The other day I bought a blender so that my girlfriend and I could drink delicious smoothies, margaritas, and other cold yummy things.  It was on sale for $12 at Target and is enough for single servings (or two smaller servings).

I wanted to come up with a more interesting smoothie involving Bailey’s Irish Creme. It turned out delicious, so my girlfriend wanted me to blog about it…here I go!

You will need:

-Bailey’s

-Milk (or more Bailey’s)

-Ice cream; either vanilla or some fruity flavor

-Fruits of your choice (I used a banana)

-A shot glass

1. Have a blender…oh look!

2. Cut up your fruit for easier blending. I only used one banana – however, if I had used vanilla ice cream, I might have used some strawberries as well.

3. PUT BANANAS IN BLENDER.

4. I didn’t have an ice cream scoop, so I used about 3/4 of a cup of strawberry ice ream. This probably equates to 3 biggish scoops?

5. PUT ICE CREAM IN BLENDER. I mashed it with the banana a bit to soften everything up…it’s all going to be mashed anyway so might as well get a head start.

6. Here’s the fun part. Measure 1 shot of Bailey’s….

7. If your goal is to just taste the Bailey’s, use another shot of milk. If you’re more adventurous, use a second shot of Bailey’s. You really won’t taste the alcohol that much as it pairs well with the banana. In this case, I had to use milk because I was all out of Bailey’s :-((((((((

8. PUT BAILEY’S AND MILK (OR MORE BAILEY’S) IN BLENDER.

9. Pulse dat smoothie. Once chunks are gone, just hold the button and blend away.

10. The result is a frothy, delicious strawberry, banana, Bailey’s smoothie. If you want to, you could add some ice to thicken it up a bit. In my case, I just wanted to drink it.

So there you go. Simple and delicious. Give it a shot! Try other combos and tell me what works in the comments!

#3. Burritos

I became big on frozen burritos a few years ago. My dad bought Tina’s Frozen Burritos for $0.56 cents each. They are low quality with strange textures at times, but they are very tasty. I moved on from there around Freshman year of college, when I visited my friend at his school, and at a Burrito from Qdoba. This basically started a burrito frenzy for me and it has taken off as a hobby from there. At school I get a lot of burritos, and when places offer burritos, I am likely to get one.

The best burrito I’ve ever had is from Chipotle. I don’t know what it is. Perhaps the mound of Guacamole they give you? Maybe their light tortillas, or their ever-so-spicy chicken? Regardless, I love Chipotle. I go there whenever possible, which unfortunately isn’t as much as I’d like because there aren’t any near me at home or at school :-(

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A Purrito.

#2. Burgers

Not really sure where this came from. My dad eats burgers. My mom doesn’t eat them much, but admits she loves them. Maybe it runs in the family?

I consider burgers to be great for two reasons. 1. they are a great blank slate. Beef has flavor, but it can be infused with a lot of different tastes. There are so many different kinds of buns, cheeses, vegetables, and other toppings that can go on a burger – they are completely customizable. 2. I believe that red meat is good for your soul. Even many people who don’t partake in the eating of red meat can’t help but admit that it’s juicy and delicious. I just go a step further and say that it’s my second favorite food ever.

Here is the best burger I’ve ever eat. Made by me, so maybe a little arrogant, but I don’t really care! Nobody else has satisfied my burger needs like I have. Seasoned the burgers with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, melted American Cheese on top, toasted some white bread, and topped them with a fried egg and ketchup. Yum.

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Epic Meal Time’s Big Ben Roethlisberger

#1. Ice Cream

Those who know me won’t be surprised by this. As a Bostonian (or near it), I have fulfilled my role of eating a lot of ice cream and enjoying every bite of it. I once read that the city of Boston consumes more ice cream annually than every other state combined. This statistic doesn’t surprise me at all. I would guess that in the small city of Boston there are hundreds of ice cream shops, both local chains and smaller businesses. There are a half a dozen ice cream stands right by me.

