Top Ten Tuesday: quick hunger fixes (Part III)

***click here for Part I and here for part II***

Finding myself writing about food late at night once again should be argument enough that this is going to be a good post. And yes, I promise it will be good.

7. Apple slices and cheese

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Many of you probably have heard of or have had grapes with cheese, but how many of you knew apple slices go just as well with cheese? The crispy sweetness and slight juiciness of apples complement the harder texture and more pungent taste of cheese extremely well. 

And if you're feeling fancier, I dare you to try an apple grilled cheese.

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8. Strawberries and Nutella

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Living in a dorm means that you gotta love all things to do with dips. Be it salsa, Nutella, or hummus, everything dipped is just easy to fix and usually super yummy to eat. This strawberries and Nutella combination should be pretty self-explanatory. But the taste! Yum. It'll surprise you for sure.

9. hummus and chips

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What did I say about dips again? Yummmm. What's better is that these two things in this quick hunger fix are pretty easy to find in grocery stores or school stores all over campus!

10. Microwave scrambled eggs

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Got eggs? Craving scrambled eggs but ran out of meals in your meal plan? No problem! All you need is a microwavable bowl or plate that is not too shallow and however many eggs you want (preferably two or three). Crack the eggs and pour them in, add a little bit of salt, and whisk them until everything is combined. Since every microwave is different, I'll just tell you what I like to do, and you can test it out on your microwave to see if it works: I put it in for one minute on high, and it'll come out just right. This recipe is perfect for brunches, complete with microwave toast and perhaps some chunky peanut butter :D

Happy eating!

xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: quick hunger fixes (Part II)

***Click here for Part I***

Yay! More yummy food! As I'm writing this late at night, my stomach is starting to protest... might actually get myself to the kitchenette in my dorm and fix myself one of these options later.

4. root beer float

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This amazing drink/dessert combination is SUPER DUPER easy to make - just pour root beer into a glass and dump in a scoop (or two) vanilla ice cream and you're all set for deliciousness!

5. cookie dough dip

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This is assured to fix your cravings for sweet and rich things. Dole out frozen cookie dough into a container and let it sit until the dough turns soft but still cold-ish. And then - dip animal crackers, Oreos, Saltines, whatever you feel like munching on really, into it and enjoy! 

This is great for when you have friends over to hang out or when you're pulling an all-nigher and just need some sugar.

6. Nutella & banana sandwich

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Just looking at this picture makes my mouth water, no joke! This heavenly delicacy takes only about three minutes to make, and it can be easily done either in the cafeteria or in your dorm. Just toast one or two slices of bread and slather on Nutella generously. Then add banana slices on top, and you're all set for this crunchy, thick and chocolaty treat! Great for breakfast or an energy boost snack.

Hungry yet? Try your hand at some of these!

xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: quick hunger fixes (Part I)

Now that I've been living in a dorm and going to classes and parties and football games and late-night Cheesie's runs (Cheesie's is this amazing grilled cheese place in town) for a while, I feel legit to declare myself as a college student. As most of you college kids out there would agree, I think food is a very important aspect of college life. I know that personally I can't focus on anything on an empty stomach, or after an unsatisfying meal (which could happen in the cafeteria sometimes..).

So today I'm here to start a new Top Ten Tuesday topic: food!!! Yayyyy :D 

And I'm not just talking about any food, I'm talking about easy-to-make snacks or DIYs that you could create in the cafeteria that are sure to leave your tastebuds content.

Without further ado:

1. EXTRA CHEESY Easy mac n' cheese

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Throughout the weeks, I've started to discover that microwave mac n' cheese is a college/dorm life essential. Late night hunger pangs while rushing through an essay that's due at midnight? No problem - pop one of these plastic bowls into the microwave and you'll have deliciousness in three minutes! My personal favorite is the Kraft brand mac n' cheese, those pretty little blue bowls with mouthwatering pictures of mac n' cheese on top. 

How I usually make it is the EXTRA CHEESY way - where the instructions tell you to put water, I put milk. But NOTE THAT you shouldn't fill up to the line that's meant for water. Pour in enough milk so that it's just below the line. That should be good. Otherwise microwave catastrophes might ensue...

2. Chai Milk Tea

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So I got these packets of chai tea (the bagged kind) from Whole Foods the other day... and it turns out they come out clear, just like green tea. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MILKY YUMMINESS that I'm used to call chai tea?!?

