I'm rewarding myself with some comfort food to reward myself for not killing anyone. A brisket quesadilla, some grilled onions and chips... I'm also amused that they had tea listed as "Eastern" (green tea), "Southern" (sweet tea), and "Northern" (unsweet tea) and it gave me a giggle. I got Southern tea, for those who want to ask. It's a little on the greasy end, but since that's exactly what I wanted, absolutely no complaints. It was good to have something hot and heavy in my belly in the rain and misery before I could call a Lyft. Bloody frustrating day.
Today has been a terrible day. I managed to get some of my shopping done, only to drop my very new cellphone and crack it on the tarmac (because the protective casing still hasn't arrived in the mail yet) and now my PayPal won't work... Hoi.
I'm rewarding myself with some comfort food to reward myself for not killing anyone. A brisket quesadilla, some grilled onions and chips... I'm also amused that they had tea listed as "Eastern" (green tea), "Southern" (sweet tea), and "Northern" (unsweet tea) and it gave me a giggle. I got Southern tea, for those who want to ask. It's a little on the greasy end, but since that's exactly what I wanted, absolutely no complaints. It was good to have something hot and heavy in my belly in the rain and misery before I could call a Lyft. Bloody frustrating day.
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The best part about this one, is that it's actually made out of LEFTOVERS! I know there are some cultures that don't do leftovers entirely (WHAT?!) but I love it. Especially as someone who is only cooking for myself, it helps to have meals prepped ahead of time. And with taters being such a time-consuming thing to cook, I like to make a bunch and save them for later. Today is a breakfast quesadilla with yesterday's scramble, some more taters, and another of those jam & cream cheese onigiri, and orange juice again. It's very similar to yesterday's meal, but after spending so much time in Tucson, I really developed a fondness for quesadillas that is probably inadvisable, heh.
I gotta say, of all of the cuisines in the world, a couple of my favorites are probably Italian and Japanese. In particular, sushi is one of those things that I kind of have to budget into my diet because I have a... Problem.
One of the ways I've done to help this was learn how to MAKE sushi, from scratch, which has mixed results, to put it kindly. I've had sushi parties in the past, especially back when I was doing the bento blog back in college. I recently just got myself some new kitchen gadgets -- in particular, an onigiri press and sashimi press, so I wanted to finally play with my new toys to make some SUSHIIIII!!! First up is some black bean soup/chili stuffed onigiri. Onigiri is a rice ball, usually stuffed with something -- in the past, I've made it with jelly as a dessert (too much sugar, yikes) but bean paste or a meat thing is really common in Japan. I had some leftover chili, and decided that would be good enough, so I tried it, and it was actually REALLY CHOICE. Of everything, weirdly this was the thing I thought was most successful. Will def do this again. I also made a tamagoyaki rolls (traditionally this is a sweet egg omelete, but mine are just omeletes with a touch of sugar for sweetness) with duck sauce, a "spicy tuna roll" that was some canned tuna tossed with cayenne and soy sauce (...It was alright), and another odd vegetable one with carrots and cream cheese (...I was running out of things) and another with jalapeno, carrots and cream cheese. Fresh jalas in a sushi roll is great for texture, questionable for taste. I also made a tamagoyaki sashimi (with a touch of duck sauce to attach the egg to the rice -- usually it's wasabi or something like that), and a pickle roll (miracle whip, bread and butter pickles and carrots) that... Was actually pretty good. I tried something similar with the tuna, but it did not stick together terribly well, so I ended up making them into onigiri with a sesame seed garnish, because I was trying to make my trash sushi look extra. The last two little buckets were my very-originally-named Sweet & Savory Flavor Bombs (TM), with one made with cream cheese and strawberry, and the other with cream cheese, carrots and jalapeno. It was alright. There was one last black bean onigiri with spicy mustard in it that was dangerous to eat, but still tasty. All in all, it wasn't all great, but that's what experiments are for! I actually really loved having onigiri made up -- they're a nice pop of grain and protein, and when you warm them up they make a great on-the-run snack or small meal. And there's just something fancy about heating up some handmade onigiri and adding it to your plate like that's just a thing you do, and I might endeavour to do that some more in the future! I also like having a vegetarian sushi roll made up that, again, makes for a great addition to a meal or as a side in a bento box or lunch. And of course, after all of my cooking and prepping and experimenting was done, it was time to ACTUALLY EAT!!! Have some poor boy's instant miso to go with it, shall we? Again, Japanese food is a thing I really enjoy, and little ways like this to enjoy it a little more in my day-to-day diet helps scratch that itch more than the rather expensive vice of dropping $50 at a sushi bar, heh. Not that I'm going to stop doing that, but sometimes the budget just doesn't allow it. One needs must make compromises and be realistic about his financial limitations. OH RIGHT. BREAKFAST. Today's breakfast is a sammich made with wheat toast (I occasionally attempt to eat better, but don't count on it), miracle whip, pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions, fried ham and a pair of eggs, over medium. NOSH. I personally love to have a breakfast sandwich with eggs not entirely cooked so that they pop nicely when I slice a sammy in half, but sometimes I overdo it, as I did here. It's sad, but it happens. I've been doing this thing where I keep a jar (think pickle jar) of diced onions, one of jalapenos, that kind of thing. So it's easy to toss half of a handful into the pan before the ham and then eggs (EGGS GO LAST, ALWAYS!!!) so that we get some sweet, grilled deliciousness to go on the sammich, but to be very fair, that's an extra step than I usually do. Def worth it (as evident by me destroying half of it before I remembered to take a picture...), and the pepper jack cheese is always a nice touch.