I don’t actually remember what the best ice cream is I’ve ever had. It may have been somewhere down the cape when I was way younger. But the best that I’ve had on my blog is below, with a homemade apple cobbler. One should not ignore the versatility of ice cream. You can put anything in or on it, from salty to sweet. It can be served with any dessert, or just eaten a pint at a time by myself. Last summer I probably ate 2-3 pints a week for three months straight. No wonder my cholesterol is high.

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Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie (my favorite flavor of theirs)

Until next time!

The plan was to go to Mohegan Sun, because we have a tradition of stopping there each year on the way back from school to eat. However, my dad pointed out that there were more places to eat at Foxwoods, and it’s about ten minutes closer, so we went there.

Unfortunately, there is no photography allowed in the casinos and I didn’t want to risk getting caught taking pictures anywhere inside, so you will just have to go yourself if you want to see in great detail :-)

I started off with $60. I very quickly lost $20 at slot and poker machines and actually planned to quit. But then I saw my dad and his girlfriend playing roulette and it looked fun so I sat down. Roulette, if you don’t know, is played by spinning a ball around a wheel. The ball lands on a number which is declared the winner.

They way you bet is on a board of numbers. You can cover single numbers, multiple numbers, entire rows, or entire groups, as long as you have the chips for it. The way you win is if your number comes up. You are paid based on the odds if your number comes up.

Sadly I lost another $20 and called it quits for the time being. We then went to eat lunch at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I had to take a picture of this ridiculous plate. That is one plate with Chines food, Italian food, mashed potatoes with gravy, and some broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken thing. I later went back and got BBQ, nachos, cake, ice cream, and fries. Needless to say, I felt like crap, but it was worth it :-)

Anyway, after lunch, we actually went to a different casino in the building and we found an empty Roulette table with a $10 minimum bet. I quickly lost the first game and was down to my last $10 for the day. With my last $10, I somehow won, then won again, then one three more times. I was quickly up to $80! At that point, the dealer warned me that I could lose it in an instant, but in my stupidity I kept playing. I lost the next to go to back down to $60. At that point, I should have stopped and finished even for the day. Instead I kept playing and ended up losing eight games in a row and all of my money.

The lesson I learned is to set limits on yourself. I should have stopped after a few loses, because clearly just as wins can come in streaks, so can losses. I was amazed at some of the people who I saw there, dropping hundreds of dollars and losing it, then just shrugging it off and moving on to the next table. I am incapable of doing that though. While I could view it as spending $60 on entertainment, the reality is I just gave it away. I’m not sure I’ll be back to a casino any time soon. But it was a good experience.

ENOUGH OF THAT. I’ve been doing some other stuff too! I vectored a very pretty picture of Kristina in my free time. It only took a few hours. My main focus was the features rather than shading. I think the eyes look quite nice, and I NAILED the mouth (no innuendo intended). I think it’s also the best nose I’ve vectored.

What else? I also got sunburned today at Alex’s baseball game. Usually I burn the first few times I’m out for the summer. I already burned at the Roth Regatta a few weeks ago, so I figured I’d be safe sitting outside for a while. The only issue was it was 80* in direct sunlight, and I didn’t bother to put on sunscreen. Now I’m in quite a bit of pain.

Lastly, I am back to work at BAE Systems. I’m very fortunate that they offered me an internship last summer, and that they asked me back this summer to work on some GUI stuff. I don’t have much experience in C#, but so far I’m picking it up relatively well and I’m enjoying it. It’s nice to be part of a team and getting important stuff done. And more importantly, it’s good that the clothes I bought the other day look great! I definitely need to pick up more polos :-)

Sadly, I can’t take pictures inside the building. So here is a pixelated view with some helpful labels. And yes, I do have my own office. Lucky me!

Until next time!

