Rulloff's Restaurant

Yay, dinner at a restaurant-bar-type place: Rulloff's. Do I feel like an adult? Do I feel comfortable with a beer at the table (not on my side)?
What a peculiar lifestyle.
We sat at a table next to the only wall-window in the place. Happy Chowder-TV-show type music played in the background, which later switched into some sort of jazzy fling. There were ceiling fans, dim lighting, and a dusty cabinet.

I asked for clam chowder because I've had a fortnight-long craving for it (specifically, in a bread bowl, but they don't have bread bowls). However, I was later told that they had run out from lunch time. This was completely fine with me. I know this happens. At least they make it fresh?
AK (not to be confused with AK from high school) got French Onion Soup which tasted pretty good.

 He also got a pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. The pulled pork sandwich came in a burger bun, which was unexpected but extremely tasty. I had no idea that pulled pork was so succulent and the BBQ
sauce wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. I also haven't had sweet potato fries in 2 years and these were excellent.

 Instead of clam chowder, I got the California burger with potato fries. The burger had a smidge of guacamole and baby sprouts which were pretty good since I've only ever had mung bean sprouts that look like this. The cow part was also really chewy and umami. It was a nice meal except I felt a bit hurried. Maybe I eat too slowly, or maybe the waitress was bored. We weren't left alone for more than 10 minutes at a time. I kinda wish the place was more crowded (though, as primarily(?) a bar, the place was near empty at 7 pm) so that I would've had an entire hour or two to nibble on food and people-watch.

Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzels

I'm not a huge fan of pretzels, but there is ONE huge exception. I can easily DEVOUR Snyder of Hanover's Honey Mustard and Onion pretzel pieces (and the Cheese ones...I've yet to try the others). They're $3 for a pack, and because I inhale them extremely fast, I rarely buy them (unless it's Finals week. Then, I eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And snack). Last week, after I ran to Trader Joe's, it started storming, so I was stranded for an extra half an hour. I ended up buying twice as much food as I would've (not that it's a terrible thing, because I've been stress-eating even though it's summer). Stores should hope that flash-storms occur more often, especially when their customers' modes of transportation are legs or bikes. So, while languidly prowling the store, I came across the Trader Joe's brand of honey mustard and onion pretzels. I jumped with glee, bought them for $2.29, and strolled out into the glorious, rainbow sunset, as the storm had abated.
(Actually, it was still extremely gloomy and the trees cried rain, and the thin ropes of the drawstring bag cut into my shoulders)


The pretzels were sweeter than the Snyder of Hanover ones. They were okay. I would buy them again, but they only offer about 80% of the satisfaction I get from when I eat Snyder of Hanover Honey Mustard and Onion pretzel pieces.

In other news, this is the smallest take-away container, ever! It's the size of an apricot! It contained about two pieces of bak choi and one chunk of Chinese mushroom. I got it from Han Dynasty, at 37th and Market St., where our lab group had lunch. The food there is delicious, but a tad spicy for me. The servers are non-Chinese and speak  American English well, whereas the chefs are Chinese and...just do splendid cooking.

Also, 7-11 decided to have its free Slurpee day on the 23rd of May, as opposed to the 11th of July.

Spaghetti & Cheese (Again)

Spring break is next week and I think it would be wise to use up as much stuff in the fridge as possible. Well, there is no way I can do that (Actually...I can. I really can eat all the food in my fridge within a week). So, I'm starting with the perishable stuff. Cheese, chili peppers, onion, and milk = spaghetti and cheese.

Ingredients with missing weight amounts because I just kinda threw them together...makes something like 5-6 servings.
250ish ml milk
200ish ml water
Mustard if you have it  (but I don't :( )
Rest of the chili peppers
Small red onion
TVP*
herbs!

300g (?) Monterey Jack cheese
2 tbsp flour

A lot of cooked spaghetti

1. Throw first bunch of stuff onto stove and wait until bubbles. Unfortunately, the milk curdled for me, but in the end the sauce turned up smooth enough.
2. Throw in flour and stir until lumps have sort of disappeared.
3. Throw in cheese, mix, turn down heat.
4. Turn off heat, throw in spaghetti.

*I usually throw the dry TVP into my cooked pasta+water. This way, the TVP gets evenly distributed throughout the pasta, it rehydrates rapidly (because it's hot water), and I save heat/water! Yay! Neat trick.

Leftovers Sandwich!!

