Where I've been.

Because it's obvious I haven't been here, at my blog.

Well, I took a trip to Seattle.

Pike Place was my Favorite Place. More photos from my Seattle foodventures soon!

Spent a weekend sipping wines in Santa Barbara.

Beautiful Sanford Winery. And delicious Sanford wines.

But mostly, I've been in my little balcony, tending to my little garden.

Now, I'm notoriously terrible at gardening -- an attribute that is known by former roommates, old co-workers, friends and family. But I love the concept of growing one's own food. I love working the soil with my fingers, planting a tiny seed, and waiting patiently for it to grow into a beautiful plant. I love thinking about Mother Nature's amazing ability to do this. And I love semi-frightening people with my hippie talk.

Many, many times I have tried and failed to grow plants (and keep them alive). Herb garden kits, tulips, even bamboo plants have suffered and died from my gardening inability. But with a little inspiration and encouragement from my co-worker, whom I now call my "garden godmother," I decided to give it another go.

I started with edamame seeds I had bought in Japan a year ago. I was amazed and encouraged when they germinated quickly and grew so rapidly (considering they had been dormant for more than a year). They were doing incredibly well for a very long time, until...

Still clinging to life.

They got attacked by what I later figured out were leaf miner bugs (awful tiny things that burrow inside the leaves of the plant). I also read somewhere that edamame plants apparently need a soil depth of at least 13-15 inches. My poor plants, which were in a 5-inch planter, were seriously suffering from lack of soil nutrients. And I probably overwatered them, too. Oops.

BUT I was able to harvest four little pods from my entire set of plants. I steamed them quickly in the microwave and the beans were so sweet and tasty. They may have tasted just as good as a frozen bag of edamame from Trader Joe's, but I had to give myself a little pat on the back for keeping something alive long enough to produce something that was actually edible.

The edamame plants eventually died, but I've learned from my mistakes and I'm totally encouraged to try again. In the meantime, I've been growing, from transplants, strawberries (regular and alpine), purple basil, Italian parsley, piquin peppers and a variety of succulents.

My sempervivum tectorum began flowering!

I'm also growing daisies, sweet pea and cilantro from seed, and sweet basil from cuttings. One of my strawberry plants even produced a baby plant from a runner!

So, I guess the point of this post is: I'm sorry I haven't been blogging because I've been gardening, but really I'm not sorry because gardening is awesome and everyone should totally feel encouraged to garden and grow their own food.

Also, I'll post a wrap-up of my Seattle trip next.

I heart cheesecake, sushi, and creepy elevators.

Some favorite moments from Valentine's Day weekend. No, these are not in chronological order. Yes, this post is late.

3. "New York-style" cheesecake with Nutella drizzle.

I used a standard recipe from Gourmet, then heated a bit of milk and whisked in Nutella until it was of a drizzling consistency. I must remember next time to make the crust thicker. Mmm, graham cracker crust.


2. Sushi surprises at Fusion Sushi 313 in Glendora.

Ok, the first part of that may sound a bit scary, but I promise it's not; it's very, very good. I think we found our new sushi place that night. (Our old standby changed owners a while back. Now the void has been filled. W00t!)

More to come on this at another time, when I've remembered to charge my camera battery. I know, I'm probably the worst food blogger ever.

1. Tower of Terror at Disney's California Adventure.


The last time we visited Disney's California Adventure was at least 4 years ago. We probably would have gone on Tower of Terror then, but I had to get all dizzy and sick after riding the California Screamin' roller coaster. I practically passed out on a bench, so we had to go home right after. I'm silly like that.

Anyway, we decided to go on Tower of Terror first this time. All the while I kept thinking how this was a terrible idea. I loathe rides that just drop you. I bitched and whined like a baby up until I secured the seat belt.

And then our elevator took off into another dimension. And it was so. Freaking. Awesome.

Disney does a great job creating a super creepy, fun and thrilling experience. I loved it. Seriously, I could not shut up about this ride the rest of our time there.

It's too bad the photo of us dropped into another dimension, never to be seen again! *Cue evil laughter and signature Twilight Zone theme music.

Ok, shutting up about it finally.

New "travel" category.

I was looking at my list of restaurant posts the other day and noticed that nearly half of them were places I ate at when I was in Berkeley. Since that's not where I live (duh), I thought it was silly for me to continue to have them lumped them all together. Thus, I've created a list for out-of-town restaurants to belong, to which I will continue adding!

Also, I noticed another trend: I really, really love bakeries. But I already knew this.

Resolution #5: Eliminate use of plastic water bottles.

One of my first steps to being greener was using reusable canvas bags. This year, I'm trying more and more ways to step it up.

Which brings me to my New Year's Resolution #5: I'm going to attempt to eliminate the use of plastic water bottles. I've enlisted the help of these BPA-free canteens made by CamelBak:


I like these because they're sleek and pretty durable (I've banged mine up a few times without consequence), and they hold a decent amount of water (24 oz). And, I also like them because they're pretty handsome lookin' bottles. Because I always take it back to the cuteness/attractiveness factor.

