Two steps back

I already ate out again.  Isn't that depressing?  It wasn't for me at the time, but upon reflection, I'm not doing myself any favors.  Well, maybe some favors.  I had a very good hamburger yesterday after searching far and wide (pretty close to literally).

This is the Manhattan burger from Manhattan Roast and Grill.  I cannot believe I didn't try this place sooner.  It's a huge half pound burger, very nicely seasoned, with lettuce, tomato, onions cheese, bacon, and avocado with their own interesting thousand island-mayo spread.  It was quite good.  With fries and a drink, it came out to like $7, which is just fine with me.

Back in the Saddle

I cooked.  Finally.  I've been eating out almost nonstop for maybe a week, and I put an end to it tonight.  I went back to what I know to get me going again.

 

Pasta.  Meat sauce on top of spaghetti with some nicely toasted bread that Jonathan made, seasoned with oregano and olive oil.  I didn't cook the onion and bell pepper long enough initially, so I just had the sauce simmer a bit to make sure they got done enough.  The spaghetti was good considering it was generic, but it wasn't as good as Barilla.  Overall, not a bad way to get back into the swing of cooking.  It was easy and left lots of leftovers to make my life easier for the next few days.

Celebratory lunch out

Why do we go out to eat for people's birthdays?  Is it because we don't want to risk messing up cooking for the birthday person?  Is it because we want to be free to celebrate instead of slaving away in a hot kitchen?  I don't know, but the fact remains that people eat out for special occasions like birthdays.  This is a late post, but we went out to lunch for my grandma's birthday, and it was not too bad for a big chain restaurant.

This is the blackened chicken sandwich from The Cheesecake Factory.  While I will acknowledge that The Cheesecake Factory is pretty consistent in terms of quality, I don't know how to feel about it as a chain.  I mean, it's a chain, but they seem to do good work.  The only real fault I have with them is that their portion sizes seem to represent everything that's wrong with American eating.  I avoid eating there, but I generally enjoy when I do eat there.  It's a little confusing.  Oh well.

I also had In-N-Out yesterday.  It was glorious.

Thanks

Sorry this post is late.  I didn't have Internet last night.  I've got a lot of things to be thankful for, but on Thanksgiving, I'm especially thankful that I'm from one of the most Americanized Asian families ever. My mom and grandmother have our Thanksgiving meal down to a science.

Here's the rundown starting at the bottom going counterclockwise: gravy, dark meat turkey, white meat, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, jello, candied yams, and green bean casserole. I could go into detail about all of these dishes, but it'd take forever. It's in many ways one of those "You had to be there" kind of things. Here's a pic of my first plate:

Yeah. And I had another just like it. And a slice of pumpkin chiffon pie. I could not be more thankful that my family could enjoy this meal together. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. 

The day before I leave

Actually, it was the day before everyone else left.  No one's here, and I wouldn't be either except for the fact that I bought my plane ticket home too late.  Anyway, I didn't want to cook anything that would create leftovers, so I've kind of been slacking off.  Fortunately for me, Amanda needed my cheese to make grilled cheese sandwiches, so in return for my cheese, she made me a sandwich.

It was nicely grilled, and the cheese was great because it was cut thick.  I ate a few more leftovers to round out the dinner, but I avoided having to cook for another night before I go home.

Beauty and Art

Occupy Cal is an interesting movement.  In addition to making demands of the school and the University of California in general, they are very much about art, culture, and music.  Some protesters I've talked to explained that the artistic nature of the demonstrations helps to show that the protesters are there to create, not to destroy, which makes sense to me.  In any case, they've rubbed off on my eating habbits!

Just kidding.  This is the food table at the Occupy Cal sleep-out that took place tonight.  I was there checking it out, helping out with reporting, and I thought they had an interesting set up.  They're far better organized than anyone gives them credit for.  Anyway, here's the real post:

This is a cafe latte and strawberry danish from Caffe Mediterraneum.  Yeah, second visit within a week.  I wonder if I might have an obsessive personality type.  Who am I kidding?  I know I do.  I met Sarah, a not-so-long-lost friend, and we chatted over lovely coffee.  It was a little inconvenient because I somehow didn't properly think through the closure of Telegraph between Haste and Channing, but it wasn't too bad.  The morning started off very nicely.  Also, why don't more places make strawberry danishes?  That thing was amazing.  Now if had only been strawberry and cheese...

