlic?" "Just drink orange juice. And LOTS of it." Perhaps this goes a bit with MFK Fisher's story of everyone having their own special talent; every family has their own home remedies for staving off sickness.

In my family, my grandmother likes to make us swallow whole cloves of garlic to help prevent illness, or at least to get it to run away with its tail between its legs. My sister and my friend, Emily, have many suggested teas for my poor achey-breaky throat. And another friend, Elise, suggested the cayenne pepper concoction, which made me change the subject very quickly. Personally, I always liked the tea, ginger ale, or juice solutions best, I find that trying to drown the sickness with a proliferation of liquids is much less painful than some of the other options.

As I was encountered with so many homemade medicines, I started to think about food in relation to sickness. Please take the time to ponder the following questions, as I did.

• What are your favorite home remedies? Why are they your favorite?
• Which ones work and why do they work? 
• Is this all psychological and just the fact that we believe in our odd faux medicines is the reason they work? 

Thus far, I have no idea if there is a true reason why our solutions work. Anyway, let me know what you think. Who knows? Perhaps the cure to colds may be hidden in your comments.

Nostalgia

There is not a day that goes by that I don't long for home. The people, the sights, the smells, and the food!

Everybody experiences homesickness, but I think that Smith puts all of those emotions on steroids  As you could imagine, I like everybody else have been struggling with adjusting (although I am quite accustomed at this point), but I think that I have discovered the thing at Smith that will make my stay a little easier - Vegetarian Spring Rolls.

My first ever experience with these Spring Rolls was at Comstock house and from that moment forward, I told myself that the next time a house served these deep fried delights, I would go running to it!

The first time I ever bit into one, I was immediately taken back to my dining room table eating a Shrimp Roll from the Chinese takeout restaurant a few blocks away. The golden wrapping was just as crispy as it should be and the middle was filled with a blast of flavors of cabbage, carrots, some other vegetables that I can't identify and oil! Now, some people may hear "deep-fried" or "oil" and not appreciate it, I honestly never did either, but coming here has made me miss the simple and unhealthy foods that were so easy to acquire back home. To me, and I'm not sure why I feel this way yet, those little Spring Rolls have Philadelphian Chinese takeout inside of them and they are my new favorite thing here...I now have something to look forward to while I'm here instead of just getting out of here! This probably explains why I put as many rolls as I could (and it would have been waaay more if I had my Tupperware) in a napkin after dinner and walked home nibbling (or maybe devouring is the right word) them...don't judge me.

Yelp?

Northampton is a go-to place for restaurant tour.
When I am in the mood for dining out, I always go to yelp.com and search for restaurants in town. I always get surprised by the number of restaurants that I have never seen or heard before that are on the yelp list.
Once I narrow down to  2-3 candidates, I read restaurant reviews for the final decision. And once again,I get surprised as I read through completely contradicting reviews.

Tonight, my best friend and I went to Mulino's for our be-lated Valentines' celebration. It received 3 1/2 stars on the yelp's overall reviews which is not bad but promising either.   We still decided to try Mulino's because there are some restaurants in town that received 4 on their reviews, yet we did not have a pleasant experience whereas we had great time at some restaurants with 3 1/2 stars. We decided to give out our own reviews after the visit.

Service was good. Our waiter occasionally came to pour water and ask questions, but not too often to interrupt our conversations. Bread before our main dish was warm, soft, and just simply good. I ordered Fra Diavolo for my entree. Menu described it as, "Scallops, mussels, shrimp, garlic, onion and dried chilies sautéed in a tomato, basil-oregano sauce. Served on a  bed of linguine". Seafood and tomato sauce were fresh with hints of garlic and olive oil taste. Though I at first thought the dish was pricey, I changed my mind after seeing huge serving size and trying it out. I managed to finish the entire dish and left Mulino's with overflowing, yet happy, stomach.

Though yelp can be a good source to get different opinions on restaurants, one can never have a true opinion unless she tries their dishes.

Chocolate and Valentine's Day

When I opened my door Thursday morning, I was surprised to see how much chocolate was in front of me. Of course it was Valentine's Day, but I never thought my housemates and friends would be so generous and leave copious amounts of chocolate outside my door.

Now in the possession of more chocolate goodness than I could ever hope to eat, I began to ponder the origins of this Valentine's Day practice. I didn't have to look far, for there were several articles linking the sweet treat and love.

In my search, I found multiple references to chocolate being able to increase the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects our mood and is subsequently responsible for increased sexual excitation. Further reading lead me to discover that chocolate possesses another chemical, phenethylamine, which triggers the release of endorphins, which are more feel-good chemicals, as well as increases the activity of dopamine which is directly linked with sexual pleasure.

