2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 23,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

I haven’t been very good about blogging this year, especially these past few months after starting work and studying for the CPA, but hopefully I can make more time for it in 2012. This summary made me feel all warm and fuzzy at the end of 2011 :)

I had no idea there were visitors from every continent! Would never have imagined people from South America, Australia, and Europe popping in. 23,000 views! That’s probably a daily hit count for some of big bloggers with dedicated followings, but considering when I first started blogging, getting ten hits (mostly from my roommates and my mom) was squeal-inducing, that number is truly amazing to me.

A very special thanks to the food-porn voyeurs of the Internet.

More posts to come in 2012. I have a special project coming up soon in January.

Happy New Year!

currywurst & bourbon vanilla

Three stressed girls studying for the CPA exam… need a food adventure.

Checked out the new Currywurst place on Fairfax with the only two people I know who’ve tried the real thing in Germany (Budapest alums.) If you don’t know what currywurst is, click here. It’s basically German street food where they toss sliced up sausages in a curry ketchup sauce.

Compared to the Berlin Currywurst in Silverlake which we tried like… 5 months ago, the verdict was:

1. Currywurst has better curry ketchup sauce. Their veal & pork bockwurst was derrrricious!

2. Currywurst has AMAZING fries. So deliciously crispy and so potato-ey at the same time. HOW DO THEY DO IT?!

Currywurst

3. And the garlic mayo. Lots of garlic. Wow.

4. Berlin Currywurst gives better bread to soak up the curry ketchup sauce. I prefer the peasant bread over the overly soft roll that they had at Currywurst.

5. Berlin Currywurst is better on the heat factor. I got the “hot” at Currywurst even though the girl at the front told me it was pretty spicy and made her mouth burn. Tasted like a mild to me. WHERE IS MAH SPICY? Next time I might just ask them to put more spicy powder on it.

Not that I know what I’m even talking about since I’ve never tried legit currywurst from Europe, but yay for street food! Even if it costs $10 here. Currywurst is pretty filling for $10 though because of the fries and the bread. We were a sad bunch, couldn’t finish two orders of fries between the three of us.

Something that both places need to work on… Getting a liquor license! Some hefewiezens por favor.

Settled for Bionade instead.

For some additional de-stressing, I also baked some cookies. Yeah, cookies. Yeah, I always bake cookies, so what.

Did you know that Trader Joe’s carries Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract? Because I didn’t.

I know it’s Halloween, and I should be baking something orange and pumpkin-filled (I’m totes craving some good pumpkin bread by the way) and all harvest-y but when do I ever care about baking things in relation to season or festivity?

The answer is never.

I made white chocolate and cranberry cookies.  Cookies solve all my problems. Try it. Studying on a Friday night got you down? Cookie.

Work stressing you out? Cookie.

Pants getting too tight? Coo-…. Just eat it. Whatever.

Got a holiday party coming up and need to buy a dress soon? IMMA JUST EAT THESE COOKIES, WHATEVS. Nbd.

White chocolate + cranberries = Christmas colors. Is it Christmas yet??

It was 85 degrees today. But I can’t wait for them to decorate The Grove with that huge tree and tons of Christmas lights! I want to drink hot chocolate! I want to go ice-skating at Pershing Square! I want to wear my red and white mittens! I want Christmas ham! I want prime rib!!! I want Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars!!!

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen

adapted from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and brandy. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. For best results, take them out while they are still doughy. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

(Note. I should’ve let these sit in the fridge overnight so they would be more chewy. But some people like soft cookies I guess. I, on the other hand, like crispy and chewy. I’d probably do it over with melted butter.)

poor (wo)man’s cure

Man, I miss college when I used to wake up feeling like a champ and running to class no matter how late I stayed up the night before. I miss pigging out late at night on carne asada fries and Jack-in-the-Box and drinking a ton of beer and not having to really worry about getting fat. I miss having my biggest worry being having to orchestrate maximum procrastination and minimum class attendance. I miss those days of no blacking out and no hangovers.

Those days are long, long gone.

Woke up this morning feeling haggardly.

Opened my CPA book and wanted to shoot myself in the foot.

Girl’s gotta eat.

I opened my fridge to a barren, whitewalled tundra. I see green onions. Anchovies. Eggs. Yogurt. Cheese. Jam. Fifty persimmons. Luckily, at least got some dumplings in the freezer. I really need to buy some freaking groceries.

