Food Journal II

Jan 22 (Friday)
Breakfast [Home]: Chicken noodle soup pack
Lunch [Campus]: Sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich from Subway, Raspberry cookies
Snack [Work]: Mandarin orange
Dinner [Home]: Pasta (rotini+bow tie pasta, onion, cheese, turkey slices, bread crumb)

Jan 23 (Saturday)

Had to wake up super early for my training that day. 

Breakfast 1 @7:15am [Home]: Hot pocket, Potato salad, Vitamin C water
Breakfast 2 [Home]: Red bean soup
Lunch [Home]: Shrimp flavor instant noodle+ chikuwa (tube‐shaped fish paste)+ egg

Dinner [Home]: Teriyaki rice noodle instant pack, Japanese gyoza (pot stickers) from Costco,                                           tomatoes slices

Supper[Home]: Cantaloupe 

Jan 24 (Sunday)
Breakfast [Home]: Chicken noodle soup pack, egg sandwich, orange juice
Lunch [Lunch box]: Potato salad, mandarin orange
Dinner [At a Japanese friend's house]: Japanese rice, Karaage (Japanese fried chicken), Miso soup

Jan 25 (Monday)
Breakfast [Home]: orange juice, hot pocket
Lunch [Home]: Teriyaki rice niddle instant pack+3 pieces karaage left over
Dinner [Home]: 3 pieces karaage left over+7 pieces gyoza
Supper [Home]: Fruits smoothie [cantaloupe, orange, almond milk]

Jan 26 (Tuesday)
Breakfast [Home]: Hot pocket, orange juice
Lunch [Campus]: Mai Thai noodle+orange chicken
Dinner [Lunch box]: Sushi rice, chickens and potato salad

Supper [Home]: Hot dog, miso soup

Jan 27 (Wednesday)
Breakfast [Outside]: Dutch Bro caramelized coffee  (Only drank half, too sweet)
Lunch [Home]: Fried noodle with chickens and maple sausage

Snack [Lunch box]: Sandwich (turkey, mayo, mustard), mandarin orange
Dinner [Home]: Fried noodle left over, potato salad, fruits smoothie

Jan 28 (Thursday)
Breakfast [Home]: Hot pocket, orange juice
Lunch [Campus]: California rolls, potato salad
Dinner [Home]: Fried noodle left over, potato salad, fruits smoothie

Jan 29 (Friday)
Breakfast [Home]: England clam chowder soup can
Late lunch [Cooking class]: Grains dishes: veggie burger made out of millet, carrot salad, purple Idaho Barley & red cabbage salad.

 

Dinner [Home]: Left over and made a combination of that with my egg sandwichI like the yolk runny~

Potato Salad

Today I would like to share my experience of 

making potato salad for the first time. 

I am currently living in Boise, Idaho. 

When people mention Idaho, it is all about the great POTATOES here!

Somehow, I felt in love with potato salad after living here for a couple years. 

I had been buying made potato salad in those little plastic containers from Winco, 

but last week I decided to make homemade potato salad.  

First of all, starting with the "fun" part of peeling potatoes~~

Good thing is I peeled a lot, like seriously a lot of potatoes when 

I was working in the university kitchen as a chef for almost two years. 

Decided to use four big nice Idaho potatoes and 

see how much salad I can make out of them.

Later, I diced them up into cubes and tossed them into the boiling water.

Later I found that some people actually boil the potatoes before cutting.

Guess both way works? My potato salad turned out great anyway.

Back to the topic, I think I boiled them for about 30~40 minutes.

I was constantly checking the softness of the potatoes 

to decide when to turn off the heat.

I referred to some recipes online and created my own. 

Mayonnaise, Mustard, Garlic Salt, Black Pepper

Onions, Boiled eggs, Tomatoes, Jimmy Dean Maple sausage (this is evilly delicious)

Lastly, mix everything well together. 

Voilà! Potato salad made! 

Only put some parsley on top for picture purpose.

I was more than satisfied with the taste of my first homemade potato salad.

It was delicious! Way better than Winco's. 

Happy with the huge amount of potato salad I made

because I ❤︎ potato salad!

ポテトサラダ超大盛り！（笑）

References:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/16729/old-fashioned-potato-salad/

http://www.foodiecrush.com/how-to-make-the-best-potato-salad/

红豆汤 Red Bean Soup

大学的烹饪课要学生们实验用豆做一道菜色。
我第一个感想就是：红豆汤，我小时候最爱喝的汤！童年回忆啊~
来美国后还真的没什么机会吃正宗的华人餐。多少年没庆祝农历新年了。
有点感觉我渐渐地失去我的华人基因，渐渐地被美式化。
中文不好好练习练习，还真的会生疏。我挚爱的中华文学就真的差不多忘得一干二净。
如果我的部落客的中文有点奇怪，请不要见怪。
话不多说，来看看我红豆汤的制作过程：

A cooking class in my university wants students to experience cooking with dry beans.
My first reaction to that was: Red Bean Soup (a traditional Chinese Dish, not sure if it is only a Chinese thing), a soup that I loved to drink when I was little. So much childhood memory in it.
Azuki bean is called "red bean" in Chinese.
Without any further talk, let's look at my red bean soup making process:

首先,我把红豆浸泡在冷水一夜

First of all, I soaked the azuki beans in cold water for overnight

第二天早上，豆豆都变大颗粒还褪色了

The next morning, the beans became bigger and the color faded away 

接下来就是把红豆加入水中煮沸。

煮了大约15分钟后，可以加蜂蜜和红糖调味。

The next step is putting the beans into the water and boil them.

