[twenty fourth]

My 3-lb box of chocolate concoctions

[eighteenth]

Strawberries in May

A carton of fresh and vibrant strawberries, a sweet calendar design for May and a desire to play with aperture led to this photo!

[seventeenth]

Fettucini tossed in olive oil and garlic with cherry tomatoes and greek olives topped with parmesan.

I usually slather a homemade pasta dinner with store bought marinara, but the highlighted and popping flavors of the tomatoes and olives in the simple oil mix has made me reconsider the old standby.  By the way, I think this dinner was all B.

[sixteenth]

Mmm cheese! My inner Wallace (of Wallace and Gromit) indulged itself at the Seattle Cheese Festival.  It was my third time and the most overwhelming visit thus far.  After copious samples of dice-sized formaggio,  I had to quit somewhere in between smoked gouda and sharp parmesan.  I stopped sampling right before this picture, but I wish I could go back in time, pace myself and try each of these delicious displays.

[fifteenth]

May 15th, 2010 marks the day the biggest pancake ever poured, flipped and fashioned by yours truly was made.  A good 9-inch in diameter monster.

Originally written on 7.13.10

[twelfth]

Hands down some of the best sushi I've had in my life.  The recommendations for Musashi's in Wallingford were definitely warranted.  Go for the smoked salmon roll, tuna nigiri, california roll (with tamago!) and spicy tuna roll.  A-flippin-mazing.  

Also, go with good company.  I did twice and it made the meal even better ;)

Originally written on 7.13.10

[third]

A sweet gift

Originally written on 7.13.10

[twenty eighth]

Diving into a new food endeavor, I cooked asparagus for the first time.  Going off cooking demonstration memories of numerous hours of Food Network watching, I sauteed the stalks in a simple olive oil, salt and pepper mixture until they were slightly browned on each side.  I served them on a bed of spaghetti with grated parm.  Yummers!


Originally written on 7.13.10

[twenty fourth]

Yum!

Originally written on 5.18.10

[twenty sixth]

The last bit of the unsalted


Written 4/15/10

[fifteenth]

This is the first time I've used all four burners at once.  Clockwise from bottom right corner: water attempting to boil for steamed carrots, basmati rice, sauteed onions, boiling lentils!

[thirteenth]

Homemade meatball sub.  'Nuff said.

[tenth]

A long time ago, I thought I could handle Altoids pretty triumphantly.  Recently, I can handle them as well as David Hasselhoff can handle his liquor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x30kYRp6Y68) -- meaning not well.  I can barely consume a Peppermint Small! I think they do wonders for my breath, but I might stick to gum.  

This is a pic of B's Altoids collection.

[thirtieth]

The second day in SoCal with K was pretty much devoted to eating, so it's no surprise my photos from that day were mainly of the comida.  The above photo is of lunch: Korean Hot Pot.  I had Kimchi Soup with little hot red peppers, tofu, and bits of beef while K had the Tofu Soup. It came with these delicious side dishes that we split too.

The honorable mentions show breakfast and our after-lunch snack.  We had mango and bananas for breakfast and this particular banana slice looked like it was scared.  Eating tropical fruit in that warm environment made it impossible to think it was January.  K also really wanted to take me to Yogurtland and I'm so glad she did -- It was incredible! So many flavors and toppings! I got Arctic Vanilla, Dutch Chocolate, Coconut, and two other flavors I forgot were in there.  Topped it with mochi balls (mmmmmmm), white and dark chocolate chips, blueberries and, for the first time ever, sacrificed flavor for the sake of a photo: I wouldn't have put M&M's on top, but it added some fun color.

After this we shopped and saw Sherlock Holmes.  It was a great day :)

Written 2/5/10

[twenty ninth]

I spent the weekend with one of my best buddies, K, in SoCal.  K is wonderful -- she's so funny, bubbly, lovely, and all-around great.  Although we've lived in different states for nearly five years, time hardly feels like it's past during our reunions.  We still laugh about the same memories we've told for years and never fail to make more hilarious ones when together. 

We spent most of the first day in Long Beach -- pigged out on a great Indian buffet, toured the Queen Mary, marveled at the sealife at the Aquarium of the Pacific, and accidentally took an hour long bus ride through the city at night (there was a really smelly woman in the seat in front of us).

The Queen Mary was fun.  Our admission included the Ghosts & Legends Tour where we followed a guide through a theatrical tour of the most haunted parts of the ship.  Mysterious fog billowed up in the closed pool and water droplets splashed our faces in the boiler room.

