Category: savory

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 7)

May 21st, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), in passing, letters, new thing(s) of the week, resolutions 2010, savory 5 comments


1.


I’m moving in less than a month and have not started to tackle the mountain of a challenge of packing and uncluttering. Every year, I move. Every year, I tell myself, “Linda, you must not buy so much stuff. Do you need all these miniskirts? You are a working woman and you can only wear these skirts two days a week!” Etc! The only good thing about moving is that it’s a good time to reminisce and take stock of your physical life and your emotional life. Letters from old friends surface. Sentimental keepsakes surface. Journals are opened and perused before stacked neatly in boxes. I’m looking forward to going down memory lane. It’s a moving tradition.


2.


One of my 2010 resolutions is to write 15 letters. I wrote a few for Valentine’s Day but I cannot for the life of me remember how many. I think 4 is lowballing. I forgot this was a resolution so I haven’t been keeping out. I think it’s safe I’ve sent at least 7 this year. I’ll start the count there. I’ve been meaning to write Suki of SuperDuperFantastic for what, a month now and that first letter to someone is always kind of intimidating.

I’m almost out of my Lisa Frank stickers circa SECOND GRADE. That’s 1990! I like to sticker bomb my correspondents with stickers from my massive childhood collection. See below, Kim’s facebook photo of a letter I sent her a few weeks ago.

letter

The sweet blurb she posted with picture:


one of the best qualities to find in people is their ability to remain young at heart. playing in the snow, getting excited about fireworks or making smores, water balloon fights, lisa frank sticker-bombing notes to your friends. i hope we never grow up.


3.

Curious, I did a search on zee blog and found a picture from this year of a batch of cards I sent out for Valentine’s day. I counted 5 in this picture. Booyah! I have adjusted my letter/correspondent count to 8.


Original Blog Post


4.

my first lasagna!

Alan just gave me a morning call to thank me for the serving of lasagna I dropped off last night. (I like early morning calls from him.) I made my first lasagna!! The excitement still hasn’t completely worn off. Made it for a mini potluck. Mini includes myself, Bing, Deesh, and Jesse in attendance. Here’s a picture of my plate pre baked beans. Kind of funny. Do you see any vegetables? Not pictured is Jesse’s cake.

Potluck

In our defense, we winged it. This potluck’s only stipulation was “bring what you want.”


5.

I had my first and hopefully my last Double Down this week. I give you permission to be disgusted at me. If I’m going down though, I’m taking my partners in crime with me. See photo of guilty partners in crime below.

partners in crime.


6.

Remember how I told you Brittany and I were making eyes at a real live camel? I have proof! This was taken at the Bob Bullock Museum after a free screening of Arabia (IMAX & 3D).

Camel? Camel!
Don’t be coy with me, Camel.


7.


I’ve sat and contemplated no. 7 for a while now. I give up and share with you another picture. A wipe board message from an undergraduate who left our lab. I never get used to that part of growing up, the goodbyes :(.

Goodbyes :(

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 6)

April 2nd, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), in passing, lists, love, new thing(s) of the week, pursuit of happiness, savory, scary thing(s) of the week, the not so single life 3 comments


1.

I thought it was a full week since I’ve updated this blog and it was giving me withdrawal. My happy posting schedule is 5-7 times at the very minimum. (I’ve been slammed in terms of schedule and my food blog’s new layout was giving me an obsession that was sucking my blog posting time.) This got me thinking. I LOVE it when my real life friends start blogs. I love reading about their lives and seeing what they deemed appropiate to share with the world. I noticed though, save for a few select people, the dedication towards posting frequency is usually lacking. This may also fuel my dedication to commenting on a lot of of their blogs as kind of a motivation, that HI, I read your blog. I’m your friend. You OWE ME AN UPDATE. :) Damnit.


2.

Anthony Bourdain is the shit.

