Pasta with roasted vegetables

From Winter 2009

This is a great recipe for using up leftover pasta and lonely vegetables in your fridge. I threw this together for lunch yesterday and it took 30 minutes, 20 of which was me sitting by the cozy oven reading a book (for pleasure! Can you believe it?).

Chocolate-covered strawberries

Mark Bittman (aka the Minimalist) made a video a few weeks ago about how eeeeasy tempering chocolate for dipping is. But it still involved more steps and more gadgets than what's really necessary. Oh yeah, I know that "all I have to do is to measure 3 or 4 temperatures with my new-fangled candy thermometer, use a double boiler, AND a stove," but really Mark, there is a fantastically easy way of doing this (maybe it's not called tempering but I can't taste the difference), so easy that Chris and I made a batch of chocolate-dipped strawberries in our dorm lounge in under an hour with delicious results, without having to maintain an optimal dipping temperature of 88-91 degrees (Dear NYT, please speak to my agent about putting a feature up on your homepage. I might be able to take time out of my busy winter break to put something together).

From Late Fall 2009

This is not a real post but...

I just got a reservation for Chris and I at Del Posto for winter break!! I am super excited.

Real posts to come after finals are over.

Last foliage?

Being senior is pretty emotionally draining. Aside from all the typical academic and what-am-I-going-to-do-for-the-rest-of-my-life worries, there are times when I walk around campus and think to myself, oh my god, this is the last time I'm going to be on this particular carrel in McCabe library. Ever. Today is the last day I will sit in this chair in Sci 101, dozing off to the drone of microeconomics. Ever.

Forget honors. These constant reminders of "lasts" are scary.

Philly and its food karts

This particular trip into Philly was inspired by this article from Gourmet. I first got to know the food karts the summer of my sophomore year when I stayed at Swarthmore to do research and Chris was living near the UPenn campus. There was this Halal kart right outside his apartment with excellent fallafels and schwarmas and such. I also visited the Crepe shop in Houston Hall in UPenn which used to be a kart but has since moved on. Since then, I've wanted go back and try more karts. This fall break at Swat provided the perfect opportunity.

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

A couple friends and I ventured into Philly in the morning for a quick tour of the Franklin Institute. It felt more run down than other museums of a similar nature such as the Boston Museum. Many of its exhibits were out of service. But overall, it was still super fun to do silly things like walk through a ginormous human heart and watch an eye dissection.

From Fall Break 2009

Exercising to improve our heart, health, and mood!

From Fall Break 2009

Jimmy, the chief investigator:

From Fall Break 2009

We walked to 33rd and Market, where there were about 5 karts parked pretty close to each other. As we explored our options, we settled on the strategy of divide and conquer. We got something from three karts: Mikey D's Grill (a hoagie stand), Ton-Ton (Japanese), and La Dominique Crepes.

The pork bento box from Ton-Ton:

From Fall Break 2009

It was a pretty standard Japanese thing, with pork kebabs over rice. The skewer had pork and onion on it and was deep fried. And frankly, I find it hard to dislike fried pork as a genre, so I thought it was pretty good. Their other items on the menu also looked interesting, including rice omelets (Crazy! I guess fritattas are also rice and eggs, but for some reason a rice omelet just seems so odd. Must try it next time), onigiri (rice balls), and pork dumplings.

I got a veal stew crepe from La Dominique, and it was SO DELICIOUS. First of all, the stew itself was just amazing. It was flavorful, rich, and dotted with vegetables. The guy must have made it at home and brought it over because it definitely tasted homemade. And I hate to say this in case it makes it sound any less good than it actually was, but the stew almost tasted like it was not made that day, like leftovers. But you know how soups and stews always taste better after a day or two after the flavors had melded. Well, it was like that, in the best possible way.

And once the stew's wrapped in the crepe, he topped it with a light salsa of cilantro, which made the entire thing. The taste of cilantro lightened the whole dish and gave it a citrus kick. It was fantastic. Who knew that stews can go in crepes and be so fantastic?

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

From Mikey's we got a chicken and prosciutto hoagie, heavily flavored with balsamic vinegar. Sounds odd, for sure, but it was actually pretty fantastic. The chicken was tender and the prosciutto added a lot of flavor. The only complaint here was that there was not enough cheese.

From Fall Break 2009

We also got a lemon crepe from La Dominique, which had lemon juice, powdered sugar, and lemon zest on it. Simple and delicious. We passed it around the table but I was lucky enough to get the last bite, which was pretty much drenched in lemony, sugary goodness.

From Fall Break 2009

Wursts

This blog is terribly, terribly out of date. Which goes to show just how unstressed I've been this semester. I've mentioned before that it's only when I have something big due and need a lot of procrastination to keep me going do I update this blog. And now, finally, while working on a Spanish essay, do I decide to finish up my three-part series on Austrian food. I know, I know... That was MAY. How dare I talk about something I've had a whole five months ago?? Well, because they're too good to not mention. And once I'm done with this, I can fiiinally write about my trip to China the next time I have a paper due.

