How to make Tonkatsu

Hi everyone :)

My bf was craving for tonkatsu today so we decided to make our own instead of just eating out. Tonkatsu is japanese style fried pork cutlet. So we headed to grocery store and got some thin cut pork slices. And lets get started!

Tonkatsu

All we need is thin cut pork slices, eggs, flour, bread crumbs, salt and pepper for seasoning.

Ingredients

Slit the side of the pork to prevent the meat from curling while frying.

Seasoned the pork slices with salt and pepper

Lightly coat the pork slices with flour, then beaten eggs and lastly the bread crumbs. Set them aside.

Coat pork slices with flour, eggs and bread crumbs.

Put the coated pork slices into frying pan with hot oil. Fried it with medium-high heat until golden brown both sides. Place it on paper towel or let it rest on metal rack to remove excess oil. 

Fried until golden brown

Ta-dah, tonkatsu is ready to serve!

Thanks for reading :)

Korean BBQ at Chicago

Happy Thursday peeps! Hang in there, weekend is just right here.

I went to Wisconsin last week with my bf and we stopped by Chicago for dinner. This time we went to an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant at Lincoln Square called Song Do. This was my second visit and I'm very satisfied on both my visits. The service was really good. For $16.99 and you can have unlimited meats and side dishes, I think it's very affordable. Meats was well marinated and taste good. I would definitely go again!

Dessert Time: Haagen Dazs, Caramel Apple, Green tea Kitkat....!!!!

Hi everyone!

I saw this somewhere and I think it's is freaking true! ''Stressed <-> Desserts''  When you are stressed, go have some desserts and ta-dah de-stressed! How easy it is! I have a very sweet tooth and I eat incredible amount of desserts! Anyways, I'm gonna share with you guys some desserts that I had in the past week.

My favorite ice cream: Haagen Dazs Greentea!!

Mickey Minnie Caramel Apply at Disney World Orlando

Baked Nutella swirl cupcake to satisfy my midnight craving. 

Froyo!!

Favorite Green Tea Kitkat, Japan exclusive!!

Family Reunion in Chi-chi-chicago

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I'm here in Chicago again but it was different this time. MY FAMILY FROM 10,000 MILES AWAY CAME TO VISIT ME!!! No words can describe how excited I'm.

So my bf, I and of course Churro, my dog went to O'hare airport to pick up my parent and big sista. I was so happy the moment I saw them walking out the gate. Big hugs to all of them. It has been a while.

We went to the hotel to check in and drop off the luggages. It was literally next to the airport. Decent hotel, nice and clean and FREE PARKING! Then the journey started :)

Four Points by Sheraton

Churro becoming so asian lol

We had late lunch at Gyu Kaku, a japanese BBQ restaurant in downtown Chicago. The foods were amazing, order any BBQ meat on their menu and you will not be disappointed. Their green tea ice cream was by far the best green tea ice cream I've ever had, even better than Haagen Dazs one. Downside was a little pricey tho and portion was small. But you get the good foods! We spent around $200 for 5 of us and we didn't leave with a full stomach.

Gyu Kaku

Green tea ice cream!!

Since we were at downtown, we walked along N Michigan Ave. The weather was kinda chilly. We went back to hotel after so my family could get some rests since they flew almost 20 hours to get here.

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After we got some good sleeps, we had brunch at Yolk, one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. The food portion was huge, we always have some leftovers to bring home. We then went to the Skydeck in Willis Tower. Although it was my 3rd visit, I'm still fear of the height, not as much as 1st and 2nd visit tho, I guess I'm slowly overcome the fear :)

Yolk!!

Skydeck @ Willis Tower

Next stop was Millennium Park and its famous bean, Cloud Gate. Flowers were blooming and it was so beautiful here. I took some graduation pictures here with fam. We then went to Crown Fountain and Buckingham Fountain. Too bad it was too cold to play in the water. We had dinner at Lao Beijing in Chinatown. We were gonna go to Lao Sze Chuan but it was too crowded, line was about an hour wait. Foods was okay.

