Cold-Brew Iced Coffee!

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OKAY. IT IS EXTREMELY HOT IN SAN DIEGO, AND I GUESS EVERYWHERE IN CALI. Is it because I am used to SF weather? But really, its awful. The humidity here in SD is just dandy. The windows in my entire apartment are open, fans are running, and still feel sticky. Sweat is pouring out everywhere. It is just gross. But anyway, this hot weather calls for tons of planning…I mean tons. You have to plan where you want to be to avoid the heat, you have to plan what to wear to sleep, what to eat because hotness does not feed the appetite, and what to DRINK. I had a great acai smoothie from Juice Kaboose yesterday in La Jolla to beat the heat, but that didn’t last long because I was back to sweating everywhere within 10 min. I came back and thought about the long weekend ahead (happy Labor Day weekend ya’ll!) and figured I would need something cold and caffeinated in the morning to get me going after waking up in my bed full of sweat. So making cold brew iced coffee took some planning- you have to eagerly wait 12-24 hours for this baby to brew before you can drink up. No wonder cold brew coffee is so damn expensive to buy at coffee shops (cough cough cold brew in Palo Alto)! It takes time, and tons of grounds. Judging by the picture to this post, it seems like I have to make more today since its basically all gone after one drink. Anyway, have a fun, safe, and awake weekend ya’ll! 🙂

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Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Posted in Appetizer, Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch by

This is seriously one of the best fancy side dishes ever. It can probably get you to eat your veggies! (Although it might be a tad bit expensive to eat this gourmet dish all the time!) Anyway, totally worth it if you want to snack by yourself, or prepare it for a hot date. I prefer to not share, so I will just eat it all alone. haha.

A few fun facts:

1. It’s native to most of Europe
2. A recipe for asparagus is found in the oldest known book of recipes from third century AD
3. US got this beautiful veggie in 1850
4. There are albino asparagus!!! WHITE ones!!! Very popular in countries such as Netherlands, Span, France and Switzerland
5. Low calorie source of potassium and folate, with tons of antioxidants
6. South Koreans have studied that asparagus helps with hangovers
7. There is an annual asparagus festival in Stockton, CA (Central Valley) where the main source of asparagus for the US

I hope you get addicted to this dish too! 🙂

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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies…

Posted in Sweets by

OMG. These cookies are like amazing. I couldn’t believe it when I ate one this morning when I got up and baked these at 6am before I headed to work. The very very slight crispy when you bite into it, and the soft chewy cookie bursting with caramel nut flavor…sigh…anyway, I really do think its the brown butter that makes this cookie sooo good. I’ve never had a more fragrant cookie. When I was making the brown butter, which is basically boiling butter in a saucepan until it turns sort of brownish and brown sediment sinks to the bottom, my whole apartment smelled like melted butter on popcorn at the movie theatres –> to caramel popcorn –> to that rich nutty syrupy smell. It is beyond amazing. Now I really might have a brown butter obsession because of this…until I make the next thing, I’m going to be dreaming about this cookie. Yes, its that good…

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RAMEN BURGER.

Posted in Dinner, Lunch by

First it was the cronut and now its the ramen burger that everyone is raving about. Chef Keizo Shimamoto apparently wants to make a restaurant that makes these. At a festival in Brooklyn last weekend, he made 150 burgers to sell one day, and the next 300, generating buzz and long lines. People waited for 2 hours for one! Crazy! Social media and news websites have been buzzing over it and it seems like ramen noodles as buns are poised to be added as a bun option like lettuce or donuts! Of course I had to see what the hype was about and since I am about 3500 miles away from NYC, the only way to eat that is to make it on my own! My verdict? Its goooood! But I don’t think I will make the noodles into the bun again…its too much work when I can just throw it all together and make ramen beef noodles. And if I had to buy it? Probably only pay up to $5 for it. 🙂 Have fun with it!!!

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Thai Watermelon Salad!!!