In order to solve this problem, after making tea the regular way (heating up water and seeping the tea bag for 3-5 minutes), I pour a little milk in and add honey. The reason why I added honey is because I think it's healthier than plain sugar yet gives the same sweetness that's essential to a good cup of chai. After discovering this way of making chai, I've been addicted to this drink. The cold weather helped further solidify this addiction, let's just leave it like that.

3. Sliced Coconut

No, you did not hear wrong. I did say sliced coconut. I took the picture above while dying in its deliciousness last night. So before this I never knew they existed in this form - small, peeled slices that you can eat whole. The white part is harder than I thought, and very fiber-y, but it makes a good chew, and leaves a slight sweet, creamy taste on your tongue that I swear is magical. Try it.

Happy eating and foodie-ing!

xx

Vanessa :]

Me Gusta! Molecular Gastronomy

As y'all probably know already, I am an absolutely true die-hard foodie, meaning I have a burning passion for all things food-related, such as cooking, eating (binging and food-sampling are both welcome), drinking, etc.

This term I am taking an organic chemistry course at school. The course is called the Chemistry of Food, which is essentially four periods per week of intense cooking and learning about the chemistry behind the cooking! How EXCITING, I know.

insert Monica Geller's I KNOW! face

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Anyhow, our most recent project (after making ice cream, marshmallow, mozzarella cheese, and chocolate mousse, all from scratch!) revolves around the forever-fascinating topic of molecular gastronomy, aka molecular cuisine. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, consult Wikipedia. Or here's my (perhaps incorrect) explanation/definition: a food science that breaks the conventional understanding and tastes/textures of food. If you ever get the chance to go to a good molecular cuisine restaurant, it will be more like visiting a lab. You will get to taste spectacular things such as lobster foam, or cocktails in jelly-like spheres. 

For a Me Gusta! (:P) effect, here's a picture that I found online of a sphere cocktail:

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In class, we made raspberry raviolis, and honey caviar, using a technique called spherification, which reconstructs the molecular structure of some of our every day food items. 

Here are some pictures of these yummy dishes:

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Right now the class is split up into multiple two-people groups, each working on an independent project focusing on a specific molecular cuisine dish. My partner (and best friend ;) and I are making s'mores spaghetti! The other groups are making things such as transparent potato chips, mango foam, etc. There are also some non-molecular groups that are working on creating root beer, strawberry mochi (I tried their test batch yesterday, yummmmmmmm), and the like.

Next Friday we are presenting for our school's Science Soiree, and my partner and I are serving s'mores spaghetti on graham crackers! From trying out or test batch, I can positively guarantee you that the tasting experience is like none other: your tastebuds tell you that this is s'mores (meaning chocolate and marshmallow!! :D), but your tongue tells you you're eating spaghetti! The combination of the two sensations confused and amazed me to no end.

If what I've rambled about above interests you, go Google some molecular cuisine recipes! Some of them are easy--you can make them at home! Cooking is always fun for me, and extremely relaxing. Or better yet, if you find a good restaurant that features molecular cuisine, I promise you it's going to be money well spent. Go ahead and feast your sensations.

Happy weekend!

xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: (top) 10 things I love about India PART II

This is the official PART II of my India travel blog post. For PART I refer to here. In PART I I talked about the food, the scenery, and the culture. Now, I realize they are very broad terms, so this time I'm going to be a little bit more specific in my "love"s.

Alright, here we go:

4. the train

 One week into the trip, we travelled from Karnataka to Kerala (even more down South). It was a nine-hour train ride, on the train in the photo above. We got seats in economy class with AC, which is really nice for a regular Indian person. The people who were riding in our car all looked somewhat knowledgable, and some of them were working on laptops during the ride (while I dozed off...because the train left at 5 in the morning).

 The train ride was nine hours (loooooong, I know). In between cars there was this open area where people could take a smoke, or just chill. And of course, I did only the latter. The view was absolutely killer. As we got more and more South, the flat-ish landscapes began to yield to rocky mountains. The sky was a vast, endless blue thing that looked full of magic, and the dirt ground beneath us was just moving so fast, as the train emitted soothing rhythmic sounds, tkt, tkt, tktttttt.

While on the train, I met a really cool old man who talked to me about yoga and how being young is just so wonderful because we as young people get to live fully in the moment (I will talk more about that in PART III, I promise). It was an eye-opening (ear-opening?) conversation indeed.

