Updates from a new city

1) I moved! Hello Columbus, Ohio :)

My new room. Not as nice as my DC apartment, but it'll do. I need to decorate.

Living room

The kitchen. I love that it's spacious and it has so many cupboards, but it's definitely made for a tall person...

2) I started med school!

I'm not a doctor yet but I get to play one in school.

3) I made new friends

Orientation week was initially intimidating, but turns out I'm not that uncool. People like hanging out with me after all...

And to make this post food blog related somehow...

When my dad came to help me move in, we went to this awesome Chinese supermarket called CAM International Market (it rivals any market in LA/SF/Chicago) where I picked up a bunch of yummy Asian ingredients. I made a huge batch of stir fried rice cakes right before I got hurt, so I'm gonna be eating it for the next three days or so. It was like I could sense I would get injured and was prepping for it...

Mise en place. You'll need Chinese sausages, bok choi (peeled into individual leaves), chili oil, rice cakes (defrosted and soaked in water for two hours), soy sauce, water or chicken broth, green onions, and sesame seeds are optional. 

Dice up Chinese sausages (I used about 4 small links, but use however much you'd like). Cook until fat renders and it starts looking browned/crispy. Remove from heat and transfer to plate.

In the same pan, cook bok choi for about two minutes until it starts to wilt. Remove from heat and transfer to plate.

This is the chili oil that I use. It's called Lao Gan Ma and it's the stuff of gods. It also translates to "old dry mother"...yea.

Throw some of that chili oil into the pan, heat until it begins to bubble, then add in rice cakes and stir.

Pour in a few tablespoons of water or chicken broth, and also a few drops of soy sauce. Toss to stir and continue stir frying for a couple of minutes.

Add the Chinese sausage and bok choi back into the pan and toss together. 

Throw in green onions, turn off heat, and plate. Top with sesame seeds so that it looks cool, ta da!

Whole Food's Curry Chicken Salad

I love the curry chicken salad at WF...but it costs somewhere in the ballpark of $10/lb, and I can't afford that. I've tried numerous recipes on the internet and nothing has been quite similar enough except this. This recipe is spot on, I promise.

So what I usually do is I buy a big ol' rotisserie chicken for $5 and eat the thigh/leg. I dice up the chicken breasts and use it for this chicken salad. The other ingredients you would need are:

• 1/4 cup almond slivers
• 1/3 cup red currants, or diced dried cranberries
• 1 bunch scallions, chopped 
• 1/4 cup mango chutney (it's expensive in most places, but TJ's sells a jar for ~$3)
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 tsp.curry powder
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Just stir everything together and use it in anything: in a salad, in a wrap, with lots of greens on a salad. It tastes great and I feel like I've outsmarted Whole Foods, ha. 

VitaTop Chocolate Muffin Dupes

So...I tried this recipe for VitaTop muffins and they're pretty darn amazing. Pro is that they're only 100 calories apiece, are low sugar, and are great for when you have a sweets craving. Con is that they use artificial sugar, and also that it's kinda hard to stop at just one. So instead of eating one 300 calorie muffin, you may end up eating three of these :(

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS
Recipe from Dining Dash

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup oats
• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup baking stevia (I just used ~15 packets of splenda that I stole from Starbucks)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners. 
2. In a blender, mix all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and blend until smooth
3. Pour batter into a bowl and stir in half of the chocolate chips, setting the rest aside. Scoop the mixture into prepared pans.
4. Bake muffins for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and distribute the other half of the chips on top of each muffin. Place back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick. Cool and enjoy :)

Simple Chicken Tikka

I make a mean Indian chicken dish. But it takes a crap ton of effort -- it's a Top Chef recipe and takes me about three hours. I saw someone post a simple recipe on Reddit and I had to try it because a) I want curry all the time but don't have $ to order out often nor three hours to spare, and b) the guy calls chicken breasts "chicken titties" which makes me giggle. 

This recipe doesn't taste nearly as refined as my complicated recipe...but it's still really good and worth the two hours of time saved. So give it a try: Chicken Tikka, recipe courtesy of Redditor Unidan

Farmhouse Evanston

Medium rare duck, with crispy skin and the fat perfectly rendered. Presented on a bed of creamy polenta, with Michigan cherries and roasted pistachios. Chicago food is freaking amazing.

Farmhouse Evanston

703 Church St

Evanston, IL 60201

(847) 492-9700