Merry Christmas, Y'all!

'Twas the day after Christmas, and on the internet...just kidding, I went shopping today after having a very enjoyable Christmas Eve and Christmas.  I was so hungry, that I legitimately forgot to take pictures.  In addition, it'd be strange to do with my surrogate grandfather and uncle there.  So I took some selfies and a picture of my gifts.

Shirt: Azul, Skirt: Silence & Noise

Look at me, I did my makeup.  You can't tell though because bangs. Collar: American Eagle

Top Row: Sweater, Free People; Sweatshirt, Abercrombie & Fitch; bath & body stuff; pants, Free People (navy); sweat pants, Abercrombie & Fitch (red)
Middle Row: ASUS laptop; pumps
Bottom Row: slippers, Macy's; sweater, Anthropologie; polka dot shirt, BDG; blazer, H&M

I love all the gifts I received, but my favorite has to be the computer.  It is so beautifully efficient and I am actually a big fan of Windows 8.  I am typing on it right now!  Part of the package I wanted to give myself was an updated iPod, with songs I never listen to deleted and new music downloaded.  It is just the way I want it and I could not be happier.

For food, I eat the same dishes for Christmas every year.  In Polish tradition, fish is eaten for dinner on Christmas Eve, Wigilia, when most of the immediate family gather.  We had four different types of herring, a broiled lake fish, barszcz, pierogi, vegetarian bigos, eel, and smoked salmon.  In some houses, they make as many as 12 different fish dishes, but we don't have the space or means to.  I got to enjoy some South African white wine with my eel, bigos, and fish; the meal was delicious and gluten-free.  The whole pescatarian Christmas feast stems from Catholic religious tradition, where eating meat is undesirable on the eve's of major holidays.  In my family, we always offer coffee and tea with the desserts platter.  For me, there was my mother's flourless cheesecake and we also bought chocolate mousse cake from Eataly, this Italian masterpiece of a grocery store.

Then Christmas day, my aunt came over for some roast ham, potatoes, South African red wine, meat bigos, and leftover smoked salmon.  It was a pretty relaxed day.  I hope you guys had relaxing Christmases/holidays as well!

Keep it yummy,
Jo

I Eat Meat Sometimes

The glorious thing about living in a city where there is literally some form of a grocery store on every corner is wonderful because if you are lacking an ingredient, then you can easily get it.  The downside?  No one buys food in advance.  So, for dinner Friday night while my parents shopped for food in Greenpoint to prepare for Christmas Eve, I had to run to the grocery store to get myself a meat product.  It was pretty weird buying only one thing, but I already have my staple foods at home: quinoa, rice, green beans, colored peppers, and leafy greens.  The meat product I chose: lamb.

Seared lamb chops, sauteed string beans, kale, and pepper, boiled quinoa stir-fried with soy sauce.

To me, the most delicious gluten-free meals are the ones that do not replace foods with substitutes.  My mother thought that this plate had too much food on it, but most of it was green and, using little oil, could be healthy.  Also, the more colors, the more nutrition you're getting and who doesn't love that?

Since this plate had so many different colors on it, I wore a single-pallet outfit to balance it out.  I love gray, white, and black, so I combined all the colors.  Matt suggested I buy these particular jeans because he thinks my legs look good in them and the design is pretty cool.  I have to agree with him.

Hat: Pins and  Needles, Coat: COOPERATIVE, Jeans: BDG, and Boots: Minnetonka

I think Matt is getting pretty good at taking pictures of me.

Since Christmas is just two days away, I want to wish you all a merry, delicious, and stylish Christmas!  Happy eating and spending time with friends and family!

My Christmas tree!

Keep it yummy, 

Jo

BACK TO BLOGGING (Finals and Fall Semester are Over YAY)

Hey everyone!  Sorry for the brief hiatus.  I really wanted to focus during finals and finish strong.  I was cooking!  Just not documenting anything (to be frank, I was wearing sports bras, sweaters, and yoga pants.  Every day).  But now I'm back to blogging every Wednesday and Sunday.  So get excited!

Today (tomorrow), it is mine and Matt's third month.  Yes, we are that corny.  So we went out to Le Pain Quotidien.  It used to be one of my favorite bread shops, back when I could eat bread.  Now they have spelt bread, which does not give me any problems, so I gladly eat that.  I got a little dolled up for the brunch, but first I'll talk about what I ate.

Of course, I start off with coffee. Nail polish (urban outfitters).

LOOK AT HOW FANCY THIS IS.

Three mustards on the side with a gruyere, ham, and spelt tartine.