I absolutely love sandwiches! I made a sandwich with (some leftover) stuff in my fridge:

1. super toasted bagel (leftover from work)

2. spicy tofu (ok, not leftover)

3. spinach in the process of wilting

4. spicy peppers (leftover from a meeting)

5. cheeeeeeese!! (not leftover)

6. sour cream and onion dip

So delicious!... and it only took about 5 minutes to assemble (but I ate it disassembled)! This was taken at about 4:30pm, when I had my lunch-dinner-snack. My meal timetable is quite skewed now. It used to be something like 7:15am, 10:10am, 5pm, and maybe 9 or 10pm. Now, because I get up every day at 9 and usually have class or Monell until 5 or so, my schedule goes something like 9am, 5pm. Actually, sometimes I have lunch at around 12 or 1, but other times, I just eat during class. For example, yesterday I had bagel at 9:40am, a banana muffin at 11am, and an apple at 12:50pm. I then went to Bio lab, came back to my dorm at around 4, had a sandwich, and took a 3 hour nap. As it was a Wednesday, study break provided some $80 worth of junky food, so I had a bowl and a half of cereal.

Today, my eating schedule was: peanut butter sandwich at 9:15am. Orange at noon. Sandwich and carrot and peanut-butter-dough at 5pm.

During certain exam periods, I eat even more hectically! Let's say I get back to my dorm at 11pm from the library (another problem with spending a lot of my time away from cooking is that I never get the chance to eat my multivitamin). Of course, that day I would've had breakfast at 9, and perhaps some carbs around 5pm. So, I cook some pasta, eat some fruit, and as I panic about all the information I've yet to learn, I start eating more food. The food isn't necessarily unhealthy -- peanuts, fruit, eggs, okay, and candy, but out of sheer stress, I just eat. And eat. And then it's 2am so I stop eating, and at 4am or so, I promptly go to sleep.

I'm also quite sure it's unhealthy to consume a (283g) bag of Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses in 4 days.

I acknowledge that my eating habits and desires are huge problems, and they contribute to a negative self-reflection and serious adipose tissue buildup. Therefore, I figured I should start using my other senses to enjoy the world. So, I went to Lush, got a bath bomb, and now I can enjoy the redolent scent of roses whenever I sit at my desk (provided the smell of food isn't in the air), and I can have honey-scented clothes.

Sour Cream and Onion Dip

I don't super enjoy sour cream but I LOVE SOUR CREAM AND ONION flavoured chips. So, what do I do with some leftover sour cream? Make delicious sour cream and onion dip (with a purple onion)!! I tried to follow this recipe but I didn't really follow the weight amounts... let's see, I used one medium purple diced onion thrown on the stove at 200 degrees F for about 10 minutes, maybe 250 g of sour cream, 3 self-serving packets of mayonnaise, a lot of garlic powder, a bit of salt, and some herbs.
TASTES LIKE SOUR CREAM AND ONION POTATO CHIPS.... without the potato chip part.

College Pasta

So, cliche 5-college-friends-get-together-and-make-pasta-for-dinner-at-10pm. This is a whole week before college actually starts...

I'm handing out CFL (energy saving light bulbs) to the frosh, so I get to live NSO all over again!

TJ thought that I diced the onion and tomato really well.

We bought garlic bread and the sauce.

So. College.

Australian Meat Pie...

...sort of.

I highly doubt I could make an authentic Australian meat pie. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to eat it. Though, I guess if/when I go to Australia (That shop at Penrith Plaza, particularly), I'd probably actually eat (*gasp*) the beefy concoction enclosed in a crusty pastry shell.

The first step towards making a nice Australian meat pie would be to obtain a neat, authentic recipe. I'm not really sure whether this is an authentic recipe, but I chose it because Vegemite was one of the ingredients and everything was in metric units. So, at least I know it's from someone from the other-ish side of the world.

I didn't use prefrozen crust though (I made a whole-wheat short crust instead), and I did use different ingredients...but I don't feel like delving into this subject since HFCS and other random ingredients are involved. The filling smelled just like Australian meat pies (AHHHHH :D) which brought back a shock of nostalgia. When I smell the filling, I think about breezy Saturdays at Penrith Plaza, or at the public library, or walking down the lawn, or running up and down the hills at Nepean River. Carefree days. Unfortunately, I made too little pastry. Unlike the standard sized pies, I made small ones that fit into egg tart shells. Why? Er, I don't have any other containers for these pies...

Although it appeared that my filling was too runny, after baking the pies in the oven (430 degrees F for 10 minutes, 375 degrees F for 7 minutes, and... sit in the oven for half an hour), the texture and moist-ness was perfect!

Curry!