I'm not counting this as ATE OUT because it was inexpensive, and there's nothing you can do about it!

Rescued by cookies

Today was one of those days when I forgot to take a photo of everything I ate.  To be fair, this wasn't much.  I had a very poor lunch of cornbread and tortilla chips/salsa, then I ate out for dinner.  I had a pepper steak and garlic fries from IB's Hoagies.  Eddie wanted to go, so I couldn't resist, and I think I made a good choice - I love everything about the combination of thinly sliced beef, cheese, bell pepper, and onion.  They also threw on sandwich stuff like mayo, mustard, and lettuce, and I think next time I'll pass on that stuff.  Regardless, I was saved when Michelle brought over some freshly baked peanut butter cookies.

They were perfect, almost gooey with peanut butter on the inside, which is rare for a peanut butter cookie.  I also really liked the Reese's Pieces... piece in the center.  If it's only one, do you call it a Reese's Piece?  Anyway, it was soft and warm and just what I needed after a kind of heavy dinner.

Game Day

So the fire last night messed my entire schedule up.  I was supposed to go to Palo Alto for the Ink Bowl, the annual flag football game between the staffs of The Daily Californian and The Stanford Daily, but I was way too tired after staying up until close to 4 a.m.  I had to move on to my plans for actually watching the Big Game, which is to say I needed to find plans.  Since I don't have money to throw around for game tickets, I decided to stay home to watch the game, and that meant that I needed to cook something to enjoy while watching.  I decided to make chili and cornbread.

I've had this chili a thousand times before - this time, I used a recipe from my other grandmother, the Japanese one - but I had never made it myself.  It was an easy recipe, though, so I wasn't worried:  ground beef, an onion, a bell pepper, garlic, canned tomatoes, and canned chili beans.  Seasoning was salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder to taste.  That's it.  Super easy.  It cooked for like an hour total.  I eat it on top of white rice because it soaks up the juices and adds a little more body.  The corn bread was Krusty's, and it was delicious.  Super easy to make, too.  It all made for a very nice football watch party meal.  If only Cal had won...  Maybe they needed some chili since it was cold and rainy over there.

Gluttony part II

I went to Crossroads again.  You know this story isn't going to end well.  Anyway, Ife owed me a meal since I edited two of his really long essays, so we went for lunch today.  It was pure gluttony.

This doesn't even include the three additional taquitos and half a roast beef sandwich I had.  This meal was much less tasty than the food was when I last came.  The fish, center, tasted like nothing, the rice and beans were undercooked and bland, and that roast beef was saltier than any roast beef I've ever had.  The clam chowder, left, was quite nice, though, as were the sweet potato fries and the potatoes and spinach next to the fish.  The taquitos were your standard premade ones, but I noticed something weird on the sign.  It warned against allergies to fish and soy.  If they're calling it a beef taquito, where do fish and soy fit in???  Anyway, I ate it without much question since it tasted pretty much the way any decent frozen taquito tastes.  Basically, I ate way too much and regretted it as I walked to class and got there late.  Why would any college student need the option of an all-you-can-eat buffet?

For dinner, I again experimented with my black bean chicken stew.  This time, I didn't add any liquid, and I cooked off a significant amount of water that was in the beans' soup.  It led to much more successful tacos that aren't pictured because they didn't look pretty.  Oh well.  It tasted great.

Post-raid Breakfast

So I stayed out all night yet again covering Occupy Cal, though this was special since the police raided them.  This was yesterday - I'm late once again.  Anyway, this took up my time from 3:30 a.m. till about 8 a.m.  After I got back to the newsroom, my editor suggested we get breakfast, and I wholeheartedly agreed.

