staying simple

while i try to integrate cooking into my daily routine, it is sometimes hard to acquire the mindset that cooking is simple, and keep on with my goals.

oatmeal with cinnamon, cranberries, almonds, bubbling in soy milk.

well, i guess our school does make it more difficult for me, getting rid of all the kitchens when renovating the dorms, not letting anybody get off the meal plan while providing us with lower than low quality food which makes us swoon with suffering.

but still. sometimes cooking doesn't even require ovens, or stoves, or even a knife or other kitchenware. for that bowl of steel cut oatmeal (not instant add-boil-water-and-you're-done quakers oatmeal, mind you) i let the oats soak in water overnight, and just sprinkled cinnamon, some berries, and added a few almonds and my hearty breakfast was all set. 


but if you do let me rant for a while, it is a bit annoying to drag all my ingredients, olive oil, salt and also stealing additional ingredients from val (hey, i pay my tuition, im going to get the most out of it) to one of the few dorms that does have a decent kitchen. and i have to bear with all those random people who poke around curiously and suspiciously as this small, unknown, non-resident girl bustles and hustles around their kitchen which in my opinion, is not being properly utilized. so it is left to me to keep my chin up, keep my sense of taste high, and march around with forks and knives as my armor. 

and its not too bad to walk around in such beautiful weather like nowadays. so in order to pay greetings to my hellful finals week to come, i decided to whip up a simple dish of scrambled eggs and shrimp! 

the best part i like when chopping herbs is that with every slice you make with your knife, a fresh, unique fragrance billows up to fill your nose. slice, whish! slice, whish! chop, chop away i go. 


h is often in charge of the stove nowadays. i prepare and chop(more chopping!) up all the ingredients, hand it over to the master, and he stir fries them, mixes them, seasons them, and voila! we make a good combo. so today he started with stirfrying the garlic and shrimps, and just about time they were about to turn pink and plump and yummy looking, added the eggs. when the eggs started to turn creamy,  i added my chopped up cilantro. 

scrambled eggs and shrimp, with cilantro.

i personally eat the shrimps whole, as i like everything whole and crunching through the shrimp, shell and all is quite satisfying somehow. H had a bit of a hard time trying to shell the shrimps, and also fight with me to get to the last morsel of creamy eggs. all of this was done in less than thirty minutes ! (we are fast eaters thats also true)


so, go simple! and you can go simple too! if i can do it in this poorly qualifying amherst, i believe anybody can start anywhere. 


*another lesson of the day: always follow the recipe's ratio. a little bit of tinkering around is fine, but the ratio of the ingredients are important to achieve the adequate blend the cook intended. today we added 2/3 of the eggs (it did call for eight eggs... the idea of eating so much eggs made us chicken us out. pun not intended (: ) and we did have some lonely shrimps left in the pan afterwards. 

Another glorious evening w mussels!

Another beautiful weekend. But when does this weekend has to come? Right before our deadly finals week. After a day spent in front of a computer nonstop(switching between physics problem sets, physics lab report, compsci assignment, yes, and of course food blogs), only after one o'clock in the morning could i relax. only after panicking that my compsci program was not catching exceptions, only after realizing that my compsci program was not line justificating, but just deleting all the lines except the last line, only after fixing it again multiple times and sending in multiple drafts of my program  and sending an email to my professor that i-did-send-my-first-draft-in-time-could-you-please-understand-?, i could drop into an endless sleep. 

but what else did i have? of course more work. but that did not stop me from cooking a lovely meal celebrating my hard-earned rest at least for a day (or i insisted i had to earn some rest). 


wholefoods were on a clam sale, so we started off with two pounds of clams, garlic, parsley, an a spanish albarino.

it was hard to find some nice chorizo, so we at last set on some portuguese hot sausage, which turned out to be not that hot, not that chewy, not that firm and juicy as expected. oh well. 


we sauted the sausages, garlic, chopped up some onions, poured in a cup of wine and mussles and set to simmer. and they ..

opened up! yumm, hi clams! 


we took our food outside to enjoy the sunshine, and the crisp, dry albarino was worth every sip.

the parsley added a nice green touch to it, the clams were extremely juicy, the broth was clear and just hit to spot. ahh.. at least i could create an illusion for myself that finals week was yet to start. 

