Olympic Lovin' Kimchi Fried Quinoa

Knock knock. Who's there? Quinoa. Quinoa who...wait. What!? Where is rice? This is supposed to be kimchi fried rice, right!? Is this some kind of sick joke?

Nope.  It most certainly is not.

The thing is though, it's Olympics season. Which isn't all about jaw-dropping, gorgeous men in speedos breaking world records in the pool. Or sexy Europeans that make you want to chuck your citizenship in the fire and be reborn on the other side of the globe. (Err, kidding...obviously. F-yeah Amurica!)

But in all seriousness...

The Olympics is about unification. It brings together athletes from all over the world to compete on a single, universal platform through athletics. Here, countries get to show off their colors (whaddup Zhong Guo-current medal count winner!), flaunt some spirit, but also transcend politics/geography/stigmatism in camaraderie and sportsmanship. There is nothing more genuine than bonds born from the common ground of dedication, fierce determination, and competition. Every Olympic athlete is a true champion, and they all recognize that in one another.

It's one of the reasons why I love Olympic season. The unity seems to permeate even into the most local levels. Everywhere I go, people can find conversation in the Olympics, no matter if you are with mere acquaintances or barely strangers. Everyone, to some extent, is caught up in the same fervor. It's fun times.

And those swimmers...yes...these are indeed fun times. Swooooooon!

What does this have to do with my dinner tonight? Meh, nothing really. Except actually, it is EVERYTHING.  Everyone expects kimchi fried rice to, understandably, be made with rice. Rice is to Asian as water is to dolphin. But tonight, I decided to introduce the native South American seed into the traditional korean dish. HA! Two different worlds...blending of cultures...Olympics! Relevant! And it worked. It worked so, so well.

Okay so I actually added quinoa to it because I had leftover cooked quinoa and didn't want to make rice. But lets just keep things Olympic themed, shall we?

Quinoa is continuing to prove itself as a very worthy substitute for rice. And this dish was so quick and easy to make, it literally took 10 minutes. I also added an egg on top (would that count as a dash of Amurrcan into my cultural medley?) Unfortunately, I had originally wanted to add cheese too (MORE cross cultural exchange!) but completely forgot. Sadface, will have to wait until next time! Because trust me, there will most definitely be many more next times with this dish.

Now off to watch women's beach volleyball (go China)!

Difficulty: 2
Willingness to make again: 10
Over-all: 8
Notes:
1) The kimchi is pretty salty, so make sure kimchi to quinoa ratio is appropriate
2) This was a very simplified version of the original recipe, primarily because I didn't have gochugang or any substitute. But it turned out fine without it. Next time though, I will be sure to have sirracha sauce
3) NEXT TIME: ADD CHEESE & TOFU & maybe some garlic? 
4) Definitely should have used FOUR instead of just 1 single egg. Too small, moops.

Newcomer Quinoa!!

Another inspiration, albeit not nearly as possessing as the cupcake-craze, came to me this weekend. In the form of quinoa. 

                                        

Quinoa is like the hipster form of rice (is anyone noticing a hipster trend on this blog? #berkeleygirl). Except it is a whole-grain packed with protein and leaves out the unnecessary carbs/starch. A vegetarian's best buddy. It's that item you know you can find at Trader Joes.

                                      

                                  Did I also mention quinoa is amazingly easy to cook? Yeeeeees.

There is no one way to make a quinoa salad-dish. Essentially, every recipe just calls you to add a certain arrangement of veggies, usually uncooked, followed by their prescribed medley of salt/oils/sauces.

I decided to use whatever veggies I had in the fridge, fry them up and add it to my quinoa. I got my sauce inspiration from this recipe. 

                                       

Here we see carrots, mushrooms, celery, cong and corn

I decided to fry my veggies after remembering that time I made not-so-tasty thai noodles

The lime and salt provided a much stronger flavor than I would have imagined, in a very good way. I didn't have the patience to seed out and add jalapeno, but added a few drops of hot sauce for a kick instead. I don't think this added much though, and I think next time I will try it with jalapeno. 

