some summertime eats

Happy Summer! It's going by really quickly, so take advantage of the sunny days & seasonal eats before it's too late.

salsa.. cherry tomatoes, corn, jalapeno, red onion, garlic and cilantro (can't forget the lime juice!)

Cherries are in season right now! Eating them every night.

Attempt #1 to make my own horchata. Soaking the rice overnight...

The next morning, after blending. Note to self.. strain better next time!

I added some milk & ice before drinking. It tasted OK but I think it needed more cinnamon/spice.

Quinoa black bean salad--salsa from earlier + black beans + quinoa + cumin, chili powder & olive oil

homemade pickles.

loving this color combo right now!

close-up on the fingers: Zoya Lolly + topcoat

--J

new house

 Moving is always hectic.. currently I am still sleeping in an empty bedroom with a mattress on the ground while the floors are getting redone. The rest of the house's furniture was only purchased today, so it won't be delivered until 2 weeks. Anyways, at least I have internet and thank goodness for places like Starbucks and Panera :)

The following are some photos of what's been going on in the past.. 2-3 weeks or so.

weird green tea ramen from Taiwan: one of the last meals at the old house hehe

thoughts: definitely not like any ramen I've ever tasted--it was pretty sweet and there was no soup, it was more of a thick sauce 

this is just random, but I got a double yolk in one of my eggs! I really enjoyed a poached egg in tomato sauce and dunking some toasty bread in there to sop it all up. mm...

first meal in the new house! SUSHI BOAT EXTRAVAGANZA YUMMY! (check out the super cute kiwi roll!!

one of the first things I did in the new house was paint my nails. This is Smoke & Ashes from China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection (Hunger Games). Definitely a hard one to photograph, but this polish is super pigmented--this is only 1 coat! I think the holographic glitters are really fun and pretty, so I definitely enjoy this one.

First thing I make in the new house.. egg salad using greek yogurt, seasoned mustard, green onion, salt&pepper...

...and I put it on a sandwich with some blanched asparagus and red cabbage slaw

everything in the kitchen is now on black marble countertops and our future dining table is also black.. it will definitely change the look of my food photos.. we'll see how it goes!

Now if you'll excuse me, my mattress is calling my name. You never expect shopping for furniture to be so tiring but it really is. Also when you have to wake up at 7 am every morning in order to get ready & out of the house before the people doing your floors arrive, that also makes you wanna crawl into bed at like 7 pm haha. ZZzzzz....

-J

may the odds be ever in your favor

Imsoexcitedforfriday! In honor of the Hunger Games movie, I broke my nail polish ban and bought 2 of the China Glaze Capitol Colours collection. Here is Dress Me Up.

It is more brown that I expected it to be. This is applied with 2 coats and the formulation was very nice. Definitely an all-around nice neutral color to sport on your nails.

Quick fix lunch/dinner: steamed kale, garlicky mashed red potatoes, IKEA lingonberry sauce/jam and meatballs!

I'm moving across town in exactly 1 week. It's crazy and too soon, but I am most excited for getting a new kitchen!!! Just thinking about all the new food creations I can make there is making my mouth water. :)


-J

Kimchi time!

Ooooh yeaaaa...

I haven't had kimchi in a while and got my hands on a head of napa cabbage.. and it's been a long time since I've made it. SO it was about time to make some again. I'm really looking forward to making some kimchi fried rice when this batch gets to that sour state. YUM! I basically used the method from Maangchi, but I halved her recipe since I only had 1 head of cabbage. I ended up with a whole lot more kimchi than I anticipated, hehe, but I'm not complaining! When you attempt to make this, just realize that it's a pretty straightforward process but it is pretty time consuming--prepare for that.

Napa cabbage -- before and after salting for 1.5 hours.
The cabbage really shrunk, about 1/2 its original volume!

mixing the cabbage with green onion, carrot & korean radish slices with the kimchi paste

final product. this is gonna last me quite a while!

 -J

Oven-baked Swordfish

In last minute attempts to make dinner tonight.. I was searching for a swordfish recipe since I had this huge swordfish steak on hand. I'm sure there's a reason for this but the majority of the recipes called for the fish to be grilled, which I did not have access to. I'm guessing this has to do with the fact that swordfish should NOT be overcooked because it gets really tough and gross if you do? So this is what I came up with and despite it being a little bland, I think it turned out pretty well!

On the fly.. I preheated the oven to 375 F, got some olive tapenade, a tomato, a lemon and a bunch of kale out of the fridge along with the beautiful swordfish steak. I decided to do a one pan meal inspired by a putanesca sauce with the fish. So I roughly chopped up the tomato, added about 4 spoonfuls of tapenade, garlic powder (yea I was lazy.. freshly minced would have been much better), lemon zest & juice, salt, pepper and olive oil -- mixed that all together in a bowl. THEN, I placed the kale on the bottom of the pan and drizzled olive oil (this was meant to serve as nutritious and a bed for the swordfish to be placed on) (I should have salted this...). Then I rubbed the swordfish on both sides with some more olive oil.. I should have also salted & peppered it too but I forgot to (this probably accounted for the blandness). Finally I poured the tomato mixture over the steak and stuck the whole thing in the oven. You have to be careful to evenly spread the tomato mixture on top of the fish so that it will cook evenly. Now, the fish should be done by 15 minutes, obviously it depends how large a piece you have; be sure to keep your eye on it because overcooked swordfish tastes like a rubber tire. Done! In the future I would add some kind of heat to it, maybe red chili flakes or even a couple shakes of Tabasco hot sauce.