Even though I thought the websites with this information are fairly reliable, I am not completely sold. I feel like this is more of an excuse or justification for "feeling good" than it is science. What do you all think?

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/02/07/chocolate-love-drug-good/

Grilled Kidneys

When we did the Amazon research project I discovered the cookbook "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats" on the great long list of new and popular. It sparked my interest - so I put a hold on it at Forbes!

Yes, the picture is sideways - I've got no idea how to remedy that!

This book is interesting to me because I like learning about nutrition - and this book is all about that. While it is a cookbook, and so it has recipes, it also has in depth breakdowns of nutritional properties of many foods and how our body uses them. It dispels the gospels of "bad foods" (saturated fats, red-meats, the like) and explains how our body needs a large variety of foods to function. We're being brainwashed into malnutrition (even when we're not starving ourselves on diets!) -  the recipes included in the book are very diverse, and good for us, for the most part.

Oh, and speaking of challenge foods...

Grilled Kidneys with Hazelnut Butter Sauce  (page 282)
1 pound kidneys, cut into walnut-sized pieces and marinated in lemon juice
1 tablespoon melted butter
3 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

Remove kidney pieces from lemon juice and dry well. Thread on buttered skewers and baste with melted butter. Grill under the broiler about 5 minutes per side. Meanwhile, saute the hazelnuts in butter until lightly browned. Stir in chives. Divide kidneys among individual plates and spoon sauce over.

There's something about the word "kidney" that gets to me, honestly. The sauce sounds like it would taste good, so long as it was salted butter... no denying the saturated fat content! I do not think I would eat this, even if it is good for me - would anybody else?

More Food Comics.

From the incomparable Tom Gauld, on his comics blog "YOU'RE ALL JUST JEALOUS OF MY JETPACK":

This reminds me of the end of Jim Harrison's essay, when he writes "Life is a near-death experience, and our devious minds will do anything to make it interesting."  I think the food-related experience is working better for Harrison than for Gauld's Kafka, though, since Kafka seems to be saying that even Lemon Drizzle Cake does not bring meaning to life.  Kafka!  Snap out of it!  Bake something chocolate!

Invent a Food!

Dinosaur Comics, by Ryan North, is one of my favorite things in the world.  A few weeks back he produced this comic strip:

(You can find the original here, by the way, and read his other strips.  If you flip through day to day without even reading, you'll see immediately part of what's so funny about this strip.)

I love the spirit of this, if not the actual execution.  It takes guts to mess around in a kitchen, trying--and usually failing--to "invent a food."  One good rule to start with might be not to mix meat and ice cream, but I give T Rex props for trying.

Another thing I love is that another fan of Dinosaur Comics, a Canadian airplane pilot who writes the blog "Aviatrix," decided to try to make this "meat-themed frozen confection."  Why not?  It's certainly another challenge food!  Here's a photo of the final product:

It looks surprisingly...edible?  I love a recipe that uses language like this:  "Not being a fully-grown Tyrannosaurus Rex, and not having a giant enough frying pan, I divided the recipe by five, and also seeing as I live in modern times and not the late cretaceous period, I used the metric system."  Oh, Canada.

September 7th Cake

A few years ago, I was craving a chocolate cake. But, I have found that the majority of gluten free chocolate cake is bad. My Mom mentioned to one of her co-workers that I was hoping to make a chocolate cake, but the cake mixes always managed to disappoint. Margi, my Mom’s co-worker, said, “I have this wonderful cake recipe. It is flowerless and it is wonderful!” My Mom brought home the recipe for this cake. It was called the September 7th cake. I was very excited to make this cake. I immediately went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients needed. There were no more than fourteen ingredients, and I figured that it would be an easy cake to make. 

I was wrong. I went home, anticipating the next day when I was going to bake this magnificent chocolate cake. The next day I woke up, rode my horse, and came back to take a shower, and then make my cake. I began the cake at about noon. I did not complete the cake until 6pm. I worked all day to make the homemade whipped cream, and not whip it too much because then it would turn into butter. I spent hours on this cake, and by the time I was done, I was completely convinced that because it had taken such a long time that it was going to be absolutely terrible. It should not have taken as long as it did. A cake should take twenty minutes tops to prepare, and then about a half an hour to bake. 

That night, my mom came home to make dinner, and she saw my creation. I cannot lie, it looked pretty impressive. It was a double layer, mocha whipped cream frosting, chocolate cake. I was proud of my accomplishment even if it was going to taste bad. We ate dinner in silence because everyone expected that my cake was going to be wonderful. I knew they were wrong. 

After dinner, I brought the cake to the table, and cut the first piece. I cut through the cake like it was thin air. But, I warned everyone to not expect too much out of this cake. 

