Super simple peppermint brownies

The combination of chocolate and peppermint around the holidays is - to me, anyway - what I would imagine the pumpkin spice latte is to the basic white girl: a must. I've tried many methods of fusing these two flavors, including peppermint leaves and/or peppermint extract in the brownie batter, crushed peppermint candy canes sprinkled atop - but this method is by far the easiest and the most chocolate-y.

This recipe is embarrassingly easy.

But that doesn't mean it isn't any good.

WNTD: Billy Goat Tavern

This is a public service announcement.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Billy Goat Tavern. For those of you who are not familiar with this establishment, Billy Goat Tavern is an 80-year-old burger joint famous for their "cheezborgers." Considering the history of the restaurant and the number of times I'd heard about it from various people, I figured I should try it out. And I'm glad I did.

Because now I am equipped with the knowledge that I must never go back there again.

Foodventures: New York, NY

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting the city I would be living in had I not settled in Chicago: New York City! For me, travelling is equivalent to a binge-eating spree, with everything in between meals serving only as a way to kill time before I get hungry again. Naturally, I saw this trip as a perfect opportunity to expand my food horizons.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at all times and was forced to take photos with my phone, which inexplicably broke down shortly after my journey; the good news is that though the photos are gone forever, the memories remain, and these undocumented places will not go unmentioned.

Chicken korma

There has never been a cuisine so flavorful and aromatic as Indian. I have had an ongoing love affair with Indian food ever since as a young teen, I broke free of the diet encouraged by my parents consisting mostly of Korean food and began to explore the culinary world. Naturally, when I began cooking for myself, Indian cuisine was among the first I sought to learn; however, I found the exquisite blend of spices to be rather intimidating, and relied on store-bought sauces and restaurant Indian food for the longest time to get my Indian fix.

Chicken Korma

The Bad Apple

I love cheeseburgers.

Honestly, the word "love" does not adequately describe my feelings toward a good, juicy burger; it is really more of an uncontrollable obsession. As a huge fanatic of "ethnic" food, a burger is just about the only thing I willingly consume at an American restaurant.

That being said, I have probably consumed hundreds of burgers in my life, and it is rare that a burger meets my expectations.

The "Grizzly Adams" at The Bad Apple, however, went above and beyond.

Image 1. The Grizzly Adams

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Lately I have been getting to the nitty-gritty of authentic Italian cooking. Now, I am nowhere near even remotely close to being Italian in any way, so I wouldn't dare tout my methods as "legit." You can go to someone's Italian grandmother for that.

Nonetheless, I discovered that using butter and cream on pasta is strictly an American thing, and I can't say I'm surprised (what don't Americans put butter on?).This means that heavenly, creamy spaghetti alla Carbonara - a dish I have been enjoying my entire life - does not actually contain cream; rather, it is thickened with eggs.

Image 1. Dat bacon tho

Needless to say, I was intrigued.

And thus began my quest to make (semi-)authentic Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Namo Thai

Maybe it's the Asian in me, but I've always had a soft spot for food of the "Orient". For the past few years, my obsession has been Thai; I crave it to the point where I become a nuisance to everyone around me. Thankfully, this cute little place called Namo Thai has been within walking distance from my house, which has been a life saver.

My go-to Thai meal for years has been green curry with shrimp (or some other kind of shellfish) and a glass of Thai iced tea on the side, but Namo's $20 prix fixe menu encouraged me to switch it up this time. Instead of the usual appetizer-entree-dessert, Namo's 3-course deal was appetizer-second appetizer-entree, which in my opinion was a much better alternative.

Image 1. My one true love, Thai iced tea

Low fat cheesecake

If you're like me and you grew up drinking whole milk and eating full fat cheese, you may shudder at the thought of low fat cheesecake. But fear not! I would never sacrifice flavor just to cut some calories. Life's too short.

This cheesecake may be low fat, but it is creamy, cheesy, and just the perfect amount of sweet; you won't be disappointed.

