Clam linguine

Shellfish is the funnest!!!


Only my second time with clams and last time I made this dish, it turned out quite sandy. This time I scrubbed + rinsed + rinsed + rinsed. Success, no more sandy pasta!

So here's what I did..

1. Threw a decent amount of finely chopped shallots + at least 3 cloves of chopped garlic into a decent amount of EVOO. Clearly I did not measure anything. 

2. Threw in a few tablespoons of diced canned tomato. I like the Italian flavored canned dice tomatoes. 

3. Poured in a decent amount of Riesling. The only white I had on hand. 

4. Threw in a few sprigs of saffron. This is bolded as this was my first cooking with saffron experience!! 

5. Threw in the carefully washed clams. All of those pictured in the orange container. 

6. On the side, I boiled some of my fave pasta..whole wheat spaghetti. (I guess this is clam spaghetti rather than clam linguine.)

Once the clams are done popping, combine with the pasta. That's it! 

Because I eyeballed everything, I was surprised that there was a fair amount of fluid that came from the clams. Nonetheless, that broth was amazing. I didn't have to add any salt. I LOVE SEAFOOD and all it's salty glory.

Windowsill Basil

Just bought my third (fourth?) basil plant. Why are they so difficult to keep alive? I always feel like they're a good investment since a packet of store bought basil is not only as expensive as the entire plant but lasts a few seconds in the fridge. So this year, I've decided to finally learn how to make my basil plant grow on the windowsill. Let's be real, I'm not expecting some flourishing basil growing bizniz, just a little chiffon to throw on some of my food experiments every now and then. Some tips I found online that don't seem horribly inconvenient:
1) Keep plant in direct sunlight, at least 6 hours a day.
2) Keep the soil moist but well drained
3) Cut the leaves off the top of the basil stalk for cooking. Also encourages branching
4) Pinch off the little white flowers that grow


I'm rather ambivalent about buying fertilizer, a new pot and soil and all that. I'd rather just keep buying new basil plants. 
Wish me luck.

New go-to spaghetti dish

Ever since tomato sauce started giving me GERD (reflux), I have been experimenting with non-tomato accompaniments to pasta. I realized spaghetti tastes great with olive oil, slightly browned garlic, lots of S&P, maybe some chili flakes or basil. Since I pretty much always have these ingredients in the pantry, this became my go-to spaghetti dish. Over time, however, I felt like there wasn't quite enough flavor (which I at times tried to resolve with dunking in some soy sauce..), and it was all carbs! The most recent Minimalist video, however, showed me how I could add both flavor, and some green without adding complexity. 


Key changes
1) Anchovies! 
2) Sliver (instead of crushing) the garlic and don't burn the garlic!
3) Don't boil the pasta all the way til al dente, it will keep cooking when tossing with garlic + anchovies
4) Toss with arugula on the counter, it will wilt with the heat of the pasta alone and still retain a little crunch and flavor. 

Key ingredients

Finished product

(cannot see the anchovies or garlic, but they are there I promise, the anchovies break up in the olive oil)

Winner!! Anchovies add a subtle but salty after taste and arugula adds crunch, color and green veggie goodness. And it was still easy, fast and cheap!

Random things I made

Per Jeanie's P's advice, I am uploading more posts despite the fact that her blog is way more professional!!
Here are random things I made that I suppose I did not think were worthy of their own post.

Asparagi in egg..effectively asparagus frittata..

Sweet potato, onions, cilatro salad with balsamic vinaigrette 

"Messy lasagna"

Left over lasagna noodles, asparagus and romano

Peanut noodles (pasta)

There was this little cafe next to our 1st/2nd yr lecture hall that sold overpriced sandwiches. They had this one little boxed lunch with noodles + peanut sauce that I became addicted to. This dish is my attempt to recreate that. 
There's not too much to it. It's whole wheat pasta, strips of zucchini and red bell peppers, 'shrooms + kale. Really whatever vegetable you want. The sauce is a mixture of peanut butter dissolved in soy sauce and Sriracha. I sort of mix + taste until I like it (not too spicy, not too salty, not too clumpy). Thin it out with water if necessary such that it becomes a consistency that can coat the pasta. It's a heavy but deliciously hearty dish.

Savory Scones

Old post (only because I am DONE with my surgery rotation - yay)
Was inspired by the scones on one of my fave blogs cupcakesandcashmere.com Mainly, I really wanted to play with some dough and to eat something that was not a granola bar (hello surgery rotation). However, I am generally not a dessert person but on foodgawker.com, I discovered how freakin versatile scones are. Indeed, I managed to forage around my kitchen for enough ingredients to make zucchini + Asiago scones. Now it's like legitimate food and not just a sugary snack!

Lime Cilantro Dressing

Few things better this summer than Lime Cilantro dressing. The two foods are besties. I can think of a myriad of things you can throw this healthy, fresh, light dressing on. Lettuce, cucumber, potato, chicken, white fish, asparagus, hard boiled eggs....so on.


