Top 3: September 2014

Sorry for the delay! Better late than never, yeah?
I only have three things to mention for September: two things watchable, the other? Filipino Sausage.

BoJack Horseman (Netflix Original)

Diane, Mr. Peanutbutter, BoJack, Princess Carolyn, and Todd
Source: Google

Netflix's BoJack Horseman was intended to be background noise for me while I did homework, but by episode three I was hooked.

Source: Google

BoJack is a washed-up and forgotten celeb who starred in a hit 90s TV show called Horsin' Around. Now he wants to make a comeback, and uses a ghostwriter (Diane) to write a book about him. The whole situation is indeed not as easy as getting from point A to point B.

In fact, don't even expect this show to be a "whooooa what a crazy twist!" type show. It's real, and covers topics that we all can relate to in a serious and humorous manner. I think there's difference between hyperbole humor, and humor that is supposed to take over the plot. BoJack Horseman has the former.

One thing I always scream "genius!" in my head about when it comes to this show is how animalistic the animal characters are. In one episode a rooster rollerblades through a neighborhood early in the morning and yells "WAKE UP EVERYBODY IT'S MORNING!!". In another, a gerbil is running on a wheel at the gym. Love those subtle animal quirks throughout the series!

Source: Google

And I mean... Come on... You get to see Sextina Aquafina the singer in an episode, too! It's just hilarious because within the show, she's the newest hit in the music industry and her name/appearance is one that's definitely over-exaggerated but proves a point in context.

Other biases include: my love of the theme song because it reminds me of something off the game, Hotline Miami (and its production has a Black Keys lineage); the song in the credits is by Grouplove; and Aaron Paul plays Todd. Done deal.

Check it out! You're just one click away from a Netflix marathon.


Eat Your Kimchi

I briefly remember watching one of their videos with a friend last year because we needed to find a video about a personal experience of Korea. Initially I thought they were a bit weird, because they were purring and meowing at each other?

Weird.

But look at me now! In two days I've voluntarily watched roughly 130 of their videos. My how the tides have turned.

Source: Google

Simon and Martina are a married couple who have lived in South Korea for 5+ years, and have been married just a smidge bit longer than that. They started making Youtube videos to show their family that they were safe in their new Korean home, and they blasted off into something fun, quirky, and informative!

Source: Google

They have all kinds of segments like WTF (Wonderful Treasure Finds), FAFAP (Food Adventures For Awesome People), TL;DR (Too Long; Don't Read for people who don't feel like reading the in-depth blog posts on their blog), and much more!

And I mean, they also have a dog named Spudgy with a blue mohawk and a cat named Mr. Meemers. Bonus points, seriously.

Longanisa (the BEST sausage!)

Source: Google

Breh. I made the worst mistake this month.

Okay so I went to the Chinese Autumn Festival downtown, and spied a Filipino food both. Aside from ube cupcakes, lychee jello snacks, and a few finger foods, I haven't been exposed to a lot of Filipino food. But HUZZAH! There's a Filipino place in Indy now: Eduardo's!

And oh. My. Gosh. Longanisa. Oh my gosh.

I saw in parentheses "sweet sausage" and just thought it was a fake sweet like sweet Italian sausages... But NOOOO. These were not only sweet, like they had been internally glazed in pineapple, but tender, smokey, and juicy too!

My HORRIBLE mistake? I spent $5 on two pork skewers and although good, they were NOT as amazing as the $1 longanisa!! I REALLY should've got an additional five longanisa. They were so good! Especially with the fried veggie rice! Ugggggh!

Just... Place a little halo around that picture above, because they deserve to be dubbed an angelic food source.

That's it, y'all. Three simple favorites for September.

Catch you soon!

Chobani OATS? Be Still, My Heart...

Scrolling through Twitter a few weeks ago, my thumb stiffened over a photo of a Chobani cup with oats raining down it.

WITCHCRAFT!

Oats and yogurt aren't a new phenomenon (I can definitely attest to that), so I don't know why this was such a mind-blowing thing to see.

Oh yeah, because it's Chobani! I'm quite the loyal buyer; don't be surprised if you see me balancing them under my chin during 10 for 10 sales. I will fight you for the last one. All manners and civility goes out the window when it comes to my Chobani.

Last week was a trying one, so I decided to have something to look forward to one day and opened the banana maple one for breakfast.

Now, I'm not a fan of chewy granola, but this was more like a cold porridge where the oats soaked in a delicious, creamy, banana confection. 