 

blackberries for dessert! and some soft creamy cheese, and i was all set. 

* oh we had some baguette of mopping up the broth, but this time the wholefoods baguette's crust was not crispy enough, the texture not chewy nor fluffy, just not up to expectations :( why does wholefoods quality vary so much? very disppointing. we need our bread, not cake! 

 

making the best (hidden) deal in amherst even better- another banh mi rant

is this really from amherst? yes. is it under five bucks? yes. is it really not from black sheep? yes. does it really come with the fried egg? no. 

so apparently many people do not know the best, fresh, most scrumptious deal in our quaint amherst town is this sandwich, the so called banh mi, (which i went on a rage recently) from nonetheless the infamous miss saigon. miss saigon is definitely one of the popular asian restaurants which makes close-to-decent asian food, people looking for spicy asian fare, pho for horrible hangovers, or rumors tell me some people even go to see the attractive waitress. however, not many go for this sandwich, which is actually seemingly pretty authentic compared to the many banh mi i have tried in nyc, boston chinatown areas. the good part about it is that you can make customize it to your liking, for me less mayo, more cilantro and more veggies. they come in four flavors, bbq chicken, pork, beef and vegetarian. i usually go for the vegetarian, as the meat here tend to be a bit dry and flavorless, and the creamy avocado and tofu in the vegetarian wins over anytime. however, guys who are meatlovers should go for other options, which is not too bad. 

ah, now comes the ultimate question of, where did the egg come from? H was in charge of today's lunch, and he gave me the mystery message to only steal some oil, cucumbers and jalapenos from val. cucumbers and jalapenos? what kind of food needs these ingredients? i was clueless. 

marching into drew, i saw additional thai chili peppers (what??), eggs (scrambled eggs?? with cucumbers??), but the real main course was revealed from a plastic bag, which was still concealed in two paper wrappers tied with a rubber band, and sticking out of that was some sort of bread....... sandwich? banh mi! his idea was to create our ultimate banh mi by adding fried eggs (we saw a youtube video 'no reservations' clip that featured banh mi with fried eggs on top that looked amazing....... ), thai peppers to create some heat, and fresh cucumbers. 

it was... the best banh mi i ever had. i wolfed down this banh mi sandwich, adding another fried eggs after i was halfway through. lips burning from thai peppers, covered with bread crumbs and our hands sticky from oozing yolk, i say, the best idea H came up with. I dare you to top this!

the art of pasta

the art of pasta is hard to perfect. The first time you try making pasta, you're like, "oh my god its so simple! all you need is to cook the pasta for 10 minutes, sautee some vegetables, garlic, onion in a heated pan for a few minutes, dump in some sausages, meat, or whatever pick of your choice, mix the pasta in and voila! you're done!" but after a few tried, you realize there is much, much more. 

i've tried cooking pasta a few times, glancing contstantly at the online recipe and as it was for my sister who doesn't like cream sauce, but since i like cream sauce, i tried a rose pasta, tomato sauce and cream mixed in together, producing a light, pink sauce. it was okay, just that as i put in too much wine (ah, my love of alcohol coming out there, can't resist, can i) there was a bit of an alcoholic tang to it that might seem a bit unpleasant (but my sweet sister devoured it, thank sweetie). 

once the seafood ingredients were overcooked, making it not tender but chewy and tough. when i was trying a fried egg pasta (one of the nyt's mark bittman's best 20 recipes, such a sorrow this column ended) i had to match the cooking time for the egg, the pasta, and the garlic, and in the end overcooked the egg, which made the yolks not runny and smooth but was just left with a specks of egg whites all over (of course i still finished it).

after i learned the beauty of al dente pasta, mastering it was also a great obstacle (not that i mastered it yet). how many minutes to cook ?(8 minutes, but shorter if you're supposed to sautee the pasta with the sauce longer) and there's always the issue of the right amount of salt. 


you can never emphasize enough about just the right amount of salt. there are loads of recipes, techniques about when to add the salt to the pasta water (when the boiling starts, before it boils, after adding the pasta, etc. i prefer to put it in before the boiling), how much salt to add to the sauce which also depends on how much salt is in the other ingredients, for instance salted salmon, salty sausages, anchovies.... 


oh well, i guess the more you try, the more you'll get what a 'pinch' of salt means, when you can feel the 'aldente-ness' of the pasta. which is why we tried a new salmon broccoli pasta today!