I took my first bite, and realized that I had just put my mouth around a small piece of chocolaty heaven. I took another bite because I was pretty sure that I was dreaming. I was not. It was the best cake I have ever eaten, gluten free or not. The hours of work that it took meant nothing because it was the lightest, fluffiest cake ever. 

I have not made the cake since, but every summer, around September, my Mom says to me, “Hey, do you remember that September 7th Cake you made a few years ago?” I just chuckle.

Chocolate-Mint Cookies

   This weekend was the first time I've played in the snow since I was 9 or 10 years old. As I was sledding down the hill onto paradise pond I started feeling a little nostalgic for my childhood winters in Minnesota. After hours of neighborhood snow ball fights and igloo building my brother and I would tramp back into our house. Leaving all our soggy snow gear in a puddle on the front porch we would head straight for the kitchen. Awaiting us in the kitchen was my favorite winter treat, Chocolate-Mint Cookies.
   When I was 10, in a sudden burst of inspiration my mom decided she would make a different kind of cookie every night. She made everything from chocolate chip to raspberry linzers to peanut butter blossoms. Needless to say, my brother and I have tried A LOT of cookies. But Mollie Katzens Chocolate-Mint Cookies are still my favorite cookie.

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (rounded measure) salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a baking tray with nonstick spray.
2. Add the sugars to the butter in the bowl and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, or until fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl a few times with a rubber spatula.
3. Beat in the egg, extracts, and cocoa.
4. In a second bowl, sift together the dry flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this to the butter mixture, along with the chocolate chips, and stir by hand until thoroughly blended.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared baking tray. Bake in the center of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until dry on top and slightly darkened on the bottom. Cool on a rack.

Personally, I think "cooling on a rack" is overrated. I recommend stuffing as many as you can into your mouth the second you can. They are best when fresh out of the oven, when the chocolate chips are still melted. 

Tootsie Rolls

 Lately I've been struggling with this unrelenting craving for a mystery food. I say mystery because I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS. It is so frustrating! The craving becomes most apparent in the afternoon and late at night (Yes, I am a night muncher). It is also strange that I can't even identify if the food I want is sweet or salty. I think it might be switching, depending on what I ate last. I have plenty of snacks in my room and my snack of choice so far this semester has been Tootsie Rolls.Tootsie Rolls are dangerous. They're especially dangerous when you have a bag of 700, which I do. (Don't judge, it was a Christmas present. I know what you're all thinking.) They're little, delicious, easy to take on the road, and there's 700 of them. This is a recipe for disaster.

Since I opened the bag, I have to have consumed at least a few hundred Tootsie Rolls. It's disgusting, I know. What I don't understand is how I could mindlessly eat a few hundred Tootsie Rolls. I'm not talking a few dozen, I'm talking A FEW HUNDRED. Who does that? How did I not notice? Should I be concerned? Am I going to die? Should I throw the rest away? These are some of the questions I've been pondering since I realized my Tootsie roll addiction. I'm not even sure if addiction is the right word because if I don't see them, I don't want them. I only eat them because they're there. Maybe I should hide them.

The only explanation that I have for my ridiculous consumption is that I'm stress eating due to not being able to identify what I'm craving. It's almost like I'm trying to satisfy my craving with Tootsie Rolls. If that is the case, I cannot wait to figure out what I've been dying to eat all semester.

The offender:

Snow!!

In light of recent snow storm "Nemo," my house, Cutter, decided to host a snow ball fight with out connecting house Ziskin. We went out side, fell knee deep into the snow, and I promptly began to eat my way out of the snow. Being from Texas, I had never seen so much snow, especially snow that was so fluffy. So naturally, as I fell face first into the snow, my response would be to eat it. It wasn't until after we had come back inside did any of my house mates think to add flavor to the snow, but as soon as we did, we had an instant hit of snow cones. 

In Texas, there's nothing better than a snow cone on a hot triple digit day. It's an easy snack you can make or buy in nearly any town. As far as the flavors, any type of fruit, multiple types of cheesecake, sodas, candies, spices, virgin this, virgin that, and even a list of celebrity inspired flavors are possible if you go to the right location. I actually went to snowballsupply.com to check out  the 150 flavors they supply because getting the right flavor will determine your love for snow cones for the rest of your life. 

Just as the title imples, you use snow, but in most places that means that the ice is shaved thin. With the fresh snow I collected from outside, the snow cones were delicious. A flavor may make a snow cone, but if you have fresh snow the sauce doesn't matter. 

Food & Friends

As somewhat of a minimalist, I try to eat out as infrequently as possible; food is just more expensive at restaurants. But sometimes this presents a problem for me. Food is such a social thing in our society, and often times my friends want to hang out at Local Burger or go to Haymarket together, and I'm always torn. Should I miss out on hanging out with them so as not to spend the money? Should I spend money I don't want to spend so as to have the experience with them? Often times I compromise by going and just sitting with them or getting something small.