I haven't eaten a sandwich in a while, so this was a very fine choice.  Spelt is super close to actual wheat, without the after-taste.  I had non-gluten-free toast once and it had this terrible after-taste that I could not stand.

Now about fashion!  Matt usually wears his Acacia hoodie with jeans, so I suggested he branch out a bit.  So he got two sweaters yesterday and I died from how handsome he is.

He got a haircut and he's wearing a sweater.  It's crazy and he's so cute.

Like I said, I decided to get dolled up.  Because we were going on a date, so I straightened my hair, did some makeup and wore a skirt.  I like that the skirt went with the greenery in the sandwich.  Kind of.  I clearly like my winter wear dark like my coffee.

No idea what I'm doing.  Skirt (urban outfitters), sweater (gap, thrifted), necklace (urban outfitters), hat (handmade), boots (Minnetonka)

That was my first brunch in the city during break.  Good luck to everyone still taking finals and whatnot.

Keep it yummy,
Jo

Burrito Bowl-Pies

I experimented in making my own recipe last week and here is the product.  I bring to you Burrito Bowl-Pies!  They have all the filling-goodness of a pie and the holding capacity of a bowl.  And you can eat the bowl as part of your dinner.  How cool is that?

The finished product with a glass water splashed with lemon juice.

Ingredients:

• 5 tortillas (corn because wheat sucks)
• 1/2 diced onion
• 1/2 teaspoon of Old El Paso taco mix
• 1 chicken breast for the whole diner
• 1/4 cup of rice (uncooked)
• 2 teaspoons of La Preferida refried black beans per tortilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of cilantro paste per tortilla
• 1 teaspoon of Goya pico de gallo per tortilla
• Pinch of Mexican cheese blend per tortilla

All the ingredients.  Except the garlic paste; I never wound up using it.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cook the rice before you do anything else.  Caramelize the onion on a pan with olive oil.  Then "bread" the chicken with Old El Paso taco mix and pan-fry until half-done after you have removed the onions.

Your "breaded" chicken.

Cut a tortilla and wrap it into a muffin tin.

Cut...

...and wrap

 Add one teaspoon of rice for each tortilla.  Add a few chicken strips and onions.  Then cover in 1 teaspoon of refried black beans.  On top of that, put the cilantro paste and the pico de gallo.  Top with cheese.  Place in the oven for 15 minutes.  The tortillas should be ready to go become friends with your taste buds and tummy.

Before the oven.

Continuing with the spirit of experimentation (no, not that kind), I decided to give myself bangs and dress cooler and edgier.  Since this dish involved many layers working together to create something wonderful, this outfit reflects that spirit perfectly.

Hat: ASOS, Sweater: Free People, Necklace: Anne Taylor LOFT, studded cuff, Jeans: BDG

I'm also practicing taking pictures of my outfits and looking awesome while doing it.  Let me know on my Lookbook or comment on how I'm doing!

Keep it yummy,
Jo

A Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Since I had no way of uploading pictures to my computer back home, this post is several days late.  But I was pretty excited to hear that my cousin would be accommodating and make all this gluten-free stuffing that she and I can eat for the Turkey Feast.  I just loved that my family took such good care of everything and it's exciting to know that marketplaces and restaurants have gluten-free options for those of us who want traditional foods, but cannot eat them.

Clockwise: Corn bread stuffing, corn pudding, sweet potatoes, wild rice stuffing, turkey.

Everything was so delicious!  I'll be totally honest, I could not enjoy the meal as much as I wanted to because of the allergy medication I took that morning because my cousin has a dog in the house.  Being drowsy does not make me very hungry.

Gluten-free pumpkin pie.  YUM!

I like to dress up for family occasions.  I could have worn something fall-themed, but decided not to.  I just wanted to look nice for spending time with my family.

Tobi dress, lace tights, Bonanza shoes from Steve Madden

Keep it yummy,
Jo

Stuffed Squash

Squash had not been a food commonly consumed in my house in NYC.  The only time I really ate pumpkins was in pie at Thanksgiving and that was about it.  Through the C.S.A. weekly box of vegetables, though, we received an acorn squash.  I had never seen one before and Andrew and Andrea were fans of roasting them and/or putting stuff in them.  So, I decided to use the "and" function.

Finished product!  Acorn squash stuffed with rice, scallions, carrots, colored bell peppers, and topped with Parmesan cheese

I wasn't expecting it to be so sweet on the inside, I was pretty proud of myself for preemptively adding spices like curry powder and turmeric to the rice to add some kick to the meal.  I admittedly added red pepper flakes which are quickly becoming my favorite flavoring.

