thoughts:
January 25th 2012
Tetris
I've realized that my blog posts recently have been less and less about food and more about random things in my life, and today is no exception. This will be a very short post as there is not too much to say on the subject and I would guess that half of you have already played the game. I am talking about Tetris. I personally am awful at the game but its addictive nature keeps me playing. Just be warned, once you start its hard to stop xD
Hellen
January 16th 2012
Random Thoughts
This is going to be a more random blog post. I've been thinking about the differences between baking and cooking and what personalities suit each. In my experience it's rare to find someone who is good at both. The reasoning? There are completely different things and you're personality usually correlates with which one you're good at. When you think about baking it's a very scientific subcategory of the culinary arts. The recipe usually can't be altered. Even something as simple as the baking pan used can't be changed because that affects the cooking temperature and the length of baking time. This being said, a person who likes to bake is usually patient, careful, and exact. On the other hand, there's cooking. Most savory recipes are spontaneous. In my opinion, cooking is easier. You start off with ingredients that are inherently delicious making it very hard to mess up the food, while in baking eating flour and baking soda independently would be disgusting. My personality is chaotic. Nothing I do is ever planned so thats probably why I can't bake. I'm never patient enough to measure everything perfectly and I always get angry after baking because of the mess it makes. HaHa, I don't know I thought this was and interesting observation...
Hellen
January 14th 2012:
Seared Rib-Eye Steaks:
For my last night at home I decided to make a more luxurious meal. Mariano's was having a sale on prime rib-eye (an amazing $10/lb) so I capitalized on this amazing deal and made rib-eyes for dinner. I feel kind of stupid posting this recipe because it's so simple. I am a huge believer on letting good ingredients speak from themselves so there are literally only 3 ingredients in this recipe.
Recipe:
Rib-Eye Steak
Salt
Pepper
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, put a cast iron skillet on your stove and crank the heat up to high, then drizzle a little oil in the pan. Take your steaks and season liberally with salt and pepper. Once the skillet is scorching hot place your steaks on the pan and sear for 2 minutes on each side. After the steaks have been seared place the skillet in your oven. Roast for approximately 7 minutes then remove from the oven. Let the steak rest for AT LEAST 5 minutes then enjoy!
The steaks turned out delicious. I love cooking meals like this because it really allows the food to speak for itself. Simplistic recipes can sometimes have the most complex flavors.
Hellen
January 13th 2012:
Fried Chicken:
Today I decided to make fried chicken for my family. This is my last weekend of winter break meaning I won't be here to cook for my family for at least another month. Because of this, I decided to make my brother's favorite food: fried chicken! I can't even tell you how excited my brother gets when fried chicken is brought up. He eats so much of it; I honestly have no idea how hes still thin (so jealous). This being said, it is my very first time preparing this dish and I have to say I think it turned out pretty darn well.
I, of course, started with scouring the food network website for a suitable recipe and eventually settled on one by Paula Deen. Now, the dish I prepared was not exactly her recipe (partly because I don't like copying recipes and partly because I didn't have all the ingredients). The recipe I have below has the alterations I made, but if you would like to see the original recipe, I'll have the link to that down below as well.
Recipe:
3 eggs
1/3 cup of water
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 T. of crushed red chilli flakes
2 t. paprika
2 T. Vegeta (or what ever rub you would like)
2 pounds of drumsticks
oil
In a shallow dish, beat together the eggs, water, and red pepper flakes. In another dish combine the flour, pepper, and paprika then coat the drumsticks in Vegeta (a mix consisting of various condiments and dehydrated vegetables). Afterwards, coat each drumstick in the egg mixture and then the flour mixture. I like to repeat this step so the skin is extra crunchy but that is up to you.
Heat the oil to 350 degrees (if you do not own a thermometer you can dip the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil. If bubbles appear then the oil is ready)
Now here comes the fun part, the actual frying! I pan-fried my chicken because I believe it gives the chicken more flavor. So fill you pan with enough oil so that the depth of the oil is enough to cover half of the drumstick, then fry each side for about 8-9 minutes (I am only using dark meat in this recipe but if you are using white meat then you should only fry for about 6-7 minutes on each side). If you have decided to deep fry your chicken then your dark meat should cook for 13-15 min and your white meat should cook for 9-11 min.
original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-fried-chicken-recipe/index.html
This recipe turned out AMAZING. Everyone who tried it loved it. My brother even stated that it might have been some of the best fried chicken he ever tried, and as you remember he is quite the connoisseur of this fried delight. Fried chicken turned out to be an easier dish to make than anticipated, so give it a try!
