I’m Not Sure if You’ve Seen This

So I’m not sure if a lot of you have seen this, but I saw it on CNN Eatocracy. And this disturbs me as much as the US considering pizza a vegetable. But so Stacy Irvine, 17, for the last 15 years of her life, has only eaten chicken nuggets. Chicken Nuggets from McDonalds, KFC, store bought. She would eat some french fries, by some twisted mindset I suppose would probably be the next thing the US will declare a vegetable serving, but she hasn’t eaten fruit or vegetables that she can remember. In addition to that she would drink soda, not necessarily water. This girl is not at all obese which I find incredibly interesting. But she does have a list of health problems such as Anemia, breathing problems and a deficit of all vitamins. The mother of the girl is now trying to get her to see a specialist and Irvine, who acknowledges that nuggets aren’t healthy has no plans to change her ways. As a parent, it’s first and foremost your responsibility to take care of your child’s health needs, which means getting them to eat real food. Secondly, why would you not take steps earlier, could you really not best a 2 year old? It’s called the Terrible Twos, of course she’s being difficult but eat or don’t eat. It’s an ultimatum I’ve gotten and I mean I’m picky but get a good dose of veggies and fruits regardless. So the lesson here is get a varied diet because it’s not healthy to eat only one of anything, even if it’s healthy. Second, again everything in moderation.

 

Happy New Year!

Last year I complained about the icky mochi soup we eat on New Year’s Day as the first meal of the year called Ozoni. The stickiness of the mochi symbolizes the way a family will stick together through the year. And the flavorlessness of the soup is due to the fact that it’s pretty healthy for you and you should start your year off healthy.

This year and most of the years we have a three tiered box (jubako) filled with New Year’s food called Osechi-Ryori. All the foods inside have symbolism for the year. Let’s be real here there are very few foods I like in this, but since I was going to work out shortly after I didn’t eat much anyway. So there was the kamaboko, the white and pink fish cake that represents the rising sun of Japan and has celebratory connotation. Tazukuri or sardines, usually dried, which symbolize a bountiful harvest. Lots of beans which usually symbolize health. Fruits like grapes and oranges which usually bring prosperity or the wish of having numerous children. Eggs, which I don’t eat, they’re usually rolled up to look like a sun, so take a wild guess. It also includes foods like Gobo (burdock root), Kazunoko (herring roe), shrimp, seaweed, and such.

The Osechi usually has food for several days at a time. I’m sure there’s a systematic way of eating it but basically the way we do it is that my entire family goes to my grandma’s for breakfast. We eat a store bought Osechi but she makes us her own ozoni. She always tries to explain to us what’s the importance of everything, but we’ve heard it so often we know it by heart. We show up because there is importance to us coming together and eating as a family and eating something special as well.

おせち

Red Velvet Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookie Fudge

We’re just breaking down boundaries. Red Velvet Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookie Fudge.

It took me a lot longer than I thought I would. And for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Fudge, you need to use a candy thermometer and mine was taking a really long time, so I’m not convinced it works. The Red Velvet Brownies came out a little dry, so I shortened the baking time in the recipe below. And there was way too much frosting, so if you double the brownie recipe or cut the frosting recipe in half.

I have yet to taste the chocolate chip fudge but it’s not quite set yet. So maybe in a bit. I’ll let you know!

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And I’m back

Dear world,

I’m not dead. I was just dealing with a lot of finals. But now I’m back. I just returned from San Francisco. We had a lot of good food. I’ve been there before and my dad lived there for his college years so he has a lot of places he likes to eat. He took us to Sears Fine Food near Union Square for breakfast. I guess the trick to this restaurant is that the bigger your party the better the chances are that you’ll get seated. I had the waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, no maple syrup needed.

But of course we returned to In N Out because I always do when I’m in the west coast. So we went on the Wharf which almost seems like a waste because there are good restaurants down there we just didn’t choose to go to them.

