Gyros are amazing! Especially if you pair them with garlic feta fries I’m surprised it’s not more popular in my part of the world!
Hello, fellow picky eater!
But yes, hummus is so good! It keeps decently well in the fridge too which makes it perfect for leftovers.
Related to that, there is this fancy Mediterranean restaurant in town that has a whole section of their menu dedicated to hummus I got one with chili oil
Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you had a blast! And all the food pics look so good
Oh yeah, I’ve heard that before! I was surprised when I found out. Thank you Austrians for creating my favorite pastry
That’s definitely a thing! When it comes to trying new foods in general, I generally make sure to try them at places that make them authentically
Somewhat related but my ex didn’t like porridge and always thought of it as bland and unappetizing. I cooked us some arroz caldo (Filipino chicken rice porridge) and let’s just say that he changed his mind
I think I am the only person who finds hummus bland, boring and uncreative I tried with it, but I can’t physically enjoy it. Even the spiced ones. It’s just too… meh for me. I’d even rather have Tahini, Baba ghanoush, Tzatziki or Taramasalata.
Well, it’s not really a dish per-se, it’s more a style of food. I used to think vegan food was very plain and boring and not nice, until I went to this place in Belfast called Jumon. It changed my mind on vegan food and showed me it could be interesting:
I will say that after I started cooking a lot for myself in college, I noticed a lot of my meals were technically vegan or vegetarian. Take spaghetti aglio e olio, for example, a classic and authentic Italian dish: it uses olive oil, garlic, and no animal products whatsoever, making it technically vegan!
There are also cultures out there that have a lot of plant-based dishes. I know many Indians are vegetarian because of religion. And, this surprised me when I found out, but a lot of Ethiopian cuisine is vegan because the Ethiopian Orthodox abstain from all meat products during Lent!
That being said, I do have an issue with modern vegan food that uses tofu as a catch-all substitute for meat. As an Asian, I love tofu. Especially if it’s silken. But I hate it when I see people pretend that you can make tofu taste exactly like chicken or whatever meat like I’ve told people before: “Westerners eat tofu because it’s not meat; we Asians eat tofu because it’s tofu. We’re not the same.”
Obviously that’s a huge generalization right there, but you get the point
I’m now reminded of this one time I found some packets of Indonesian rendang paste being sold in a regular grocery store, and man, you have no idea how excited I was! My country and its cuisine aren’t that popular so I was thrilled to see it in a regular grocery store. Looking at the ingredient list, I had my hopes up too. Then when it was time to cook it… let’s just say there were a lot of red flags
But the biggest red flag was that it suggested tofu as a protein RENDANG DOES NOT (traditionally) USE TOFU. YOU KNOW WHAT ACTUAL INDONESIANS USE FOR MEATLESS RENDANG? JACKFRUIT. NOT TOFU.
And it mentioned simmering mushrooms, chicken, and lean cuts of beef for… twenty minutes? The reason why rendang takes so long is that you have to simmer the beef chunks for at least two hours, preferably four or longer. And then the sauce tasted too sweet I had to add lots of salt and other spices to make it better.
I checked out the company behind it. The creator appears to be Malaysian-American, and she butchered my national dish those were not Indonesian flavors. Just because we’re neighbors with similar cultures doesn’t mean we’re the same luckily I live near an Asian grocery that sells rendang paste from actual Indonesian brands. Otherwise I’d have to resort to ordering off Amazon like what I’ve done before.
So vegan food, it can be pretty delish. You might even cook vegan food without intending to make something specifically vegan. Tofu for everything, though? Straight to hell
I need to go back and do just this due to some poor judgement on my side, I did not actually have any cake on my actual birthday, and now I’m kicking myself for it what better place for birthday cake than Vienna?? UGH.
Also, edited to add: a few years ago, a coworker from Vienna sent me a mini Sachertorte as a thank-you gift, the one made by Hotel Sacher, but what I had at Café Central was much better. Maybe because it was fresh? Idk. The chocolate glaze tasted artificially sweet on the Sachertorte I was delivered.
Kinda ugly looking but I went on a tour of an abbey for French class and bought some monk-made blue cheese and cider, and I used the cheese to make some mushroom pasta
(and I don’t own a wine glass so i had to use a normal glass like a pleb)
This one was super simple! just mushrooms, onion, pepper and garlic powder, and some blue cheese and cream for the sauce.