This is from Caffe Mediterraneum - a Denver omelet, home fries, and toast.  The omelet was fantastic since the ham wasn't cubed.  It was slices of really nice ham, which I've never actually had in an omelet.  This plus a cafe latte made my morning quite nice despite getting no sleep and being on the verge of passing out.

I'm not counting this as ATE OUT.  You can probably figure out why.

An ATE OUT revelation

I've been eating out a lot.  It's the worst it's been for me here at Berkeley.  I basically need to start cooking ASAP.  But while I'm eating out, I might as well learn new things, right?  Franklin, my compatriot, shared a secret with me, one only rumored of in legend.

At Chipotle, they'll mix up your burrito ingredients before folding it up if you ask them to.  This time, I deviated from my normal burrito and got steak, rice, black beans, medium-spiciness salsa, sour cream, and cheese.  It was quite nice all mixed together, no creative burrito handling necessary to get well-composed bites.  I love you, Franklin.

A Desperate Dinner

Last night, I ate a plate of pasta faster than I've ever eaten one before.  It was another long day of journalism, so a few of us went to Gypsy's to pick up dinner before Robert Reich's speech last night.  The problem was that we got back when the speech was supposed to start, so we went down to Sproul Plaza instead of eating.  When I got back, I was glad that I had gone, but I was voracious.  Here's what I ate.

This Crazy Alfredo was gone in less than 10 minutes, but I'd be willing to wager it was even closer to five.  After running around talking to people all day, I definitely needed this at 9:30 p.m.  I felt bad for my compatriots who didn't have food waiting, but they got to leave earlier than I did, so they were able to eat not long after.  Except for Curan, that madman.

Leftovers: A Godsend at 9 p.m.

I ate on a weird schedule today largely because of, what else, journalism.  I didn't have a proper lunch until 3:30 p.m., and even that was chicken strips and fries from GBC.  When I got back, it was looking like a can of soup would be it until I remembered I had leftovers from my zucchini casserole.  What better time than now to get a little more in-depth with it?

The prep work thing is incredibly animalistic.  Grating cheese and zucchini, dicing onion, crushing Ritz Crackers, mixing it all together with raw egg and melted butter.  There's nothing elegant about the preparation, and come to think of it, there's nothing elegant about the dish.  It's just fatty and delicious despite it featuring mostly vegetables.  I actually baked it for about ten minutes too long, but it made the cheese brown really nicely, so much that someone from the Cal Cooking Club couldn't tell that the topping was just mild cheddar cheese.

This particular casserole is actually pretty special to me.  My family usually has it on special occasions - Christmas, Easter, maybe Thanksgiving - so it reminds me of all those times we gathered together to share our lives and food.

San Francisco and Cal Cooking Club Pot Luck

I didn't post yesterday in order to punish Sarah Burns for not doing her rhetoric homework.  That doesn't mean I didn't have anything to post, though!  In fact, I had plenty to post about.  Something very exciting:  In-N-Out.

I miss this so much when I'm in Berkeley.  I mean, I realize there's one not too far in Pinole, but it's not an easy journey via public transportation.  I just happened to be not too far away at AT&T Park (ugh) for the Cal football game (yay).  It was a worthwhile trip - we had to take the MUNI a few miles to Fisherman's Wharf.  I was really happy to have it.  Really happy.  Those are all the words I have to express my feelings about it.  Anyway, on to today (Sunday - I realize I'm technically posting this on Monday).

I've missed the previous two Cal Cooking Club potlucks for various reasons, but I was able to make it to this one, and it was a lot of fun.  The theme was autumn, and there were some fabulous fall-themed dishes.

