Generous Unload of Groceries

I went to my friend's place after she successfully received an undamaged computer screen as replacement for a defective one after an unacceptably extensive amount of time. A detailed review of her experience and the stores involved will be posted on my Great Finds and Not So Great Finds blog. Returning to my point, my friend's mother gave me an overly generous portion of groceries. It worked out great for both of us. After I asked her for the recipe of a delicious shrimp and melon dish, she offered me other foods that she thought I'd like and foods her family didn't normally touch. She was relieved and grateful that someone was interested in the food, knowing that it will no longer meet its uneaten, decaying fate. And I'm ecstatic by the amount of money I've saved and abundant food. She was selective in what she gave me to ensure that it didn't take anything away from her family, so it worked out well for both of us. Steamed pork buns, edamame beans, Chinese candy, Monterey Jack cheese, and a sweet, dessert ingredient used in scrambled eggs are my favorites.

Slow Cooker Beef with Root Vegetables

I bought a slow cooker with the belief that it'll make cooking much easier. I consider myself a neglectful cook. I prefer oven cooking because it allows me to do other things while the food is being cooked, whereas stovetop cooking requires my full, undivided attention. I like to be productive with my time and do as many things as I can. Because I don't have enough counter space, my slow cooker is tucked away. And considering how the preparation for the slow cooker (slicing and dicing) is similar to oven cooking, I don't use my slow cooker as often as I had originally anticipated. I expected to do a few days worth of slicing and dicing and put everything together early into the day, so the food would be ready for me when I come home. Or turn it on before going to bed and waking up to a nice home cooked meal. I never realized that in the morning, I don't make time to use the slow cooker, no matter how much time is available to me. At night, I have different taste preferences, so I make something else. I'm most interested in using my slow cooker in the afternoon, but I end up staying awake until it finishes cooking, throwing my sleep pattern off. After neglecting my slow cooker for some time, my boyfriend expressed an interest to use it. So I went online to search for a recipe.

I came across some promising choices but chose the Slow Cooker Beef with Root Vegetables. I got this recipe from the Food Network, but it was altered. I omitted onions, substituted red potatoes with Russets, couldn't get my hands on rhutabaga, and used baby carrots instead, according to what looked right, not what the recipe specified. The recipe didn't suggest or instruct adding water, but my boyfriend thought it would be a good idea. He suspected that without the water, the meat would dry out. But, more importantly, he thought that the recipe would be unsuccessful, and he felt uncomfortable by the idea of having something cook over a long period of time without any liquid. I imagine that's why the tomato sauce, a liquid form, was present, but he didn't think that would be adequate. He was open to following the recipe, but I wanted to try his method. What he said made sense, and at worst, the recipe would've been watered down, but everything would have stayed moist. You can always thicken something up, but trying to rehydrate a dry roast is more infeasible. I'm willing to correct the recipe, but I didn't want to risk coming home to a failed one.

It was easy to make, maintenance free, and flavorful. The meat just easily peeled apart. It was moist and tender. The vegetables were soft and transformed into a more delicate flavor. While I'm not put off by tomato sauce, I'm not the biggest fan, either. I find the flavor to be bland and yet dominant, at times. I love sweets, but I usually prefer sweet flavors to not be present in meat dishes. I was pleasantly surprised that the tomato sauce was soft in flavor and the brown sugar didn't leave any residual sweet flavors.

Slow Cooker Beef with Root Vegetables

3 Russet potatoes, chopped
A quarter bag of baby carrots
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
1 3-lb. chuck roast
Salt and pepper to taste
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp garlic powder

Arrange potatoes, carrots, and turnips in the bottom of the slow cooker. Season beef all over with salt and black pepper. Place roast on top of vegetables. Whisk together tomato sauce, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, mustard powder, and garlic powder. Pour mixture over beef. Cover and cook on low for 12 hours or or on high for 8 hours. I cooked it on 8 hours, but I kept it on warm until the next day. That's why the meat appears a little dry, but it was actually quite tender.

