September/ October Randoms

September and October have a a busy couple of months. I've been slacking on the blogging, especially in wake of our Eurotrip. But I haven't been slacking on the picture-taking. Here's some snippets of September and October. 

Apple, frisee, fried egg, garden tomato and grilled onion salad

My little work friend

Silly squirrels leaving our tomatoes on the ladder

Roasted eggplant, portabella mushroom and kale tower with pork loin with cane syrup, coffee gravy

Roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, eggplant and rosemary

First time Shepard's pie

Sweetest Day pan au chocolat and chai latte

Crushing grapes from California

Turkey, mustard, arugula and green apple wrap... and The Chew

Snow White worthy apple

Sparkling blood orange margarita from The Wedge

Chin watching Thursday Night Football

Nick Offerman Mustache cupcake from Cream and Flutter

Brownies, bananas and walnuts

Fall is here

Feeling Autumnal 

Sweet Heat Latte (Cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper and honey)

Bacon, egg and banana pepper pizza

Tomorrow, I'll be heading out to San Francisco to visit some dear friends. It seems like forever since I've seen them and it gives me even more reason to make a quick weekend trip to California. Wish me luck!

-Akemi-chan

Pumpkin Vase

I'm feeling crafty, and it's a good season to have these feelings. Between homemade Halloween costumes, apple pies and pumpkin carving, Fall is the perfect time to let your creative juices flowing.

Boyfriend and I normally carve pumpkins for Halloween, but we're throwing a party for friends (party pictures will be posted soon). I wanted something simple, pretty and worthy of inside the house in lieu of the front porch.

Please do not drink with using knife

Carve a small hole on the crown of the pumpkin to remove the stem. Scoop out the seeds and gunk from the inside of the pumpkin. Place silk flowers into hole and tadah! Instant vase.

If you want to used real flowers, place a glass, or an aluminum can in the pumpkin. Fill container with water and add flowers.

This was my effort to be crafty and decorate for our little Halloween party. Might not be fancy, but at least it was fun.

-Akemi-chan

Mushroom Risotto

The first time I ever had risotto was in college. My best friend, and roommate at the time, made zucchini boats, stuffed with risotto. I cherish those memories of cooking in the dorm with only a few recipes under our belts. Every meal (that wasn't ramen noodles or pizza) was special. This was my first time making risotto and believe me, my patience was rewarded.

Mushroom Risotto

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
16 oz mini portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
8 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp rosemary, chopped
Parmesan cheese,  freshly grated
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil at medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute until lightly browned. Add rice and stir until thoroughly coated and opaque, about 3 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the chicken broth in a medium pot. Heat until hot, but not simmering. Add hot broth to rice one ladle-full at a time. Stir into rice until liquid is completely absorbed. Continue to add broth to rice, one ladle at a time, until rice is soft, creamy and aldente.

Add chopped rosemary and butter to rice. Stir in until mixed. Grate cheese over risotto and serve hot. Enjoy.

By the way, mushroom risotto pairs very well with barolo. So why not reach into Boyfriend's wine hobby and grab a bottle for dinner? Taste buds are happy. 

-Akemi-chan

Butternut Squash, Kale and Apple Quinoa

Quinoa has been my recent Summertime staple. So when I had to make a quick dinner before lunch quinoa was the simple, easy solution. In this case, I wanted to add a little Autumn flair.

Butternut Squash, Kale and Apple Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
1 cup low sodium beef broth
1 cup water
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cup butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 handfuls of purple kale, destemmed and torn into bite sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 granny smith apple, cubed

Cook quinoa on medium high heat in a small pot or sauce pan with the water and beef broth. Cook according to package instructions.

Meanwhile in a medium saute pan, heat olive oil on medium high heat and add butternut squash. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until butternut squash starts to caramelize. Add kale, garlic, salt and pepper. Saute until kale is crisp and squash is tender. Combine quinoa and vegetables in a large bowl and add fresh apples. Toss to combine and finish to salt and pepper to taste. Eat hot or cold.

The butternut squash gives the quinoa a nice Autumnal flavor, while the kale provides a more vegetable flavor and the apple give it nice tartness and a crunch. This would be good with a nice pork chop and grilled vegetables. But we had it with some pulled pork and a salad. Enjoy!

-Akemi-chan

College Throwback: Golden Graham S'mores Treats

I got your fall alternative to rice krispie treats. Fall means leaves changing colors, pumpkin patches, apple cider and S'MORES. Why not put the two sweet treats together to make a new kid friendly dessert.

I was inspired by the University of Hawaii cafeteria and my college days. Once every other month, the UH dorms would throw Carnival Night. In lieu of hamburgers, pasta and salad bar the cafeteria would have cotton candy, churros, games, prizes and a cereal treats bar. The cereal treats included traditional Rice Krispies, Cheerios, Captian Crunch (my favorite), among other cereals that were about to turn.

