my life in pastry review

If I found out eating any amount of gluten could kill me, I'd change into my pj's and spend the whole day making a tray of milk bread cinnamon rolls. And then eat them straight out of the oven.

Bake Sum - Oakland

holy hell this okonomiyaki pastry is what savory dreams are made of

musubi croissant is close second

escape

Raise your hand if you need a break because humans are fatiguing.
If you decide to temporarily escape, consider a container of musubis for roadtrip snacking.

spam n cheese musubi

1 musubi recipe from Alana

furikake

shredded white cheddar

-take many liberties with musubi glaze if you please i.e. using hojicha syrup + soy 

-mix cooked sushi rice with Asian pickle vinegar (reserved from carrots pickled in rice vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic) and furikake

-assemble musubi with layer of shredded cheese in between ham and rice

The layer of cheese was fantastic. Like a thin layer of mayo in a sammich, it added subtle creaminess and the illusion that I am a genius.

my cutest food frand

Away in Seattle on 2/12, so this comes a biiiiit delayed...

...for my twin in the halls of Babcock. Just kidding. We're actually the same person.

battle of the curries

Summer Fave #6: sand volleyball

A little healthy not-super-competitive competition never hurt anyone. Unless you're Nolan and you take the game to heart.

Lucky to have found a bunch of misfits who would rather dive around in sand than play a contact sport with real rules. Chance to dust off those long-lost/probably-never-there volley skills. Two things remain true - I'm still short, and nothing feels better than a well-executed float serve. Whatever you do, just don't make me laugh.

Many courts and combinations of peeps later, I'd say pick up balleyball games needs to remain on my hobbies list.

Speaking of competition and now speaking of food...

different kinds of freedom

Summer Fave #4: summer hours

I hate to admit that there are some perks of grad school because I like to adamantly maintain that it and shifty science and thesis writing is the worst form of human existence. And I'm only getting a Master's. Ask any fellow grad, and they'll say the same. But as I muscle through the last of chapter edits, I'm also realizing I just might miss this special brand of freedom.
Don't be confused.. I've definitely felt like a slave to soy and milk proteins for two years. And it's a little terrifying to think my emotions and mental stability have been governed by foams and emulsions for that time. Healthy human relationships? What's that? Don't judge me but my precious glass foam apparatus quickly became my most valuable possession (that isn't even really mine). The amount of times I had to lovingly soak and soap and rinse and dry that thing. And then the number times I wanted to smash it against the wall when data was misbehaving again...
Sorry, anyways, "freedom."

they see us rollin'

Summer Fave #2: rolling logs

Thank goodness I'm attracted to novelty and "weird" because I never would've ended up trying to befriend Abbey. And then I never would've ended up at Lake Wingra, attempting to run on a carpeted log (record = 25s). And then I never would've spent an entire smoldering hot but comfortably breezy Saturday watching competitive log rolling from 7 year olds to the elites. 

variations

The epitome of summer in Madison is sitting on the terrace with a pitcher and the sun setting over the lake. I'll admit there are a few awkward hours where everyone's vying for those seats where your back is turned to the setting sun, but once that and the steam whistle have passed, it's all warm breezes and black mirrored water and happy chit chat and more pitchers of beer. 

And crying about there not being any fries due to construction season.

Which inevitably leads to the dinner dilemma.

And the time Jen talked about the a lo pobre burger at Estacion Inka really sunk into my brain and clung to my hypothalamus and blanketed the prefrontal cortex.

So the next time we found ourselves in a dinner dilemma, we rushed on over to fix it. And add some variation to the burger quest.

LT, sweet plantain, shoestring potatoes, salsitas, and one sexy fried egg that oozed everywhere when I smushed the bread down.

Not the most ideal first date food for me - Lorraine, Daren, and Jules will tell you that. But good thing I don't really give a shit when it's delicious. The patty was on the chewier side, and I wouldn't have minded another handful or two of shoestring fries for textural (and personal fried potatoes obsession) purposes. But I mind so little when the result of eating is being covered in sauce.

By the way, last night the strawberry moon did not look so strawberry to me.

i like to ride my bicycle

Checking one off the bucket list.

Finally hopped back on a bike and decided to take it all the way around Lake Monona. 

on the burger wagon

Ended up at Oliver's after exams because it should be a tradition.

I need to establish a go-to cocktail for busy bars without extensive drink menus for me to pour over. I think thus far when I've been pressured and in a panic, I usually go with whiskey sour, which is fine and all, but are Lion's Tails a universally recognizable staple? I love when places have the bartender's choice option given a liquor and taste category.

Jules joins the burger quest. We had a super short "debate" over whether bison counts. It does. And every bite was great. One of the more "refreshing" burgers I've had... but that could also be the salad and natural lighting. 

