Christmas Goodies.

(**My page is currently under a little construction because I was sick of the pictures being so small so I've been messing around with the layout! Love the pictures bigger though, everything looks so much yummier.)

I hope everyone had a very happy holiday! I had a lot of fun with my family and cousins in Whistler located in Canada. It was filled with snowboarding, eating, crazy toddlers and watching Despicable Me three times. I wouldn't have asked for a better Christmas! It's definitely my favorite holiday and I love all the decorations, festivities and spirit that goes along with the holiday.

Before I talk about Whistler, I wanted to post the Christmas goodies from work and homemade chocolate covered pretzels we made on Christmas. I'm definitely going to miss working at the Bakery. Though I hated waking up early, I liked getting breads and desserts ready that I knew were going to be enjoyed by people at the satellite stores, parties, conferences, lunches/dinners, etc. Plus, I learned a lot.


Just a few iced sugar cookies made by my supervisor.


The cookies I decorated. Unfortunately because of the quantity of cookies that have to be made everyday, the Bakeshop uses frozen, already made dough. But I got to put Xmas sprinkles and decos on them.


If you look closely, you can spot some of the cute candy cane decos.


Green sprinkles with tree decos.


Goodbye Bakery!


Chocolate covered pretzel time! So easy to make with just a few ingredients.




Yum. They are quite addicting and enjoyable for adults and children.

A Whistler post coming soon...

Farewell Purdue!

I am now a graduate of Purdue University. This is something so weird to say after 4.5 years. I had the best time of my life at Purdue and the ultimate college experience. I wouldn't change anything in the world for it. I've learned so much in school and life, made the best of friends that I will have for the rest of my life and ate things I've never eaten before! Being a West Coast girl, I discovered a whole different array of cuisine coming to the Midwest. I explored the dining courts like Christopher Columbus discovering the New World. I tried everything, most I have never heard of. This includes: biscuits and gravy, chicken and dumplings, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, etc. While some of these may not just be Midwestern food, it all is intertwined in the "comfort" food area. I am happy to have discovered these new foods.

While on the subject of college experience, eating at the Triple XXX restaurant in West Lafayette is the ultimate Purdue food experience. Whether sober or drunk, eating at the Triple XXX is eating at a Purdue institution. It even has been featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives! But it was popular even before being featured on the show. Generations and generations of Purdue students have come to eat here and it's great to eat at a historical and renowned restaurant. Triple XXX is especially known for its chopped steak and root beer. So their burgers are especially juicy and flavorful because of how fresh the meat is. They even have a burger with peanut butter that I will talk about later. The burgers are named after famous Purdue football players, and their walls are decked out in their pictures.

I'm a bigger fan of their breakfast. One especially called the Drew Brees Special...aka also the biggest meal on the menu :). It comes with either chopped steak or chicken fried steak, two eggs, potatoes with gravy and two biscuits. This is what I get every time and probably where my double chin came from, but totally worth it. Triple XXX is a special place for my boyfriend and I. We eat there a few times a month and we have had great memories eating there. So before I left, we wanted to eat there one last time.


The famous landmark.


Inside




The one and only Drew Brees Special. I get hashbrowns, two eggs over easy and the chopped steak.


Biscuits. I LOVE them. I think they are split in half and then put on the griddle for a crispy top.


One giant meal...that I can devour.


The boyfriend's meal: the Duane Purvis aka the Peanut Butter Burger.


Look at that peanut butter!


Guy Fieri with the owners. And Curtis Painter on top.

Does an addiction to Triple XXX mean going there three times in four days? Maybe.

Miscellaneous Thanksgiving Break.

Here are a few shots of some miscellaneous goodies I got to eat while I was at home for Thanksgiving Break. Nothing too much, but thought I should share with my lack of updates. Graduation is slowly approaching (2 weeks!) and depression is setting in. I'm trying to spend as much time with my friends, boyfriend and living the college life before I go back home.

Pre-Thanksgiving lunch. Sushi from Whole Foods. Might have been a day old though...

Shrimp and avocado + crab and avocado (not shown)

Summer rolls. Definitely a day old. The rice wrapping was hard/stale which is a bummer because these are one of my favorites.

Hot pot night with the fam. Reminds me of a night in Beijing! Hot pot is basically a pot of boiling water where you add vegetables and meats that cook in the water and then you have your own mix of spices and flavors that you dip your food into.

Mushroom shoots.

Tofu.

Can't go a night without vegetables in this family.





A little breakfast for dinner. Leftover sausage from Thanksgiving with eggs, spinach and leeks.

Can't have breakfast without potatoes.

Lemon and honey water for my horrible cough.

Last meal: roasted chicken, gnocchi and spinach.

Gobble *cough* Gobble.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was very fun and relaxing, except for the cold I have been fighting for the past few days with a cough equivalent to the black lung. I'm actually on the plane right now going back to school! Google Chrome is giving Delta passengers free wifi for the holidays. I think being online thousands of miles in the air is pretty cool.

So of course this post is going to be all about our Thanksgiving feast. Unfortunately, my cold made it so I couldn't stuff my face with as much food as I usually do and my black Wednesday festivities made it so I couldn't help out much during the day. My mom had invited her whole office for Thanksgiving dinner, which was about ~20 people! I didn't think she was making enough food, but she proved me wrong and everyone was able to get seconds and thirds, but there were no leftovers. It was just that good :).

