christina EATS.

Apple crisp ice cream!

Apple anything is so perfect for fall…we had apple crisp ice cream (and cake!) in the dining hall last week and it was SO AMAZINGLY PERFECT! Tasted just like apple crisp with ice cream one top, I want more now!

Picture courtesy of Chen and his phone :)

*Update 11/15/09 - Went to JP Licks last night and tried their version of apple crisp ice cream - pretty good but surprisingly not as good as HUDS this time, a little too sweet/artificial tasting :P

Baking in the microwave

I just tried to cook some crescent rolls in the microwave because I was desperate for food…after googling to figure out whether using the microwave to cook food that is meant to be baked is safe (probably) and recommended (not really…but I did find some well-reviewed recipes for microwave cake), I decided to take a risk and go for it (one of my current life goals is to become less risk-averse :P).

The outcome?

Well, firstly, my plate was too big for my microwave so it got stuck and stopped rotating as soon as I turned it on…but I was too lazy to switch plates. So there was definitely some variation in how cooked each roll was after 5 minutes, ranging from almost burnt to still doughy. I guess I should have just switched plates, although I’m not sure that would have made a big difference.

Some of rolls were edible and tasted ok, but as much as I hate to admit it, I should have just accepted Lisa’s offering of an orange to cure my hunger and her advice to wait until we could actually bake the rolls in an oven, instead of acting like a hobo.

Mmm I love warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven crescent rolls!

Too bad they’re all gone now (in the trash) :(

Inhalable chocolate - Le Whif comes to Harvard

Eating dinner with Christine (who also surprised me with some very very yummy puppy chow!) in Adams tonight, we saw a crowd of people scrambling for samples of something and naturally couldn’t pass by the freebie opportunity. Representatives from LE WHIF were demonstrating a product that provides a new way to experience chocolate (invented by a Harvard prof!): inhalable chocolate particles in a lipstick-like tube, with all the chocolate taste (in plain chocolate, mint, and raspberry) but no calories. Pretty intriguing concept combining food, art, and science, though I would not be willing to pay the current price (almost 6 euro for 3 tubes online) to try it again :P

I just googled LE WHIF and learned some pretty interesting stuff. The inventor has discussed various applications of this particle engineering technology to other foods and even vaccines.  He wrote a graphic novel/manga documenting the story of his invention and has even suggested that “whiffing” might be the future of eating:

Harvard professor David Edwards, lead inventor of Le Whif, says:
“Over the centuries we’ve been eating smaller and smaller quantities at shorter and shorter intervals. It seemed to us that eating was tending toward breathing, so, with a mix of culinary art and aerosol science, we’ve helped move eating habits to their logical conclusion. We call it whiffing.”

More from the website:

Le Whif is a new approach to eating by breathing. With Le Whif, we inhale food, like chocolate, into your mouths and taste it, without chewing, an experience of flavor without a single calorie.

Invented by Harvard Professor David Edwards, in collaboration with students, designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs working at Edwards’ art and design centre Le Laboratoire, in Paris, Le Whif contains hundreds of miiligrams of tiny food particles.

You puff, as if to breathe, and suddenly you have an experience of flavor.

You are the apple of my eye!

As promised, today brings delicious homemade apple crisp and apple dumplings for all, made from our freshly hand-picked, gorgeous Empire apples!

Both recipes were super easy and turned out really really yummy, even though I cut down the original amounts of sugar and butter by a lot (Paula Dean wouldn’t approve, but I prefer my desserts not too sweet, buttery, or artery-clogging :P ). I forgot to scavenge for brown sugar, so the apple crisp topping didn’t turn brown and pretty, but still tasted pretty amazing :D The apple dumplings also weren’t the most attractive looking things in the world but definitely made up for their ugliness with extra yumminess! Both desserts were excellent hot out of the oven - not too sweet/cloying with the perfect balance of soft/tender and crunchy/crispy. The fresh, crisp apples definitely made a difference (or maybe it’s all just in my head…), along with elbow grease and love from Lisa, Joan, and me :) The only thing missing was ice cream on top!

Apple Crisp (adapted from Apple Crisp)

8 large apples, peeled and sliced
1 c. flour
1 c. brown sugar 
1 c. oats
1/4 c. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Spread apple slices evenly across the bottom of a large baking dish.
Mix together flour, brown sugar, and oats in a medium bowl. Using a fork, smush the butter in and mix well. Spoon over the apple slices evenly.
Bake at 375°F for 30-45 minutes, until the apples are tender but not mushy and topping is browned and crunchy.

Apple Dumplings (adapted from Country Apple Dumplings)

2 large apples, peeled and sliced into 8 wedges per apple
1 can (8 rolls) refrigerated crescent roll dough
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. Sprite (yep, Sprite!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Unroll the crescent roll dough and separate into triangles. Tear each triangle in half and wrap around one apple slice, covering it completely. Pinch to seal and place in a large, lightly greased baking dish.
In a saucepan, melt butter on low heat. Stir in sugar and cinnamon until dissolved. Pour mixture and Sprite over the apple dumplings.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown on tops.

**Update 11/18/09: Alisa from Foodista wrote me a very kind email this morning inviting me to try out Foodista - The Cooking Encyclopedia everyone can edit! It’s basically a Wikipedia for recipes and other food related recipes - I’m interested in seeing whether or not the Wiki concept will work for recipes, given so many different approaches to cooking and food preferences among all the foodies out there. I’ve also been trying to get more involved in the online foodie community - recently joined Foodie Blogroll and Foodbuzz as a featured publisher - so I’m really looking forward to contributing to Foodista! Thanks for the invite, Alisa, and here’s my first widget, linking to an apple-walnut crisp recipe on Foodista - looks tasty!

apple picking!

