Study Break Pancake!

Just as the title says. Mmmm chocolate chips <3

xo, Kristin

It's Chili in Here

It's almost winter. It's cold out. It's chili season!

Chili is so easy, I don't know why I haven't made it before. I used one of those McCormick's packets, a pound of beef, and then added in canned and fresh vegetables:

Chili isn't really a picture-friendly food, but although it may look gross, trust me--it was good. I made enough to have leftovers, and I'm looking forward to eating the rest tomorrow. Hopefully chili's like soup, and it'll be even better the second time around. 

Update (1/4) - Chili is not like soup.

xo, Kristin

Ginger Binger

Last weekend I went to NYC to visit a friend from study abroad and ended up eating ridiculous amounts of candied ginger. When I got home to Northampton, I decided that it would be fun and cheaper to try making my own.

The whole candying process went OK. I followed this recipe. In the end, my ginger was soft and VERY sweet. Too sweet even though I skipped the step where you roll it in sugar. I think I cooked the syrup too long, because it was really thick when I removed the ginger from the pot.

All that means is that there was a thick coating of sugar on the finished product. I really didn't like how sweet it was, so I ended up washing off the sugary coating and snacking on the semi-sweet ginger bits.

I think I'll try this again. It's something you definitely need to practice to get right, I think.

xo, Kristin

Grandma's birthday

Tomorrow is my grandma's birthday and tonight my mom and I threw her a mini-party with just the three of us. My mom made great steak with mushroom sauce. There was also shrimp, to make it surf and turf.

We finished it off with a birthday cake my mom and I collaborated on: chocolate with peanut butter frosting. Mmmm....

xo, Kristin

Indian Balloon Bread

Today I went to my aunt's for a study party and dinner. My aunt is also doing a masters in teaching program and so it's convenient to get together for study parties to complain about school and eat. This time she made an awesome dinner. I will not try to take credit for her great skills. 

Anyway, she made some kind of thai soup with pumpkin, lemon grass, sweet potato, and coconut milk. She also made Indian balloon bread. It's so funny! I think I'll have to try it sometime. The recipe is simple, mostly flour, butter, and peanut oil.

Then you roll the dough out into circles and pop it in some hot peanut oil. As they fry, an air pocket forms within the dough and poofs them up into "balloons." It was neat to watch.

xo, Kristin

My aunt made the dough, but I rolled them out. You can tell by their oblong shape...

Becoming balloons!

Soup du Jour-ney

I've hit a lot of bumps on this food journey. Most of those bumps consist of studying and lack of time. None of them include food poisoning...so far...

That is why I'm happy to say that today's food adventure had a happy ending. My friend Carly is staying with me and she suggested we do an escarole soup tonight. Through teamwork we made it work!

Paired with beer and Hungry Ghost bread, it was an awesome meal!

It was a take on this recipe.

xo, Kristin

Peppers are pretty

I keep it real simple when I cook. I might tell you it's part of some back-to-the-earth, respecting the ingredients world view, but it's just because I'm lazy. Every night I pick one meat and one (maybe 2!) vegetables, and go crazy with salt, pepper, and sometimes yuzu/soy sauce/miso. Tonight was some meat thing and some peppers! They're so pretty!!

Martin

InBread Eggs

I made bread for the first time! It's for a soup party I'm going to tomorrow in CT. Decided on braided Easter egg bread because I had it before and I thought it looked pretty. I also like how the eggs are peaking through like HIDDEN TREASURES :D

Recipe found here.

Xo, Kristin

Before

After!

BLT, no witty title required

This, hands down, has the highest ratio of deliciousness to preparation difficulty that I have encountered in my time in Japan. There's nothing like a BLT. Especially with a ton of Japanese mayo.

Still no instagram. Don't judge. The light in my apartment makes everything look clammy. People too.

Martin

Halloween cookies

Happy Halloween (almost)!

Yesterday my dorm threw a Halloween party and I made cookies. Foot-, hand- and bat-shaped sugar cookies.

I also made regular and vegan pumpkin cookies, which aren't pictured. Wow they were so good. I'll make them again and post pictures <3

Recipe found here.

Xo, Kristin

Don't chicken out

I'm terrible at cooking meat. I can cook ground beef and make burgers, but when it comes to other forms of meat, I think I'm going to inadvertently poison myself...

That's why yesterday I prepared meat things for the first time ever. Under the tutelage of my housemate, I produced tonkatsu sauce marinated chicken. So tender, so juicy, so good. Haven't contracted salmonella yet.

xo Kristin

Things with Sauce: A Thematic Dinner

Wednesday nights tend to be my least busy. So, I often go to a friend's house, or a bar, or consider going for a run before I ultimately decide not to. The previous Wednesday I managed to do all those things and still cook dinner.

First up is hamburgers. They're comprised of beef, tofu, lazily-chopped carrots, and other things. The store didn't actually have buns, so the bread is some roll filled with mayo and corn. As suggested by the title of this post, I made sauce!

Part 2 was supposed to be on the same plate, but I accidentally ate the hamburgers while the eggplant was cooking. Anyway, this is roasted eggplant (with miso sauce!)

I wish I could get a real pumpkin here. I really want some pumpkin.

Martin

Pumpkin pancakes

Happy October! Here in Massachusetts the leaves have changed colors, there're a lot of gourds everywhere, and it's sort of getting cold.

In celebration of this most fab season, and fall break, my high school friend Allie and I made the pinnacle of all fall foods: pumpkin pancakes!!!

So tasty, so easy, so fall.

Recipe found here.

xo, Kristin

Meat me there.

Today I was having such a craving, and so for dinner I thawed some ground turkey and made turkey burgers!