Seriously, it may look like baby food, but it's absolutely delicious! Since last week, I've also tried the blueberry one, and the banana maple trumps it for me. Good call, Chobani!

I do wonder where does the 17g of sugar in each cup comes from though?! Hoping it's natural sugar (denial or not, I don't care. I'd still eat Chobani by the tub). It's a little peculiar because the banana one has maple, and it's still the same amount of sugar as the blueberry oat yogurt. Hmmm.

Like I said though, DON'T CARE BECAUSE YUM!

;)

Favorite Snacks: July 2014

Helados Mexcio Coconut Paletas

I regret the thousands of times I've passed this creamy ice cream treat in the frozen section of the store. I regret every time I didn't just go for it and try it. I shall kick myself for every time I've passed them up.

My dad had to be the one to cave-in (? not really... he just thought they looked like something I'd like so he got it). And whoo-WEE, they're so good!

Paletas (according to Wiki) essentially refers to the little stick that's in the frozen fruit/etc. This one is coconut-flavored, and so delicious! Super creamy, sweet, and pieces of coconut throughout. It's pretty much mind-blowinly good ice cream conveniently on a stick. They come in tons of other cream-based, and fruit-based flavors as well! Can't wait to try those, but I'm a huge sucker for coconut.

Calbee Shrimp Chips

I know I've seen these once or twice and decided to give them a try, and man I'm glad I did! I am OBSESSED with these!!

The Hot Garlic flavor was a glorified accident, I was in a rush and got them instead of two Originals. I'm a pansy when it comes to hot foods, but these are just tolerable enough for me. The flavor of them are delicious as well! And the garlicky tang doesn't linger the rest of the day like some garlic snacks and foods can.

They're baked, so they're remotely healthier than a bag of potato chips. 55 pieces are around 120 calories, 2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of sugar for the Hot Garlic ones (that stay by my side thankyouverymuch). The best way I can describe it is like a super crunchy, shrimp-tasting, cracker. Light but hearty with its crunch. My mom tried it and wasn't thrilled, but I'm to the point where I need to have at least one unopened bag at my disposal.

Celestial Seasonings: Honey Vanilla Chamomile and Green Tea (w White Tea)

I've loved, loved, loved these teas for months now. I've just been getting back into them more because the household likes keeping the house at a solid cold temperature. Can't decipher whether it's summer or winter in here due to the frigid cold. It may just be me, because I love the sweltering heat. But I digress...

I've been drinking a ton of the Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea lately. The reason this one is wrapped is because I just finished the old one. The green tea one is one of the only green teas I drink. I don't enjoy the taste of liquified and bitter dirt, and this one doesn't taste like that to me at all. It's pretty smooth and both smell super good. I've literally tried thinking of ways to capture the smell of the green tea into my clothes and things.

I could drink it hot, but I usually brew a big batch iced with honey. Both get honey, hot or cold. They're divine, smooth, sweet, mellow, tasty, and so complex and satisfying to me.

Mind you, I'm no tea snob. So please don't scoff at my delirium over $2 boxes of tea, haha.

Very few, but very great favorites in the food department for this month! Enjoy August! I know I will. (Leos for-the-win!!)

Tips + Tricks: Reheating and Reviving Leftover Steak

So you just couldn't finish that steak, eh?

Well... I never can. But the last few I've had have been perfection: Medium rare, charred, juicy, thick, and tender.

What I realized taking the stiff, cold thing from the fridge the next day was:

How am I going to successfully heat this thing??

So I'm here to tell you what I do; it works every time for me! First I stick the steak in a durable plastic bag (make sure it can take heat) like the picture below.

Boil some water...

Then place the bagged steak in a heat-resistent container, and wait. I placed a heavy spoon on top to make sure the entire steak was submerged.

Give it anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes to heat (I usually lose track of how long I keep it in the water) and it'll be heated up, but still juicy and for the most part medium rare! The only parts that may thoroughly cook through is the very outside of the steak, but it's still just as tender and moist as the rest of the steak. 

If you want to doctor it up, you can add one last step: quickly sear it in a pan (so as not to over... uh... recook) with a little butter, salt, and pepper if you feel it needs a little "oomph!".

Enjoy your future leftovers!

Quick Eggless Cookies

It was pretty gloomy outside today. A perfect excuse for a cup of hot tea I'd say (shoutout to Celestial Seaons' Vanilla Honey Camomile!). But I wanted something to go with that tea.

