Collard Tofu Wraps

I decided to make some pretty food even though I honestly don't care how beautiful my food is, especially as I don't have much time in my day. All this programming!!

Collard leaves + tofu + chunks of eggplant + minced garlic (why, yes, garlic remains super fresh for at least 2 months in the fridge!!) + salsa + pancake maker.

Philadelphia.

Again, I walked through the streets of Philadelphia. Hey, I only have another three years to do this. In three years, I'll look back, and think nostalgically, "Wow, I miss those days walking around Philly, buying food, looking at those rich hipsters smoke and buy from Urban". Cuz, in three years, I won't be living in Philadelphia anymore. I'll probably move onto Boston, or NY. NY is so much larger than Philadelphia. If Chinatown in NY is considered a thin sliver of the Hong Kong pie, then Chinatown in Philadelphia is considered a measly crumb from that pie (and the Chinatown from Boston is...uh, a smaller crumb). Through walking around Philadelphia, you'd think that I'd learn to enjoy this culture. Unfortunately, it seems that I just yearn to be back in Hong Kong.

See, that's my problem; I'm not good at moving and adjusting every 4-6 years; the lifestyle is too ephemeral for me. I can't say I miss anything about Ireland, but I miss Kingswood. I miss HK. Now, I miss high school, even though my journal entries from then tell me that there is nothing to miss.

In an effort to enjoy my time at Philadelphia and live in the moment, I again trekked across the city, all the way to Penn's Landing, and back. There was a Chinatown Block Party today, to celebrate the anniversary of the Official Seizure Of America From The Natives. It's funny to think that all that stuff happened in Philadelphia. ...and now I'm here to get my free drink, sponsored by Wawa. I learned that I actually like raspberry lemonade.

I believe that I love the Mayflower Cafe; last time's avocado bubble drink was phenomenal, and this time's coconut snowball was AMAZING. It was so gooey and soft and fresh I thought I was eating some sort of jelly! It was more solid, though, and...I just loved the chilled, watery-but-sweet-and-light taste of the glutinous coating! The red bean paste was normal. So much better than mochi! $0.80. It's always a delight when something is better than expected. It wasn't thick and chewy and dry, like all the ones from other bakeries (which I still love, but the texture of this one was just perfect for me today).

Mong Kok is a place in HK. The bakery/restaurant was absolutely packed; I had to eat outside because all the seats were taken. I got a lemon bun. A terribly spent $0.80.

I wondered how they could stick lemon into this bun. In the filling? Lemon jam? Curd? Actual lemon pieces? I mean, I understand why pineapple buns are called "pineapple" buns even though they lack any pineapple - they look like pineapples. This lemon bun looked nothing like a lemon (except for the colour but that's a terrible way to name your bakery products)! From what I could tell, there was a layer of puff pastry on top of a normal Chinese-bread bun. But what was the filling, and where was the lemon? Oh, and it was even called "lemon bun" in Chinese. Ning[2] meng[2] bao[1]. 柠檬包。

There was no lemon in the bun. Instead, there was shredded and dried pig pieces. Pork floss. Or fish floss. I'm not sure what animals taste like anymore...

I guess the question is: why would I ever go back to Mong Kok bakery if I evidently have had a better experience at Mayflower Cafe? Well, Mong Kok bakery has a wider selection and cheaper mousse cakes. I've yet to try any of those though. Either way, I realised that I shouldn't buy anymore food for the next month. Instead, I should just swim, run, and bike.

I went to the third Nuts To You (on 7th and Walnut) in Philadelphia and, this time, there were pizza-flavoured flour-coated peanuts! For 99c! They also had cheese and garlic flavour, but I figured that I am most likely not going to consume 4 lbs of flour-coated peanuts within a month (uh, actually, I probably could consume them all during a week...) so I just got the pizza ones. They're a bit stale, but alright. I guess I'll never go to Fresh Grocer again, in my life. If I do, I'll make sure to blog profusely about it.

Eggplant prices have risen. $1.09, a month ago, to 1.19, to $1.89 now, for a pound. So have cherries (pretty much x2 in price, compared to a month ago).

Maybe a food historian will be interested in my blog in a few decades? I'd be pretty happy to read some person's food blog (in the form of a sauce-splattered book, though) from the 80s. Or 20s. From Britain, or Australia.

Kale Wraps

Roasted eggplant and kidney beans wrapped in fresh-ish kale leaves. So pretty! I love kidney beans...

Polenta.

I'm starting to be a hermit in my room. I really don't enjoy being around my apartment-mates (I guess I'm just antisocial) even though they're nice and all. I guess I'm just really self-conscious when I cook food in front of strangers, especially when it involves vegetables, because apparently my apartment-mates don't consume vegetables (at least, they don't store vegetables in the fridge.)

