Judy's potato pancakes

I'm very excited to introduce a special guest, Judy, one of my suitemates and fellow food fanatics. Judy is a Korean California Gurl and an aspiring lawyer who leads a secret life as a k-pop singer and instant food chef. She's been honing her pancake skills and can now whip up a mean plate of savory pancakes. 

These potato pancakes are a Korean comfort food often eaten on rainy days because the crackles of the frying potatoes are reminiscent of the pitter patter of the rain outside - how cute! The garnish, which is usually sliced bell pepper or scallion, adds a pop of color and flavor. Judy likes to bring potato pancakes to large gatherings because not only are they delicious to eat but also they are quick and easy to make. 

trial & error: peanut butter blossoms

Some people are chocoholics. I'm a peanut butter-holic. I go through periods of intense peanut butter cravings, and I often dream back to elementary school, when I would help out in the kitchen to make snacks for the after school program. We only ever made two things: brownies or - my favorite - peanut butter blossoms.

Brownies are great and all. But these cookies were magic. I don't even like hershey kisses - but once they're nestled into the soft peanut butter dough, everything changes. The cookies are chewy, rich and hey, you can do no wrong with a combination like peanut butter and chocolate. Kind of like how Marshall from How I Met Your Mother went on a hunt to find the mystery restaurant that once served him the perfect burger, I was determined to find the recipe that would make the cookies of my childhood peanut butter dreams.

Sigh.

To think that I haven't made these cookies in more than 10 years.
I loosely followed a recipe I found online. When the first batch came out, I was surprised by how round and puffy they were and how soft they were inside. Not confident that the cookies were done, I popped them back in the oven for 3 minutes. My mistake! The cookies ended up being over-done. When we tried sticking the kisses on top, the cookies were stubborn and crumbled.

So for the second batch, we added a tablespoon or two of almond milk to wet the batter. After 10 minutes of baking, the cookies were soft enough for the kisses; instead of crumbling, they "crackled" like they should.

omnomnomnom

My friend Judy and I rolled the dough balls, tossed them in brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs and after baking, gently pushed kisses into the still-soft cookies. While they were tasty and soothed my peanut butter addiction, I'm still on the lookout for the perfect peanut butter blossom recipe - the recipe that makes the richest, chewiest cookies I continue to dream about more than ten years later.

Food resolution: Bake something nostalgic. Status: complete.

i-can't-wait-for-summer squash muffins [dairy free]

Squash and muffins? Say what?

This week, I took a discount pack of summer squash-lings and made a frittata and muffins. There ya go. You can have your squash for dinner and dessert.

With the addition of sugar, cinnamon and chocolate chips, you can't taste the squash at all, which is not all that surprising considering that squash isn't particularly flavorful on its own.

It's delicious! The pureed squash adds a moistness to the muffins and seems to help keep them from drying out. They still tasted great the next day.

summer squash muffins [dairy free] (adapted from here)
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 medium-sized summer squashes
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup apple sauce
1 lonely egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs baking powder
2/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chip, 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Yields 13 muffins

1. Cut off the ends of the squash and slice into circular pieces. Boil the squash in a small amount of water until softened. Drain it, and puree the boiled squash in a food processor (or mash with a fork).
2. Combine the squash puree with egg, apple sauce, oil, vanilla and brown sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients - flours, baking soda, salt, spices.
4. Fold the wet and dry mixture together until moistened.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour into a muffin pan or cake pan, and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.
7. Let cool and nomnomnom, enjoy!

Bostonian in New York (Day 4 & 5)

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4/5
DAY 4 (January 8th, Thursday): Cronuts, The View (Baba Wawa?!? + Douchebag security guards), a train mishap and Murphy's Law

Below 10 weather does not deter people from getting their cronuts, apparently.

My cronuts alarm went off at 7am. We arrived at 6th avenue at 8am, right on the dot for when Dominique Ansel Bakery opens. Despite the 8 degree weather, there was a LINE. After waiting more than 2 hours for the Daily Show in the type of cold that would make a polar bear cry, I was so done with waiting. But, believe it or not, there were nearly 15 other psychos shivering their asses off in front of us. Thankfully, we were let in as a group at 8:10am. "Single file line, please," one of the bakers said, like we were 5-year olds in kindergarten again.