I think it turned out visually appealing, no? FYI: Swordfish goes from pink to white in color as it cooks.

I GOT SOME NEW SHOES! I've been eyeing those 'loafer' style shoes for a while now, and when I saw these in a magazine, I think it was Teen Vogue haha (don't hate! I got a free subscription on my Kindle Fire), I knew I had to get them. They are from the Material Girl line by Madonna and her daughter. These shoes can only be gotten online, at least none of the Macy's near me carried it so I decided to order them.

I'm grateful to Macy's for having a Size 5 shoe, they fit my feet perfectly and these are super comfortable as well. I know I will be putting these to great use because I plan to wear them with as many outfits as I can!

Going onto almost 9 months of my year-long ban on purchasing nail polish, I have also decided not to buy any more makeup and attempt to actually finish the stuff I already own. For that reason, expect to see more food-related posts!

-J

homemade larabars

 Sorry it's been a while.. school has gotten in the way as it usually does. But! I bring you a new food creation that is super delicious and perfect for taking to school as a snack to eat during lecture :) I've always been a fan of those yummy Larabars but they are just so expensive, I don't buy them too often. Last night I stumbled across this recipe for homemade larabars and, coincidentally, I had a container of dates in the fridge. Of course I had to make these. And I am so glad that I did. Since these have chocolate & peanut butter in them, they really taste like Snickers! Some changes in my bars: I made a very small batch since I only had 1 cup of dates and 1 bar of chocolate in the house. The chocolate I used was milk chocolate + hazelnuts. The almonds I used were also salted. Anyways, I am looking forward to bringing these to class :)

In college, I was addicted to these Izze juices and had tried every flavor there was. I haven't had one in a while and discovered this new Peach flavor while perusing the aisles of Whole Foods. I have to say, it is pretty darn good.. but grapefruit is still my favorite!

 And now.. here are some nail art designs I've done lately:

Gradient nails: 37 Blue it from Sally Hansen, Slushied from Sephora by OPI, For Audrey from China Glaze, Turquoise&Caicos from Essie, Re-freshmint from China Glaze

I topped it with some sparkle :) Sparkle Me Silver from Sephora by OPI Jewelry Top Coats

Couldn't decide between these 2 colors so why not have both! Chinchilly & Lilacism both by Essie

Tribal Nail Art, inspired by Beautylish.. I definitely made my dots too big I think

 Last but not least, my V-Day gift to myself :) 

-J

Thanksgiving is the best holiday

I have celebrated Thanksgiving with one of my closest friends for the past 5 years. This year it was at her parent's house so we didn't do the majority of cooking like we've done in the past while away at college. We did learn how to make her mother's delicious oyster dressing that there are never any leftovers of and we made our pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. 

see those whole oysters in there??? there is nothing that tastes like this in the world.

the spread

my beauteous plate.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with gingersnap crust and cinnamon-maple whipped cream :)

Since there weren't any leftovers from the oyster dressing, we decided that we wanted more and this time we helped make it.. which means, I know how to make this now and I can have it more than just once every year. I documented the cooking process and was glad to discover that this really was not too difficult to make. I think the key is just getting the seasonings right and having good quality oysters. The adapted recipe comes from Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen cookbook, which I learned that any pepper listed in ingredients needs to be halved or else it is too spicy. Her mom didn't follow the recipe in the book exactly, so that is what I'm going to show in the following steps:

"Holy trinity" of diced green bell pepper (4 cups), onions (4 cups) and celery (5 cups)... plus some garlic (half a head) and 1/4 cup green onions.
Sautee with 5 tbsp butter over medium heat until softened and a little browned. It's always amazing how much the volume of veggies shrinks after 15 minutes of cooking.

The spice mixture: 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper, 2 tsp sweet paprika, 2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried oregano leaves, 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
We sprinkled these seasonings into the sauteed veggies gradually as they browned.

getting there...

Then you pour the liquid of the oysters into the pan. We also poured half of the oysters in the pan and broke them up with the spatula.  Added a couple dried bay leaves too.

Beautiful oysters!
For this recipe you really need to buy fresh oysters that come shucked already like this so all the liquids are also there. I know that they sell oysters like this at Whole Foods Market but these were specially brought from out-of-state by my friend's grandfather.

Then we added a mixture of regular unseasoned bread crumbs and panko bread crumbs to dry up the excess moisture. We ball-parked it but it should be about 1 cup. You can also use homemade bread crumbs! Obviously throughout the cooking process you should be tasting everything to make sure the seasoning is how you like it.

Finally, pour into a buttered casserole dish.

Put the rest of the oysters in and just make sure they are mostly covered by the dressing mixture.

Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top and then bake it in the oven for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. I think you can also make this the night before and just stick it in the oven the next day when the feast is.

The finished product. This might not look like much but there is so much flavor in here; I could seriously eat this whole pan by myself.

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and ate themselves into food coma like I did! It really is the best holiday as long as you plan ahead to avoid stressful times in the kitchen :)

-J