Foodgasmic Adventures with Thomas & Michelle

Home cooked food is always the best because the love, thought, and care put into the food shines through. The aroma of the kitchen captures your senses and makes your mouth drool to the point where the smell leads you to the kitchen in order to hover around your mom’s shoulder to find out what she’s preparing for dinner. Everyone has a different cooking style and likes different flavors, but for some reason when you know someone has put their time and effort into making food for people they care about, it just tastes a little bit better.

Here are 4 home cooked meals cooked by ourselves and our lovely friends.

Our friends Jimmy, Omar, Sarah, and Sid made a corn salad with arugula, tomatoes, and a lemon-chili-olive oil-vinegarette. Very light but full of flavor and great for digestion xDDD The perfect summer dish :)

I (Michelle), made chicken adobo with stir-fry green beans. Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines and one of my favorite filipino dishes because of the sour-salty taste of the chicken and I love to mix my adobo sauce with my rice.

My roommate Sarah made Tuna Patties which had a nice lemony kick and had a nice crunch to them. They are a simple, light, and delicious meal for busy college students.

Finally, Thomas and I made Dan Dan Noodles which are a spicy peanut sauce based schezuan noodle with ground pork, red pepper, bean sprouts, scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sherry. It’s very filling and heavy, but very rich, savory, and the spiciness gives it a punch. If you like peanut-y sauces or tastes this will really win you over and keep your tummy happy.

In addition, my roommates Sarah and Bri made Chicken Kelaguen and Red Rice, two very traditional Chamorro dishes. Chicken Kelaguen is roasted or bbq chicken diced up and flavored with onion, scallion, and lots of lemon. Red Rice is cooked with achuete powder, onion, and bacon, and some salt. Both the sour and the salty compliment each other well to make great side dishes to any Chamorro fiesta

If you want any of the recipes for these, let us know and we’ll hook it up :)

Pacific Cafe

A nice chinese Cafe on the outskirts of chinatown with chicken wings to die for. xD….but for real its probably one of my favorite cafes to go to for a cheap and fulfilling meal. My favorite at the moment has to be the baked porkchop in sweet tomato sauce and fried rice pictured above.

Funnel Cakes?! Elephant Ears?! Earthquake Burgers?! Curly Fries?!

The Puyallup Fair is the big event before the summer ends and Thomas and I went with some really good friends this past summer. Yes, this blog is long overdue, but we’re both pretty busy with school, and we finally have a break during Veteran’s Day weekend and we all miss summer. So to reminisce, we give you fair food.

It’s so bad for you, but it tastes OH SO GOOD. The Puyallup Fair is known for their Earthquake Burger, and let me tell you it is an Earthquake Burger. It’s about as big as my face, but it is absolutely delicious. It’s simple: Bun, Burger, Grilled Onions, and Cheese. The Curly Fries come in a huge brick and it can easily be split between 3 people (Burger and Fries).

The Elephant Ears and the Funnel Cakes are the quintessential desserts of the fair. Cinnamon and Sugar in a light fried dough in the shape of an elephant ear and the size of an elephant ear are enough to bring me to nostalgia of my childhood going to the fair in Texas. And lastly funnel cakes, are reminiscent of every circus, fair, and every other amusement park trip as a kid with lots of fried dough and powdered sugar. YUM!

In addition to all the yummy food, there are lots of prizes to win :)

TACOMA w/ VSA

When I think Tacoma I think the ghetto city of Washington…not going to lie xD. After my adventure with VSA (Vietnamese Student Association), I have a new love for this city. Although I still see Tacoma as the ghetto, it has some good places to eat and that is all that matters xD.

The first picture is a of a raspberry lemonade cupcake that I stumbled upon while walking to the Museum of Glass. The cupcake is from a small place called Hello Cupcake in the heart of downtown. It is hands down one of the best cupcakes I have ever had, and the little shop is super cute. “No homo”

The 2nd pic is from Southern Kitchen and consists of fried catfish, fried okra, mac and cheese, mash potatoes, and mango lemonade. Some of the best soul food I’ve had in a long time. The place is so good that VSA plans on taking the trip down there once a quarter if possible. =)

-Thomas Bui

We both love to cook, but most importantly I love to cook for other people. I get a lot of satisfaction in making food for others, but I hate cooking for myself. I guess this is due to the fact that I like feedback, and I want to be able to cook for my future grandchildren.

Wonton Soup: I made the wonton filling using ground beef, water chestnuts, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil, and a little sriacha. For the broth I used shitake mushrooms, bok choy, ginger, garlic, green onions, and chicken broth of course.

Thai Chicken Curry, Coconut Rice, Soft Tofu and Bean Sprout Stit-fry, and Salad: Red Curry with Coconut Milk, Rice made with coconut milk, and stir-fry with sesame oil and oyster sauce

Blueberry Streusel Muffins: If you don’t know what streusel is, it is a topping consisting of butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon :9

Beef Chow Fun: Dry Fried, Bean Sprouts, Bok Choy, Beef Flank, Rice Noodles, and Oyster Sauce. Simple. :)

As stereotypical as it might sound, the women in my life have inspired my love for cooking. My Chinese grandma makes beef chow fun, wonton soup whenever I visit her. In addition, she makes the best garlic pasta, salmon, chicken stir-fry, chow mein, and cookies. My mom makes blueberry muffins every summer, and anything you can imagine: roast chicken, curry cream salmon, thai chicken curry, haitian fried pork, brownies, cookies, pies, cakes, beef, sticky rice, pasta, and so so so much more. Lastly, my Filipino grandma makes palabok, adobo, pancit, and any other filipino food you can imagine. Cooking just runs in my family’s blood.

- Michelle