Anyway, traveling Austria was super fun, but it was also the most expensive week I've spent anywhere, I think. Maybe it's just because I had to pay for the whole trip myself, but I really think the amount of money spent per day for that week was higher than any other trip I've done. Sure, the flights to Asian may be marginally more expensive, but once you're there, the accommodations are pretty cheap (or free! Gotta love family) and the food even cheaper. But I swear, I spent almost another round trip flight's worth of money on food and lodgings for a week in Austria. Pretty terrifying. But who can turn down delicious food and tortes?

The cheapest meals Chris and I had in Austria took the form of sausages (2-3 Euros per delicious meal? Count me in!). When we were in Innsbruck, there was a wurstkart parked in the middle of the touristy square, next to the golden roof.

From Austria

From Austria

There was a huge crowd of tourists ordering in every language imaginable. Naturally, Chris and I joined the crowd of tourists and ordered from their huge selection of sausages.

From Austria

Chris ordered a St. Johannes, which looked like any old sausage, except it was super long and skinny (coincidence that Chris ordered that one?).

From Austria

I got a weisswurst, which is literally a white sausage. The reason it's white is that it doesn't have the nitrite preservative. Because of this, it's usually eaten as a mid-morning snack and never left for later in the day. Apparently it can be so liquidy that the traditional way of eating it is to open the sausage and suck the meat out of its casing. That was not the state of the sausage that I got, thankfully, but it was way more tender than any other sausage I've had before. Inside, you can see small flecks of herbs and spices that its made with.

From Austria

The interesting thing about buying wursts in Austria is that they're usually not served on a bun, like hot dogs, but are given to you cut up on a plate with a squirt of mustard and a thick slice of brown bread. The brown bread is a much better accompaniment to the sausage given its heartiness, as opposed to the flimsy and blank white bread buns.

After we got back to Vienna, I went looking for another wurstkart, and ordered Hungerwurst (Hungarian sausage), which was spicy and bright red from the paprika. Also very delicious.

From Austria

Tortes of Austria

Cakes are a big deal in Austria. There are konditoreis (pastry shops) everywhere. And it would've been a shame to leave all those cakes uneaten at the end of a meal, wouldn't it?

Cakes at the Cafe Dommeyer:

From Austria

A particularly appetizing Erdbeer (strawberry)-Souffle Torte:

From Austria

The cake we actually ate at Dommeyer. It was a nutty chocolate layer cake. I can't remember the name though:

From Austria

Cakes at the Cafe Demel:

From Austria

From Austria

From Austria

From Austria

From Austria

The last one is not a cake, but marzipan.

The official cake of Vienna is the Sachertoarte, which is this amazingly rich and dense chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam. It turns out that a while back there was an issue about its origins. Both the Hotel Sacher and the Cafe Demel claim to have invented it. So Sacher wanted it to be called the Sachertorte while the Deme wanted to call it the Demeltorte. Obviously Hotel Sacher won the lawsuit. Now Hotel Sacher now proudly drives their Sachertorte Van all over Vienna to deliver these delicious cakes:

From Austria

And yes, there are Sachertorte Vans. Apparently the tortes can be delivered all over the world. Best present ever? Perhaps.

And now Cafe Demel has to call their cake Demels Sachertorte. Sad.

From Austria

On my last day there, Chris and I finally shared a piece:

From Austria

It was amazingly delicious. The chocolate layer cake's texture was less moist than the conventional American chocolate cake and more crumbly. But the flavor was rich and chocolate-y but not overly sweet. The layer of apricot worked perfectly with the dark chocolate flavor despite my initial doubts about the flavor combination (I'm usually not a huge fan of fruit preserves with chocolate).

PS Let it be known that I will happily provide my mailing address should you feel the inclination to send me a Sachertorte.

Knodel

Austria is amazing. I want to retire there. I’m pretty sure I’ve had the best time of my life in that week after school. The scenery was gorgeous, the company wonderful, and the food was totally out of this world. Who know that eating nothing but meat and potatoes and cakes for a whole week could make this “crunchy” blogger so happy?

I guess I could start with all the meat that I ate, or the delicious cakes vying for attention behind every single konditorei (pastry shop) counter, or the kraut that they serve in buckets at markets. But nope, I’m going to write about balls of boiled white dough. I’m pretty sure this dish is going to be a staple of my diet as soon as I figure out how to make it. I swore that I’ll serve it every week in my future home and if my future kids don’t like it I will actually consider disowning them.

