S'mores Cookies

When I first found this recipe online I was beyond ecstatic. What this is, is a s'more stuffed chocolate chip cookie. Now, just to clarify, I love baking. As a little kid my mom used to sit us down in the kitchen with one of those little box cake mixes to keep us busy while she cooked and cleaned and was just being a mom. The odd part was that none of us really eat desserts. Honestly between me, my mom, and my dad, we could share one slice of cake and all still be satisfied. Those cakes usually ended up being eaten by my cousins or other relatives. Still, baking has stuck for me and been something I really enjoyed to do. More about that another time. 

Second year of college, one of my best friends and I got into stuffing other desserts into chocolate chip cookies; s'mores, peanut butter cups, etc. I don't know if I ever finished one of these cookies but they sure are fun to make! I was saving this recipe for a fun occasion and summer after school was it. I was visiting my then boyfriend whom I hadn't seen in 2 months and i thought cookies would be cute surprise to bring with me as a thank you for letting me invade his hometown for a week. 

What I didn't realize was that these cookies are massive. I mean it. Since there's a whole 'mini' s'more on the inside of the cookie, it didn't really flatten out too much. The marshmallows also caramelizes and kind of disintegrates. Still haven't figured out how to make them better. They ended up being rocks. He ate them and claimed that they tasted good and were totally fine. I'm pretty sure he was just making me feel better. I tried.  

ROC - Garbage Plate Pt.2

There's a great line of little restaurants in Rochester. Cozy little places lined up next to each other with really great food and a fun atmosphere.

This happens to be a mexican restaurant called Dorado, and me being the fearless bottomless pit that I am decided that this plate would be a fun idea. Challenge accepted. The 'Plato Grande' is just a big mix of rice, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, tortilla chips, melted cheese, and my choice of meat aka chicken. Again this is a lunch with the same best friend who tackled the 13 minutes garbage plate with me but this time around she chooses something else. We also have our other best friend with us. The little lunch trio. 

Proud to say that this plate is now one of our favorites whenever we frequent Dorado. This day was the first time any of us ordered this plate. 

The outcome? 20 minutes. Not as fast as the garbage plate but still pretty impressive. I'm a champ!

ROC - Garbage Plates

For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a garbage plate. Of course the food that Rochester is home to has the word garbage in the name.... typical. Generally a garbage plate for me is mac salad, home style fries, and two hamburger patties covered in a meat sauce. Of course there are some variations, i.e. hotdogs, cole slaw etc. and tons of combinations. I'm not personally a fan of condiments so hold the mustard and ketchup. The goal if a garbage plate is to mix it up and get a little bit of everything in one bite. As you can tell, it's a lot of food. A lot. It's also pretty unhealthy for you. This thing has enough calories for the rest of your life on one plate but man.. is it good. 

I'm slightly ashamed to to say this was my first whole garbage plate. It only took me 19 years until I finally mustered up the courage to eat one of these things but it was a good day. Since then I've had quite a few more from various locations all over Rochester. Not gonna lie, it's kind of hard to mess one of these up, so I haven't had a bad one yet.

Now for the impressive part. We know that I'm not a particularly healthy eater, as I've mentioned before. I had been planning on eating this garbage plate as a 19th birthday lunch date with one of my best friends. My birthday is in September. This was taken about 2 or 3 months after. Nailed it (not really). Since I knew this was the mission of the day I hadn't eaten all day. It took us both 13 minutes to clear our plates, I timed it. 

To anyone who's ever had a garbage plate before, you know how impressive this is. We were pretty proud of ourselves. And slightly grossed out, but that's besides the point.

Now a days, I try to space out my garbage plates and only eat a few per year. It's pretty incredible how much I can eat though, and these things are so great and fun to make visitors try. It's like a Rochester right of passage for all of my cousins who come to visit and for all of my friends from college who are new to the area. I've taken quite a few people to get their first garbage plate. Spreading the over indulgence all around. Yum.

ROC - Owl House

Let's just start this off by saying I'm not a particularly healthy eater and have never really gotten into any diet fads. Growing up I always ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. My parents were from Vietnam and I am a first generation American but my mom is quite odd and let us eat tons of American (junk) food growing up. Luckily for me I was a small kid with a fast metabolism and always stayed under the normal weight for my age/height leading my pediatrician believe I wasn't getting enough food. (Believe me.. I was..I really really was)

Flash to freshman year of college when one of my high school friends is back home for a visit. She suggests we eat at this place called Owl House. What she then adds is that this place has a lot of healthy vegan and vegetarian choices. I'm skeptical. I like my junk food. Carbs and starch are my friends. Pasta and some form of potatoes are a nice choice when I'm not inhaling my mountains of white rice.

We get to Owl House and she suggests we start off with the flatbread special of the day as the appetizer to split. The waitress comes out with this piece of perfection on a board, glistening with vegetables and melted cheese and I'm sold. Of course before eating, all of my friends from high school know to wait and let me take pictures before we start eating. A habit that I still have to this day. The flatbread is delicious and the rest of the meal is too. After that day Owl House became one of my favorite places to eat and I'm never let down when I go there. The health benefits are just a perk.     

PA - Lititz, Pennsylvania

I have just returned from my first trip to Pennsylvania! Seeing as it's literally the next state over it's pretty sad that it's taken me 21 years to make it there but it's finally happened! I made it! 

5 hours from Rochester to little Lititz to visit one of my dear friends, it was a solid drive I managed to make without stops either way on my own. I love driving by myself. It gives me good time to think and I feel that driving helps me appreciate landscape photography a little more. 

This amazing weekend included a lot of shopping and eating but I only managed to be inspired by my sushi the first night there from a restaurant called Mojo's.  

I feel this happens quite often. Sushi as in art from is incredible and I still have yet to stop appreciating the skill behind making sushi. My roll this time was called a Tokyo and included tempura shrimp, eel, and of course avocado (something I've been obsessed with this year). 

I actually did not enjoy sushi before college and always stuck to my classic shrimp ebi at family dinners where my cousins ordered huge sushi boats that filled the table. Now I can't resist! While I still stray from raw fish (not a fan, though I have tried giving it a chance) the fun rolls with shrimp, crab, and eel always get me. It was a wonderful start to my first trip to Pennsylvania and one that I hope to make a few more times this semester.