May Updates/ Recent Eats

Sorry I've been MIA but I'm finally done with classes for my first year! I've been documenting some of the food that I've been nomming on whilst studying, so here goes:

Porchetta pizza! I had some leftover porchetta and salsa verde, so I loosely followed this recipe but used Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough and added caramelized onions. It turned out amazing since the pork belly pieces made it crazy juicy. I split this 12" pizza with my roomie and we each ate it for two meals because it's so fatty and filling, but incredible.

Khoi's pho! The broth was wonderful -- very flavorful, even without sriracha/ hoisin. Homemade pho done right is so much better than restaurant pho.

Dutch Apple Pie with Sour Cream Custard - recipe from The Hoosier Mama Cookbook. Hoosier Mama is a highly rated bakery in Chicago that recently published its own cookbook, so I had to see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed since it was too sweet, even when I cut the streusal recipe in half.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, also from The Hooiser Mama Cookbook. It was also too sweet for me, but much better than the dutch apple pie. I served it a la mode at a friend's barbecue and it was quickly gone.

Calamari from Marcella's. I came here for happy hour, which featured half off of all apps/ pizzas/ drinks, and this was my favorite. Only $7 for a huge platter of perfectly crisp calamari, so yums. 

Happy hour at The Pearl: parmesan baked oysters, confit chicken wings, and corn jalapeno spoon bread. I'm convinced that they have the best happy hour in Columbus.

Hot and numbing wok fried shrimp and Szechuan hot pot with fish at Red Chili Asian Kitchen. It was a hot day and I was sweating profusely because of those dishes. I'm surprised at how authentic it tasted, and love the proximity of this restaurant to campus. 

Brambleberry crisp, salty caramel, and brown butter almond brittle from Jeni's, because ice cream season means Jeni's season. I can make a lot of their recipes from the cookbook, but it's not the same as polishing off a large sundae on a hot summer day outside of a Jeni's store. 

Coolass decor from an awesome shop I recently discovered on the Short North called Global Gallery. They're nonprofit, all their wares are fair trade, profits go towards a good cause, and they have the coolest trinkets. I wanted everything.

And saving the best for last -- my beautiful new frying pan! I actually didn't own a frying pan until recently, since I used our wok for stirfrying and my dutch oven to cook flat things. It's a beautiful anodized aluminum Cuisinart that I bought off of a graduate student who was moving, and it was almost brand new for only $10. Best purchase of the year :)

Hopefully I'll be able to cook and post even more this summer, cheers!