Seriously, knodels are amazing. They are just boiled dumplings (the Western kind) made of wheat flour or potato. My first real encounter with them was in the middle of my trip, when Chris and I spent the day walking through Tiergarten. By the time we reached the top of the mountain we were both starving. Conveniently, there was a restaurant right by serving traditional Austrian fare of slaps of meat with the usual sides. After sharing a bowl of barlasche (some kind of mustard green) soup, we both got our respective slabs of meat with sides. I got a plate of ham, kraut, and of course, the lovely knodel. Maybe it was just because I was hungry and could have eaten anything, but I think that was one of the best meals I had in Austria. It was simple but absolutely delicious. The ham was cooked perfectly and not dry or salty at all, the kraut was crunchy and flavorful, and the knodel was filling and tasty.

From Austria

From Austria

It must be something about mountains, because the second time I had knodel was also on a mountain, this time in the Alps. Chris and I had just escaped a potentially disastrous thunderstorm on the Alps by running into Thaur Alm, one of the cabins set up along the trails for the exact purpose of providing shelter against the unpredictable mountain weather. The fact that they served delicious knodel was a definite bonus. This time, both Chris and I got knodelsuppe, essentially knodel in a clear broth. I got the kaseknodel, which is a knodel filled with cheese, and it was delicious. Exactly what you need after racing through the mountains with a thunderstorm at your back.

From Austria

And it turns out that knodeln aren’t hard to make at all. All you have to do is to sauté some onions, mix in some breadcrumbs and milk and whatever else you want, shape them into balls and boil them. Perfect.

Chicken of the Woods

I keep meaning to write about my week in Austria, but I just keep forgetting with the crazy hours that I work in this lab. But meanwhile, I've been introduced to something else really cool.

The food at Mountain Lake Biological Station is comparable with Sharples, except with less variety. Today, after eating two stuffed pasta shells and the same spinach salad I've been eating since forever, I was looking for something else. And this was when two girls from the station brought in woks of these orange slices that looked like chicken stir-fry from far away. It turns out that they found a huge shelf fungus in the woods called chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus).

From Edacious Eatings

The fungus has the same texture as very lean chicken but is like most mushroom in that it tastes like whatever it's cooked in, which in this case, is salt, butter, and a little bit of garlic. It was super filling and super delicious. Look out for it in the woods!

Improving the midnight snack since 2009

The quality of living in Room 116 just improved. Vastly improved. Instead of scrounging around for leftover Tarble snacks when the midnight munchies hit, Carey, my roommate, and I, just make fried rice in our own room.

The idea was inspired by a not-so-recent article in the NY Times about using the rice cooker for more than just rice. As soon as I started to see the rice cooker as a wok in addition to a unitasker that only cooks rice, the possibilities became endless. The first idea, however, was a simple egg fried rice.

You start by making rice as you normally would:

From Fried Rice

Remove the rice, oil the pan if the bowl isn't non-stick, and turn the cooker back on:

From Fried Rice

Drop some eggs into the wok (the general rule of thumb is 1 egg per cup of rice, but this is a personal preference):

From Fried Rice

Add the rice back in:

From Fried Rice

Voila!

From Fried Rice

The fried rice in itself has infinite possibilities. Scallions, obviously, can be used to make it more flavorful. I've recently started to add peas and spinach into the rice as well for a more nutritious version. Or for a sweeter snack, adding cream and spices and sugar to some rice for rice pudding! Aside from rice, I was thinking of cooking other grains in it (perhaps quinoa, for a breakfast cereal?). I recently bought some quinoa and will let you know how that goes.

About effing time

Obama!

In which Helen eats and eats and eats... and forgets her camera

Last weekend Chris (!) came (!) to visit (!). And we ate so much good food that I hesitate to post about them without picture evidence. But nonetheless, the food and company was too good to not blog about.

Our first stop was Mixto, a Cuban/Latin restaurant near Market East station. There was a lot of meat on the menu, and unfortunately, after a bad experience with burger bar earlier in the week, I had to go for the only meatless option, a vegetarian platter. Chris, on the other hand, ordered Churrasco Argentino Con "chimichurri," a grilled skirt steak with a zesty herb sauce. The veggie platter was surprisingly good and hearty, with lots of roasted vegetables and plantains and little cheesy polenta blocs, and rice and delicious black beans. Chris' steak was flavorful and done to perfection. And the sauce that came along with it brightened the meat up considerably. Awesome.

The service at Mixto, however, was quite shoddy. As soon as we didn't order an alcoholic beverage, our waiter turned on us and did everything in his power to rush us out, ending with the act of bringing us the bill before I even had a chance to wonder about dessert. But, that turned out to be a good thing soon after, since the bitter, bitter cold brought us into the Naked Chocolate Cafe. We were much smarter this visit than our last and ordered only their delicious drinking chocolate. I got the Aztec, which was very robust and full of spices. But my order paled (both literally and figuratively) in comparison to the rich, dark, almost-pudding like European Bittersweet sipping chocolate Chris got. It was served in a little espresso cup and you had to use a tiny little spoon to "drink" it.

