Study Break Pancake!

Just as the title says. Mmmm chocolate chips <3

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!

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

Dessert Weekend

This weekend I was able to get away from school (and my non-airconditioned 150 million degree room) and go to the lake with a friend. We made chocolate peanut butter bars, clafouti, and chocolate covered strawberries. Delicious weekend.

Rating: 10/10

Prep Time: 15 minutes (+ 20 mins in the freezer)

Difficulty: 2/10

Rating: 8/10
Prep Time: 15 minutes (+ 1 hour in the oven)
Difficulty: 2/10

Rating: 10/10

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Difficulty: 1/10

Kristin

"Rustic" Buttermilk Biscuits

I haven't been cooking much recently, but this morning I was inspired by a surprise ingredient in the family fridge: buttermilk! My dad bought some to make avocado soup, and it was just sitting there waiting to be whipped into some delicious buttermilk biscuits. I had never made these before, but when you're baking for someone with low standards (me!), I find that all you need to do is get some ingredients kinda mixed and in the oven, and you'll end up with something edible.

I used a recipe I found at food.com entitled "Southern Buttermilk Biscuits" (http://southern.food.com/recipe/southern-buttermilk-biscuits-26110).  

It was really easy and required almost no ingredients. My only problem was that I cut the butter chunks too big, so then they were huge and the dough (batter?) was really sticky and hard to work with. Also I had no circle cutter. Ultimately they looked nothing like the picture but tasted great. Case in point: you don't have to get better at baking, you just have to expect less from the results!

If I look at this picture too long, it looks like they're crawling towards me

Rating: 7/10

Prep Time: The recipe says 22 minutes, but recipe writers are always trying to impress you with their culinary skills when they estimate these things. More like 30 minutes. But still perfect as an "afternoon quickie"!

Difficulty: 4/10

Howdy! Hi!

So, before any actual cooking with (sex)pots begins, I wanted to highlight that we've had an auspicious start: I googled the blog and it turns out it's the first thing that comes up! That's good, since my long-term hope for the blog is a (natural) segue into a book deal. If the dialog in Julie & Julia can get good reviews, then surely mine can too.

Anyway, my first post isn't much of a "cooking" post—more of a self-introduction as presented through food.  Here's the last thing I ate:

It's sugar decoration letters!! Or was, anyway. They are my favorite snack in the world (sans cake, obvi), and are indicative of the food standards I hold myself to. My mom and I were left alone to make dinner tonight, which meant the sugar letters became the meal's appetizer, eventually rounded out by pre-cooked chicken purchased from Stop & Shop. The usual cook—my dad—was out of town, and we saw no need to prove that we can get by on our own.

There is a saving grace, however. As an avid food network fan, I know that Sandra Lee is up for hours every night brainstorming how she's going to utilize her leftovers in "round two recipes." I'll have you know my mom and I figured out our round two in just minutes: this leftover chicken will reinvent itself as chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. Suck it Sandra!

Anyway, I expect the real cooking for me to begin next month when I move to Japan and get my first apartment. I technically have cooked things in the past, so there is a glimmer of hope for the future. Thanks Oberlin College co-ops for "teaching me how to cook"!

On a final note, a self-introduction suggests that someone besides me, Debbie, and Kristin may read this entry, and potentially want to know something about me, the author, Martin Rouse. I can assure you, the non-existent reader, that this is not the case. I just like writing about myself. But more importantly, I really really like Kristin and Debbie, and can't wait to get to know them better through their food choices and adventures.

Martin

PS- Hey guys I brushed my teeth! Note the generous helping of Red 3 and Red 40.