FRANCE - Crepes

That's right, I had Crepes in France. Because how do you go to France and not even try to have a Crepe? 

So, I know I was in Italy, but one of the last weekends we were there, our group decided we wanted to go to Nice. We spent the month in Genova which is really close to the border of France so we had to go. We originally planned to take a train to Monaco then head to Nice for the weekend but, of course, the weekend that we decided to go, the trains in France went on a strike. So our best plan was just to take a bus to Nice instead. We would have less time and while we wish our plan would've worked, this was the best we could do. Still, the weekend in Nice was the best weekend we had, easily.

The weekend we were in Nice, we happened upon a street music festival the first night there. Score. It was beyond fun and incredible to be there that weekend. And of course, being the crazy foodie that I am, I had to find a crepe place. And when I found it, it was great. This place made crepes to order and I got a lemon citrus crepe. They added a sugary lemon-y mixture that was so hot it was like molten lava. I may have burned my mouth a little bit but it was so worth it! 

ITALY - Kebabs

So before heading to Italy one of my friends mentioned that if I had the chance I HAD to get kebabs. He said that while he was in Germany he had the best kebabs of his life and I had to do the same. I swiftly mentioned I probably wasn't going to be anywhere near Germany this time around but he still told me if I found a place in Italy, I had to try it. 

And man did we find it. 

So, on the way to school each morning we would pass a little place that had kebabs. They had a cute little side window that looked like a drive thu, and of course the meat on the vertical rotisserie that smells fantastic as you walk by. My group of travelers never seriously considered stopping to try it, but one night I was with some of my friends from my italian class and one of the girls (also from America) said that we HAD to stop by! Seeing that we were all hungry, we couldn't find a reason not to, and I'm so glad we did! 

After that night, the group from RIT that I came to Italy with started frequenting this place. We were all in love with it, and it was quick, cheap, and delicious! They were open late so if we ever found ourselves hungry and walking around late at night we often stopped by. They even had french fries that they topped off with an amazing hot sauce/mayo/tzatziki that was like a dream come true for me. If I ever go back to Genova, that little kebab place is definitely on my list.   

ITALY - Seafood and Pasta!

Of course a month in Italy would not be complete without a plethora of pasta. Every shape and size, every sauce combination. The pasta was fantastic. I'm so happy I don't have celiacs and can eat gluten because pasta was a given.

We were also fortunate enough to be right on the water so seafood made the incredible pasta even better! I'm such a seafood lover, growing up my dad would always make sure to have at least fish for our weekly family dinner. Sometimes he would throw in lobster, clams, muscles, shrimps, scallops, octopus, squid or crab also. (My dad has been a chef for over 30 years at a nearby restaurant and he only gets one day off a week. So once a week we sit down as a family and he makes dinner that consists of at least 4 or 5 dishes that we eat family style. For the rest of the week we fend for ourselves. My mom isn't a great cook so we ended up with quite a few instant meals or we would microwave leftovers from Dad's dinner for as many days as we could). 

Carbs and seafood in Italy. What more could I ask for!

Seafood Seafood Seafood!

ITALY - Ciao Genova!

So last June I got to go to Italy for a month. (The wonders of work/study abroad!) For that month we would wake up and go to class for about 4 hours, take a lunch break, and head to our respective jobs for another 4 hours or so. A month in Italy that I wouldn't trade for the world! The culture was perfect, the food was fantastic, and the people I was with made it even better. We met tons of new people, got to learn and practice italian, and just experience the world. 

So in honor of Italy, my first food post will be appropriately themed Pizza! (How American.) 

This guy was from Cinque Terre and is technically a foccacia (I think). Hot and gooey melted cheese on a delicious crust.. take me back!

Of Course in a month I had much more than two pizzas, but these were the two that were documented and found their way off my ipod camera to my laptop to be posted here. But you get the idea! Pizza was served as a personal pizza that was as big as.. lets say a bike tire. Super thin crust that was crispy and incredible (thin crusts are my favorite so I was completely in heaven this whole month). Toppings were always fresh and delicious. I can almost taste it again. There was no way I could've gotten tired of the pizza there in that month. I wish I could go back right now just for another one. 

Pizza Croissants!

Instant croissants + the internet = culinary genius.. or at least a full college student

This was the last thing I baked before setting off to Italy for a month last June. Seems fitting right? Let's take Italian and French classics and just beat them to death with a roll of instant croissants because 'Murica. 

But honestly... these pizza croissants were boss. Sooo good and easy to make. The cheese on the insides were all gooey and perfect right out of the oven. Perfect hand held buttery pizza croissants on the go (I think you get the fact that I like portable food - how modern American is that..) There's not much explaining here, cheese and pepperoni in those little rolls and bam! Food heaven. Seriously, I need to remember to thank my metabolism just a little bit more often..  