With this meal, I would try to pair it with like colors.  I usually dislike yellow, but I have this one tank top from Free People that is to die for. I have a similar skirt that's corduroy with buttons from Forever21 and a BDG olive-green cardigan to match the colors of the squash skin and the scallions. I usually wear my Minnetonka moccasins as comfort-shoes, but sadly, I will have to retire them soon.  I'll probably just replace them with a similar pair from the same brand.

Keep it yummy,
Jo

Cupcake Bouquet

Sorry about being a butt and not posting on Sunday!  I'm feeling somewhat better, but I'm really just using my blog as stress.

Anyway, I saw this post on Tumblr and was absolutely inspired.  I really wanted to do this one day, but did not have the resources.  On the day celebrating our first month together, Matt and I decided that we wanted to get crafty.  So we went to A.C. Moore, and later Wegmans, to acquire supplies with which to make a Cupcake Bouquet.  I also really wanted to make cupcakes anyway, but he took it the extra step.

Gluten-free chocolate cake mix.  More on this later.

Milk, eggs, butter, and cake mix.

Matt adding the mix to the dry ingredients.

No blog entry is complete without a picture of me eating something.  H&M beanie, AE blue tank top, pink ring that I got from Tobi

Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES.

The cupcakes were delightful.  The cake mix had the prefect consistently.  Though, I will be honest, baking non-vegan was different for me.  I hadn't done it in a while, but thank God that this mix was so easy to use, because I would not have been able to figure out how to use eggs.  Then again, that was Matt's problem, since he was doing most of the baking.

We also bought a fancy pastry bag with tips in order to the frosting on artfully.  Matt is pretty boss at frosting, but unfortunately, we were completely winging the recipe and it got really runny and, after adding more confectioner's sugar, super tough.  You can't have all the nice things, can you?

Here we have the Matt in his natural habitat of frosting.

Close enough.  But the wrappers are cute.

Finished product and I look so happy.

Unfortunately, I got a phone call from Wegman's indicating soy lecithin in the cake mix that was not previously listed as an ingredient.  Excuse me while we bury yet another fantastic product on the long list of things I can't eat.  Lovely.

Keep it yummy,
Jo

Late Night Tom-Foodery: Chocolate Almond Spread

Happy Halloween, everyone!

My parents came up to visit on Sunday and, prior to visiting, they usually ask for a list of groceries or foodstuffs that I want.  Unfortunately, my life sucks, and most spreads have soy lecithin as an emulsifier (I will do a post next week on a chocolate cake mix that unfortunately got recalled because of the presence of soy lecithin that wasn't previously labeled.  Boo).  Since these products have more than 2% soy lecithin per volume, my parents did not want to risk buying it and making me sick.  So, I had to come up with something new.

The lovely Nicole Hunn at Gluten-Free on a Shoestring provided a recipe for bittersweet chocolate almond spread.  It seemed so easy, I just HAD to try it.  Being that I am a broke-ass college student, I had to modify the recipe a bit.  And by a bit, I mean, I just used cocoa powder and a blender because the food processor might as well had been created by this little pony:

Not just muffins, but also food processors. (Source: My Little  Brony Wikia)

The should-probably-start-paying-rent-at-my-house-but-not-really-because-he's-adorable Matt came over to do some studying and what better study-break than making yummy food that can easily be spread on toast.

Ingredients (clockwise): Raw almonds, canola oil, powdered sugar, Hershey's cocao

Toasted almonds.  YUM!

Me chopping up some almonds because the food processor is made by Derpy.

 Given the fact that we were late-night cooking, glamour was not something I really focused on.  Hence why I am in a tee shirt I got at my neighbor's art show, American Eagle pajama pants, and my hair is all disheveled.  I guess I could be one of those girls who dresses like a princess before bed, but to me that is just silly.

Blend, my almonds, BLEEEENNNNDDDDDD.

All the other ingredients added and then you wait for it to become paste.

My boyfriend being cute and mixing.  He's in his pink IFC shirt.

SPEAKING OF TOAST, my parents also bought me spelt bread to try.  According to BabyCakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery, spelt is a product that for some indiscernible reason is totally fine for people like me to consume, so I decided to give this bread a whirl.

On the left, we have the spelt bread.  On the right, we have regular white toast.   Both have been through the toaster.

Though soy flour and soy lecithin are present, it falls towards the end of the "less than two percent of the following" category of the ingredients list, and my allergy has never been that strong, so I have been eating it and so far so good.

More horrendously attractive pictures of me eating things.

