I'm not really a drinker but around December I kept getting invited to go to the bar, sort of as a fun meeting place to say goodbye to my friends that were graduating. Thus the world of bar foods opened up to me (because I'm that girl that goes to bars to eat apparently... )
I'm not going to lie, MacGregor's treats us well. The food is actually pretty good. Loaded waffle fries, salted soft pretzels, deep fried pickles, and buffalo perogies have been on my list so far. Delicious!
I was a super picky kid when I was younger. I guess I still kind of am in a way but I've definitely become more adventurous as I've grown up. Now, I'm game to try almost anything. Food has grown on me and I've given a lot of things a shot.
Korean Food is one of them. I'm not a fan of Korean food really. My cousins are in love with it so whenever we all get together in Long Island I always find myself in a Korean Restaurant wishing for anything else. A piece of bread could make me happy. Still, cousin bonding time leaves Emily as the odd man out so Korean food it is.
What was funny was that this time around, I went with one of my best friends. She has a habit of paying for food whenever we go anywhere and won't let me pull out my wallet so I told her we could go wherever she wanted to. She chose Korean. Believe me, I tried to talk her out of it.
Not being a fan of Korean food, I had no idea what to order and let her take the reigns. She went crazy with a few appetizers and we both ordered Bi Bim Bop as our main meal and it was actually incredible. This was such a great dish that I wasn't expecting. It was cooked well, so flavorful, and had so many great ingredients. I would actually go back in a heartbeat for this dish. I guess after this trip, she made me realize Korean food can be really really great.
I've talked about Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes and marathon Thanksgiving eating followed by shopping then more eating. Surprisingly, (not really too surprising actually.. ) the food did not end there! After our late shopping adventure and second dinner at 2am my cousin and I marathoned a TV show and did our nails (how girly). Of course when we finally woke up the next day and finally got ready, it was about lunch time. Now my cousin had to drive about and hour or so to get back to school because she had work that Friday night but we were set on having lunch before she left. We don't really have much time to see each other so when we do, we go hard.
What I didn't mention was that when she came over Wednesday night, we also went out to dinner and had American bar food (aka burgers and fries) at a place near my apartment (Lovin' Cup for those of you who are interested). So when we decided we wanted to go get lunch nearby so my cousin could bolt in time for work we figured we'd walk to the Mediterranean place also near me (Aladdin's). These two places are awesome and super convenient so I always end up at one or the other when family or friends from other schools come to visit me.
We ended up getting some hummus to share as an appetizer and then we each ordered our respective salads. We were stuffed! I always love Aladdin's food because it's light and fresh and feels so healthy when we're eating it. The portions are so filling too and we even had left over hummus (which my cousin kindly let me take). Thus, our cousin bonding/eating weekend was over and normal life picks back up. It's always so great to see how we always go back to our lives but pick things back up when we're together. The perks of being friends with family.
I know that here in America Thanksgiving is a huge holiday and whatnot.. but honestly I'm pretty sure I didn't have my first whole turkey until I was in high school..or maybe college.... Thanksgiving for my family was quite literally just us praying and giving thanks. Done and done. Then one year one of my aunts and uncles decided they wanted to see what the big deal was. Luckily my dad's side of the family is full of chefs so a turkey wasn't a big deal and thanksgiving was pretty cool. The weird thing with my family is that Thanksgiving is just another American holiday that we attempt to do while still holding on to chinese food. This means along with the Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn we also have calamari, steak, spring rolls, fish and soup. East meets west - welcome to the Au household.
So this year was no different. We ate all the American food (including the edition of pigs in a blanket this year - whatever you want mom) while spring rolls were passed around and steak kabobs were cooking on the portable grill. How crazy does my thanksgiving sound now?
Of course my cousin an I are marathon eaters because that's just the talent that works on both sides of the family. So we both ate way too much food because - thanksgiving, went out shopping because - black friday, and then ate again. Yep that's right. Promptly at 2am when we got back from shopping, we ate leftovers. They didn't last long but they were still good at 2am. Marathon eating is our game... and we're winning.
I have a very love/hate back and forth relationship with my family. They are all wonderful and perfect and crazy and dramatic and never call me then call me way too much, but when we get together, it's an adventure.
So right before Thanksgiving one of my cousins called me up and said she would be back home from school and asked me to stay at her house because the rest of the family was gone. I told her to come over to my place instead because my roommates were out on break. She agreed.
This is my cousin who is 5 months younger than me, grew up two doors down, and is probably my polar opposite. With the addition of her brother (who is 9 months older than me) we made a crazy rambunctious trio. So when she said she'd stay with me for a few days I figured the best way to start off family Thanksgiving weekend was with Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes (because we're classy).
One of my friends gave me a list of websites that had cupcakes made with alcohol and I've been slowly finding special reasons to make them (not that they really require a special reason). For my cousin I wanted to try to make these cupcakes! (http://honeycombfood.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/dark-chocolate-red-wine-cupcakes.html)
They turned out pretty awesome and my cousins really enjoyed them. I still haven't gotten the hang of frosting but flavor wise it worked so thats alright! I ended up making making way too many from the recipe and made my cousin bring a bunch back to school with her for her sorority sisters and dumped the rest on my other cousin here in Rochester. I'm starting to get a reputation with my cousins for baking - but that's completely fine with me!