ROC - That Vermonster....

That's right, we did it. We ordered a Vermonster. We took the challenge! (And we kinda lost..)

So for our last e-board meeting of the year, my club planned pretty early on that we wanted to take on the Vermonster and Ben&Jerry's. Just some slight background information, as en e-board, we eat. A lot. Traditionally theres 5 positions in our e-board and but by second semester, when we see that there are some of us graduating, we start up re-elections and whatnot and as a way for the new e-board and old e-board to bond, last spring we decided we would eat together. A lot. So we did. E-board meets every other week, and by spring semester we liked each other a lot and decided that we would spend those e-board meetings, discussing, planning, bonding, and eating (and getting me to watch scary things like American Horror Story.. but thats besides the point).

So, by the end of the semester when it came time for the last e-board meeting we all decided this is what we wanted to do as a sort of last hoorah transitioning from old e-board to new e-board. So the old 5 and the additional new 3 settled in. (One of the members had previous obligations and she ducked in an out of our attempt at the Vermonster so lets say there were 7.5 if us working on this thing). A Vermonster, for those of you who aren't familiar, is 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 bananas, 3 cookies/brownies, hot fudge/carmel, whipped cream, and more candy because that wasn't enough sugar already. Now we didn't have banana's in ours because Ben&Jerry's was out that day but that's okay! even without the banana that Vermonster kicked our asses. 3.5 girls and 4 boys and we still had a bit of melted ice cream and what not at the bottom of our bucket... But in our defense, midway through the bucket, a nice girl from the college activities board walked over and offered us pizza.. and when you're a broke college kid, you don't turn away free food, especially pizza. Even if you're in the middle of a Vermonster! I like to think that the pizza actually helped. We needed a break from all the diary, what better than nice pizza carbs to soak that all up in our stomachs. And I can't vouch for everyone with me, but those two slices from the sheet pizza gave me a second wind! (Emily the bottomless pit strikes again!!)

I'm fairly certain, come this May, Vermonster attempt 2 will rear it's head. Maybe we'll be able to beat it this time!! (Especially if we don't have that darned chunky monkey contaminating the whole bucket with an overpowering taste of banana!) Moral of this story? My e-board is cooler than yours.. or at least hungrier....  

I swear I do shoot...

Spring semester of third year was when I really started to buckle down and shoot more food. My photo interest stream has been all over the map but once I switch to advertising at the beginning of second semester I quickly learned that making portraits was not for me. I learned that I am not the fashion photographer type which is completely fine. I love shooting food and still life. I get focus and problem solve and use my tricks. Much more fun for me. 

This shoot was really fun for me. It's a spinach cheese dip I found online (Thank you interwebs always). The end of third semester was a real late night cooking and baking semester for me. I felt comfortable in my kitchen and I must've had time tuesday nights to bake stuff to shoot in class Wednesday mornings. I wonder if I'm remembering my schedule right.... 

Anyhow, this shoot was fun and I loved it and it was great. I actually ran across the final image today and remembered it, of course 9months later I'm still working on it. This shot has a design element that goes along with it that I still need help with. Gotta make some calls to my designer friends, not like everyone is busy buried in school work... poor shoot... you were so good.. hopefully one day soon the final image will be complete and up on my site. One day! 

Funfetti = Fun Times

Funfetti = fun times always. Period. End of Story. 

My friends from high school and I love funfetti. It is our cake mix. Our tradition. Every birthday, holiday, rainy day - is funfetti day. Funfetti is perfection, and it will never stop being something that is good and love and friendship.

This night I was baking for a photoshoot. I have a cute little cookies and milk shot I planned out and I had to do funfetti cookies because I found a recipe online. And while I was at it I happened to make a funfetti cake too because why not! I've mentioned I'm a night person, and obviously by the glow of the stove light, I was up a little late baking, which sounds funny if you don't know me and completely normal if you do. Baking is cathartic, and baking at night when I can't sleep is just downright perfect. Throw in some funfetti and my night is made, it almost doesn't even matter that I can't sleep! 

Through all of high school we made countless funfetti cakes and cupcakes but this was my first batch of funfetti cookies and I loved the way they turned out. They're beautiful and made for a shoot I was happy with. Small kicks of color in a neutral set. Funfetti still hasn't stopped meaning love. Even at 21. 

Bacon Pancakes

That's right I said it, BACON pancakes! I'm all on board the bacon train, I haven't had crazy bacon things yet but honestly, if I was offered a chance to try bacon ice cream or something along those lines, I'd take it! 

