Entries in DIY (4)
lei ann
What I Nom Today ~ OMG...I'm so behind on food blogging & I do have tons to write about :) Ah well, for today, you get my quickie dinner. What do you do when you have leftover bulgogi? Well, fry it up, pour a scrambled egg over it, put the whole omelet over fried rice, sprinkle some furikake and voila...Korean style Japanese gyudon :)
technorati tags: Korean, bulgogi, beef, gyudon, furikake, rice, bowl
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What I Nom Today ~ My first attempt at homemade basil pesto & I must say, I'm quite pleased with myself. It tastes DELICIOUS over pan-seared chicken breast. Well, since my neighbor planted 5 huge 5-gallon pots of basil that are flourishing like crazy, we gotta use all that up somehow.
technorati tags: basil, pesto, chicken, Italian, homemade
What I Nom Today ~ What would you do if you only had 2 Korean short ribs left over (not enough for dinner for 1, never mind for 2)? Well, if you were me and likewise obsessed with the Los Angeles-baed Kogi Korean taco truck, you would dice up the remaining meat from the short ribs, whip up a quick homemade pico de gallo, saturate some minced lettuce with an Asian viniagrette, throw the whole mess into some flour tortillas and VOILA...my own DIY version of Kogi's famous signature Korean short rib taco! Oh nom, nom, nom, nom...NOM!!!
technorati tags: Korean, kalbi, Kogi, short, rib, BBQ, barbecue, DIY, taco
I don't know what's wrong with me these days. I mean...oh wait, lemme rephrase that. I do know what's wrong with me these days. I need to lose weight, I spend way too much time on the Internets aaaand I'm as broke as a joke. Oh, again, hold up...what does all that have to do with a food blog?
Nothing really. I read other food blogs...a lot of them. Some I find cool, some I find mmm-eh and others just plain retarded. It is the extremely rare occasion however that I read a blog post that's so awe-inspiring, so creatively and ingenously awesome that I immediately go to the store to procure the ingredients so that I may try the same! I never do that...so THAT'S what's wrong with me!
I first have to say that Luxirare's stories are brazilliant...envious macro photography, avant-garde clothing and meticulous detailing of her food posts. Everything I appreciate in life...especially the meticulous detailing of food. Then, when she happened to come up with an even more brazilliant idea about having mojitos in easy, handy tablets...frozen, ready and raring to go at a moment's notice. Oh MAN...she did not talk about my all-time favorite drink in the whole world? This idea was waaaaaaay too ingenious to not try to recreate. So, here we go...
I tried looking for cool orange-imprinted round ice cube trays like she had. I searched high and low in my local Tar-jays and other such kitchen goods stores. Alas, I was to be denied and I was too eager to search online and have to wait to have it shipped. Hunting around the furthermost dusty reaches of my cabinet procured these old Ikea cross-shaped ice cube makers. Good enough...
So, just like Luxirare...I made 3 types of tablets crosses. One was the lime wedge and lime juice. The second was a rum/water mixture (cos rum don't freeze by itself) with minced mint. The final was fresh mint leaves and cane sugar syrup. Gave them the whole day to freeze, threw two of each type of cross into a glass, added ice cold seltzer water and gave the whole dang concoction a try.
Know what? It wasn't half bad. Admittedly, I had to add a little more rum and sugar (but I tend to like my mojitos really sweet), but the proportions were pretty spot on. However, there are a few steps I'll omit for next time that were really unnecessary.
1. I won't do the sugar syrup crosses next time. Why not? Well, the sugar syrup didn't freeze into a nice, easy to pop out block like the other less viscous liquids. All I ended up with was a cold, gooey mess that had to be scooped out of the ice cube tray. Not fun! Besides, the whole point of freezing is to preserve the ingredients that don't stay fresh for long (i.e. the lime and mint), so why the heck would I have to freeze the syrup when it's perfectly fine in its bottle on the shelf indefinitely? I'm a dum-dum.
2. I'll also omit the minced up mint leaves next time. Why? It looks so good when it starts melting and floating around in the drink, but just like drinking hot tea with raw, unfiltered tea leaves, they float up into your mouth while you're trying to drink. So, I can't take full gulps of my delicious mojito and even with careful sipping, I still end up with minced mint hanging from my mouth or stuck to my teeth. Next time, I'll keep the mint leaves WHOLE.
And there you have it...frozen mojito crosses. For those times when you want a delicious mojito and don't want to go to the store for the ingredients. For those times when your limes and mint leaves are about to go bad, so freeze them and preserve for later. Definitely a good idea :) I think I'll go have a drink right now!!!