5. the hike

 While we were staying in the mountains at Periyar Tiger Reserve, we went on a two-hour hike on a nature trail. A local guide, a middle aged man who seemed to know all about plants and animals and could talk about it for hours on end, accompanied us, so I had the fortune and pleasure to discover some amazing things about the ecosystem in India. 

 While we were walking amongst the trees (and I made the stupid mistake of wearing shorts in the tickly long greass and freaking Sperry's can you believe it) the guide pointed out random wild animals to us along the walk. We saw some pretty amazing BIG GIANT WHITE SQUIRRELS FOR EXAMPLE. (okay I need to calm down. Calm down Vanessa.)

(Look at this giant of a tree, isn't it ah-mazing?)

6. The coffee

Okay I'm lame I didn't take any pictures of the lovely coffee I had while in India. But just to feast your eyes, I decided to upload a picture of a beautiful blossoming fried egg (yes, I said blossoming. WUT).

BUT STILL. The coffee was really good. I don't know what it is about it, maybe it's the Indian water, or the way they prepare it (which, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see), it just tastes different from American coffee (which is usually, I'm sorry, crap, anyways). The Indian coffee I had at Kochi tasted slightly burned, almost a little charcoal-y, even. With just a little bit of milk and sugar, it is heaven.

7. The currency

Do I sound like I'm running out of things to say? Actually, quite the opposite. But I decided to talk about the Indian money because they look really cool! Again, I don't usually take pictures of me holding a bunch of bills, (and even if I do I would feel super duper weird uploading them here...) But Indian money has Ghandi's head on it! It is very nice-looking (and the large bills slightly VERY confusing).

8. The saree

I mean, just look at it, isn't it so exotically beautiful?? My friend got a saree that is magenta, with blue skirt and underpants and golden lining all over the fabric. She is seriously thinking of wearing it to prom. Certainly nobody would wear the same dress! :P

Alright. That's it for today! I still have so much more to say though! Sadly, only 3 more "love"s to spare. I will make sure those three are some awesome three's next Tuesday :)

Namaste.

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: (top) 10 things I love about India PART I

Okay, finally I'm over jetlag, and my suitcase is unpacked, my India trip officially over. (Too bad school has officially begun too. But das okay.)

So, ready? Top Ten Tuesday! Buckle yourselves in and come along for the ride! Cuz I'm doing a mega Top Ten post about my India trip. Due to the large amount of photos and text, I'm going to divi it up into 3 posts total. Today I'm only talking about 3 things.

Alright, here goes:

(The numbers assigned to the items don't have any relevance to my preference; I love all of these things about India!)

1. the food

Of course, food always comes first. At least for me. I'm such a foodie :P

In India, the staple food is Indian bread (naan, roti, etc), curry (usually vegetable-based, such as paneer curry), stew (lamb stew, pork stew, but no beef), and rice (lamb/egg/veggie/chicken/pork biryani). In Kochi, which is a beach town/major fishing port, I had the luck to try some seafood-based India food, such as the fish curry in the picture above. 

I also loved the tropical fruits, so fresh and sweet. Papayas are my favorite, and pineapples come as a close second. In India, they have really cool sodas too. My favorite is fresh lime soda, which consists of about 10ml freshly squeezed lime juice, some cane syrup, and regular club soda. They also had ginger lime soda at a lot of places we went to; I tried it once and holy smokes, it was the tangiest thing I've ever tried.

Desserts are also fantastic. My favorite would be pancakes with dried coconut and almonds, drizzled with honey. Ooh, or fig and honey ice cream... and mango and chocolate samosas... okay I'm just a pig. Oh well.

(our hotel in Kochi, the dining area on the waterfront)

2. scenery

Seriously, India is probably one of the most breathtaking places I've ever been to in my life (given I've been lucky enough to visit much of Asia, a fair amount of places in Europe, and all over the Americas). Still, India has some serious killer view to offer.

3. Culture

While in India, we went to volunteer at a school, where the kids taught me some Indian dance moves; we went to a festival dedicated to Krishna, and also a traditional Indian performance about a mythological tale. Each experience was overwhelming in all senses, enriching me in my cultural awareness.

 Okay. That took a while. If you're still reading, bravo. I'm glad I did a good job entertaining you. Now, I need to say bye. School's calling (this is written during my off period, which isn't at all that long). I'll be back next Tuesday, though, with more amazing bits of India!

Namaste.
Vanessa :]