Ravioli

The other day I was supposed to make dinner for my family. (i mean when i was here) Usually I would’ve just made the norm that my mom makes(chicken, broccoli, rice). But this time I wanted to do something different. So, guess what? I made ravioli!!! I thought it was gonna be easy. Just make the dough, roll it out, put some stuff on it, put another piece of dough on, and cut, right? Well it wasn’t. Or maybe it is and I’m just terrible at making ravioli. Idk…

So I made the dough. That part was easy. Then I rolled it out. That was also easy. Then I put the filling on. Ugh, that was hard. I used sharp cheddar cheese and mozzarella as the stuffing. I guess mozzarella has a lot of water in it or something because liquid was coming out of the raviolis!! Next time (if there is one) I think I would use spinach and some kind of non-wet cheese. That might make it easier… So the end ravioli wasn’t too bad. It was edible. There just wasn’t too much filling inside. Anybody have any suggestions?!

Ravioli Dough
3 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1. Sift flour and salt together.
2. Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour.
3. Drop eggs into the flour well, using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs. Add in water and whisk until a dough forms
4. Knead dough. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
5. Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet.

Pennsylvania: AIO (by my brother-steve!)

Hi everyone, this is lynne. Today my brother, steve, is gonna write a post about AIO. (Don't worry he will explain what that is) so yea, enjoy!


AIO, or Art In the Open, located in Pennsylvania have many paintings, sculptures, and other arts in many different kinds of media. Although we visited this program kind of early so we didn't get to see all of the art, the ones that we did get see were very intricate. The first piece of art was made out of colored sand that was poured all over the concrete. The design seemed to be a variegated abstract design. The "exhibit" that seemed the most interesting was this quilt lady. The lady created a quilt with pockets that you could write a message on rice paper to put inside the pocket. She then sowed the pocket shut so that nobody can see your message. You could write prayers, your name, anything you want to write! The outdoor exhibit had exquisite art but the artworks are fairly spaced out throughout the park.
 

 Painting made out of sand on the ground

 Quilt Lady talking to visitors

What do you do when you have a lot of leftover brownies?...make cookies!

So as you can see from the title of this post, I made cookies out of brownies. Or brownies in to cookies...Hmm...I guess it's the same. I had a couple of left over brownies and I was bored, so I stuck them into a blender along with some other typical cookie ingredients, well like two.. and..ta dah a funky super chocolatey brownie tasting cookie! It was kinda fun. Pulsing different ingredients :)

Chocolatey Brownie Cookies
2 cups leftover brownies, or crumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350˚F. In a food processor, blend all ingredients until a dough forms. Shape into cookies, and bake for 10 minutes or until done.

goes great with a cup of coffee!..at least i think (i dont drink)

Hi everyone from japan :)

Okay so i know I'm still posting stuff (well my brother is at least) but I felt I should just say that: I'm totally loving japan!! I've gone to Japan before, but you know, you can never have too much really good food! Thank you to everyone who has been commenting and reading my blog. Right now I'm using my iPad at my host family's house (I'll explain later), so I can't comment or respond to any of the comments, yet. Once I get home I will!!! Okay so until then, well, um enjoy your summer!

Ps I'm not sure if it's just the iPad but does the template look off? Like the background was gone when I last checked! Don't mind the weird looking template and background if it does look weird. I'll change it when I get home!

NJ: A touch of Italy

Anyone every heard of egg harbor township? Well it's a tiny town in NJ. There aren't many restaurants or food places......well, unless you count Olive Garden, Chick n Pete's, you know, those kinds of places. This place I ate at wasn't as good as I remember. They say they use a brick oven for their pizzas, but I don't think it's doin much for the pizza. Just sayin. Oh, it's called A Touch of Italy.

I got the Pizza Parigina Bianca. Or a mozzarella prosciutto spinach portabello mushroom pizza. Wow, that was a mouthful. So about the pizza. Eh, I've had better. I like my pizza crusts thin and crisp. This was sorta thin. Kinda crisp.

The special was tuna with some lump crab mean on top. Tuna. Really? In NJ? strange...... It was just okay. Nothing spectacular I would ever talk about. Totally not ever ever gonna be ordered again. It just wasn't, well, idk, just not ordering that again.