Bison burger with LTO, roasted garlic aioli, house bun, with side of mixed greens.

on a roll

Weather gets a bad rep as far as "lame conversational topics" goes. The typical small talk example to avoid if you want to seem at all interesting. Why are we discussing the chance of rain when we could be sharing life stories and philosophies and secrets? But then again, why not when it has such a profound effect on my mood. I love when I can wake up with the sun. I love when it's randomly abnormally warm and sunny in February. I love when I can walk around with my jacket unzipped.

on the table

I'm the worst friend.  Flew away during a weekend of not one, not two, but three birthdays.  To miss tactical combat, cake, ribs... and virgin sacrifices.  And another cold winter hike.

This is Jules looking sadly judge-y before she knew it was time to judge.

two four

 My favorite kids don't care about me. Face to face conversation is a thing of the past.

The Dish in my kitchen

Flexing my creativity by contributing to The Dish Madison at Evann's suggestion.  Plus it's incredibly satisfying to see my name in print for the first time.
Initiation happened a hotel rooftop restaurant, The Madison Blind, where it took me too long to realize the hunting theme over tender Venison Meatballs with blackberry jam, cheddar fondue, and grilled ciabatta.

Also pumpkin truffle from Godiva = one of the more magical pumpkinfied items I've had in my life.

Read on
with a gingersnap cookie crust from here.

weekend at Jahred's

Why are all small things cute?  Is this really just a female phenomenon?  How can inanimate objects, un-personified objects, be cute?
Not sure, but doesn't matter.
LOOK AT THIS TINY WHISK.

Anyways, my favorite third wheel situation with my favorite... well.. yeah... they're in my top 3 couple extended into a full weekend when Jules's "grammar school" (this is a novel phrase for me) buds came to town.

sometimes sides

Lamb burger
Gruyere cheese, bacon, sunny egg, lettuce, aioli, onion
but cheese curds.

Muenster
grilled Polish sausage, chipotle Muenster cheese spread, sauerkraut, haystack onions, Mrs. Dog's Disappearing honey mustard
but crack fries.

roots

One of my first dinners out way back when we were naive real world freshmen (as Catherine so adequately put it) was at Himal Chuli pretty much right across the street from my soon-to-be previous  rodent hotel apartment.  This was back when I still had time to study at places other than my office.  Jules and I both got the meal special advertised at the table.  Squash curry thing, spinach and black eyed pea things with pita-like bread and a cup of creamy broth.  I remember it being good.  Warm and satisfying in the months when my first Wisconsin winter crept closer.  A little more liquid-y than I expect from curry type things, but I know nothing about Himilayan or Nepalese food.
Following that, I was all about the burgers and fries.

I'm starting to take the plunge into ethnic foods of Madison after remaining skeptical for nearly a year.

Tested the waters back in March-ish by maybe ordering too much at Swagat after a perfect afternoon of reading by the lake with Audrey.  Serious naps happened after our giant egg masala dosa (with three dipping sauces!), saag paneer for me as per usual, chicken curry for her, naan, and a rice mountain.  I had heard from both Bianca and Julia that it was the best Indian food they've had, and I don't disagree - even if it is the only Indian food I've had in Madison.

Then Dad visited and there was no way I could turn down a free meal at the couple Chinese restaurants his friend chose.  Some Sichuan favorites at VIP and fried eggplant/anchovy/pancake goodness at Orient House, and I felt hope again.

Meanwhile, everyone in the world (aka on IG) was galavanting around SE Asia, which made being in lab simply agonizing.  By the way, this not having three months of summer thing is my third least favorite thing about adulting.

But whatever because Alicia dropped by the city of poor street planning and 24/7 runners, and we had a riveting weekend of Asian food sampling and naps.
Finally made it to the much recommended Ichiban.  Aside from the fact that it's skeptical a Chinese place has a Japanese name, the 夫妻肺片 deserves the most memorable award.  It tasted exactly like this, but I can't decide if it'd even really be cheating if they just dumped a jar of that over a bunch of tripe and tongue... maybe I should do that...
There was a bit of a setback at the equally much recommended Ha Long Bay, where the overpowering star anise in the panang curry gave me a headache.  Can't say I'd be eager to return.
More dim sum the next day.  Chicken feet + BBQ duck + tripe = nice well balanced brunch.

Ended at Umami for pork buns and three rounds of brunch ramen.

Pork belly on fleek 👌
The last time I had ramen was many years ago at Momofuku, so I don't know what I really expect from ramen except an egg (check), seaweed (almost check - the flakey, saltier kind that comes in larger sheets is the better way to go), and a good broth.  I was super skeptical of the soymilk in the dashi broth, but it wasn't bad.  Imparted a creaminess that was suitable for morning ramen, but next time I would prefer a nice clear broth for sure.