It's pretty awkward when your apartment-mate's boyfriend asks "What's that?" when I take out some (smallish, not globular) eggplants from the fridge and set them on the cutting board, while waiting for my apartment-mate to finish using the sink. It gets worse when he asks, "So what's that?", and points to one stalk (Yes. One.) of chard that's sitting in an empty glass, and I answer "It's chard...uhh... it's like spinach but it's got pink parts."

And then when they leave and I finally start smashing up the tube of polenta (I know, I should make polenta from scratch. I'll do that one day) in a saucepan, another apartment-mate comes down and sticks one plate and one fork into the dishwasher and starts the cycle. She glances at my food and perhaps thinks, "woah, what is that?! It's like pink mashed potatoes!"

It turns out that pink (actually, "rainbow") chard and eggplant turns polenta a grungy shade of pink. It also appears that eggplant ought to be diced, rather than chunks, when on a stove with lumps of polenta. Over time, though, the polenta got thick and smooth, while the eggplant just... didn't fully cook :(.

Unfortunately, adding an ounce of cheese did nothing to make the polenta taste cheesy. I should've just eaten the cheese by itself!

My mum asked me to incorporate juniper berries in my cooking so I added a few. I couldn't really taste a difference, but I didn't really enjoy the taste of it when I chewed one by itself.

On the bright side, TVP pairs very well with polenta! My second batch of polenta included bak choi and curry powder, although I don't think I added enough curry powder. However, it looks more appetizing, and I decided to cook earlier (while everyone was asleep).

Good times to be in the kitchen:

Weekdays:

Before 8:30am, from 5pm to 6:30pm (any later, and they are cooking/drinking with friends)

Weekends:

Before 11am, not 12pm to 2pm (Any other time is unknown territory/up for grabs)

Stealing Food From The Fridge.

So, I'm really irked right now for a really small reason.
Someone stole some of my food (baked eggplant) from the communal fridge in the kitchen.
I know that stealing food occurs commonly with people living in an apartment together, and I never imagined that I would be so upset about it! I liked my baked eggplant! Why would someone steal it?!
In addition, I overheard that other people's stuff have been stolen too, including a jar of Nutella, bananas, and pizza. I'm scared that the stolen eggplant may be retaliation to the other people's stuff being stolen, because they probably think that I stole their food.
I didn't.
But, who would they accuse? Their sisters (they're in a sorority together), or a complete stranger (me)?
So now I guess I'll have to sacrifice convenience for $/cooking time, because as soon as I get back from work and biking, I'm going to move all my stuff to the mini-fridge in my room. Maybe I'll leave the bak choi in the communal fridge, though.

I'll also have to mark my name on everything from now on.

Eggplant Sandwich!!!

In terms off eggplant, I am definitely not an egghead. Sure, I've helped my parents flip eggplant on the BBQ grill, and I often eat Chinese stir fries with eggplant. I've just never truly cooked eggplant before. Or baked it. Or boiled it. I'm not really sure how to cook eggplant without usurping it of its nutrients, or adding a lot of oil (like my mum does when we have stir fries).

I don't want to make eggplant stir fry mainly because the eggplant from Chinatown looks so darn fresh (though it's definitely not "organic" in any sense of the word! I can tell they sprayed it with ethylene gas, because the surfaces underneath the leaves are still white). I also don't have any oil. I know, this sounds really stupid; oil/butter/other fats are a staple in a kitchen, especially when cooking, but I'm someone going to survive these two months without them (I think). One week down.

These are "cylindrical" eggplants...not the "teardrop-shaped" ones.

Apparently, eggplant can be eaten raw, although it may be bitter. I tried a chunk before I baked these, and they weren't bitter at all; they were actually kind of sweet and spongy, with a bit of moisture. I prefer them cooked, though.

After doing some research and reading a recipe, I figured that I should just slice my eggplant, salt the slices (yeah, I have a lot of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian Pizza Seasoning, but no oil.), rinse the slices, and stick them on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 375F... and just see what happens.

I learned a few things:

1. I feel very self-conscious when I prepare and cook food in front of strangers. I felt very shy cutting eggplant while another girl in the apartment was waiting for her mac and cheese to bake.

2. Eggplant should be sliced at an angle, not cut like cucumbers.

3. Salting and rinsing sounds easy, but actually is really annoying because you use a ton of paper towels. After using three segments for four slices of eggplant, I decided to just stick everything on the cookie sheet and just bake it and see what happens. I should've added some pepper, but oh well.

The methodology for neophytes like me is this:

1. Do not peel eggplants. Evenly slice eggplants at an angle. Unfortunately, my slices ranged from 1 cm to 3 cm.

2. Pour some salt/pepper on your hand/plate, dip both sides of the eggplant flesh into it, and place the slice of eggplant on the cookie sheet. You do not need aluminium foil.

