My Phone: A Love Affair

Long time, no chat! I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Here we go....my phone is about 3 years old, sturdy, durable but desperately lacking in storage space. Upon further inspection, I have found that about 70% of my total memory is attributed to my photos and videos. Woops! What can I say, I'm a very visual person. So in order to fix that and not let these photos sit on my phone and taken in vain, here's a photo blurt of all my food pics from the past 5ish months! 

Taken: This Week

Location: Safeway. 9:30 P.M.

Why: Cause this packaging is so darn cute! (Also I bought it and tried it, I'm a big sucker for adorable well executed packaging, especially if it has a cow on it)

Verdict: Ever so lightly sweetened, mild pear taste, really creamy. Would definitely purchase again! 

Taken: Two weekends ago

Location: Disneyland, French Market. 9:15 A.M

Why: Because I have no shame in purchasing a Mickey Mouse shaped product...and we were hungry

Verdict: I prematurely laughed at a child for having powdered sugar all of its face...I laughed to soon. Messy but necessary because you're in Disneyland! Can you say Beignets Beig-YAY!

Taken: Two weekends ago

Location: Buena Park, CA. Cham Sut Gol, KBBQ. 7:45 P.M.

Why: Why not?

Verdict: Yum! Banchan, pork belly, bulgolgi, spicy chicken and all you can eat self serve ice cream after?! Yes Please!

Taken: Three weekends ago

Location: Eaten in Napa. Purchase in Petaluma (see below) 8:00P.M

Why: A few reasons (again, see below) but mainly because my mother told me to never show up to a party empty handed. And I'm on the quest to find the best rhubarb pie!

Verdict: Most definitely on of the best strawberry rhubarb pies I've ever had. Pie'satively delicious!

Taken: March 14th, 2015

Location: Petaluma Pie Co! 

Why: Because March 14th is almost my favorite day of the year....Pi Day! (And the Exploratorium was crazy busy!) 

Verdict: Tried the curried cauliflower & garbanzo beans, shepherds pie and collard greens & bacon; all were a definite yum! Found this place on a whim-bought the last meat pie on accident-will return for the cheeseburger pie on purpose.

Taken: On Pi Day! (Are you seeing the trend here?)

Location: Alameda, CA. Little House Cafe. 9:30A.M.

Why: On pie day, it is a personal rule that 80% of that days meals should consist of some form of pie. In my books, Quiche is basically breakfast pie. This is a much debated topic and has initiated a few friendly feuds...that I'm totaallllyyy over. 

Verdict: Spinach, bacon, cheese. All in a pie, I mean could this be wrong?

Taken: Three and half weeks ago

Location: Oakland, CA. Rockridge Cafe. 12:00P.M.

Why: Because I was a Granny Nanny that day for Miss Ida and she was hungry!

Verdict: Tofu Scramble and Apricot Scone for Miss Ida. Kale and Prosciutto Grilled Cheese for me. To quote her, "Oh it was very delicious!" Well said Miss Ida. 

Taken: 4 weeks ago

Location: Napa, CA. Napa Visitor Center. Promptly at 11:00 A.M.

Why: The Uptown Theater hosted a scavenger hunt to find 5 hidden tickets for the Alton Brown's Edible Inevitable Tour! 

Verdict: Super fun hunt, it pays to have a Napa Native with a fast car. Excellent show!! I could watch it a million times. 

Taken: 5 weeks ago

Location: San Francisco, CA. Sunset SuperMarket. 1:30 P.M.

Why: Because my grandma wanted to. 

Verdict: This place has everything! Fish, veggies, fruits, cookies, meats, teas, mysterious things...

Taken: 6 weeks ago

Location: My backyard (no link for this)

Why: Proving to the world that even though it may not be all the way green, when it comes to avocado seeds, my thumb is a slight tint of green.

Verdict: These little guys are growing so well after being transplanted from a cup of water to real soil! I'll keep you posted on their progress. 

Taken: 6 weeks ago

Location: Grandma's House (no link for this either)

Why: The roots of this avocado seed were getting too tangled in its shallow dish! 

Verdict:It was a daring rescue but everyones doing great (see above)

Taken:7 weeks ago

Location: My house! Breakfast time.

Why: Because breakfast? And I was craving a tartine from the Model Bakery!

Verdict: Fresh bread, melted havarti, avocado, soft boiled eggs and cayenne pepper? Breakfast of champions!

Taken: 8 weeks ago

Location: San Pablo Ave. Oakland. Gaumenkitzel. Lunch time.

Why: Me mum and I were hungry!

