leftovers omelet

i realize that a 'leftovers omelet' doesn't exactly sound appealing, but it is, in fact, quite tasty. also, quite practical. not sure what to do with the leftover stirfry you made last night because you have no rice left? use it up in an omelet! sounds like i'm advertising a product... when i'm actually advertising your own creativity and innovativeness (not actually a word, but it should be).

i used 3 eggs for my omelet (free range, organic), beat them with salt, pepper, milk, chopped basil, grated parmesan. fried the omelet (some people flip the omelet before throwing the insides + cheese in, some people don't flip... i'm not sure which one is right, and i sometimes do one, sometimes do the other. the risk you take with flipping is cooking the eggs too long and getting a rubbery omelet.), threw in the leftover stiryfry (after nuking it in the microwave), havarti cheese, and closed the omelet. after the cheese melted, i sprinkled more parmasan on top for effect. then i enjoyed my omelet with some toast, avocados, and coffee. and that was my dinner. the end.

in defense of food

i have started reading 'in defense of food' by michael pollan.
his writing style is a little hard to follow, but it's still fairly interesting. the book initially caught my eye while waiting at the LA airport a couple months ago, and i contemplated buying it for my flight, but $22 seemed a bit much for an airplane read. so i waited til i got to my trusty public library and requested it, which is when i discovered it was a popular book. i was #73 on the waiting list. i got it pretty fast though, and now i have to read it quickly since i'm sure its still a hot book. anyway, as i was saying, some of the book is hard to follow (so far), but i think the cover catch phrase is a good one to follow. 'eat food. not too much. mostly plants.' basically, pollan is defending food, actual food, versus the fake food that has overtaken our grocery stores. you know, the stuff that lasts forever and is made up of 'natural flavor' and chemicals, but because its got a 'health check' on it, it's good for our health. pollan also writes about uncovering how our society, which is seemingly obsessed with 'eating healthy' is becoming increasingly unhealthy. pretty much the big food businesses are doing just that.. business. with the pretense of selling food that's healthy and good for you, they don't actually give a shit about our health, they just want to make money and make repeat customers out of us. i know it sounds conspiracy-like, but if you really think about it hard enough, it makes sense and its actually quite scary. the more we consumers know about our food and our health, the less we will buy the processed, overly refined, high in fructose stuff, which won't make the food industry happy. but, i've only just begun the book and have much more to read. i already make a lot of my own food, and am a little anal about reading the ingredients on absolutely everything i buy, so i can only imagine i'm going to become even more anal about it after i'm done reading the book.

iced coffee mojito

i'm posting the finished product first. you know, just to entice you to read further. it is quite delicious and will make a tasty + refreshing summer drink, when summer decides to commit to a long visit.

this drink is a delightful discovery: the iced coffee mojito. it's non-alcoholic, but like any drink, the iced coffee mojito has much room for improvements. ;) i discovered the drink while in san francisco a few weeks ago. i follow a coffee blog, cleanhotdry, that gave me a few wonderful places to find amazing coffee in san francisco.

philz coffee, where i had the iced coffee mojito, was the least elite place of the 3 i checked out, though it was a warm atmosphere and definitely an experience you shouldn't miss out on. (i will write about the other 2 coffee shops another day, though. today i am focused on the iced coffee mojito.) philz' slogan is "one cup at a time." and it really was that. you line up in front of a row of a few baristas, similar to lining up at a bank, waiting for a teller to open up. you get your own personal barista for a few minutes, and he/she specially makes your drinks using the pour-over method of brewing. each coffee is fresh, special, and often personalized with a sprig of mint.

back to the iced coffee mojito and my attempt to try it at home. first, i brewed some coffee. i use a french press at home. if you don't have a french press (sometimes sadly known as a 'bodem'), you really should get one. if you don't know how to use the french press, jjbean has excellent instructions (under the 'coffee basics' tab). for this iced drink, the coffee should be brewed stronger than usual - less water or more grounds - since you will be adding ice to it later.

while i was waiting for my coffee to brew, i muddled a handful of mint leaves and a few teaspoons of sugar in the bottom of my glass with a wooden pestle. if you don't have a pestle, i guess you could try and smash the mint on a cutting board and then transfer to the cup. after muddling the mint + sugar, i added ice.

i then poured the coffee into the glass + stirred. milk can be added now if you like milk in your iced drinks. i don't typically, although the drink i had at philz was with milk (at the barista's recommendation - he was cute + friendly, how could i resist?). final step: consume. so there you have it. try it at home on a nice hot summer day.


oh yeah, this is what happens when your hand and your eyes don't coordinate well. or when you are holding and peering into a camera with one hand, pouring coffee with the other. when you are too lazy to take out the tripod or ask your roommate for an extra hand.

