Food Map--A look into our Stomach

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View Food Map of a UCLA Student in a larger map

Description of map:

It's no fun to be stuck in UCLA for 4 whole years. Instead, we trek out of the UC territory in order to enjoy the good food out there. While on a tight budget and on a tight leash, we've mainly been able to sample some good Chinese food out there(disclaimer).

In the spirit of gluttony and sharing, I've mapped out some of our favorite restaurants we've been to for the last 2 years and included the most basic information of what we usually order, how long we've been eating there and the company's website. The best part is that this map will always be in update mode as we discover more restaurants.

Basically, it's a Map into our realm of Food.

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Spring Rolls- Combat Summer Heat

Home Juice:Mag SI+Brain Projects About Us

Spring Roll breakdown:

 
credit: We made it ourselves ^__^


Spring Roll Components:
1. Base: 1 piece of translucent rice paper wrapper
2. crisp veggie base: 1/4 of carrot(cut into thin strips or sticks)
3. leaves: handful of lettuce(shredded), 1 stalk cilantro(washed and peeled)
4. "creamy" veggie: 1/2 of cucumber(cut into thin strips)
5. "protein": 2 shrimps
6. carbs: vermicelli or rice noodle
7. optional: mango(cut into thin strips)

Dipping Sauce Options:
Sweet-Chili Sauce (from Asian Market, or can make your own)
Hoisin Sauce + Crushed Peanuts
Whatever sauce you like, seriously

Directions:
1. Activate rice paper by submerging completely in warm water. Take out immediately.
2. Carefully lay wet rice paper on flat plate or board.
[Warning: Contact with each other causes it to stick like chewed up bubblegum.
Wait for it to soften. It becomes chewy]
3. Assemble all solid components lengthwise.
4. Roll up similar to sushi, and some ingredients may spill out of the ends.
Extra-credit: Cut ends off to make neat.
5. Dip and eat.

Tips: can use double wrapping of rice paper if too small to hold components.
Any of the components are optional. We just show how we made ours. Feel free to add whatever you like!

And of course, we save the best for last: Photo Gallery!



-dd&mimi

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Chilly Rxn in Our Tummy

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Cold Fusion Rxn. Location: Stomach 
Break Out of the Summer Heat



MY GOLLY! We've already hit the 95's.
Join us hand in hand as we combat this year's heat wave
by first cooling down our mouths and stomachs.

What we're eating here...


Appetizers: 
Cold Potato Salad
-American Style
-Korean Style
         -->With Fruit
Cole Slaw
Greener Cream Cheese Dip (for breads/crackers)
Cucumber Sandwiches (MM style)
Avocado Slices

Entrees
NaengMyon (Korean Chilled Buckwheat Noodle)
Soba Noodles (Japanese Chilled Buckwheat Noodle)
Cucumber Cold Cut (Chinese-Style Pickled)
Thai-Style Spring Rolls (Shrimp and Mango)



Desserts
Panna Cotta
Granita
FroYo
Taiwanese Grass Jelly (from can)
Ai-Yu Jelly (from can)

In Cold Foods We Trust...

Recipes Added As We Go.

Easy to make.

Easy to tweak.

Easy. Failproof.

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Crispy Skin Salmon. Edible Skin.

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Crispy Skin Salmon.
Yes you can eat salmon skin.

Result: Moist flavorful fish. Perfectly cooked. Delicious Crispy Skin.
Learned from Gordon Ramsey --on Youtube. 

Difficulty Level- 1/10
Time:6 min cook. 1.5 min prep each piece fish. 

Ingredients:
Boneless Salmon fillet + skin
Salt/Pepper

Random Seasonings optional. Customize to taste:
-recommended-
Oil,garlic, ginger, thyme, onion, white wine, etc

Patience, a little hard work, and a sharp knife.



Directions:
Prep:
Cut slits in fish skin.
[Tip: Roll up salmon into 1-layer tube, skin facing up.]
With sharp knife, make clean cuts in middle portion of skin.
Closer cuts= more crispy. Trust us.
Season top with enough salt/pepper (a lot).
Drizzle with top with bit of oil.
Add seasonings INTO the cuts.

Cook:
Heat puddle of oil in pan over med heat.
When oil's ready, add fish skin down. Press down with fingers to flatten.
Cook skin-side for 4.5 min, or until you can see 3/4ths of salmon cooked, from skin bottom up.
Flip fish. Turn off heat. Leave pan. Cover.
Wait 1 min while the top cooks itself.

Serve/Eat! Enjoy!

Planet EggAsparagus.

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Magnificent egg. Sometimes I wonder if an egg could have been a solar system and if those microorganisms on the egg were actually smaller solar systems.....spreading apart because of the black mass in between. O_O



Welcome to Planet EggAsparagus, home of the intransient beings of the Netherland.

Planet EggAsparagus is orbitted by its multiple asparagus moons, orbitting at a gravitational whatsitcalled of 5.5 km^3.

As of 3.2 billion light years before, Planet EggAsparagus has already initiated its supernova stage, hurling masses upwards of 3.4 tons into space or what is otherwise known as.....THE DISH

A fitting song(one of my favorites as well):


Final Oblivion by Cyber Cartel
Genre: Psytrance
One of my fav all time chartstoppers ;D

-dd&mimi

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Food, You Had Me at First Sight!