This isn't even everything.  I made zucchini casserole (zucchini, onions, crushed Ritz Crackers, and a couple of eggs mixed together and baked with cheddar cheese on top), and also pictured are ratatouille (yes, like the movie), and fried potatoes.  There was also cheddar-bacon potato soup, brussels sprouts with bacon and blood-orange-candied pecans, mashed sweet potatoes with goat cheese and rosemary, a pear tartine, a cherry-apple cake, cheesecake, and some sort of muffins.  It was an incredible spread for the eight of us in attendance.  The only weird thing is that I was expecting more people.  The general meetings are packed (50+ people, it seems like), but only eight for the pot luck?  Who knows.  It just meant more for us.

Overall, a VERY, VERY good weekend of eating.  One can only hope for weekends like these.

Korean(?) BBQ on a cold night

On chilly nights, people often seek hot chocolate, coffee, or tea to warm them up.  The warm liquids make them feel as though heat is coursing through their system.  I'm not one of these people.  It's cold and rainy, and I sought out Korean barbecue, or at least that's what they called it.

Actually, what happened is that I came back from watching the Cal men's basketball team destroy UC Irvine's, and Casey asked if I was hungry.  I was, so we went to give Steve's Bar-B-Que a try.  It was okay.  The beef itself was kind of like a less tender version of Yoshinoya's, the kimchee tasted like it was just spicy tsukemono, but the bean sprout salad was lovely (it was, after all, just par-cooked sprouts with sesame oil).  They gave a lot of beef, but it also wasn't cheap ($8).  It was good to give it a try, but I think I'll seek out other late-night options next time.

My own melon

In the past, the only fruit I bought was single-serving - apples, grapes, pears, plums.  When I went to Safeway earlier in the week, another fruit jumped out at me:  cantaloupe.  Is it a fruit?  I'm not really sure.  But anyway, I smelled it, and it smelled sweet.  I brought it back, carved it up, and now I've got cantaloupe in the fridge for like the next week.

I didn't even think it was the right season for cantaloupe, but it's super sweet and juicy.  I think chunks are better than slices when it's this juicy.  It's sweet like candy, and that's exactly what I like from fruit.  Nathan will attest to that.

This should be the last make-up post for a while.  I'll be back to one post a day after whatever post I put up later tonight.

A leftover that became a taco

Sorry guys, this one's a super-late make up.  I stayed outside all last night talking to people, but before I did that, I had time to eat my leftover chicken stew thing in taco form since it had thickened while in the fridge.

I was right.  It made for an amazing taco.  I threw some of my salsa verde on top, and it really set it off.  I had toyed with the idea of throwing some shredded cheddar cheese on, but it didn't need it, and I was too lazy to shred cheese anyway.  If I make this again (Who am I kidding?  I'm going to make it again), I need to make it thicker and just eat it in tacos.

Experimentation

Reality check time:  I cook mostly from recipe.  I don't mean stuff on the Food Network website or from cookbooks; I mean my mom and grandma's handwritten (or emailed) recipes, the ones I loved when I was growing up (who's to say I'm not still, though?).  However, tonight, I felt ambitious.  I planned my photo poorly because it just looks like a mess, but it all came together very nicely.

It looks like a bowl of dirty rice, which I guess it is.  It all started when Aimee brought me several cans of Goya black beans in soup.  Now I didn't want to just heat them up and eat them.  I wanted to turn them into a soup or stew or something cool, so I did.  I baked some chicken breast just seasoned with garlic salt and pepper, and I cooked up some bell peppers, onions, and garlic.  Once the chicken was done, I shredded it, threw it in with the veggies, and threw the beans/soup in.  It was a little low on liquid, so I also threw in some chicken stock.  Then I added some cumin (thanks, Brianna) to give it that south of the border flavor.  Then I simmered it to cook off some of the liquid and concentrate the flavors.  I hate to pat myself on the back, but it was really good.  I first tried eating it in a tortilla, but it was a little too soupy for that, so I put it on top of  some white rice that I had frozen and mixed it all together.

I should have taken a photo of all the soupy goodness while it was still in the pot, but I was really interested to find out the best way to eat it.  The photo was sacrificed so I could eat, and I'm mostly okay with that.