I burnt the life out of the mushrooms and used coffee cream instead of cooking cream because i’m cheap and that’s all i had, but tbh it turned out okay for an air-fryer meal. I might try making it again but with different types of mushrooms and onions and a less crispy frying time.
I didn’t even know that the Ethiopia Orthodoz abstain from all meat products during Lent! Learned something new today, and about spaghetti aglio e olio. But then I guess, if I use coconut oil in my toast, it’s technically “vegan” as an oil cause it’s a plant product and not animal fat. And the bread has no eggs in it. There are a lot on unintentionally vegan things we have for snacks as well, like nuts etc.
Yeah, no I agree. Nothing wrong with tofu but if I am eating something vegan and I want something to taste like meat, I like quorn. Their chicken substitutes are suprisingly nice, closest thing I’ve had to chicken nuggets and could eat on a more regular basis if I had to.
But yes, you can’t make tofu taste like chicken or whatever meat cause it’s not designed to be like that. I’ve had tofu before and enjoyed it, but just not as a meat replacement.
I’ve heard of jackfruit before and maybe even had it once. It does taste like way more of an actual meat substitute than tofu from what I remember. It sounds like a shame that she butchered your national dish though.
From what you’re describing of it done right, it sounds lovely though, rendang. I haven’t actually had it before or much Indonesian cuisine, which is a shame (apart from Indomie noodles, but I don’t know if you want to count that as a proper ‘Indonesian cuisine’ dish even though they’re delicious)
I agree. Purposefully, I made sure everything I had that night was tofu-free And chickpea free. You can have actually tasty vegan food without those things. To me, tofu for everything is lazy in vegan circles, and so is always having hummus/falafel. There is a world of vegan food out there, I know it.
Sounds really good personally I tend to sauté chopped garlic in butter, then sauté the mushrooms, and add in the pasta. Sometimes I add bacon and use the bacon grease in lieu of butter
Related to that, I usually use the cheapest white button mushrooms because I’m broke but I’ve also tried shiitake mushrooms and they work really well!
It’s amazing when done right! Imagine chunks of beef stewed in a wealth of spices and coconut milk for several hours on low heat until the oil separates and until the meat becomes super tender another reason why it takes so long to make!
And yes, Indomie! They’re my favorite instant noodles, even though I’m biased because I’m Indonesian I will say that the best Indomie is the one sold within Indonesia. I’ve tried export Indomie before and they really tone down the flavors so that it’s blander than it’s supposed to be although that’s partly because the unhealthy stuff is what adds flavor. I remember being a kid and seeing news that Taiwan banned Indomie because it was so unhealthy
But then again, life is too short to not enjoy food I’ve brought boxes of Indomie straight from Jakarta to give to my American friends, and my now-ex has a whole box of Indomie to himself. They’ve compared the ones I brought to the ones they bought in Walmart, and they all noticed a taste difference between the local Indomie and the exported version.
Technically the red curry dumpling soup I made can qualify as vegan if you use vegetable dumplings! And it totally slaps. I’ve been thinking about posting the recipe sometime actually
Mmm that sounds delicious! Almost makes me wish I had a stove to properly sauté things on, but hopefully I figure it out on the air fryer.
yeah lmao the only reason I had mushrooms in the first place is that they were on sale. I don’t know if I’ve successfully cooked with shiitake mushrooms yet, but I also heard cremini mushrooms are good and I like those (when I can afford them lol)
I wanna wish y’all a Happy Halloween! even though it might already be November for some of you regardless, I have some treats that I wanna share!
But first off, I have good news: I’ve scored my first ever interview for a full-time job last week, and had four total interviews so far! To celebrate, I’ve eaten some Sichuan food at Chengdu Impression in Lincoln Park!
Yes, I did visit that restaurant twice the twice-cooked pork was solid, better than at one of their other branches, and I finished it—and more than one bowl of rice—in one sitting because I was so hungry I had to put off sleep because I was too full to lay down their Chongqing dry chili chicken wasn’t as good as at other places, but still not bad.
