ABC Dan Bing Burritos

One of the best ways to feel home away from Home, is by recreating recipes you grew up on. That's one of the great things about food, don'tcha think? Food can really tie so many things together: people, cultures and even memories. 

A dish that I recall with special fondness is dan bing wraps that my parents always made for me. Quick and easy, these wraps were in my tummy every morning of every weekend that I can ever remember in my San Diego home. 

What better dish to add to my list of staple college foods? 

For my version, I decided to use egg whites only (ignore the burnt piece of tortilla I dropped onto my egg)

With tortillas courtesy of the one and only TJ

My dan bing didn't turn out nearly as thin and even as the one the Parent's used to make. But that hopefully will get better with practice.

The original, more Asian version of the wrap, only includes a thin layer of lao gan ma sauce

But since my avocados were going bad, I figured I would add my own ABC spin to the wrap by putting cheese and avocado instead

But in the end, my Chinese palette was not 100% satiated and lao gan ma found its way back into my wrap again. #nostalgia #YUM

Ahhh, yes. In some ways, my childhood really does still live on

For dessert though, I decided to try something completely new. Definitely not Asian, I am not sure what type of cuisine this could be called. This might just have to fall solely in the category of  Experimental Hungry College Kid. Credits still go to Raf for the original avacado+sugar idea.

Take a very ripe avacado, mush it up, add sugar, and dice up some strawberries

And you get a very healthy and delicious dessert! It's edible, I promise!!!!

For lunch, I left out the avacado/cheese and went for the traditional wrap. Unfortunately, I put way too much lao gan ma in it and the next day my wraps were extremely oily, especially after microwaving it. But it still tasted good. 

(Dinner)

Difficulty: 4

Willingness to make again: 10 

Over-all: 9

Yogurt Pasta School Lunch Edition

True to my pact with myself, I am trying not to spend any money eating out. But I am also trying to not let myself starve on campus, and keep my body/brain fueled at all times. To do this inevitably means the return of that one thing: school lunches.

When I think of school lunches, I go back to my childhood: soggy (but delicious) bagel bites in aluminum foil, peanut butter jelly (the BEST!!) sandwiches, and overly warm yogurt in my Lion King lunchbox. As I matured, so did my lunches. Tupperware replaced ceran wrap, and left ovr Chinese food replaced my (to this day) absolute favorite sandwich. The thing with leftovers is though, when it is being heated again in a school microwave, and being eaten out of a small plastic bowl, somehow it just doesn't taste nearly as good as it does at home. Something about it is a little too soggy, or too dry, or an awkward combination of both. It's meh.

In the future, I'll have more spinach to use. Definitely a good additive to the recipe.

But here I am again, a little ol' college junior, and I am once again returning back to the basics with school lunches. It's the only way I can save money, but keep myself fueled to power through my long hours on campus. So now, when I make myself dinners, I be sure to make some extra to pack for the next day. That's my plan, anyways.

This plan debuted with my greek yogurt pasta! I figured the pasta is very leftover-friendly because it isn't too oily, and can easily be heated or eaten cold.

For dinner, I ate it fresh off the skillet. The pasta turned out good, but not as good as the first time I made it at home, because I didn't have fresh garlic or mint. Instead, I used the garlic powder and cooked the remaining spinach that wasn't spoiled.

Honestly, I significantly prefer fresh garlic to the powder. But I guess a college student can't have such high standards all the time. At least the spinach was a great substitute for mint. Mint goes bad way too fast to be worth buying for my college kitchen.

^mah lunch! I bought a cute box from Daiso especially for future lunches

Difficulty: 3 (the spinach was able to be cooked simultaneously with the pasta, which was very convenient) 

Willingness to make again: 8.5 

Over-all: 8

And okay, I also gave in and bought this adorable bowl from Daiso too. TJ mango chunks for dessert are my fav!

Starting a Sunny Day with Sunny Eggs/Chairlift!

What a beauuuuuuutiful Monday, and no school to boot!

This weekend has been a very relaxing and productive one. Which is just what I needed. For this Monday, I am hoping to be able to get more work done while also enjoy the San Diego-esque weather that is gracing Berkeley today. I think sitting out on the quad with my books is the perfect way todo so, wouldn't you think?

 Bestie is coming over to join me, and later in the afternoon I'm meeting up with other friends to watch Chairlift live, for free!

Shweeeeeet. What better way to start off all this awesomeness than with some sunny side eggs?
(Yay for actively taking care of myself by making breakfast!)

Funnily enough, it turns out that I have a knack for making sunny side eggs.

For these, I decided to try adding basil to it. It was very good.

And melted some parmesan cheese on one side of bread 

With daiyi cheese on the other 

Note: We didn't get our toaster yet, so I added the bread to the skillet in order to add some extra crunch.