Daisy Mint

Good food, good prices, good service, and convenient locations are what every starving college student seeks. By Pasadena City College, a semi-new restaurant called Daisy Mint delivers just that. It's not a 5-star restaurant, but the food is more than just edible. It's not the kind of food you stay open-minded about because you're so broke, and when you consider the alternatives...it's not so bad. This place is actually pretty decent. They offer an eclectic mix of Asian cuisine, primarily focused on Thai style in an Americanized sort of way. That's actually a good thing because I think it meets the demands of the demographic.

My favorite and standard dish here is the Panang curry. It's a Thai-style curry with pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, and my choice of meat: pork served with a choice of white or brown rice. This generously portioned dish is served for a measly $7.50 and can be stretched into two meals. As you can see in the photo, the serving platter the curry comes in is a really deep and wide dish. Measure the size of the platter to the paper placemat. I rarely come across such a generous portion, even when it's twice the price of what Daisy Mint offers. The third photo is a cooked salmon dish in a creamy cilantro sauce with a serving of brown rice and a salad. I believe it was worth $8.50. That's a lot more costly than what most college students can afford, but as far as seafood dishes go, this is a good price for the amount.

Plus, it's about three blocks away from PCC (Pasadena City College). The service is efficient, the food arrives quickly, customers aren't rushed out, and the environment is ideal for studying or just hanging out with your friends. It's quiet enough to study, but it's not dead quiet, either. It's a very comfortable ambiance. The decor is quietly eclectic with frames from the vintage era occupying the wall.

But MY ABSOLUTE favorite about this restaurant is their listening skills. It's a top priority for them to be well-informed, conscientious of the menu, and make sure to exclude specific ingredients customers request. Not only that but the menu has a courtesy note reminding customers to let their servers know of any food allergies such as onions. I can't tell you how ecstatic that makes me because I HATE ONIONS with a passion. Too many times I've specifically requested no onions on a dish, and it was plastered with it. So, it was a refreshing treat to see servers competently take my order and find that the chef also followed those instructions. You wouldn't think that it's a difficult challenge to request no onions, but I eat out a lot. And, sadly, quite a bit of restaurants fail to get my order right. I'm not allergic to onions, but, as a customer, I feel that I have a right to get what I ordered. I don't enjoy being the customer who tries to get my order corrected from the same people who made the mistake in the first place, waiting on an empty stomach, in hopes that they'll get it right this time. I can't express enough how much I hate onions. I'm allergic to seafood, and I develop rashes. I used to be dangerously allergic to chocolate with symptoms characterized by dizziness, excruciating headaches, and hives. Yet, I've always tolerated seafood and chocolate much better than onions. I don't like being tempted to claim that I'm allergic just to ensure that I don't get onions in my food. Half the time my deceit and compromised karma was for nothing. So, I'm proud to say that this restaurant has become a staple for me. Check it out for yourself! If you don't like it, you haven't spent too much money. But it's definitely worth checking out.

1218 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91106

UPDATE: I want to be objective and open with my reviews. I've ordered the Panang curry several times already, and, for the most part, I'm satisfied with the results. Recently, though, I've found some of the pumpkin to be undercooked. It was still edible, but I did want to warn others. I did find the salmon a little undercooked. The color inside was a different shade from the outside. It still tasted delicious, and the quality of the salmon wasn't that bad. Personally, I prefer raw salmon, so I liked the dish better because it was slightly undercooked. But I did want people to be aware of that. After all, the salmon is supposed to be cooked. FYI: The creamy cilantro dish contains onions.

Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)

DISCLAIMER: When I categorize dishes "Vegetarian", I standardize it on the absence of poultry and meat such as chicken, duck, turkey, beef, or pork. I don't consider ingredients such as eggs which come from poultry or seafood vegetarian because I know many vegetarians who eat these ingredients without complaint.