If there's a line like this on a dangerously frigid, off-holiday morning, I can only imagine what it's like in the summer. Therefore, I actually recommend getting cronuts in January instead of July. Cronuts, rich and seriously indulgent, are also more of a winter food in my book.

The cronut flavor this January is - get ready - caramelized malt valrhona milk chocolate w/maldon sea salt. Basically, it's caramel with sea salt and milk chocolate. I bought two, and my sister bought a Modern Black Forest. One of the cashiers shook her head at the sight of the amount of people willing to brave the wind chill for this. I shook my head at the people still ordering their frozen s'mores. My sister and I sat in "the Garden" which is actually a sunroom with nice lighting and accessible from the back of the bakery. Now for food porn..

Behold - the January 2015 cronut, Caramelized Malt Valrhona Milk Chocolate w/Maldon Sea Salt.
There is a very high chance that I just consumed an entire week's worth of calories in one sitting. No regrets.

Bostonian in New York (Day 3)

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4/5

DAY 3 (January 7th, Wednesday): Flatiron district, Freezing my face off for the The Daily Show and Xi'an Famous Foods

Wow, what a day.

chocolate almond croissant heaven from Maison Kayser - a good portion ended up on my lap. I really do not belong in classy places.

I spent the morning catching up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. We walked around the Flatiron district, stepping into Maison Kayser for a late breakfast. Maison Kayser is a cute,  part-boulangerie, part-cafe where the waiters dress as stereotypically French as possible. Their chocolate almond croissant - flaky and buttery, doused in powdered sugar and filled with milk chocolate - was marvelous. I could have this for breakfast everyday, ya know, if nutrition wasn't a thing. I also got a kick out of the waiter uniforms: striped shirts, black pants, suspenders and french berets...I mean, really? Someday I want to come back and get their amazing rustic-looking breads. We also explored Eataly, an Italian grocery with plenty of wonders to see (and cry over when you know you can't afford them) and eateries offering a range of Italian foods, from desserts to freshly prepared spaghetti. Someday I will come back to try the food.

At noon, I caught the train to Hell's Kitchen to line up for The Daily Show ticket issuing. Even though ticket distribution begins at 2:30, past attendees have said that people began lining up around 12:30. I happened to reach the building (which was white and rectangular with handle-less doors, surprisingly modest, pretty inconspicuous; only recognizable by its blue awning)  at 12:20 and became the first person in line. Boo-yah. No big deal.

Except for the fact that it was fricken COLD. Bone chilling cold. Almost below zero. Gusts of icy wind whipping your face. So cold that at 1:30, the Daily Show staff passed out handwarmers to the steadily growing line of masochists standing outside in arctic weather for a chance to see Jon Stewart go at it for, what, half an hour. I question my life decisions.

Our tickets :D We snagged #1-4.

To my surprise, right after I established my place at the door, a small line began to form behind me - immediately. Which means that there are people in this world who are just as crazy. I'm glad we all decided to band together today under the blue awning for the Daily Show.

Bostonian in New York (Day 2)

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4/5
DAY 2 (January 6th, Tuesday): Return to Chinatown, Seth Meyers Monologue rehearsal!, The Tale of a Good Panini & A Bad Bowl of Ramen

Last night, my sister and I discovered that her new dorm has an amazing view of the empire state building, which had been transformed into a glaring beacon of neon Christmas.

I woke up super early because of a loud crash during the night and also because I'm still adjusting to my lumpy sleeping bag. Still haven't figured out the source of the loud crash, but I'll just attribute to it the mischievous dorm ghouls because every dorm has those, right?

dolla fruit rack?!                     giant pocky?!

