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?