My friend wanted me to make onigiri for her, so I decided to practice. Onigiri is Japanese rice balls. You mix rice with furikake (Japanese rice seasoning), cooked salmon, or whatever you feel like. You mix the ingredients together and shape them into triangles. So, why they're called balls, which are round is a mystery for me, too. I'm not a fan of cooked salmon, so I used what's nothing more than "fancy furikake." It's a marketing gimmick. It's packaged differently, and there's a picture of onigiri on the cover. I purchased it because I like the flavor, and I couldn't find that flavor for cheaper. This one is umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) flavored.

4 cups of freshly cooked Japanese-style rice (I recommend Kokuho Rose brand)
Filling of choice such as bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce, flaked, cooked, salted salmon, chopped up tsukemono (pickles), or my personal favorite: furikake

Wet your hands with cold water so that the rice won't stick to you. Sprinkle adequate amount of filling over rice and mix in with your hands. Taste test it to make sure that there's enough flavor. Add more, if necessary. Then, take enough rice into your hands to form the triangular shape shown on the photo. Use your thumb and insert it into the bottom of the triangle. Add 1 teaspoon or so of seasoning inside and cover it up, again. (This is a recommendation I chose to ignore because the amount of seasoning you add varies on the intensity of the flavor. I found that adding 1 teaspoon was too salty. I also felt that the flavor of the furikake was adequate without adding a little extra). Continue following the same steps until all of the rice is used up. I made little balls with the remainder rice.

NOTE: There were other instructions I selectively ignored. It's suggested that you lightly salt your hands after wetting them to keep the rice from sticking. I felt uncomfortable doing that because I feel that the water keeps the rice from sticking well enough. Plus, I don't know exactly how much salt to add on my hands. I've had success in the past, but I've also had success making onigiri without using salt. I don't like the idea of using a method that doesn't work sufficiently enough for my standards that can ruin the entire recipe. Overly salty onigiri is no treat. And there's no recovering from that. I did add some filling inside some of the onigiri (the part of the instruction about inserting your thumb into the bottom of the triangle). I found the flavor too intense, so I skipped that step for the rest of them. I just don't like tasting the seasoning in one center but not everywhere else. The suggestion probably works better for salmon or another type of filling that isn't as salty. I've heard that the only way to make onigiri is with hot rice, but I've also heard the contrary. I personally prefer making onigiri with warm or cool but still soft rice. Trying to make onigiri with hot rice makes mixing in the ingredients properly a challenge. I don't like my hands burning especially if it makes me feel like I'm doing an inadequate job. Sushi uses cold rice. I don't see how this would be any different. As long as the rice is still sticky and soft, I think it's fine. If you want to eat it warm, I think it's great to wrap nori (seaweed) around the rice. But I like eating it cold because I find it refreshing. Plus, I think it looks nicer without the odd looking nori around it.

Poached Eggs with Steamed Broccoli and Nippy Carrots

DISCLAIMER: When I categorize dishes "Vegetarian", I standardize it on the absence of poultry and meat such as chicken, duck, turkey, beef, or pork. I don't consider ingredients such as eggs which come from poultry or seafood vegetarian because I know many vegetarians who eat these ingredients without complaint.

I'm a little low on groceries. It's been pouring unpredictable, and I haven't had a chance to stop by the bank. I'm out of poultry, meat, milk, and most vegetables and fruits. So, basically every essential staple. I barely just picked up butter. I have miscellaneous spices and herbs (basil, BBQ grill seasoning, cardamom, chili powder, cumin, ground ginger, lemon pepper, mustard powder, whole nutmeg, extra-virgin olive oil, etc.), various condiments and pantry staples such as fish sauce, Maggi seasoning, a variety of vinegar, wasabi, baking soda, baking powder, all purpose flour, vanilla extract, sugar, salt, pepper, etc. I have eggs, butter, an Asian pear, a bag of baby carrots, Hot Pockets, pot stickers, instant noodles, frozen broccolis, and only one batch worth of rice. I can pretty much only make instant noodles, eggs, glazed carrots, roasted carrots, pan-fried carrots, other types of carrots, pancakes, basic yellow cake, steamed carrots and broccolis. My choices are a little limited right now. For dinner tonight, I managed to enjoy Poached Eggs with Steamed Broccoli, Nippy Carrots, and a bowl of rice, in spite of the paucity of ingredients. The eggs were poached in the most basic way, nothing special about the broccolis, either, nor the rice, but I followed a recipe for the Nippy Carrots. It came from my friend's cookbook, The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.

