Instafood

My blog has slowly become more and more food-heavy, which isn't a bad thing. Friends already know me as a "foodie" and I am guilty of one too many food pics. I love cooking and one of my goals in the last year has been to cook dinners most days of the week, which I have managed to do, but not without some effort (i.e. making sure to set aside grocery shopping time on the weekends and learning to say no to social plans).

This was a first attempt at sooji halwa, a semolina pudding that's a popular South Asian dessert. The main ingredients are semolina flour, sugar, oil/butter, almonds, and cardamom. Personally, I suggest using less sugar and butter than most recipes call for, but that's also because I don't like things too sweet.

This Jamaican jerk chicken was inspired by a New York Times recipe, though I did make a few adjustments. I didn't make the accompanying coconut rice with peas recipe, but the quinoa worked well because the chicken had enough gravy.

This is a typical Chinese steamed fish dish that I ate growing up, though I've only recently appreciated it now that I eat more seafood. As you can see, I got a little ginger and scallion happy. I didn't use a recipe since I've seen my mom make this dish a million times, but after a quick search, I found this video and this recipe. The key is buying a fresh fish and keeping it whole.

This pic is embellished with the new photo app by the ladies at A Beautiful Mess. You can download the iPhone app for $0.99 and it comes with doodles, borders, filters, and text options. Oh and those are mini whole wheat banana muffins with applesauce instead of butter/oil. A few of the muffins have chocolate chips for a little fun. Honestly, I have yet to find a healthy (no added sugar and no butter/oil) muffin recipe that's also delicious. Most are just ok.

Another typical Chinese dish is mapo tofu, a traditionally spicy dish where tofu is mixed with spicy chili bean sauce. The dish can include ground pork or beef, but I didn't have that on hand. I also can't take a lot of heat, so I dialed down on the spice. 

I read an article about how we're over obsessed with making perfect meals that are super complicated, what with the plethora of cooking shows and food blogs that make everything look amazing. In reality, weeknight dinners should be simple and quick because otherwise you won't want to cook! That's why you need a menu of go-to dishes that you can rotate, rather than feel the pressure of making something new and complicated every day.

This baked salmon is definitely one of my go-to's. Olive oil, garlic, parsley, basil, lemon juice, salt, pepper. Bam!

Other recent dishes that I forgot to capture on camera include a cold soba with improvised dipping sauce that tasted amazing and a classy version of chicken chop suey with loads of fresh veggies.

Follow me on Instagram for more food inspiration.

Six Second Cooking Video

Who knows, maybe this will be the first of many six second cooking videos?

Instagram Food Pics

A sprinkling of things made and consumed recently, but mostly consumed. :)

Halwa puri from Jackson Heights @ Kabab King

Chocolate cream puff @ Choux Factory

Lasagna sampler @ Tommy Lasgna

Skirt steak @ Calle Ocho

Uni bruschetta @ Jaleo in DC

Homemade whole wheat banana + strawberry muffin sans sugar! 

May Day 2013

Flickr photo from The Eyes of New York

Happy May Day or International Workers' Day! In case you don't know about how the day came to be, here's a brief description from Wikipedia:

"International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at them. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators." - Wikipedia

About 8 million of 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are workers who are susceptible to exploitation, which is why immigrant and labour rights groups marched together today in New York. May Day is recognized and celebrated worldwide in over 80 countries. There were marches, rallies, and demonstrations all over the world today to demand basic rights that all humans deserve.

I stand in solidarity with both immigrant and workers' rights movements on this day, but also, in light of the recent garment factory fire in Bangladesh which has claimed over 400 lives, I'm also sending good thoughts to the families of those who have lost their loved ones.

Just Because IV

Belated Badge Post

activist badge

This is kind of belated, but I wrote a blog entry last month for the Hive Learning Network NYC's blog that recapped my work in Global Kids Online Leadership Program with digital badging. Since it does a pretty thorough job of covering a project that I spent a lot of time and energy on for over a year, I thought I would cross-link it here. Read the full post.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend this year's Digital Media & Learning Conference, but I've been following some of the ideas and discussions coming from it, as well as those around badging. 

digital advocacy badge

For example, the Mozilla Foundation and Peer 2 Peer University co-authored An Open Badge System Framework: A foundational piece on assessment and badges for open, information and social learning environments. This is definitely a must-read for anyone involved with digital badging. There's also Cathy Davidson's piece Why We Need Badges Now.

To read more about the innovative ways that digital badges are being used by educational institutions to motivate and assess young people, follow Hive NYC's blog.