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Image Source: http://lukehoney.typepad.com
Oh Aspic, carry me with you! The gelatin reverberations sing the quivery joys of Mr. McMeaty... Your forbearers served in the Atlantic in the yonder years. After the Titanic sank, so did your girth.
Image Source: http://www.breydel.be/fr

Image Source: http://images.smulweb.nl
A chef must be daring to include meat in the Aspic. The "gelatin" that gives this food its structure is actually jellified calcium from meat stock or consomme. French for jelly, the Aspic is usually cooked as a savory mound, a dish best served cold. It is rarely served, even in French restaurants.

 
Image Source:http://www.dinedelish.com
Sticky Toffee Pudding from Gordon Ramsey Steak (Paris Hotel, Las Vegas). His famed dessert entails high expectations. There is lots of butter, and that sticky sweet savory toffee that no candy bar can be great without. We bet a little rum might fit in here.



Image Source:http://cdn.sheknows.com
Graham's Pea Soup, as featured on Master Chef. It is so deliciously radioactive green, and the flowers really do us in. This really might inspire some clothes. We really do pull a "muse" from all sorts of objects we see. If you happen to ever try any of these, do let us know!

-dd&mimi

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Milo and Olive, Santa Monica $$

Home Juice:Mag SI+Brain Projects About Us

Never have I ever ever EVER spent so much on a plate of food before just for myself (dates don't count).

  Avg Cost of Dish: $15.
  Water: Delicious and carbonated!
  Atmosphere: Light, Feels Amazing. Come with anyone for any occasion.
  Seating: Communal.
  Location:2723 Wilshire Blvd  Santa Monica, CA 90403
  Rating: Excellent. SI+Brain salivates for another chance to come here!


From the creators of the famed Huckleberry pops out Milo and Olive. All kinds of people come here, and the setting is...magically relaxing.
Warm and friendly-- every baker, every employee chats with you.
The people here are enough to make you want to stay.
And then you are hit by the gorgeous smells of fresh bread baking (dare you to try it at home), and wafts of every new dish to come out.
So then your SI + Brain obligates you to stay for a meal too.

We sat at the communal table/bar.
I took pictures of the people across us but they saw me and told me to delete them. Every seat gives a great view.
We enjoyed a solid selection of seasonal dishes here such as White Wine Mussels + Bread, Pumpkin in Brown Butter, Sphaghetti, and the garlic knot.
Each dish was spot on and exquisite in terms of taste, execution and presentation.

Who cares if each dish costs at least $15. Now's not the time to be shy, especially if college dorm food is what we've been having on our palate....
One ravenous person can easily spend $30 here, but relax!
Split your dishes with an acquaintance, and don't forget to breathe while eating.
It packs a two-time sensory punch, especially with in-house citrus-carbonated water to boot.


Tried these. Mmmmm!! ^__^




Ate 3/4 of this and gave up after having too much Pumpkin + Butter (dessert/brown sugar). So good though!
 


Had to give this one a try: Mussels in White Wine + Bread

Have any cool food/eatery suggestions?
Let us know by texting us or shooting us an email at our personal email or group email at ddmimi.co@gmail.com.
Ooo! Or you can come eat with us on one of our many culinary adventures!!

-dd&mimi

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Classic Spicy Mustard

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Mustard. Hot.

Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons Dry mustard powder
1 Tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
Splash of Alcohol (any kind)
2 Tablespoons Flat beer
1 Clove Garlic Beaten to a Pulp
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric
Oil (up to 1 tbsp. add more if really need)

Mix everything together. Must add this to roast beef sandwich.

Peace out!
-Astroboy

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Fancy Blender-Blendtec Review

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Blendtec Review: $350

Recently,we went on a crusade to Costco in search of a new blender. After trying 50 some samples, we came across the Blendtec.

The Blendtec motor base spins its stainless steel blade at over 300 mph with a 1560 watt, direct-drive system which can raise the temperature inside the jar to boil water and generate steam. The motor comes with several presets such as Ice Cream, Smoothie, and Soups and a count down to tell you when the blending will be done. The WildSide Jar comes with a 36 oz capacity with a Vented Gripper Lid that prevents spills and allows you to add liquids while blending without splatters. The jar is specially designed to pull its contents into the path of its blade for fast and thorough blending.

The Blendtec is very good at what it does. It's capable of smashing and pounding almonds and other nuts into powder. The motor has a display that shows exactly how long it will be before the blending is finished and automatically shuts off when the cycle is completed.

So far, we've enlisted this powerful blender to help make Tomato Bisque (heated it till it was quite warm), almond flour for macarons,and various smoothies, milkshakes, and softserve-style ice cream. It can easily make almond milk.

You cannot make ACTUAL ice cream with the Blendtec, but you can get close to a creamy soft kind with the help of extra creamy/protein-y foods such as avocados and bananas + ice.

Don't try to make a very small amount of guacamole with it. Make more slushy foods that can actually move around in the blender, like salsa or dips with yogurt.

Keep in mind. The Blendtec is a pulverizer, not really a food processor. It crushes objects well and is not meant for fine cutting.

-ddmimi



See the Blendtec in action here: Will it Blend?

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