Poached Eggs

2 eggs
Water
A Splash of vinegar
Fill a sauté pan with an adequate amount of water (3 inches worth) and a dash of vinegar. Crack the eggs into a bowl beforehand. Bring the water to a simmer and add eggs into the water one at a time. Poach until the whites are no longer translucent. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain thoroughly.

NOTE: The vinegar is added to keep the egg shape in place. I was surprised by how easy it was. I vaguely remember my first time being unsuccessful, but I'm not sure how accurate my memory is. The image I have in mind reminds me of something I saw in a video. In order to prevent the egg whites from separating and swirling into a big mess, I read that a splash of vinegar helps and gently using a fork in a circular motion to hold it in place. For people who have continually failed to poach eggs in the traditional way, here's another method I've tried with success: Crack an egg into a bowl lined with plastic wrap. Securely tie it in place, and follow the original recipe but omit the vinegar. Once it's done, simply unwrap the plastic and enjoy!

Steamed Broccolis

I simply followed the instructions in the back of the bag.

Nippy Carrots

1 lb. medium carrots
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tbsp mixed pickling spice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp pepper

1. Cut carrots diagonally into thin slices. In 12-inch skillet over medium heat, in hot oil, cook garlic. Add carrots and vinegar. Loosely tie pickling spice in a square cheesecloth; add to carrots with salt, dry mustard, and pepper.

2. Simmer, covered, 5 minutes until carrots are crunchy and crisp; discard spice bag. Pour mixture into shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate, tossing occasionally.

I used one pound worth of baby carrots. The recipe also called for chopped onions and onion slices for garnish, but I DESPISE ONIONS!!! So, I left them out. I didn't dislike this recipe, but I wasn't that impressed. It tastes like a weaker, inferior version of pickles. I wouldn't mind eating it, again, and the recipe is easy to follow, but it is what it is.

Promo Code

Vons.com is currently having a special promotion. During your checkout, use this promo code: 2STOCKUP to take advantage of the free delivery offer that expires on March 7, 2008. There are cheaper alternatives to Vons.com, but I like having www.vons.com around. Sometimes, when the weather is unpredictably raining heavily, I prefer not to go outside. When that's the case, I don't really have the means to travel to the best bargains. Usually the delivery fee is $7.95 or $9.95 depending on the time slot you select. But if I'm not paying for the delivery fee, and I don't have the means to go out, this is actually an ideal choice. You have to buy a minimum of $50 orders. Right now, Chunky soups are having a 10 for $10 special. Marie Callender's frozen foods are also going for $3.00 each. Frozen foods are grossly overpriced, but I like having them around for emergency situations. I have back and knee problems, so it's a nice choice to have around, rather than costly takeouts.

Free Delivery

Promotion Code: 2STOCKUP

Expiration Date: 3-07-08

Italian Candy

I have such a sweet tooth. In fact, I even have aspirations about travelling around the world and sampling candies and fruits from different cultures. I'm not sure how authentic these candies are in the Italian culture, but I came across these treats at a corner sandwich shop run by an Italian couple. They're called Gelee's. What a simple and yet eye catching way to package goodies. I've seen on the Martha Stewart show similar packaging ideas, and they've always appealed to me, but I come from a generation that doesn't prioritize the presentation. I want to make an effort to change that, but I've never really made the time to. I rarely gift people with edible products. And, personally, I imagine supermarket candies packaged this way to be tacky. So, what's the point? Regardless of my inactive participation, I can appreciate thoughtfully displayed presentations. What a great idea to sell products like this. The wrapping itself makes it enticing, the colors are vibrant, it was more than affordable, and such a fun and rare treat for people like me. I consider these candies universally friendly. I hardly feel that you need an acquired taste. The rose-flavored candy was a new and exciting experience for me.