I made some curry today with potatoes and squash from the garden. I also added in two carrots and two pieces of coconut. It was delicious!! Even my brother agreed, and he even wants to eat it again (with rice, this time)!!! My sister didn't, though, because she just wanted to eat candy/pancakes/chips. The curry wasn't too spicy, because I didn't add any chilies (but my sister STILL thought that it was spicy. Sigh.) This goes perfectly on its own, with rice, with noodles (yes, noodles), and even with whole wheat bread! Mmmm.

Ingredients - serves 5 to 6.
1 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic
0.5 onion
2 tsp curry powder
3 tsp coriander
(1 packet chili powder/flakes or chili)
Around 300 g potatoes
2 carrots
300 g squash
350 ml liquid (I used 250 ml water and 100 ml milk)
2 chunks of coconut for fun
A lot of tofu.

Method
1. Cook spices, garlic, onion and oil in a BIG saucepan for a few minutes.
2. Add chunks of potato and liquid to the curry mixture and stir on high heat until liquid starts simmering.
3. Add chunks of squash and let everything simmer on medium-high for 10 minutes.
4. Add carrots and let everything simmer until the vegetables are at the consistency that you prefer. We wanted something slightly mushy, so we simmered for about 20 minutes in total.
5. Pour curry into a bowl that has cubed, fresh tofu.

I'm just glad we don't have to ever buy the ready-made curry sauces from the vacuum packages that have globs of oil. I ought to add shredded coconut next time.

European Republic

European Republic. A shop tucked away at the corner of Strawberry St. and Chestnut St. Intersection of food! I got there at 11am, but they weren't open until 11:30, so I walked around town a bit. I entered promptly at 11:35, and there was already a guy ordering. From then until around noon, around 7 or 8 customers had purchased some sort of wrap and/or fries.

The only reason I wanted to check out this spot was that I had a small amount of hope that there would be cheese curds and gravy flavoured dip for my fries. A.k.a. poutine. A.k.a. something I've been wanting to try since I found the snack on Wikipedia! In retrospect, it doesn't make sense that a store called European Republic would sell something Quebecois. I went anyway, because I wanted fries. Oh delicious potato fries. Chips.

Unfortunately, no poutine on the menu. Ah well, at least they had fries! I liked the way the guy at the counter spoke. I ordered the large fries so that I could get two dips, but out of 22 choices, I really didn't know what I wanted! So, I stood there awkwardly, mentally crossing out dips that I was certain that I didn't want - olives, lemon dill, honey dijon, jalapeno cheddar - all the flavours you can get at a grocery store or another restaurant.

I asked what the European sauce was, and he said that it was mayonnaise. European ketchup was apparently mayonnaise, ketchup, and onions. Well! I decided that I'd have to try European ketchup then! I also was debating between the Jamaican curry and the avocado dip. The guy at the counter said that once my fries were out, he'd let me sample them. That was really nice, because I'm really indecisive.

The fries took about 10 minutes to make; I'm guessing they make these from scratch. There were tiny grains of salt lightly sprinkled on my serving (Okay, I believe this is probably 4 or 5 "servings" of carbs and fat. So delicious!). For $4.05 (including tax), I was very satisfied. I was afraid that I'd have some dip left over, so I severely over-dipped during the first half of my serving. I was out of dip near the end :(.

The fries: Thickly cut, extremely potatoey, and slightly soggy, these remind me of "diner fries". They're delicious, of course, but maybe I am conditioned to enjoy thinner crispier fries. They were very hot, and stayed warm in the paper wrapper. I don't think I love them to the point that I'd go out of my way to come back here.

The European Ketchup: I've had mayonnaise and ketchup together before, and I've been indifferent to it. With a hint of finely chopped/blended onions, however, the whole dip becomes much better! I really enjoyed this slightly sweet, slightly tangy dip.

The Jamaican Curry: A splendid green colour, with visible spices, this vegetarian dip was simply amazing! The creaminess helped ameliorate the spicy flavour, but it did get a tad too spicy (after chugging half the sauce in a few super-coated fries). I would eat this dip with everything! The best!

The Avocado Dip: I sampled a big blob of this one, and it was really mild and creamy. I mainly tasted mayonnaise, and didn't taste or smell any avocado at all. Therefore, I didn't decide to pick this dip.

Overall, it was a mouth-watering, satisfying meal. I'm not sure why I would come back though, because there are so many other places that sell equally delicious fries, and there are a zillion restaurants that I've yet to try in Philadelphia.

Something I'm confused about, though, is how the wraps relate to Europe.

European Republic

213 Chestnut St.

Pirate Brand Puffs

Since I, like all other first-year students, was conned into buying a meal plan and dining dollars [okay, I've never understood why people want a meal plan with "all dining dollars". That's what PennCash is for! But for printing and buying non-food items too!], I decided I might as well spend my dining dollars on food that I can review...so I bought all five flavours of Pirate brand puffs and figured it'd be great to review them all. Judging by the first flavour I've ever tried, the white cheddar one, I had excheesingly high expectations.