Next up, broccoli rabe ravioli. Pretty good. I mean, totally better than the ravioli I made. Ugh, terrible experience. Theirs was much better, but still, a little too salty. It was also soooo green. Lots of green inside, even more green on top!

NY: City Bakery

When I go on a trip, I always use yelp to find restaurants and shops I want to visit. For NY, I wanted to go to a bakery that wasn't so well known. I chose City Bakery because it sounded promising. The reviews were pretty good, and the pictures showed some pretty good looking food. So I went there, and well I didn’t think it was amazing, but it wasn’t bad.

I loved their pull apart bread. It was sooo tasty! It was huge, but I still ate the whole thing! One of the things on yelp that was supposedly super good was the pretzel croissant. I didn’t think it was that good. It tasted like an okay croissant topped with a ton of salt. And I mean a TON of salt. As I was paying, they brought out some more cookies, and thinking why not, I decided to get one. I got a vegan chocolate chip cookie. The guy at the counter said it tasted exactly like the normal ones, it just had a different texture. I thought it was pretty good. One or two bites tasted kinda off. Like I had a clump of baking soda or flour. The guy at the counter was right though. It did have a different texture. It was kinda crumbly but somehow still really moist.

Pull apart bread

Pretzel Croissant

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie

NY: Zabars

Zabars. They have the best cinnamon rugelach. Ever. I got half a pound, and like finished it in about...well, 15 minutes. It was so good! Dense, cinnamon-y, butter-y, just oh so yumm! And, they have my favorite lox. You know, the salmon stuff they usually put on bagels? It's scrump dili umptious.

I bought a lot of stuff there: lox, rugelach, cinnamon sticks, coffee, water, croissant from France....Did you say croissant from France? Why yes, yes I did. Except, unlike the ones in France, these were just nasty. And, they didn't taste like anything. Yuck.

It looks good, yeah? Well, it's lying! I'm pretty sure they just ship the dough from France.Yucky. Do you wanna see the coffee my mom bought? She always buys coffee whenever we come here. Then she stores it in the freezer. And it takes up so much room!

So my mom bought coffee, I bought rugelach, and my brother bought...wait for it...wait for it........CHOCOLATE! Of course, that's the kind of thing he would do. A huge, huge, huge, bar of chocolate! *sigh* I love this store. They have some pretty good food! (except the knishes, they were not my thing)

Ny: Katz Delicatessen

Today we went to Katz for breakfast. It was uhh, well it wasn't very good. Or at least that's what my family thought. My brother got french toast (yea, don't ask me why he got bread at a deli), I got matzo ball soup, and my parents split a corned beef sandwich and a pastrami sandwich. My mom says the other deli is better, uh carnegie deli or something.

The french toast wasn't very good. My brother said my dad makes better french toast. (but then again my dad makes really good french toast- he uses sweet bread!) The sausages were pretty good, not great, but still pretty good. My matzo ball soup was interesting....I've never had it before, and I tried it, but I have to say it wasn't my favorite, at all. My mom has eaten tons and tons of matzo ball soups before and she was like, "eh, it's okay". The sandwiches were HUGE! It was like a 4 or 5 inches tall, and there was just sooo much meat. They said the pastrami sandwich was the moist one, and the corned beef one was sorta dry. Or was it the way around. Hm. No, I'm pretty sure I got it right.

menu

cafeteria style interior

matzo ball soup

pastrami and corned beef sandwich (i mixed up which is which, my bad)

french toast

NY: Dylan's Candy Bar (by my brother-steve)

Hi everyone, this is lynn, but today's post is by my brother, Steve. This was one of the only stores he wanted to visit, and so I told him he could write a blurby about it! So a little about my brother first. He's 13, uh, he's super super tall! (like 5 foot 10!!) Or at least I think he's tall...what else? Um..he likes to watch t.v., he loves steak, um...oh and he plays volleyball! Okay, well enjoy his blurby about Dylan's!