So I just finished up my finals yesterday! Unfortunately, the last two weeks have been pretty miserable. I took six classes and piano lessons last semester and they took a toll. Fortunately I spent enough time studying that I am going to get decent grades in all my classes. However, this has meant very little time pursuing hobbies or spending time with Kristina.

Next semester, I have no time to dick around.

Unlike this semester, next semester I’m only taking five classes and piano lessons. However, the workload of these classes may outdo this semester. CSE 305 and 308 (Databases and Software engineering) both revolve around semester-long projects. CSE 307 (Principles of Programming Languages) has very long, difficult homeworks and Physics II is a nightmare I’m told. CSE 333 (User-Interface Design) is the only break. According the RateMyProfessors, the guy is pretty lenient and the material is easy. My number one priority will be to stay completely on top of everything as soon as it’s assigned. This should result in more free time in the end (hopefully).
I did have some fun. Last Saturday I went to my friend’s birthday party at The Garden at Studio Square. The place is huge and very welcoming and relaxing. It’s a bit expensive for food and drink, but it was worth it for the atmosphere.

I would guess that there were over 300 people inside – maybe 400 at its busiest. There were big TVs and even a Jumbotron that they showed the Yankees v. Mets game on. At about 2am, we ducked out and headed to a local pizzeria that was still open for some empanadas. It was nice catching up with people who I haven’t seen in a while, and meeting some new people. I’ll definitely head back here at some point, maybe when Kristina turns 21 :-)

Speaking of Kristina, she got another Restaurant.com gift-card for blogging! I’m happy for her that she’s found success in just talking about her interests, and it works out for me too because we get to eat delicious food for cheap :-)

We decided to go to a Sports bar for a change called Momo’s Sports Bar and Grill about fifteen minutes away from us. Here is a picture from her blog of my Buffalo Chicken Fajitas.

I’ve also been listening to much more Classical music lately. I enjoy all music, but I can’t deny my roots. In particular, I have been reminded as to how much I love Brahms. The other day I uploaded a movement from one of his Piano Trios. I don’t think many people care, but if you could listen to the first three minutes, I think you’d really enjoy them.

I also need to pick some new piano pieces of my own to work on this summer. I may do some Liszt for the first time, and I definitely want to play something French. However, I’ve selected one piece I’ll definitely be working on. It’s Mendelssohn’s “Variations Serieuses”. I was not familiar with this piece until my teacher recommended it, but I think it’s quite pretty and technically impressive.

(This is part one. Click part two if you are interested).

Lastly, I start work tomorrow again. Last summer I interned at BAE Systems in Burlington, MA, and they asked me back! I’ll be programming all summer which is very exciting. The only issue is I don’t have too many nice clothes, and my only pair of jeans left ripped in the crotch area. Old Navy jeans always seem to have that problem with me, plus they are very unflattering. I went to TJ Maxx and picked up some Calvin Klein Jeans and a nice black shirt for just $25 each.

Both are very comfortable. The jeans are a little more form-fitting than Old Navy’s “Oh, you have a 36 waist? You must be obese. Here, have these jeans that are as loose as humanly possible without being called a dress on your calves and thighs so that you can manage to pull them up, fatty” jeans.

I also bought some undershirts and underwear with goldfish on them. By the way, when did men’s underwear become so expensive? $15 for two pairs?! Outrageous. Women’s underwear is expensive to, but there are always great sales like 5 for 15.

Anyway, that’s all. Thanks for reading if you bothered.

I’ve been making some simple, tasty stuff. Whenever something comes out particularly well, I take a picture. From this post, it may look like all I eat is chicken with various sauces. This isn’t true. I also eat meatballs with various sauces, and turkey burgers :D.

Chicken Alfredo

Pretty simple. The first time I made this I was amazed at how well it came out. I rubbed the chicken with a little better, salt, and poultry seasoning. When I fried it, it became the perfect color for chicken Alfredo. I threw it some steamed broccoli, mushrooms, and onions. I used jarred Alfredo sauce because it’s convenient. Though as it turns out, actual Alfredo sauce is just cream, butter, cheese, garlic, and parsley. Anyway, I didn’t have Fettuccine, so here it is with some tri-colored noodles.

