Pho Sure

Last night my family took a little road trip downtown to Chinatown, Philadelphia for a Vietnamese dinner.  After doing some research about the true definition of Pho, while reading reviews about different Pho restaurants on Zagat, Urbanspoon and Yelp, we decided on a small "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant called Pho Xe Lua, on the corner of 9th and Race street.  They specialize in big broth noodle bowls called "Pho".  I have been craving a big noodle broth soup for the past week and finally the night was here.  I decided on a bowl of seafood noodle soup.  The large, steaming hot soup came out in a matter of minutes.  The majority of the bowl was filled with a translucent tan salty broth, with a heaping amount of transparent noodles on the bottom of the bowl, as the rest of the soup floated on top with tiny chops of green scallions as well as all different types of seafood like soft red crab, crunchy orange shrimp and even outrageous creatures like purple octopus and squid!  (I gave those pieces to my dad :)). In front of me on the table, there was a plate full of different "add-ins" for the soup, white bean sprouts, basil leaves, circular cuts of bright green jalapeño peppers and a couple halves of juicy green limes.  I dumped a handful of bean sprouts, a couple basil leaves and three jalapeño peppers into my bowl and mixed them around with my soup.  To finish it off, I squirted the half of lime into my soup for a tangy, tart flavor.  I then picked up my large miso soup spoon with my left hand and creamy-white chopsticks in my right hand and dug in.  The spoon had a hollow bottom making it easy to scoop up the broth.  Each spoonful was better than the next, the spices of the chili pepper left a steaming imprint on the roof of my mouth.  The more I ate, the fuller I became, but the soup was soooo delicious, I just wanted to keep eating it.  I kept eating until I felt as though I was about to burst and pushed my still quarter-full bowl back in front of me.  I woke up yesterday dreaming of Pho, I went to bed satisfied and woke up this morning with one thought in my mind, "I have to get to the left-overs before anyone else!"

The Breakfast Club

My all-time favorite breakfast food is cereal, because it's so easy and convenient.  I like all different types of cereal, but my favorite is Special K original because it has a really crisp taste, it stands up in milk, it tastes good with milk or without milk, you could eat it as a snack, and it's a healthy alternative to a heavy-laden breakfast.  I am a big fan of natural cereals, not a huge one of the sugary types.  This morning I combined two Trader Joes cereals: bran flakes and new favorite of mine, puffed wheat cereal.  Both are all-natural.  The bran flakes taste a bit bland, but the puffed wheat have a bit of natural sweetness to them.  Because one measly bowl of plain cereal is not enough, I decided to throw in a handful of plump, juicy blueberries, a couple of bright red cut-up strawberries and a couple slices of ripe yellow banana.  To top it off, I poured a generous amount of skim milk in the bowl as it soaked up the cereal.  I like to scoop up the extra milk with my spoon at the end of my bowl.  I would have to say, this is one of the best bowls of cereal I've ever made.  The ingredients were so fresh and tasty.  The simple sweetness of the strawberries, the soft, mushy flavor of the banana, the slight crunch of the blueberries were a perfect combination with the pair of cereals.  The remaining spoonfuls of milk had a touch of sweetness from the fruit.  It was a delicious breakfast and a great start to my day.

Steaming Hot Summer in a Cup

For the past week and a half it has been unbearably hot outside.  It's like we were living in a sauna, but instead of being secluded in a separate room, the hotness was everywhere.  I have been patiently waiting for it to get cooler outside and finally tonight the heat-stroke broke.  The coolness of the air circulated back into the night and I was able to step outside without having to catch my breath from the powerful heat.  Now I'm the type of girl who loves hot food..to pick two of my favorites, sizzling-hot soups and steaming mugs of peach, green, or Cinnamon tea.  However, I haven't really enjoyed eating hot food when the temperature of the food is the same as the temperature outside.  Tonight, with the cooler weather, I decided it was time for a cup of Cinnamon Spice tea, my favorite kind.  I let the tea bags steep in the hot water, with a drop of a natural Agave nectar sweetener and a couple pieces of fresh organic mint leaves from our garden in the backyard.  The flavors intertwined with a freshness from the mint, a spice from the cinnamon and the sweetness of the Agave flavor.  It was a nice change-up from the typical cold drinks I've had the past few nights, the warmness was refreshing, in a different way.