I arose to a wet, snowy New York and headed back to Chinatown to go grocery shopping with my sister. At Hong Kong Supermarket, in addition to finding the world's biggest box of pocky, I found an amazing discount fruit rack, and I nearly keeled over with joy when I saw two generous bunches of freckled bananas -just the way I like 'em- for a humble sum of $1.00. I excitedly picked up a tray of persimmons when a taitai nearby whispered to me in mandarin, "no, don't get that. It's rotten inside." When I mentioned how some of the persimmons were hard, she said "don't worry about that. Place an apple in between them, and you'll be all set." Wise words. On our way back to the train, I stopped by a street store where a little ama was pushing sandals. I was on the lookout for a pair of shower shoes because three words: dorm bathroom floors. I always hold back from using mandarin with folks because not everyone speaks it, but it seems the moment I hesitantly uttered a few words in mandarin, she opened up to me and gave me a discount. Or maybe she was charging me more when I didn't speak mandarin? Hahaha...

Bostonian in New York (Day 1)

The last time I explored New York, I stayed in a hostel with two friends and my high school English teacher. I was the typical NYC tourist, sticking to the quintessential places and venturing through Time Square, Hard Rock Cafe, museums and cathedrals galore. But what I mostly remember is getting miserably lost on the streets and learning the hard way that "East" and "West" matter so much more when you're traveling in NYC, eating the world's greasiest pizza from V&T and gorging on hand-pulled noodles on Canal Street. It was really fun.

I've been wanting to go back to explore the 'hoods, eat some good food, meet up with friends and catch some live show tapings. Oh, and perhaps most important - visit my sister. Although Boston is forever in my heart, I felt like that perhaps there was extra room for NYC as well.

By going on Jan 5th, I was hoping to miss the heaviest wave of holiday tourism craziness, even if it meant I would be heading to a less pretty, glitzed-out New York. I was hoping that post-holiday catharsis would mellow the city - but when have "mellow" and "NYC" ever been in the same sentence?

My "food budget" was $100 for the 4-day trip, averaging out to $25/day. I felt like a poor man's Rachel Ray on $40 A Day, and my best friends were Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Now let the adventures begin...

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4/5
DAY 1 (January 5th, Monday): Adventures in Brooklyn 86th St/Chinatown

My friend and I met up in Chinatown, and of all places, under the giant golden arches we Americans never seem able to escape. We strolled along Canal St and Grand St, passing by numerous asian bakeries and boba tea shops, street carts featuring cheap scarves to cheap persimmons and finally, a strip of colorful, cheapo-kitschy souvenir shops from which aggressive storeowners hawked at passerbys and sketchy dudes on the sidelines rambled "Rolex-rolex-rolex-rolex...", as if they were pushing the real deal.

12 Food Resolutions for 2015 (lots of photos!)

Um, what, it's 2015 already?

I hope you all had a grand time celebrating the new year!
On New Years eve, I happily bid 2014 goodbye by freezing my appendages off marching for a mile, sans winter coat, for the First Night Boston parade. If you saw a somber girl waving a blue fan around, that was me! (I swear I was trying to smile but my cheeks were frozen). My family and I finished the night at the fanciest schmanciest seafood restaurant I would never be able to afford if it weren't for a generous gift card. Also, I'd like to apologize to the chic-looking man sitting at the adjacent table for witnessing my pitiful attempt at eating a carrot, which fell off my fork, bounced off the table and rolled on the ground. This is why I don't belong in places like this. Sigh.

In terms of baking, I'm happy to say that 2014 was filled with more "yums" and "mehs" than "bleughs", at a ratio greater than ever before. I have grown a lot (in waist size? or in knowledge? I hope it's the latter) since I started baking (and eating) my stress away as an angsty junior in high school. If there's anyone I owe my progress to, it's my wonderful family members for being my willing guinea pigs (some more willing than others) and for offering unconditional support and feedback. I'm also thankful for my newest crop of guinea pigs - yeah, I'm talking about you, college-mates! <3

Now, as I'm about to begin another year and another semester at college, I look forward to building on what I've learned and making use of new tools. I have compiled 12 food resolutions - mostly of recipes of I want to try and things I want to accomplish. So, in no particular order:

A picture's worth a thousand words.

MAKE: Lady and Pups' Imploding Honey Custard Cake
Everything about this makes me want to cry tears of happiness. It's a cake that IMPLODES with gooey custardiness! Therefore, it automatically earns a spot on my must-make list.