Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

I’m going to take a small break from posting a new recipe this week to let you know about an exciting event that is coming up!

For those of you in the NYC area, I’m super excited to invite you to a delicious bake-off on Wednesday, June 9th! Come out and taste some yummy desserts made by yours truly (and other bloggers) as we raise funds for The LAMP, an organization that teaches media literacy to children and families in underprivileged communities.

A panel of noted foodie judges, including Brooke Parkhurst–NY Daily News food columnist and writer (along with her husband, Chopped champ James Briscione) of the forthcoming cookbook Just Married and Cooking, and Giulia Melucci–author of saucy “foodoir” I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti will be there.

Event: The LAMP Summer Benefit 2010: Where Food Meets Media
Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2010 7-9pm
Where: Double Windsor Bar, 210 Prospect Park West (at 16th St.), Brooklyn NY
Admission: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
All proceeds benefit The LAMP and your contribution is tax deductible.

About The LAMP:
The LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project) is a non-profit organization bringing free, hands-on media literacy workshops to youth, parents, families and educators throughout New York City. Based in Brooklyn, The LAMP was founded in 2007 by Katherine Fry, Ph.D., and community organizer D.C. Vito with the vision that one day, media literacy will be seen as the critical requirement to understanding the world and our place in it. As part of this effort, The LAMP works in communities to build healthy relationships with all forms of media, with a focus on communities which are considered at-risk or underserved. To date, more than 700 students have benefited from workshops with The LAMP on a range of topics, such as cyber wellness, news literacy, advertising literacy and much more.

I’m still in the process of figuring out what to make! Since this is a media event, I will be using a recipe from a media source (blog, newspaper, magazine, etc), as opposed to making one up. So please let me know if you have any suggestions and list the exact recipe link.

Yes, I know it’s all the way in Brooklyn but it would mean a lot to me if you could come. Hope to see you there!

I attended a work event today. It involved breaking a Guinness Book of World Records for the largest falafel ball, coming in strong at 24 pounds! Coincidentally, this past week, I had a really bad cooking day, and made one of the worst tasting meals ever!

Sometimes, no matter how good you are at following recipes, something will go awry in the cooking process. It is super frustrating when you’re unable to figure out why the recipe turned out the way it did. Lucky for you, dear reader, this is not one of those cases. I know exactly what went wrong here!

It’s been a long time since I’ve made pita bread at home, so I thought I’d try a new recipe to go with this hummus and falafel recipe. I ended up with roasted chic pea salad and a very dry hummus that I don’t even want to eat!

(more…)

If you’re anything like me, you probably subscribe to a lot of food blogs. Interestingly, in the last two weeks, I felt like I entered this alternative universe where “ramps” were in every recipe I came across! Ramps are a member of the onion family,  also known as wild leek, or spring onion.

What’s so special about ramps? Why did it make food bloggers go gaga? Could all of these people be wrong?

According to this article in Time magazine:

“What makes ramps ramps is not their flavor, you see, but their cultural value. The Food Snob’s Dictionary, offers this explanation to Time: “The ramp is not a salad green, but it is a green vegetable, and it is the first legitimately green thing that appears from the ground in April, a month that, in terms of farm yield, is otherwise an extension of winter. For food snobs, therefore, David Kamp, the author of ramps are overcelebrated and overly scrutinized, like the first ballgame played in April, even with 161 more games ahead.”

So what did I think of them? Read below to find out.

(more…)

Can you tell that I’m now officially obsessed with Sriracha sauce? To be more specific, Sriracha sauce mixed with other condiments? If you think about it, there are a lot of possibilities! Sriracha with Hoisin is also another clear winner, which is a must-have when eating Vietnamese Pho. Can you think of other winning combinations?

Let’s face it – bacon wrapped anything is not earth shatteringly complicated or new, but one thing’s for sure – it is freaken delicious! And I’m sure your party guests will ask you for more!

(more…)

As promised in my Kkan poong shrimp post, here’s a recipe for Jja Jang Myun, aka, noodles in black bean sauce. Hope you enjoy this recipe, Silvett!

While traditional Korean dishes have been widespread, such as kimchi or marinated meats, there is a whole other cuisine that also deserves some attention! Chinese style Korean food was born when Chinese immigrants settled in Korea in the 19th century, and 2005 marked the 100th anniversary of this popular dish, according to wikipedia. I’ve also seen Chinese versions of this dish, called Dan Dan noodles, but have yet to give it a try.

Growing up in Korea, I have early memories of eating Jja Jang Myun. It was a ubiquitous dish, not to mention cheap! Whenever we’d order it for delivery, the men would carry the food in a big tin box with handles, on a motorcycle. The noodles came in actual bowls, so we’d have to put the dirty dishes outside, so that the delivery men could come back for it later. I assume this is no longer the case.

(more…)