Failed Mashed Potatoes

I've never really had to cook for myself until this school year. Last year, I lived in the dorms and a meal plan in the Dining Commons was required. I admit, I miss dorm food sometimes. Unlimited Jamba Juice, hot chocolate, lemonades, mocha drinks, Italian sodas were my favorite drinks. The fountain drinks were great too; almost every popular soda brand you can think of. Occasionally, I got a little bit of soda, but I absolutely loved the grape juice. One day, I was pressing the button for orange juice at the juice fountain machine and it was empty. A guy walking by, holding a cup of grade juice, suggested that grade juice is even better. And it was. Ever since then, I drank a cup of grade juice a day. At the least.

This year, I decided to live off-campus; it saves me a ton of money, but requires weekly grocery store visits, picking out fruits and vegetables myself, and getting a Safeway card. Last weekend, my parents came to visit and brought me tons of snacks and food. My mom packed me three potatoes. What am I supposed to do with those?! Make mashed potatoes!

RULE #1: Wash, skin, and cut all your potatoes into similar shapes (I didn't)
RULE #2: Boil the potatoes until you can stick a fork into them effortlessly (I didn't)

After following those two very, very important rules, proceed to mashing the potatoes, adding milk or cream, butter, and any herbs of your choice. Why are those two rules super mega important? If potatoes aren't cooked all the way, consumption can lead to indigestion and bloating. Oops.

I had one big potato and two small ones, and without thinking, I dunked them in boiling water. While they were boiling, I was doing laundry and got tired of waiting for the potatoes to be done. I grabbed a wooden spoon and stabbed the potato a bit. It didn't go through (like it should, but I didn't learn that until later!). I didn't think anything of it. I was tired.

Earlier, right after classes, I went straight to grocery shopping and dragged a bag of food back to my apartment. One mile of walking, with one really heavy bag of food. Then I ate some yogurt and went straight to business. I got tired of waiting, so I just went right along to mashing the potatoes. Didn't care there was chunks. Later for dinner, I heated up the mashed potatoes and the chunks were crunchy! Still, didn't care too much to stop and spit out the chunks. Until I told my roommate. She said it was a very good idea to eat raw potatoes and that's when I sat there and thought "Oh."

I mean, I've never made mashed potatoes before. And vegetables can be eaten raw, right? Carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes can. Thirty minutes after eating, I started to feel the pain. It hurt and nothing seemed to help. I researched about eating raw potatoes and it turns out that consuming them raw makes it really hard for the stomach to digest. I found two very useful articles from Livestrong.com:

The Risks of Eating Raw Potatoes
What Vegetables Cannot Be Eaten Raw

I took a hot shower to soothe my stomach and rubbed Chinese medicated oil on (it mainly contains menthol). I love the way medicated oil feels when warmed up on my stomach. There are various types of Chinese medicated oils that help treat headaches, dizziness, stuffy noses, tummy problems, itchiness, and much more. Of course, it isn't perfect for everyone. I remember when I was little, I had a friend over and I applied some on my tummy. She wanted to try some and she did not like the warm feeling. I can't explain the feeling it leaves. Think about facial cleansers with menthol as an ingredient. It leaves your face tingly, but with Chinese medicated oil, it is much stronger. It's tingly, warm, and it sort of burns but it's a soothing burn that makes the pain go away. Kinda like cough drops. The feeling it leaves in your throat. WAIT, NO. The perfect example to describe Chinese medicated oil is Vick's Vapo Rub!

Anyways, I don't think I'll be cooking potatoes for a while. Maybe I should just stick with french fries! Yum. Remember to make sure your potatoes are cooking all the way. No exceptions, unless you want tummy problems so you can try the Chinese medicated oil? Just kidding :)

Got a mashed potato recipe to share? Leave me a comment below! Although, I will stay away from potatoes for a little while...

