A Very Merry Christmas Feast

Although I have posted this picture once before, I ask you to notice the background. Once upon a time my family used to have a home in the mountains, memorable for my first steps, learning how to make alphabet-shaped pancakes, a myriad of meals, and countless family memories. Unfortunately, we eventually had to let it go and the house was sold. Well, this christmas season, a good portion of my family went down nostalgia lane and rented out the house. With time, things change. So naturally, there were some changes, but overall the house was almost as we left it... Babe Ruth chairs and all...

For this post, I'm going à la food porn and posting up some drool inducing pictures à la Pavlov's dog. So here's a little peak at my family's christmas feast...

Kaylin's Caesar Salad with romaine lettuce, grated parmesan, tomatoes, and croutons

Some delicious flaky biscuits à la Pillsbury

Roasted Vegetables baby broccoli, yams, mushrooms, bok choy, asparagus, and cauliflower

Mushroom and Parmesan Risotto

For my family of winos and all you other connoisseurs, check out this cult-favorite Napa Valley Duckhorn magnum

Scott picked up some tri tips from the Seaside Market in La Jolla, CA, where they vacuum seal the meat and marinade together. In this case, we got the Cardiff Burgundy Pepper Tri-tip (or as my uncle has dubbed "Cardiff Crack"... It's that good). With industrial strength vacuum sealers on its side, the marinade helps break down enzymes that helps the marinade penetrate the meat and spread the flavor throughout the entire cut! MMMmmmMMMmmm

Then all we did was grill it up! MMMmmmMMMmmm

Then came dessert. My sister who is a great baker made dessert.

Peppermint Bark, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Treats (think rice krispie treats but with cinnamon toast crunch)

Pumpkin Bread

Red Velvet Cake Truffles dipped in White Chocolate

(and as my sister exclaimed when she saw this photo

"Ooh! My balls look so good!")

Helping my sister frost her Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Take a bite... and find the surprise inside!

My sister put Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups in the middle of the cupcake!

And that concludes my delicious Christmas feast of 2010... Happy holidays to all! Get ready for new years!

Spring Rolled in a Bit Early, Pun Intended

4h20 pm. Pacific Coast Time.

I’m sitting on the plane typing up this post, whose very blank window has been idly sitting opened on my computer browser for about a week now. I apologize for the tardiness, but I have been enjoying this thing called Spring Break.

I must say that my spring break has been wonderful. Let’s just say that Los Angeles treats its Angelinos very well. But before I dive into unnecessary detail, I must turn back to the clock to the night before I left New York for Los Angeles.

Thursday. March 11, 2009. 7h30. Eastern Time.

A failed attempt at a small dinner on Wednesday (I blame midterms) somehow managed to turn into a dinner of 15 on Thursday. As a celebration of freedom, a bunch of my friends helped me cook. Su-chefs make life sooo much easier... and fun. We made Steak Spring Rolls and Orzo Pasta.

The Spring Rolls are surprisingly easy to make. The most difficult part is finding the spring roll wrappers, which are available at many Asian-specialty markets and many grocery stores. If your local store does not have them, usually you can order them through the clerk (which is true for most ingredients).

Steak Spring Rolls

Ingredients:
-1 package (approx. 20 individual) Spring Roll Wrappers
-1 head of Savoy Cabbage (the green cabbage)
-some cucumbers (take them from a salad bar!)
-A package of peanuts (you will want 2-3 per spring roll)
-1 bundle of green onions
-1 bottle Hoisin Sauce (found in the “ethnic food” aisle in stores)(or at M2M for fellow Columbians)
-Steak (use “stir fry style” or thicker cuts. DO NOT GET SKIRT STEAK! It dries out too easily. I used London broil… it was on sale)
-garlic
-olive oil/butter
-ground black pepper

-To maximize the ease of this recipe, it’s all about preparation. I usually make a fire-assembly-line type of thing (with different stations for each step).

-Station 1: Prepare a bowl or deep dish (I used a cake pan) and fill it with water.
Place the spring roll wrappers next to it.
-Station 2: Start my slicing cabbage into strips. TIP: Do not make them too thin, nor too thick. Also slice the green onions into strips (TIP: Cut it width wise, so it makes small cylinders. Also make them shorter than the cabbage strips) Then, slice the cucumbers. (EXTRA: You can also include carrots) Put the sliced ingredients on a platter with the peanuts. (View Pictures below)
Now that the hard preparation is done (yes, that’s the hardest part of this recipe), it’s time to prepare the steak.

