Monthly Archives: August 2011

Blueberry Muffins

I woke up this morning with the most intense craving for a gigantic blueberry muffin. You know, one of those sugar-crusted monstrosities from Costco that’s packed to bursting with fat blueberries. Those things are so bad for you, but they’re so delicious! They’re really just dessert masquerading as breakfast. (Which is fine by me — my parents used to let me eat cake and pie and ice cream for breakfast all the time.) These days, my metabolism really can’t handle actual desserts or an entire Costco muffin for breakfast anymore, but I can certainly put away a whole bunch of these equally yummy, normal-sized muffins. There is less than a cup of sugar in the whole batch, and two cups of fresh, juicy berries...

Looks like Hurricane Irene is the new Snowpocalypse — everything is closed, traffic has ground to a halt, and everyone is holed up in their homes. The only difference, I guess, is that we’re actually prepared to battle the forces of nature this time around. Maybe a little too prepared. BJ’s was a mad house yesterday! I was just there to get some snacks, but it seemed like everyone else was stocking up on enough bottled water and dry foods to survive the Apocalypse. I almost caved in to the peer pressure and got some water myself, but I was on foot and couldn’t possibly carry all that back home. Besides, the storm is only supposed to last a day or two, and I’ve...

Goat Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich with Kimchi, Spinach, and a Runny Egg

Guys, I just had the greatest sandwich ever for lunch — wheat toast, two kinds of melted cheese, spinach, kimchi, and a runny egg. So messy, so flavorful, so amazingly delicious. I’ve learned from reading my friend Sam’s food blog this year that a runny egg makes everything extra delicious. And, as everyone knows, kimchi and runny eggs are a match made in foodie heaven. So when you get crazy and throw tangy goat cheese and hearty colby jack into the mix, you get something totally divine. Every bite is a study in flavor and textural contrasts — salty/soft goat cheese, creamy egg yolk, spicy/tangy/crunchy kimchi, toasted wheat bread, and mellow baked spinach. Yum. This sandwich probably isn’t for everyone, since kimchi is more or...

Whoa, two posts in one day, what’s going on??? Unemployment, that’s what. No, I wasn’t fired. And no, I wasn’t laid off. My judicial clerkship ended yesterday. Can you believe how quickly a whole year passed? It’s been over a year since I graduated law school, one year since I took the bar exam, and 8 months since I got sworn in as a brand spanking new attorney. Oh, how time flies… So, what’s next? Nothing just yet, but I’m looking. It’s kind of scary to be moving forward without a concrete plan, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be OK. I’ve got a solid resume with a lot of good work experience, there are plenty of legal job search directories out there, and I’ve...

Dan’s back in the kitchen folks, and this time he’s making creamed spinach for a cozy little dinner party. As my “sous-chef”, he technically had a hand in every other dish served — shredding cheese for the mac n’ cheese, mashing potatoes for the garlic mashed potatoes, etc. — but this was the dish that he was entirely responsible for from start to finish. I actually wanted to put him in charge of cooking the pork ribs, but he said that was more of a “Tina in the Kitchen” endeavor. Oh well. Next time… Creamed spinach is one of our favorite steakhouse sides — it’s creamy, savory, and super delicious. But, considering how cheap the ingredients are and how easy it is to make, especially...

Dan in the Kitchen — Grilled Cream Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich

So, I’d like to introduce a new series of posts called “Dan in the Kitchen,” where I document Dan’s forays into the kitchen. I figure since I’m not always in the mood to cook, but we still need to eat, everyone would benefit from Dan gaining some cooking skills. Until we moved in together, pretty much all Dan ate was buffalo chicken subs from the student center deli, Cheez-its and pasta with bottled spaghetti sauce. To this day, if I’m not around for dinner, or if I don’t feel like cooking, he’ll just have a few beers and a pack of Oreos. So unappetizing, not to mention super unhealthy. I have high hopes that this “Dan in the Kitchen” thing is really going to...

(All pictures in this post were taken by Alex Hsu.) A few weeks ago, right after my Japanese-Style Strawberry Shortcake post, I got a message from my friend Alex asking if I would cook him delicious food for his birthday. He lives in Jersey City and I live in VA, so my first instinct was to say “Haha…good one…no.” But, I’m a sucker for compliments about my cooking, and I like to feed people, so I told him I’d do it. I didn’t think to run the idea by Dan until after I had already committed us to a road trip, but to his credit he just rolled his eyes and said “Guess I need to take some time off on Friday…” When I...

Last Sunday, food blogger Jennifer Perillo’s husband suffered a massive and unexpected heart attack and passed away. He loved peanut butter cream pie, and as a tribute to him, Jennifer asked everyone to join her in celebrating his life and honoring his memory by making the dessert he loved so much. I have never met Jennifer Perillo, and until last week I had never read her blog. In fact, I probably would have never known of her existence if it weren’t for a delicious-looking peanut butter pie entry on FoodGawker early last week. In the last several days there has been an amazing influx of peanut butter cream pie entries on both TasteSpotting and FoodGawker, as hundreds of food bloggers rushed to support Jennifer. ...

Two of my college friends got married in Hawaii recently. (I know. So jealous.) Sadly, I wasn’t invited to the wedding — ahem, Sonia – but I’ve been facebook stalking the photo albums of the people who went, so it kind of feels like I was there too. Note to self: must go to Hawaii soon. From what I can tell, when the wedding guests weren’t watching the two love birds join in holy matrimony, they were stuffing their faces with yummy Hawaiian food. Everything looked delicious, but it was the pictures of loco moco that really had me drooling. Rice, gravy, hamburger, and a fried egg? I’m so there! The ingredients for loco mocos are simple, the recipe is straightforward, and I was chowing...

So, it’s been a while since my last post, huh? Yeah. Things have been a little hectic around here. So, unsurprisingly, Dan and I have been doing a whole lot of Chinese delivery-ing, and very little cooking. I made fried chicken last weekend for my friend Alex’s birthday in NY, but…all the pictures are on his camera, and he has yet to send them to me. (Get on it, Hsu!) In other news, did you know that it’s Mob Week this week? I know everyone is super excited about the shark action going on at the Discovery Channel, but who wants to see sharks attacking a fish decoy when there are classic mobster movies on TV? And, guess what else premieres this week? The...

Monthly Archives: August 2011

Blueberry Muffins

Meatball Sub

Goat Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich with Kimchi, Spinach, and a Runny Egg

Cayenne-Cinnamon Baby Back Ribs

Dan in the Kitchen — Creamed Spinach

Dan in the Kitchen — Grilled Cream Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Loco Moco

Cheesy Creamy Shrimp Spaghetti

Blogs I Love

Cool Sites