Pizza, Sandwiches, and Pho

I have been craving for good pizza for months now. Yes, I had a slice last week. But I'm talking about a whole pizza here! I want to pull the melting cheese apart, to eat the crust and then decide halfway that I don't want any more. I want to pick off the veggies that fell off in the box and eat them before someone else gets to it. I want to wipe my mouth with a napkin and glance down at the oil stains (gross, I know).

I want pizzaaaaaa.

My other food cravings? Sandwiches and pho! And I'm not talking about Subway sandwiches. I'm talking about going to a fancy restaurant and paying a ridiculous price for a delicious sandwich. Okay, maybe not. I did have one sandwich I will probably remember for a while. It was in San Carlos, earlier this year. The place was actually a cafe in the library! But everything was made fresh (sandwiches, drinks, etc) and there were tons of snacks to choose from. I paid about $7 for a small sandwich, but it was probably one of the best I've ever had. Maybe it was the sauce. I stared at the green, watery sauce while I ate the first half. Then I dipped my second half into the tiny container and took a bite. Why didn't I try this with my first half?! Good stuff. One day, I will revisit that cafe once again and purchase everything that catches my eye. And then I'll cry because almost everything is overpriced, yet so good!

Pho, mmmm. My favoritefavoritefavorite noodle soups in the whole wide world! Everything about it is just delicious to the max. I think the best pho I've had is in Elk Grove. The modern pho restuarant, Pho Le, was introduced to me by my boyfriend :) It's our go-to when we're driving around in Elk Grove. Great food, great price, great location (movie theaters in same shopping center!).

 I'm just going to say that I'm always hungry. Have a good rest of the weekend!

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday was my 19th birthday :) I came home to find pizza from Pizza My Heart (get it? PIECE of my heart?). It's a semi-fancy pizza place near campus. I've walked by it so many times, but it is a little pricey. One of my roommates knew I've wanted to try a slice for over a year now! I can see (actually, taste) why it's pricey. IT'S DELICIOUS. Who knew just pepperoni and mushroom could taste so amazingly fresh? Other pizza restaurants or chains don't taste as fresh to me. From that one slice, I have concluded that Pizza My Heart is one of the best out there. I also love BJ's pizza. Loads of toppings and full of flavor! I have also tried (and loved) a slice of Uncle Vito's pizza. Uncle Vito's is located in Sacramento, CA, but I'm not too sure if they have more locations elsewhere. YUM, PIZZA.

After dinner last night, both of my roommates went into their rooms for a minute and came out with a cheesecake! I love cheesecake! Well, I love food, period. The last of my birthday surprises :)

Today, I only had one class :) It was at 10:30 AM. Ah, the luxury of sleeping in! Next semester, I will try to make sure my earliest class is at 10:30! Waking up for 9 AM classes is just a little too hard...

Have a great rest of the day!

Chef Emmy: Teriyaki Beef and Pineapple Over Rice

Whenever I think about what to eat for dinner, my thoughts come at the most random times. Yesterday, I was opening the door to my apartment when I decided to try something new :)

1 1/2 to 2 cups rice

1 pound of beef strips (or chicken)

1 cup canned pineapple chunks

salt

pepper

teriyaki sauce

Prepare beforehand: I marinated the beef strips with salt, pepper, and about 2 or 3 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. You can add more or less sauce. Then I added the pineapple chunks and put the whole mixing bowl with plastic wrap into the fridge for about 2 hours.

1. Wash and cook the rice first: Rinse the cups of rice a couple times. You'll notice the water will be less cloudy the more you rinse it. Add water until you have an equal level of water and rice. For example, if you have one inch of rice, add one inch of water. Cook the rice in a rice cooker.

2. Heat stove to high and empty the mixing bowl when pan is hot. Make sure the meat are evenly placed and not stacked on top of each other or on top of the pineapple. Now's a good time to add more teriyaki sauce if desired. Wait about 5-7 minutes and flip the meat onto its other side. I also like to move the pineapples around a bit. 

3. Make sure the meat is cooked on both sides.

4. When the rice is done, serve the beef and teriyaki on top.

Serves about 2. 

I don't have a picture this time, but it was very delicious!