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Paleo by

How ironic I make this ‘summer’ salad on probably the coldest day in SF this summer. My feet and nose are failing to defrost as I am typing, even though the heater is blasted. I guess SF has finally hit the cold wave…after a very warm beginning of summer! My days in SF aren’t very numbered anymore so I am hoping to make my last adventures here count before I start school again. I keep chanting in my head- 9 more months…9 more months!!!

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Habanero Corn Quesadillas!

Posted in Dinner, Lunch by

You might be wondering why on earth I would use/buy habaneros. They are so friggin spicy! The story goes back to one of my fellow intern coworkers. He has no tastebuds. Zero. Well, so we thought. This guy basically would eat 2 dollops of wasabi on top of his sushi, slather sriracha all over his rice, pour any type of hot sauce over his food when available. Its nuts! You have to see it to believe it. But anyway, so my boss told him about Smokeaters Hellfire Challenge in San Jose and how she watched the guy from Man vs. Food do the challenge and cry at the end. The cooks dump 6 ounces, SIX OUNCES! of habanero powder onto those damn wings. Well we were all very intrigued, especially my 0 tastebuds coworker. We watched the video at work and sure enough the guy cried at the end. So my coworker had a month to think about it before he actually did it. The week before the day of the challenge, he read tips, practiced eating whole peppers, starting at the lower end of the Scoville scale and working his way up to habaneros. (He did actually eat 3 Ghost peppers before in his college days, which is 100x more spicy than habaneros.) But obviously fresh ones are much less ‘spicy’ than powder so he knew what he was going into. On the day of, he ate a few habaneros and gave the rest to me. That is how I have come to have habaneros in my kitchen.

The challenge: We get to Smokeaters. He signs a waiver, and drinks some milk, has some tums, to line his stomach. Then they sit him down, serves him the wings. All 12 of them (him thinking it was 10)! It REEKS. Smells soooo bad! Looks like poop! Dry as hell! He starts and is able to proudly get through 4!!!! He ended up sweating and shedding tears, but it was all so worth it. He said it wasn’t even because it was spicy- that it just tasted soooo bad and was sooo dry (chicken and sauce) that it was hard to swallow because no liquids are allowed to help wash it down. He could have continued, but whats the point if he knew he could probably get through 2 more, but not 8 to finish. Anyway, great effort and it was sure a spectacle. Sent it to the office and everyone applauded. YAY! I am just glad he lasted longer than this guy the cashier told us about: ate 1 wing, barfed in the bathroom for the next hour.


Here is an example of how HOT habaneros are on the Scoville scale compared to others:

Ghost pepper: 855k- in 2007, Guiness named it hottest chili, superceded by the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion in 2012
Habanero: 100k-350k
Thai Chili Pepper: 50k-100k
Cayenne Pepper: 30k-50k
Jalapeno, Chipotle, Tabasco sauce: 3500-8000
Poblano: 1000-2500
Banana Pepper: 100-900

I used 1 habanero pepper for my corn quesadillas and I was definitely feelin the heat already!

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Nutella Chocolate Cake with Strawberries!

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Ever have a craving for chocolate? Hell, I guess everyone does!!! Chocolate and nutella? Even better! I’ve made many chocolate cupcakes before, but I have never really ever been into making cakes- normally its too big and since I’m forever alone I can’t eat it at all or distribute it. This recipe is one of the most moistest, chocolatey, soft cake texture I have ever made! So excited this will become my go-to chocolate cake 🙂 Some fun facts about nutella? An Italian made this up and formed the company Ferrero, with plants all over… the North American nutella is made in Canada. Each jar contains 50 hazelnuts… it has 67% of saturated fat, and 2 tbsp of nutella contains 200 calories!!! A typical candy bar has 250 calories…yikes! Nutella is cray. Because of this awful health makeup, there was a 2012 class action suit for false advertising by Nutella…the label claimed and marketed it as part of a nutritional breakfast! Can you believe that?! Well, the company ended up paying $3 million. World nutella day is February 5. Must remember that for next year. Make this simple cake for your next potluck or fancy dinner! 🙂

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Portabello Mushroom Combo Pizzas!

