Apple Pie

So in celebration of Choosuk and the first day of fall, I made a journey to a friend's apt on the upper east side to make my first ever apple pie.

We made three different kinds, but only 2 are pictured.
The little ones house a bit of scotch :)

Crabbing Trip

A couple of girlfriends and I went crabbing down in South Jersey for the weekend.
What's better than bonding over casting cages into the sea and then eating the fresh catch of the day?

So the best way to enjoy the freshness of the sea is to steam these little pinchers in beer and vinegar with a little bit of salt.

Enjoy!

Luke's Lobster

A couple of pals and i decided to check out Luke's Lobster on the UES. Rating 5+++ stars. The lobster meat was deeeeeeelish I recommend the Upper East Side location just because they have a nice sit in area :)


























lobster bisque

























Lobster roll :)


















Empress claws

TV Dinner Tables with a Face Lift

You will need:
decorative paper
paper cement
contact paper

Folding TV dinner tables: from Target

Shadow Boxing

I thought it would be pretty hysterical to put straw/hay in an art piece that will hang over my bed.

You will need:
1 shadow box
black acrylic paint
paint brushes
straw bale

Block Print Duvet and Pillow Shams

Hello hellllllllllo, its been a while :)
With a friend's birthday coming up I thought I'd try making a duvet set with matching pillow cases.

Duvet and pillow sham set: from overstock.com
Block print pattern material: cardboard
Paint: fabric paint from Michael's Craft store in azure blue

Candied Lotus Root and Baked Pasta

Jamie to town!

Sooo the apt is slowly coming together, and the best part is entertaining :)
Pink flowers for Ms. Jamie and chocolate cupcakes with classic vanilla icing


























Also had a chance to pick up baby plants from my parent's home this weekend :) We're still deciding on names for them, but they sure do look lovely against the grey wall :)

Miso Marmalade Chicken

with Bok Choy and Ground Beef/Squash pancakes

First cooked meal in the new home!

Ra Bok Ki, Kiwi Beef, Kimchi Bokkeum

The great things about friends is that they will be willing to cook for you when you don't feel like it :)

Thanks Aram!!

Mussels in White Wine Garlic Sauce with Butter Toast

Even after the storm, I found myself grocery shopping in Chinatown. :)
What can be better than seafood on a rainy day?

Chicken Florentine with Sauteed Spinach

I had company over for dinner tonight and decided to make this dish that I learned off of Food Network back in my early college days. This dish has yet to fail me :)



INGREDIENTS
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons shallots, sliced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen cut-leaf spinach, thawed, drained

INSTRUCTIONS

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat lightly. Shake off any excess flour.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat.
Add the chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes per side.
Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep it warm.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until the shallots are translucent, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet, about 1 minute.
Add the wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
Add the cream and boil until the sauce reduces by half, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley.
Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the sauce, and turn the chicken to coat in the sauce.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in another large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and saute until heated through.
Season the spinach, to taste, with salt and pepper.


Just for your visual pleasure, let's start and end with something green :)

Triple Layer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Rum Frosting

Happy Birthday, darling.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter and Strawberry Frosting

So, for the last few days I was stuck at home with good old food poisoning. What better way to celebrate it by making cupcakes I can't eat? I've been wanting to try this recipe for a while, but finally got a mini muffin pan so i can make bite-sized cupcakes :)

Chocolate Cupcakes
http://cupcakeblog.com/
























INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
2 1/2 cups sugar 4 large eggs, room temp
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350degrees.
Beat butter until softened.
Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
In a small sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder
In a separate bowl, stir the milk and vanilla
Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
Fill the cupcakes up until half way. Turn oven down to 325 degrees and bake cupcakes for about 18 minutes.









































Strawberry Frosting

INGREDIENTS
cup freshly cut strawberries, stems removed
sugar to taste
1 pkg creamcheese (8oz) at room temp
1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temp
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
2 1/2 tbsp strawberry sauce


INSTRUCTIONS
strawberry sauce
Soak strawberries with about 1-2 tbs sugar for 15 minutes
Place strawberries in a small saucepan and heat under medium heat with lid on.
Cook strawberries for approximately 15 minutes till strawberries become soft and saucy. Adjust sweetness with sugar.
With a blender, puree until you get the desired smoothness or chunkiness Cool before using in recipe.

frosting
Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy.
Add half of the sugar, beat until combined.
Add strawberry sauce until you achieve the right color and flavor, making sure not to add too much or the frosting will be too soft.
Gradually add remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

I realized later that I put too much strawberry sauce and my frosting turned into an icing :(

Peanut Butter Frosting

INGREDIENTS
1 stick butter - room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS
Beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer.
Add sugar and beat until evenly incorporated.
Add heavy cream, beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Simple Curry rice

Curry rice is for those days when you come home exhausted from a good day's work.
You're tired but you still need to make something for dinner and lunch the next day.