Crown Fountain

Cloud Gate

Buckingham Fountain

Millennium Park

Cloud Gate

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Third day in Chicago, we had brunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I love their red velvet cheesecake, I think I will never get bored of it. We went to Water Tower Place after brunch then headed to Art Institute of Chicago. We got the discounted price ticket for only $10 because it was the last hour before they closed.

The Cheesecake Factory @ N Michigan Ave

Red velvet!!

Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

Went dinner at Pizzeria Uno. Love their deepdish!

Pizzeria Uno deepdish pizza

Breakfast at Yolk!

Happy Wednesday! How was your week so far?

I don't really have breakfast in the morning because there's not many good breakfast restaurants around my city and I feel so lazy to get up in the morning and cook breakfast :P So I usually skip breakfast and go straight to class. I know it's unhealthy but yeah I don't live in the dorm anymore and there's no meal plan. Sad.

So whenever I go to Chicago, I will go to Yolk to have my favorite breakfast there. Yes obviously it is a breakfast restaurant and you gotta try this! Yolk's foods are so good. Yummylicious...There are 3 outlets in downtown Chicago mainly along Michigan Avenue.

I have tried couple of their foods and they are uhh-mayy-zingggg!!!!! No joke! Also, if you are a coffee lover they have free flow of coffee! I love that they have different flavor (hazelnut, caramel, vanilla...) of creamer. That's one of my favorite part about Yolk too!  So when you have a chance to go to the windy city, don't forget to try out Yolk's breakfast :)

Eggs Benedict

Clockwise: Pancakes, Eggs Benedict, Big Texas Fajita Omelet

Clockwise: Yacht Club, Fresh Squeezed OJ, Hey Ricky, Pancakes

Banana Milk

Hi everyone. How was your weekend?

I was craving for this banana milk and got it when I went grocery shopping last weekend. It tastes so good but it is so expensive at my place :(

Kimchi Jjigae 김치찌개

TGIF!!

I can't believe it's March already, so spring is almost here YAY!!

Weather is still cold outside and a bowl of my favorite kimchi jjigae (korean spicy cabbage stew) will definitely keep me warm. I decided to cook on the last minute so I didn't get to thaw any meats because it took me forever gahhh :( This is the veggie version of kimchi jjigae.

What you need

1 bowl cut kimchi

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp pepper paste (gochujang)

1 tsp pepper powder

1 onion

5 cloves garlic (chopped)

green onion

dried shrimp

anchovies

kelp

sesame oil

Kimchi

Clockwise: garlic, kelp, anchovies, dried shrimps

Pepper paste and powder

1) Fill water in pot and put dried shrimp, anchovies and kelp to cook the soup base. Drain out the dried shrimp, anchovies and kelp.

2) Quick fried kimchi, sugar, pepper paste, pepper powder, onion, garlic and green onion on a pan. Pour into the pot with flavored soup base.

3) Close the lid and boil it for 10 minutes with high heat. Then, turn to medium heat for 20 minutes.

4) Add sesame oil before serving.

Kimchi jjigae 김치찌개
omnomnomnomnom..

Valentine's Day Dessert: Tiramisu

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Heart-shaped for V-day ♥

For those who are in a relationship, I hope you guys can stay sweet and happy forever. And those who are single, I wish you can find your true valentine very soon :) Don't forget you can also celebrate with family!

I love desserts very much, and that is why I love to bake because it is hard to find a good bakery here in West Lafayette. I always bake my own dessert on holidays because a lot of places raise their price on holidays like Valentine's Day or Christmas Day. And most importantly, the person who eats your bakery will feel special because that is the thing specially made for them.

Last year, I made red velvet macaroons and Derek loved it! It is a very good valentine's day dessert. And this year, I wanna make something I haven't made before, which is Tiramisu. Tiramisu is an Italian dessert and has a meaning of 'pick me up'. I love tiramisu so much. It is one of my favorite cake. It has a mix flavor of coffee and chocolate also some liquor taste. The mascarpone cheese is so smooth and melt instantly in your mouth. I always thought it is very hard to make and the ingredients are hard to find. I found some recipes online and improvised them. Tiramisu is a no bake cheesecake unless you make the lady fingers from scratch.