3. Repeat.

4. Bake at 350F (the oven was preheated due to the mac and cheese) on the bottom rack for 10-20 minutes. Since there is no baking soda/powder in this recipe, you can open the oven a lot to prod the eggplants.

5. Poke eggplant with a fork to see if is squishy and gooey yet (If it still looks white, it's not really done, but it's edible).

6. Turn off oven and let sit for however long you want, if you want something more sludgy.

7. Stick in sandwiches!!

Notice that there is NO OIL INVOLVED.

So I made a spinach, cheese and eggplant with herbs sandwich, which I stuck on the sandwich grill/press that we have in the apartment. It's a really efficient non-stick grill. It's amazing!!!

Toasted Sandwich on Spruce Street. - 4th Sept

I finally met my peer advisor, and some of the other kids he advises. One actually lives on the dorm directly below mine, which is pretty cool considering that the dorms are randomly allocated [or are they?]. So, we went for lunch at this sandwich/salad store on Spruce Street, probably around 37th... Unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of the store at which talked about being freshmen in college. I do remember that I got a vegetarian sandwich [surprise surprise!] and the bread was toasted really well; it was extremely crispy, yet not burned. That's saying something! It was also this multigrain bread... I'm not sure whether its wheat flour is 100% whole grain, but I assume it is. There was tomato, eggplant, goat cheese, and spinach in the sandwich. Actually, I'm not positive it's goat cheese, but my intuition tells me it is. The sandwich was pretty light, which was nice since it made me feel all sophisticated [even though consuming the sandwich was really messy].

Penn Picnic and Reception - 2nd Sept

Penn NSO started on the 2nd of September, and we all got up at 5:30am to drive to PA by 9am. As usual, it took 90 minutes to get into Philly, but half an hour to actually end up at the specific street on which we stopped. I'm not disclosing where I live, although one could probably figure it out... since I don't have a cafeteria at my dorm house, unfortunately.

Anyway, after unpacking and all, there was a Penn Family Picnic for all we families and kids. It was actually very similar to the food at the Penn Frosh Picnic in my area on the 19th of August. There were wraps and cookies, but there was also some punch and iced tea and lemonade, which helped, since it was really hot that day.
Firstly, I'd like to say that I fell for the cookie trip again. Last time, I ate a chocolate cookie that was way too hard for my liking. This time, I made the same mistake. I need to learn!! I'm not particularily fond of hard/crunchy cookies. I like the moist cakey ones more, such as the raisin one. It's good to know that Penn has consistency though, concerning its cookie production. The wraps were really good though, with the mozzarella cheese and vegetables, although it was a tad oily.
After the President made a speech, there was a reception, and it was quite a sight watching 3000+ people swarming around taking food... There was this amazing mashed white bean thing, some caramelised onions [the first I've ever had] and a smokey-chipotleish spiced [I'm guessing?] eggplant thing.
There were also tons of cookies. They were the hard kind.
The vegetable station was ridiculous. I wonder what they did to the half heads of cauliflower, the whole peppers and the corn. Surely it's not solely for display? If it was, that'd be a waste of vegetables...
Whole heads of broccolis! Whole rutabagas! Utterly ridiculous!

Excess. Superfluous. Extravagant. Luxurious. I don't know; so much for this being the "year of water". Think about all the water used to produce these crops...they better use them.

Penn Frosh Dinner!"

Today at 6:30pm, the UPenn alumni club made a Class of 2014 picnic thing. During the picnic, we all introduced ourselves and said "one interesting thing" about ourselves. I totally could've said that I'm a runner... I like pie... I'm a vegetarian... I like stale cornflakes?

Instead, I said that I blog about food, which is why I was waving my phone around, taking pictures of my food [I honestly felt awkward doing it this time]... although the quality is compromised, my phone camera is the most useful function on my phone [oh the irony.] and it deserves a ton of credit.

I wasn't too fond of the pasta, which was very oily, although I liked the olives and sun-dried tomatoes, and the fact that there was no salami pieces or anything inside. In fact, I was surprised at the lack of animal pieces in this picnic/dinner. There were platters of wraps, including tuna, cow, and pig pieces wraps... and there was also plain vegetable wraps! In fact, they were really good wraps; the eggplant in it was nicely grilled, with some balsamic marinade which didn't taste too strong [I don't really like strong balsamic flavoured stuff] and the green flatbread was quite textured [and also toasted]. It lacked the empty-carby-taste that comes with so many white breads and it was definitely not stale.The salad was basically lettuce with some sharp cheese and croutons, which were nicely toasted although quite oily.

We also had these mini waxy chocolate candies that were basically dots of waxy [read: not chocolate, but chocolate FLAVOURED] candy coated in some crunchy candy shell. For some reason, I could taste a peanutty flavour, but that could totally be my imagination. Note the colour choices in this whole picnic/dinner.

