A Holiday Miracle!

Hello everyone! It's been quite a while, hasn't it? For some reason, I have decided to make a post after such a very long time. Oh my dear Savor and Just, I miss them so!  Missed them so much I just had to do something that reminded me of them!

Haha so enough of the comeback talk. Let's get onto the food.

It would be safe to assume many people have tried Greek cuisine correct? Being so famous for their gyros and saganaki (flaming cheese). However, have you ever had Greek cuisine for Thanksgiving?

...me neither. So this was a great time to do it!

This Thanksgiving was a very strange one for me indeed. It was the first time I did not get to spend it with my immediate family since I am currently in good ol' Orlando doing an internship at Disney World. (Yes, it really has been a while and I have not updated you. I work for the Big Mouse, yes I do!)

For this holiday time, I spent it with the family I have made at work. I have met some great people and it was fate that brought us back to the restaurant that I work at for dinner. My home at Disney would be Kouzzina by Cat Cora. Yes, the famous female Iron Chef's restaurant! The food is amazing and well, of course during Thanksgiving they did not disappoint.

This was the Thanksgiving special that they offered. Filled with Turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet and regular mashed potatoes with brown butter brussels sprouts and stuffing! Of course I had to get the Disney signature lemonade with foam on the side. It topped it off well.  

The holiday dessert on the menu featured a pecan and cranberry tart topped with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin seed brittle. Honestly one of the best desserts I have tasted. I'm not usually a cranberry fan but the fresh ones in this dessert were really delicious. The ice cream was also delectable. It was hard not to say no even though I was ready to roll out of the restaurant! 

It was great spending time with the family that I have here and eating good food. Thanksgiving was a weird one for me this year but I cannot say it wasn't enjoyable. I remain grateful for everyone around me and although I've got some of the holiday blues from not seeing my family, I know that they will still always be there for me. 

This blue chick will be back again to write, hopefully. 

Hope everyone had a warm and bright Thanksgiving followed by some sweet Black Friday winnings. 

Happy Holidays! 

Love always, 

Venture 

The Beauty of Food

Dunkin Doughnuts Blueberry Coffee. -- I have drank this every other day for the past week....well okay, practically. Help! I'm addicted and I can't stop. The taste though is starting to get to me and well, I can say that I'm glad for that...no more of this DDBlueberryphase, please!

So I have been eating out a lot lately... I really can't help it with all these great restaurants in Chicago. I wanted to note a small find of mine while with my friends this past week. Especially for my DePaul Loop campus/business majors, you should check this one out : ) -

The place I speak of is Boni Vino, located right on Vanburen at the intersection of Vanburen and Clark. Boni Vino specializes in Italian cuisine...this time though, I decided to stray away from pizza as I was not quite in a pizza mood; I tried out the Deluxe Boni Vino Famous Steak Sandwich Special- Steak, melted provolone & grilled onions on garlic bread. Simple as that. It really did satisfy my mood for a "just enough" meal. The steak was cooked so that when you bite into it, it is not too chewy/dry/rough but comes off together WITH the cheese, bread, and onions... mm... I approve. The meal comes with fries which are pretty standard. My rating: 8/10.

So often times, I look at Food Gawker- for inspiration and to put me in a good mood. People often say that I take a lot pictures of food...I won't lie, I do(!)- yet honestly, behind the drooling and "nom noms", my reasoning for doing so is because I believe that food is an art. I believe that when one takes pictures of food before eating, you suddenly start to realize how much more you appreciate food...your food, your dish. It's admirable how chefs and cooks are able to plate their dishes with the ability to enhance the meal experience for their guests. This brings me to sharing with you some of my own food pictures that I took a few days ago:

...so, what do you think? Am I suited for professional food photography? Ha ha ha.. kidding, kidding.

The same day I experimented making my own Strawberry Shortcake (real simple!)

Here's a hint at the ingredients I used for this simple recipe:

Premade dessert cakes, Cool Whip, strawberries, and lime. In the past week, I have had a sudden craving to make angel food cake. When I got to the grocery store however, I thought, why don't I make some mini "angel food cakes?" and better yet! I can put my own twists on it by having many smaller versions. Not to mention that it saves a lot of time. Here is the premade dessert cakes that I bought packaged. They were less than $2 for a pack.

For this recipe, you will use two shells per serving. One for the bottom and the top. The best thing about these cakes are the slight room left for holding the filling. There is a total of three layers. The first will be placed within the cake shells.

Squeeze out roughly three tablespoons (I eyeballed it) of Cool Whip. Using a grater, grate three to four strawberries into the Cool Whip. Mix semi-well. Make sure that it has a foam consistency and is not watery. If it does become watery, simple add more cool whip and strawberries as desired. The filling should be light pink. Now for the first twist- using half a lime, squeeze-oh so slightly-some lime into the filling. Place the completed filling into the shells followed by a layer of cool whip (your second layer):

Afterwards, slice thinly one to two small strawberries (your third layer) and arrange as such:

Place the second shell on top and fill with Cool Whip. I used the top of the strawberry to complete the dessert. I think it looks better this way : ]

The end result:

Later that night, I also tried out a second twist to this dessert. Instead of using lime, I used the grater to grate peaches into the Cool Whip/strawberry filling. This turned out to be equally as good! Another idea would be to add sugar into the filling for an extra sugary kick. This is a very easy recipe to try out with premade ingredients. Try to make your own twist ;)

Until next time... Eat more, experiment more, and don't forget to ENJOY (even during experimenting, see pic below) ~~ ha ha~

Until next time,

Savor~

A Twist On A Twist

A mini venture this time. Not quite as exotic as the last but still delicious!

Today I'm packing for New York but a snack is a must when you're packing...well, for me it is! Haha.

My mom brought home some twisted biscuits (called "banh no" in Vietnamese) that she bought from Tai Nam Market in Argyle.


Though I like the biscuits, they're a little dry for my taste so I decided to add one of my favorite toppings: condensed milk.


The biscuits have a lightly sweet taste but the condensed milk adds a little more of a kick. The milk will drip and there will be a thinner layer of it on each biscuit. The picture shows how it would look before it drips.


Now that's what I call a treat. (Though if you have less of a sweet tooth than me, go light on the condensed milk) Bon apetit!