**This is an eggless tiramisu recipe.

♥ Tiramisu ♥ 

Ingredients:
30 lady fingers (soft and hard)
1 cup espresso
2 tbsp coffee liqueur (optional)
2oz dark chocolate
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
8oz mascarpone cheese
cocoa powder (sprinkle on top)

Happy Valentines Day

1) Mix espresso and coffee liqueur in a bowl. Then soak the hard lady fingers with the espresso mixture.
2) Put the soaked lady fingers as a base in a mold.
3) Melt chocolate with half cup of whipping cream and let it cool.
4) Beat the remaining whipping cream until stiff.
5) Beat sugar, mascarpone cheese and rum. Then fold in whipping cream.
6) Spread 1/3 of chocolate mixture followed by 1/3 of mascarpone cheese mixture in mold.
7) Layer with soft lady fingers and brush espresso mixture on top. Repeat step 6) and 7).
8) Sieve a layer of cocoa powder on top. Serve chill.

Ta-dahh

Lunar New Year Celebration

Happy lunar new year everyone!

Today is the first day (Jan 1st) of lunar calendar, we called it 'Chor Yat'. It is one of the most important day for most asians.

All the families get together on chinese new year eve for reunion dinner. The official color for chinese new year is red which means lucky and good fortune for the chinese. So don't be surprise if you see everyone wears red from top to toes. The senior members of the family will give the kids red envelope with cash in it which symbolizes happiness, health and prosperity.

On the first day of new year, families and friends visit each other, get together and celebrate it big. I'm still in college and couldn't go home to celebrate this big holiday. So this year my friends and I had a potluck dinner at my place and almost 35 people showed up. They threw a party after and everyone had fun.

Yee Sang

Foods

More foods and dessert!

Apartment full of people.

Beer pong fun.

Crème Brûlée

Bonjour! Ça va bien?

Who doesn't love dessert? It's kind of hard to find my favorite desserts in this little campus town unless if I go to Chicago. So I always try to bake it myself teehee :P
Baking is one of my favorite things to do at home. As long as I have the ingredients, I can bake anytime even 4 in the morning!

I had crème brûlée couple times and it tastes so good. I always wanted to make it my own and I got the ramekins last month! It was easier than I thought.

**I don't have a torch so I didn't burn the top surface but it's okay. It tastes as good :)

Ingredients (filling):
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
6 oz milk
6 oz whipping cream

Ingredients (caramel):
1/2 cup sugar
3 oz water

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla essence.
3. Heat milk and whipping cream until warm (not boiling), leave it for 5 minutes off stove and pour to egg mixture.
4. Heat sugar and water for 15 minutes or until light brown or caramelize.
5. Pour caramel into 4 small ramekins then pour the egg mixture into each ramekins.
6. Bake it with water bath for 25 minutes.
7. Let it cool completely and keep in fridge for at least 3-4 hours. Serve chill.

Anniversary date ♥

It was our 2-year anniversary on Monday. It fell on a school day amd we have midterm coming up so we couldn't really go anywhere to celebrate it big and the road was pretty icey to drive so we decided to go to a japanese restaurant nearby our school. Derek gave me a little surprise and bought me roses kkkkkkkk :)

We ordered agedashi tofu, tuna avacado salad and miso soup as appetizers. We both love agedashi tofu so much! That's like something we must order when we go to japanese restaurant. We got hot sake, it was our first time having sake it tasted like soju but a smoother version. We didn't order any entree but 5 sushi rolls. I love sushi rolls *drooling*

The chef made us 1 of the wrong roll and gave us another roll for free yay! The waiter then gave us japanese beer for free.

We felt so bloated after dinner. That was so much foods and we finished all 6 rolls of sushi and appetizers!