I was wrong. I forgot to take a picture of the Barbecue flavoured one, so that's why it's pictured above. I would like to say that it does give a rather sweet barbecue aftertaste, and it is rather tangy, but the seasoning is erratically mixed into the puffs. There were some puffs that were absolutely bland, wheras others were 200% seasoning [which was nice. The whole package should just have a ton more seasoning dumped in!]. There was a nice umami taste, even though the sweet taste was more prevalent.

I also forgot to take a picture of the sour cream and onion flavour, but no matter; it was a boring one anyway.

Veggie. Tastes like super-mild kelp. Super-mild. No hint of parsley, even though it was stated on the package. No hint of anything, whatsoever. Have you ever wondered what a corn puff tastes like without salt and flavouring? Well, you have it right here. I know it looks really pretty and earthy, but I guarantee it tastes bland.

Okay, this one tastes a bit more flavourful than the Veggie one; there IS a hint of onion, but if you're expecting something like the Frito-Lay sour cream and onion-ness, you will be highly disappointed. Again, this is a rather bland flavour and actually tastes kind of sweet rather than savoury.

Now THIS! is the best flavour, by far. It is extremely cheese-flavoured, melts in your mouth [literally], sticks to your teeth with cheesiness, and crunches satisfyingly between your teeth. They are all rod-shaped. They are salty [but not too salty], tangy, and will most likely not make you smart.

This was another disappointment, because I was expecting something like Calbee's pizza flavoured potato chip that is so popular in Hong Kong. This flavour...was a tad sour ["tomato"], a tad sweet [?!], and a tad bland. There was nothing that made it taste like pizza. It was just a crunchy puff with a sweet aftertaste. There was nothing pizza-y: no cheese, no vegetable chunks, no dough, no crusty parts, no mushrooms... nothing.

This is the second best flavour, since the seasoning actually is spread out well, and there are no bland pieces. This is distinct from the Wisconsin Cheddar flavour because it is more sour and tangy, and it's softer in texture and more soluble [yes. More soluble.]. Therefore, it sounds quieter when you, with your saliva encrusted teeth, chew on it. I imagine myself chewing those styrofoam packing peanuts when I eat these, whereas the Wisconsin Cheddar flavour reminds me more of chewing sponge toffee. Fortunately and unfortunately, respectively, I have not done those tasks. So, depending on the texture/tangyness, take your pick. I decided to use the word "respectively" because I wrote a lab report and included it a few times. I haven't been updating much because I've been really busy with schoolwork. I have another exam on Wednesday!

In summary: buy the White Cheddar flavour and the Wisconsin Cheddar flavour, because, well, they actually have a FLAVOUR. Try out the Barbecue if you're in for some sweet, albeit, unevenly-distributed seasoning. Ignore the other 3 flavours because they are just a marketing gimmick [like my meal plan!].

Lasagne.

UPDATE: Here is another picture. It is still rather mixed up and the layers are a bit hard to see. There were three layers...

I am exhausted from packing and studying chem and blah. I don't even know how I had the brain capacity to drag myself into the kitchen this morning and make lasagne.

Vegetable lasagne with cucumber, carrot, onion [lots!], and red bell pepper. We unfortunately didn't have any spinach...

I added some couscous for texture variation, and breadcrumbs on top, even though they turned out too soggy because I put way too much sauce on top, instead of just leaving it cheesy...

We didn't have shredded cheese... so I used the handy pre-sliced cheese! There were swiss, cheddar and monterey jack slices.

Apparently the lasagne sheets could make two pans of lasagne... which was a lot more than I had expected. All I wanted to do was use up the box of sheets since no one else knows or wants to cook lasagne in this house, so I had to get it done before I go to college. Actually, I've been wanting to make lasagne for ages but I never remembered. Or felt like it.

MORE CHEESE! This was before I started dumping bread crumbs on top. In retrospect, the lasagne lacked enough cheese. Next time, I will literally smother the top with cheese, so that it looks more like a cuboidal cheese wheel than a lasagne.

Lasagne after baking, before the lasagne noodles had a chance to soak in all the sauce.

Same pan of lasagne; I never got around to taking a picture of the other pan... I got busy with studying... so tomorrow I'll upload some more pictures.

Beautiful.

