Garlic Bread

I didn't take any pictures because I wasn't even going to blog today, but then I realised that I don't need pictures since this is just a tip/reminder for myself.

Fat-free garlic bread.

I'm somehow managing to live without buying oil/butter. It's pretty interesting because I've had literally 10 grams of fat for the past week. The week before that... I had a lot of fat in the form of stuff bought from Chinatown...but generally speaking, my fat intake is around 10 - 20 g/week.

It was 10-50 g / day before. I don't really crave it either. For one thing, this is unhealthy because fatty acids are necessary in order for the nervous system to function properly, among other things. However, I do have a lot of fat stores so I suppose it'll even out (except for the omega-6s).

My carb/sugar intake, on the other hand, has surged/been maintained. I discovered a way of making fat-free garlic bread that tastes amazing and steamy. The toaster's broken, so I used the sandwich grill to grill 3 slices of bread.

Then, I sprinkled garlic powder onto the bread. I'm not sure how it works, but the water vapour around the bread condenses (which doesn't make sense...right?), and mixes with the garlic powder, making a really thick paste, that works perfectly with the bread. So, cheap and fast, and tasty. I'm biased though, because bread is my favourite food.

Toast + garlic powder = garlic bread.

No need for ovens or butter or actual garlic cloves...

Slow Rise Bakery

I have decided that bread is my favourite food. Although I adore chocolate, soft chocolate chip cookies, and avocado sushi, if I had to pick one food to live on for the rest of my life, it would be bread.

Crusty whole wheat sliced bread.

French bread.

Ciabatta.

Grain bread.

Walnut bread.

In short, I love bread.

At Clark Park's Farmer's Market, I found a loaf of bread sitting in a box.

It was $1 because it had been in the freezer.

I toasted it. Mixed it with milk and coconut and dried roses. It turned out really textured...and bland.

Lesson learned: ADD SUGAR!!

To the layperson, it probably looks like oatmeal or oat bran. This is amazingly versatile! Bread that can double as oatmeal, granola, oat bran, toast, pudding, cookie batter, and dessert, all at the same time!

Later I finished the loaf of bread through toasting it. This bread, unlike the other breads I've tried, is extremely gluteny and...chewy, it's almost like there's rice flour in it.

Slow Rise Bakery, 43rd and Baltimore Ave.

The Toaster.

I put two slices of bread into the toaster at Hill. It's a conveyor belt toaster. One piece of toast came out. The other piece disappeared. I peered into the toaster. I saw nothing. I shrugged it off and figured that perhaps I had hallucinated putting in two slices of bread.

I put in a new slice of bread. A minute or so later, it slid out of the toaster. I prepared to leave.

Then I noticed a rolled up piece of bread, wedged between the underside of the toaster and the end of the conveyor belt [on the external side of the toaster]. I assume that the piece of toast, instead of sliding off the conveyor belt on the internal side, ended up flipping into the underside of the conveyor belt.

That roll of toast was the most amazing invention.

Homecoming 30 October 2010

Those buns were advertised as warm. They were not warm, due to the wind. It was quite amusing. They also were super sticky [honey!], but too airy and uniform.

I know that this is a week late, but I've been really busy with studying, visiting BV, and doing homework, and somehow getting in 5-6 hours of sleep in per night. It's finally Friday, and although I do have a lot of homework to do, I'm going to update because this event I went to last Saturday was pretty amazing.

This was the Weiss Pavilion opening ceremony, and there were a lot of alumni there to see it since it was homecoming weekend. One day, I will protest the toast throwing tradition thingy...

The only reason I went was so that I could get a drawstring bag. The first 100 people, apparently, got drawstring bags. I also got a mint tin with mints and the Penn logo, which is pretty sick!!

There was also a lot of food. It was ridiculous. I have to say that the chocolate filled and sweet potato filled croissants were the best. The baked goods were cold, due to the freezing, windy weather, but they all tasted delicious and textured nevertheless.

They actually looked like savoury croissants, and I did want something savoury since everything else was loaded with sweetness. I did eat some quiche, before I realised there were cured pig chunks inside [ham].