All you need is:




















and a few odds and ends:






















Throw it all in a pot with boiling water and voila!




















Tomorrow's lunch is ready to be served :)

Green Tea Frosting

Since my matcha supply has almost come to an end, I decided that I would celebrate it by creating it into a beautiful green frosting.

I took a simple cream cheese frosting recipe and added the matcha in hopes that they would pair well together. Luckily, this experiment worked and voila, matcha frosting :)

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tsp matcha
4 tbsp unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)
8oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioner's sugar and matcha together
In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to blend together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla.
Slowly incorporate the sugar/matcha mixture while using the mixer.
When fully incorporated, beat on medium for approx 5 minutes.

Spicy Crab Stuffed Mushrooms & Chicken Pot Pie

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

We ended up seeing Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna and Carl Off's Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall's Love, Lust, and Light concert. We were so hungry that during intermission we snuck in a bag of m&ms. As the second half of the show started, we found ourselves trying to find clever ways to slip those m&ms in our mouths and chew them to the beat of the music. If we could do it again, I would recommend not getting the peanut ones, they have an extra crunch to them.

Now let's talk about dinner :) I've always wanted to try stuffed mushrooms, and was so excited when I found one where the filling had crabmeat in it. Thank you, good ol' Emeril Lagasse!






















INGREDIENTS
12 oz white mushrooms, cleaned with stems removed.
1 pound crabmeat, picked over for shells & cartilage
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapeno's (I substituted these with Rick's Picks Mean Beans)
1/4 pound Pepper Jack cheese, grated
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. hot sauce (I used sriracha)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup mayo 2 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Place mushroom caps on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together crabmeat, garlic, jalapeno's, pepper jack, worchetershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, mayo, and parmigiano reggiano.
Place a heaping tbsp. of the crab mixture into each mushroom cap.
Bake for 30 minutes.


Another dish I've always wanted to make was Chicken Pot Pie. The recipes I've always found always seemed to be so time consuming. I thought I struck gold when I found Paula Deen's Easy Chicken Pot Pie recipe. I was a little skeptical at first, but after seeing 137 review and still having 5 stars, I thought I'd give in a try adding my own additions to the recipe. The recipe makes 2 servings.

























INGREDIENTS
1 chicken breast, cubed
1/4 cup canned carrots
1/4 canned peas
1 potato, cubed and boiled
3 mushrooms, cubed
1 tsp minced garlic
1 can cream of chicken with herbs (Campbells)
1 can chicken broth
1 cup bisquick
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp melted butter

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sautee the chicken breast with garlic until fully cooked. Divide into the 2 ramekins.
Divide the carrots, peas, boiled potatoes, mushrooms into the 2 ramekins as well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together cream of chicken with chicken broth then pour into the 2 ramekins.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the bisquick and milk and carefully pour on top of the everything else, spreading out the mixture evenly on top.
Pour a tbsp of melted butter on top of each pot pie.
Bake for 35 min.

Seaweed Soup

miyuk gook

I haven't been feeling well lately, and so I i turned to a Korean comfort food that always seemed to help me recover from the common cold.
Not only is it proven to strengthen your nails and hair, but also it cleanses your bloodstream.
In Korea, it is traditionally made for you on your birthday, only if you're lucky to have someone make it for you ;)

Seaweed soup may not sound the most appetizing, but it has a great, hearty flavor and is super easy to make with the right ingredients!
So easy, that I was able to teach my boyfriend how to make it hoping that he'd make it for me on my birthday and when I wasn't feeling well :)
The problem was not the taste of the soup he made, but was getting him to make it in the first place...har har

soooo with that in mind, enjoy the simple recipe from my mother's kitchen!


INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
salt

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
1 cup of dried seaweed cut to 2 inch strands
1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms
1/2 cup frozen mussels
1/4 cup ground beef

INSTRUCTIONS
Start by soaking the dried seaweed and dried shitake mushrooms in water (using separate bowls) until they are soft and fully expanded.
Squeeze the water from the seaweed and mushrooms while preserving the excess water (saving it for the broth) and put into a medium sized pot.
Sautee together adding the ground beef, sesame oil, soysauce, and garlic for about 2 minutes.
Pour the saved excess water and add more to fill to the top of the pot. Add in frozen mussels.
Boil for about 30 minutes adding salt/soysauce to taste.