Carnivore fo Life.

I've been swamped with school work, job hunting, work, more school work and more job hunting lately. I'm wondering why I'm not already graduated (I bet my parents are thinking that too, ha!). Papers, exams and constantly worrying about not having a job is overwhelming and consuming my life! Luckily, I have great friends and a boyfriend to keep me sane. My boyfriend and I decided to celebrate our very belated one year which actually occurred over the summer while I was in China.

He took me to RedSeven, which is one of the more classier restaurants in West Lafayette. It isn't fast food and it isn't a chain restaurant like Outback or Texas Roadhouse, so I was excited for a great meal. Plus, the food at the sorority was not one of my favorites. It is a great place to take your parents or for a nice date because it's modern and has great food. There's steaks, chicken, pizzas, pastas and great cocktails. Since we are so used to cheap fast food (hello college), a fancy meal would be the perfect date. We both even dressed up since it is in "downtown" Lafayette and quite classy.

We both always talk about how much we miss and love steak, so of course we both got steak dishes. Plus, he was paying ;). I got the center cut sirloin and grilled shrimp that came with fries and spinach as sides. He got the cowboy ribeye with vegetables and a baked potato. Both medium rare, what a perfect match. We were both excited and drooling. I took some pictures with my iPhone, I need to get in the groove of bringing the nice camera out.


His meal-look at that steak!


My meal...and I'm drooling again.

We both couldn't finish the whole meal since it came with a salad and bread, so we doggy bagged it and had it as a snack the night after. Hopefully we make another trip to RedSeven or one of the nicer bistros soon. It's so nice to change it up a bit and actually have a nice, fancy meal. It makes me miss my parents' food so much more though! I need more meat!!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Besides Christmas, football season has to be one of my favorite parts of the year. There's so much school pride (seas of black and gold), families, alumni and of course tailgating. Acres and acres of Purdue's campus are filled with cars, tents and tables, all coming out for one cause: the Boilermakers (or the enemy...grrr). Not only is tailgating a great gathering for friends and family, but there's plenty of great food and unlimited beer. Going to my friends' family tailgates is one of my highlights during football season. We get treated like royalty and (good) food is practically shoved down our throats. Yesterday, we went to my friend's family tailgate and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

After an early morning of Breakfast Club (Purdue tradition), we were all hungry. Tailgate food is so fun because there's so much variety and so much food to pick from. There were all kinds of typical tailgate food: all kinds of meat (hot dogs, brats, wings, chicken, brisket, etc.), veggies, chips, deviled eggs, cheeses, finger foods and all the dips in the world. I had some great wings and of course, I love chips and 7 layer dip. I can't wait for next weekend!!!



To top off a great weekend, my good friend Jean came back to visit for the weekend. Our last stop, Kibu Cafe for some Korean. She works in Jackson Hole, WY where the Korean food is slim to none, so she was definitely excited for our date. I brought my camera for some better shots. Just like clockwork I ordered the Soon Tofu, while Jean ordered the Bi Bin Bop and some kind of Kimchi soup with noodles. She wanted to go all out and I don't blame her. We finally got to try something new and it was great. The Kimchi soup is still red like mine, but sweeter and has ramen noodles, rice patties, lettuce and HOT DOGS! Jean said you can pretty much put anything in it. I'm happy I tried it. Such a great meal with a great friend!








(Don't judge us ;))

Sorry.

I'm sorry for the lack of entries (for those who read this)! Instead of indulging myself with great food, I'm trapped in a sea of homework, work and of course, job searching. It is pretty much consuming my life: rewriting my resume and getting it check by different people with different opinions, writing countless cover letters, job fairs, freaking out and more searching. I'm so tired everyday, but school and work don't stop.

But to make my day a little better, I made pumpkin bars at work today, which is a speciality they have only during the fall and winter season. They smelled so good and I got compliments from my supervisor on how good they looked :). I wish I took a picture, but it was too messy to bring my phone. It's very hands on, from making the crust to the filling. The smell of the spices gets me excited for fall!

AND the Top Chef finale is on tonight! As well as the premiere for Top Chef: Just Desserts. I'm really interested to see how Just Desserts is going to be because I don't know how they can have a show on just making desserts. Maybe I'm being too narrow-minded since I've never been a big fan of sweets. From the previews, I'm excited to see Hung, Ilan and Michael (past winners) back! I hope I can take some time out of my busy schedule to watch who wins! I'm not sure who I want to win. I was on team Tiffany, but she got kicked off (WHY?!), so maybe Ed?

