Lunchtime Links for July 6th, 2010

• Serious Eats: Top Chef recap. 
• The Kitchn: Alternatives to tomato sauce for your pizza. 
• Cute Overload: Smiley fishies. 
• Bakerella: Lots of cake-based competitions.
• Pioneer Woman: Ponzu beef and chicken fajita recipe.

Dupont Farmers Market Goodies

 Just wanted to share some recent finds at the Dupont Farmers Market, which runs every Sunday morning.  N recommended the ricotta cheese, which she used before for both savory and sweet dishes.  I got a small tub of the Keswick Creamery Whole Milk Ricotta, as well as a pack of Red Apron Mortadella Dogs for fun.  I figured I didn't *have* to eat these like hot dogs, and could use them like I would for sausage in a recipe.  

  

What I came up with is this easy dish right here: Rigatoni with sauteed mortadella dogs, fresh tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and whole milk ricotta.  First, I start cooking the pasta, and while that was going I cut up and sauteed the garlic and mortadella dogs.  Then I cut up and threw in the tomatoes to the pan for a few minutes.  Right before the pasta was finished cooking, I threw in handfuls of spinach to wilt in the pan.  At the v. last second I mixed in a few spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese along with some fresh cracked pepper.  So delicious!  I made the exact recipe again a few days later, I liked it so much, haha.  Not the most creative recipe, but super yummy and a good way to use up the stuff I bought!

Lunchtime Links for July 5th, 2010

• Serious Eats: Iced coffee roundup.
• fANNEtastic Food: Stonyfield yogurt tour/tasting.
• Bakerella: Pillow cookie recipe. 
• Cakespy: Black & White ice cream cookie sandwiches.
• Metrocurean: Whoops Bakeshop coming to DC.

Korres Blush from Beautopia

Korres Zea Mays powder blush

A big "Thank you!" to the Beautopia blog for having this pretty Korres blush contest.  I've never really tried Korres products before, but the packaging instantly drew me in.  V. minimalist and modern, with teeny tiny font running down the sides, haha.  I like that it has a full, substantial mirror, in case I'm using it during traveling/away from a bathroom mirror. 

  

The color is v. pink (the shade is "16 Pink" after all), but not so dramatic when you sweep it on.  Regardless, a light touch is recommended - you can always add more color, but it's a big pain to try to take it off, haha.  The powder itself is v. fine and applies smoothly to my cheeks.  Depending on how much you brush on, I could see this soft pink shade being good for all skin tones for a girly touch.

Lunchtime Links for July 2nd, 2010

• Modern Domestic: Cake strips for even cake layers, neat!
• fANNEtastic Food: Stonyfield Blog weekend, part 1.  
• Serious Eats: Best chocolate chips for baking. 
• The Kitchn: Unicorn meat, ha.
• Momofuku for 2: Homemade marshmallow recipe.

Japanarama Review: Custard Waffle Koala's March

 

Ah, Koala's March.  One of the true staples of my childhood, back when they only came with the milk chocolate innards.  Nowadays they have expanded slightly, with limited edition/seasonal flavors popping up here and there.  Here's my review of the limited edition Winter Maple Milk flavor here. 

I loooooove me some custard waffles.  Whenever I go to Japan, there's a certain store/brand that sells these cute little filled waffles in some department stores, and we literally get as many as we can carry, haha.  They look like little mini waffle tacos filled with all sorts of flavored custard, as well as whipped cream, anko (sweet red bean paste), etc.  SO good.  However, this box caught my eye mainly because it was new/different to me, and not really for the Custard Waffle flavor.  Why you ask?  Because I knew what I was getting myself into in terms of expectations, haha.  I figured these would probably taste mainly of vanilla, and that's about it.

Turns out I was right for the most part.  The waft of artificial vanilla hits you as soon as you open the inner bag, and pretty much stays with you while you're eating these little koalas.  The thing is though, the crisp, thin shell of the koalas lends itself well to the "Custard Waffle" effect, because it's a different taste than the vanilla filling.  So it's kinda-sorta-almost-but-not-really like eating a crisp waffle that has custard inside, ha.  These are a tasty snack if you're more of a vanilla person or don't feel like regular chocolate.  

 

  

Each koala is drawn doing random tasks which is sorta fun to look at before you eat them, haha.  And I mean "random": these koalas are being hungry (ironic), , scuba diving, competing in a QUIZ show (??), dressed in a koala costume, eating ice cream, and bed-ridden with an illness.............  Anyway, if you've never tried Koala's March before, I recommend them for the cute Japan!!! factor and for being a tasty little snack.     

A Quick Announcement...

....to let you know that a week from now,  

I will be in NYC SEEING LADY GAGA AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


No, it's not that I forgot to post about getting tickets (c'mon now), it's that I WON tickets via a Twitter trivia contest from InStyle magazine!  Super exciting, and so so so excited to see Miz Gagaloo in her hometown!   Just wanted to share with you, my lovely blog friends!  And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging, haha.