This isn't from my hunger games cookbook. I took a break from it after the first three sections of the book, but not to fear, the catchy hunger games related recipe titles will come back in a little bit, I haven't give up on the book completely. 

This recipe came from the internet. Oh magical internet, so full of random recipes and knowledge. Now, I'm not a huge pancake fan. I explained the whole breakfast thing, and while pancakes can be quite savory and whatnot, they're not my thing. This isn't a waffle v. pancake debate either. I have neutral feelings towards both of these things. They make awesome 'breakfast for dinner' choices but as a breakfast item, totally not my thing. I know I said my dad used to sit is down for breakfast when I was little but I can honestly say I don't think I had my first pancake until high school. Remember, I'm a first generation American and my dad is a chef at a chinese restaurant. I grew up eating rice porridge and soup for breakfast as well as left over dim-sum food items dad picked up from work. That might explain why I don't really have a hankering for sweet breakfasts.. 

Anyways! This was my first attempt at making pancakes on my own and it was interesting to say the least, but when bacon is involved, where there's a will, there's a way! One of my roommates last year had these great little pancake stencil things you use to make cute shapes out of your food. I figured hey, it'll totally be easy to use these guys. And it probably would've been! If I was using a griddle.... instead I made pancakes in my little frying pan with higher edges that doesn't bode well for flipping pancakes in a stencil that has a handle and I struggled a little bit, hence the semi burnt pancake.... but it really was only semi-burnt on that one side!! and the pancakes were actually really great! The bacon was so good and the salty-sweet combo with the syrup was a pretty great idea if I do say so myself. I'm not gonna lie, I've only made these the one time but if someone asked, i'd totally do it again! (But I'd probably cut up the bacon this time...) 

Raging Wild Mushroom Ragout

I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I read the word Ragout in this cookbook but I can tell you, this was not what I what I imagined. Still, this dish ended up being really great. I never liked mushrooms growing up and avoided them at all cost but first year of college I started eating salads and mushrooms were suddenly really not that bad. By second year I went through a mushroom kick and cooked them in pretty much everything. Third year when I made this, it was perfect! This guy had probably 5 different kinds of mushrooms in it and it tasted great! However, by the time I got the to the end of the batch a week later, it wasn't as amazing anymore. This was when I figured I should probably pay more attention to the serving size unless I want to spend weeks eating 4-6 servings of the same ragout before it completely goes bad... 

Heavenly Onion and Dill Bread

Like the French Bread this little guy was a little dense. Mot as much but still not perfect. What was different was that this was a little dryer so it was much more fun to munch on. Similar to the biscuits, this also made a pretty awesome breakfast. Pre-sliced and put into a ziplock and it was perfect to go! Maybe one day I'll get bread right...  

Puffy Buttermilk Biscuits

Apparently Biscuits I can do. Biscuits I love. Unlike the french bread, these biscuits were not too dense and were instead very flakey and light. They were perfect on the go breakfasts for me which I can't help but love! I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and what not but I'm not really a breakfast person. Growing up my dad always set us down for breakfast before school but by the time I got to middle school and had to catch the bus, breakfast really wasn't in my daily plan. Sometimes I would much on a handful of cereal in the hallways but I didn't really factor breakfast time in so I went without it. Now that I'm in college I go back and forth. The little voice in my head is telling me breakfast is good for me, it jumpstarts my metabolism and gets me geared up for the day but I am honestly a night person and waking up is not fun. Anything that I can grab and eat on my way to school or work is perfect so these guys made me pretty darn happy for the week. I'm also not a sweet tooth kinda person either so a more savory salty breakfast is the way to go when I can make it happen! 

I am Peeta Mellark

I cannot describe how excited I was to make my first loaf of bread. I remember it being 11:30 at night when this sucker came out of the oven and I happily told myself that I WAS Peeta Mellark. Obviously I was exaggerating quite a bit but that didn't matter. By the glow of the stove light I happily cut into my bread. Now this was a pretty awesome loaf of bread. It tasted great, had an awesome hard crust, and was only a little bit dense.. okay maybe a lot a bit... Totally edible though!! To this day I have a hard time with the density of bread and cakes. I've been told that It's likely that I'm over mixing the dough. I need more practice. Keep adding these things to the to-do list. Practice Practice Practice. 

Apocalyptic Eggs Benedict

This was my first run with Eggs Benedict. Now first off, I know I didn't use english muffins but I'm honestly not a huge fan.. sorry. 