Outfitted with oat bread, ketchup, and spinach, it was soooo good.

Finally, I paired it with a side of sweet dumpling squash: a teeny but colorful autumn squash I found at Stop and Shop last week :)

xo, Kristin

Cereal, French Toast, Miracle

Sometimes you just miss the old country. Today was one of those days. So, I decided to reward myself in advance for all the cleaning I'm about to do.

I swear those eggs looked better in real life.

Possibly the only brand of cereal in all of Shimabara. It says "corn flakes." Apparently it's also good in salad. Nifty.

Martin

J'aime 昼飯

Lunch. Brie, apples, and tofu. Makes me feel very French for some reason despite the tofu and lack of baguette.

xo, Kristin

I bread to differ

First, I want to mention that this week is my "no carbs challenge!" week. I am abstaining from bread, baked goods, pasta, etc. Any kind of simple carb you can think of (even beer! D:). I started yesterday and will go all the way until Sunday when I will finally break my sad fast at my friend's Octoberfest party. Woohoo, beer and bratwurst on buns!!

Also, like Martin, I am a throw things in the pan kinda person. Therefore, tonight's dinner:

xo, Kristin

A Touching Story for All Ages

The other day I was at the supermarket, and there was a saleswoman trying to sell some sauce and noodles or something. And, suddenly, she called me over (!).

 I was very touched because it must have been scary for her to talk to a random foreigner who may or may not speak Japanese. But she did because she's very nice and she wanted my money.

 Long story short, we had a nice chat, and she showed me how to make food with the above-mentioned sauce and noodles. I felt joyful then so I bought them. And now I make them at home and it's delicious ever after.

 Don't laugh at the noodle-vegetable ration, 'kay? It tasted fine.

Martin

(Pie)ce of my heart

Kristin thinks she's so housewife-cool with her instagramed pie shots. Get out of town, gurl. I whipped this baby up with only a cake pan and a microwave. And a little love.

How about a Pie Throwdown next time we hit the lake?

Martin

Stir Fry Me to the Moon

So here's the deal. I'm obsessed with stir frying. You buy whatever the you want, put it on the stove, and BAM. It's fool-proof delicious. I love throwing stuff in the hot pan (no measuring), smelling my genius cooking, and feeling like a chef. Several of many minor variations below:

The basic blend: veggies with meat n' tofu. Martin's Kitchen Secrets #1: salt and pepper (and I think here some soy sauce and sugar) make everything good.

This is from the website "The Stone Soup," which provides easy and healthy recipes for the incompetent. It's zucchini and beef with some yuzu something substituted for the lemon. 

 Getting feisty here with some tumeric, chili powder, and cumin.

God I hate chopping. But I love when it looks profesh.

Martin

3, 2, 1... FOOD!

I've been wanting to eat healthier, and so I've been trying out new foods. This week I've tried my hand at baked butternut squash from the gardens, onion and garlic turkey burgers made from ground turkey and croutons I found in the dorm's communal food cabinet, and concord grapes.

I had never had concord grapes before, but I always wanted to try then. I've always wondered where grape juice and popsicles get there "grape flavor" from, since they taste nothing like traditional red/ green grapes!

Well that's the flavor of concord grapes. My first time biting into one, I thought I was eating a gummy candy. They have exactly the flavor and texture of grape fruit snacks. So odd! Love it though ♡

xo, Kristin

Cake-tastrophy ??

This weekend I celebrated my grandpa's birthday with my family. I decided it would be fun to make a cake from scratch, and so I tried out the really chocolate-y recipe from the back of the Hershey's cocoa box.

I thought things were going well until the cake deflated, wouldn't come out of the cake pan, and then finally cracked down the middle. Turns out the baking powder was expired. Whoops.

But in the way things work out sometimes, what I thought would be a hot mess turned out to be a delicious chocolate delight ☆♪

xo, Kristin

surPIES!

Pie is just a gift from heaven. I made 3 apple pies today. Two are a surprise for my ex-cross country team, since they have their first meet of the season tomorrow. One was for me to eat with friends. I'm considering eating less carbs. Goodbye pies...

Rating: 10/10 (Who can go wrong with apple pie??)
Total Time: 1hr 15 mins total
Difficulty: 3/10

Also, check out my friend's food blog! Her blog, Eat The Impossible, addresses allergy friendly recipes!

Kristin

Lets be fruity

It's berry season! To commemorate this, I've been eating boatloads of strawberries, and enjoying homegrown raspberries and black berries.

The other day I tried my skill at making perfect oatmeal pancakes. They turned out really good. I topped them off with real maple syrup and some store-bought fresh raspberries. Great and filling breakfast!

Rating: 9/10
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: 5/10

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, a friend that used to live in the grad house dropped off some peaches from the peach tree in her new backyard. I couldn't believe how much fruit this tree produced. There must've been at least 50 peaches in the bag she brought to us, and she said that wasn't even half. Since they were getting ripe fast, and I was a bit skeptical about biting into the peaches, which were topographically not-so-pretty, I decided to make a peach pie.

It's probably a good thing I didn't eat them raw because I found a couple worms while slicing up one of the peaches. I guess that's what you can expect from a back yard peach tree.

It was my first time making a fruit pie with peaches, and so I was kind of nervous at first, but I made it just as I would make an apple pie and it turned out great! I decided to skip any kind of lattice crust because the crust is the best part, and I want to eat a lot of it. Duh! The pie is vegan and uses an oil crust recipe passed along from grandma.

I like this picture because the pie looks like a face going :O

Rating: 9.5/10
Total Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: 5/10

Can't wait for apple season. There will be MANY more pies to come.

Kristin