Study Break Time

Ok, I understand this is not a food post (although there are two pictures of food!), but I thought I'd share these snapshots of Columbia from last weekend. More importantly, I need a desperate break from my finance notes. Enjoy! :)

Ok. Back to studying. Hopefully, I'll get some scrumptious pictures when I visit Boston this weekend!

Street Fare from NYC's Street Fair

What are the chances that NYC's weekly street fair is nowhere else but smack dab in front of Columbia's campus the weekend I am there. Lots of fun food from crepes to pickles to organic apples. oh yea and meat. Lots of meat.

Falafel making at record speed!

Mini pies. So cute.

Kabobs.

Zeppoles. I asked the vendor what a Zeppole was...she stared at me like I was crazy and simply said "fried dough".

Man that looked good.

Love the color of the fruit.

Don't even need a caption for this thanks to that shirt.

Coolest stand ever. So colorful and it smelled amazing. There were a million (ok not literally) spices and teas.

Does that not sound amazing??

White Tea and Spicy Chocolate. Man oh Man.

Smoked turkey legs. More meat! haha.

You can even just buy one pickle. ha.

Sausages!!!

man so much food.

Sunny days and dishes I can't pronounce

Avenue of the Arts

Random eats from Sister Retreat, Girl's Night and time with the parents.  

Chocolate Hazelnut (my favorite!) paired with fig. *yum*

Gotta thank my Parli friend Jess for these. Tequila sunrise cupcakes. Yes there's tequila in them. lots of tequila.

Just discovered this dish from Banana Leaf. It is absolutely amazing and costs like five bucks. I think it is called Nasi Lemak. Its like a Malaysian style of Bi Bam Bap. Can someone pleasee teach me how to make it.

Starting a new tradition :)

OK. I officially love Tap House. After reading the lackluster reviews on Yelp, I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the highly anticipated beer and burger joint. Fortunately, positive reviews from all my friends persuaded me to check out this fancy "casual dining" spot. After an evening of coffee enhanced Guinness' and rich Belgian drafts (can you tell I don't know my beers?) as well as the Mediterranean plate (which served Quinoa!), both my dad and I were hooked.

Alright, so my parents never go out to eat, much less to a place 45 minutes away from home. 1 week after my dad had a quaint heart to heart what do I get but a call from my parents asking me if I wanted to meet up with them at Tap House again.  What college student says no to a free dinner?   This time, our waiter also lit the fire-pit outside and it made for some amazing picture taking.

Chop Salad. I need to find out how they make that dressing. This salad had amazing greens, chick peas, pancetta, provolone and kalamata olives.

Burger with roasted red peppers and Gruyere Cheese. Tasty but not as good as it was hyped up to be

Probably my proudest shot to date :p

Shooting Starrs

 
Sunday evening usually means a night of cramming in homework after a long week of procrastination. But if you're like me, that list of reading and finance problems are going to wait until after restaurant week has been experienced. After hearing about the famed "dip sum donuts", where else to go but the fine Stephen Starr establishment of Buddkan. 

Shrimp & Scallop Spring Roll with Plum sauce & Spicy Mustard

Sweet & Crispy Jumbo Shrimp
Citrus salad, radish

Sesame Crusted Tuna
Ginger, lemon grass, vegetable salad. This was my dinner. There isn't a single bad thing to say about it. They even served it with fish roe!

Sea Bass
Haricots verts, butternut squash, maitake mushrooms, truffle jus

Crying Chocolate
Warm chocolate cake with a soft center, Vietnamese coffee ice cream
ZOMG. delicious.

Panna Cotta
White chocolate and passion fruit, raspberry foam

“Dip Sum” Doughnuts
Five spice sugar doughnuts, blackberry jam, chocolate sauce, gingered cream cheese.
Yes we ate all of the chocolate sauce, and by we I mean me...

Worth every penny that was spent. good food = pure bliss.

Easy as Pie!

Or yellow cake mix...

Man, I can't believe how long its been since I last blogged! School has been absolutely insane, and I haven't had a chance to just chill and get some time to myself. Fortunately , I have no "mandatory" classes tomorrow and I'm leaving for Columbia in less than 12 hours so who needs sleep? Plus I am still hyped up from the Au bon pain coffee I had this morning at 8am...anyways..

This sour cream and chocolate chip cake recipe actually came from my aunt. For as long as I can remember, she would always bring this fantastic dessert to every family function whether it was Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, 4th of July etc. I don't what took me so long but years after I got hooked on the cake, I finally asked her for the recipe. It took her less than two minutes to explain the whole recipe. It is seriously the easiest dessert on the face of this planet.

Here's what you need:
- 1 box of butter yellow cake mix (and butter & water as instructed by package)
- 8 oz of sour cream
- 1 bag of chocolate chip cookies
- 1 to 3 tbsp of cinnamon depending on your preference (But don't skip this part!)
- tsp of vanilla
- sugar for topping the cake

Mix the cake mix, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. You want to use enough cinnamon so the batter actually changes color. It tastes amazing - I promise!

Add chocolate chips to the mix and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with white sugar, and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick (or fork) comes out clean.

Voila!!!

New Eats from the RTM

Who can not blog about Reading Terminal Market when they are in Philadelphia? Its only the most iconic food eater/picture taker/photographer's dream. I literally walked around with the camera pressed to my face the entire time while my girlfriends stared on waiting (im)patiently as I continually adjusted each picture's exposure until I good get a semi-decent shot.


Here are the random eats of the day!

I'm such a sucker for good sandwiches

The Flying Monkey features some of the best cupcakes that Philadelphia has to offer. Check out their adorable site :)

Caught some vanilla babies fresh out of the oven

Frangelico is a hazelnut flavor liqueur so naturally with Nutella still on my mind, I had to try this one.

Never saw this combo before. Sure looks tasty!

The reason I went to Reading Terminal was actually to pick up some yummy gifts for my dad's birthday. 

Got the creme brulee and chocolate Frangelico cupcakes

Picked up "6 Bean Espresso" beans from this coffee shop. Apparently the mix is a patented blend which will make the perfect cup of Espresso. Still haven't heard the verdict on this one yet.

Biscottis to go with the espresso :)

This place literally had the best and biggest chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted.

Here's what they were working on when I strolled by. I'm assuming they're chocolate turtles or just chocolate chip cookies covered in more chocolate. Either way, you can't go wrong.

Next to Franklin Fountain, Basseet Ice Cream is probably the most famous (and oldest) ice cream place in Philadelphia.

Now that's my kind of aspirin.

Unfortunately, since we went on a weekday, some of the shops were closed including this chocolate place. My friend also recommended the creperie which I must have missed.