Verdict: Our favorite secret spot on San Pablo Ave that we found on accident a few years back and keep returning for the spatzel and delightful interior! (Pictured: sour apple and squash soup, smoked salmon and green salad, mushroom and cheese spatzel)

Taken: 8 weeks ago

Location: San Luis Obispo, CA. Sally Loo's Wholesome Cafe. Breakfast time.

Why: It's one of my top five places to go to in SLO when I pass through. Plus sitting outside of this place with my puppy step-son just makes my heart burst with happiness!

Verdict: Amazing (witty'ly named) specials and sure thing standards (like this 'Sunday Staple') will always and forever draw me back to this place and force me to wish for a clone of it here in The Bay.

Taken: 9 weeks ago

Location: San Francisco, CA. Grindz. Lunch Time

Why: Cause Saimin noodle bowl?

Verdict: Saimin and Spam say 'Aloha' to my stomach! Yum!

Taken: 9 weeks ago

Location: San Francisco, CA. 

Why: Acting as a Granny Nanny means you just have to go where your Granny wants to go!

Verdict: This smells like my childhood-slightly fishy, slightly stale, really comforting. Hello little dried shrimps!

Taken: 12 weeks ago

Location: Disneyland. Bengel Barbecue aka in front of the Indiana Jones ride (Yes, I know. I should have just bought a season pass or something)

Why: We talked about this already...Mickey Mouse Shaped anything is a must.

Verdict: The lines were terrible that day, this pretzel was not. Also, insider tip: never go to Disneyland the weekend after Christmas. Duh. 

Taken: 12 weeks ago

Location: Disneyland. I think in front of the Matterhorn.

Why: Two reasons. 1) Because I love Churros. 2)Roommate informed me earlier that day that our very first pet in college had an untimely-premature death and her name was Churro. So that one was for my homie. R.I.P Churrie.

Taken: 13 weeks ago

Location: My house!

Why: Again..because breakfast?

Verdict: Left over Thanksgiving potatoes plus an egg, eaten out of a skillet, with too many spices on top of it will always be a breakfast of all champions, forever. 

So there you go! A quick blurt of food photos from my phone! Also fingers crossed I get a new phone soon! I'll let you know how that goes but until then...

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

Ramen'gedon 2k15

We are in a drought here in California so when it does rain I like taking full advantage of the chilly, drizzly weather by making something warm and cozy. What's more warm and cozy than a bowl of soup!? Well a new cashmere sweater, but thats' besides the point...back to the point...

Why make regular chicken noodle soup when you can be really ambitious and a little crazy and decide at 2 in the afternoon to make "ramen." Taryn, why is ramen in quotes? Thanks for asking Internet!  There are so many different versions of ramen, Shio ramen, Miso ramen.... all made with fresh hand tossed noodles swimming in laborious oily, flavorful, salty soup. At the heart of it all its soup and noodles; and thats what I made. So this is how I made my...uh... "ramen"....

As mentioned above, I decided to make ramen the day of, in a few hours. Real people ramen soup is made over night, nice and slow, with layer and layers of meat and meat fat and flavors. Anywhos....Imagine me, traipsing through Oakland Chinatown, heroically walking into the butcher shop and haphazardly telling the butcher that I wanted to make soup, and if 1 pound of meat bones was enough....the butcher laughing at me and suggesting I get at least 2 pounds of pork bones. Cue me, purchasing 2 pounds of pork bones and scurrying out of the shop. #embarrassing

Thank you world for Pressure Cookers! 

Step 1: Gather 4 cups of water + 2 pounds of pork bones (I would even pump it up to 3 pounds) and set aside

Step 2: Dice about 2 inches of ginger and 6-7 rehydrated mushrooms and set aside

Step 3:  Using the browning feature on your pressure cooker, brown those beautiful bones. Then add your water, ginger and mushrooms. Follow your pressure cooker settings to make the 'Perfect Stock' (because I bet theres' a recipe in the manual called "The Perfect Stock"). *I think I eventually added too much water (try like 8-9 cups), I would say maybe 6 cups will do the trick*

Noodle time! Who doesn't like fresh noodles?

Step 4: Gather 1 cup of All Purpose Flour, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of water

Step 5: Mix those thaangs together!

The dough should be smooth, slightly sticky but not too sticky that it won't pull away from the bowl or your hand.

Step 6: Let dough sit in a damp tea cloth for an hour so the dough has time to chill out!

Step 7: After your dough has chilled out, lightly flour your surface and roll, roll, roll out your dough. Because of my limited space I cut my dough ball in half and worked in two parts. Roll your dough as thhhiiinnnn as you possibly can. Heres the tricky part! Fold the dough into thirds (almost like bringing the flappy wings in). While your folding the dough in, flour each layer so you don't end up with a ball of sticky!