I would also like to say how jealous I am that the finale is in Singapore. I visited my cousin in Singapore for my spring break senior year of high school and it is definitely a great place to eat. It has influences from all over: Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, etc. One block you have Hainanese Chicken Rice and the next you have Indian food! I want to go there again to enjoy the cleanliness and food. I was drooling when I was watching the finalists enjoy street food. My dad and I would walk around all the carts to see what to eat, it was overwhelming, but cheap and good.


(Taken from www.seriouseats.com)

Sidenote: Ed was a sous chef on Iron Chef America for Cat Cora along side of Top Chef veteran Richard Blais. So funny!

Flashbacks Part 1.

I finally uploaded all my pictures from my iPhone to my computer and found a few food pictures from China. I will be doing a wrap-up of all the delicious food I ate there another time (well at least the ones I took pictures of!) Oh how I miss China and all the food. What I would do for a beef noodle soup and bubble milk tea right now...


At O'Malley's at the Big Thumb when I was desperately craving a hamburger and fries. Their burgers are voted one of the best by other expats and it was surprisingly very good.


Starbucks. Black currant and raspberry tea. Yum. (It's amazing for someone interested in marketing to see how they market towards different segments. Ex. you won't find this tea flavor in the US.)


Breakfast at the PuLi Hotel. Two eggs over easy with the usual breakfast trimmings underneath. Pain au Chocolat, fruit and fruit juices.


Indonesian fried rice at the country club in Hong Kong.

A Little Piece of Korea.

(*If you ever wondered where Jean and I would mysteriously disappear for several hours to go get Korean food...this place is it!* Jean this post is dedicated to you and the times we ate an unhealthy amount of Kibu together!)

Though Indiana may not be one of the more culturally diverse States, I find Purdue's campus to be pretty diverse. There are people from all different countries to study or teach at this famous institution. With all different cultures floating around good ol' West Lafayette, the one way to satisfy each of them is to put plenty of ethnic restaurants to fill any stomach. There are Indian, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Mexican and many other restaurants to remind students of their home comfort foods or for anyone to enjoy. I crave Asian food very easily and often, and so does my good friend Jean Kim, who is Korean.

We were on a quest to find a good restaurant to fix our Asian food cravings and we stumbled upon a restaurant called Kibu Cafe. I wouldn't say we are addicts...well...we are. Kibu has a variety of Korean and Japanese food, but I only order and crave one dish, the Soon Tofu. I would love to start trying new dishes, but I seriously crave this dish all the time and can't get myself to order anything else. I always tell Jean I swear the tofu has crack in it, it's that addicting! Jean, on the other hand, order different things, but she mostly orders the Bi Bim Bop. Sadly, Jean graduated in May and I am now on my own to enjoy my Soon Tofu (if anyone would ever like to come, let me know :)). Kibu's menu includes dishes ranging from any kind of Korean noodles and Korean BBQ to udon noodles, tempura and chicken teriyaki. If I ever get sick of the Soon Tofu (highly doubt it) I want to try the Korean style ramen or the rice topped with beef and egg.

These dishes are the best to enjoy during the winter when it is freezing outside and I want to warm myself up with a soup. The Soon Tofu is for me equivalent to the chicken noodle soup or tomato soup for an American kid after playing in the snow. My soup arrives bubbling and Jean's Bi Bim Bop comes crackling in its giant stone bowl (which keeps the rice heated) with two little side dishes (usually bean curd and kimchi). I don't think there is anything better sounding then the bubbling soup and crackling rice! My Soon Tofu consists of tofu, zucchini, onions, little clams, squid and an egg that is dropped in right before it arrives, but cooks perfectly inside the spicy, red soup. The red soup might scare some people, but I love it. I'm not even exactly sure what it is except that it is Korean and I'm addicted to it. The softness of the tofu, egg, zucchini and onions just melts in your mouth. Then, eating a spoonful of rice in between cools off the spiciness. Jean's Bi Bim Bop is rice with piles of vegetables, meat and an egg that you mix with a red sauce, kept hot by the stone bowl. Lets just say we are both in heaven. Jean will be visiting Purdue in the middle of September and we both know where we will be going for a meal :).


My Meal (Sorry they are crappy, just with my iPhone)


"You know it's good when it is bubbling hard" -What Jean used to say (very true)