N3rd Party. fail.

Wow. Hosting a dinner party was a new experience. Deciding on a theme, planning a menu, preparing and cooking the dishes, and breaking out the camera to take photos were all part of my checklist. Guess what? None of it went the way I planned. NONE!!

First, the theme was "Nerd" done gossip girl style. Sounds sexy cute, right? I had an outfit in mind to change into after I was done cooking and prepping all the food, but I never got to the change-into-outfit part. I was running around making sure everyone and everything was alright. Luckily, none of my buddies dressed up except for the one that came up with the theme. ahahah. ^.^

I didn't expect to have so much fun planning and organizing a menu. (Of course, I had 2 buddies helping me out).

The Menu

Melon & Prosciutto

Bread with spinach artichoke dip

Spinach Salad with pecans and cranberries

dressed with vinegar

Chicken Le Cordon Bleu with a mushroom cream sauce 

on top of pasta

Creme Brulee

Apple Crisp

Fruit Salad

I had the best time figuring out the ingredients and shopping. I always knew I enjoyed being organized, but I didn't expect to have so much fun doing it. I did make one change on the day of the dinner. The original appetizer was vienna sausages & pineapples. Gross. However, I managed to convince my friends to change it to melon with prosciutto with the help of JSB! yay!!! I nommed through the appetizers.

Originally, I wanted to do most of the shopping the night before, but my friends told me that it wasn't necessary and we could complete it the same day. I did an eyebrow twitch and they told me not to worry, but worry I did! It's a good thing I worried and purchased some ingredients on my own the night before. Dinner was suppose to start at 7, but we didn't get back to my house until 5:30 when we went shopping at 4 PM!! Talk about the stress I felt since I need organization and structure in my life in order to be at ease!!

(Anticipating chaos at night, I made my creme brulee and I prepped all the ingredients needed for my apple crisp before we went shopping. yay to thinking ahead!)

Oh gawd, prep work was when the nightmare began. First, our kitchen is tiny. Not a lot of workspace so only 2 people can prep at once. My buddy was in charge of the entree, but he was socializing so I ended up prepping for him. I had my sister making melon balls out of honey dew, cantaloupe, and watermelon. I had a family friend and my other sister making melon and prosciutto balls. After they completed the first task, I had them working on slicing bread and plating up everything. I seriously felt like I was running a Chinese "family" run restaurant outta my kitchen, meaning I slave them away with no pay. The only form of payment is food. lol.

I yelled at my friend to get his butt into the kitchen and get his dinner started, because it was nearly 7 and his chicken needed to be baked!! aiiiyaaaah. Paniiiic!! Of course, he is the type that thinks everyone runs on his time so he takes his time and tells me to relax. Another eyebrow twitch comes from me and I get started on the alcohol. I needed a drink.

All the appetizers and bread have been devoured and all the guests are hungry. Drinks are being made, jello shots are being passed around, and salad is served to hold off the hunger. Finally, food is served at 9:30 and as luck would have it there is NOT enough food for my buddies. Oyeee.

The worst part of the night was not being able to take photos of my creations. I was in the kitchen the whole night working on the food and cleaning up as we worked so I would have less to clean up later. The only photo I had was of my dinner and it is not a pretty photo either. ='(

What I have learned:
1) Buy all ingredients a night or two before the party.
2) Prep the majority of the ingredients the night before and in the morning.
3) Must have a dinner party again and see party 2.0 rock.
4) Finish cooking everything early so I can take photos!! =(
5) Theme? What theme? Forget about it, I want board game nights!!

Crash Hot, What?

I've been writing so many essays recently that I haven't found the energy or inspiration to blog. I hate it. I miss having all the extra time to bake, take photos, and write about what happened. All I do now is bake, bake, bake, eat, eat, eat, sleep, sleep sleep, school, school, school, work, work, work, see the b/f, rinse and repeat. I've been so horrendous at writing that it took me 3 weeks to respond to my sweet dear friend that lives on the other side of the globe. Shameful.

Today, I leave you with a simple delicious potato recipe.

Crash Hot Potatoes
Inspired from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt Salt To Taste
• Black Pepper To Taste
• Green Onion, chopped finely
• Cheese

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.
2. On a sheet pan, line it with foil and place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.
3. With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with olive oil.
4. Sprinkle potatoes with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
5. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. Add the cheese and green onion and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese starts to melt and crisp up.

Being around food makes me happy

(Click photo to enlarge)

Lately I've been stressed worrying about my future. I currently work with children and I have a great time whenever I go to work. I laugh, I get irritated, and I love to see them smile and grow as a person. However, it's not something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life so where does that leave me? I've been researching about other careers where I can work with children, but the more information I find, the more confused and stressed I get. When that happens, I start reading food blogs and thinking about new dishes to make to destress myself. What does that mean? Does that mean my passion lies within food and not children? Or maybe the reason I enjoy being around food is because it's a hobby and not a job? So much to think about....

(Click photo to enlarge)

Pineapple-Banana Smoothie

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups fresh pineapples, frozen
• 1 small banana, sliced and frozen
• 6 oz plain yogurt (or any flavor)
• 1/2 cup milk (or more)

Directions

1. Add all ingredients into the blender and blend away until it's to your desired consistency.
2. You may need to add more milk if the smoothie is too thick.

(Click photo to enlarge)

"Healthy" Deviled eggs

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• smidge of Dijon mustard for flavor
• 1 tsp green onion, finely sliced
• 1 tsp Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Slice hard-boiled eggs in half.
2. Keep 1 yolk and toss the other.
3. Mix yolk with mustard, green onion, and Parmesan cheese.
4. Fill the egg halves with filling and enjoy!