Dylan's Candy Bar, the cream of the crop of the candy bar world. With its new line of "IT" Bars and their decadent cafe products, the Dylan's Candy Bar takes up about 15,000 square feet, or 3 floors of space. Throughout the whole store, the theme is candy. Candy in the ground, candy as artwork, and candy colors all around. The Cafe on the third floor had an exquisite array of sundaes to cupcakes. The Mint-tastic sundae that I ordered was huge. The flavors melded together and the chocolate was especially good. The middle floor had just candy. All kinds of candies ranging from malt balls to gummies. The bottom floor had Dylan's clothes and even more candy. Although I never tried the IT bar, the flavors were very radical like Milk Chocolate with Jalapenos! You can even get personalized jars for candy!

The "it" bar

Inside the store...lots of candy!

A giant plastic chocolate bunny.

The cafe seating area

Menu..

Mintastic Sundae. It was huge.

A lady made out of jelly beans

Some of the candy we bought

NY: Momofuku Milk Bar

I came here last time I was in NY, and I thought it was pretty good. The crack pie was not at all my favorite. But I fell in love with the marshmallow cornflake cookies. The compost cookies were just okay. This time, I went back and what did I find? No cornflake cookie!!! And the line was so long it went into the restaurant connecting part! Ugh, I don’t think I will be going back. This time I didn’t have a very good time. I tried a lot more stuff and I wasn’t pleased with what I got.
The blueberry cream cookie was squishy and didn’t taste like anything. Just a big blob of butter. The peanut butter cookie was disgusting. The cookies are already bagged in plastic bags and ugh, just thinking about it makes me shudder. It was so gross; the oil/butter had leeched out of the cookie into the bag! It seemed as if someone just poured oil into a bag containing a bland cookie. I just couldn't bring myself to eat it! The compost cookie was actually okay. I would’ve liked more pretzel/add-in stuff, but I thought it was a lot better than the other cookies. Oh, this time I also tried the peach tea soft serve and the cereal milk soft serve (both 5$!!!!!). The tea one was just okay. The cereal milk stuff was just disgusting. It tasted like I was eating spoiled soured milk. My brother was really really hungry, so we ordered the pork buns. Bad idea. It was mostly fat, and for just two buns it was 9 dollars. 4.50 each! Totally not worth it. Everything was expensive, and it wasn’t even tasty!

 Front of Cookies

Back of Cookies

Nasty pork buns (sorry for the bad picture)

Tea milk

Leavin for Japan and A recipe for cupcakes

Bye everyone! Today I'm leaving for Japan. I'm so excited :) But first, a delicious recipe in honor of my trip. Matcha Cupcakes with Azuki Bean filling. These cupcakes are the perfect ending to any meal, or actually, whenever you just have a craving for something sweet and fluffy (Which is like practically all the time!)

Today's recipe  was just something I whipped up out of boredom. Whenever I'm bored I just paw through the cupboards looking for something fun to whip up. This time, I found matcha powder. I'm pretty sure it's from our last trip to Japan (uhhhh maybe a year ago), but don't worry the powder didn't go bad. I'm pretty sure it never goes bad! Haha, I'm just being a charlatan. Don't listen to me.... When I filled the cupcakes I wasn't sure if the azuki bean would sink. See:

 The azuki bean didn't really sink. For the cupcake above, I put a little batter in, and then the azuki bean, and then covered it with some more batter. I wanted to see if it would sink, so I plopped some beans on top instead of the centers. They didn't sink, as you can see

The beans didn't sink. Ahhh! But don't worry, they were still delicious. Light, airy, a little surprise of sweet azuki beans :) Just be careful not to over bake them. Some of mine turned brown because I left them in too long...oops!
 
Matcha Cupcakes with Azuki Bean Filling -Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients:
1 egg
1 Tb butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp green tea (matcha) powder
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup azuki bean

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325˚F and grease a cupcake tray
2. In a large bowl, mix egg, butter, and sugar until creamy
3. Stir in green tea powder, flour, baking powder, and baking soda
4. Fill each tin half way with the batter
5. Place a teaspoon of azuki bean in the center
6. Cover with batter, about 3/4 of the way
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until done, careful not to over bake them
8. Enjoy!

