Best Tomato Soup

Today I went to Elephant's Deli downtown and ordered my favorite thing on the menu, Orange Tomato Soup! It's is by far the best tomato soup I've ever had, and the secret is definitely the orange! It adds a certain zing to the soup and makes it come alive! It's creamy and warm, and I absolutely love the orange in it! It wouldn't be the same without it. It makes it sweeter, but also tangier at the same time. It's a very lovely taste but a bit hard to describe. You'll just have to try it for yourself!

Another Waffle!

I've been going to my favorite waffle stand on Hawthorne Blvd and discovered something new on their menu! A pumpkin pie waffle! Perfect for the autumn season, it's their famous pearl sugar waffle topped with a slice of pumpkin pie, whipped cream, and a caramel drizzle! It tastes AMAZING. It's so sweet, but the pumpkin pie has all those spices that keep it balanced! (There's no picture because I eat them too fast!) I'll have to get a bunch before the season's up!

Fudge Final

For my Food for Thought final I decided to make one of my favorite foods: fudge! Fudge is one of my favorite desserts. I love chocolate, and to me fudge is the ultimate chocolate. My mom gave me a recipe she had used for years. It was incredibly easy to make! All you did was melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla. Once everything was well mixed, pour it into a pan and let it cool until it's firm. I thought it tasted amazing! I made sure to be patient about the melting part especially. My mom told me the last part of getting it to melt is the hardest and takes the most time. So I waited it out and was pleasantly rewarded! It was so rich, and smooth and chocolatey! I had never made it on my own before, but now that I see how easy it is, I'll definitely try to make it more often! It is the ultimate comfort food!

Ya Hala

For our class dinner we went to Ya Hala on Stark. It is a Lebanese restaurant and it was so so good! I had a hard time not filling up on appetizers! The pita was delicious, and the humus was so creamy. My favorite was the lamb! It was cooked perfectly and bursting with flavor! I also loved the dessert at the end! I took three home with me because they were so good. They were warm, flaky and sweet! That night was election night so as we talked and ate dinner we were all constantly checking our phones anxious to see who won. GOBAMA!

Chopped Test Run

During our chopped test run we were given many very different ingredients to work with: puff pastry, plain yogurt, pomegranate, corn, barbecue sauce, almonds...etc My group decided to add sugar and pomegranate to the yogurt, to create a filling for the puff pastry. We also sprinkled the filling with almonds. We then added a surprise of corn/sugar/soy sauce to the filling. The corn actually tasted very sweet, almost like caramel corn! Chopped is all about taking risks so we went ahead and put everything in a giant puff pastry. We egg washed it and put it in the oven. When it was done we all tried it and it may not have been the best thing in the world, but it wasn't the worst. And it was pretty darn delicious!

Something New

Lately I have been inspired by Food for Thought to experiment with different things and create my own recipes! I made this delicious grilled cheese sandwich about a week ago and have made it at least twice since! It's brie, with bacon and apricot jam, and it actually tastes really good! Brie is one of my favorite cheeses. It's so creamy and flavorful. It combines beautifully with the salty, peppery bacon, and the apricot jam adds a sweetness to balance out all the flavors! I think I will continue to make this sandwich, and take pride in knowing I came up with it myself!

Lardo

I first heard about Lardo when they were featured in an article in the New York Times titled "A Culture Moves East in Portland Oregon". I was very impressed that a restaurant in Portland as new as this could get a shout-out in the New York Times. It's on Hawthorne Blvd., which I live off of, and I pass it every day I go to school, so I was bound to eat there sooner or later. Finally I did and it was amazing. I got the griddled mortadella and it was delicous! It was hot, with provolone, marinated peppers, whole grain mustard, and a lot of meat! I had an order of "dirty fries" with it, which really topped it off. "Dirty fries" were regular french fries with pork scraps and peppers and herbs. Overall it was very very delicious and I will definitely be going back!