Raspberry Banana Smoothie

Back in the day (wow...way to make myself sound old), my typical after school snacks included munching on crackers, slurping up instant cup of noodles, gobbling up cookies, and drinking milkshakes and juice. Talk about sugar, sodium, and fat overload.

Since I've started blogging, my need to consume junk food declined rapidly. I think it's changed because it's much more fun to photograph homemade fresh foods than packaged foods. The best part about creating my own dishes is hearing my family telling me that they enjoyed with I made. And if they did not enjoy it, it motivates me to try again and again until they give me the seal of approval.

 (Click image to enlarge)

Raspberry Banana Smoothie

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup banana, frozen
• 3/4 cup raspberries, frozen
• 1/2 cup milk (or more depending on the consistency)

Directions

1. Toss everything in the blender and blend away until its to your desired consistency.
2. You may need to add more milk to the smoothie if you find it too thick.

 (Click image to enlarge)

Tomato Sauce and Oven-baked Wings (recipes)

I had a wonderful vacation this past week. It was relaxing and I got to spend quality time with my man. There was only one problem. I started getting cranky near the end of our trip. I was ingesting too much grease in my system and not enough fresh vegetables. It only took a vacation to remind me how much I love to cook my own food.

Basic Tomato Sauce
Recipe from The Amateur Gourmet
(the recipe below was taken from his book, but his website has a similar one)

Makes 4 Cups

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Spanish Onion (substitute: yellow onion), finely diced
• 4 garlic gloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 TBSP chopped fresh thyme (or 1 TBSP dried thyme)
• 1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
• 2 28-oz cans peeled whole tomatoes
• kosher salt

Directions

1. In a 3-quart sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown (8-10 minutes).
2. Add thyme and carrots and cook for 5 minutes or more until carrots are soft.
3. With your hands, crush tomatoes and add them with their juices into the saucepan.
4. Bring to a boil, stir often, and lower heat. Simmer for 30 minutes or until sauce is thick as hot cereal.
5. Season with salt. Serve.

Notes:

• Keeps for 1 week in fridge or 6 months in freezer.
• I found the sauce a tad too salty for me, because of the sodium in the canned tomatoes. Next time, I may attempt to cook this sauce with super ripe fresh tomatoes to cut back on the salt.

Oven-Baked Chicken Wings

Serves as many as you want.

Ingredients

• Chicken wings
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Olive Oil

Directions

1. Rinse the wings and dry with a paper towel. Lay them out on a baking sheet.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.
3. Drizzle the wings in olive oil and make sure the wings are evenly covered in the oil. Liberally cover the wings in black pepper and garlic powder. Add a dash of salt on each wing and rub the salt into the wing (a wing massage if you will.).
4. Line cooking sheet/baking sheet in foil and lay the wings on it. Make sure to give ample space between each wing (about 1 inch of space).
5. Bake in oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the skin is golden brown.

Fake Corn Soup and Failed Apple Tarte Tartin

I love punking around with JSB. After my success with Mini-snack #1, she was excited for another surprised. I knew she was waiting for a gourmet snack in a larger portion. No way was I going to sit back and just let her freeload off of me.

I made corn soup and topped it with salmon and basil. She came home excited and devoured the snack and told me it was really good, but questioned where I got the corn from.

I told her the secret was canned corn. She gave me the "You-fed-me-what?" look and I had my ROFL moment.

Sadly, karma exists in this world. After I fed JSB the corn soup, my attempt at cooking an Apple Tarte Tartin failed miserably.

Instead of an impressive tartin, I ended up with a burnt mess.

Waaah! Sliiiiiime!! (Edamame Soup)

I randomly stumbled upon White on Rice couple's edamame soup. I didn't think much of it until I read the recipe and realized how simple it was. All it required was a bit of sauteing, add the edamame and stock, simmer a bit, and blend it up. BAM! and you got yourself a soup.

My only mistake was using canned chicken stock, because it was too salty. If I had the choice, I would use homemade stock -- much healthier too.

Side note: my soup was on the thick side so I made pasta to go with it, which JSB devoured and complained that I gave her too little.

Edamame (Soy Bean) Soup
Recipe from White on Rice Couple

Ingredients
For vegetarians, use vegetable stock. For everyone else, use bacon and stock.

• 1 T Butter
• 1 t Sesame Oil
• 2 T Shallots, finely minced
• 1/2 T Garlic (2 cloves), crushed
• 1 1/2 T Ginger (2″ knob), finely grated or crushed
• optional- 2 pieces Bacon, diced
• 1 pkg Soy Beans (16oz)
• 3 c Chicken or Vegetable Broth (add more for a lighter, more liquidy soup)
• 1 1/2 T Soy Sauce
• fresh cracked pepper and thinly sliced green onion for finish & garnish

Directions

1. On medium heat, melt butter with sesame oil in a sauce pan. (If using bacon, omit the butter and fry the bacon and sesame oil till the fat is rendered) Add shallots, garlic and ginger. Sauté until lightly golden and fragrant.
2. Add soy beans, broth and soy sauce.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until soy beans are tender (how fast or slow you simmer will affect the thickness of the soup. It is always a good idea to have extra broth in case you boil off too much liquid.)
3. Put everything into a blender and puree until smooth. Return to sauce pan to keep warm.  Serve with fresh cracked pepper on top of each bowl and the thinly sliced green onion. Add a light stream of sesame oil or a  touch of sour cream or creme fraiche for extra tastiness.
4. If the soup is too thick for you, add more broth until it reaches your desired consistency.