So that's my foray into home-made nut butters.  Also, since it is Halloween, here is a picture of me and Matt in our couple's costume.  Enjoy!

Matt's Little Red Riding Hood and I'm the Big Bad (Were)Wolf.  I'm wearing a SpiritHood, my ripped white shirt, and Lululemon sports bra. Glamour life.

Keep it yummy (and spooky!),
Jo

P.S.: I am going to try to post something every Wednesday and Sunday.  I usually don't have much work those days and have made something at some point by then.

Bonne Journee, Montreal

The second day in Montreal was filled with walking, brunching, comfort-fooding, and pastry-eating.  I actually tried to dress myself and looked adorable in front of a stone house adjacent to a quad-park at McGill University.

Beanie from ASOS, vest from H&M, top from Banana Republic, BDG  jeans, Minnetonka booties, Ecote handbag, and the studded cuff I always wear.

We then ate at a kitschy little bistro that featured many French children's comics.  I ordered savory, buckwheat crepes and they were to die for.  Where else to get good crepes than in a province in a country that has French-speakers?

Me eating an egg, cheese, ham, and onion crepe with a side of coffee.

And then Jil, Katharine, and I wandered around the old quarter for several hours, taking pictures of random shops we found and being silly.  One of the foods I definitely wanted to eat while in Montreal was poutine (which I consistently mispronounced to say something else).  We found it at a hole-in-the-wall drunchy place, but Jil and Katharine decided to eat some eclairs and drink cappucinos while I tasted the poutine in this lovely establishment named ChocoMacaMousse.  It had some of the cutest decor and the eclairs were too good.  I actually enjoyed the poutine, but I could definitely go my entire life without eating it again.

Display case at ChocoMacaMousse

Me eating the poutine.  Sad part of it, is that it was gluten-free (even the gravy)

Then our foodie adventuring led us to a Polish restaurant, which left me a very happy Polak.  Jil had never had Polish food before in her life, so this opportunity was excellent for introducing her to some of my favorite dishes.  We got borscht and I got my favorite food: golabki.  She got fried kluski with meat (which is not gluten-free...yet!).
y 

Golabki: cabbage, rice, meat, and onions.  Side of mashed potatoes and tons of veggies.

And then we went out with a bang, drinking absinthe, to a Crystal Castles gig at this awesome venue called the Metropolis.  It was seriously a good show and a great way to end our trip.  We wearily rode back to America the next day.  I had a wonderful time in Canada for the weekend and I seriously want to go back there forever.

Keep it yummy,
Jo

Bonjour, Montreal!

Taken from: BRFC

Sorry I've been MIA for the passed few weeks.  This school year has been hella busy and I honestly can barely find the time think and breathe for a moment (I was taking 7 classes and 6 of them had something due in one week, for example).  But I am back to blogging (I hope)!  During a long weekend we had at school, instead of going back to my first love, New York City, I went to a new place: Montreal, Quebec.  For some completely, previously uninformed reason, I had been a lover of all things Canadian (except for Beiber and Nickleback, but we can ignore those), so I was majorly excited to see everything that Montreal had to offer me for three days.

The weather was a factor that my friends and I completely forgot to prepare for.  I just brought clothes that worked for me during the mild fall temperatures of Ithaca, NY, not realizing that Canada had actually been located some...oh, I don't know...4 to 5 hours North-ward.  As you can imagine, this caused problems.  But I still managed to layer and dress adorably while eating some of the best food ever.

The first night, I did not take an outfit photo, but we went to this lovely sushi place called Ginger.  We found it completely by accident, too, which was fine, considering everything was amazing.

Our lovely sushi plate.

Lychee sour.  Best cocktail ever.

Given the fact that all we did was explore the neighborhood we stayed in.  For dessert, we found this beautiful pastry shop called Juliette + Chocolat, which had the best brownies ever.  Has a brownie ever melted in your lips like chocolate does?  Nope, not until you've had these.  They also had a gluten-free option, which made my heart sing.

My lovely friend Katharine sitting under the sign.

Mine is the one closest to the front.  But it was so good!

The breakfast I got here two days later.  Peanut butter, banana, milk chocolate on a gluten-free crepe with a double espresso machiatto.

For clothing, I wore a leather vest from H&M, a white shirt with a blue cat on it with the words "Casse Toi" from Urban Outfitters, BDG black skinnies, Minnetonka moccasins, and my grey snood. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but after 7 hours of traveling, taking pics is the last thing you want to do.

And since this entry is so long and involved, I will write it in installments.  Part two (day two) will come out sometime before Friday (maybe even ON Friday, who knows).

Keep it yummy,
Jo