Image 1. Follow me after the jump for the recipe!

WNTD: The Ballad of Cho Sun Ok

I've debated writing this post for a long time,  mostly because I don't have any images, which are the bread and butter of food blogs (the environment is too traumatizing to think about taking pictures). Another reason was that I don't enjoy writing highly negative reviews (there is a clearly defined line between constructive criticism and straight-up negativity). But then I realized that it is my duty to alert my fellow Chicagoans about the perils of eating at this...interesting establishment.

Cho Sun Ok is a Korean barbecue restaurant that gives Koreans a bad name. I have had to assure people multiple times that no, not all Korean restaurant owners are this rude, and yes, every single Korean restaurant I have been to within and outside of Korea have had very courteous servers despite the lack of tip culture. It's that bad.

There are no words to describe the magnitude of horror that the service here will incite within your soul. Let me put it this way; there is good service, there is bad service, and there is Cho Sun Ok service, which is a level of bad service that is so bad that you will sit there entranced by how bad it is. The food is great, which kept me going back a couple times, but my last experience was so traumatic that I doubt I will be returning.

Where to begin...

MOTD: Korean curry

As I may have mentioned, I have become less adventurous and ambitious in my culinary endeavors due to unfortunate obligations that come with being an adult. I have been channeling my creative energy toward meals that are delicious, nutritious, and require little preparation.

You may recall the good old days when I would make hayashi rice from scratch. Well, I can't say I do much of that anymore. However, I did manage to obtain the next best thing at my local (actually, it's a huge pain to get there, but it's still in the city) Korean grocery store.

Image 1. Korean Curry Powder

Smoque BBQ

You guys.

This, without a doubt, is my favorite restaurant in all of Chicago.

BEHOLD, THE ALMIGHTY SMOQUE:

Image 1. THE LEGEND.

Sola Restaurant

Now that I'm working, posting regularly has been a monumental challenge. So much so, in fact, that the restaurant that I'm about to review was one that I visited over a month ago. Unfortunately, our need for money and sleep can interfere with our hobbies sometimes.

A couple months ago, I found a Groupon for Hawaiian- and Asian-inspired New American food. Intrigued, I Googled the restaurant and was shocked to find that it was within walking distance of where I lived. That's when I knew I had to pay Sola Restaurant in North Center a visit.

Image 1. The ambiance

The interior of the restaurant was lit with a grid of those Asian rice paper lamps that you often see at Chinese New Year Festivals suspended from the ceiling. Although you can't tell from this picture, there was also a faux fireplace that added to the aura of warmth. They were also playing Radiohead's "High and Dry" in the background, which is one of my favorite songs by my favorite band.

s'more cupcakes

If you have been baking for a long time, you already know that s'more cupcakes are nothing new. However, you will find that the modular nature of s'more ingredients leads to a variety of interpretations when it comes to translating this campfire dessert into cupcake form. Today, I will share mine.

Image 1. My s'more cupcake

Fun fact: I finally bought a piping bag, but I had my kitchen redone and I lost it in the process. That would be why the frosting looks like white poo. A tragic tale, indeed.

WNTD: Wonton wrapper ravioli

Welcome to my new segment, "What Not To Do (WNTD)," in which I share my various culinary catastrophes with you. The first post is a pretty epic one, so I'm not sure how I'm ever going to top this...but moving on.

As you may or may not know, I had previously vowed to never make ravioli from scratch again after the Great Ravioli Adventure of Valentine's Day 2014. However, I had heard through the proverbial grapevine that wonton wrappers make excellent ravioli shells, so when I ran into some at the grocery store, I naturally had to pick them up.

Image 1. Innocent wonton wrappers...or are they?

Bulgogi

For a while I debated whether to put this on my MOTD section or in here, because while I technically have a recipe, it is nearly identical to my Korean-style baby back ribs recipe, which makes this whole post rather redundant. After much rumination, I decided that I had to share, partly because the recipe turned out so well and partly because it is my first true Korean recipe on this blog.

