Hello and welcome to Sea Salt & Stardust, a thread for all things related to food, drinks, and anything you can consume! Whether you're an all-out foodie or someone who eats as a means to an end, all are welcome at the table!
Feel free to post pictures of meals you've made, recommend restaurants you've visited, share your favorite recipes... the list goes on! Or you can just chill by the bar if that's more your speed.
What are you waiting for? Come on in and join the feast! Or we can hang out in the kitchen ;)
House Rules
Please be nice and abide by the Code of Conduct. Treat everyone here with respect, regardless of if theyβre a chef, a server, or a patron.
Minimize posting gross content; if you must, at least blur it with the spoiler tag. Letβs try not to ruin peopleβs appetites. Need to spit something out? Hide it with a napkin; no need to show the rest of the table your chewed-up food
Most of all, have fun! I canβt wait to see what you bring to the table or what youβd love to eat at the table, if youβd rather do that
I created this thread because Iβm always hungry so I need people to be hungry with me just kidding!
But I think we could use a food thread
To start, if anyone has heard of the Too Good To Go app, I highly recommend it! Itβs an app designed to combat food waste by allowing restaurants to sell their leftovers
Hereβs a bag of βimperfectβ macarons that I got on the app, for only $7.15 total
Yep! If your city is lucky enough to offer those. The college town I used to live in was really small so the only bags available were from Circle K but thankfully Iβm in Chicago now
Right??? Itβs just such a great app and I only wish I found out about it sooner.
I havenβt gotten anything besides macarons and croissants yet, but thereβs this Ethiopian restaurant nearby that offers a meal for $5-ish itβs along the way to the public library too!
So I borrowed my friendβs kitchen to cook and prep some things ahead of tomorrowβs outing with other friends. These are raw pork belly skewers, waiting to be grilled
Also known as sate babi (pork skewers in Bahasa Indonesia)
I used to have these all the time growing up. It was funny watching my friend struggle to poke through the meat when Iβve been doing it since I was about seven years old
Coffees I made in the church coffee shop, a bacon and cheese toastie with extra bacon, an affogato I made by mixing coffee and ice cream and a breakfast bao bun from Wagamama (yes they make those. I never knew and my curiosity was peaked so I had one).
This was the only image of them that was taken but they turned out really well! I had some people lining up for a third skewer even though I only had enough for everyone plus three extra
These were half-cooked when the image was taken.
If youβre wondering about the foil, thatβs because we were using a public grill that wasnβt cleaned, so we had to put a layer between it and our food. Had a lot of fun yesterday!
I didnβt take a pic of it, but I did half a bag of cole slaw shread from Samβs, half a clamshell of their mushrooms, minced, too, in 3 cups of pancake batter (6 eggs and less water than the recipe called for, just enough to make sure the egg-flour mix looked like pancake batter), thoroughly mixed, then fried in spoonfulls.
Oh, and a dash of Tonyβs (salt, paprika, garlic, black pepper).
Posting something sweet! Propitious Mango Ice Cream, which has apparently gone viral on TikTok the outer coating is made of white chocolate and thereβs mango ice cream inside.
I was getting out of my room at the same time my aunt was unpacking a three-pack of ice cream. She asked me if I wanted one and set one aside for me. Got to snack while watching baseball
I come not just to post food pics, but also to announce some good news: my post-degree-completion Optional Practical Training has been approved by USCIS, and I will soon receive my work permit which will allow me to legally work in the US!
And to celebrate the good news, I treated myself today
First we have a $7.15 Too Good To Go bag of 14 macarons from Vanille Patisserie, as well as an apple almond croissant that I got for 50% off (not pictured)
Next we head to YooYee, one of the best Sichuan restaurants in Chicago, for some Sichuan-style dry chili chicken (I also finished three bowls of rice without leaving a single grain behind)
This oneβs from Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. Took my friend to his first baseball game and not only did we get free hats, but we beat the New York Yankees too!
And this oneβs from Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs! What I love about their ballpark is that youβd always see some guys with big boxes going around the stands to sell food, and I got my first βboxβ hot dog at the game yesterday it was surprisingly hot!
Unfortunately we lost yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays, but it was still pretty fun! Anthony Rizzoβcaptain of the 2016 team that won the World Series that yearβhad his retirement ceremony that day, I managed to snag a free Seiya Suzuki bobblehead, and I witnessed one of our rookies hit his maiden MLB homerun!
or what youβd love to eat at the table, if youβd rather do that 
just kidding!
but thankfully Iβm in Chicago now 
itβs along the way to the public library too!
but they turned out really well! I had some people lining up for a third skewer even though I only had enough for everyone plus three extra 
