What I did With My Leftover Turkey.

I made a turkey chopped salad with spicy avocado dressing! (Shown above with Cape Cod potato chips).

The recipe calls for jicama which is a crazy big plant (the size of a 12 year old's head) that slices like a potato but is quite clear and almost flavorless.
It's really crunchy and refreshing.
I swiped the last one at the grocery.
EPIC WIN.

I didn't add cilantro because I passionately dislike the pungent herb, so I used parsley instead.
I also found the onions to be a tad too spicy, so I would rinse them in cold water or just use less for round two.
I also think yellow peppers would be a good addition as far as color goes.

Serves 4.

Here's the original recipe, courtesy of epicurious.com, who got it from Bon Appétit:

Ingredients:
1 large avocado, halved, pitted
1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. chili-garlic sauce
3 tbsp olive oil

2 cups diced turkey
1 cup diced peeled jicama
1 cup diced red onion
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Romaine lettuce leaves

Directions:
Scoop avocado flesh into mini processor. Add lime juice, chili-garlic sauce, and olive oil and process until smooth. Season dressing generously with salt and pepper.
Mix turkey, jicama, red onion, bell pepper, and 1/2 cup cilantro in large bowl. Add avocado dressing; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Divide lettuce leaves among plates. Spoon salad into center and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon cilantro.

Enjoy,
Steph

P.S. Do you guys even read my blog?

Ketchup Chips Revisited

I don't even know what to say.

Remember way back when when I lamented the lack of ketchup chips stateside?

Well LOOK AT THIS NOW.

Athina sent me this photo earlier today; photographic evidence that ketchup chips are alive and well in Massachusetts.

Please, don't crinkle your nose and scoff "eww", because, and I quote, these chips were "so good" and they are worthy of "stock[ing] up" on.

Go eat your leftover turkey.
Steph

Sunday Brunch with the Lee Family

By the Lee family, I mean my family.
I thought I should that just incase.
You know, because it can get pretty confusing at times because Lee is such a common last name.
Like, one would think it's safe to assume that the name "Lee" indicates asian ancestry, but then there are caucasians with the familiar last name (Rober E. Lee of the Confederate Army anyone?) that just screws you over, and now you're sitting there and going "What since when?".
At which point I direct you towards google.

Well, Poppa Lee decided to resurrect our Sunday morning chow festivities back from the halcyon days of 2005 (circa summer camps and multiplication charts).
We used to have a legitimate feast every Sunday morning, complete with grapefruit, blood oranges, melons, watermelons, some yellow korean fruit that doesn't grow on American soil, biscuits, bagels, danishes, bacon, ham, potato salad, noodles, and probably kimchi. I don't remember kimchi being there, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I mean, let's be real here.
I'm Korean. My family's korean.
A Korean meal is never complete in the absence of kimchi.

Anyways, this time around our family of five decided to plop our jolly selves down at Henrietta's Table (One Bennett Street, Cambridge, MA) for brunch.

This is where one can consume raw cheese, multiple pâtés, smoked salmon, herbed smoked salmon, bagels, crackers, mashed butternut squash, broiled atlantic salmon, fried polenta, rib eye from the carving station, waffles, omelettes, chicken, danishes, chocolatines, some green vegetable i didn't like, roast eggplant/carrots/you-name-it-it's-there, and of course, the brunch favorite, egg benedict.
There were a lot more vegetables, but that really isn't my thing so I wouldn't know.

And you know what's really great about Henrietta's Table?
Other than the delicious meal and semi-attractive, Russian-accented waiters?

The dessert table bitches:


You are currently drooling over the strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and chocolate mousse cake.

My sister had this, and I had cheesecake, pumpkin crème brûlée, and somethingsomethingdulce that I forgot the name of.
All before 2 in the afternoon.

Delicious.

Eat like champions,
Steph

Theo's

Oh hey Sarah and Vicky!

Getting ready for the game eh?

On the table:
-bacon cheeseburger
-fries
-pizza
-chicken fingers with BBQ sauce (not shown here)

Theo's also has huge pieces of baklava for $3.

I love burgers and baklava!

As far as powderpuff went, Weston beat Wayland 25-6.

Eat more,
Steph

tim. tam. slams.

It's 12:29 a.m. and what am I doing?

Reading the online AP Biology textbook of course.
And blasting Sufjan Stevens. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUwuT6m5roU).
The obsession has yet to subside.

I'm also doing tim tam slams.

I realize it sounds pretty illicit, but it is as harmless as the American oreo cookie dunk.
The tim tam slam is the Australian equivalent, but much, much more fun.


I got these at Omni (right across from the fish section). I'm so happy.


Now here you are given choices: either bite them on two diagonal corners...or bite them on each end so it will be horizontal.


Partially immerse the biscuit into your hot drink of choice (hot chocolate, coffee, tea, butter beer, Miruvor etc.)

And suck on the other end as if drinking the beverage through a straw.

When the liquid reaches your lips, quickly devour the biscuit.
It's much more chocolatey and entertaining when consumed this way, rather than just straight from the package.

Do you guys like them?

Also, if you knew what Miruvor was without googling it, show yourself, because we MUST be friends.

Keep snacking,
Steph

P.S I'm totes rockin' Asian Student Union's "Fight the Flood" bracelet in most of these pictures. Get yours for $3 and support the cause! Proceeds will be going to Doctors Without Borders, my favorite NGO and future employer (i can dream)...(http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/).

Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Wicked

By wicked, I mean all things good.