Bulgogi (불고기) roughly translates to English as "fire-roasted beef," which I always thought was odd; how else would you roast beef if not with fire? Nevertheless, bulgogi is also the most universally loved Korean dish in existence; even if you've never had Korean food before, you will enjoy this.

Image 1. Bulgogi marinating

MOTD: Trader Joe's Thai green curry

Whenever I eat Thai food, green curry - objectively the spiciest and subjectively the most flavorful Thai curry of all - is my go-to. Naturally, when I spotted a jar of Thai green curry sauce at Trader Joe's, I had to check it out.

Image 1. Thai green curry simmer sauce

Hot Doug's

I am madly in love with the Chicago-style hot dog. I find it vastly preferable to its New York counterpart, which is immersed in what can only be described as hot dog water and garnished uncouthly with ketchup (the same cannot be said about pizza, but that is a story for a different time).

Image 1. The Fire Dog

This past weekend I had the pleasure of stopping by the one and only Hot Doug's. I had been meaning to visit since my college days, as the place was of UChicago-level fame (seeing as U of C students are generally too busy spending their days and nights in the Regenstein library - without eating, sleeping or bathing - to explore the city, something that is UChicago fame-worthy is a huge deal).

Ice cream cake: when heaven freezes over

At first, I thought this recipe may be too amateur to post here, and then I realized this was The Rookie Cookbook, where professional photography is frowned upon and nothing is too amateur. Nothing. Thus, I present to you the ice cream cake.

Image 1. Homemade ice cream cake

This ice cream cake has a flourless chocolate cake base, topped with cheesecake ice cream, graham cracker crumbs, and dark chocolate ganache. In other words, it's heaven frozen over.

But enough of my babbling. Let's get to it.

Classic & Korean-style baby back ribs

I love me some ribs.

But sometimes, after going through the same rotation of meals for the umpteenth week, you stare at a rack of ribs and think, "I wanna try something different." Which is why, my friends, I present to you the Korean-style baby back ribs.

Image 1. Ribs with brown sugar & paprika rub

Of course, I needed to insure myself for potential damages (i.e. if my Korean ribs suck), so I divided the ribs in half and cooked up a batch of classic baby back ribs as well, complete with homemade barbecue sauce from scratch. That's right. You get two recipes in one post.

MOTD: EPIC BREAKFAST SANDWICH

If you are a chronic insomniac like me, you get some of your best ideas at night. Especially if you're like me and you're always hungry. This breakfast sandwich was one of those ideas.

Image 1. Heavenly breakfast sandwich

That, my friends, is a hot dog bun (it's the only bread I had, lulz) topped with brie cheese, bacon, an over easy egg, and avocado. I was planning on adding arugula, but as you can see, my sandwich was already overflowing. I had to eat it with a fork.

Sapori Trattoria

This restaurant review has been a long time coming; ever since I first arrived in Chicago I have been searching for the Italian restaurant to trump all Italian restaurants, and Sapori Trattoria in Lincoln Park, being the top-rated-on-Yelp restaurant that it is, definitely deserved a visit.

Image 1. I am impressed with the quality of my phone's camera

Hassle-free hayashi rice

I just realized that even though I'm Asian, I don't have an Asian recipe on this blog yet. BLASPHEMY! Seeing as I have an old bottle of cabernet that I bought for cooking purposes and I was kind of getting tired of making marinara sauce, I decided to try something different.

Thus began my journey of cooking hayashi rice.

Image 1. Hayashi sauce

Every Asian probably remembers buying these at their local Asian supermarket. I myself have never tasted hayashi rice made of anything other than this conveniently packaged block of hayashi rice sauce. The problem was, I didn't have any with me, and the nearest Asian market is a significant distance away. Besides, being that this is America, I had no idea how much they costed here and didn't want to be unpleasantly surprised.

MOTD: Epic meal time

Brats wrapped in bacon. Need I say more?

Image 1. BACON STRIPS. BACON STRIPS. BACON STRIPS.