Also, I learned that DRY PLAIN LASAGNE NOODLES DO COOK IN THE OVEN. Honestly, precooking them is definitely unnecessary [Good thing I didn't precook them.] A simple 40 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees F solves everything. Especially if you feel like leaving the lasagne in the oven for another 10 minutes.

After taking the lasagne out, it is definitely necessary to wait for approximately 20 minutes for the lasagne noodles to sponge up the watery sauce that was emitted by the tomato sauce and vegetables. I didn't wait... and ended up with lasagne soup for the first serving. Above and below are the images of the non-soaked-lasagne noodles. I never got around to taking a picture of the lasagne after "actually" done, though. Tomorrow... I shall post them. However, later on I was looking at the lasagne and the sauce/cheese/noodle ratio wasn't defined clearly :( However... this isn't terrible since this is the second time I've made lasagne in my life. I should definitely make it more often.

Sugar Cane Drink

I was going to blog about an omelette that I made, but it was definitely not photogenic.

So. I will just say that it tasted really good and blocked out the characteristic Boca burger taste. I am never going to buy Boca burgers again. I don't get why I used to like them. They are so dry, and have that weird characteristic taste... Erg... well I only have two left.

TVP is way better.

Anyway, instead, I'm going to talk about this sugar cane drink that my mum bought for my sister, but she dislikes it. So... it wasn't worth 80 Cals of pure sugar, in my opinion. This is why:

1. I've had legit fresh-out-of-the-press [yeah, literally, a sugar cane press] sugar cane juice before, at ParknShop in HK. That stuff is REAL; it's not as sweet, has that sugar cane flavour [no, sugar cane juice is NOT the same as sugar syrup], and almost tastes a tad sour, in a refreshing way. I actually can't describe it.

2. The first ingredient in this juice is water. Great. It's not even concentrated. Then it's sugar. What happened to actual smooshed sugar cane? I am aware that apple juice is basically sugars and water... but you list apple juice as "apple juice" not "water, sugar, apple essence". Well, to be fair, there is pretty much no where else to get this stuff in the U.S., so I suppose if I had an emotional attachment to sugar cane juice, I'd probably enjoy it more.

Here is a picture. An "artistic" statement. Trashed...Should've bin in a bin [ha.ha.ha.]

CHILI SIN CARNE!

CHILI sans la viande - without animal pieces...instead, there are roman beans and lima beans and TVP and pickles and artichokes and tomato and parmesan and onion and crushed up tortilla chips [the leftovers].

A.k.a., awesome-everything-I-love-chili!

In fact, this chili even looks better than these here! YAY! This is just to prove to my brother that my plating, in fact, is not substandard [I've never really liked the idea of plating though, because it makes food appear more as an ornament than as a food].

Onions, artichokes, pickles, getting "gently browned"

Rehydrated TVP with dried chili and tomato paste marinade.

Adding the lima beans!

Ingredients:

1. A LOT of water. Keep adding cups of water throughout the.... 3-4 hours it takes to cook. I was initially going to make tomato/chili soup but that would mean that I used twice the amount of water. Which would've required a larger pot. Which I do not possess.

2. Lots of tomato paste!

3. Garlic

4. Onions! LOTS!

5. Pickles

6. Artichokes in oil - we have a jar of them. I don't know why, since no one in the family except for me and my brother has actually ever heard of the term "artichoke" before. I don't know who bought these... just that they've been sitting in the fridge for a while. Well, at least it covers the "oil" part of the chili.

7. Two cups of Roman beans. Soak these for a few hours. They take AGES to cook.

8. Half a cup of lima beans. They swell TREMENDOUSLY when soaked for a few hours. Literally 2.3 times their original sizes.

9. Half a cup of dried TVP, mixed with two cups of water and one scoop of tomato paste and two packets of dried chili. This way, the flavour gets "infused". Supposedly.

10. One cut up Boca burger since I dislike eating them grilled.

11. Leftover tortilla chips with the salt at the bottom.

12. Herbs - oregano, basil.

13. Quinoa, just because.

Method:

Cook everything on low heat for a few hours in a giant pot. Cook for an hour, turn off the heat, and go to XC practice for three hours. Come back later at around 9:30pm and continue letting the stuff simmer on low heat, adding water every now and then. When the roman beans are done, the chili is ready. The roman beans determine the cooking time!!

I wonder who else makes chili at 10:41 pm.

I ended up with a lot of chili. Look at that! Three boxes of chili. BUT IT'S AWESOME BECAUSE I LOVE CHILI!

The last time I made chili was the first day of school last September. It wasn't as great as this one. This one is "awesome-sauce"ly thick and beany and protein-filled! And it DOES NOT taste bland... for those of you who think vegetarian stuff is "rabbit food". It is NOT.