This time we're playing with a childhood favorite, Golden Grahams, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, a pinch of creativity and a handful of awesome.


Golden Grahams S'mores Treats

1 10.5 oz bag of mini marshmallows
4 tbsp butter
1 12oz box of Golden Grahams
1 cup mini marshmallows
2/3 cup of frozen chocolate chips

In large sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter and bag of mini marshmallows until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in cereal until well coated. Fold in remaining mini marshmallows and frozen chocolate chips until evenly distributed in mixture. Spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Pour and press mixture into dish and allow to cool. Cut into bars and enjoy.

Boyfriend having a not-so-little treat

Warning: treats disappear quickly. I made a whole batch and half was gone in the matter of a few hours. Serve with milk and enjoy!

-Akemi-chan

College Throwback: Hawaiian French Toast

I've been having some writers block. I've been cooking simple meals every day, but nothing of significant effort, or accurate measuring. So I'm referring to some posts that I wrote last year... yes last year around this time. I saved them up in hopes of having a "college throwback" week, but my writers block is just as good of an excuse. So here we go.

I didn't start cooking until the end of high school. By that time I got over my fear of burning down the house thanks to years of Food Network exposure, courtesy of my mother. Even still, cooking was still incredibly foreign to me. Since I was stuck eating cafeteria food and missed all the home cooked meals, College was when I started to get interested and passionate about food and cooking.

So in order to start some kind of week-long theme, we're going with College Throwback. This week I'll be making all the foods that I made in my dorm and the foods that kicked off my love for cooking.

When I first met Boyfriend, my food preparation experience was limited to rice in a rice cooker, cookies and omelettes. But I did manage to pull off impressing him with my mad breakfast skills. The first thing I ever cooked for Boyfriend was Hawaiian French toast.

I love breakfast and I love French toast, so to step it up a notch I used Hawaiian sweet bread. I originally used a loaf of Hawaiian sweet bread, but we're trying to watch portions lately, so I'm going to use the individual mini loaves. 

Hawaiian French Toast

4 rolls of Hawaiian sweet bread

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Cut rolls in half horizontally, so it looks like two slices of sandwich bread.

Mix eggs, cinnamon, and salt. Dip both sides of the bread in the egg mixture to absorb the egg.

On a griddle or nonstick pan, melt butter and brown the sweet bread rolls on both sides until cooked through.

Enjoy on it's own, or with butter and syrup. I chose to go without either. Since the bread is already sweet, I didn't want to overload on sugar with the syrup.

You could also make a breakfast sandwich by layering ham, bacon, cheese, a fried egg or whatever in between the toast. Delicious! Enjoy.

-Akemi-chan

Euro Trip 2013: Disneyland Paris

I love Disney. There's no two ways about it. Disney is one of the few things in my life that brings me an uncompromising sense of happiness that cannot be tarnished. So when we decided to go to Paris, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit another Disney park. 

Boyfriend hadn't been to a Disney park in years and unlike me, he's not a huge Disney freak. It felt like bringing him home to meet my parents; I hoped he would love it, just as much as I did. Besides, I was babbling like an idiot with all of my Disney trivia and park comparisons. Here's a look at our first Disney trip together. 

Happy 20th anniversary Disneyland Paris!

So excited that I lost my shoe

"Discoveryland"... haha

Space Mountain 2

First ride of the day. Getting psyched!

My pretty princess

Walt Disney Studios

Armageddon Experience

Crush's Coaster signage

I almost squeezed his hand off

Indiana Jones noms

Hidden Mickey in Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters

Sleeping Beauty's castle stained glass

Kind of sums up my feeling of going to my 4th Disney park

No Mickey-shaped ice cream? Unacceptable!

Wall-E

In Alice's Curious Labyrinth

He's mad I tell you!

Pluto and Piglet

Lunch at Lucky Nugget Saloon: Fish n chips, cheeseburger, hot fudge sundae and fruit salad

AHHHH!!

I never get to go on any Haunted Mansion rides! Whaaaaa!

My Thumper and my new hair pin

Quite a view of the show

Disney Dreams

Main Street by night

Disney always melts my heart. It was kind of fun visiting a smaller park with Boyfriend. After all, it was our first time at Disney together and I didn't want our first time to be wasted on crowds and an overwhelming amount of things to do. This way we got to dip our toes into the magic without being exasperated. 

I wish we could have spent more time in Paris, but alas. We are at the mercy of the standby gods. Europe was everything I hoped it would be and more. I can't wait to see what other adventures await us. Until then au revior Paris.

-Akemi-chan