But still! For my first run of eggs benedict I think I did a great job! I definitely felt kind of awesome for even attempting an eggs benedict and the fact that I didn't make myself sick is just a pat on the back for me. This introduced the world of poached eggs to me which you'll see quite a bit later. I got into a poached egg thing for a while but this was my only eggs benedict. I've have a real eggs benedict at a diner and I don't think I was too far off though I could probably use some more practice on that. Note to self: put this recipe on the to-do list again. 

Sinful Cinnamon Buns

So it's been 2 weeks since I game back from Cuba (2 weeks and 3 days but who's counting...) and apparently getting back into the swing of classes means Emily fails at blogging almost every day like she said she would.. (I'm trying I swear!) But I'm starting to get my life back together and under control (kinda for now..) and so here I am! Blogging again! 

So right where we left off! My hunger games cookbook

So this was my first run at cinnamon buns, and honestly.. I can't quite remember making them.. I'm hoping they were pretty good... The smaller batch was a little lighter because I ran lower on the brown sugar mixture by the time I got the the end but I bet it was pretty good... 

Okay so I apologize for the not so great post... I swear I'll try to make the next few better! I have to get back in the swing of things!! 

Fearfully Fried Potatoes

Another Hunger Games recipe that's a little dramatically named for what the actual dish is. Kind of cute. This dish is simply potatoes and onions. 

For those who don't know, potatoes are my food of choice. If I could only have one food for the rest of my life, I would choose the potato. I suppose that says quite a bit about me. My love of potatoes is even a running jab with one of my cousins but that doesn't make me love them less. It really is one sided though. The pure starch is not even close to being good for me but that's okay, my love is unconditional. 

The next recipe in the book is a potato hash. The reason that there's no picture is because I haven't quite mastered this yet. Through the years they're the full proof dish I can't manage to cook at all. Practice practice practice. 

Hearty Ham and Egg Tart

So this is the first recipe in the Hunger Games cookbook I have. My very first quiche like dish which turned out fantastic. This dish may have made me slightly optimistic about how great this book was. Even still this turned out great and ended up being one of my favorite things to make. This led to my love of making pies a year later. Something I'm very passionate about right now and is the story behind my Calligraphy Pie Series.  

The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook

So near the end of fall semester my third year I decided baking was not enough for me. I needed to challenge myself and learn how to cook. So, not only did I not have time to bake but lets just cook during my non-existent free time too.. good idea Emily. 

Anyways, I was out with my mom one day and ran across this gem. I was a big fan of the Hunger Games back in high school when the books were still coming out and Jennifer Lawrence had yet to arrive on the big screen. So when I ran across this cookbook inspired by the series I was pretty excited. 

Again I had another cook book I vowed to work my way through. Not my best idea. This book is a little vague and requires me to make assumptions.. Never a good thing. Still, I have found some success with it and while I don't plan on cooking EVERYTHING, I do want to make my way through it and at least practice cooking a little more. I'm still in the process of working through it now but the next few blog entries will be the recipes I've tried so far

Dorito Crusted Chicken

I can hear healthy eaters just screaming at me now. This is a pretty straight forward recipe that I found online and was a little too excited to make. Basically they're just chicken breast cut up into small sections and coated with Doritos. I'm a little bit ashamed to say they were pretty good.. actually no, they were definitely good. If I can admit that I ate a garbage plate in 13 minutes, then I can admit that Dorito crusted chicken was a success. #NoShame. 

And yes I am one of those people that use hashtags. Not stopping any time soon

Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel is one of those restaurants you see when you're traveling along the side of the road. Those rest stop restaurants that always live along highways and many people just pass by. Somehow this restaurant is a place I remember from my childhood. I think between trips to Florida and day trips with my cousins in Rochester we managed to end up in a Cracker Barrel several times. 

It's one of those cute log buildings with lines of rocking chairs on the front porch with checkers big enough to cover the little coffee tables outside. Cracker Barrel is also a shop-restaurant combo which allows for us kids to look for toys while we wait for our table to be ready. With classic old school candy and toys it's fun shopping around and seeing all the things we grew up with that aren't really sold anywhere else anymore. 

Some time during third year, I mentioned this place to one of my best friends. She looked at me very confused and had no clue what I was referring to so the next time we decided to go out to eat this place was on our list. 

This restaurant is rustic and warm. It reminds me of being with my family when I was little and it just makes me happy. While I remember the chicken noodle soup being really great, now whenever I go, I always order my favorite thing when I was little - breakfast. It doesn't really matter what time of day it is, if I'm at Cracker Barrel, I have to have some sort of breakfast with hash browns. They're a must. This meal makes me so happy every time I get it. And I'm not much of a breakfast person, but at Cracker Barrel it's breakfast time every time.