Food Obsessed Weekend

Stuffed Baked Tomato

Spaghetti in Tomato Pesto with Pan Roasted Chicken

Lychee Agar-agar with Vanilla-Lemon Sauce

Last weekend we had a couple of “eating engagements”. Featured here is from Saturday when we had a non-traditional tailgate potluck. No chicken wings, no burgers, we opted for Italian inspired dish instead. Except the dessert of course, which is more Asian. We had to agree that the meal was more exciting than the game itself as we had a painful loss in home game. Oh well, there’s always hope for next week.

On the side note, school has been pushing me over the edge and I barely hanging, hence the neglection of this blog. However, it will just be temporary until the deadlines over and the pace slows back down. I will still make my round to your lovely blogs so I won’t be actually out of the blogosphere.

Also, in two weeks I will be going to Philly for a weekend trip. If you have any suggestion on any cheap good eats/cool thrift stores/Philly in general, I’d be a happy duckling to know all tips possible.

Have a great week everyone

Things to do on a foggy day

1. Play dress up.

(thrifted dress/thrifted belt/thrifted Bruno Magli peep toe/Old Navy cardigan/AA circle scarf/DKNY tights)

2. Eat warm food.

(Vietnamese Pho Bo / fried shrimp)

3. Take a quick snap with the sunset and dash back into the car before the cold gets you.

(By the road side, on the way to a friend’s house which we crashed for some cable TV).

Bye-bye summer’s warm weathers, welcome foggy and rainy days. Fall officially started this Tuesday with a temperature’s drop to low 60s. It was also the beginning of tights wearing season and me catching a cold. Even after four years since I live here, I still dislike the cold. How I long for my tropical homeland when the temperature starts to drop below 75° F.

But enough whining about the weather. Fall is still my favorite season for its changing colored leaves and hearty and warm meals. The day actually turned out pretty good too. We went for dinner at our favorite Pho place, which really made me feel so much better. Next, we crashed my friend’s house to watch Hell’s Kitchen (I know.. it’s bad yet so good).

Well, the morning was spent mainly on twitter. There was a random crazy/weird stunt pulled by an Indonesian movie director, which you can read about it more here. So I was curious and follow the feed (not the person). I mostly curious about his motivation (blame the years of studying human psyche). Why do you think someone acts against both the law and social norms? To attract attention? To make a statement? To simply live the life? Well, at the time it was a nice distraction for the sick me:, curling up under the blanket and read all those tweets.

Final summer wishes: Farmer’s Market

We have a weekly farmer’s market every Saturdays where people flocked together in search for the freshest ingredients straight from others’ backyards and/or homemade items. It is one of my favorite summer events because, if you haven’t noticed yet, I am a foodie at heart and here we’re free to ask for samples, from spicy homemade salsa to tomato, from fresh baked bread to cupcakes. It’s really worth waking up early to visit farmer’s market. Apart from food and produces, there are booths that sell handmade stuff such as jewelery and paintings and also entertainment by local artists.

I brought home with me a baguette, garlic, and roman tomatoes, which I eagerly whipped up together for our Italian theme dinner that day. Some times ago, I stumbled upon Pomodori al Forno recipe from Bon Appetite. I changed it up a little bit: I use half the amount of olive oil and dried parsley flakes. I also put the garlic in halfway through cooking time as to cut down the sitting time. It turns out to be a great appetizer, the tomatoes are sweet and flavorful and the reserved oil is great for bread dipping.  I also cooked spaghetti alla carbonara following this recipe from food network.  Only difference is that I used turkey bacon on mine.

All in all, it was a great meal at the end of August. Hence the closure of my summer wishes. I know I was 1-2 days late on writing the post, but I did have some writer’s block along with having to spend time to prepare for the new semester. As for the lack of my appearance in the pictures, I’d say early morning and kitchen heat really didn’t help on getting a good self portrait ^.^ Thanks  In Bug’s Drawer for the opportunity to join your challenge.

I hope you enjoy your summer and ready for the next season to come. Fall/Autumn is actually my favorite season for its lovely red colored leaves and all the fun holidays (can’t wait for Thanksgiving).

Final summer wishes: Fun at the Fair

We joined throngs of people flocking the Iowa’s state fairground last Saturday for a day filled with fun entertainment and gastronomic experiments. There were so much to see at the fair: Iowa’s Super Bull that weigh over 4000 pounds, livestock auctions dedicated to help youngsters to go to college, the biggest pumpkin competition’s winner (that might as well be Cinderella’s carriage), and entertainments in every corners, among other things.

Apart from it being one of the biggest state fairs in the US (that is actually within driving distance from us), my friends and I were attracted by the numerous types of food the fair offered. If durians and curries are exotic food for Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmerman, then cake on a stick and deep fried twinkies are pretty bizarre for us. As one of my friend said, “We’ll be drinking a one year supply of oil by the end of the day”. With the help of corn dogs and the like, that statement appeared to be true.

Needless to say, I’ve been going to the gym in hope of flushing those artery clogging  food out of my system.

This is another entry of my final summer wish list hence leaving me with two more things on the list: make a meal out of farmer’s market produce and find myself a nice big tree to read a book under. OK, actually I have found my big tree, it is my secret hiding post, I’ll share it with you later .

Oh, This is what I wore to the fair:

Outfit details:

gingham dress & sandals: thrifted

bag & straw hat: target

vest: tj maxx

Do you go to a fair? What is your favorite things to do there?

picnic in the park

Mexican dress found at a garage sale for mere 60cents and my poser picnic basket

The next best thing about summer (after summer road trips, of course) is picnicking! So, last week we went to one of the city parks to absorb the sun and have a barbecue til the sun went down. it was quite an adventure because apparently the park has cut down on its barbecue pits. Last summer we also did a barbecue there and there were at least three pits available to use in the park. This time when we arrived there we realized there was only one that could be properly use! One pit just simply gone while the other one was left without the barbecue rack. To make matter worse, the one useful pit was taken by another group who arrived just a split minute from us. So we had to settle with the other pit, one of us brought her oven rack so that we could cook properly. Oh.. we made do with it

da burger

Burger recipe:

a pack of patty mix (about 1.5-2 lbs)

seasoning salt (i used Misty’s one, go local!)

black pepper and a bit more salt

Worchestershire sauce (about 1-2 tbs.)

1 tbs. minced garlic

Combine all ingredients, work it, shape them into hamburgers (i made 12 patties out of this), store in fridge til the bbq time.

Served with caramelized onions and mushroom, toasted buns, and your favorite condiments.

i’m still bad in formulating recipes but you got the idea. Besides burger we also grilled some awesome chicken wings but i can’t remember how we marinate them with except we put lots of barbecue sauce, ginger-garlic, oyster sauce, and seasoning powder for about 40 wings. i forgot to take a picture of the wings too as we just devoured them altogether .