lindduh:

cannot. stop. laughing.

HAAHAHAHHAHA

(Source: microsparc)

Chicken Carbonara (Recipe via Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis, photo courtesy of my phone)

It’s always wonderful reuniting with an old friend and catching up over a nice home-cooked meal. Amidst our busy schedules, my childhood friend Silver and I were finally able to sit down for lunch this afternoon. Our conversations are never absent of giggles over boys, updates on mutual friends, and talks of our future. We even caught a bee in a plastic cup and watched it feed on the half eaten grapes and strawberries we threw in with it…We did this for a good 20+ minutes until we set it free outside…do not judge us… :)

While we were eating and catching up, it finally hit me that I was almost done college, with a matter of days remaining. Crazy. It seems like only a few months ago when Silver and I had graduated high school and were eagerly awaiting the freedom, excitement, and novelty of life away from home.  But despite how quietly and quickly time has slipped through our hands, I’m thankful that Silver has faithfully been a good friend to me through it all. Just glad we were finally able to sit down for a meal, after maybe a good 4+ months :)

The picture above is of a pasta recipe that can be accessed through the link. Just some tips if you plan on making this yourself:

• Don’t try to make it healthier by substituting the cream for milk. The cream & egg yolks are the base of the sauce, and trust me, it’s worth it :)
• Rotisserie chicken is a great time-saver, plus the meat is super tenderrrr
• Toss in freshly chopped tomatoes at the end, and don’t skip out on the lemon zest and basil-it’ll help cut down the creaminess a bit (ps. I didn’t use parsley)
• I didn’t have pancetta so I completely eliminated it. But bacon is also a good substitute.
• Serve with a slice of toasted Italian bread, drizzled with a little olive oil

Nothing gets better than good food accompanied by good friends. Enjoy!

Macaroni & Cheese (Recipe via goodlifeats.com, adapted by my brain, photo courtesy of Justin Park Photography)

(Disclaimer: It’s been a while since I made this recipe so there may be some estimations, but macaroni & cheese doesn’t really require accurate measurements so…enjoy!)

After a pasta dinner a couple weeks ago with J, and naturally after any dinner I try to make, I’m always left with a very awkward amount of leftover ingredients. I remember making a crab dip recipe (which will be posted soon!) with a 1/4 cup of apple juice, and I’m standing there with almost an entire bottle left over, and that doesn’t even take into account the almost full jar of mayo sitting on the counter.  Although I wasn’t complaining about the apple juice because….well, I digress.

Anyways, so after pasta, I was left with a bunch of random cheeses plus half a box of Spongebob Squarepants macaroni. See what I mean by random?! So I came across a macaroni & cheese recipe by googling “parmesan cheese fontina mascarpone recipe” (a helpful tip if you’re looking to do something with your leftovers) and came across the recipe from the link above. Here’s my adaptation of it:

Ingredients: 

• 1 T of butter
• 2 T of flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, fun shapes recommended :)
• 1/4 cup grated fontina cheese
• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
• 2 T. parmesan cheese
• SPAM, cubed; however much or little you desire…always have SPAM in my pantry
• 1/2 an onion chopped
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1 T. Olive Oil
• bread crumbs + more parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the macaroni according to box directions.
2. While the macaroni is a-cookin’ away, in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once it’s melted, whisk in the flour and cook it until it’s a light brown color
3. Add the milk and let that heat up. These first 3 steps are the basic components of a rue (Not the hunger games character), which is how most creamy pasta sauces and gravy starts out!
4. Add all the cheeses, whisk it together, let it all melt into ooey gooey goodness.
5. In another pan, heat up a T of olive oil and cook the onions + spam over medium until everything is a nice golden brown, add garlic and cook for another minute.
6. Combine the spam/onion mixture, the cheese sauce, and the macaroni and spoon into a baking dish. 
7. Combine equal parts bread crumbs with parmesan cheese and sprinkle a healthy (or should i say a not so healthy) amount over the mac & cheese. Drizzle some olive oil over everything.
8. At this point, everything is cooked and hot, so you just want to create a nice crust. So place it on the oven, and broil on high for several minutes. Keep an eye on it until the crust gets nice and brown :)

Feel free to add some veggies to this to make it seem healthier, and experiment with different cheeses or whatever you have on hand. Enjoy!

th3skinny:

From the Huffington Post: You’re so sensitive. You’re so emotional. You’re defensive. You’re overreacting. Calm down. Relax. Stop freaking out! You’re crazy! I was just joking, don’t you have a sense of humor? You’re so dramatic. Just get over it already!

Sound familiar?

If…

(via outracheous-deactivated20120408)

eunjilee:

WTF….

(Source: tj4eck)

Buffalo Chicken Pizza (Recipe via my brain, photo courtesy of Justin Park Photography)

Sorry this recipe has taken so long to post! it’s been a busy week, but here it is! This recipe is really unhealthy, so you might want to hit the gym after eating this or just let the food coma take over. To each his own :) It’s a great recipe to feed the masses and it’s very customizable to your taste preferences.

