Category Archives: Foodie

Stir-Fried Asian Culture: Panda Express & Samurai Pandas

Foodie Life Stories Thoughts 2 Comments
Today my friend Scott shared a photo on Facebook featuring a Panda Express billboard ad and its new limited time only dish - Samurai Surf & Turf.   I went to the website home page to get the image for this page, which shares simliar characteristics with the billboard ad: There are pandas dressed as samurai, weilding samurai swords with shrimp and beef.  The dish is called Samurai Surf & Turf. The dish is being showcased in a wok. Let's break a few things down here: Panda Read more [...]
Cooking Adventures Foodie Vegetarian No Comments
I love artichoke hearts, but I've never had whole artichokes.  My CSA box this week arrived with three of them.  After looking around at recipes (dominated by "spinach and artichoke" dip), I decided that I would try to roast them.  I used this recipe from About.com - Simple Roasted Artichokes Recipe, adding in some steak seasoning (comprised of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, coriander) based on the user review.  -cct   Read more [...]

On Star Wars and Making Sushi

Cooking Adventures Foodie Vegetarian 1 Comment
I randomly decided to learn how to make sushi and somehow Star Wars haunted me every step of the way (it must have been the Force...naturally).  This cooking adventure started because the online recipes I found didn't look too difficult and given endless sushi filling possibilities, it was also a great food know-how to add to my "newly vegetarian" arsenal. My parents also gifted me a spiffy Zojirushi rice cooker years ago that has a "Sushi" button, so I had no fears there either.  However, Read more [...]

CSA Box Adventures: Week 1

Cooking Adventures Foodie Vegetarian No Comments
The other week I started a CSA  subscription (more information on Local Harvest) with Farm Fresh To You (FFTY).  I had actually purchased it as a Groupon a few months earlier, but I never got around to setting it up.  Since I became a vegetarian a couple of months ago, it seemed like a reasonable thing to start.  While not a replacement for my grocery shopping, I've decided to do my meal planning around my box and document it here.  I think it will also help to chronicle my new journey Read more [...]

Vegetarian Laments

Foodie Vegetarian 3 Comments
Some of you might remember that I did the 30 Day of GOOD Challenge to be a Vegetarian several months ago.  A few weeks ago I decided to try to be a vegetarian "fo' realz" - for a number of reasons, but primarily because I was going to read Jonathan Safron Foer's Eating Animals only to think that if I read it, I'd be a vegetarian based on what I already know about the meat industry - and based on that logic, I figured I might as well be one. I've been doing pretty good at it - mostly because Read more [...]