But, honestly though, if I'm allowed to get my nerdy greenspeak on for a bit: Plastic water bottles are terrible for the environment -- even if you recycle -- because it's wasteful to just produce them.

Plus, by using a canteen and either using a water filter system at home or filling large 5-gallon jugs with water at the supermarket, you will save money. I mean, a lotta LOTTA money. (Think $1.25 to refill a 5-gallon jug versus $5+ for a pack of water bottles.)

These canteens are quite affordable: $9 at The Container Store. But you can find them just about anywhere nowadays.

So, will you make this resolution with me?

Butternut, before I forget.

AH. The month's practically vanished!

I guess I forgot to say that I was going on an extended vacation. To the land of back-to-back family shindigs.

I missed Food Blahg and Twitter. I hope everyone had a great holiday. Well, I suppose it isn't all over yet, with New Year's coming up and all. And yes, even more family shindigs await.

At least one more thing to wrap up here before year's end, though. Even though it's old news. Oh well.

Busted butternut.

You may remember that I went a little squash crazy this fall. I managed to cook with a handful of different squashes -- kabocha, buttercup, and pumpkin -- but my favorite was definitely butternut.

The first I bought was a beaut -- practically perfect as far as butternuts go. I got it early on in squash season so I had prime pickin.' And then I bought a couple more later on. I used up the less attractive ones first because I really adored that first one I got. My mother, who also discovered how much she liked butternut squash after she'd had a bit of mine, asked if she could have it. I refused.

And then later, this happened:


My beautiful butternut took a dive to the kitchen floor and cracked (see the bottom left?). I teared up a bit. I suppose this is the consequence of being a butternut hog. And since I could not just leave it out like that, I reluctantly cut it into two manageable pieces to be able to store it in the fridge. Bye bye, butternut.

Oh, and thank you for the tasty dishes.

Roasted butternut with shallot and sage, tossed with goat cheese and penne:


Butternut gratin with goat cheese and hazelnuts:


I also made a butternut bisque to help soothe my cough (no photo).

Yes, I realize I made pretty much the exact same dish with three slight alterations. You can't blame a girl from wanting to use up her leftover ingredients from Thanksgiving!

I still want/need to try the spaghetti, acorn, and delicata varieties. Perhaps it'll be a New Year's resolution. Along with updating this blog more often.

See you next year.

See you in a couple weeks.

Agghhh.. In case you couldn't tell, Food Blahg is on hiatus for the time being, until after this month is over. Enjoy the rest of your September, and I miss you!

Friendly stalking.

I recently discovered Twitter and I am surprised to find it so addictive. If you care to stalk me online, "follow" me -- my username is myabsentmind. I seem to "tweet" about food a lot. (Hah, look at all these silly verbs Twitter created. )

http://twitter.com/myabsentmind

Food Blahg is one year old!

How quickly a year goes by. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for keeping this up. To my (3 to 4) faithful readers: Thank you, and here's to another year and hopefully more frequent posts!

A mangled Pocky box. :(

This is what happens when hunger takes over logic in the darkness of your car while driving home:


As you can see, I was attempting, unsuccessfully, to open it at the fold. (To give myself a little credit, Pocky boxes were originally designed to open at the top, not the side like this photo shows.)

After I overcame this temporary confusion, the actual Pocky sticks, thankfully, escaped unscathed.

Dude, I'm cheesing my f-ing brains out right now. *

O.

M.
F.

G.

That's what I said when I stumbled across a particular article in L.A. Times' The Guide today. Actually, it was more of a Tourette-like shriek of excitement that I apparently could not contain. You'll read why in a second. Here, I'll walk you through it (my thoughts are in parentheses):

" YES, IT'S CHEESY (Hmm, what? Cheese? You've caught my attention..)

It's a slice of life organizers bill as "an orgy of cheese." (Ooh, please do go on..)

Begun in 2003 by a group of friends living together in a loft, the Grilled Cheese Invitational (Wait just ONE minute. THERE IS A FESTIVAL EVENT DEDICATED TO GRILLED CHEESE?! I'm going to piss my pants right now I'm so excited.) has grown from 16 competitors and 80 attendees to 150 sandwich makers and a crowd of as many as 800 attendees, who will serve as judges (!!!) blah blah blah blah... FREE.. blah blah. Blah. "

.. Yeah, actually right there I just kind of just skimmed through the rest and bolted to my computer to RSVP, only to find out it's fricken' maxed out its capacity! And then I got really bummed. And then after I pulled out of my momentary depression, I signed up for its e-mail list to be notified of cheesy announcements and to know in advance when the next event rolls into town.

And I can't wait. Just check out the categories for the competition.

Mmm.. my imagination's running wild with cheesy fantasies.

*

Goodnight and sweet corn.

I clutched the bubble-like bag of Golden Sweet Corn snacks in my hand and just stared.