Ingredients:

• Store bought pizza dough
• 1/2 c. blue cheese dressing
• 1/2 c. ranch dressing
• 1/4 c. hot sauce (I prefer Frank’s Hot Sauce over Tabasco. Personally, I think it tastes better but you may need to add more to get the same level of spiciness)
• 1 Red Onion, sliced into thin strips
• 3 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
• 1 (8 oz) package of shredded cheese (I bought the “Pizza Blend” which includes mozzerella & cheddar cheese)

Directions:

1. You want to cook the pizza dough according to the package directions, but only cook it about halfway because you’ll be popping it back into the oven.
2. Combine the blue cheese & ranch in another bowl, and spread evenly over the partially cooked pizza dough, leaving the edges uncovered for the crust
3. Combine the chicken & hot sauce and spread over the dressings. I added a very verygenerous amount of chicken :) So much so that you couldn’t see any more of the dough except the crust. 
4. Cook the red onions for a little on the frying pan and top the pizza with them.
5. Cover the pizza with cheese.
6. Throw the whole thing back into the oven (same temperature used to the cook the dough) until the cheese is melted.
7. Finally, broil the pizza until the cheese starts to brown beautifully (only a couple minutes)
8. Slice & eat :) 

(Photo via my android)

Sneak Peak! This recipe will probably give you an extra chin, more jelly in your belly, and a pair of jeans that no longer fit, but my oh my, is it worth every bite. This recipe is so easy that even…Justin Park Photography can make it! :) I’m kidding, he is quite the helper in the kitchen, but this recipe is a quick and simple one to whip up for a hungry crowd. I’ll post up a recipe once I get some professional photos and not ones from my phone :)

Pork Buns (Recipe adapted from David Chang’s Cookbook, photo courtesy of Justin Park Photography)

For the longest time, I had been craving pork buns. Which is strange considering the first and last time I had them was when I must’ve been in middle school. I completely forgot that they existed until a recent RFM Staff Reunion dinner when some people ordered it. So since then, i’ve been searching for a recipe to try on my own. After intensive research, I found a Momofuku (restaurant in NY) pork bun recipe that I had to experiment with. So i did…and the above picture is the result :) So freaking delicious. It seemed like such a daunting task to prepare, but it’s actually a very VERY simple recipe. It’s all about searing the meat with a hot oven and then lowering the temperature to let the insides cook slowly. After trying the recipe once, there are some definite alterations I’m going to make. Just as a disclaimer: I haven’t tried the alterations yet so I don’t know how different it’ll taste, but they are minor. This recipe is time-consuming, so plan ahead! Here’s the recipe! :)

Ingredients:

• One 3 lb slab of skinless pork belly (I bought mine at Whole Foods for about $6/lb)
• 1/4 cup kosher salt (I found the outside of the meat to be way too salty..so next time, I will try half the amount)
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• To Assemble: Hoisin Sauce, Scallions, Pickled Cucumbers (recipe below), steamed buns

Directions: 

1. Place the meat in a roasting pan (or any other oven-safe pan that holds the meat snugly). Mix together the salt and sugar in a small bowl and rub the mix all over the meat; Discard any excess salt-and-sugar mixture.
2. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for at least 6 hours (but no more than 24!)
3. Heat the oven to 450 degrees
4. Take your meat out of the fridge and discard any liquid that accumulated in the container. Place the belly in the oven, fat side up. (I placed the pork belly on a rack that came with my roasting pan)
5. Cook for 1 hour and baste the meat with the rendered fat at the halfway point, until it’s an appetizing golden brown. (I only ended up cooking it for 45 minutes because it browned up faster)
6. Turn the oven temperature down to 250 degrees and cook for another 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes (I cooked mine for about an hour more), until the belly is tender—it shouldn’t be falling apart, but it should have a down pillow-like yield to a firm finger poke.
7. Take the meat out and let it cool (If you didn’t use a roasting rack, just transfer the meat to another plate to let it cool) 
8. When the meat is cool enough to handle, wrap the belly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and put it in the fridge until it’s chilled and firm (I personally didn’t need to do this part, but I recommend it for easier slicing later)
9. Cut the pork belly into 1/2 inch thick slices & warm them up in a pan (Or i just threw them back into the oven for a couple minutes)

The remainder of the recipe is all about assembling. I bought the steamed buns from H-Mart (I think it was something like $2 for a pack of 12). I sliced the scallions into thin strips, and the quick salted cucumbers take about 10 minutes. 

1. Thinly slice 1 Kirby cucumber
2. Toss them in a bowl with 1 Tablespoon of Sugar and 1/4 tsp kosher salt (The original recipe says 1 T sugar to 1 tsp of salt…i found it too salty).
3. Let it sit in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. Taste it…if it’s too salty, just rinse it slightly in some cold water. Or you can start over again by thoroughly rinsing the cucumbers and try again with another sugar-salt ratio. For me, it was just some trial and error to see what I found to be the best!