Blurb about my trip

Okay, so I know it doesn't seem like it, but I actually went on a trip. Yes, I went on a trip and still posted. That's just how dedicated I am. Haha, I'm just kidding. But no really, I went on a trip to the east coast. Actually more like 2 states on the east coast: New Jersey and New York. Oh wait, and Pennsylvania. So 3 states, but  I'm not sure I can count New York though, it was only for like 22 hours!!

Oh, and as you may know, or not know, I have a younger brother. And, since I'm going to be away from my computer for a little while (japan!!!), I told him he could write a couple reviews and stuff. Don't worry, he actually wanted to...I'm not sure why though.... So yea, basically there will be reviews and recipes, and some will be written by him and some by me. Okay? Well, I'm off to pack for Japan. I hope I don't forget anything!

Chunky Sweet 'n Salty Cookies

Sweet + Salty = Perfect Cookies? Heck yes! Of course they do!  :)  Goldfish, cranberries, chocolate chips, left over granola, and every other cereal I found in my pantry went into these cookies. Gross, you think? Well not really! They looked kinda weird, (the gold fish were stickin out) but they were sweet and salty. But of course, not too sweet you couldn't taste the salty add ins!

Chunky Sweet 'n Salty Cookies - Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
8 oz. chocolate, course chopped
1 1/2 cup any add-in stuff

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Beat butter and sugars
3. Add in egg and vanilla extract
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt
5. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture
6. Stir in nuts and add ins
7. Place rounded tablespoons on cookie sheet
8. Bake for 10 minutes

Thank You!

Hi everyone, I know this is a little late, but thank you so much if you voted for my recipe. I was 4th place! This was my first ever contest I've ever won and I am soooo happy! :) Fischer and Wieser sent me, and the other 4 finalists, a case of their CEO's favorite sauces. It got shipped in this huge box. See:

What was inside???.........

Tah Dah!!

12 different sauces! There were marinades, vinaigrette, salsa, marmalades! And a queso starter. Uh can anyone tell me what that it? I totally have never heard of it. Is it good? Like a dip? It says to just add cheese. But anyways so far we've tried to of them. The vinaigrette is pretty good. It's a raspberry chipotle vinaigrette. It was sooo spicy. (Well at least to me. Okay, mainly me) The other sauce we tried was their #1 sauce, the name's blanking on my right now, but it's the one with the gold wrapper. It tasted like a sweet BBQ sauce. Okay, well I'm off to go finish my packing!! And thanks again to everyone!!!! :)

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Chip Cookie

Everyone's always lookin for The Best chocolate chip cookie, right? But I was thinking about that, and I had an epiphany. I realized everyone likes different cookies and will think different ones are "The Best". So that got me thinking about what cookie would be best for what type of people. You know, people who like soft cookies would think cookie A is better than cookie B, but people who like crispy cookies would like cookie B better than cookie A, you know, that type of stuff.

So David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookie was just meh, not yuck, but just okay in my opinion. I'm not into super buttery, soft, chewy cookies, so to me these were definitely not "The Best".

Sorry David Lebovitz, I'm not saying the cookies were bad, don't get me wrong they weren't bad, they just weren't crispy. I'm a crispy kind of girl! And don't worry, these cookies were eaten. They didn't go to waste! They went into my family's stomachs. tmi? sorry. They said they were scrumptious! The rest of my family likes soft cookies. Haha, they're softies!! But anyways, these cookies are probably for people who like buttery, soft, chewy cookies. :) And, they go great with milk! See:

I like milk, it's yummy! Plus, you can never go wrong with the classic milk and cookie!

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
14 oz. chocolate, course chopped
2 cups nuts (or if you're like me and don't like nuts, I replaced the nuts with chocolate!)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Beat butter and sugars
3. Add in egg and vanilla extract
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt
5. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture
6. Stir in chocolate and nuts, if your using
7. Roll into a log with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm
8. (Original recipe said to cut dough into 2 cm thick disks, but I didn't like how it looked so I just broke them into parts and round them into balls) Place flattened balls of dough onto a cookie sheet
9. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned in the centers
10. Enjoy!