A chocolate chip cookie.

And... that's a wrap for today :P

MP's Grad Party

The Food. Was. Awesome! Well, who am I to judge? The food anywhere, at any party, is usually way more creative than the banal [Though, I eat a lot of bananas at home. And, bananas are NOT banal. Haha. Another silly joke! I'm going bananas!] stuff I eat every day at home for dinner. Though, today's snacks were truly original compared to the past few parties which I attended. Most of it was from my favourite supermarket/civil-exploration place - Trader Joe's! Anyway... awesome pasta sauce!
From left to right: tortilla chips, dried pineapple [simply the best thing there], seasoned crackers, TJ's cheese crackers [A.K.A. "better than Ritz" Ritz-Bitz], carrots, peanut butter crackers, [A.K.A. "better than Ritz" Ritz-Bitz. Did I mention that I used to love the peanut butter and/or cheese flavoured of these? Yeah, in HK these, along with the "Garden animal crackers" were my favourite. Oh, and the chicken [?] flavoured crackers.], sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, spicy chipotle salsa [great!]
Close-up.
Pasta with alfredo sauce, pasta with tomato sauce, and vegetables with butter and bread crumbs. I felt like there was potato in the vegetables... but maybe it was just me. Either way, the vegetables were really nice :)
Salad with onions and ranch dressing. I don't really have a thing for ranch dressing, but I like onions so that was good.
Bad resolution of crunchy oatmeal raisin cookies. They were approximately 2 cm in diameter... and although I could taste the oatmeal, I could neither taste nor see any raisins. Hm. Didn't make sense, but they were really delicious, so I ate a lot of them. Actually, I'm usually more into soft cookies, but these were quite interesting. Reminded me of ginger snaps, even though they didn't have any ginger in them, of course.
My first ever cookie cake [I think]! The icing was icky, in my opinion, but I'm not really into consuming icing. Icing is great to look at, but not really to chug down. The cookie itself was really soft [Some propylene glycol? HFCS? I didn't check...]. and the chocolate chips actually tasted like chocolate chips!
My first eggplant and ricotta pizza ever! The ricotta cheese was pretty amazing; usually I just have it in lasagne, but the creaminess added a really interesting texture to the pizza. The eggplant wasn't that great, though, and I think I prefer plain eggplant parm. Or just grilled eggplant. I found the crust rather sweet, which is kinda weird considering this is a savoury product [Not a candy pizza. Those are... eh...], and it was also really dry. Not flaky dry, but BLAND dry. Maybe I was just really thirsty at the time...

I will update about the chocolate tomorrow.

Senior Sports Dinner...

...was boring. [Dude check out my napkin rose! "The Art of Napkin Folding" taught me skillz :D]

Seriously, for a posh swanky parlour, the food didn't meet my expectations. With all those fancy chandeliers and embossed and labelled napkins, and actual slabs of butter rather than the plastic-ky tini containers, one'd expect Mayfair Farms to have really nice food. Of course, the menu on its website is dead elegant and extravagant. However... we got served really late [well, for that, I blame the program schedule], the salad looked kinda wilted [but tasted okay], and the options ranged less than our school cafeteria. Quality-wise, though, the BREAD WAS AWESOME. There was a tiny nutty taste with the corn grits bottom, and the crust was perfect [as in, there was a ton more crust than there was the soft part, which I like]. They had about seven dishes, of which I only ate four, since one was chicken, one was salmon, and the other was cow.

The eggplant parm was really nice, though the top wasn't crispy or cheesy enough. The asparagus was seriously saturated with ammonia and GM-ed so that they were literally the size of whiteboard markers. The potato... was potato :). And the pasta was really nice, with fresh parm, and a nice sauce [with tomatoes].

The dessert was vanilla or chocolate ice cream, with butterscotch, walnuts, or chocolate syrup. The weirdest thing is that earlier on, while staring at the butter slabs, I had said, "Dude, I want some butterscotch"... and I got it! Though, I don't really have a good photo since my coach wanted to talk to me so the ice cream kinda melted... but that was my first and last time eating butterscotch syrup from a wine glass.

A's and MH's Graduation Party

Dude.
Way. Too. Much. Food.
My. Stomach. Is. Glued.
Stuffed. Imbued.

I think the rule of thumb is to only eat one spoonful of everything. Or else, you end up completely unable to move [or, in my case, unable to turn around and watch K do a backflip. I missed his backflips three times. Haha].
Some dry peanut butter cake. It wasn't that great.
Homemade Mousse; best thing ever. Apple pie: really great. PB cake. Read above comment.
Really dry anise-y cookies. Also, I had my first "black-and-white" cookie. It was... cakey!
Dude. Best. Coconut custard cake. Ever.
Israeli salad, sliced potato salad [without apples!], eggplant parm - awesome! and penne.