After cooking for about 15 minutes, you may add some honey and 

brown sugar to create sweet flavor.

当你调到你爱的味道是，就是享受红豆汤的时候。

When you have the degree of sweetness you like, it's time for you to enjoy the red bean soup.

I don't think I mention this but red bean soup is served as desert soup. 

It is supposed to be sweet~~~

感想：

不知道是用的红豆不一样（记得红豆汤的豆豆都小小粒的），

还是做法不太对，

味道是不错就是没有婆婆煮给你喝的好喝。

怎样都好，这是骏尼的红豆汤记！

Reflection:

I'm not sure if it is because the kind of azuki bean isn't the same

(Recall that beans in red bean soup are usually tiny),

or it is because the way of cooking it isn't quite right,

the taste wasn't bad but just not even close to the one my grandma used to make. 

Anyway, this is JuNny's red bean soup diary.

参考

References (Website is in Chinese language)

http://www.xinshipu.com/zuofa/41709

http://www.how01.com/article_1386.html

Reflection of Food Journal I

Last year, I noticed that how out of shape I've gotten. Therefore, I set a goal to get myself into my ideal shape and long term goal is to get my six packs out. I know only doing exercises and workout aren't going to help me achieve that goal, I know I need to tackle from diet as well.

Being able to get into this class was a great help and start toward my goal. My reflection for my 1st food journal was I definitely started paying attention to what I eat and having awareness of what I put into my mouth. I am having more meals at home than going out compare to last year, so this is a good start as well.

I found that preparing meal at home has a lot of merits. The biggest one I like a lot is portion control. Ever since I moved to the USA, I noticed everything here is served in HUGE portion. Sometimes, I can take a restaurant meal back home and still split it into two more meals. My short-term goal for the next month is to completely stop eating on campus as food choices on campus aren't that great. I would start creating menu for me to bring a lunch box to campus for a long day of classes or work.

Also, I would like to start trying making variety of dishes to increase the menu choices in my mind. Perhaps I should start referring to the cook book that I bought 2 years ago but barely read it.

Lastly, I am proud of myself for ordering something listed as "600 calories or below" on the menu which I don't think I ever did it before.

Food Journal I

Jan 16 (Saturday)
 I had a winter outdoor training for my job at the Boise State Outdoor Program. That's why my meals for the weekend was mainly backpacking kind of meals.

 Breakfast [Home]- Hot Pocket, a glass of 1000mg vitamin C water
 Lunch [Wilderness]- Backpacking snacks, Homemade sandwich (Chicken, turkey slices, mustard, mayo, cheese)
 Dinner [Wilderness in the cold]- Tea, Group instant curry rice and bean with salami, onions, tomatoes

 Jan 17 (Sunday)
Second day of training. Survived the night in the snow cave we built. Prepared breakfast inside the warm yurt as a reward to all of us.

 Breakfast [yurt]- Bacon burritos with cheese, hummus, onions, red & green pepper, chocolate cake (celebrate coworker's birthday)
 Lunch [in the van trailer]- Bagels (turkey, avocado, tomatoes, hummus), some potato chips
 Dinner [Japanese restaurant: Sakana]- To reward myself, I went to one of my favorite restaurants and ordered a bowl of warm delicious seafood noodle soup.

 Jan 18 (Monday)
Martin Luther King Day. No school. Went to Walmart for grocery shopping at night.

Breakfast [Home]- Self-invented leaky egg sandwich, a glass of 1000mg vitamin C water 

Lunch [Cafe]- Orange juice, Cashew curry sandwich and yam fries (It was good)

Dinner [Home]- Not feeling too hungry so made a hot dog and drank a can of green tea ginger ale that I just bought at Walmart. 

Jan 19 (Tuesday)

Back to school. 

Breakfast [Home]- Hot pocket, a glass of 1000mg vitamin C water 

Lunch [Campus-ILC]- Fries rice and Bejing beef from Panda Express

Dinner [Home]- Fruits Smoothie (Cantaloupe, Frozen strawberries, pineapple, banana, almond milk), tomatoes slices with garlic salt and lime (learned this from my friend's mom), Asam Laksa spicy instant noodle soup with egg and chicken 

Jan 20 (Wednesday)

Woke up earlier to have better breakfast. 

Breakfast [Home]- Two pieces of toasts with Strawberry jam, tomatoes slices again

Lunch [Home]- Spanish instant rice with chicken

Snack [Campus]- Mandarin oranges x 2, Shrimp Vietnamese rolls

Dinner [Restaurant: D&B]- Went out with friends. Enjoyed two glasses of Tropical Mojito that I had been carving for and ordered a dish called Cabo Chicken that is listed as "600 calories or below". However, ate some french fries and tater tots from friends' plate because I couldn't resist. 

Jan 21 (Thursday)
Slept in...I don't even know how I get so busy and tired all the time....

Breakfast [Home]- Hot Pocket, mandarin orange

Lunch [Campus-ILC]-Pizza from Papa John's (Ate with ketchup and mayo) 

Snack [Work]- Cut cantaloupe from home 

Dinner [Home]- Again not feeling too hungry so hot dog and tomatoes slices.