Let's be honest. I'm too lazy to bake a dense almond cake from scratch... Plus I don't have sticks of butter or almond extract. So I stuck with what I knew: single serve cookies.

I was gonna get fancy and label everything you needed to make these cookies with a nice font. But... You know, almost all the labels are faced forward. You guys are smart. I know you can read... And see.

The only questionable things are the items on the far left. The mound of rat-turds in a plastic bag are just small semi-sweet chocolate chips. The taller bag behind it are pecans. And yes, the bowl you'll need is true to size. Just wash, rinse, and dry out your cereal bowl and you're ready to make some cookies from scratch!

You mix all your dry ingredients and toppings first. Thoroughly. I gave mine a spin for 30 seconds to a full minute.

It should form a dough. One a little more cohesive than above... My cookies still turned out, but needed a little more liquid to make them a tad bit better. I just didn't know if I needed to add more milk or oil, and if it would've made a difference which one I added more of.

No matter if your cookie dough turns out right or not, you need to dig in that bowl and form the dough yourself. Like, LITERALLY. Don't make a ball and expect it to flatten out or you'll be bakin' spheres. 

And here was my finished product! Yeah, a cookie's missing. I ate it to see if it turned out okay. I like my cookies crispy, and that's what this recipe aims to do. Just an FYI for the soft cookie-lovers out there. This particular batch was hard to bite, but not impossible to chew. Not crisp, but not a stone either. So... They're tasty and edible, but I can do better!

This recipe is sadly not my own, but from Chocolate Covered Katie. She makes many healthier desserts and I'm ready to try making more of her delicious treats! This one, in particular, can be found here.

Looking at the ingredients, this recipe can easily be made vegan. Just make sure the chocolate chips are vegan, almond milk would substitute cow's milk, and coconut sugar/raw sugar/whatever in substitute of granulated sugar. Not sure where brown sugar stands with vegans, but I've had yummy vegan desserts and foods. I know there's a way!

All-in-all, this is an excellent cookie base to add practically anything you want to the dough: dried cranberries, cinnamon, ginger powder, cocoa powder, sprinkles, nuts... Whatever!

They take no time at all the whip together and bake, and hardly any cleanup (I mean a cereal bowl, three measuring spoons, and a big spoon to stir... Come on now).

Hoping you try giving it a go! And check out Katie's other recipes on her blog through the link I provided for the particular cookies above!

Later, gators.

New Fieldroast Apple Maple Breakfast Sausages

One of my rare trips to Whole Foods led me to these gems, and I've been munching on them ever since!

The name Field Roast already is credibility enough, but tasting these gave them a huge boost in my trust department. To me they have a eerily similar texture to actual sausage, and what I love most about searing these in a pan with a little olive oil is how all those seasonings (especially the sweetness of the maple syrup) work together to create an enjoyable, vegan experience.

It really doesn't have that "artificial meat" taste, of course a plus.

My two favorite ways to enjoy them are with a seasoned, fried egg or next to a pile of sautéed rainbow swiss chard. Swiss chard reminds me of a better-tasting spinach, though my mom says they're a bit bitter (I wouldn't say kale-bitter, but I dunno... It's an appetizing bitter, then). The recipe for how I prepare rainbow swiss chard can be found here.

Just note:

• Wash the swiss chard THOROUGHLY! Don't want to be bitting down on bugs, sand, and grit.
• I didn't personally use the pepper flakes.
• When cooking the stems, throw them in as soon as the garlic is ready and fragrant. Let them have time to soften because they do take longer to cook than the leaves.

I've been eating them in pairs for quite some time and I still have a few left. Around $4 for a pack of twelve, extremely tasty, meat-free sausages that are packed with protein, vitamins and minerals is A-OK in my book.

Indy Gems: Pho 54

Catching up with a friend led to my first Pho experience, and let me tell you...

It was PHOnomenal!! 

I HAD to do a Pho pun... It was absolutely necessary.

Anyway, we dined at Pho 54. A tiny Vietnamese restaurant/shack on the west side of town. The outside looks sketchy and faded, but the inside is clean, crisp, and open.

The two people waiting on us were an ADORABLE elderly couple. Did I mention that they were absolutely the sweetest and cutest?

No? Well they were ADORABLE. Their hospitality made the experience feel like I was eating at someone's home.

I ordered the Rare Beef Pho (Pho bo tai) and a French Iced Coffee with condensed milk (Cafe sua da).