As always, I feel hopelessly alone after visitors leave me on Sunday.  Who can I convince to come next?

if bean bag chairs could be woven from bread

This little bun sits so unassuming.  All alone on this oversized plate.  Just a few seconds earlier, there were ten more of its identical buddies surrounding it like a wild mushroom patch or a collection of fat cells.  Puffy balls concealing a golden secret.

why is bacon a thing?

Bacon really isn't my favorite thing.  I promise.  It's my brother's favorite thing, so I'm used to having it at home but not so used to actually eating it.  If I'm going to consume pork belly, there are far more delicious, beautiful, and satisfying ways of doing so.  But I find myself constantly with a pack of bacon in my fridge, and I have to ask myself "Why?"  I mean, it's not exactly the cheapest meat staple (that would be chicken drumsticks for 0.99/lb).  It's not a versatile centerpiece meat (that's still chicken drumsticks, which can be made any way with any marinade and any side dish/carb).  And it's definitely not the healthiest choice (I'd argue chicken drumsticks aren't bad in this department either - and then you can use the bones to make a broth, which is so totally in as of 2015...or birth if you were raised in my home).  (Can we just agree that drumsticks are the greatest grad student meat staple?)

life on a keychain

It all started with a dinner reservation at Nostrano.  That I was 30 minutes late to in my casual work clothes, looking as frumpy as possible in a nice restaurant.  We awkwardly entered in through the back, and I was hyper aware of the fact that I was in flip flops with an overstuffed backpack on my back.
The Chestnut Pici with rabbit confit, savoy cabbage, leeks, oyster mushrooms, and juniper was satisfying but didn't have much flavor beyond salty, and I was occasionally thrown off by a bite of cabbage that was too sour and didn't mesh well with the rest of the dish.  I guess I was expecting a strong chestnut flavor (making up for it now by downing much chestnut coffee).  I did like the crunchy bits that coated the noodles though.

After agreeing our waitress was a bit cold and that the $11 desserts on the menus that were forced upon us were ridiculous, we decided to bounce over to Cooper's.  My Guinness chocolate cake was a dry, but I couldn't bear to let them throw it away even after I tore it apart and mashed it up.  So I boxed it up and ate it with Julia's mint cookie ice cream the next day.  Let's just say I'll be sticking with the sliders and fries and beers.

It was then that I realized I lost my keys.  Aka access to all of my life.
Thank god for Leslie because otherwise I would've lost my shit in the middle of downtown Madison on a Friday night.  So we had to forgo getting happily tipsy on the Terrace to retrace our steps.  No luck at either restaurant.  No luck with the two Bus 3's we intercepted.  No luck at the dispatch station where Leslie geeked out about the buses.  (Although I admit if I wasn't in a state of panic, I would've been snapping pictures too.  How often do you get to see where the buses go to sleep?).  And each time, I 85% thought someone would appear before me with my too many colorful rewards cards and the pikachu keychain hanging off a green snap hook.  But each failure had me calculating the cost of replacing car, office, and apartment keys.  As well as trying to convince myself that no thief would be persistent enough to try to unlock every door (vehicular or otherwise) in Madison.  Throw in the brief downpour and my recent financial recklessness...and let the self castigation begin.

PC: Leslie

But luckily in addition to encountering a sweet hostess, a good natured bus driver, and friendly bus dispatch supervisors, we also ended up with the nicest, most helpful cab driver (should've gotten his name, should've tipped him more), who basically talked me through my hectic end-of-work day, so that we ended up back at Babcock... and I had never been so relieved and excited to see my keys sitting so innocently on my desk.
I loathe myself sometimes.

back on track

I've been slacking a bit on my burger quest that began here.  And stalled a bit here (because I still dream about this thing).  With some winners from here and here.  And regretting not ordering one from a couple key places despite having handed over my credit card to the establishment more than once (but it's okay, cones of fries were had galore).

So in the midst of my efforts to not spend any money for the rest of the month... Audrey convinced me (by simply asking) to go to Jacs, where she promised me an awesome burger.  Maybe I was a little bit skeptical of this information coming from a vegetarian until recent, but she did also promise me the best donut ever, so #trust.

Classic with cheese, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onion, pickle, house Russian dressing, and Madison Sourdough Co. bun with a side of fantastic frites + trio of cranberry, sage, Sriracha aiolis.

I'm impressed I even had the self control to snap this picture first.  I feel I have to rank this guy in my top three, along with Tipsy and Alchemy.  With such simple and typical toppings, the juicy deliciousness of the patty was accentuated.  Tip: slather aiolis on burger prior to every other bite.

Taking it slowwww.