We first set the water to boil, steamed the broccoli and after setting the cooked broccoli to the side, we added the dry pasta. Today's special pasta is ribbon pasta, also called farfalle. We mixed up the fafalle with the leftover linguini. When the pasta was almost done, H sauteed the onions, added some cream and boiled it with canned salmon. While he was busying himself with the pasta (constantly glancing at his iphone for the recipes, I confest we are not professional cooks -or at least not now for me), I was preparing this:

 

we also steamed asparagus with the broccoli. asparagus is in season, popping up all over the market nowadays, and blogs, and in recipes everywhere. a light vinaigrette made of olive oil, mustard, lemon juice and sprinkles of pepper was drizzled over asparagus, proscuitto, and shaved parmesan. So fresh and good!

Complimented with:

the pinot noir we bought at bacco's in boston! it was smooth and easy going wine, not too light. we watched 'pasta', the cheezy tv series that was aired a year ago in korea. the characters are just plain ridiculous and the story line is so obvious and just makes you laugh out of not-knowing-what-to-say, but just about right for a simple evening with simple food and wine. 


*the pasta was cooked al dente, but the sauce was a tiny bit on the bland side, due to lack of salt (but where! we added enought salt in the water and the sauce... a matter needing investigation), and the salmon to pasta ratio was way off, as somebody was really hungry and added too much farfalle. oh well, we have yet to master the art of pasta.

Banh Mi competition

Boston's chinatown may be shabbier and smaller in size compared to NYC, but it still holds its stand as a small but impressive piece of the city, full of shops and restaurants with their own integrity. Personally, I have found it hard to discover a place that sells smoothies, let alone places that actually do them well. 

 Alas.... the avocado smoothie ($3) at Dom Khuanh included icecream as well as real avocados, which takes the smoothies to a different level was definitely up to satisfactory, while the usually so chewy and flavorful bubbles were actually mushy this day. Were we unfortunate? Were they playing tricks on us? Why give us so much bubbles but have gone mushy, mushy and has no chewiness that we can go on and on and feel with our teeth? 

However, we dropped the bubble tea tour today to start a banh mi taste test of Boston Chinatown, which first led us to Sub City, a small shop situated in a large building filled with other sushi shops and electronic shops. 

The #1 coldcut banh mi was okay, the bread crusty and chewy inside, making crumbles fall with each bite. The coldcuts were definitly more fresh than those of Miss Saigon of Amhersttown, the spicy jalapeno peppers added a kick which made additional siriacha sauce unnecessary. The smiling Chinese lady made us more at ease too while we were deciding on the sandwich of our choice. 

The tofu banh mi at Mei Sum, at a different street but pretty much the same area heated up the bread nicely, and showed more greens which made it more promising. However, while the tofu and mayo ratio was satifying that made the otherwise bland tofu soft and creamy, did not work perfectly with the bread that was heated but otherwise lacked the cruncy crust, but was somewhat stale and did not contribute much to the sandwich. We concluded that with banh mi, the texture of the bread and the combination of the vegetables held a great role in the overall flavor. 

As our stomachs could hold no more, we stopped our banh mi taste test until there, but we vowed to return to try much more. Boston chinatown may be small, but there are still enthusiastic tastes to verify who rules this small jurisdiction, as there are always small gems hidden in the rough. 

*we tried another mango boba at Rainbow cafe, which also used fresh mangos but mushy bobas. the mango tea was very refreshing. ah..fresh fruits in smoothies are a must. Even though only people in this cafe were two sketchy chinese dudes who were sucking on cola through straws and all the menu were written in chinese on the walls, we were brave enought to ask the tired, annoyed-looking, im-tired-with-life-do-you-guys-really-want-something attitude lady. I checked the fresh mangos, just in case. 