                                     

This lunch was a perfect quick-fix since I was on my way to play hostess to some of my friend's visiting from NY/NJ. These are Cal friends who also have jobs on the east coast this summer. Because playing host tends to involve spending lots of money eating out in the city, I figured I  would save some strain on my wallet by catching one freebie meal at home before meeting up with them.

                                     

mmmMMMmm look at the pretty colors

Over-all, despite levels of humidity that felt like we were in Satan's bathroom, it was a very fun weekend filled with new and old friends, some belligerence (yolo-fish!) and of course, Mike's Pastries. This lunch left me surprisingly full and well energized to tackle the heated streets of Boston and endless walking, despite being healthy and very salad-esque. Thank youuuu quinoa! 

                                       

Difficulty: 3 (will vary on vegetable chopping time)

Willingness to make again: 10!

Over-all: 8

Notes:

1) jalapeno pepper (see above)

2) I used the boiling water method to cook my quinoa, which was easy and fast. But it did leave my quinoa a little soggy. Next time, either steam it, microwave it, or try frying the quinoa in the skillet with the veggies for a few minutes. 

Triple Threat Cupcakes: Chocolate, Sprinkles and PBJ

Once upon a time, there was a girl who randomly became obsessed with making cupcakes. Cupcakes held her brain hostage, and she couldn't stop thinking about them. It was like her brain was going cupcakescupcakescupcakescupcakescupcakes nonstop. She was inspired; ideas were sprouting left and right: chocolate flavor... jelly filled...peanut butter frosting! Cream cheese frosting...cream cheese frosting with sprinkles...truffles...(oh my!)

Game. Over.

Knowing she had no choice, she acted upon these cupcake-impulses that night. It was then that she realized she had an obligation, not just to herself, but to society at large, to recreate all her brain's envisions into reality...

I wonder who this lovely heroine is? Har har har.

Simultaneously watching the Olympics with the Parents, I used this base recipe for the cupcakes, except this time I was able to use a real cupcake pan! Thanks Ma!!! I officially hand in my resignation from the kiddie pool and formally request to be granted access into the big leagues. Thank you very much.

Not wanting a repeat of last time's near diabetic episode, I carefully adapt my ingredient measurements so that I didn't end up with 24 extra cupcakes and 240 extra pounds of fat. It says online that a mini muffin tray holds 4x more than a regular cupcake pan, so I adjusted accordingly, using my superb, unworldly mathematical skills. (For those who know me...L-O-L) Sadly, originally wanting to make 3 cupcakes, I ended up with 9.....oops....but NOT because of a math error, mind you. And at least 9 < 12.

By the time I started to actually bake, I had already been obsessively thinking, googling, and mapping out my plan of execution for the past 4 hours (while, of course, being ridiculously productive in the office. Who do you think I am!?)

I was going to make my batter and separate it 3 ways: one for chocolate, plain, and plain with sprinkles.

Then I was going to make two different frostings- cream cheese and peanut butter.

(peanut butter...and more butter,  oh joy) 

(cream cheese, butter and honey substituted for sugar)

Real talk, one of the main reasons I became obsessed with making cupcakes is because of frosting. I wanted to frost until I dropped. And spoiler alert: it's just as fun as you think it's going to be.

Again, L-E-G-I-T? 

Yes, this made me feel legitsies indeed

What I didn't plan on: running out of milk. So I used my gross sugarless pudding+H2O again. The batter then took on a more viscous texture, becoming thicker than the last time I used this recipe.

On the opposite spectrum, my peanut butter "frosting" likened to more of a glaze than a thick coat of frosting. I had a good time licking clean You can see it spilling over te edges, unable to solidify the way the cream cheese frosting did. Refrigerating the cupcakes overnight solved this problem.