Step 8: After you have 3 layers of dough, cut in a straight even motion down as thinly as possible

Look at those cutie pies! You can toss some flour in there until you're ready to boil them. 

Step 9: To boil noodles, fill up your biggest pot! Just kidding, eye ball it. Small pot, medium pot...I trust you to make good decisions. Once your water  begins to boil, add your raw noodles, and wait until the noodles begin to rise to the top. Depending on how thick your noodles are, I would leave them in for an extra 2 minutes while stirring them around. 

*Helpful hint, Sometimes when I make noodles, I like re'adding cold water because I read somewhere that thats how you make dumplings. And you know what they say "Whats good for the dumplings are good for the noodles!" (<-- That was dumb Taryn, no one has ever said that before *face palm*)

 Yummy Digression!

Miso Butter Corn! 2 cups of corn + 1 tablespoon of butter + 1 tablespoon of miso paste.

Mix and heat over medium heat until the corn is well heated. Enjoy, over everything and anything, you're welcome.

Garlic Spinach! Par-boil any kind of greens, drain, toss with powdered garlic! Done! You're welcome, again.

While the noodles and then soup were cookin', my lovely kitchen assistant (aka my mom) made soft boiled eggs

Cold water-> Fresh Eggs-> 6.5 minutes of boiling-> 10 minutes of hanging out--> Eggs!
Oh! I forgot to mention, while I was pretending to be confident in Chinatown I also picked up some roasted pork and BBQ pork for ya' know, authenticity! *Scoff*

Its' almost ready! Add your noodles, a dollop of miso paste, all your fixins' and a garnish of seaweed to a beautiful bowl and there you have it-my take on Miso Ramen with Buttered Miso Corn!
Step 10: Eat as fast as you can! 

 .

One day, I will really really follow an actual recipe for Ramen soup and let you know how it goes. This time my soup definitely did not have that gritty saucy flavor most Ramen soup does which I was actually happy with. The broth was simple, clear and very refreshing, a nice frame for the dollop of miso I plunked in there. As for the noodles, I couldn't find my good rolling pin, so this time,they were a little bit too chewy. Womp. I will get better at making noodles! 

Weewh! That was tiring! So until next time...

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

P.S To pump up the authenticity even more, add some diced green onions to the top of your soup. Its' sure to make everyone go..."Wow, you must really know what you're doing."

  

Minne'So These Are the Rest of the Pictures (Part 2)

Ready? Begin!

Hello Santa Fe!

Holy' Moley! 

The sky in Sedona is just something else...

...fa'real, something really breathtaking...

...I mean, look at this!

Cathedral rock.

Fun Fact: there's the most garish house build right below it because the owners didn't want it to over shadow his house. Lets talk about over compensating *ahem* 

Look at all this nature!

Just think about how many dinosaurs are under those rocks!

The sky here is pretty pretty too.

I'm a sucker for sunsets...

...and golden hours, as you know.

So I guess thats kinda it. Three months in a different state, all by myself (sorta). I am thankful for the adventures, the people I met, the stories I gathered and the courage to experience it all. So Internet, there was my brief summer fling with Minnesota and a few states in between. Until next time Midwest!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

Minne'So These Are the Rest of the Pictures...

Photo stream....commence!

Welcome to South Dakota! 

 Badland National Park to be exact!

This was a detour and so worth it! 

 While on this little excursions we learned all about how there could have potentially be cool things there like ancient turtles and maybe even saber tooth tigers! 

 We worth it detour! Look at this view!

See what I'm talking about!? (#nofilter!)

 Its like this for miles and miles! Perfect weather too, I may add.

Tehehe, my dad using a really advance form of technology.

This is a for reaaal no filter! Its just that pretty out there!

Now the real reason for our tour through South Dakota...

Mount Rushmore....

...At sunset! This is the view from the hike along Mt Rusmore (where you can look up the presidents noses!)

Hey Guys! 

On my walk back to the sitting pavilion, there was a family of goats crossing the road! 

Mt. Rushmore at night! So worth it! 

Onto Wyoming by way of Needles Highway aka South Dakota Highway 87!

Its a whippy windy highway with Spectacular views!

And wonderful blue skies!

Fun Fact: Its called Needles Highway cause....theres a natural rock formation that looks like the eye of a sewing needle! Cool huh!?

Scattered along the highway, theres a bunch of narrow narrow tunnels that you have to squeeze through. There are even some tour buses that narrowly slip through! Eeps!

So thats South Dakota! Lets take a break before we get into the southwest. But til then...
Stay tuned! Stay hungry!