Joan and I went apple picking this afternoon with a bunch of other Leverites and had a splendid time :D The rest of our blockmates cancelled last week because it was supposed to rain today, but after yesterday’s storm, today was absolutely perfect - sunny, slight breeze, low 60s (jacket weather!) - ideal apple picking weather!

The orchard we went to was a 50 min. drive from Leverett. We had fun reminiscing about elementary school on the school bus, getting excited every time we were jolted out of our seats by a speed bump, and rocking out to Miley Cyrus :) After some initial confusion figuring out where exactly we were supposed to start in the huge orchard, we took a hayride to the apples and picked our little hearts out (I realize that sounds weird, but I don’t know how to say it differently…). I felt like I was back in the good ol’ Midwest with all the country stuff around - farm animals, hedge maze (like in Harry Potter! Except we figured it out in 3 min…), fresh air, the sun shining on all the colorful leaves and apples…like I’ve said before, I love the fall :)

We came home with bags of scrumptious cider doughnuts and about 20 beautiful Empire apples (and a couple more in our tummies) ready to be eating fresh…or made into dessert! Everyone is jealous of our bounty, and lucky for them, we like to share - apple crisp and apple dumplings for all coming up tomorrow!

My dad reminds me every other day how much he misses fall in Massachusetts - this is why!

Empires are my new favorite apple! After tasting the first one, we quickly filled our bags and didn’t even bother checking out the other varieties in the orchard :P

Trekking back to the bus after a very successful afternoon :)

Warm cider donuts are ridiculously tasty! I think they’re made from apple cider, but they didn’t taste cider-y at all to me…

shabu-shabu

I never enjoyed hotpot (or most other Asian food really…) when I was a kid, but my once undeveloped taste buds have now matured and learned to appreciate it as one of the most delicious parts of Asian cuisine. With shabu become trendier every day, I can now enjoy hotpot away from home as much as I want (or until I go broke :P).

Eating at Kaze this weekend with the Joans and Will this weekend was actually my first shabu experience. It was kind of pricey (came out to a little over $20/person) and not as filling as starchy alternatives, but very satisfying in a different way. My favorite part of hotpot is the combo of fresh, hot veggies and meat with really flavorful sauces and broth, and Kaze’s offerings definitely hit the spot. I’m really glad Joan and Will convinced me to try the kimchi broth that I was skeptical about - it was sooooo good and not too spicy - we drank/ate up every last drop, literally :)

This steaming pot of goodness was perfect for a rainy Boston day and kept me happy even as puddles flooded my boots and the wind kept flipping my umbrella inside-out on the way home :P

Yum yum beef!

Although the shabu wasn’t the same as the kind of hotpot we have at home, it was close enough to make me really miss my mom’s cooking and home in general. Counting down until winter break!

Kaze
1 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA

SPICY!

Will and I stopped by the Hong Kong Society’s Szechuan Cooking Workshop tonight on a whim…and ended up cooking up (and eating!) some very very tasty dishes :D Chrysanthemum tea + ma po tofu + shiitake mushroom/beef + spicy green beans/ground beef +  random other spicy and non-spicy deliciousness = WAY better than dhall dinner :D

free at last.

FINALLY done with midterms! Celebrated today by doing zero work, watching Totoro and Where the Wild Things Are, and baking apple cinnamon cookies/scrambling eggs with my lovely friends :)

I randomly found this recipe online without any reviews or details about what to expect (crispy cookie? chewy? etc.), so Alison, Lisa, Meredith, and I jumped into the kitchen with some skepticism…but they turned out great and were gobbled up right out of the oven! Lisa pointed out that the texture was more like cake than cookies, but not at all in a bad way, just different/interesting :) Spongy, soft, and moist with crispy edges and a great not-too-sweet apple cinnamon flavor, these babies were an unexpected success!

Apple Spice Cookies (adapted from Spiced Applesauce Cookies)
1 dozen large cookies

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce

Cream butter with sugar in small bowl. Lightly beat in one egg and mix in applesauce.
Combine dry ingredients in another bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.
Drop medium spoonfuls of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 or until edges turn golden brown.

We only used one egg for the recipe and had 5 left over the box…so we decided to eat them :) These scrambled eggs, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and some chili powder, really hit the spot!

Lisa doesn’t like it when I read over her shoulder…but I do it anyway :P

quest

Snapshots from the best Friday afternoon I’ve had in a long time (mostly taken with Will’s iPhone!):

Quest for Innovation, a ”high-tech, city-wide scavenger hunt” to “celebrate a heritage of entrepreneurship and innovative advances in Boston” started at City Hall Plaza with free tshirts and Legal Seafoods clam chowder :) Will and I spent the afternoon running around Boston, tracking down 55 Summer St., looking for a blue mouse holding something (chocolate chip cookie!), and following other crazy clues. I think we did a great job figuring out almost all of the clues, despite the rain and suspected sabotage by other teams :P

Afterparty at Felt…that we didn’t get to go to. It was ok though, because we still celebrated…

… at KO Prime with the $5 drink of the day during happy hour…

… and $5 steak tacoes, prime rib sandwich, and fried calamari YUM

KO Prime
90 Tremont St.
Boston, MA