After, we went to the Aquarium.  K was a little photo-obsessive about the jellyfish and seahorses, but I must admit, they are pretty fascinating.  The scariest part for me of the whole day wasn't the bus ride - it was touching a tiger shark in one of the petting pools.  K did it no problem but freaky shark kept fidgeting around when I stuck my hand in the water.  I didn't feel like returning to the PNW sans my right hand, but I eventually touched him and he felt like soggy sandpaper.

This picture is from my favorite tank: The Clownfish! It was like a party in there, full of Nemos and Dorys :)

It was dark on our drive home but I could see the trees and hills so prominently.  I thought it was light pollution or me just being used to the darkness of Washington nights, but I guess it was one of the brightest moonlights of the year (aka The Wolf Moon).  For real.

We reached K's place and sat down to watch Taking Woodstock.  K baked up a homemade apple pie she'd had frozen since last year and we noshed on that.  The culmination of dessert, being up since 4 am, walking all over the Aquarium and, well, a pretty boring movie made me pass out on the couch.  We decided to head to bed and looked forward to another day.

Written 2/5/10

[twenty fifth]

Any opportunity I have to provide food for a celebration I use as an excuse to bake.  Knowing there was going to be a birthday at work and that I had a neglected box of Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder in my cupboard, my brain instantly went to brownies.  I searched the web for recipes and found this one.  This was the first time I'd made brownies from scratch and they came out alright.  They were super dark and although they'd have a great name (Jackie's Blackies), I don't know if I'd use the dark chocolate cocoa again.  They just didn't taste like the classic brownie I was expecting.  I'm thinking I could make the brownie with plain chocolate cocoa powder, but use the same dark chocolate frosting next time.  Oh yes, there will be a next time. 

I had 20 pictures of these two brownies because I wanted an action shot of me powdering the squares, but that didn't exactly work.  Most of them have a flesh-colored blur in the upper left corner.  I still like the result of this photo though, especially since my favorite plate is in it.

[twenty third]

It was particulary hard to choose one photo for this day.  This is why I found it necessary to include a couple Honorable Mentions below.  I picked the photo above because I found it the most visually interesting - the architecture, the reflection in the lamp and glass building, the unusually clear blue sky on a January day in Seattle.  B and I were heading home after an eventful day together when I took the photo:

We burned some calories with a morning jog and headed downtown for a quick lunch and our first trip to the SAM.  We saw the special exhibit of Michelangelo's public and private works.  It was amazing to see his original sketches for a few of the bodies painted on the Sistine Chapel and how effortless they looked.

The SAM was also featuring the photography of Imogen Cunningham. I liked many of her portraits and seeing how she played with light.  This photograph I was especially fond of because it makes we wonder about what was happening during this shoot: Was the couple posing? Is the woman tired? Are they being affectionate? What is she doing with her hands? Something more superficial that gets me is the woman's hair looks like a style from today, so I was surprised the photo was taken in 1922.

(left) The sunlight was beaming down on our faces and glinting off of B's crystal blue eyes.  Although that's not pictured here, it's what I remember when I see this photo.  The photo captures a certain moment in time, but evokes a different one in my mind.

(right) That evening, B and I passed by a local restaurant.  We came across this lonely onion ring sitting on a post. 

[twenty second]

Guhhh, what an incredible piece of bread this was.  It had a perfectly crisp, browned top, sprinkled with sea salt, slathered with salted butter and the warmest, pillowy interior.  The piece was sliced from a loaf of Trader Joe's rosemary bread I splurged on. The extra dollar was well worth this moment.  There's something about rustic bread and its uneveness and varying textures that make it so much more memorable than a bag of the presliced.  I enjoyed it so much, it was almost gone before I took the photo!

[twenty first]

Last year, I got a slow cooker from my folks.  I prepared comforting beef stew several times which was perfect for the autumn and winter nights.  I wanted to get more out of my new culinary best friend so I went to the web for a recipe expedition and found this little gem: Slow & Simple.  After a week of gathering the ingredients, I finally made the Best Yet Chili and it was delicious! I omitted the celery and threw in a can of corn instead.  The only changes I'd make are reducing the amount of cinnamon (I eyeball'd the measurement and it smelled more cinnamony-sweet than I expected) and adding the diced green pepper in the beginning because it was still too crispy for my taste.  I garnished the chili with sour cream, green onion and colby jack cheese.  Not the most heart-healthy, but oh so tasty!