I know it's still Lent. I just don't care.

The bag broke open with an easy pop and I proceeded to pour them into my mouth in a steady stream of salty-sweet snacky goodness. I grinned as my cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk's. I ate the whole damn bag, and they were heavenly.

And then I woke up.

Wow. I can't believe I actually dreamt about eating snacks. I don't think Lent's ever done that to me before. When I decided to give up snacks, soda and non-homemade confections, I thought it'd be easy. But apparently it's had a profound effect on my subconscious. Okay, I'm probably being very melodramatic, but really, I can't recall the lack of fried food, red meat, or bread ever haunting my dreams before!

These corn snacks by Regent (they come from the Philippines!) are one of my favorites. What I find so special about them is: not only are they made from corn, they mimic the flavor. Other snacks will trick you, and show a cartoon of a giraffe eating some corn, or a potato-person roasting a cob of corn, or even the corncob itself dancing and speaking Korean. But these snacks won't taste anything like corn. These cartoons apparently just illustrate that the snack is made from corn. I know, it's all very disappointing.

These, however, do not disappoint:


By the way, after I took this photo, I had a very difficult time putting them back into the bag. Man oh man.

But I did allow myself to lick the corn-flavored crumbs that were graciously left on my fingers. Hopefully it will hold me over for the next two days.

Golden Sweet Corn is available at many Asian grocers. Your best bet is probably 99 Ranch Market.

Corn > pomegranate.

Pomegranates are such a hassle. They are messy and they make your fingertips all stained and sticky. The seeds are too big to swallow, but too small to spit out relatively non-disgustingly. I've been eating one for the past couple days and I think the acidity of the juice actually burned a blister into my tongue and throat. So why do I keep eating it?

Because it's so damn fun. I love popping or peeling open a new section and finding the juicy red jewels of fruit all huddled together, in their feeble attempt to hide from me. They're so cute. And after I've plucked the little fruits individually from their pods, I sometimes like to crush them on a napkin or in a bowl to see the sudden burst of soft fuschia color... and I think, "That is the perfect shade of lip balm!" Also, the fruits remind me of kernels of corn.

Too bad they don't taste like corn. I love corn.

My digital camera smells like everything.

I accidentally left a forgotten Bruegger's everything bagel in the same bag my digital camera was in over the weekend. And even though I threw away the bagel two days ago (so sad, I love everything bagels), my camera still reeks of delicious onion and garlic. It's so fragrant and savory-smelling now.

I want breakfast.

Oh yeah, my blog!

A freak occurrence of erythema nodosum over the past few weeks caused my fingers and knuckles to swell so that they looked like giant chubby baby hands -- a valid reason, I've determined, as to why I haven't touched my blog in forever. But the swelling and pain has since subsided, so now any further delay in blogging will come solely out of laziness.

And because I'm lazy and sleepy (somehow my body got used to sleeping bizarrely early while I was sick), I'm not going to blog about food. Essentially this is an entry that previews future entries. Wooo... exciting.

My to-blog list:
Donut Man's fresh peach donuts
Dark chocolate dipped Altoids
Yogurt yogurt yogurt
L.A. County Fair

Because this wouldn't fit in the "About Me" section.

I love reading restaurant reviews in the food sections of both the local (LA Times, OC Register) and non-local (NY Times) newspapers. (Yes, those of you who know me well, I do collect these sections primarily for the recipes, but I do actually read the articles and reviews on occasion.) And I would love even more to visit the actual restaurant to check it out for myself, but I am unfortunately still unable to afford the fancy decor, 87-page-long wine lists and gold-flecked menus. I'm po', and I'd like my couple hundred bucks to go toward my car payments, not my dinner bill.

Thankfully, there's OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano and his "This Hole-in-the-Wall Life" column. Every week, Mr. Arellano reviews affordable OC restaurants and casual dining places of all different cuisine types: Indian, Japanese, Mediterranean, Hawaiian, Mexican, American. This is so totally awesome for people like me, who love -- and love to sample -- all kinds of food, but who don’t mind paying up front and using plastic (or biodegradable -- thanks, Whole Foods) utensils when eating said food.

Over the past few months, I’ve sampled a handful of the reviewed restaurants and have been encouraged to seek out other yummy places and food items even without Mr. Arellano’s recommendations. And since I (1) have been trying new restaurants and different kinds of food, and (2) love to eat/watch/talk about/hear about/read about food, I thought it would be enjoyable to write about it as well. Plus, it would be a method to help cure random boredom and also keep track of the tasty stuff I eat (I forget, sometimes).

And so marks the (delayed) birth of my food blog.

I’m not sure yet if this name will stick, or if I will even keep it up in the coming weeks or months. But I’d like to think I will somewhat nurture this blog baby and feed it once in a while (hmm, I sound like a bad mom already) with deliciously interesting tidbits. Well, interesting for me, at least.

Here's to a journalistic multiple-course meal: so tasty... so wordy.