I can't be the only person who thinks the stuff they come up with on Epic Meal Time looks delicious. Sure, they're obscenely high-calorie and should not be consumed by any human on a regular basis, and sure, some things like the bacon protein bar look absolutely disgusting, but mostly, it's just copious amounts of meat and cheese. What's not to like? Right? Right?!

MOTD: Cooking with cabernet

I'm pretty sure you can literally never go wrong with onions, garlic, butter, and olive oil. The holy quadfecta(?).

Image 1. Buttery, garlicky, onion-y goodness

Carrot cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting

I've never liked cake much, other than chocolate cake (I know, I'm weird). But for some reason, I've always liked carrot cake, even as a kid. I realize now that my love affair with carrot cake can be attributed to the cream cheese frosting (further emphasizing my undying obsession with cheese and cheese-based desserts).

Image 1. Dat sprinkle of cinnamon

Let me guess what you're thinking. Carrot cake? Really? Carrot cake has been around for eons and there are countless tried and true recipes all over the internet. But mine is a little bit different. Being the problem solver that I am, I have identified three major issues with carrot cake as we know it today.

Seafood paella

I must be on a major seafood kick, because right after I returned from GT Fish & Oyster, I decided to make this seafood paella.

Image 1. Seafood paella...in a cast-iron pan...with Italian rice.

Paella is named after the pan in which it is prepared, which is a wide, shallow metal pan that gets wider at the top, like this. I wasn't going to buy a something that I rarely use to fill up my already inadequate kitchen cabinet space, though, so I used my cast iron pan instead. It is also prepared with bomba (or Valencia) rice, but Trader Joe's did not carry it, so I opted for Arborio rice (otherwise known as Italian risotto rice). Any short-grain rice will do; just don't use basmati or anything crazy like that, because it won't taste right.

GT Fish & Oyster: Chef Week

Those of you residing in the East/West coast may scoff at the idea of having seafood in the Midwest, but really, what other choice do we have? I sure as hell am not flying all the way to San Francisco every time I get a craving for calamari.

Chicago Chef Week is March 17-21, which is essentially no different from Restaurant Week other than the fact that it's shorter and doesn't include the weekend. My friends and I decided to go to GT Fish & Oyster in the Near North Side for a luxurious lunch.

Image 1. House-made hot sauces

Mojito cupcakes & matcha rice cupcakes

I've never been a huge fan of food coloring, since they serve no other purpose other than to dye a food a specific color (with the exception of red velvet, because they're rather hideous without the red hue). I've always been all about function over form, and when St. Patrick's day rolled around I found myself brainstorming ideas to concoct naturally green desserts.

The first idea I had was a mojito cupcake, which combines two green things (lime and mint). I decided to go for a traditional white cake infused with mint, with a lime curd center and a tart lime buttercream. The second idea I had was a matcha cupcake with white chocolate ganache, inspired by the green tea Kit Kat. To keep with the Asian theme of the recipe, I opted for rice flour instead of all-purpose.

Image 1. Mojito cupcakes & matcha rice cupcakes

The results were great, and I'm here to share my recipe with you.

MOTD: St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I decided to cook and bake all things green for this holiday. This St. Patrick's Day is absurdly cold for some reason (winter just doesn't want to leave us), and since I don't drink, food is the only (and best!) way I could celebrate.

Image 1. St Paddy's day cupcakes

The cupcake on the left is a mint white cake with lime buttercream frosting, and the one on the right is a matcha cupcake with white chocolate ganache. The recipe for these will be coming soon!

Tango Sur

There's a cute little Argentine steakhouse near my house called Tango Sur that I decided to check out the other day.

Image 1. Delicious bread

We were served with bread and butter upon arrival. The bread was perfect; crisp on the outside. soft and glutenous on the inside.

Triple chocolate tiramisu from scratch

I'm not a huge dessert person, but I make an exception for those that are made from chocolate, cheese, or both. Tiramisu has all the flavors that I love as well as the airy texture that I find myself craving on occasion. 