Then I put everything together

Into a very scrumptious breakfast

And thus, started my day off as a happy, happy camper.

Difficulty: 1

Willingness to make again: 10

Over-all: 9.9 

-EDIT-

Here are some pictures from the Chairlift concert. Chairlift was so good live! 

Giving into Sandwiches with Morningstar

There was a fierce, stubborn feistiness in me that once had a grudge against sandwiches. Women in the kitchen, making men their sandwiches? Urgh, no thank you.  I also always felt that sandwiches were totally over rated (unless it's from IKES!!)
Fine, this grudge is a little more childish than feminist. But whatever.

So the moment I began grocery shopping for my apartment, the last thing I wanted to buy was bread. I wouldn't give in to making sandwiches, because to me it seemed like the easy way out. I was oooooobviously better than that. 

I'm sure you can guess, it didn't take long for my childish pride got a dose of reality. Long story short, I was wrong and stupid.

So on my second trip to Trader Joes, I made a beeline straight for the bread section. At this point, I am willing to put anything edible between two slices of bread and call it gourmet. Cooking between classes is not easy!

I am trying my best to shy away from my usual pb&j sandwich (favorite. sandwich. ever) though and make sandwiches that are more substantive, by buying frozen veggie patties instead of jelly.

Morning Star veggie patties are delicious and easy to make. I tried them for the first time last semester at a bbq, and had them again this summer at a 4th of July party. Yumyumyums!

Coupled with hummus and some greens, and this sandwich is pretty darn tasty. You can't even tell it isn't meat (but I might just be biased).

I plan on making these sandwiches and bringing them to class next week. We'll see how they hold up in my backpack at school and how good they taste microwaved.

Difficulty: 2
Willingness to make again: 10
Over-all: 8
Notes:
1. Slightly fried my bread to give it some crunch, but it isn't super necessary and probably won't do it next time.

Apartment Version Veggie Stir Fry

After blowing 50 dollars on groceries at Trader Joes, I have officially decided that I will not be spending money on food for the next two weeks (MINIMUM) or more. Seriously need to curb the amount of cash flow that is leaking from my wallet these days. Ahhh, the life of a college student.

Luckily though, I have a nicely stocked refrigerator that should get me through these next couple of days without too much trouble.

For dinner, I decided to fry up my broccoli and onions before the broccoli  went bad and make a janky version of my usual stir fry.

Instead of using fresh, minced garlic, I used the power version I bought in the store. Which turned out to not nearly be flavorful enough. But until I get some real garlic from the Bestie (THANKS DAVID!), the powder will have to do. It definitely is more time efficient.

I also forgot to steam the broccoli first, and just tossed it directly into the skillet. But with enough frying time, the broccoli did end up being soft enough to my liking.

Compared to the stir fry I am used to at home, this dish pales in quality and taste. But, given the conditions-college student mode, time crunching, cooking through exhaustion, and with a more limited amount of groceries (mushrooms went bad :[ ), I'd say that this stir fry is more than satisfactory for me.

For dessert, Raf made me try some of his mashed avocado with sugar mixture. Despite not looking or sounding especially appealing, this is actually delicious! Can't wait to make some for myself when my avocados ripen. 

Notes:

1. Garlic powder isn't as strong as real garlic, so be sure to apply more of it.

2. Don't have any starch in stock, so no gou qian for me. :(

And speaking of the life of a college student, after this dinner I foresee a Saturday night of nonstop studying with the Bestie. WoooOOOooooo! YOLO? 

Twin Salad

On a fine, beautiful Saturday morning, I decided to make a salad for my twin.

Is she not the cutest?

This time I added paremesan cheese and tortilla chips. But in all honesty, making salads is a lot messier than you would think, simply because I don't have an adequate mixing bowl. And the taste can never quite mimic my HSPH lunches. So I think from here on out, I am going to x-nay the salad making. I'll get my salad fix at Smart Alex's and SF Soup Co and Saturns from here on out.

Still, it was nice to use up my lettuce and have the Twin over in my apartment for the first time. Great way to start a Sunny Saturday in Berkeley. Love! 

TGIF Kimchi

It's fiiiiiiiiiinally Friday. Which to me just means time to CTFO and breathe. Grandma Jen needs to REST ya'll.

So after my one and only class (12-1 Español) of the day, I headed straight home, made some food, and watched 4 episodes of Community.

No shame. Noooooo shame.

Got around to adding toasted peanuts this time, but am simply way too lazy to crush them (I MISS YOU STONE GAVEL :( ), but it was yummy. And my he bao dan turned out great too. I want to experiment with he bao dan by making it with parmesan and basil next time. ooOOOooo, faAaAnCccyyYy.  

Oh, and I am now officially out of kimchi. So I am going to have to branch out and try making some different foods. Merrrrr.