I like it simple. Just lime, cilantro (the whole cilantro + stalk gives it a nice grainy texture I think!), a little honey and EVOO into the blender. Maybe throw in one garlic clove. Amazing. Simple. Toss it on everything.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-Ej50BUMhyYRVkJERcy12Mvuqv6ROje_m76MsGh4y3bg0y20lhquakagd5Xgli_LQv6y_3OrlY9QpyuWpESo9tu0mmFDKOHOcdwRAhARpRYxSQrQet7QXrZMEKDzw0nx5peI/s1600-h/Chef+Mayra+cilantro+lime+pitcher.jpg)

snapshot wastebasket

 vampire nails 

 miami heat

 ocean drive

 runnnnnn!

 80s day

 Beautiful Brisbane

 Panera caesar salad

 Taupe nails-love this color

 mini apple

natural beauty is overrated 

 candle wax

 blown pupil 

winter is here!

S'Mores from the oven

Came back from recent camping trip with left over goodies to make these...thanks David V.!

new blog!

Thanks to Ms. Kinga S, I've revamped my blog!
In mini-celebration, here are some pictures of a lasagne I made. 

I spose this is my own recipe..which means I made it all up as I went along. Consisted of layers of zucchini, ricotta, marinara, red onions, feta cheese, and topped with grated Asiago (which IMHO is way better than mozzarella). Ate a quarter of it by myself before I invited some friends over to save me from huge-pants-ville.

Albacore Tuna Salad

Hurray to the return of heirloom tomatoes!

Added my one little tomato to a salad with arugula, romano cheese and sauteed some albacore tuna that had been sitting in my freezer for monthsssss. Still looked quite pretty though when I thawed it out! 

The tuna is very meaty so it was an uber filling salad. The tomato was surprisingly disappointing, I guess I will wait for those nice stripey green ones!

Korean pancakes!

I made my first perfectly round Korean pancake that didn't break it when I flipped it over!! Hurray! I tried to make a smiley face with Sriracha but that was a bit of a fail. 

All I put in this pancake was Korean pancake mix, and sauteed zucchini because that is all I had around. Later that week, I made Korean pancakes again with shallots, and then with caramelized onions. All were yummo and really easy to eat on the go. 

Lotus root and PCOS

I've been eating a lot of egg sandwiches and granola bars lately due to the fact I've been living in the library. 
Just wanted to post that. Lotus root looks a lot like polycystic ovarian syndrome. I have to find ways to amuse myself during these next few crazy weeks..

(From: http://justhungry.com/files/images/renkon-cut.jpg)

(From: http://www.ivf-infertility.com/images/polycystic_ovary.jpg)

I would have included a pathological specimen from the lectures I am studying but I didn't want to gross anyone out, and I am sure there'd be some HIPAA issue but this is a pretty neat ultrasound! 

Pizza!

As a college grad, I have had my fair share of greasy $1/slice pizza. Although I indulge in take out pepperoni slice every now and then, I generally can't stand it anymore. Recently, however, I had a fantastic pizza at Quartino's downtown and have been fantasizing about making my own pizza for a while. I don't really like messing with flour so when I saw Trader Joe's premade whole wheat pizza dough, I had to try it out! 

For my first pizza, I tried to make my own version of Quartino's Duck Proscuitto pizza with bresaola (like prosciutto but beef) and arugula. 

Here is the cute little blob of dough

I am no good at rolling it out..but smeared it with tomato paste + romano

+ bresaola

baked and topped with arugula!

Pros: the arugula+baked bresaola is delish

Cons: I rolled the pizza dough out way too thin, it was like pita bread. 

So I made 3 more pizza, and didn't even mess with the rolling pin. Just pushed it with my hands. I realized after the 2nd one also that the trick is to push the outer circumference first and move inwards to avoid stretching out the middle parts.

1. Artichoke hearts + enoki mushroom  

2. More bresaola

3. Sauteed mushroom + onion

I liked all of them! The enoki was a bit funky but otherwise it was a great success. The pizza crust really tastes better when made from the dough. Totally beats greasy pepperoni! 

Salt and pepper squid

Some of the most memorable dishes I've ordered at restaurants have been squid dishes. I still remember that I always wanted the marinated squid dim sum dish when I was just a kid in Sydney. I don't remember the specifics, but the tentacles were a perfect vibrant color and the sauce was perfect. I've been disappointed with dim sum restaurants ever since. After that, I've had countless Chinese salt and pepper fried squid dishes. More recently, I ordered a delicious grilled squid dish at Volare in Chicago and  an unbelievable marinated baby octopi at a Korean BBQ place. I bought frozen squid rings in the past only to find frozen squid disappointingly shrunken, watery and rubbery. I decided then to get the real deal fresh squid from H-mart and gut it myself. Well, I wish I had taken some pictures but I decided to spare the world of the disgusting-ness. I thought I had a pretty high tolerance for nasty, gross things-I did experience several intense months of anatomy dissection-but squid is gross. Embedded in the tentacles were these little eyeball things which exploded with ink, and some sort of claw thing. When I tried to squeeze those bits out, it looked like it was giving birth. At several points, I had to remind myself that the thing was already dead. It looked like it was going to come back to life! Then, inside the tube, it had more fleshy squishy bits, and some stuff that looked like red curry. 

Well it was quite the experience. I just covered it with S+P and sauteed it in a lot of oil. If I had a lime and a bed of salad greens, that would had been a nice salad dish. I think, however, that I will go back to ordering it in restaurants. Too much work to clean (shudder) and I don't have a great recipe on hand.