Day date - food trucks

I haven't been venturing to new food sites lately, so MOH and I decided to go on a "day date" out to some food trucks that we've been eyeballing for some time. 

I love food trucks. They run rampant all over cities (there are a ton in Southern California), often tucked behind an obscure street or apartment complex, and each truck is special in its own way. Some trucks specialize only in garlic infused delights (Garlicscapes - stinky goodness but worth the bad breath, trust me), vegetarian/vegan treats (Seabirds - now a restaurant due to high popularity!), solely crepes (Crepes Bonaparte, MOH goes crazy whenever we see them at the Farmer's Market), or even Korean/Mexican cuisine (KogiBBQ - tofu burrito and calamari tacos are to DIE FOR). They combine my love for good food, quick eats, and huge creativity. You get some imaginative eats that tickle your taste buds.

This weekend, we ventured to a hotdog inspired truck (Dogzilla) and a sliders specialty truck (the Burnt Truck). 

We first started our meal with some delicious hot dogs. Dogzilla is a hot dog fusion food truck that flips the hot paradigm on its side with crazy toppings. You can find an assortment of condiments decorating each hot dog, ranging from a sunny side up egg, pizza cheese, or even Japanese seasoning furikake. I ordered the veggie Yaki Dog - a tofu based hot dog topped with yakisoba noodles (noodles, bean sprouts, cabbage, green onions), okonomi sauce, ao nori, and red ginger (bottom left). MOH got the original Dogzilla, which is a hot dog with the "traditional" Dogzilla toppings: grilled onions, avocado, Japanese mayo, homemade teriyaki sauce, furikake, and bacon bits. Served on King's Hawaiian roll buns (bottom right). The hot dogs were delicious - piping hot with just the right amount of heat, and over a sweet Hawaiian bun. I think that this place really excels in the toppings - their creative take on thinking outside the traditional ketchup/mustard/relish mix is so refreshing, not to mention tasty! And who can say no to delicious garlic fries! 

But who can say no to gourmet sliders? The Burnt Truck boasts as the first OC food truck that specializes in gourmet sliders. Run by three classically trained chefs, the Burnt Truck features a select few of classic sliders ranging from vegetarian (mozzarella), fried chicken, meatball, etc (note: their menu rotates between different types) . But the one slider that really stood out for me was their PB&J. PB&J as in peanut butter and jelly. As soon as I saw that, I knew we had to try it... and tater tots. Just because MOH and I go crazy for potato-goodness (even if we ordered fries from Dogzilla).

The slider was absolutely amazing. Very rich, but not bad for the rare splurge. With fresh bananas, homemade butter (I want to say peanuts and almonds?), and blueberry jam, this slider appeals to everyone's inner kid. Eating it brought me back to when I was a kid eating PB&Js. And the tater tots? So simple, yet it was the first thing that we finished eating before anything. 

Great meal to end a weekend-venture.

Till next time, happy eating everyone!

Baking on a Saturday - banana-date bread

I love to eat bananas. Bananas are so great as a snack alone, topped on plain greek yogurt, munched on with a guilty scoop of peanut butter, or dipped in chocolate. But sometimes, bananas slip through the cracks. They get brown, ugly and super mushy. We don't do it on purpose, really. I try to time the bananas so I can eat the bananas prior to ripening - I try to choose varying shades of green-to-light yellow bananas to try to plan out banana eating throughout the week. But we can't help it - sometimes a banana will go ripe and brown under our watch.

What to do with ripened bananas? MOH and I like to use ripened bananas as the "butter" component of our baked desserts.

This week, I tried making a banana-date bread with no sugar (aside from sugar in the fruits, that is).

The results were great! I tried to explore the no-sugar route as an homage to my middle sister, who has enjoyed health improvements after axing sugar from her diet.

This recipe is simple and easy to do. In my sloppiness, I eyeballed the ingredients at times and everything worked out in the end!

This bread isn't overly sweet at all, as the only sources of sugar are from the bananas, dates, and blueberries. There's also a slight crunch due to walnuts.

Feel free to modify as you see fit! I'm thinking figs would be great here too.