                                       

                                       

You can see the peanut butter cupcake post-refrigerated, the glaze solidified as a thin layer on top

Difficulty: 8 

Willingness to make again: 5 (special occasions only, now that I got it out of my system) 

Over-all: 8.5 

Notes: 

1) PB frosting should be built off the cream cheese frosting recipe next time to make it thick 

2) The truffle in the center was ingenious, but also too sweet. Use half of a truffle or a less sweet chocolate next time 

cream cheese frosting

peanut butter frosting/inspiration

                                     

It's funny because leading up to these cupcakes, I was completely possessed. But after spending the entire night slaving over these little beauties, I am surprisingly at a loss of words to write about them. (Me? Not having much to...say!? Who is this alien and what has she done with the real Jennifer) I think this may be one of those instances where a picture is worth a thousand words. So I will just conclude my post with a jumbo-thousand words, in the form of these: 

                                      

This was my jelly filled cupcake, which rose much more than the others

                                     

Here you can see my sprinkles cupcake. Sprinkles=confetti version of fun&happiness, wippee!

                                     

Chocolate with the truffle center, ooOOo baby

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

Next day: nice and solidified. Yay

Yep, I think that pretty much says it all.

Bronze Olympic Omelettes

Raise your hand if you are watching the Olympics, woooo! And now raise your hand if watching the Olympics stresses you out like no other. Whaaaat? But seriously.

Why am I stressed out by the Olympics? Is it because the NBC broadcast is simply the absolute worst? Or maybe because the events are often being showed while I am at work and cannot watch. Maybe the fact that the live-game and the broadcasted game are at different times so you get spoiler results. And what about those ridiculous montages that NBC keeps showing? Uhm, ALL. OF. THE. ABOVE. (this pretty much says it all)

But then things like this happen

Congrats on the gold medal in 100 free from CAL ALUMN Nathan Adrian! Urgh, why don't all Cal boys look like you???? And why didn't fate let us fall in love with each other while you were still on campus?? Sigh/Iwantyou

And I forget what there is to complain about. 

Wait so what was my point about all this again? Er......[INSERT SMOOTH, COHERENT TRANSITION]

                                           

So I made omelettes last night. Omelettes with spinach, mushroom and onion stir fry inside. And then some cheese.

You know, eggs are supposed to be the easiestpeasiest things to cook,  right? But these omelettes actually gave me some difficulty.Are we surprised at this point? No, we sadly are not. 

                                    

The issue was the omelette part. I made them way too thick and was very rushed, trying to multitask making the eggs while stir frying the massive amounts of veggies at the same time. The omelette also tore while I was flipping.  And at the last minute I realized I was forgetting salt, and crazily began adding salt to all the veggies and egg. Clutch! Bad execution on my part, 0.5 deduction for sloppiness. 

                                    

BUT, add 2.0 in difficulty level because I learned how to separate egg whites and made my omelette without any of the yellow. I messed up twice, but over-all it went pretty smoothly. 

                                    

Albeit feeling very stressed out and rushed, I did maintain a semblance of calm, pull through with the dish, and serve dinner in a timely manner. Which I think shows my improvement from throughout the summer. 

                                 

And the vegetables did taste good, because I made sure to caramelize the mushrooms and onions very well before adding the spinach. Along with the thickness of my omelettes, this meal was very filling. 

                                     

I can see how, when cooking for one, making an omelette is a quick, easy, and tasty option. But when cooking for four, its difficulty level increases ten fold. 

                                     

                                     

                                       

Difficulty: 6 (when cooking for 4 people) / 3 (when cooking for yourself)

Willingness to make again: 10 -Omelettes and I are going to become very good friends during school...I shall perfect this recipe soon, I'm sure. 

Over-all: 8 

                                       

If I had to, I would give my omelettes Bronze. They weren't China-Diving level, but they didn't tank in a US Men's Gymnastics fashion. Either way, they were good enough for me.