Grill-tastic

Tonight I was in the mood for something exotic.  I picked a fresh ruby red grapefruit from our fruit bowl and tried to think of a creative way to eat it.  I could peel it like an orange, but I'm not a huge fan of peeling grapefruit...(I'm not sure anyone is), or I could cut it in half and scoop out the triangular sections, but that seemed boring.  And then, a light bulb went off in my head: grill the grapefruit!  I sliced the grapefruit in half and flipped them upside down on the grill, so the peel was facing upwards.  After about 2 minutes, I took a spatula and flipped the grapefruit halves right-side up on a plate to reveal the diagonal burnt grill marks slicing the grapefruit.  I let the halves cool for about 30 minutes and then decided it was time to taste my new creation.  I carefully sliced out each individual triangular piece of grapefruit, grabbed my "grapefruit" spoon with the serrated edge and scooped out piece by piece.  The grapefruit had a mix of savory and sweet flavors.  The sweetness of the juice with each bite of grapefruit and the savory flavor of the after-bite from the crunch of the grill marks.  The grilling helped reveal the hidden taste of the grapefruit, making each bite sweeter rather than its normal tartness.

Wok n' Roll

Since I've been home for the summer, I've discovered one of my new favorite foods: home-made stir-fry.  I love to cut up all different types of vegetables and wok them together.  Tofu is usually my protein of choice, sometimes shrimp, but tonight I decided on some chicken tenderloins.  In a separate pan, I grilled the chicken in a marinade of fresh chopped garlic with a splash of soy sauce.  On the other side of the stove, was a large black Wok filled with "c" shaped pieces of green celery, bright orange carrots cut into flat circles, crisp red pepper, chopped white onions, a couple green scallions, sliced Chinese mushrooms and a generous handful of shredded tri-colored cabbage.  I layered the vegetables on top of each other and pushed them around with a large black spatula, determined to cook every little piece.  When the vegetables were done stir-frying, I added the chicken and folded the vegetables on top, combining every ingredient into a finished product. 

I'm known in my house-hold for my kick-ass stir-frys, but this one hits the top of the charts.  Every new stir-fry is better than the next and this one was no exception.  The flavors of fresh garlic infused with soy-sauced chicken, the crunch of the red peppers, the meaty-flavor of the mushrooms and the complimentary taste of onions and scallions were mouth-watering.  As they would say in Chinese, Tas Ti Din Na.

ObsESSIEd

Last night my friend came over so we could have a girls night and give ourselves manicures.  As I mentioned before in a previous post, I am obsessed with nail polish and always need to have my nails painted.  It was the perfect remedy after a long work-filled week.  I un-zippered my "makeshift" summer nail polish case which contained 6 of my 30+ bottles of my nail polish collection, while my friend emptied out her clear plastic nail polish case as well.  I was so ecstatic to see all of her colors, most of which I recognized from the previous year, but many others that were new, along with glitters and sparkles.  I must say, I really enjoy the popular bright and neon hues of the summer, but I am a huge advocate for dark colors year round.  However, I opted for a baby bluish periwinkle color called "Bikini so Teeny" by Essie.  The color spread easily over my freshly filed nails.  After two coats were applied, I picked up another bottle of nail polish, this time it was full of glitter.  I chose an over-coat called "Shine of the Times" a white-goldish glitter by Essie and applied to the fourth or pArTy nail on both my hands.  The glitter over-coat added an element of shimmer and shine to my already perfectly manicured hand.  I couldn't stop smiling while staring at my nails and am completely ready to add these colors to my collection.

SweetGreens

Today I was psyched to work a 7 hour shift at Whirled Peace frozen yogurt shop, it was a good shift, but a long one indeed.  I was surrounded by frozen yogurt and fruit galore but because I was so busy, I hadn't had a chance to eat during my shift and when it was over I was left absolutely famished!  When I got in the car on the way home, my stomach was growling.  I snacked on a delicious cheese stick and some red juicy grapes, but that was not filling and I was really looking forward to eating a real meal when I got home.  I grabbed a square plastic container and gathered two heaping handfuls of the most tender spring mix lettuce, I made a bed for it on the bottom of the container.  Then I sprinkled toppings of colorful shredded cabbage, tiny chopped red and green peppers, some pieces of a sunset-yellow colored peach, a couple chopped pieces of cucumber, Chinese white bean sprouts, red grapes and paprika-spiced tofu on top.  The mixture of flavors from the sweetness of the grapes, the crunchiness of the peppers, the spice of the tofu and the tartness of peach blended together in harmony. It was so tasty, I ate it naked...with no dressing.  Every forkful subsided the growling in my stomach.  I have to admit it was veggie good.