The newest place we went to was Bluestem Brassiere which was also near Union Square. It’s American food, but at the same time it’s kind of weird. Bone Marrow, that’s right, Bone Marrow, was on the appetizer menu but they were out that night. But my cousin swears that it’s delicious. So it’s almost a shame that we didn’t try it but at the same time I’d be terrified to actually put that in my mouth. But I had chicken, mac and cheese, fries and potatoes. It was a carb heavy night. Followed up with a chocolate plate.

My chocolatey dessert

Tapioca Creme Brulee with Bacon Cookie

Pear Dessert

We also had Sakana, a Japanese restaurant near our hotel. It was pretty legit. I had karaage chicken, edamame, nigiri and katsu. It was all delicious and familiar. The waiter had a lot of tattoos and “Support Japan” wrist bands. But in addition it had a lot of Japanese workers which was nice instead of Chinese, Koran or Mexican workers. Not that I’m against that, but sometimes it’s difficult to leave your own cultural influences out when cooking from a different culture. But there are always exceptions. Everything was yummy.

And how San Francisco is famous for Sourdough bread, we ate at Boudin. The first thing I ate was the roast beef sandwich but when I bit in my jaw kind of dislocated because the bread was so hard. The next day I had a different sandwich but it was nearer to the morning so the bread wasn’t nearly as hard.

San Francisco has a lot of great places to eat. But it’s affected by how much you want to pay and what exactly you want. I had a great time.

Can We Please Talk About Jerky

Is it sad that when I go to Vegas I’m like, Oh, let’s get beef jerky. I guess we should also keep in mind that I don’t eat beef jerky all that often. But when it’s from Vegas. I’m down. Located in the Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas is where all the cool kids, and by cool kids I mean people from Hawaii go to get their Jerky. I also got Parmesan garlic bagel crisps and mini sausage bites. All of it is delicious. The sausage bites have a little bit of a smoky flavor to them and some spice. I used to eat them instead of protein but I hear that’s not how it’s done. The jerky isn’t like the type you see in stores like 7Eleven. It’s more like homemade jerky. It’s got color, it’s not over-salted, it’s not oddly shaped like the mass produced stuff. But it’s delicious all the same.

Vegas, this will be long

So I had my Vegas Thanksgiving and oh my goodness the food.

First off I know what you’re wondering, did you have turkey on Thanksgiving? I did not. Alas we went to Cirque Du Soliel: Beatles, so we couldn’t really make a reservation and ended up going to the Cheesecake factory. I really try to avoid chains when I travel because we can get that anywhere. But since they don’t take reservations it just made life easier to get into in the mean time. I had the lemon herb chicken which was good, drowned in butter sauce. It was delicious. Then followed up by a tuxedo chocolate cheesecake. I’m not going to lie, I know that all the foods there are high in calories and it does make me cringe a little bit. But I will always stand by I’d rather be fat and happy then skinny and sad.

My highlight in the food was the local food I got to eat. At Aloha Specialties Restaurant, while the service was subpar, the food was decent. I had fried saimin, it had a little too much celery. And their wontons in the other saimin kind of fell apart really easy. But the service is the opposite of what their name. The cashier lady, didn’t even say anything to me. She just kind of glared, then I placed my order and she handed me a number. A simple, hostile transaction, the way I like em.

But Island Sushi was the best. Located in the Plaza hotel, this was like being at home. They had all the stuff I like to eat. I had a garlic chicken bowl and sushi. It’s not Mitsuba or Mistuken but it’s still good. It wasn’t dripping with sauce which is both good and bad. I ordered the bowl because I had the thought, oh well the bowl will be smaller. No not really. In addition I had maguro and ebi nigiri (which was delicious) and a California roll (delicious, but a little bit of a vinegar taste in the crab meat). So with everything I ordered I was actually very excited for my dessert which was the malasada sundae. It was so yummy, the warm malasada pieces which could have be crispier but it was delicious with the vanilla ice cream. There was also a strawberry sauce that I don’t really think added to the dish but it didn’t take away from it either. I think I’m just a chocolate person.
I keep meaning to go to Hash House A G0-Go but it keeps not happening.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…. (dun dun dun-dramatic)

Thanksgiving!