Image 1. CHOCOLATE. CHOCOLATE EVERYWHERE.

The hint of coffee soaked into the layer of ladyfingers just hits the spot, and I was determined to make this Italian delicacy from scratch. But why stop at a light dusting of cocoa powder on the top? Why not make a chocolate ladyfinger layer and a chocolate mascarpone cream? Is that too much chocolate? Can there ever be such a thing as too much chocolate?

The answer is no. This triple chocolate tiramisu is at least as good, if not better, as its non-chocolate counterpart.

MOTD: Crepes

I'm normally a pancake kind of girl, but last weekend, I was feeling something a bit fancier. I decided to make crepes.

Image 1 .I had some leftover strawberries, so I set 'em aside.

Bop N Grill

Back in the 90s when I was a kid, I remember Korean food wasn't particularly popular, at least not where I was; as far as I could see, the only people that ate Korean food were other Koreans. Things are different now, though, and the increasing popularity of Korean food has inspired fusion dishes which are perfect for people like me who are Korean, enjoy complex flavors and an amalgam of different cuisines, and find themselves craving a multitude of foods at the same time.

Bop N Grill - a modest establishment located on Loyola University campus in Rogers Park next to the biggest Chipotle I have ever seen - is one of those places.

Image 1. Korean-American fusion nomz.

Pork & ricotta ravioli with pesto

If I may make a confession...

I will admit that I did not intend to make the ravioli from scratch. I was actually looking for ravioli wrappers that I could use at the grocery store, but then I realized that this was preposterous, as dehydrated pasta is impossible to shape into ravioli shells and once they are cooked you can't actually fill them in. So alas, I was forced to roll pasta dough until the cows came home.

But let me back up and start from the beginning. 

Image 1. Finished ravioli and pesto

MOTD: Valentine's day

This Valentine's day we decided to do something different. The timing was apt; Restaurant Week 2014 had just ended (shameless plug to my Restaurant Week-related post here), and House of Cards Season 2 was made available in its entirety on Netflix, so I figured this Valentine's day was the perfect opportunity to stay in.

But celebrating with delicious food is always a must! Thus began my 4-hour wrestling match with ravioli dough.

Image 1. My arms suffered greatly that day.

The Savoy: Restaurant week

Restaurant Week is a very controversial thing here in Chicago. Some deem it a great deal and an excellent opportunity to visit uncharted territory, while others claim that it is simply a ploy to get people to spend money they wouldn't normally spend. To that, I say: ¿por qué no los dos? The restaurant gets to rake in more cash than usual, and I get to eat delicious food at a discounted price. A win-win if there ever was one.

This year, Restaurant Week was actually two weeks, and for some reason I never had the opportunity to participate in it until now. After extensive research, I eventually settled on The Savoy in Wicker Park.

Image 1. The restaurant facade. I did not take this picture.

The Peasantry

For my first restaurant review, I would like to talk about this cute place in Lincoln Park called The Peasantry. Normally, I'm not into New American cuisine (the tiny portions disappoint me every time), but their website stated that they serve "elevated street food," which seemed right up my alley.

Image 1. You can eat outdoors. I did not, because Chiberia. I also did not take this picture.

MOTD: Chicken tenders & kale chips

Healthy meets...not so healthy. A perfect balance. Chicken tenders, kale chips, and homemade honey mustard sauce.

This section is for easily prepared meals that also happen to not look like dog poo. Like this one!

Brioche french toast with bananas & salted caramel

I love breakfast food.

No really, I really really love it. I've been eating homemade pancakes every weekend since forever, and I must have made them literally a hundred times. It's easy, it's quick, and I've got the whole routine down pat.

But sometimes, I feel like going all out and start preparing for weekend brunch the night before. Hence, brioche french toast was born.

Image 1. Finished product. Glorious.

It's a lot of work, but it will be worth it, I promise.

Let's start with the brioche, shall we?