Station 3:
-Crush 2-3 cloves of garlic.
-Put a little butter and olive oil in a pan. Turn on the stove to allow the oil and butter heat up. Put it on medium-high heat (again, this is dependent on your stove). Put the garlic in the oil/butter in the pan. (TIP: This is a very useful trick I learned from an old Italian woman; use it before you make any type of sauce or meat. It infuses the oil that you use to grease the pan with garlic!)
-Marinate the steak with crushed garlic, pepper, and oil. Put the steak onto the pan. Cook until the middle is as you please:

Here's a KEY (to judge how your meat is cooked):
--Red=rare.
--Pink (or pinkish-red)=medium rare.
--Brown=well done.
--Black=time to throw your meat away.
--Grey (the inside and outside)=the meat is bad.

-Wait until the cooked steak has cooled a little and then slice it. Put the slices of steak on a platter.

Final Steps/Assembly:
-Submerge the spring roll wrappers in the water for about 30 seconds-1 minute. It’s important that you submerge (submarine imagery is vital in this case) the spring roll wrappers until they lose their plastic-y texture and are completely soft.
-Place the wrapper on a plate. Then place a few slices of cabbage (1-2), green onions, a few peanuts, and some steak. Top it off with some hoisin sauce.
(Theses are fun because you can change any of the ingredients to satisfy your personal preferences)
-Wrap it up like a burrito.
-Enjoy!!

Spring Rolls may be delicious, but I personally need more food than that. So I made a delicious Orzo Pasta. (There is no need to be confused/intimidated by Orzo. Yes, it looks like rice. No, it is not rice. Yes, it is pasta. And yes, it is delicious.)

Orzo Pasta with Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Parsley, and Feta

Ingredients:
-1 package Orzo Pasta
-olive oil (1 tbsp + some for cooking)
-salt
-approx. 1 cup of chopped feta
-1 bunch parsley
-1 package chopped tomatoes (I got them from the dining hall)
-some lemon juice
-pepper

-Put water in a pot and bring to a boil. I like to drizzle some olive oil and salt in the water as it boils. (The oil makes the pasta’s texture better and the salt decreases the boiling point. Yes, Chemistry! For others who are not scientifically inclined, it simply decreases the amount of time needed to boil.)
-Cook the orzo, according to the directions. It’s usually somewhere between 9-13 minutes.
-Drain the orzo in a colander. In the colander, run some cold water over the pasta to stop it from over-cooking. *Even though you may take pasta out of the pan, the heat continues to cook the pasta. *
-Chop up the parsley into small pieces. Chop up the feta into small cubes. Chop the tomatoes. (TIP: Make sure the chunks are big enough to have a nice taste of the ingredient, but not too big where they are a hassle to chew!)
-Put the chopped ingredients into the orzo. Drizzle olive oil (about 1 tbsp) as well as squeeze half a lemon to a full lemon’s worth of lemon juice onto the pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste.
-Enjoy!!
Well, that was that. We all left satisfied—if not a little too satisfied—and full of food. Considering I was cooking for the 15 people, the bill was not too bad. The kicker in this recipe is the steak you use. I paid about 60$ for this entire meal. $30-35 was for the meat alone (which I hugely overestimated). Do the math… I know you can.

Luckily for me, my friend, Andrew, brought a cheesecake for dessert. Yes, it was classic New York Cheesecake (well, with strawberries). No, it was not homemade. Therefore, No. There is no recipe.

This meal was a great way to end midterms and kick off spring break. I honestly did not realize the irony of making spring rolls for spring break until I started typing this up, but it was definitely well worth the pun. Everyone joined in: proof that it's easy to make.

A few hours after dinner (around 5h00 am), I was on my way to Los Angeles. For me, Los Angeles is like my Mecca. Surrounded by good (local) produce and warm weather, I ate well every day. So look forward to a post on a delicious Indian feast as prepared by my mother and my best friend’s mother (Yes, our moms are best friends, too. It’s not creepy, but incredibly cute). As for now, always remember Live Well. Eat Well.


P.S. I would like to give special thanks to my wonderful models for being so beautiful and providing us with such wonderful photographs! In particular, thank you Alex, Micheal, and Willie!

ValenTHYME's Week (Pretty Pictures Included)

In celebration of the week leading up to Valentine's Day and my friend Angela's birthday, I made red velvet cupcakes. It's so very in-theme of this week's mood. (Also, please don't be intimidated by the length of this blog. It's mainly recipes... but make sure you go to the end so you can see all of the pretty pictures.)

But before I get to the velvety cupcakes, you must know about the dinner I helped cooked with Kelsey and her boyfriend, Shawn.