being sick is sucky

... especially when you work hourly, so taking a 'sick day' really means you're sick AND you're losing money because of it. nonetheless, it was so good to take a sick day this week. i had a nice leisurely breakfast, incorporating lots of fruit in it, since eating fruit is good for the immune system (unlike the brownie + americano i ate after work today). so i put apples in my oatmeal, but i couldn't forgo the brown sugar. i don't know how anyone eats oatmeal without brown sugar, but maybe one day i will be able to cut the sugar in my oatmeal like i cut the sugar in my coffee.


i also had a blueberry + banana + yoghurt + other fruits i forget smoothie. the smoothie made up for my coffee. but my coffee was half decaf, my lame attempt at pretending i was boosting my immunity by using decaf beans along with the normal ones. i can cut out the coffee if i need to, really, and i usually do when i'm sick, but i just really like it, ok?

..yeah, this is just a pretty picture. not of food. although it may be edible... i've never looked it up. okay, so i just looked it up, and apparently narcissus flowers are poisonous. do not eat them. seriously. the name should really give it away... narcissism isn't exactly a desirable trait.

old bread and chocolate

this is not news to me, but i am really slack when it comes to actually posting things i take pictures of.


i made this focaccia bread in october. and i only just ate it today. wow, i'm disgusting. just kidding. well.. anyway, the picture is from october also. i do not keep bread for 5 months before i eat it. maybe i used to keep food for that long (halloween candy, anyone?) but i am maturing and am learning to eat what i have instead of 'saving up' for a special moment in the future that doesn't exist. so now when i buy a bar of chocolate, i just eat it all in one sitting. this is a much better solution. :) speaking of chocolate...

2 x stroganoff

don't make this very often, but in the last 2 weeks, i've made stroganoff twice at home.



the first incident used buffalo meat. my sister and i call it 'buffalaganoff.' clever. we know. but it also used goat's yoghurt. if you've ever had any milk or cheese product from goat, you will know it has a distinct flavor. i call it 'goaty.' this was definitely goaty. not excessively, but enough that i had to eat slowly so as not to overload with the flavor and reap negative benefits from it. but for some reason i'm just weirdly sensitive with the strong/sharp flavors like goat. or brie, or blue cheese. i want so badly to have a mature palate and eat lots of cheeses like brie and blue cheese, but it may sadly take a long time for that to happen.



the second stroganoff occurred today, and i used mushrooms. just mushrooms. i have always (my mother will debate this) hated mushrooms, but recently have enjoyed some really amazing mushroomy eats. like a beef and mushroom soup at Roundel a few months ago, and a mushroom sauce on my steak somewhere else. so i decided to try the mushroom thing at home. last week i made some pizza and did mushrooms on half of it. meh... it was okay, but the other half of the pizza (artichokes and peppers) was much tastier. then today, in my need to be frugal and avoid my grocery-shopping-habit, i used up the rest of the mushrooms and made a stroganoff-type sauce with them. i really enjoyed it, but it would definitely be better with beef or bison WITH the mushrooms.



the basics of stroganoff (as i know it... which doesn't say much, since i've never really followed a recipe completely):
- fry your meat (beef strips, bison strips, or if you are vegetarian, skip this step) and set aside
- saute onions, garlic, mushrooms and brown them (mushrooms are optional. so is garlic i think, but i like garlic)
- add the meat back
- season with salt, pepper. additional options: nutmeg, coriander...
- add your broth or wine (both optional) and sour cream or yoghurt and simmer.
- serve warm on noodles. or rice.

soup explosions & other fun things in my new home

this is what my kitchen looked like the second full day after moving in:

yeah, 'awesome' was the first word i thought of too, after other choice words, of course. apparently pureeing a hot soup isn't always a fabulous idea. the salvageable bit of the soup (see the green bowl bottom left?) wasn't half bad, though. my sister gave me a 'soup' recipe book for my birthday last year and i am attempting to actually use them, and be intentional with my grocery shopping. why was i being so ambitious when i had barely just moved into my home? ... i'm not sure. i'm never sure.

enough of my negativity. wait, no, not yet. our smoke detector? yeah, it goes off almost every bloody time we make food that involves some heating. like frying eggs. or making toast. oh yes, and the alarm goes off upstairs in our landlords' apartment too. 'awesome' fits this situation also.

okay, now i can be positive and post pictures that are oozing with positivity and warm fuzzies.


these were taken our first night here. below is our commemorative meal, but most importantly: wine. a really yummy Riesling Gewurztraminer, to be specific (and only $10!)