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!

Salads #3

Makenzie's: Makenzie's salad was one of my favorites. It had so many flavors and textures and literally everything worked so well together and all the ingredients complimented one another deliciously! The flavor of the barbecue chicken was brought out beautifully by the garlic herb ranch! I had never had jicama before, but it had a texture similar to an apple but had a subtle earthy flavor instead! The corn, tomatoes, beans, lettuce, and cheese all completed the salad and made every bite so delicious!

Tiffanys': Tiffany's cucumber apple salad was so cool and refreshing! It was also so simple, with very little ingredients. But everything tasted amazing! The sweetness from the cucumber was balanced out by the tart of the apple, and the vinaigrette and lemon juice to top it off tied the whole salad together!

Salads #2

Sierra's: Sierra's salad was a delicious blend of spinach, feta cheese, eggplant, and vinaigrette. This salad particularly had many textures. The crisp spinach and squishy eggplant sprinkled with feta cheese was interesting. I'd never had a salad like this before!

Elizabeth's: Elizabeth's salad was one of my favorites! I loved the noodles, cabbage, vegetables and dressing all with an Asian twist! All the ingredients seemed to compliment each other very nicely and everything tasted so fresh!

Mack's: Mack's bean salad was surprisingly good! I'm not a huge fan of beans and didn't think I would like this one at all but I was pleasantly surprised by this fresh blend of edamame, black beans, corn and much more! Tomatoes and corn sweetened the whole salad, but the beans stayed the main ingredient. All this in a delicious vinaigrette to top it off tasted perfect!

Salads #1

Megan's: Megan's macaroni salad was so delicious! It was just a little tangy and overall very balanced in flavors. I loved the olives mixed in, they were just what the salad needed and gave it a different texture to contrast with the macaroni pasta.

Carolyn's: Carolyn's green bean salad had so many flavors! The sweetness of the tomatoes balanced out the spice from the onions, and the avocado neutralized the entire salad. The green beans of course were the main part of the salad, and they were cooked beautifully and tasted amazing!

Talia's: Talia's salad had some of the best tomatoes I've ever tasted! I normally don't like plain tomatoes by themselves, but Talia's were fresh and homegrown and tasted so sweet and ripe! They really worked well with the peppers and butter lettuce, and the balsamic vinaigrette added a tangy, flavorful taste!

Basil Bomb

Today for lunch I went to one of my favorite food carts, Rockabillies, on southeast Belmont. They make some of the best sandwiches in the city! My favorite is called the Basil Bomb. It's pesto, melty mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, salami and basil on toasted artisan bread. The salami and pesto add just the right amount of spice, while the tomatoes and cheese sweeten and neutralize all the flavors. The result is an amazing sandwich that never fails to satisfy!

Breakfast for Dinner

For dinner tonight I went to a place on Hawthorne blvd called the Waffle Window. They're known for their different types of sweet and savory waffles. I got one of my favorites, the Nutella banana waffle. It's a warm sugary waffle layered in Nutella and sliced bananas, and topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of hot fudge. Not a typical dinner dish, but it fills you up pretty fast! As always it was delicious, but to make up for this special treat I'll have to eat something extra healthy tomorrow!