Chicken (again) Tikka Masala

Also very easy. Came across a jar of Chicken Tikka Masala sauce and bought it. Marinated the chicken in it, then simmered it for a while. Ate it with Basmati rice because that’s just what you do. This was spicy, but yummy. I could have marinated the chicken longer to get it nice and soft, or just cut it smaller.

BBQ Chicken and Kraft Mac n’ Cheese Sammich

Ok this one is a bit troll-ish, but it just sounded so good in my head. First I breaded and pan-fried some chicken. Then I coated it in BBQ sauce and let it simmer a bit. While this was going on, I made Kraft Mac n’ Cheese. I figured this could be more awesome than just using a slice of cheese. I put some lettuce on the bun because it’s healthy obviously. Then I threw this wonderful sandwich together.

The chicken itself was actually delicious. I’m really becoming pro at making chicken. The Mac n’ Cheese just made it better. The bun was a little unnecessary, as the whole thing fell apart anyway. Regardless, I’d serve this in a restaurant and try to get on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with it.

Their most popular video is their Breakfast of Booze, in which they cook all sorts of delicious foods with Jack Daniels Whiskey and beer batter. And bacon. One of the items was chocolate-chip bacon beer waffles, covered in Jack Daniels Maple Syrup. And one of the lines in the movie is, “We ’bout to get drunk off pancakes.” Naturally, my friend Chris and I wanted to try it (not the getting drunk part). Kristina was there too!

So the proportions for Bisquick pancakes are one cup of milk to two cups of mix. We replaced the milk with Sam Adam’s Boston Lager.

Here they are mixed together. At this point, it smelled pretty bad, but I had made a practice pancake so I wasn’t worried.

Here they are cooking in oil. They were extra bubbly because of the carbonation in the beer.

Now lets side-track to the Jack Daniels Syrup. This was tricky because the Jack strongly overpowered the syrup. In The end, we ended up using about a quarter of a shot of Jack to about two shots of syrup. They also didn’t mix very well, so we had to fold them together with a spoon. Even so, the Jack floated to the top over time.

Alright, back to the pancakes. They look about done, and smell fine now :-) Let’s go eat!

Here is our beautiful spread. The amount we used make six crispy pancakes, enough for three of us.

Of course we had to get a picture of the materials as well. The milk is there to drink. That’s Chris’ arm on the side.

Kristina reminded me that I forgot the chocolate-chips (oh no!) so I quickly melted some in the microwave and made a spread. I didn’t take a picture of this, but Kristina tried to go for an artistic one. Here is me, spreading chocolate on my pancakes.

Here is a pancake drenched in Jack Daniels Syrup.

So here’s my review.

The Pancakes: We didn’t use a good beer for this. I had made a practice on the previous night with some Blue Moon, which is a very sweet, citrus-y beer. A lot of people make pancakes with orange zest, so that would work a lot better. With Sam Adams, I tasted the beer way too much. I would make this again, only with a fruity beer though.

The Syrup: Not a big fan. Mainly because Jack Daniels isn’t really delicious.  You’d have to actually like Jack Daniels to enjoy this syrup. And as I mentioned, they didn’t mix properly because alcohol is so much lighter than syrup.

Overall, it was a fun experience. But regular pancakes and regular syrup are so much better. And if your goal is to get drunk off of this, you won’t have much luck. You’d have to eat a LOT of pancakes for that to happen.

Anyway, as it was a very nice restaurant, I had to dress up nicer than usual. Here is my outfit and my restaurant game face. And a toilet.

The restaurant was pretty empty when we got there (20 minutes after they opened for dinner), and the atmosphere was very nice. Their 90s pop playing in the background was a little annoying, but the decor made up for it. By the way, we were here for an early Valentine’s Day because usually they are closed on Monday. We only found out when we were there that they actually will be open this Monday.