A home experiment for the night! This is an attempt at my godmother's recipe for goulasch, which I admittedly haven't attempted in a good long while. I'm a big fan of miscellaneous pasta dishes when you're running low on things (today is egg noodles and rainbow rotini), and this batch is made with some chicken (shredded canned kind -- good pantry staple!), a doctored red gravy/spaghetti sauce (I'll never reveal my secrets), sweet corn and diced onions. Garnish with red pepper flakes (if desired) and an Italian blend of cheese (mozza, asiago and... Provolone, I think?). I'm missing my fresh bread and gelato for the ideal, but I'll live. It's simple, hot, filling, and more importantly, CHEAP! And this is definitely one of those recipes that cures nicely the second or third day.
Today I went to the Cleveland Pagan Pride Festival with a couple of my witchy friends, and we met some pretty cool peoples! Including a crystal shop that dragonkin Raz is a fan of (and now I'm a fan of too, hehehe) called Mystic Moon Orgone (which predictably specializes in crystal orgonite), some tarot artists, a local kilt shop (Damn Near Kilt 'Em! Gorgeous kilts!), and of course, FOOD VENDORS!!! I do love to see what the options are at places like this, and I was not disappointed. This grand and glorious dragon-sponsored spot was called "Dragonz Lair Vittelz", and screamed RenFaire and dragonkin! I ordered the "Hot Mess," a bowl of on-site smoked chicken and fire-roasted rosemary potatoes, topped with barbecue sauce and shredded cheddar cheese. The line was long as hell, and the smoker smelled AMAZING, and it was absolutely divine to eat...
I need one of these near me, definitely a fine way to support my dragonkin at such a fitting venue as this! You can take the cowboy cook out of the southwest, but you can't take the southwest out of the cowboy's cooking. I believe strongly in a generous, even application, be it ranch, cheese, bacon, onions or jalapenos.
I'm visiting the loverlies!!! And she cook-ded for me-z! This is a rice bowl with black beans, rice, chorizo, mexi cheeses, fresh tomatoes, avocado, chives and jalapeno. Hot damn. @isthisgoingtobeanissue is a lovely cook!
Exactly what it says on the tin. In an attempt to eat something fairly healthy (I'M TRYING!!!), I made a salad for myself and the roomie! A bed of fresh spinach, a handful of grape tomatoes, lightly seasoned chicken, fresh onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms, with a hardboiled egg. It's not entirely raw, but mostly.
Mmm... Bahn Mi. Today I'm hanging out with MANDEM, a painter duo here in Cleveland, OH I know from the Abney Park circles, who do some AMAZING artwork, and are also working out of the Negative Space Gallery in the Asia Town Center. Now, you know me -- I LOVE Asian cuisine, and there's also a grocery st ore in here, which I am drooling over (now I know where to go to get the good stuff...), and for lunch today, we're having Vietnamese.
A PHENOMENAL bahn mi sandwich with pork, in-house made pickles and carrots and a sprig of... Err. Parsley? I need to learn my herbs better. The bread had a nice toasted crunch to it, with a subtle sweetness, which mixed nicely with the meat and pickle in a simple, but delectable bahn mi. I also got spring rolls -- so tasty, fresh and crispy vegetables and perfectly cooked shrimp wrapped in rice paper, with a gorgeous peanut dipping sauce. I was sad when it was over, but SO HAPPY to have had the experience. If you've never had Vietnamese food, this is a pretty simple way to break in without trying anything too terrifying for nervous eaters. It's not unlike the Vietnamese take on a Cubano, in fact! But without the mustard, heh. One of the best bahn mis I've had, simple and clean and not over-complicating anything. The folks who ran the shop also had very prompt and friendly service! Will definitely look forward to coming here again. |
Brunch w/ BlakeHalf-boricuan, half-corn fed Indiana hick. Stir in a taste of the southwest and serve in LA, on the rocks. #BrunchWithBlake #FoodPorn #LAFoodie Archives
July 2021
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