by Ling on November 17, 2010
As much as I love to cook for people, it’s also awesome when the person you love also loves to cook. =D While eating is a much valued experience, collaborating together in the kitchen to create that meal is an adventure in itself. It sure makes those 3 course meals less stressful to prepare! Hats off to Andrew for excellent plating technique; it’s not just about the taste, but also the first impressions invoked when your eyes lay on the plate of savory meats complemented by vegetables and grains.
Cod with mango salsa, roasted asparagus, and cous cous
Andrew froze the leftover mango skin and then put Blood Orange Sorbet with Sugar Cookie in the hardened shell. Delicious! And the mango shell was a beautiful attempt at using every part of the mango. (Maybe we should have done something with the seed too…)
We were craving Mexican one night and decided some Chicken Fajitas just had to be made for dinner. The slices of pan seared chicken are mixed with green and red bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, salsa, and Mexican blend of cheeses.
One of the first meals we made together – Lobster! Andrew even made the butter dipping sauce, but I needed no condiments. I was very happy just tearing the meat off the shell and savoring the pure seafood taste. And again, one of the most elegant ways of presenting Lobster that I’ve ever seen.
Pizza making contest! Except we had to use the same ingredients. The real difference lay in the way the ingredients were placed atop the Boboli crust, because both pizzas tasted equally delicious. Andrew’s pizza.
And mine!
More delicious meals to come…
by Ling on March 12, 2010
Welcome to part two of the Italian Om Nom series! This post focuses on some of the other meals enjoyed in Italy, non-pasta/pizza related. While Florence lacked diversity in the form of Asian restaurants (and the few Chinese/Japanese restaurants that did exist were too expensive to justify eating at), the city did have quite a few gyro locations, which quickly became favorite places to pick up a relatively cheap bite. Slices of meat would be sheared off the rotating rack of lamb meat and rolled into a burrito with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, delicious sauce, and my personal favorite – french fries!
Breaded and deep fried pork cutlet with roasted tomato bits and red onions on top
Cuts of salami, chunks of tomatoes, olives, and green chili peppers atop a bed of arugula (?) leaves
It’s difficult to remember now seeing how I had this over two years ago..but I believe this was a lamb dish
Yummy roast chicken with potatoes! We got this as part of the 10 euro lunch special served with an appetizer and dessert
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The anal, perfectionist side of me finally caught up. With the (little?) spare time I’ve acquired recently after the end of school, I decided to embark on a project – a quest to manually readjust the levels of all the food photographs currently in the gallery. (Eh heh..) While time consuming, I find it so rewarding to see the food come alive, further appealing to the visual senses. First stop: Europe photos.
On that note, I present Food Porn #4, the beginning of the Italy series. Photos were taken during my Fall 2007 study abroad in Florence. Part One focuses on what most people associate Italian food with - pasta and pizza! And what delicious pasta and pizza it was. Mindful of the unfavorable euro exchange rate and the need to save money for my travels around Italy and Europe, I tended to stay in and cook more often than eat out. When I could afford to pamper myself the one or two nights a week with restaurant food, I often had to restrain my meat instincts and order instead the cheaper (but still delicious!) pasta dishes.
Pasta cooked al dente is the absolute best, and I grew to love Rigatoni Bolognese, delicious thick tubes of pasta drenched in savory minced meat sauce. I also tried my first plate of creamy risotto – who would have thought to combine cheese and butter with rice to add new flavor and texture? The only rice I had eaten before was the white rice my parents made every night for dinner.
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by Ling on February 16, 2009
Oh London. This was my second stop during our Fall Break while studying abroad in Florence 2007. It was ironic how London fit the exact stereotype of the city I had envisioned in my mind – expensive and dreary. The exchange rate during my visit was more than 2 USD to 1 British pound, a rate even more unfortunate than the euro I had been living on that semester. A peek of sunshine broke through the clouds at random intervals, only to be hustled away by more ominous clouds. It began to rain in the afternoon, a slow, continuous rain that immediately put a damper on our spirits.
My roommate Lesley and I went to St James Tavern for lunch upon arriving, and we were surprised to find people there sporting NY Giants jerseys, drinking beer, and watching the TVs in the pub at one in the afternoon. Had we been transported to a U.S. sports bar? Turned out there was a huge football game going on back in the States, and there were Giants fan in London. We chose very traditional dishes - Beefburger and Fish & Chips.
(They call their french fries “chips” there). The Beefburger came out with the meat pattie and cheese on one side of the bun and the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers on the other bun so the vegetables stayed fresh and crisp.
The fish was nicely fried, with a crispy golden exterior and a hot, flaky white interior. The fish was lightly seasoned with salt, so the tartar sauce we used for dipping added additional flavor and texture.
During our second day in the city, we had afternoon tea at The Orangery, a recommended place to enjoy teatime. We stopped by after our tour of the Kensington Palace. It escapes my memory the exact type of tea we asked for, but I did enjoy putting in tiny cubes of sugar into my steaming hot cups of tea. We started off with some cucumber sandwiches and scones with clotted cream and jam.
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I've been told that a certain smile breaks across my face whenever the subject of food is brought up, a smile that radiates the purest forms of delight and happiness. Food transcends beyond the smell and taste of what's presented in front of me; it's an experience to be enjoyed, indulged, shared with those I love. Working and living in NYC continually opens culinary doors, from hole-in-the-walls to upscale (even stuffy) dining. I never take any morsel of food for granted, and I'm often THAT girl at the table found licking her plate at the end of the meal.