This was a greek yoghurt, fruit and granola parfait. The blueberries and strawberries were used for the Penn colours, according to a girl I met at the opening. It was pretty awkward actually; at first, we just looked at each other, unsure of whether to talk or not. So then I said hi. And then we had a conversation, so that was interesting. I forgot her name though... oh well. I'll probably see her again, as I have with a bunch of other people who I thought I'd forgotten/they'd forgotten me.

I dislike hot apple cider. The fact that it's warm and sour kind of disgusts me. Cold apple cider, or frozen apple cider, on the other hand, is amazing. Note the cheerleaders in the glass. I should get better at photography.

This was a French toast chunk supersaturated with maple syrup. The whipped cream was amazingly fluffy and fat. It was literally a LOT of sugar...Maybe if I tried hard enough, I could've heard sugar crystals crunching...

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].

When I Am Occupied.

Today I was very occupied.

I ate a serving of couscous, some cocoa powder and milk, an apple, two pieces of toast with a bit of peanut butter, and a bowl of chili.

That's all.

I don't think I've eaten this little since I was 13.

VEGEMITE.

I would like to introduce to you... the one and only...

VEGEMITE.

I haven't had this in ages. In a decade. In over a decade. The last time I had tried this nonchalantly was in 2000, in Kingswood, NSW, Australia, where my family and I used to live. Back then, Vegemite was no big deal... I didn't really like the taste, actually. In Hong Kong, I promptly forgot all about Vegemite and Maggi noodles and Chiko rolls and meat pies...

However, in the blatantly stark life in the U.S., I've gotten used to reminiscing about everything I used to have. In AUS. In HK. I miss eggettes, HK waffles, egg tarts, vegemite, fairy cake, weird wine gums [at least, I think that's what they were? I honestly have no idea], etc. Even though I'm a vegetarian, I miss Australian meat pies, and HK fish balls next to the taxis and double decker buses...

So anyway, last Saturday I went to NYC, and hung out with KC and DS. It was extremely eventful in the aspect of food. Why? Well, we went to Chinatown, and I tried the first taro flavoured bubble tea of my life. It was really creamy, and I think there was this hint of vanilla... It was utterly awesome and the tapioca balls were a bit overcooked but they were still really chewy, so that was fantastic. Then, on the way out of Chinatown, I found this street cart selling eggettes. In my head, I was thinking, Wh-Wh-WH-WHAT?! True, in HK, eggettes are still intact and are rolled up into half a hollow cylinder [basically, it looks like you placed a waffle on a cylinder; here is a picture that doesn't belong to me], but these were better than nothing... after 4 years. Actually, I think that the vendors cheated me out of some because they were supposed to give me 15, and I don't think that there was 15. Yes, silly reason, but I have intuition. But, do YOU see 15 eggettes, in the picture?

The worst part was locating the Tuck Shop, which is this Australian restaurant, at which Vegemite is sold. I. Want. Vegemite. So... we spent two hours walking around, looking for 115, St Mark's Place. We actually ended up literally 2 streets away from it when KC's friend told us we were going in the wrong direction. So... we ended up walking to a place called the Top Shop, which sells clothes, and this would've been hilarious had it not been for the fact that, dude, we had walked for a zillion hours. Luckily, though, the weather was really nice. There was a gentle breeze... the sun didn't want to melt us...

So, after having realised our mistake, we retraced our steps [well, more like they followed me... because I find NYC easier to navigate than they do] and we ended up two streets to the right of where we had started off. And... there was this:

And this:

DO YOU SEE THAT KANGAROO?! Australia it IS! This is the Tuck Shop.... and I got some Vegemite [$7 for 150g. Which truly sucks. But what other food would I want in the world, anyway?] and two pies for my brother. KC tried some Vegemite and he literally spat it out and said, "THAT'S dis-GUST-ing!!" Maybe it's just me, but I found it really rude. Especially as we were right outside the store, and the store-owner heard us. But since I rarely see KC anyway, I decided not to hold a grudge against him.

We then went to Starbucks and got some Frappucinos, and then we went to Outback Steakhouse [which is absolutely NOT Australian.] and I tried the blooming onion, which was... eh. The mustard sauce thing was cool. The onion itself... I feel as though nature was manipulated. Drastically. However, the bread was nice.

And here is the Vegemite and toast, the next day:

Yes I resent the fact that it is made by Kraft.