Boston, long time no see!

Long time no see, Boston. 
Of course, it is time for YJ to enjoy her freedom as a legal twenty-one and pay a friendly visit to the Boston local brewery, Harpoon brewery. A $5 tour for a full look around of the brewery and unlimited beer tasting was definitely worth it. Starting off with sample IPA in a free glass (we get to keep this glass yay!), we saw the huge fermented tanks filled with their patented yeast and unfiltered liquor, and had a sample of their 30% carbonated IPA, which had a weaker flavor but smelled strongly of alcohol, a bit murky since it was unfiltered. 

We heard the grand story of the founders at the warehouse filled with endless stacks of Harpoon beer. They were Harvard grads, who went bar-hopping around Europe and decided to start a legacy of beer, a beer culture filled with stories and history, a beer house that went on for thousands and thousands of years and that's how it all led to Harpoon. 


What? Some random Harvard grads have all the luck to begin a brewery, have all the beer they wanted, go on yearly trips to Europe with their employees on so-called investigating the European beer (I say it's there modern version of beer-hopping, continuing their legacy after more than thirty years), while Im plowing away on random problem sets in middle-of-nowhere Amherst? I call this unfair. 


At least I got a chance to have a 30-minute beer heaven with endless fresh beer on tap. 

Now what do you think about that! Their 36th of their 100 barrel series was a Harpoon Oyster Stour, brewed with oyster shells, which was an extremely creamy and foamy, dark beer with none of the fishy smell. UFOs were comparatively light, the one with infused raspberry puree tasted like a fizzy raspberry soda, which was too fruity for my taste. The Leviathan, despiter their high alcohol content (10%) where a bit weak and less flavorful, while their new hit Belgium ale was light, but still full of fresh spice and hop was a nice treat. The only problem was while I wanted to try them all, they at least gave you half a glass for each tasting, compared to a little puddle they pour you in the tiny plastic glasses at wine tastings, so after a few tastings your belly is churning full of beer. I have never tasted so much beer in my life! H and I hold our stomachs flowing with beer back to maintown Boston. 

And we continued on traveling to three more wine shops, all complete tours with tastings, and buying a pinot noir from carneros, CA, and a cow's milk cheese called cave-aged Marisa from Wisconsin, a buttery but rich, not too salty cheese from Wisconsis. My taste has been swerving towards hard cheeses nowadays, after havling the flood of soft, rich, triple creme cheeses on my birthday. And blue cheese with craisins or beets are also decadent for a few bitefuls. Ah. Tastings are the best, suits perfectly my taste for trying tiny bits of good nibblings of this and that, and the fact that you can't take them all, tuck all the goodies you're tasting in you bag back home might be givint you more lure and pleasure and that longing satisfaction. 

 

the pinot noir we bought. Fruit forward. I tried the aerator MJ gave me during tasting, and it produced more brightness and something...acidic? Interesting. But want to try it one more time though. I will trust the Italian guy at the wine shop. Hard to find smart-talking and good wine advisors these day. *sigh*

A very unknown Gem

It seems like the recent trend in food production is all about local production, local foods, local produces, local products. Wheatberry is another cafe situated in the quaint area of Amherst that is quite, but produces a strong voice. It uses local ingredients to produce rustic breads and pastries. I tried the mini scone($1) which was not in the least buttery, but filled with a nutty and grainy(in a good way) flavor and crumbled in your mouth.

I

 I would like to return and try their baguettes, which crusts look crisp and crunchy, and split nicely and tastfully. 

 It seems like a place you come when you only know about it, as it is situated not in the central town, but along side the road nearby the Emily Dickenson Museum, with small books related to what they believe (okay, local ingredients again), recipes using local ingrediens (we got the message) and other local people who stop by for an occasional copy and chat, or a peaceful reading. 

 It was a nice walk in a beautiful weather. Hi!