Ingredients - makes enough for a bread loaf (modified from the following recipe):
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of all purpose gluten free flour
- 1 cup of dried dates (roughly 6-7 Medjool dates) soaked in hot water until softened
- 2 ripened bananas
- 4 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract (or a squirt)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/4 cup of walnuts
- 1/3 cup of blueberries

Bread ingredients are extremely flexible - interested in more fruits? Try adding in other berries

Protocol:
1. Soak dates in hot water until softened - preheat oven to 350 degree F
2. Mash dates and bananas together until smooth mix (can use blender too if you prefer)
3. Mix eggs and coconut oil together until blended
4. Mix in flour, vanilla extract, salt, baking soda, and baking powder
5. Mix in dates/bananas to dry mix
6. Add in dry mixture with coconut oil and eggs
7. When everything mixed well, fold in blueberries and walnuts
8. Pour mix into loaf pan and bake 50 minutes in oven
9. Take out when done, and bread can be eaten right away!

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday! I finished my last class EVER for graduate school, so I'm experiencing my first weekend without any thoughts of advancement, finals, quizzes, homework! Until next time, happy eating all!

Multi-regional appreciation of music in the brain

Appreciating music is such a universal thing. Whether it's playing one of your favorite guitar covers or serendipitously hearing your favorite song on the radio, music provides both a pleasurable and memorable experience. Think back on remembering your first school dance, your wedding song, or a song that your parents sang to you as a child.

 MOH back in the day playing the Ranard, a Thai xylophone instrument

What's going on in your brain though? Music has been shown to affect several different regions in your brain (see image below), ranging from music production (involving the motor pathway), to listening and following different beats and tones (auditory-limbic and acoustic activated vestibular pathway), and the appreciation of an amazing musical score (visceromotor system). There are quite a few brain regions in the image below, but the main idea is to just consider how many areas are turned on when you're doing something music oriented.

Different pathways involved in music processing (Koelsch, 2014)

While several different brain regions are at play during music processing, the appreciation of music is centered around four main brain regions (reviewed by Koelsch, 2014):

Amygdala (AMYG in the drawing above): the "emotional" area of the brain that reacts differently depending on the mood or tone of music.

Nucleus accumbens (NAc): also activated in response to emotional arousal when listening to music and functionally connected to the auditory region of the cortex after music listening. Ever get the "chills" when you hear a really great vocalist (like Adele)? This brain region is activated when you experience the chills, or are anticipating it. 

Hippocampus: a brain region important for memory formation. Unlike the other mentioned regions, which are activated during other "pleasurable" experiences like food intake, reward drugs, or money, the hippocampus is the only region that is activated by music pleasure. This region is activated following hearing music of varying emotions, and is also important for memory of playing music.

Getting lost in the music (photo courtesy of Jolove55)

Striatum: most recently shown to be related to having more dopamine available after hearing music (dopamine is a major hormone that affects mood and is heavily involved in reward-related behavior). This finding points to why music is so pleasurable.

While this post talks about how the brain is activated following music exposure, it's worth noting that other forms of art probably benefit similar brain regions and potentially release "good vibes" as well. If music isn't your thing, try other avenues of artistic expression (dance, painting, etc.)!

Until next time, happy eating all! Oh, stay tuned next week for a new recipe. I'm debating on trying to make pumpkin banana muffins, or quinoa "meat balls" pasta!

References:
Koelsch, Stefan. Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2014 Mar (15(3): 170-180.

Musings on a Monday

Ever wish you could just transform into a bird and fly towards the horizon?

I have an examination this week, so I apologize for the brief post!

Until next time, happy eating all!

Milky bun delight!

***Anyone viewing this before 10:40 (May 18th): sorry for the glitch! Was making changes to layout and accidentally made text white!


As a treat for the hot weekends that have been happening lately, ice cream seems like a great treat!

MOH and I went to a great place to get ice cream, Afters, and it was a great treat! A cute little shop in Fountain Valley, this place serves up ice cream inside a milky bun. AMAZING. The milky bun is this sticky, sweet, gooey goodness that has ice cream of your choice (cookie monster flavor is a must for first-timers) squished inside. The results? Crispy, warm bun with cold, ice cream inside. Perfect treat for a hot summer's day! If you're ever a fan of donuts, milky buns, ice cream, or cold goodness, this treat provides the best sugar rush!

