Recent Food Adventures Recap

Here are a few foodie facts I've learned recently.

1. Too much food isn't always a good thing.
A family friend made a huge country feast for my mom's birthday. We ate: chips and bean dip; cheese and crackers; jumbo shrimp cocktail; salad with hearty onions, tomatoes, cheese slices, banana peppers, red peppers and balsamic dressing; rare, juicy prime rib; baked potatoes with bacon, cheese, and sour cream; apple sauce; caramel apple pie and rich chocolate cake.

It was delicious but unbearable. It was simply impossible to eat it all. Yes, I wish I could go back right now and grab a couple of extra shrimp and maybe a few more bites of prime rib. My mouth is nearly watering just remembering it. But gosh - this could have made for three separate dinners. When I'm older and host my own dinners, I want to impress the guests just as my mom's friend did, but I'll make sure not to overdo it. Did I mention the potatoes were the size of rocket ships?

This potato is really as large as the one on my mom's plate.

2. Pumpkin seeds are a heartier and more flavorful salad topper than sunflower seeds.
A neighbor and another friend of my mom also invited us for dinner for the occasion of my mom's birthday - this time on the actual date of her birth. She made some healthy parmesan salmon, red quinoa with homemade basil pesto (I want to remake this pesto. It had such a sharp bite but it tasted so fresh and added some much-need flavor to the quinoa!), and an all-you-can-top salad.

My favorite topping to the salad - amongst the feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, and greek yogurt caesar parmesan dressing - would have to be the pumpkin seeds. Hands down. I'll have to buy some of my own and remake that salad. Or just munch on toasted pumpkin seeds during the day. I think I'm a new fan.

3. Bring your eggs to room temperature before baking.
With the help of my BFFL, I made yellow cake with chocolate frosting, along with similar cupcakes with red and white (and pink) sprinkles: sort of Miami Heat themed. Nothing fancy (as you can see below) since we were working with bare-bones ingredients that we gathered quickly at a convenience store, but they were quite a hit with my boyfriend's family at his Heat vs. Celtics Game 7 "watch party."

We let the eggs adapt to room temperature as patiently as we could, as per the advice of Wendy. The desserts came out great (despite a mishap in the message written on the cake). Check it out:

My friend thought the Heat would lose.

Red & white sprinkles!

4. I can buy ingredients for, make and eat tacos in less time than it takes you to watch a movie.
Sunday night I was tired. After coming home from a Marlins game, I just wanted to relax. But I was determined to have a home-cooked meal that night. And that meant I was the only one who could make that happen.

I decided on tacos so that I could get away with ground beef being the only thing I'd actually need to cook. I challenged myself to return from the supermarket in less than an hour (including drive time), and made it home in under 45 minutes (one of my life's greatest accomplishments)! By an hour after that, I'd already prepared the meal and served it to my parents as well as downed both the hard and soft tacos.

Not the actual tacos. Source: GOOGLE

Though I used pre-diced red onions and shredded iceberg lettuce, the four cheese Mexican blend and hand-scooped avocado guacamole really freshened up the meal. Those were some darned good tacos. I think the best part was that I didn't overdo it by adding refried beans or diced tomatoes or guilt-laden sour cream. I could actually taste every flavor and I loved it.

5. I love naan.
This is the first time I have bought and tried naan on my own. I never thought I'd really have use for it but it was on sale, and I couldn't resist. After all, this is a summer for trying new things. Garlic hummus (so much better than original) with naan brushed with olive oil and toasted in the oven - delish. That's all I shall say.

Oh and also that I had some more tonight as a midnight snack because I was craving the naan & hummus combo after eating a light dinner and some chocolates (which I received as a surprise from my boyfriend) for dessert.

In addition, here are a few of my desires inspired by my internship with foodie clients at a PR firm:

• Be rich and go to the Hamptons in NY and eat at high-end, trendy restaurants that charge $35 a plate!
• Stock up on decorative iced sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and cookie sandwiches from Cookies by Shar.
• Go to fantabulous food events like the NYC Wine and Food Festival.