The next day we gathered up a large crew for dim sum at Joy Tsin Lau in Chinatown. Despite the fact that our options were not as varied as other larger establishments, the food was quite good. Lots of meat and shrimp, but light on dessert stuff -- there were no egg tarts! And like all dim sum experiences, you had to look very carefully for anything green to fend off that scurvy you've been worrying about ever since entering Swarthmore. Regardless, it was pretty cheap for so much food -- about 12-13 dollars for a bunch of ravenous college kids. Not bad.

After dim sum we went walking around in Reading Terminal Market, bought a half gallon of apple cider from the Amish and wondered around a bit. We pondered buying an ugly fruit for the next meeting of the society of exotic fruits, but decided against it. After that, we went to the Northern Liberties to possibly check out galleries and such. But the only gallery we found was one that featured an exhibition called the "Obamarama" and another called "Guilty Pleasures." The rest of our time was spent walking around this slightly run-down but charming little neighborhood filled with interesting little cafes and shops. We walked by a Paraguayan restaurant with featured a prominent sign that said "NO MICROWAVES." As we were looking, a man beckoned us in for a lesson on microwaves. Inside, we found a lady who told us about a study where they watered two plants (great sample size, eh?), one with cooled microwaved water and one with regular water (at least they have a control...). And lo and behold, the plant watered with microwaved water died within a week. Moral of the story -- don't go near microwaves! Duh. She also told us that a hot "baked" potato cooked using a microwave will ruin the molecular composition of your stomach, or something scientific sounding like that. She used the word "molecular," and I was immediately sold. But despite their silly "science," the menu to cafe looked really good. Maybe next time.

Anyway, a light dinner happened at Soy Cafe (2nd st), where we ordered two delicious and filling salads (I got the grapefruit avocado, Chris got the crab and seaweed). Their signature ginger miso dressing was some of the best I've had. Plus, the serving size of a very large mound of fresh veggies was the perfect thing after a meat-heavy dim sum meal.

We got back to Swat fairly early since I had to study for macro. And Chris left the morning after. Despite how short it was, the weekend was probably one of the best I've had this school year. Definitely need to get into Philly more often.

Ice and Snow

Sometime last week Swarthmore woke up to a day of wintery-mix. It was warm (well, warmer), foggy, humid, and raining. As much as the rest of campus complained, I stand by my opinion that it was wonderful. Everything was iced over and you can barely see anything.

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

The slippery snow looked perfect for sledding.

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

From Swarthmore Jaunuary 2009

Even the bamboo outside Kohlberg fell and iced over.

But the weather changed for the (much) warmer yesterday. It was warm and sunny and spring-like. Being able to run in a T-shirt was spectacular, although the iced over sidewalks all through the borough was not.

Manila!

The first thing I said when I got back to Swarthmore was "Twenty-four hours ago, I was still wearing shorts, flip-flops and T-shirts and eating mangoes with every meal." Coming back to a freezing-cold Philadelphia wasn't the most awesome thing ever. But seeing everyone who was abroad last semester is fantastic!

Anyways, the Philippines was great. The country is going through what they call a "cold spell," which means that the temperature is absolutely perfect and 70ºC every day. The first few days were spent in the Cordillera mountains, near the city of Baguio (~150mi southwest of Manila). The American embassy maintains a compound there for expats to visit to get out of crowded and polluted Manila. It's gorgeous:

From Manila Winter 2009

And for you history buffs out there, the Japanese actually surrendered their control over the Philippines in this building:

From Manila Winter 2009

We went into Baguio city proper a few times (not that interesting of a city, unfortunately) and ate at this cute cafe one of these times. They served a lot of chocolate, such as hot chocolate made with Carabao milk. It was delicious.

From Manila Winter 2009

From Manila Winter 2009

And the sticky rice was really good too!

And back to Manila...

From Manila Winter 2009

Manila from our 53rd floor window. The large concentration of high-rise buildings is Makati, the major commercial section of Manila.

With the abundance of amazing mangoes, and still craving that sticky rice, I decided to make Thai sticky rice with mango, Kow neuw moon, as often as possible.

From Manila Winter 2009

The dish is super easy to make if you have a rice cooker. Just replace the water for the same amount of coconut milk and add a bunch of sugar (about a 1:2 sugar to rice ratio, but this is definitely personal preference) and voila! It helps if you have sticky rice (short grain), but plenty of people use medium or even Jasmine. This is definitely a recipe worth fiddling with since the payoff is so excellent.

Last bit of news. We got a puppy! His name is Leo.

From Manila Winter 2009

From Manila Winter 2009