In other news, I recently got myself a watercolor paint set and have been dabbling in watercolors. It's more focused than pastels (at least in my experience), but equally fun in its own way!

The weather has gotten better (last week was a scorcher), so MOH and I have been taking more walks during the weekend. There's a great trail within walking distance that leads to a pasture/canyon, so we often go that route. Here's a little visitor we found along the path that MOH was quick to photograph.

I wish I looked that introspective.. or that cute.

These recent blot posts have been short, but I promise to get more content out in June!

Until next time, happy eating all!

Happy Mother's Day - soup in honor of Mom

It's Mother's Day and what better way to honor my mother than to make soup?

As a child, and even now, my mom's go-to dish that was a must for every dinner was soup. It would be different types of soup, depending on either her mood or the seasonal selection. No matter what the ingredients, my mom's soup was always a welcome sight on any day. If it was warm, cooled opo soup would accompany fried fish.

If it was a cold, wintry day, you could expect to see sup mang cua (crab asparagus soup). Delicious in every way, you could practically feel the love with every spoonful. Whenever I make soup, I think of my mom.

What better soup to honor mom than lentil soup? Lentils? It may seem like a stretch, especially since lentil soup is something foreign in Vietnamese cuisine. This soup however, is incredibly hearty, healthy, and made with love - something my mother's soup always embody!

Lentils are part of the legume family, and are grains that are high in protein and fiber. Cooking lentils is really simple - just soak the lentils in water, remove off any debris and particles, and boil for ~40 minutes. They are extremely hearty and are used often in curries, stews, or in stir fries.

To make this soup, it is extremely flexible - if you don't like certain ingredients, or want more vegetables, modify as you choose. I prefer my soups to be on the chunkier side, so I like having lots of veggies in my soup!

Lentil soup (modified from Allrecipes):

Ingredients:
- Seasoning
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp 21 seasoning salute (Trader Joes)
1/2 tbsp oregano
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1/4 cup of olive oil

1 potato, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup of corn
1 cup red lentils, soaked for 20 minutes
6 cups of water
1 tbsp tomato paste

Protocol:
1. In a soup pot, warm olive oil
2. Add seasoning ingredients (everything from celery to garlic) and cook until onions have sweated (look translucent)
3. Add in bay leaves, additional seasoning, potato, corn, and lentils - stir around for a minute
4. Add in water and tomato paste and bring to a boil - once boiling, simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring ocassionally
5. Once lentils cooked through (taste test if unsure), taste test and add additional salt if needed.

Hope everyone is having a great Mother's Day! Happy eating all!

Free comic book day ramblings: Locke and Key - a must read for horror fans

Happy Free Comic Book Day weekend! Free comic book day happens the first week of May and really opens up the community to the joys of comics. Comic book stores usually carry popular comics on hand that are free to the public. 

Maybe you only read comics as a kid. Maybe you just got into comics recently. Or maybe you read them as a kid AND still do now. No matter the reason, no one can deny that comics capture this untapped imagination and limitless wonder in everyone. With the growing genre, there's almost a comic for everyone out there. Whether it's superheroes, ghouls, vampires, mad scientists,  ice kings, or zombies, you are sure to find something you'll enjoy. 

I recently finished the Sandman series and have been trying to find new reads to get into.  MOH showed me some comics to look into reading, but really emphasized Locke and Key because of the horror aspect. Locke and Key is a horror suspense comic about three kids (older brother, sister, and little brother) who venture around a mysterious house in search of keys that have the potential to unlock different dimensions. All the while, these kids are racing against an evil spirit that is also looking for the same keys. I put off Locke and Key for some time, but two weeks ago, I went to WonderCon and got to meet the artist for the comic.

The comic is written by Joe Hill, a writer who specializes in drama and horror, and the artist is Gabriel Rodriguez. These two are such a great combination. We got the first book, read it, and were instantly hooked. There's something very eerie about this book, and it has its fair share of horror, drama, adventure, and mystery all infused with some really good art. I cannot emphasize how good the art is - so detailed and at times, eerie. 

While the series itself is pretty short (6 tradebacks in total), do not be thrown off by the length - Locke and Key can more than hold its own as a very thrilling, quick-paced series that will make you zoom through the books. If you're a fan of horror or supernatural, I would highly recommend this series!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Until next time, happy eating.