Omelet + Sandwich = Delicious

Today's post is a rare look at one of my lunches.  I got a bit of a late start today, so my lunch was a cross between breakfast and lunch, but I wouldn't classify it as brunch since I ate it at noon.  Does time determine whether your meal is brunch or not or is it the type of food you eat?  Anyway, I made an omelet and ate it in a sandwich.  Simple enough.

I made a very simple omelet with two eggs, a sliced up hot dog, salt, and pepper.  My sister taught me that a real omelet isn't supposed to be brown at all, but that's how I like eggs (and most foods in general.  If it's got a good char on it, chances are good I'll like it).  Then I toasted some sourdough bread and put the omelet in.  Then I applied some of my La Victoria salsa verde and enjoyed my pseudo-lunch.  The only thing that could have made this better would have been cheese, but I didn't have any.  There's always next time (I have more eggs and like five more hot dogs).

When you're a journalist...

you don't have time to cook.  At least that's the conclusion I've come to.  I never ate more fast food than when I was editor in chief of my community college's newspaper last semester.  So far, when I've had long days here, it's led to me eating out, most often at Subway.  Tonight, the Subways on/near campus were closed, so I went for approximately the next best thing:  Chipotle.

I'll let you in on a secret:  when I first found out about Chipotle, I fell in love with it.  The only one near home used to be in Pasadena on Foothill Boulevard near Best Buy.  It eventually made its way closer, and perhaps the lack of distance made my heart grow less fond.  That doesn't mean I can't still enjoy a burrito from there, though.  This one had carnitas, their cilantro/lime rice, black beans, roasted corn salsa, sour cream, and cheese.  This is just how I like it when I don't want spicy - just as bright and citrus-y as it was rich and creamy.  I savored every last bite as I was making edits to the story I was working on.

I've eaten out for what, something like the last three days?  I'm putting a stop to that right now.  One week of no eating out starts now (unless someone wants to go out to eat, in which case I'll likely be glad to go along).

Unceremonious leftovers

I had a long, strange day today - work stuff, late lunch, late nap.  Around 8:45 p.m., I was hungry for dinner, and I already knew what I had to do:  eat the rest of the chicken I had marinated earlier in the week.  But this being an off-day for me, I decided to go the easy route and bake the chicken.

The chicken was healthier, to be sure, but it was also drier.  The rice was quite good still - I need to figure out how to make something like this without Knorr's help.  I realize this plate lacks green vegetables, but by the time I had everything hot, I didn't want to spend time waiting for frozen broccoli to microwave.  This was it, and it was a suitably unbalanced meal for a day that lacked any sense of flow or order.

Sunday may be better.  I make no promises, though.

P.S.  Crap, I forgot that I ate out for lunch.  Nathan suggested Gypsy's, and... forget it.  I don't even need to explain the effect that the mention of Gypsy's has on me.

Bonding

I'm all but certain I've spoken about this before, but if I haven't, here it is:  when people get together, the expectation is to eat out.  People only gather together to eat homemade foods when specifically designated; otherwise, they expect to eat in a restaurant or other establishment in which they don't cook the food (shabu shabu restaurants excepted).  Tonight involved two such instances for me.

For dinner, I went with old friends to KangNam Pho House in Oakland.  The pho here was excellent, unlike that of Pho K & K closer to campus.  The beef was perfectly tender and thinly sliced, the noodles had the perfect al dente texture, and the broth was flavorful.  A handful of bean sprouts, a few slices of jalapeno, and some lime juice later, and this bowl was an amazing meal.  I know I eat a lot of sandwiches, but I could just as easily eat a lot of bowls of noodles in soup.  The opportunity just doesn't present itself to me as often.  We had a fabulous time talking about awkward cultural differences and science fiction.

 Later on in the evening, the news department had a party that was a little too successful.  Suffice to say that the party transcended success since we ended up at Late Night at Crossroads around 12:45 a.m.