I kind of just eye-balled everything. Mandoo-guk is pretty much the easiest thing in the world to make. This is just one serving. Man, cooking for one is sad sometimes.

Mandoo-guk (Korean dumpling soup)

Dried kelp (dasima) about 1 leaf(?)
5 big dried anchovies
1 stalk of green onion
1 egg
1-2 teaspoons soy sauce to taste
3-6 dumplings (I used 3 huge kimchi mandoo)

In a pot over medium heat, lightly saute the anchovies for about a minute. Add about 3-4 cups of water and bring to a high boil over medium high heat. Once the water is at a high boil, lower the heat to medium-low, add the dasima and soy sauce, and boil for about twenty minutes to make the broth.

While the broth is cooking, diagonally slice the green onion. Separate the egg yolk from the egg white and beat both. Over medium-low heat, pan fry the separated eggs like a thin omelette. Slice thinly and put aside.

After the broth has been cooked, remove the anchovies and dasima and throw away and bring broth to a rolling boil. Add dumplings and boil until fully cooked, about 3-5 minutes depending on what kind of dumplings you use. Just use the instructions on the package. Add the green onions 1 minute before the dumplings are done. Serve topped with the eggs.

EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY!

You can always add garlic, rice cakes, seaweed, sesame seeds, pepper, etc. but since this is all that I have, poor man’s version of mandoo guk. I miss my mom’s cooking. She makes it look so easy.

semi-domesticated

In college, I generally never cared about what the apartment looked like or what I was eating but after moving into our new place, I’ve been obsessively cleaning the bathroom regularly and being semi OCD about stuff.

I feel like I spend most of my free time after work (OMG WORK) cleaning or cooking.

I used to eat a ton of junk because I was too lazy to cook, but I think after living at home all summer, I can’t go back to eating frozen food and ordering Thai whenever I’m hungry.

된장찌개

김치찌개

I have to eat rice at least once a day.

Realization: I am freaking Asian.

Realization #2: Korean food is time consuming to cook.

Realization #3: Korean food is the shizz.

Oh, and my roommate and I hosted an “adult” dinner party. As in, we tried to cook “adult” food. No pizza, chips, insta-microwave whatever.

Unfortunately, I was so stressed with getting the food out, I didn’t take any photos of the food.

What a fail. But I made nametags for everything!

Menu:
Elderflower Chardonnay spritzers
Zinfandel
Caramelized onion and apple tarts
Fig jam and chevre crostinis
Classic meatloaf
Garlic mashed red-skinned potatoes
Mixed greens salad with Fuji apples and candied walnuts
Cream Puffs

I’m never going to try to feed 10 people ever again. Stress bomb. Terrible hostess I am.

birthday cake + lemon lemon lemon

I’m not really good with words and sentimental crap.

But.

I love you, Eunice Rhee, and I wish you the best on your 23rd! (Say goodbye to your early 20′s, girl. You are now entering your prime.)

Here’s to being classier than last year (Dave and Buster’s vs. a wine bar wooooooo baby).

I miss living with you, eating Chano’s and TG Express at 2 am, laughing in the dark, our semi-fail senior year bucket list, and having ten-hour SVU + Fruit Ninja marathons. Thanks for always being down to do everything with me and always having my back (we have been through some major drama, haven’t we?)

COME BACK TO LA. YOU CAN HAVE HALF OF MY BED.

Happy birthday, hormone. <3

I hope you like lemon. Because I lemoned the shizzz out of this cake for you.

Note: This cake should be served at room temperature. I stuck it in the fridge and the frosting pretty much evaporated. Therefore, remember. Room. Temperature. Don’t be a noob. See all that whipped frosting in the center? Poof. It disappeared. :( :(

Lemon Cake with Whipped Lemon Frosting
From Martha Stewart

(2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-by-2-inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.

Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 32 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack.

While cakes are baking, bring remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add lemon slices and simmer 25 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer lemon slices to a waxed-paper-lined plate. Stir remaining 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice into syrup.

Using a toothpick, poke holes in warm cakes on rack. Brush with lemon syrup. Let cool completely. Prepare frosting, substituting 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice for vanilla extract. Frost cooled cakes and top with candied lemon slices.

Whipped Lemon Frosting

3 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites, sugar, salt, and water. Cook over medium, stirring constantly, until sugar has dissolved (or mixture registers 150 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium-high until glossy, stiff peaks form (do not overbeat), about 3 minutes; reduce speed to low, add lemon juice, and beat just until combined. Use immediately.