Tuesday night, Shawna and Kelsey invited me over to Furnald for "Pesto Pasta". I met them at Morton William's, our local market, and bought ingredients.
We got:

-1 package ground turkey
-1 package whole wheat penne
-parmesan
-whole wheat bread
-garlic
-cilantro
-salt and pepper
-pine nuts
-olive oil

With this, we made garlic bread with parmesan and pesto pasta with turkey and pinenuts. It was a simple spontaneous meal that turned out quite well. So well, that almost all of Furnald 7 stopped by for a sniff, and sometimes a taste. (Forgive me for the bad quality photos. They were taken on a friend's iphone.)

Garlic Bread with parmesan
-You want to start up the broiler for this recipe

-lay whole wheat bread on a baking pan and drizzle olive oil over the whole pan.

-smash garlic (to release its flavor) and cut up into small pieces.

-Then spread the garlic over the bread. Sprinkle some parmesan over the bread.

-Broil for 2-3 minutes. Et Voilà!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Pesto, Turkey, and Pinenuts

We made the whole wheat pasta according to the box. Except we put some oil and salt in the water before it boiled.

We then chopped up the cilantro and put in in the ground turkey, as well as with some garlic, salt, and pepper. We mixed it all up, and put it to the side.

In a pan, we warmed up mashed garlic in a very little amount of oil. Allow the garlic to heat up in the oil first, as it will infuse its flavor with the oil (thus adding it to the meat as a whole). Allow the pinenuts to roast in the oil and garlic. Then add the meat. Watch closely as you stir and flip the meat. Make sure every piece is fully cooked. It should take about 7 minutes.

Then take out the pasta and drain. Put in the pesto, and the meat/pine nut mix (from the stovetop). Mix it up and serve with some parmesan.

(feeds 6-7 people) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was quite the delicious meal, as usual. This week I could feel the oozing love in the air. The very next night I was invited to eat again. Paul made some delicious pasta and steak. The steak was very simple, but incredibly rich in flavor. He cooked it on the stovetop in a mixture of butter and oil, after marinating it in cayenne pepper, herbs, and oil. That's all it took for a delicious steak. I don't mean to overwhelm you with recipes, so Paul will have another post dedicated to him making a delicious steak. So now you have something to look forward to...

The rest of my cooking this week involved baking.
I don't only love to cook, but I also love to bake.
I made red velvet cupcakes, funfetti cupcakes, chocolate cake, and brownies. The last three were out-of-cardboard-boxes, made-for-bakesale material. I had a waterpolo bakesale which was pretty successful. Five hours of public hassling and begging later, we made a satisfying amount of money to begin to help make up for the fact that Columbia University Club sports has suffered from the nation wide necessity for budget cuts. But no worries, we understand.

The red velvet cupcakes were for a less-wholesome-more-selfish--but nonetheless important--reason: Angela's birthday. But because the recipe I usually use was given to me by my best friend's family, I feel like I do not yet have the right to distribute their recipe. Copyright issues.
However, here is an incredibly delicious recipe for red velvet cupcakes that should blow your valentine's mind. (This is the recipe I tested out for the cupcake campaign pictures... with a few of my personal touches) (Don't worry. I put them in the recipe... )
Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 24+ cupcakes)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 5 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 package Cream Cheese
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp rose water (or citrus zest, or whatever suits your fancy)
  
• 1 16oz package powdered sugar

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

-In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

-In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. (It makes things easier to have an electric mixer, but it is possible by hand... It just requires a little more effort)

-Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl. Mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. (WARNING: Do NOT overmix the batter... This causes your batter to get tough)

-Fill the cupcake pan until each one is 2/3 filled.
-Bake in oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. You can turn the pans once half way through, but I never do... (Some argue they cook more evenly. depends on your oven).
-The cupcakes are done once you can remove a clean toothpick from the middle. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

-Mix the butter and cream cheese until they are smooth and creamy. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix. This is easiest with an electric mixer (my broken hand mixer and sore arm muscles can prove that).
-Add the vanilla and rose water (or zest). If the icing is too thick, try adding milk (1 tbsp at a time) until it's the right consistency.

Et Voilà!! Red Velvet Cupcakes... or "mo-cakes" as Angela has now coined.


I have yet to introduce you to Angela. (Hint: She has a headband on in the last post...) She has been taking my deliciously beautiful food photographs. So the day after her birthday, Columbia University and Barnard College cancelled all classes due to a blizzard. Now my Angelino self has never actually experienced this thing called a "snow day," so I took advantage of this day to have a Cupcake Campaign Photoshoot.

We popped a bottle of Martinelli's from Angela's birthday celebrations (oh, the life of an underaged college student...)

Well here are the beautiful pictures that Angela took that will soon adorn lovely posters across Barnard and Columbia's campus.




















Good food is delicious, so that's my current adjective for life. And as always, live well. Eat well. And in the spirit of ValenTHYME's day, please love well.