These good things include:

Gruyère, garlic, bread, garlic, heavy cream, and nutmeg.

Gruyère: It melts. Similar to how I melt whenever I hear "To Be Alone With You" by Sufjan Stevens. Sigh.

Garlic: I love garlic. I like it cooked so it's sweet and caramelized, and I also like it raw when it's spicy and a wee bit painful on the tongue.

Bread: Complex carbs are good for you.

Heavy cream: I'm really not sure about this one, except that it's used when making icing, some brownies, and soups. I like how it's called "heavy cream" not "light cream" or "lo-cal cream".

Nutmeg: Goes in pumpkin pies. That's about as far as I know.

Pop the munchkin in the oven for 2 hours, and voilá!

If I were to change things, I would add more bread and reduce the amount of garlic (I used 4 small cloves).

But I don't think I'll ever make it again; my family doesn't appreciate my stuffed pumpkin, and though I love eating, I can't bring myself to polish off four servings worth of ooey-gooey, rich, pumpkin/cheese/bread/garlic fare.

Would you make this? Would you eat it? Would you feed it to your loved ones? Or to your enemies?

Please respond (in English) to my queries below, in the comments section.

If you decide to forgo this option and respondez dans une autre langue, c'est pas de probleme parce qu'il y a Google Translate.

Test me.

LOVE my Gastros 4 lyf3

Steph

Breakfast at Mel's

Pictures like these make me cringe and remember that I really need to start bringing my Canon around for events.

Above is a picture featuring Marina, Sarah, Margo, Matt, Sarah, Brandon, Erica, Peter, Alyssa, Emelie, Kristi, Maddy, my empty seat, a blank seat, Stephanie, and Molly.

Emmie showed up too, but her sexy face just didn't make the cut.

Mr. Banker, Ms. Schomp (with her daughter Noah!) and Ms. Lee also came!

So basically, the breakfast outing was a huge success.

There were many pancake orders (chocolate chip with bananas!), a few waffles (banana creme crumble!), some eggs benedict (popeye and irish hash!), omelettes (sunrise?) and even a Coke (oh Sarah...)

I went with the intention of getting pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, but as it was a specialty and was currently unavailable, I got the chocolate chip pancakes. Still yum.

However, the rendez-vous in it's entirety was a bit messy. First, we all asked for separate checks (and rightly so!), but the management didn't like it too much, as it created confusion and just a lot of checks to hand out. And on top of that, we had to add three more tables to our existing table chain because several people decided to surprise us with their illustrious presence. And they moved another table of eaters because we were quite enthusiastic with our conversations. I don't think they like us very much. Lovely.

I honestly don't understand how football goes there every Thursday for breakfast, and doesn't get kicked out/turned off by some of the attitude dished out.

On a more positive note, a huge, ooey-gooey, heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone that woke up at 5:30a.m. to get there. It means a lot to me that people are coming to these events :)

Love you all,

Steph

Lord of the Rings

I've mentioned LOTR in one of my previous posts, and I hope that gives you a little insight into one of my many passions (or some may say, obsessions.)

These things include, but are not limited to, Lord of the Rings, Aragorn from LOTR, Enrique Iglesias, Crystal Castles, buffalo wings, Rusko (and dubstep), Old Spice commercials, Stefan of SNL Weekend Update fame, Sven Kramer (Dutch speed skater), french boys on Segways, Land O' Lakes salted butter, apple sauce, bananas, Skinny by Ibi Kaslik, and Bright Star by John Keats.

Actually, I LOVE Bright Star. If any of you are interested, you should go get a copy at Barnes&Noble (no way I'm parting with mine); I have a membership card if you'd like a discount. It's absolutely beautiful. Lovely. Funny (only at one point when Keats says "burple" instead of blue or purple.)

I'ts my precious.

Yes, many of the above makes me seem hormonally charged teenage girl (true) and one of those girls that announce to the world their inside jokes to the world so it seems like they have a life (also true), but sometimes you have to let things go.

But you know what you can't let go?

LOTR themed baked goods.

Waddup Sauron's Eye?

Sauron, you'll never faze me with your gaze...

When I was in the 5th or 6th grade, I took a small key chain and colored it with a gold Sharpie and carried it around my living room pretending to be Gollum (hiding under the couch, making caverns out of cushions to crawl through, practicing my crouch...)

That's right I was cool.

This was also at a time in my life where I didn't eat icing (too oily) and I didn't use salad dressing (covered up the natural flavors of the vegetation I was eating.)

I have come a long way (like, 40+ lbs. of long way.) But that's okay, I was the size of a garden gnome then, so weight gain is completely normal...

I threw a lot at you, eh?

I truly love you all (if you've read this far), and I'm really excited to see you all bright (not groggy) at the Mel's breakfast on friday!

Keep eating,

Steph

P.S. I hope at least one of my two readers got my Gollum joke(way up there.) Otherwise that's just awkward.

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES.

Who doesn't like pumpkins?

A while ago my friends and I gathered to bake pumpkin cupcakes.

I think these are SO pretty. I want to use the sprinkles idea with rainbow colors, and then I can make a rainbow with them.

Here's Lauren adding the finishing touches...

COMPLETE.

It was a lot of fun to make, but not so much to eat. Personally, I hate eating sprinkles. And the stem tasted like toothpaste. But the cupcake itself was really good.

Expect another pumpkin related post in the next few days.

'Tis a surprise.

Also, I hope to see you all at the breakfast this friday!

Keep eating,

Steph