I saw Anthony Bourdain with Jamie last night. I knew I always really really really liked him maybe even love. But after last night, I’m more deeply so!! He’s the shit. Curses more in person. Hilarious. Really mean. With a good center. I will post a recap next week on the food blog. This got me thinking though. If I have a type in men, it’s funny mean men with a good center. It really explains a lot.


3.

Speaking of my attraction to funny mean men. I got April Fooled by the boyfriend a couple of nights ago (past midnight so it was totally legit.) Dude woke me up and told me that the last guy’s night he had, he got drunk and made out with a girl and couldn’t tell me til now. I sat right up, shot him dagger eyes, and was about to let him have it when he very just-in-timely shouted out, “APRIL FOOLS” and then laughed his butt off.

Clearly. I have a type.


4.

I had sweetbread for the first time ever. I’ve had haggis, and pig’s intestines, and silkworms, and other odd conceptually unappetizing foods in my life and have enjoyed them. I was still surprised in hindsight that I did not get queasy eating sweetbread. I think perhaps I wasn’t quite sure if I remembered correctly what it was and did not want to scare my eating partner from not trying it. In case you don’t know what sweetbread is, check it on my Friday Food Definition for today.


5.

I love good funny dialogue. Yesterday, an organization on campus chose to remember the Holocaust by handing out 1,000 white roses. I did not know this. I walked down the hallway and saw 3 white roses in a vase at work. That’s the scene for the following dialogue.

Me: OOooh!!! Flowers!!!
My Boss: Don’t get excited, Linda. They’re for the Holocaust.

Cracked me up that, “Don’t get excited.”

Later:

Someone else at work: So they thought today (4/1/2010) is the best day to celebrate the Holocaust?
Yet another person: Celebrate?
Me: Muhahahahahahhahahahahahah

My Boss walks by at this point in the conversation.

Boss: Don’t get excited, Linda

Tickled. I was absolutely tickled. (I don’t think I need to clarify, I’m not making light of the Holocaust. My readers (a few IRL friends mostly) are smart enough to know that.)


6.

The last 6 months or so, I’ve been working on speaking my mind in relationships. It’s a skill everyone should have and I do think at 26, I’m a late bloomer to only start practicing and developing the habit now. Growing up, my parents programmed me (program seems more apt a word than “raise”) that whenever people hurt you, don’t let them know as it’s a sign of weakness. That MAY be true. I’m not sure if it is a sign of weakness, admitting pain, but what I am sure of, and it took me til recently to put together the pieces, is bottling resentment is not conducive to keeping people in your life. Communicating feelings, even when they’re bad, gives people the opportunity to understand where you’re coming from. Gives you the opportunity to maybe hear their perspective and therefore understand them better. Finally, it gives your relationship room to not only grow, but survive.


7.

Jumping from number 6, another lesson that I’m learning is that just because you communicate your feelings, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the results you want and expect. For instance, I was hurt last year by several people. In efforts to speak my mind more, I tried telling them as clearly as I could what it was that bothered me. I was taken aback when not once did they acknowledge the validity of my feelings and was a little disillusioned by the ‘speaking your mind’ thing. It doesn’t ensure anything! Since then, I’ve learned that though it doesn’t mean you’ll get what you want (seriously ya”ll, apologies and conveying understanding = magic), the ability to communicate your feelings is a reward in itself.

Snapshots from the Weekend

March 29th, 2010 · · savory, still-frames 7 comments - Tags:

Ah, back to the grind :( It’s Monday.

Here are a few of my favorite snapshots from the weekend.

crawfish boil
Mmm. Shrimp and crawfish boil at Jamie’s!

crawfish jumper
Don’t jump!!!!!

me
Usually candid shots don’t work out for me. This one is kind of cute if I weren’t doing anything weird with my posture. Taken by Jamie.

Last Rights
Albert & I share a prayer for the poor crawfish…

Baby Pose
She actually started doing this pose as soon as I put my camera on her.

Ratchet Magazines
Ratchet ponders over the impossible beauty standards set by magazines.