Chef Emmy: Asian Quesadillas and Side Salad

Hmm, what to do with left over rice and stir-fry chicken + broccoli? Grab some shredded cheese and tortillas and sandwich the leftovers! 

I took about 1/2 a cup of prepared rice and stir-fry, enough cheese for my liking, and added some more stir-fry sauce (any sauce works fine). Then I plopped the loaded quesadilla onto my stove! Super easy and a great way to get rid of leftovers that are still fresh. On the side, I rinsed some baby carrots and added a pasta salad. Yes, I did buy the salad from Safeway (hehe), but you can make your own too :) 

This meal is really versatile; you can substitute the meat with beef or pork (no meat works too!), the broccoli with spinach, carrots with fruit, or the pasta salad with your favorite! Even better, this meal probably costed me about $3.00 :) 

Perfect for putting leftovers to use, saving money, and eating healthy! Man, being a broke college student sucks...

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday, my parents drove me back to my apartment. My grandma came for the two hour drive this time. She likes to see what's going on in my life. We ended up going out for lunch in San Jose at this Chinese BBQ. I ordered a noodle soup and I have decided to never go there again. The soup was so oily, you could see the bubbles of oil every where. That made the noodles and meat taste gross too. With every bite came a splatter of oil. Yuck. I'm not sure what was in their broth, but it was not appetizing. It didn't taste fresh... more like a leftover soup from various dishes put together... :(

Nevertheless, I was happy to return back to my nice, quiet apartment with no parents around :) One of my roommates made me cookies! She's a vegetarian that doesn't eat processed foods either, so I trust her cooking :)

Here are some random pictures from around my apartment!

Magnets from my fridge; the kitty is from our campus bookstore, the Oklahoma teddy bear is from my boyfriend's mommy, and the star is from Disneyworld!

My SJSU cup

More cute stuff on the fridge

The top of my dresser and my beloved jewelry/makeup organizer

Now... time for a cat nap and then some homework. Until next time :)

The Night Before

I'm ready to be assigned readings and to listen to long, boring lectures. Doesn't sound very fun, huh. But I actually look forward to school! Besides the fact that I still look like I'm 15 years old... It's going to be different, since I live off-campus this time. So far, I've been cooking and cleaning non-stop! It also takes 15 minutes to just reach the edge of campus, meaning I have to wake up and be prepared super early. One of my earliest class this semester starts at 7:30 am... I hope I can wake up!

It's tough living with a broken fridge. The freezer works fine; in fact, it's probably colder than it should be. But no fridge means no leftover food or fresh fruits and veggies :( No mayo, no butter, no orange juice or milk... the point is that a refrigerator is both a luxury and a must. Kudos to the inventors.

Since we can't refrigerate anything, I've been taking advantage of the freezer! Frozen veggies actually have the same nutrients as fresh ones :) You can keep them in the freezer for a while and they're easy to reheat. I also stuffed my freezer shelf with pizza rolls and some other junk... but they're delicious! Those pizza rolls, man are they worth it! I purchased one bag of 40 rolls for just under $2 at Wal-mart and I eat about 10 a time, so that's kinda like four servings! I love good deals :) I also bought frozen corn (about 2 or 3 servings a bag) for $1.25 from Wal-mart.

I can't wait to get a new fridge :)

Cousin's Baby Shower

Yesterday was my cousin's (Maggie) baby shower, which is super exciting because it's the first baby in our family! Out of all my cousins, I mean. I have no experience with babies though because my brother and I are the youngest in the family :( I guess I have to learn sooner or later! Her shower was great; we played games and ate delicious food (I wish I could cook like that!). She got a baby monitor, lots of clothes, books, and much more. Maggie lives in the Bay Area (west coast, woot!) and came home for her shower, which was hosted by her two best friends. Soon, when I start my second year of  college, I will join her in the Bay Area. From campus, I live only about 30 minutes away from Maggie :) My weekends will be busy... I'll be babysitting! Oh, by the way, it's a boy and she's due mid-September :) Well, I gotta get back to work... procrastinating again, hehe :P