Friends and Frenchiness

Remember a few posts back when I had that divine French toast from RX (which you can relive here)? Well 2 days ago when I was cramming for my Marketing final, the smell of fresh baked bread wafted down into the kitchen from the basement. An hour later, my dad shows up with one small piece of bread that he gives me to try. I’m thinking “yum, the usual French bread” but no! I was wrong. It was not just any typical bread that smelled like French bread. It was egg bread and egg bread apparently, is very good for making French toast. So what did I think next? Cereal crusted French toast, here I come. (but first, I had to go buy cereal because that’s one of those things that never caught on with my family.) Soooo with the cereal purchased, I was ready to make me some toast.  [cue exciting music] 

So I looked up a quick recipe and honestly its literally just regular french toast tipped into cereal (here I though there was some magical concoction going on in secrecy...) Best part about all of it was I got to make it with my gfs from high school which always makes cooking so much more fun =]

Some big slices of bread. I think next time I'll tone it down a little.

Raisin bran courtesy of Nature's Promise.

Ingredients

1/2 loaf of of egg bread (honestly it tastes like brioche)

3 eggs

1/2 cup of milk/cream (I used half & half)

1-2 cups of crushed raisin bran 

cinnamon and vanilla for seasoning 

Dunked the bread into the egg mixture and then the cereal

mmmmmmm.

As if the french toast wasn't enough, I found some frozen fruit in the freezer which meant we had to make smoothies. Except we had no juice. So we used soy milk and greek yogurt. Check it out.

Dole frozen fruit mix is quite handy.

and yes it was deliciouss.

ok ok I know it looks a little burnt, but in my defense, I like things extra crispy.

At least I'm fulfilling my promise of cooking more over break. And can you believe it, I already have another post waiting to be written?

Next time: desserts galore: chocolate truffles, cookies and a french cake who's name I do not know.

some favorite things

Cheesy but cute.

Finally done with finals and the semester!  For some reason, this semester felt distinctly different than last semester but then again, my objectives for this semester were also very different. Can I say I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of Penn? Probably not, since I’m sure there are probably many more curve balls down the road. 

A little self indulgence. [ok I didn't actually get this as I think sprinkles are incredibly gross but I appreciate the numerous toppings all mixed together]

A quick moment of reflection on the lessons (I think) I learned from this semester

•  hardwork still ultimately pays off and all that sentimental cliche stuff life believing in yourself actually matters
• setting off the fire alarm in the kitchen can happen quite frequently (and putting a plastic bag over the smoke detector is both illegal and ineffective)
• true friendships take a hella lot of work but they are also very worth it
• cheap rings from h&m turn your fingers really green...like really really green
• low fat honey mustard dressing from salad works is insanely gross
• not every person you meet is going to like you and that is OK
• when you try and dye your hair - 20 minutes just isn't going to cut it
• every person you meet is amazing in his or her own way
• Korean fruit tea is insanely good
• some things in life just don't work out, but that's ok too :)

Now for the food related part: a quick conglomeration of some snackies and munchies from the past few weeks. 

 From the beach trip before the start of the semester with my wonderful pledge sisters. Favorite beach eat is still Kohrs ice cream (in a large).

From MARR and a great memory of the summer. Lychee bubble tea has definitely become the bubble tea of choice (and ten ren makes one good bubble tea).

From the Parli study break (as a new member of the board!). A quick baking session with M. Cinnamon buns and blueberry muffins.

From brunch with an amazing friend and debate partner at the best brunch place on campus (RX). Please go try this now. I have never been so excited about eggs, potato and toast.

From cramming for the Finance final (at least I’m fairly confident that I picked the right career choice thus far). Some noodle soup made with Korean chili powder and bok choy. I don't know how I would survive without those noodles.

Very, very excited for these few days of break. So many recipes to try and so many cooking dates with friends who I have not seen for far too long!

Coming up next: a french toast recipe and a few shots of the Perky trail.

wishing everyone a safe trip home!

Chao-llenge

Ok so I might have lied.  Thanksgiving was not the most gluttonous post of the year. This one definitely beats it. 

What is a "chao-llenge" you ask? Well I'm not really sure myself, but my pledge sister's witty date came up with it and I do know that it has something to do with eating a lot of meat.

Our sorority's winter formal was held at Fogo de Chao this year, one of several Brazilian steakhouse buffets in Philly or as Fogo likes to call it, a "Churrascaria". Not sure if that's actually a real Spanish word but then again my Spanish classes in high weren't all that helpful.

Naturally, all of our dates were very pleased with the restaurant selection but surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), so were we,  My attempt to go on fast before dinner so I could get my fill of the eleven different cuts of meat didn't really work out since I remembered after we got to the restaurant that fasting actually shrinks the size of your stomach. Oops.

The massive salad bar which includes asparagus the size of your face and a Parmesan wheel bigger than the size of your face was a nice complement to all of that protein. I might want to go back just for that salad bar.  Except the meat was good. Really good.

Above: plantains, fried polenta and the most delicious cheesy bread I have ever had in my life.

Lamb chops, top sirloin, ribs and rib eye

These ribs might have been my favorite of the night.

Definitely lost track of all of the meat I was eating, but I do remember the ribs and the top sirloin. The top sirloin might give my dad's steak a run for his money. (do you hear this dad?) speaking of which, I am definitely eating some steak when I go home for break....You'd think after all that food, I would be stuffed but no! There is always room for dessert :)

Dessert was also surprisingly good (ok the flan was a little off), but the key lime pie was spot on. Not a dessert I would normally pick, but that's what the server recommended and I'm glad I listened. Any other night, I would have definitely gone cheesecake but after the massive meal, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get in some fruit (well technically a lime is a fruit).

Don't know how I feel about this new format of collaging of the pictures although I was getting bored with the way I was posting so I decided it was time to mix things up and change the layout a little. For some reason, blogger keeps distorting the picture sizes so I can't get them all to be consistent. Will have to figure that out in the near future.

Wow. Ok that was one massive study break. Back to studying for finance.

Took this one on a slightly different setting so the color/lighting doesn't match the other pictures, but I figured I would include it since it was my favorite shot of the night.

And this one.Don't know why I didn't think to include the flower in the earlier shots. harumph. 

Made some noodles today for lunch and baked goods last night for the debate study break so keep an eye out for the next post. 

Happy final-ing.

And one last shot of my beautiful pledge sisters <3

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!