Chedds Memory
Bunch of foodies trying out gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches at Chedd’s

Dreams & Desserts: Ten on Tuesday (vol II)

February 23rd, 2010 · · savory, Ten on Tuesday 8 comments

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Pistachio gelato. Or coconut.

2. What is your earliest memory?

Living in a 2 bedroom apartment with my half siblings, younger brother, and parents. My brother and I slept on a queen bed and my parents slept on the floor. We moved to an actual house also when I was pretty young, but I think this is my earliest memory.

3. What is your earliest memory of a dessert?

As a kid, every time we went to an Asian market, my parents would let my brother and I pick one dessert to bring home. I always picked out this yellow and green dessert made out of mung bean and tapioca. I used to LOVE as a kid. It’s kind of gummy and really sticky. I haven’t had it since I was a kid. Revisiting it in 2009, I don’t really like it. It’s almost too plain for me. I think I must have liked just peeling it in strips and playing with it. Below is a picture of Dave scrutinizing it.

4. Do you have any recurring dreams?

Nope. I used to. I used to dream about my childhood best friend and him coming back to my life every 6 months or so but it’s about almost 2 years I’m guessing since I’ve had that dream.

5. Have you ever dreamed about dessert?

Yes. I forget who was feeding me, but someone in my life was spoon feeding me melted chocolate over and over again. And over and over again. Dream lasted about 10 minutes of this sequence. Best dream ever!

6. What is one thing (aside from a cell phone or computer) that you cannot go the entire day without?

Chapstick.

7. What is one dessert you could go your entire life without ever having again?

Anything lemony.

8. If you could go on vacation tomorrow, where would you go? (Assume someone else is footing the bill, but within reason…so “the moon” won’t work)

Paris!

9. If you could have any dessert tomorrow, what would you have (assume someone else is buying it for you. Within reason though, no “gold sprinkled ice cream cones.”)

Any kind of egg custards. Creme brulees. Flan. Egg custards from dim sum.

10. What was your first impression of your significant other? If you’re single, what was your first impression of your best friend?

The dude: First impression the very very first time: super quiet. He thought I talked too much, which I do.

My best friend: “This girl has a booger….” (This was back in first grade though, she’s better about the boogers now. (As am I.))

Weekend Pockets of Joy

February 22nd, 2010 · · new thing(s) of the week, pursuit of happiness, savory 5 comments - Tags:

Lots of happy moments this weekend. Listed in chronological order:

  • I saw Brit, Deesh, and Bing whom I haven’t seen in a while. We sat through a pretty atrocious movie (Obsessed).
  • A group of nine of us tackled the biggest pizza we’ve ever laid eyes on.
  • Jess, Brandi, and I had an in home spa night. Never held my face over a boiling pot of green tea before.
  • I had brunch with the lovely Selina and our conversation was very thereauptic.
  • Took a leisurely walk around our neighborhood wearing a skirt. It was warm enough to wear a skirt and flip flops! The weather climbed to 76 degrees. Of course we’re due for below freezing weather again. They say if you don’t like Texas weather, wait 5 minutes.
  • Had lunch with and hugged someone I hadn’t seen in a while and missed.


Tell me about YOUR weekend. What brought you joy?

New Food Blog :) Finally

February 15th, 2010 · · savory 2 comments

Last week, I went to lunch with Tracey where she encouraged me to start an exclusive food blog. Right now all my food blogs are housed alongside my other miscellaneous entries in this blog and categorized under “savory.” The current count in my savory category is 200. I think it’s about time to create a food blog. So that’s what I did! There will no longer be new food blog entries posted on this blog and will instead be posted here: http://girleatsworld.curious-notions.net. I’m also copying over all 200 entries over from here to Girl Eats World. I’m working backwards and I’ve thus far transferred over February 2010 to September 2009. Oi!

I’ll still keeping this blog as a personal blog and I hope to have you keep me company at both Curious Notions and Girl Eats World.

Thanks :).

