Bubbles & Berries

Back at Penn already! 4 days of non-stop sleep, home-cooked meals, movie watching and black friday shopping (in that order) means I am fully recharged and ready to finish out the semester :). Headed in to Penn a day early to catch up with one of my favoritest people in the world and also to give some photography lessons (never mind the fact that all I really know is how to take pictures of food...). We started our day at Rx (45th and Spruce) after hearing many people, my friend included, rave about their scrumptious brunch. Apparently there is a very yummy cafe nearby as well? Well have to check that out as everyone keeps disappointing me with their lack of foam in the cappuccinos.

Continued my brief french toast obsession with this amazinggg dish: oat bran crusted brioche with berry compote. It tasted like a decadent parfait...minus the yogurt...

Smoked Salmon with lots of tasty accompaniments

So someone once told me that they really didn't like it when blogs posted pictures that weren't related to the purpose of the blog which is pretty understandable. That's why I try to stick to pictures of food for my blog...but there are some pictures that I like too much not to share so bear with me on this one :)

My companion and I journeyed to Clark Park to take some shots of late fall after brunch only to find out that CP qweas under massive renovation...bulldozers and all. So after meandering aimlessly down Baltimore, we stumbled upon a random fountain (what is with Penn and these hidden water works?) which resulted in many many pictures of bubbles (among other things).

I think this was located at 38th and Baltimore. Right the Wawa on Spruce.

We were very excited to see bubbles on the water.

Like the reflection on this shot.

Right after talking about taking pictures of water droplets, I got the chance to try it out for myself!

Another reflection shot.

There's a leaf in there somewhere...

There is something about water that I absolutely love when taking photographs, probably has something to do with the amazing color. Anyways, hope everyone is enjoying their last day of break :)

LK

T-day Feast

Welcome to the most gluttonous post of the year (except maybe for Christmas), and most of you are probably too full to want to look at these pictures, but it'll be a good post to come back to during the days when we are all cramming for finals.

As per my request, my parents went and got a leg of lamb to prepare because honestly, not that many people like turkey. While I thought the lamb would replace our colossal turkey, turns out it was just a supplement...ok, well no complaints there as long as I get my lamb. All of the immediate family visited and the kitchen was basically in chaos from morning until chow time. You would think we would learn by now to plan things out better so we are not scrambling to get the turkey carved, the potatoes cooked, and all of the Asian vegetables sauteed all at the same time. But no, haven't learned yet. At least the food never produces any complaints :)

 

Fresh lox, capers and whipped cream cheese on black russian bread (made by the house bread maker aka my dad)

Tofu with pork and tomatoes. Cue the asian influences.

Spinach, nutritious and delicious.

Potstickers! Too busy making mashed potatoes so I missed out on these :/

Sweet potatoes! Made these with butter, cinnamon, molasses, maple syrup, dark brown sugar and golden raisins.

Carving the turkey...with a cleaver...haha.

Leg of Lamb, marinated with basil, thyme, and rosemary.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with ginger bread crust.

So much better than pumpkin pie (in my opinion at least).

Best thing about home? Making my own espresso and cappuccino.

Tried to make my own design in the foam....didn't really work.

Happy Eating!

As promised...

Birthday dinner at Continental with the Parli crew! Got to try a new array of edible delights before the start of break. Not much to say except it was absolutely delicious as always. 

Now an oldie but a goodie. The bday girl was very excited to try the cheesesteak springrolls.

They called these raviolis...perhaps to make the menu sound more diverse? Even though they are very obviously dumplings...at least they were delicious. Who knew spinach could taste so good? Got the snapshot of a martini glass for funsies.

Chicken skewers with peanut sauce I think...

French onion soup dumplings. Another request by a different guest. Have to say this was probably my least favorite dish, I guess I'm just not the biggest fan of French food?

Korean BBQ tacos. YUM.

Lobster coconut curry. Although I am not the biggest fan of coconut or lobster (shock! I know), no complaints about this dish =]

Chocolate peanut butter cup. Best comin

Shall try and do some cooking after an ENTIRE day of vegging on the couch. Gotta love break.

Brunchies and Munchies

Made a lovely trip to Sabrina's for brunch today although technically the meal didn't commence until 3:00pm...but hey, nothing wrong with a (very) late brunch. Especially when that brunch is filled with glutinous sugar and other delectable eats :) Apparently Sabrina's is a Philly tradition so at least my promise to try out the best of Philly hasn't completely been neglected!

The place sure is cozy and also very busy despite its odd location. Our attempt to get in some walking after the meal was quickly terminated by the brisk (aka freezing) November weather. Fortunately, our bellies were happy (and very full).

I was sad that the cappuccino did not come with any design!

Steak and Eggs

Egg's Benedict with lox.

My choice! Stuffed French toast with bananas. yumyumyum!

"Barking Chihuahua"...lol

 Also from the weekend: some yummy eats from our girl's night in including chocolate pretzels and different flavored popcorn.

Chocolate and peanut butter.

Curry and seasoned salt - the winner of the night!

Cinnamon and sugar

Chocolate pretzels, went for the artsy effect :)

To come this week: B-day dinner at Continental and THANKSGIVING!!!!

Get psyched. 

More Macarons

You know I either have way too much time on my hand or am in the worst productive capacity when I blog more than once in one day. Considering, there are two midterms looming around the corner...guess which one it is today? Although technically since it is 1am, I guess this can be considered a new day?

Too much cold weather, a tummy ache and an annoying cough means I am editing photos on photoshop when I should be finishing my finance homework and going to bed. Enjoy these photos all tinted with some form of pink/gradient variance. Macarons courtesy of who else but sugar philly. 

Flavors include chocolate ganache, milk & honey, tiramisu and caramel pumpkin. Of course my favorite is the tiramisu

gold flecks on the pumpkin caramel. pretty :)

So these macarons were actually a lot more difficult to stack than I anticipated. Had to scratch off the top part because it was too bumpy to stabilize/ which meant I couldn't take any straight down photos. boo.

Used an old white dress as the backdrop which than got all dirty from the cocoa powder haha. need to invest in a piece of white fabric.

Oh yea, I also realized I should start resizing my photos before uploading them since they are about 20 times bigger than they need to be, and this also means I won't be running out of picture space so quickly..although I did just purchase a million bajillion more bytes of space. sigh. guess that means I just need to be uploading more frequently for you guys :)

Lets hope its a sunny day today ;)

p.s. go get macarons!