Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I remember when I was little, my mom had this book that was all about muffins! The first thing I tried to make by myself was chocolate chip! Back then though, they came out really funky shaped (cuz i didn't have a muffin tin, but i had  the paper cups lol) And so~ I haven't made these in YEARS. And surprisingly, they came out pretty awesome!

I just took a simple banana bread recipe (weird, I know) halved it -cuz i only wanted 1/2 dozen- and added chocolate chips, vanilla, and a touch of cinnamon. With some chocolate crumbs on top, they were so tasty! and yes, I put the banana in. :)

Sea Salt Ice Cream

I found a neat recipe while browsing http://frenchblue-frenchblue.blogspot.com for sea salt ice cream.

It's really tasty, you should try it! :) It's like tasting an ocean breeze.

 

More!

So here's the second installment of photos of things I've made from the past two years, enjoy!

Pancakes made from scratch, not the syrup though haha.

  Filipino Pan de Sal, they didn't turn out quite as soft and fluffy as they should, but they look nice!

Korean BBQ-style Beef Short Ribs with a side of garlicky spinach and a Pan de sal bun.

Home made strawberry frozen yoghurt made in my new ice cream maker! :)

Fried rice, this one turned out reaaaallly orange, because of the red powder I used to season the pork. It was yellow though :/

Filipino Turon, Al's mom showed me how to make these, sooo yummy! Instead of just banana and brown sugar, we added in some jackfruit, super tasty~~

Lava cakes on Valentine's Day for my love.

Cheese Souffle. My gosh these were surprisingly filling; I've never made these before. I think I'll add in some bacon or ham or something next time, something about too much cheese and egg puts me off.

Mini bread loafies!  In order from the top and clock wise, Oregano, Plain, Cheese, and Garlic. It was actually my little sister that made these. But who did she learn from~ haha

Rice with a fried pork chop. Simple and classic Viet dinner.

Strawberry and Nutella Crepes with home made whipping cream! :9

French Onion Soup, this is Al's number one favourite kind of soup :)

Gnocchi with a home made tomato meat sauce

Next time I'll post something more educational. :)

Food Diary #1

This time around I'm going to post some old photos of dishes that I've made during the past 2 school years, it's quite a bit to just upload all of them I find haha, so I'll upload more later. Enjoy!

 (Please excuse the bad quality of photos!)

Omelette

 

Baked Potato

Bow tie pasta with cheddar and cut up chicken fingers

 Wonton Soup

Tempura Shrimp

Tilapia Filets with Homemade Tomato Sauce

 Beef and Spinach Aluoette with Garlicky Spinach and a random skewer haha

 

 Spaghetti and a glass of orange juice

Vietnamese "Sour Soup/ Canh Chua"

Seafood rice porridge

I really don't remember what this was... but I do remember it was delicious 

Might've been something called "Bun Mam" *shrug*

Pho! Beef Noodle Soup

Homemade Cheeseburgers!

 Vietnamese Crepes

Ice cream melon! (Vanilla outside and chocolate inside)

Breakfast Sandwiches

Giant Cookie and a glass of milk

Beef and Spinach Quesadillas

Banana Bread

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Eggy's in a Blanket- with Love. 

(added some mayo and hot sauce)

Cheddar Bacon and Broccoli Quiche

Lasagna

(made with my own homemade tomato sauce!)

 Birthday Cake for Al's niece's first b-day with Butter Cream Icing. First time trying to decorate a cake. I want to try using fondant one day.

Food for Thought

Prologue:
So let me begin with saying, I am definitely not the best cook; I will never have a restaurant. I cook to fill the tummies of those who live with me. So with that in mind, I'll tell you a little bit about my life in cooking.

I suppose it all began when I was flipping pancakes at the age of 4 or when my mom stopped baking banana nut muffins from a cookbook; that I began to read recipes for leisure. I always wanted to make them but alas, my mother's kitchen -full of everything to cook everything Vietnamese- didn't have the ingredients I needed to make the snacks and foods that all -but me- of my Canadian friends ate normally.

So I only cooked the things that my mom wanted me to cook. It involved me making lots of rice -and screwing it up and getting more royally lectured thereafter- and the making of a lot of Vietamese food. Used to hate it.

But now I am happy I have that knowledge. (make this a lesson to not neglect what your parents try to teach you!) -Thanks Mom!-

Cooking for fun though, really began when I entered college and had scholarship money to spend on extra ingredients. Which is funny because, as many of my friends know, being an animation student involves starving behind the animation desks rushing til past midnight trying to complete animations and layouts and storyboards and all that is art. Oh how I just love being busy.

And I blame that on my boyfriend, Al; we met on the first day and started dating a week after. He is quite possibly my future forever now. And as the saying goes, a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and that day that he asked me out was when we were in my kitchen making lame attempts at tossing pizza dough for a very not-circular pizza. According to him, it tasted quite alright. The first time someone enjoyed my cooking!

And so this is the beginning of  my blog, I like to think of it as an attempt at documenting my ever-present life in cooking. I have a blog for my art, but that's for my future :)

I was also inspired to make this blog by my friend Christine, who is documenting her life of fashion.

The Purpose:
I'd also like to mention, that I want to try and make this blog college-life friendly. I want fellow college students to not live off of instant noodles for months on end. So I will make attempt to add recipes that most people can make. Perhaps being healthier will lead to better brains of the future *bonus!*

Sometimes, there will be recipes that require more time and effort and perhaps more shucking for ingredients, but that doesn't stop you from trying it out and having fun or closing this page and finding a better recipe -quitter!-.

For beginners: THE French Toast

So during the 2 years of working as a waitress at Applebee's and TGI Friday's; I never made french toast, it was always there, warm and fresh, not needing to be made by my delicate hands.

Until I wanted to be fancy one breakfast morning and show off to my other half that I can make more than just sunny-side up eggs. -See, having a boyfriend improves your cooking! *bonus!*-

So here goes; make sure you read all of this first before you attempt!


French Toast -serves one person-

Tools:
-A non-stick  pan
-A fork -for whisking
-A somewhat wide bowl or a deep soup plate -for dipping the bread
-A spatula

Ingredients:
-2 slices of bread -whole wheat, white; whatever is your preference-
-1 Egg
-1 tbsp Sugar
-1/2 tsp Cinnamon
-1/4 cup Milk
-1 tsp oil - for frying

Whisk the egg, sugar, cinnamon and milk together in the bowl/plate til you can't see the clear streams of egg whites. And at the same time, turn on the pan to medium heat. When it feels warm, (just hover your hand over it) add the oil and tilt the pan back and forth til it is spread evenly. Dip the bread into the egg mixture- coating both sides- and place into the pan. After a minute check underneath the bread using the spatula and check to see how cooked it is. I don't really have an exact time for how long this takes, as it entirely depends on how hot your stove may be. If it's about the same colour as pictured above, then flip, cook, and serve with syrup or nutella or even your fave ice cream. Al loves to have it with all of the above.

Side Notes:
-Sometimes, if I have it, I like to add a bit of condensed milk to the egg mix to make it sweeter.

-I'm not 100% sure of the exact measurements for the mixture,  but I know that one egg typically is good for two slices. Just not sure of the other ingredients; you may end up with more or less when you're done.

So this is a SUPER simple recipe, I hope you guys enjoy, I will probably update once a week. More if I have a lot of free time.... gosh that photo up top, looks really boring.