Straits: Third Stop of Progressive Lunch

February 11th, 2010 · · Houston, new thing(s) of the week, savory 5 comments - Tags: , ,

A progressive meal is where you go to more than one place for one meal. Some people like to do it by course: an appetizer at one eatery, the main course at another, dessert at a last place. My friends and I do it by what the restaurant is known for. This entry is the third (out of four) progressive stop of a lunch we had in Houston. If you missed the other entries here is a chronological list:

1. First stop: Niko Nikos
2. Second stop: Asia Market
3. Third stop: Straits

Photos used in this blog entry were taken by Thomas.

Straits

800 W Sam Houston Pkwy N
Ste 940
Houston, TX 77024

(713) 365-9922
www.straitsrestaurants.com/

If you click on their website, you’ll see that Straits also has a location in San Francisco, in Atlanta, and in San Jose. I’ve been to Straits before for drinks but have never thought to try their restaurant. Willis, a Houston foodie, recommended that we tried Straits because everything he’s had there he’s enjoyed. Specializing in Asian fusion, the restaurant certainly has a trendy and modern flair in both their cuisine and their atmosphere.

The Food

Our group of four ordered the Roti Prata, a pulled duck sandwich, and Indian street noodles.

Roti is a crisp griddled Indian Flatbread. It came with the a curry dipping sauce. My three eating buddies LOVED it. I thought it was good. It’s like eating puff pastry with a delicious dip and really, that’s hard to go wrong with. I like my carbs.

Pictured above is the slow roasted pulled duck sandwich that comes with a dipping sauce. Seriously, out of all the dishes we’ve tried that day (I’m also including a dinner that is not included in this lunch), if I could only have one thing over again it will be this pulled duck sandwich. It was heavenly. The Asian Slaw and Shiitake Au Jus with the pulled tender hearty duck, dipped into that sauce was such a powerful fusion. You could taste everything! All the flavors and textures contrasted in such a harmonious way that it’s STUNNING. Shit. I’m not kidding when I say of all the delicious food I had that day, if I could only have a repeat of one, it’ll be this sandwich. The fries, dusted with garlic and Parmesan, were a nice complement.


Our last tasting from Straits was the Indian Street Noodles (“Mee Goreng”), wok fried spicy egg noodles,
fried with cabbage, tofu, prawns, tomatoes. This was pretty decent. It sounds perfect after a night out drinking. I guess it was overshadowed by the fabulous pulled duck sandwich. The prawns and tomatoes were especially satisfying.

The Bathroom

One quality I realize I cherish in my friends is their ability to have fun (almost shamelessly). Thomas left us girls to use the bathroom and came back reporting that the bathroom was “awesome.” So we three girls left Thomas to check it out. To our utter childlike amusement, we were delighted that in addition to the hot pink lighting, the bathroom was also a UNISEX. Party in the bathroom! So we came back and fetched our boy, Thomas and proceeded to have a photo shoot.

All in all, I’m pretty impressed by Straits and cannot wait for my next opportunity to come back. (Again, for that pulled duck sandwich!)

Next up and last for this progressive series, dessert at Juicebox!

Happy Hour at Cru

February 9th, 2010 · · Austin, new thing(s) of the week, savory 7 comments - Tags: , , , , , ,

11410 Century Oaks Terrace
Suite #104
Austin, TX 78758
(512) 339-9463
www.cruawinebar.com

Yesterday, I met up Jamie and Lily, old coworkers and dear friends of mine at Cru Wine Bar for happy hour. They’ve both been but I have never. Happy hour ends at 6 which I think accounts for us having the whole place to ourselves with exception to one table next to us. I’m sure if they extend to 7pm they’ll have more patrons. Not that I’m complaining, it was really nice and dare I say romantic even, to have such a cozy and beautiful place to ourselves. The interior is just gorgeous.

We all ordered wine. Jamie got the white wine and Lily and I both got a Shiraz. I loved my wine. Smooth and not too heavy. Through the years, I’m surprised to say I’ve actually aquired a taste for wine.