Chicken strips and fries will cure most ailments - I'm 99 percent sure.  The fries were supposed to be garlic fries, but I had waited a ridiculously long time for the entire meal anyway, so I decided just to accept my fate.  It wasn't a bad decision since I was able to throw Tapatio on them and make them extraordinary.  The strips were nicely breaded - probably the most consistent thing I've had at the dining commons.  To be fair, all they have to do is take them out of some bag (presumably) and toss them in a fryer.  Still, I found them delicious, though other factors may have affected my tastes at that moment.  Mary, Sarah and Sybil were especially excellent company for this meal since they appreciate food just as much as I do.

The short of this post is that I ate out.  Twice.  I'm counting it as once, though, because I can't tag this post ATE OUT more than once.  Like I've continually said:  If you're eating out with friends, it's almost always going to be worthwhile.

Two steps forward, one step back

I still had some of yesterday's chicken uncooked in the fridge, so it became today's chicken.  Fortunately, I had bought an appropriate side at Safeway ages ago just for this occasion.  It makes my dinner look pretty boss.  Have a look:

Is that a gorgeous plate or what?  I cooked the chicken the same as yesterday except I salted it properly, the rice is a chicken-flavor Knorr Rice Side that I got for $1, and the broccoli is, yes, from my invaluable frozen pack.  All in all, this wasn't too much like eating leftovers.  It became a dinner of its own, and it all was pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself.  Makes up for the crappy first batch of chicken I made yesterday when the pan was too hot.  The microwave made batch one edible.  I made this batch edible.

The only thing that would've made this meal the best is if it wasn't semi-homemade.  I shouldn't rely on these prepackaged sides.  I should try to make my own fancy, flavored rice!  Oh well.  There'll be plenty of time to try that for another dinner.

Top Chef night... minus Top Chef

Amanda, Michelle, and I got together to cook dinner in celebration of the Top Chef premiere tonight.  The problem?  The TV in our kitchen doesn't get Bravo, and the episode wasn't available... by other means... by the time dinner was ready.  That didn't take anything away from our fabulous dinner, though!

This was an amazing spread.  I made chicken breast (marinated in Italian dressing and garlic), and pan-roasted it in olive oil.  It needed salt.  I still haven't learned my lesson, apparently.  Michelle made Persian rice - which was amazing in its buttery, crispy goodness - and a Salad Shirazi (cucumbers, tomatoes, olive oil, and lime juice).  Amanda made the most amazing smashed potatoes with red potatoes, prosciutto, garlic, and green onions.  With Top Chef as the inspiration, I may be on a path to cooking/eating better.

Boba

I haven't had boba since I've been here.  Actually, I've had it, but not from a boba place.  I made the mistake of getting a boba milk tea from this Chinese place a few weeks ago, and suffice to say I wish I hadn't.  This time, I went to Tapioca Express in the Asian Ghetto.

It was pretty good.  The boba milk tea was up to the normal standard (do Tap Ex's around the world all have the same recipe or someting?), and the crispy chicken was pretty good.  One thing I didn't like so much was that the dude didn't apply the cayenne pepper/shake the bag for me.  To be fair, the portion was gigantic and he'd never have been able to do it, but I had to try to shake a bunch on top then mix it later once I got back home.  It didn't really work.  Also, the chicken was marinated, but it was a litle salty.  Anyway, I'd prefer something from home, but this did the job.

The unfortunate thing is that I spent enough to qualify this as ATE OUT, and I'm usually inclined to give myself a break.  Oh well!

Another night, another sandwich

Last night was one of those nights when I knew I was in no mood to make anything.  I knew that I had sandwich stuff and more canned soup (I definitely remembered the soup since it was heavy to bring back home), so that's what I did.  Again.

 

Okay, so that's a good looking sandwich.  Really good sourdough bread, a fried egg, turkey, and lettuce with mustard and margarine.  I didn't take a picture of it, but I had Progresso Italian Wedding soup, which is also quite nice.  All in all, it was a pretty good dinner considering it was quick and easy.

I'm convinced that the quality of my eating has deteriorated as the semester has gone on.  I'm going to have to make changes to my priorities to make sure I eat better.  Obviously, I just need to study less and cook more often.