The French Iced Coffee came out first, and OH HO HO SCREW YOU, STARBUCKS!! Sure, I drink Starbucks, but I like to support local businesses. I've heard about this coffee and I am so glad I got it. It's not too far from where I live so if nothing else I'll probably stop by to get myself some more of that iced coffee fairly frequently! $3 bucks well-spent and to a local eatery, which is absolutely fine with me.

The elderly man brought the Pho out to me, cautioning that it was very, very hot! He didn't have to worry about that... I was just stunned at how HUGE the bowl was! I'm almost certain it was as big as my head, and had the depth of a small swimming lake (no kidding, I forgot Pho came with noodles until I fished the bottom to mix my add-in into the broth).

Ah yes, the add-ins... You get a small plate piled high with bean sprouts, thai basil (stems and all), parsley, a fat lime wedge, and a few jalapeño pepper slices. Sriracha and Hoisin sauces were brought out simultaneously, as well. As you can see, the herbs and veggies was extremely fresh, and the Pho itself was superb.

Although I've never had Pho I've read that the broth makes it, and this one was very flavorful even before adding anything in it! Under the light, specs of fat glistened while the chives, onions, and beef floated gracefully among the broth.

It was seriously like glancing into a mini pond filled with lily pads and interesting foliage, except much more appetizing.

We got to the restaurant a little after 9 and even so, the staff was still cheery and conversational. When my friend attempted to order a mango smoothie, the woman explained how she hasn't bought any yet because they weren't in season. 

She went into detail about going from Asian store to Asian store, analyzing the quality the mangoes and deciding "not yet, but next month should be better."

Like I said, adorable.

I highly recommend this vietnamese place for anyone who wants to try it!

March 2014 Favorites: Food

Excuse my crappy photo-editing and quality.

I tried, and failed. Haha. 

Anyway, I'm on to my personal category number two: favorite foods of March! Let's vein, shall we?

Honey Roasted Almonds and Pecans:

I take 'em from raw, to addictive crack in a few simple and easy steps! I'm almost one hundred percent positive all the nutrients are zapped from them by the time they're done, but hey! They're mighty tasty!

I first visited this recipe when I realized we had a HUGE tub of almonds from Costco, and no one was touching them for months.

So per usual, I looked up "easy/simple/quick"_________ recipes. And voila! I came up with this delicious outcome in about 20 minutes or so. Maybe even less time.

In a nutshell (no pun intended), you basically: roast the nuts, mix salt and sugar in a bowl, put a tablespoon of salt/sugar mix into bowl for your prepped nuts, and mix the roasted nuts (once they're ready) in honey, water, and oil-- so the salt/sugar mix can have something to adhere to.

Let 'em sit and cool, then chow down!

I get requests from my mom, dad, and grandma to make them quite a bit.

... I actually might make some this weekend now that I'm typing about them, haha!

Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar French Bread Dip

Oh laaaaaawd, I was eating this to DEATH this month! To me, olive oil is just as satisfying as butter on bread (which I'm grateful for, due to the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil).

I like doing that dipping combo, but then I decided to add a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

My heart went to heaven.

Just lightly toast some French bread for dipping and MMMMMMM.

Turkey Hill Coconut Cream Pie & Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

I THINK Turkey Hill is a brand only sold at Kroger, but boy is it good! 

My dad read my mind while he was at the store the other day, and thought I'd like a coconut cream pie ice cream. He purchased a winner.

It tastes just like a Marie Calendar frozen coconut cream pie, minus the awkward anticipation of wanting a pie you can't fully enjoy because the center's still frozen.

Maybe you'd assume the ice cream is just vanilla with coconut shavings and some type of sweet crust thrown in the mix. Nope. The actual ice cream base tastes custardy to me, and coconut prominent, and the crust bits decadent, like small nuggets of cheesecake-type decadent.

I think stray bits of the crust gems here and there really pull this frozen dessert together.

The Cookies and Cream has just always been a staple of mine. PLENTY of cookie chunks and a creamy ice cream base surrounding all of that cookie goodness.

Ever had a Chick Fil A cookies and cream milkshake? I think this ice cream is the dessert version of that. Again, the ice cream doesn't just taste like vanilla, but richer.

Together? They compliment each other beautifully.

I know this month's favorites were lacking, but I'm still learning how to plan and schedule. I'm glad to have given you some sort of content, though!

Wish me luck with future posts!

Until next time!