But one of my absolute favorite things to do is cook with friends. It's inexpensive; not only are you buying from the grocery store and doing the preparations yourself, but it's also typically easier to buy and eat all of the food together rather than each of you trying to buy groceries for a single person. When I was taking spring semester of last year off from school and living in Portland, I would often cook with two of my friends, Erica and Dave. I enjoy cooking and eating a meal with friends at one of our houses much more than going out to eat with friends. That way you have the experience of sharing the work and making something as a group, and you get to spend that extra time with them; I also just think hanging out and talking while cooking is relaxing and fun, and it makes cooking and eating that much more enjoyable. Many of my favorite meals have been with them, and the one below is no exception. We created a huge lunch spread of really delicious and healthy foods. My personal favorite was the dip, which is extremely simple to make. All you do is combine goat cheese and salsa, and it makes a nice creamy dip with the best of both the cheese and salsa flavors. Here's a picture of our lunch spread on that Saturday afternoon:

The goat cheese/salsa dip was in that white bowl in the center (and, as you can see, was quickly diminished). We paired it with those blue corn tortilla chips in the foreground - one of the best simple combinations.

Food Beauty

In my life eating food has evolved to be just as much about taste as it is about beauty.
Loving to cook only acts to fuel this truth and calls me forward to beautify my food.
Breakfast, being the first meal of the day, sets the tone for how I respond to food the
remainder of the day. I fully believe that if I start my day with beautiful, healthy, delicious
foods that feed my soul and belly, patterns of healthy eating and living will easily follow.
Eating healthily makes me feel good, but hey I am also a burger gal (tonight I had grass-fed
local burger with cheddar cheese and sweat potato fries!). I feel fortunate to have the education
to know what works and what does not work for my machine. Though I do digress...I wanted

 

to share with you my typical & beautiful morning meal:

Coffee
Breakfast Bowl:
Flax Seed Cereal
Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Graines
Greek Yogurt
Honey
Banana
Strawberry 

I find that there is an art to culinary creation and I do my best to emulate that in my daily
dining. Even on lazy days I try to maintain that visual satisfaction. The psychology behind
eating truly fascinates me. This meal tasted amazing because of the delicious ingredients, but also because of the beauty of it. Something in the mind registers the meal as all the more
satiating because of its appearance and the care with which it was prepared. I love this ritual I have adapted, it has resulted in a much more wholesome and balanced relationship with food.

I encourage everyone to consider their "food beauty" and indulge your mind and your tummies!

On my culinary skills and cheese

Lately, I've seen all these amazing and mouth-watering recipes on this blog and I felt that I should contribute a recipe as well! However, one thing that bars me from doing so is that...well....I can't cook for the life of me.

Honestly, I can only whip up a mediocre peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an unappetizing bowl of cereal. A microwaveable bag of popcorn is pushing it. I don't know how I ended up with such disappointing culinary skills - is it genetics? Is it because I ordered take-out most of my life? I just don't know! And worse, my family is rooted in the restaurant business. My paternal grandmother in South Korea owns a restaurant that had been covered on a popular Korean variety show once ago. My aunt runs a restaurant a few miles away from my grandmother, while running an office supply store and managing a family of three. My mom and my maternal grandmother used to operate a small deli-style store in the heart of New York City. My dad, who I have never really seen cook often, shows  exemplary talent in barbecuing - a meal that I look forward to whenever I come back home. And even my younger sister, who is a senior in high school, can recreate anything she finds online. I am ashamed to say that she would often make food for me. So what happened here?

Here are some testimonials about my culinary skills:

"How in the world did you make cornbread out of Betty Crocker's cupcake mix?!" -Seul-E Son

"Seulgi, I am very worried about you. How will you live after college?" - my mother

"Ew." - a friend

"I can't believe you almost set the microwave on fire." -Seul-E Son 

So, yes. I suggest you all run far away whenever a recipe book is in a mile radius from me.

However, I have to give myself credit for this one little treat I'm going to share with you all. It's a snack that I've been eating since I discovered the existence of this exquisite cheese: The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss. I absolutely love it: not only for the taste, but it's packaging! It's packaged in a circular box but on unraveling it, you can see 8 triangular wedges of wrapped cheese. I love it primarily because it reminds me of a pizza.

Here is the recipe for how I use this cheese:

Cheese and Crackers

What you need: 
Wheat Thins
Laughing Cow Light and Creamy Swiss

Instructions: 
1) Open both boxes of Wheat Thins and cheese
2) Spread as much cheese as you'd like on that wheat thin (do not fret, you have 7 more wedges of cheese leftover in your fridge)
3) Enjoy!

Never fails.