It’s also been getting cold lately, so I warmed up with some ramen and hot tea from Kohoku-ku Ramen in Edgewater
As for the Halloween festivities, my friend and I watched KPOP Demon Hunters! Their theatrical release was on Halloween, and we thought, why not catch it in a theater? And what better meal to eat before a Kpop-centered movie than some all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ? the best part was that it was cheaper than most all-you-can-eat places around the city!
There’s one more thing that I was thinking of posting today, but since my special mission hasn’t been completed yet, I think I’ll save that for a later day
Anyway, I hope y’all had a fabulous night of festivities and other fall fun!
Fun fact that I only recently learned: it’s National Sandwich Day in the US! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to grab a sandwich today to celebrate, but in lieu of eating one, I’ll drop a couple of pictures instead!
First, a smoked salmon BLT! After my team and I completed our senior design project, our professor treated the team to lunch
One of my teammates ordered the exact same thing as I did. I purposefully chose something that wasn’t super expensive because I didn’t want to take advantage of my professor’s generosity… and then our PhD student mentor ordered a $35+ salmon main course that was about twice as expensive as the burger our professor ordered
Next, some chicken sandwiches and smoked salmon sandwiches I bought while waiting in Tokyo Haneda airport in Japan!
I remember this layover being really long. I think I spent about nine hours or so waiting at the airport? The life of an international student
And this could be a point of debate, but a s’more can be considered a sandwich have a s’more that I made once at a family outing!
Whoops, been a while! I have not yet finished my little mission, but I do have some goodies to share
One of my friends was visiting town recently to watch a couple of his favorite bands play. I wasn’t able to join him for either concert or the first two nights of his stay, but I was able to take him out to dinner on Tuesday! Behold, a very filling dinner at YooYee
Yes, I have posted about this restaurant before I think this is my eighth visit so far. Doing my part to support local businesses and to think they didn’t advertise at all they just opened and word of mouth spread like wildfire.
I got us some jasmine green tea to warm us up since it was cold and snowy. We shared wontons in chili oil, Chongqing dry chili chicken, and twice-cooked pork! And I may or may not have eaten 2.5 bowls of rice
The remaining half was from my friend. Though he remembered my instruction to come on an empty stomach, he overestimated how many tacos he could eat for lunch he said he was definitely going to come back.
@Churro@JojoDahlia I ordered the same vegetarian taco and bao as last time, and they’re still some of my favorites in addition to trying their duck taco and bao and their steak taco!
After dinner I did go out to catch the northern lights, but it looks like I missed the window but have a starry sky pic as compensation
That food looks good especially the dry chili chicken and those bao buns. Wouldn’t have know they were totally vegetarian until you pointed that out. Everything you find looks delicious… honestly!
Also sucks you missed the northern lights. I got to see them on Tuesday Night/Wednesday Morning but I missed them last night cause it was cloudy You have to get them at a very specific time. But nice starry sky pic. I love clear starry nights.
If the storm’s strong enough, yeah. It needs to be G1 (KP5) for me, at least to see anything clearly. This was an intense storm G3-4 (KP7-8) and it lasted a while. You need less KP in the North Pole to see them, cause they’re so close but because this Solar Year has been so good, you could see it twice the whole way down through Spain and even into North Africa.
I’m surprised it’s not more popular in my part of the world!
I got one with chili oil 
I hope you had a blast! And all the food pics look so good 
it was really nice, but I wish I could have eaten even more 
like I’ve told people before: “Westerners eat tofu because it’s not meat; we Asians eat tofu because it’s tofu. We’re not the same.”
The reason why rendang takes so long is that you have to simmer the beef chunks for at least two hours, preferably four or longer. And then the sauce tasted too sweet 
I had to add lots of salt and other spices to make it better.
luckily I live near an Asian grocery that sells rendang paste from actual Indonesian brands. Otherwise I’d have to resort to ordering off Amazon like what I’ve done before.
It does taste like way more of an actual meat substitute than tofu from what I remember. It sounds like a shame that she butchered your national dish though.
Purposefully, I made sure everything I had that night was tofu-free 
even though it might already be November for some of you 
I had to put off sleep because I was too full to lay down 
their Chongqing dry chili chicken wasn’t as good as at other places, but still not bad.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to grab a sandwich today to celebrate, but in lieu of eating one, I’ll drop a couple of pictures instead!
have a s’more that I made once at a family outing!
and their steak taco!