The first thing we got was bread. It came with a basil hummus. One thing you should know is that I don’t actually like hummus at all – but I could have eaten this by the spoonful. I almost did. So good.

We ordered two appetizers – tuna sashimi with a spicy coconut milk sauce, and crab cakes. Sadly, I didn’t get pictures of the tuna, but it wasn’t that exciting. Fortunately I did get the crab cake.

I haven’t had many crab cakes because typically they are too bready. But these were super meaty and soft. I could taste all the crab, and the lemon-poppyseed sauce that went with it was perfectly sour to go with the salty crab.

For dinner, I ordered the New York Skirt Steak, called so due to a ball of mashed potatoes “wearing” the steak as a skirt. It also came with carrots, spinach, and an ancho-chili sauce. I gave a new beer a try too – Brooklyn Pilsner.

The steak reminded me a little of why I never eat steak. Don’t get me wrong – every bite was delicious. The sauce was amazing, and the veggies were cooked perfectly. My only issue is that steak is always too chewy for me. I always thought that maybe it was a quality issue, but I don’t think I’ll get a better quality steak than this one. I’m pretty sensitive to chewy food, so there was a lot of spitting out fatty parts for me. I’m sure any steak lover would have found it amazing though. The beer actually complimented the steak very well.

Kristina got chicken with cornbread and sausage stuffing. I had a bite and it was amaaaaazing. I wanted.

Since we had some monies and room left over after our main courses, we decided to get some desserts. I got what was essentially a bowl Lindor Truffle filling with warm cookies on top and a hint of espresso. Not sure exactly what it was called, and it wasn’t on the online menu, but it was possibly the best restaurant dessert I’ve ever had.

Kristina got banana chocolate cheesecake with caramelized banana on the side. I had some, and it was really good. Very banana-y for sure. But mine was better :P

In the end, we spent all but $2.46 on dinner. I gave that to the waitress as part of her tip, but of course had to supplement that with my own money because I’m not a bum.

I would definitely come back here if I could afford it. I filled out their form to be on their mailing list for special offers, but I’m not sure it will matter all that much. I’ll come back if I have the chance :-)

You will need:

-1 packet of Mama Sita’s Sinigang Sa Bayabas mix. If you don’t have this, I really have no advice for you except get to an Asian market. Even then, they may not have it. Kristina actually gave me my packet. Apparently, Mama Sita’s is a very popular brand, so you may not have to look too hard. Picture below.

-2 medium tomatoes.

-1 large onion.

-2 chili peppers. Or one, if you don’t like spice that much (you will taste it).

-2 cups of green beans (or any other veggies you want).

- 1 to 1.5 lbs of pork chops. The package recommends fish, but that can be tricky to make without totally ruining it.

-Water (shouldn’t be an issue).

-Fish sauce. Filipino fish sauce is called Patis, but you can get any Asian fish sauce. I found Thai Kitchen brand fish sauce at a super white-person oriented grocery store, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Pictures of this below as well.

Let’s begin!

Start by quartering your tomatoes, roughly chopping your onion, and dicing your hot peppers. All of this will dissolve considerably by the end.

Cut or break the stems off your green beans and rinse them. You could probably use some carrots and cabbage as well. I used a bit more than two cups because I like green beans :-).

Put your onion, tomatoes, 3 1/4 cups of water, and Mama Sita’s Sinigang mix into a pot. Bring to a boil (you should stir the mix in, of course).

While this is coming to a boil, cut up your pork chops. I used thin sliced pork with not too much fat on it, and cut it into bite sized pieces.

Once the stuff in the pot is boiling, throw in the pork. The pork will cook through in a matter of minutes. It will be tender in about 20. If you want to make rice (highly recommended), start it now.

Once the pork is cooked through (no longer pink), throw in the green beans and hot peppers. Bring to a boil again, and then turn the heat down to medium and cover. I like my green beans to be slightly crunchy, so I preferred to steam a little instead of outright boiling them.

Cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. After ten minutes, put in some fish sauce. Fish sauce is made of anchovy extract and salt, so you can imagine it’s fairly salty. I put in about two tablespoons. It doesn’t taste too fishy though, so add to taste.

Continue to cook until the veggies are cooked to your liking.

Serve in a bowl over rice with plenty of broth, and enjoy!

P.S. My very picky brother Alex loved this dish. My mom preferred the last one by just a little bit. I am torn between the two :-).

Her mom made this delicious dish for dinner one night. While I have said before “I should make that”, I really meant it about this one. I asked her dad for the recipe and it was actually fairly simple. Here is my attempt to recreate it.

You will need (for six people):

-some oil.

-2 onions.

-1 medium bulb of garlic (or more if you like).

-4 russet potatos.

-4 red bell peppers.

-a can of sweet peas.

-a cup+ of soy sauce (Filipino if possible. But Kikkoman works fine).

-2 lbs of your favorite meat, cubed. Kristina’s parents used pork chops. I used beef. Make sure whatever meat you get becomes tender pretty quickly.

-a really big pot or a really wide pan.

-some flour.

Alright, lets begin!

Chop up two onions and either chop or crush your garlic. Don’t worry about chopping the onion too finely. By the time you’re done, it’ll be pretty much invisible. Also, don’t be afraid to use too much garlic. You’d be surprised how much of the garlic flavor disappears when soy sauce enters the mix.

Saute with a little bit of oil until the onions start to become translucent. Make sure your garlic doesn’t burn. That can taste pretty bad. Then throw in the meat, and about half a cup of soy sauce. Cook the meat about half way done.

Just a note on soy sauce: Kristina’s parents used Filipino soy sauce which is milder than most Asian soy sauces. If you can’t find any at your local Asian market (like I couldn’t), you can use Kikkoman, and water it down.

Now throw in your chopped potatoes and bell peppers. Don’t cut them too small. They will shrink as they cook and become bite sized.

Please excuse this transition to a new pan. The pot I was using was too small and not everything would have gotten cooked :-) Throw in another half cup of soy sauce. If you’re using Kikkoman, I would also throw in a cup of water at this point. Bring the soy sauce to a light simmer, then cover your pan and leave it for about 15-20 minutes.

Another note: It’s hard to say what “too much liquid” means. I definitely had too much, so I removed some towards the end of the cooking process. You can always add water and soy sauce or remove it as you see fit.

When the potatoes and meat are soft, throw in a can of peas. You could use frozen, but canned tend to be sweeter. Make sure you drain the liquid from the peas!

To thicken the soy sauce, sift in a quarter cup of flour (to avoid lumps) and stir. Add some pepper and you’re done!

Serve over white rice and enjoy.

And another angle. Because I like angles :-)

I will definitely be making this again, most likely with pork because I think it was better that way. I was surprised at how authentic this tasted. And by the way, even my picky brother ate it.

Towards the end of the week, we still had a lot of extra stuff. I tried to come up with a way to get rid of it all, and realized that all the remaining ingredients could work well together in a single entity.

We ended up having eggs, hotdogs, tomato sauce, cheese, and pasta left over.

First I fried up the hotdogs and boiled the noodles.

Then I fried the cooked noodles along with the hotdogs for flavor and some texture.

Next I poured some eggs into the mixture. Yes, hotdog omelets taste good!

After most of the egg was cooked, I put in some white American cheese and some tomato sauce.

I folded it over and let the leftover egg mixture cook.

And here we go! Beautiful.

It was actually quite good. The noodles didn’t add too much, except for the most crunchy ones. The tomato sauce actually went quite well with it though. If I had a restaurant, this would go on the menu for sure. Not sure what I would call it though.

Oh, Kristina took this picture of me. I happened to like it, so I put it up :-)

Til next time!