Dishes included: turkey, sweet potatoes, wild rice with veggies, stuffing with sausage, leeks, kale, squash (my absolute favorite), brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes (made my yours truly), gravy, salad and cornbread. This is the first time my mom made that stuffing and I was in love. It was heavy like most stuffings and I'm a new found lover of leeks, kale and even squash now! Desert included pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie and a flour-less chocolate cake with whipped cream made by one of my mom's co-workers. Overall, it was a fun night filled with eating, drinking and being merry. I left around 9 to go see Harry Potter with a couple friends (such a great movie!). The next day I got the pleasure of eating the leftovers. There wasn't much left, but luckily my mom saved me some stuffing, mashed potatoes and turkey. Again, I'm using a professional camera that I don't know really how to work, so pardon my pictures. I really want to take some photography lessons soon!

Appetizer spread.

Coppa and salami.

Various cheese and crackers. Triple cream, brie (my favorite) and aged cheddar.


The turkey right out of the oven.



Dinner spread.

Another angle. There's my beloved stuffing up in front.

The turkey.

My plate.

Close-up. I'm getting hungry again.

Desserts: Pumpkin cheesecake on top, pumpkin pie and flour-less chocolate cake.

The damage done by my dad and my mom's co-workers.

I hope everyone had just as fun and yummy Thanksgiving as I did!

Thanksgiving Break, Here I Come.

I don't have anything specific to write about except for the fact that I am finally going home tomorrow for Thanksgiving Break. I am so excited to be in the comforts of home with my family and friends. Oh and the 5 days of eating I will be partaking in! Winter is my favorite part of the year because it reminds me of family and being home with my group of friends that I rarely get to see. Plus it means lots of home cooked food, going to my favorite restaurants and extravagant meals for dinner parties. In turn, this means lots of food to talk about and take pictures of. I can't wait to just relax, eat, catch up on my shows and more importantly, catch up on my blogs. School has been so busy.

This year for Thanksgiving I plan on helping my parents with the cooking. I usually hide out for the day until the food is ready, but this year I actually want to help with the cooking and watch my parents make their specialties. I'm still trying to think of what to make. I'm thinking of something simple and putting a spin on it like garlic mashed potatoes or some appetizers. I have great inspiration from all the other blogs I read. I will fill you in on what happens/what doesn't happen (if I end up messing up!)

Things even started getting festive at work. I had to get pounds and pounds of bread ready for Thanksgiving meals the Union was hosting. And there were pies everywhere! Then, I got to pat out numerous trays of gingerbread because they make all the gingerbread house decorations for the Purdue Memorial Union. I love the smell of the spices and it gets me so excited for the holiday season! Lots of updates will happen in the next week, so stayed tune.

Because I hate writing without any pictures, here are some flower cupcakes my supervisor makes at work. I can't imagine who could eat all that icing but they are pretty. I'm loving the three colored flower in the top left corner. Three colors in one icing bag....or something, I don't know how to do that. I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures of the turkey cookies!

Kelly and Alan Take on West Lafayette Part 2.

This is probably one of the busiest weeks of the semester, but the biggest assignment got pushed back to after Thanksgiving break so I'm celebrating with a little blogging. Plus, I'm sure everyone is wondering how the rest of Dads Day went! Well after a crazy night at the bars with the most popular dad (everyone was buying my dad drinks left and right), it was kind of a struggle to get up to tailgate for the Purdue vs. Wisconsin football game. But it was so exciting to take my dad to a Big 10 football game. Unfortunately Purdue is on a losing streak and I don't really want to talk about it...but we lost. On a better note, dinner was awesome.

My friends and I took our dads to Bluefin Bistro in downtown Lafayette. Like Bistro 501, it's one of the more popular "nice" restaurants around Purdue's campus. It has the essentials: steak, seafood, pasta, but it is most known for, its sushi. First my dad and I were pretty skeptical about the sashimi and seafood because of the location of West Lafayette and Indiana itself. There are no close bodies of water and we are in a small town where sushi and seafood aren't specialities. The waiter ensured us that the seafood is flown into Chicago and driven from Chicago to West Lafayette everyday, so it is fresh. And luckily, he was right! My dad and I ordered one of Bluefin's towers which included sashimi and two special rolls of our choice. My dad and I picked the Poke Roll and Blu-C Roll. The sashimi was great! It didn't taste old or fishy and the texture was perfect too, not too mushy or rubbery. I am now a believer in Bluefin sushi!

Boiler Up!

Hail Purdue.

Sushi Tower.

LOVED the Poke Roll. Tuna, tomato in a sweet/lime-y sauce.

Salmon, Shrimp and various type of Tuna.

Lastly, I took my dad to Five Guys for a midnight snack. I wanted him to taste the magic! He enjoyed it, but says he likes In-N-Out better. Hoping one day I can experience it. But for now, Five Guys will do :).

I was dying to take my dad to Triple XXX the next morning before he left, but the line was out the door. We went to Greyhouse Coffee instead which is a small coffee house on campus. We ordered breakfast crepes and coffee. I enjoyed it and would go back there again. I ordered the egg and spinach crepe and my dad ordered the egg and sausage. Don't mind the spots, its just hot sauce!

It was such a great weekend with all the dads. I can't wait to be home in a week for Thanksgiving break. A break of indulging myself with food and (trying) not feeling guilty about eating everything in sight. This year I plan on contributing in the Thanksgiving cooking. Can't wait! I will keep you all updated on what I hope to make and how it turns out. Cross your fingers.

*Side note: I'd kill for a bowl of ramen or pho right now. I know where I'm going right when I get back to Seattle!