Posted in Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch by

These no carb pizzas are amazing. The portabello mushrooms are the perfect “crust” because it is so thick. Portabello mushrooms are so fascinating!!! Its mushroom taxonomy (scientific name) is Agaricus bisporus. When cultivated white, its the common white mushroom or white button mushroom we normally see. If the brown variety, it is little brown mushrooms like creminis. When the brown variety is kept until maturity, they become Portabello Mushrooms! This breed is cultivated in 70 different countries and is one of the most common and widely consumed mushrooms in the world! Here in North America, they are grown in our grassland areas. Mushroom cultivation was started by the French, first unsuccessfully. 186 years later, the Pasteur Institute in Paris re-discovered some non-poisonous mushrooms and then proceeded to cultivate in composted horse manure…um gross! Then in Pennsylvania, a farmer discovered a clump of white mushrooms. Turns out these white mushrooms were a result of a natural mutation from the light brown ones originally cultivated. Similar to how white bread is a more attractive food item than wheat bread back then (think Wonderbread), these little white mushrooms became super popular. I wonder if brown mushrooms are more popular now because of our society’s obsession with wheat/brown foods?

Anyway, these portabello mushroom pizzas are so easy to make. You don’t get the mess and time that comes with a good, yeasty, risen dough. Also, more healthy and less carbs. Its great for a quick lunch or dinner! You could top with anything you like!

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Sesame Seed Crusted Tofu

Posted in Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, Vegan by

I LOVE TOFU. I seriously love it and can eat it every day. When I was on my diet obsession, tofu was my main protein and the food that made me full longer. It has little calories, little fat, and also high in iron. I love how you can do anything with it: eat it raw, dried, fried, sauteed, baked, marinated, pan-fried, sweet, spicy, you name it! The possibilites are endless! Some silly facts: Tofu originated in China, according to wiki, some 2000 years ago! Who invented it? Well nobody really knows- its sort of like where cheese and butter came from for other cultures. Silly uses? Apparently, in China, tofu is used as a food offering when visiting graves because the dead people did not have teeth anymore, or any bones for that matter, to chew the food you offer them. I personally have never presented tofu to my ancestors so I don’t know if this is actually or not for more real Chinese people. How do you make it? It is made by soaking, grinding, boiling, straining soy beans and then pressing it together. Wonder why tofu is so watery when it comes out of a package? The water is to maintain its moisture content! For my dish, I had to dry out most of the moisture by straining it and wrapping it in paper towels overnight.

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Pretzel Wrapped Hot Dogs!

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I made these for this year’s Superbowl party and they were such a huge hit! Friends gobbled it up so quickly because they were seriously so so good. I normally am a HUGE pretzel fan- I loveeee soft pretzels dipped in nacho cheese at ball games, Costco, or amusement parks. I love the doughy and salty taste to it. It originated in Europe, most likely in Germany because “pretzel” comes from the German word “brezel.” Its defined by its signature twisted loop shape and comes in hard and soft kinds. The loop is said to also be a functional design for easy hanging for sale. It has particular significance in the Catholic Church according to wiki because its associated with Lent and Easter because the faithful can’t eat such things like eggs, milk, dairy, or lard during Lent. Boiling the pretzel dough in baking soda water helps make it that brown color.

Spirited outfits!

Because they were such a huge hit, when 4th of July came along and I was to go to a picnic at Dolores Park, I figured one of the best finger foods and also filling would be these damn good pretzel dogs. I made the dough in the morning for it to rise by noon. Just as I expected, the hot dogs were a huge hit, along with all the other delicious food at the picnic. Everyone really went all out!

Beautiful 4th! So HOT in SF! 🙂

Pretzels are best eaten the day of they are made, so grab a friend, a beer, and nom on these delicious homemade pretzel dogs!

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