So since I’m all the way in Boston and my family is in Hawaii, we try to meet up whenever we can. This year as well as the year before last we are meeting up in VEGAS. This time around I’m old enough to gamble. And I’m so ready. Foodwise I’m not sure what we’ll be eating. I’m aiming for Hash House A Go Go. I know we’re going to Lawry’s because my dad loves their prime rib. But basically I’m so ready and I’ll try to update right after I get back!

This is Just Wrong

So according to CNN.com, legislation is trying to make Pizza a vegetable. If the pizza has 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce then it is considered a vegetable. How in the world is that okay? In all honesty, I love my junk food and hate my vegetables, but pizza is not a vegetable. I realize that tomato sauce is good, but because most tomato sauces come from a can which doesn’t mean they’re necessarily nutritious.

People are worried about the childhood obesity issue but making pizza into a vegetable won’t help that. Yes, I also understand that it’s difficult for schools to make ends meet just so that they can have lunch, but at the same time we shouldn’t make pizza into a vegetable. I’m not quite sure how schools can make ends meet, honestly I think it’s going to take a little, or a lot, of philanthropy on some food supplier’s behalf. But I don’t think this is the way to go about it. Oh I’m so terrified the day when Pizza becomes a vegetable, there is just something wrong in the world.

Honey, if you love me

Recently I’ve been eating a lot of honey. I put about a tablespoon or a little less into my morning smoothies since I buy frozen unsweetened strawberries to blend into it which sometimes gives it a sour bite.  But since smoothies have been my choice of post-workout drink, you gotta do what you gotta do.

There’s an article on CNN about the honey in the US. Drugstore honey (walgreens, cvs, etc) have no traces of pollen.  76% of grocery store brands of honey had no traces of pollen. But those from farmer’s markets and Trader Joes did have the expected amount of pollen. The pollen content is important because it helps people track where the honey came from and that it’s actually honey. If it doesn’t have traces of honey it might not be honey, it might have antibiotics you didn’t count on or be smuggled in from China (apparently according to the article).

So why do people eat honey? In addition to it being a natural sweetener someone recently told me that they eat honey because it helps with their allergies because of the pollen in it,

• it’s also an antioxidant.
• It boosts energy so apparently putting it into my morning smoothie is a good thing.
•  And you can use it when you’re sick because it’s easy on the stomach and throat. It can actually kill bacteria that causes infections and helps to soothe inflammations.
• You can also put honey on a burn from cooking and it insulates it, but it makes you sticky so maybe just some Neosporin.

Potatoes! and other things

I’ve been trying to make my own potato chips for a while now. I made potato chips in oil, baked and in the microwave. The microwaved potato chips came out pretty well. Crispy but not a lot of flavor, I’ll have to toss it with some salt and garlic powder next time. While I microwaved the potato chips I also made some potato wedges for my dinner, I needed a little extra texture variance.

My dinner was a chicken pot pie bubble baked. It’s almost entirely squishy, in the best of ways possible. Mixed vegetables, cream of chicken, cheese and honey baked grands Jr. It’s delicious. But sometimes you just need a side dish.

I also baked the potato chips, which didn’t come out well at all. I decided to cut them paper thin and that about burned the chips more than I’d have preferred. So I had to toss a lot of them. I guess next time I have to cut the potatoes thicker than I had. Lastly, the most successful was when I deep fried the potato chips. The paper thin ones worked really well with this one. And then when tossed with some salt, pepper and a little bit of garlic powder it’s perfect.

Fried in Oil

Baked potato wedges, extra crispy

Pot Pie Bubble Bake

…Baked Potato Chips