Hellen
reviews:
January 15th 2012
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
True, I am only doing a review on 2 objects but the “bad” is so bad that I'm also considering it ugly. The products I'm reviewing today are fruit snacks. The two mentioned below can be purchased at Costco.
The Good: Black Forest Juicy Filled Centers Fruit Snacks
These are probably my favorite fruit snacks available at Costco. They are very reminiscent of gushers, only these actually taste good. The black forest fruit snacks are chewy but somehow melt in your mouth at the same time. The gummy gives just the right amount of bite so that you feel like you are chewing but not enough so that you feel like you have to work to eat your food. The preeminent characteristic of this snack though is the initial burst of juicy fruit flavor. When you bite it the “goo” spreads over your tongue making feel like you just got slapped by fruit. Even though eating it plain is good, I find it much more fun to squeeze the liquid out and sucking it out of the gummy shell. My friend told me the gummy reminded her of a pimple when I did that, but I don't care. It's a gummy candy. I'm allowed to act like a 5th grader while eating it.
The Bad and the Ugly: Mott's Medleys All Natural Fruit Snacks
Ugh.... where to even begin. Firstly, these “fruit” snacks don't taste like fruit. There is almost NO FLAVOR in these and there isn't even that great gummy candy texture to counteract its lack of taste. In fact, the texture of these is similar to rubber. It takes forever to chew it completely and it feels grainy on your tongue. In short, don't buy them.
Hellen
January 14th 2012
Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix:
My family is a huge fan of brownies. Sadly, I am an awful baker. For years, I tried to bake but for some reason anything that involves flour and sugar turns out to taste like sawdust. This is why I rely on packaged mixes when someone I know is craving something sweet. I just recently tried the Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie mix and it is amazing! The Ghirardelli brownies taste very similar to Starbuck's brownies, which are my father's favorite. The middle ends up being very gooey and its probably one of the best mixes I've ever tried. Now, maybe for someone who is an experienced baker a mix could considered cheating, but in my case I would rather whip together a dessert in 10 minutes and allocate more time towards dinner, so baking mixes are my best friend and this one especially will definitely be making a reappearance.
Hellen
January 14th 2012
Mariano's Fresh Market:
I have discovered the most amazing grocery store on the planet. Mariano's Fresh Market has stolen me away from the horrible chain of grocery stores that is Dominick's. This grocery store has both a great atmosphere and great prices. When first walking in you probably wouldn't think it's for the frugal shopper. It seems like a gourmet food store selling harder-to-find items like dragon fruit and blood oranges, but the prices are AMAZING. One of the best deals this store has is their bananas. It seems that the price always remains 39 cents a pound.
In addition to reasonable prices on groceries, this grocery store might have the most extensive in-house bakery I've ever seen. The have beautifully decorated baked goods all within a reasonable price (I don't think anything is above 3 dollars), but this bakery also does specialty cakes. They don't customize these fondant cakes for you, but the designs they have available are very versatile.
I have saved the best part for last: their prices remain relatively stagnant! To some of you this may seem like a con. I mean if the prices are stagnant that means there are no sales, but that also means that there prices are reasonable on a daily basis. There is no need to wait for your favorite items to go on sale and then stock up of them. I've recently taken up on going grocery shopping every day, so I know the food I'm cooking is fresh. This is not to say there there are no sales; in fact, there are always dozens of sales going on on any given day. For example, on my last trip there I bought about chicken drumsticks and smoked ham for 99 cents a pound and got pork chops for a measly 3 dollars a pound. There are honestly hundreds of things I love about this store and I am chagrined to say that I can't explain all of them to you.
There is only one con to Mariano's. Sadly, this supermarket is not yet nation-wide. It is a Wisconsin based store and is only open in the midwest. They have 154 stores between Wisconsin and Minnesota and 4 stores in Illinois. I know that many of you will not be able to visit one, but if you do happen to be lucky enough to live near one, VISIT! You won't be disappointed.
Hellen
contact info:
email: cookiedou731@gmail.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/cookiedou731