Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

Hello everyone! To those of you who follow my blog, first off, I'd like to thank you! I hope that you like it so far. If you have any thoughts, please let me know! I love feedback. I'd also like to apologize for going M.I.A. suddenly. This week marked the end of my 6 week pre-calculus class. Of course, that means final exam! Yikes! As you can probably imagine, my life this week was consumed with studying and was so chaotic. This also meant so time to cook! A tragedy. I had some really nice meals planned, but that didn't happen...perhaps next week. As someone who prides herself on home-cooked meals, I am slightly embarrassed to admit this, but this week, I mostly survived on frozen Trader Joe meals and take out. Even though I was unable to cook this week, I still enjoyed my meals. I wanted to share some of the highlights! For lunch, I went to a local asian grocery store and I bought some jap che and "kim che-ed" fish cake. So tasty!!!! On my way back ...

Sometimes, all you need is comfort food to get you through your studious endeavors.  My mom is Japanese, so growing up, I ate a lot of Japanese food. In fact, I still eat a lot of Japanese food, as it is my cuisine of choice.  This week, I have been studying furiously for my final exam, so I didn't really have time to cook. Right around the corner from my apartment is a small Japanese restaurant. The food isn't too bad and its really convenient. I really like their "dinner bento box," because you get to pick and choose your dinner and it only costs $19! What could be better than that?  For dinner, I selected: spicy tuna roll, sashimi, vegetable tempura, and spring rolls. The bento set also comes with a small salad, miso soup, and rice. Yum yum yum! Sure a full belly made me a wee bit sleepy, but such a wonderful culinary reward made studying more tolerable. My dining experienced was made even better with an accompanying episode of my beloved, "Mont...

For dinner tonight, I tried my hand at stuffed peppers. I don't really know why, but I have been thinking about stuffed peppers for almost a week. I literally have no idea. Perhaps my subconscious was trying to tell me something? Where's good 'ol Sigmund Freud when I need him...on second thought, perhaps it's better that he is not around. I shudder to think about what he'd say. Probably something to do with the Elektra complex or some sort of...you know what. Not gonna go there. Right, so this delicious and easy meal is also quite healthy. (I like to think.) Check out my recipe below! Ingredients: - 4 peppers (your choice as to color. I really like red peppers, so I did red), tops removed and inside cleaned out - 1 extra pepper, chopped (this is optional. I just really like peppers, so I wanted to add some more) - 1/2 lb ground beef - 1 onion - 3 large cloves of garlic, minced - 1 cup brown rice - parmesan cheese - olive oil - salt/pepper, to taste -...

I really do. It's so delightful and delicious. Not to mention mega easy to make. For lunch today, my stomach was grumbling, so I decided to see what I had in the fridge. The result: "fridge purge" fried rice. Using some leftover rice, kim chee, bok choy, jako (baby anchovies), onions, eggs, and chicken sausage, I was able to make a really tasty lunch! I should say I could everything in soy sauce and sesame oil! Yum!

In 2009, I spent a semester in London. While I was there, I was lucky enough to go to a Gordon Ramsay book signing and meet my culinary idol!  Ok, so anyone who knows me knows that I am OBSESSED with Chef Gordon Ramsay. When I tell people about how much I worship this man, I get a lot of surprised looks and people always say, "how can you like him? He's such an a**hole!" I don't care what ANYONE says about him. He is a culinary genius and well, frankly, the reason why I began to cook. As I mentioned in my personal blurb, a few years ago, when my mom went to Japan, I decided to step up to the plate. All of my life, my parents cooked my meals, especially mom. She is a fantastic chef, so I guess I always thought, "what's the point? My food will never be as good. She is the master." Well, I had no choice when she left. It was just me and dad and we had three choice. 1) live off take away, 2) force dad to cook at 9 pm after seeing 60+ patients, or 3) ...

This recipe is mine and my father's. We love baking blueberry pie because it is a) incredible easy and b) so delicious! Our blueberry pie is made from real blueberries, since we ABHOR canned blueberry filling. Enjoy! What You Need: - about 4 - 5 small containers of blueberries - 1 cup sugar - 1/2 cup dry tapioca - 1 box of Pillsbury Pie Sheet (there are two rolls in the box) - 1 egg, scrambled (for egg wash) - pie dish - aluminum foil 1. Pre-heat your oven to 350F. 2. Roll out one of the pillsbury dough and line the pie dish with it. Take a fork and "stab" the dough all over. This allows the dough to breath while you bake it. 3. Place a layer of aluminum foil on top  of the pie dough. If you have weights or something (we have ceramic baking beads), weigh the aluminum foil down with those beads. If not, don't worry about it! Let the bottom crust bake in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes. Take the bottom of the pie out of the oven and remove the foil....

Chicken Enchiladas: This is the first thing I cooked in my new apartment! I got this recipe from foodgawker. Ingredients: - cooking spray - 4 cups shredded or chopped rotisserie chicken - 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzerella - 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese - 1 1/2 cup sour cream - 1 1/2 small red onion - 6 8-in flour tortillas - 2 cups salsa - salt/pepper to taste 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 in baking dish with cooking spray. 2. Take a rotisseries chicken and take the meat off of it. Place the chicken in a large bowl. Add a cup of mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Then mix in the sour cream, red onion, salt, and pepper. Mix well. 3. Place the tortillas on the work surface. Spoon about 1 cup of the chicken mixture onto the center of each tortilla and roll them up. 4. Place the rolls seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. It will be a tight fit, but don't worry. Cover tortillas with salsa. 5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until cheese is golden bro...

So, this past weekend, for the first time, I decided to visit the Union Square farmer's market. I know about this market and I have been there a few times, however, this visit was different. This past May I moved to Manhattan to study. I am currently enrolled in a post-bac pre-medical course, but that's a whole 'nother story. Anyway, the one thing I hated about my past visits to this magnificent market was the fact that all of the produce, breads, drinks, proteins, etc... sold here looked AMAZING, however, as I was not a resident of Manhattan, I had no kitchen, and shlepping goodies home was a pain in the butt. It was like torture. You take a kid into a toy store, tempt them with toys, and then snatch them away --- right in front of them. That's how I always felt. This past weekend though --- this would be different. I live about 5 minutes away from Union Square, walking, so I was a girl on a mission. I was going to go to the market, but lots of fantastic stuff, and...