The waitress is holding the bottle for me to snap a picture of. She got that fantastic bracelet as a birthday gift last Friday.


Jamie and her white wine.

The Food

Now for the fun part. Our food tastings!


Chicken and Shrimp Potstickers

These potstickers were unlike any I’ve ever had. Pretty unique flavor and delicious. The crispy wontons were good to nibble on as well. The sauce tasted similar to oyster sauce. I’m not certain on whether it is or not though.


Three Cheese Fondue with Truffled Oil

I normally don’t eat veggies but if you give me this fondue recipe to dip in, you’ll find me happily munching on those snap peas and carrots. I was surprised on how taken I am with veggies if you just let me have cheese with them!


Steamed Mussels

These steamed mussels were SO good we ordered a second. It came with a little garlic bread that was good to dip in the sauce. Sauce tasted like a thin white wine sauce. I’d come back to Cru again and again just for these mussels.


Tuna

Tuna. Tasty. I admit, compared to the rest of our menu, I was least impressed by the tuna.


A fresh tomato and mozzarella salad.

I was quite pleased with this wine bar and know this is now on my personal list of great happy hours in Austin. If you can managed to come here early for their happy hour, I highly recommend it. Can’t wait to come back.


Happy Girls. (Sans Lily, she’s camera shy.)

Asia Market: 2nd Stop of Progressive Lunch

February 5th, 2010 · · Houston, new thing(s) of the week, savory 10 comments - Tags: , , , ,

Last weekend, Thomas, Kim, and Jessica and I embarked on a progressive lunch in Houston. Except for the photo of him and Jessica, photos used in this blog entry were taken by Thomas.

A progressive meal is where you go to more than one place for one meal. Some people like to do it by course: an appetizer at one eatery, the main course at another, dessert at a last place. My friends and I do it by what the restaurant is known for. Follows is the list of entries in series in chronological order.

Progressive Series
1. First stop: Niko Nikos
2. Asia Market
3. Straits

Asia Market

1010 W Cavalcade St Ste D
Houston, TX 77009
(713) 863-7074
asiamarket-hou.com

Asia Market was actually Willis’s recommendation and was supposed to be our last stop of a progressive meal the previous time we did a progressive in Houston. Willis took Thomas and me there but they were closed for Thanksgiving. You can see Willis’s review of Asia Market here. He wanted us to try the pastry puffs that were stuffed with curried chicken. (Willis couldn’t join us again this round because he went to LA. Funny, Thomas came to Houston from LA and Willis went to LA from Houston.)

Our little eating group of four trekked to Asia Market after our satisfying tasting at Niko Nikos. We each had a curry pastry (priced at under 4 dollars for a box of 4) and we sat our bottoms down at the very modest Asia Market and nibbled. We even shared a Dragon Fruit drink. I’ve confirmed with my parents that I’ve never had Dragon Fruit, a tropical fruit you can find in Asia. Very seedy, that fruit.



Yes. Kim and I totally inadvertently wore the exact same outfit. Leather jacket, leather boots, jeans, and striped shirt. What?

The puffs were tasty. The pastry was nice and flaky and buttery and the curried chicken, flavorful.

They had a Thai restaurant in the market with entrees for very reasonable prices. I’m tempted to come back to this place and try out their kitchen menu. It’s quite tiresome trying to eat the world.

So this concludes our trip to Asia Market. Next up, Straits! Stay tuned for stop number three of our progressive lunch.

Valentine Cookies Redo: Broken Hearts Mended!

February 4th, 2010 · · holidays, memory, misadventures, savory No comments - Tags: , ,
Recently, I reposted a Valentine cookie misadventure from 2007. In case you missed it and don’t want to click on the link, here’s a picture of how these cookies turned out in 2007.


Broken hearted cookies of 2007 :( Aw. The irony.

Well!! Brandi and I tackled these cookies again this year. They didn’t come out broken or smoking this time. Hurray. And are more tasty than I remembered! Irony might still be there, though.

If you missed it, first tip of the hat to Valentine’s day this year here.