I literally have posted this picture after taking my first delectable, foamy chocolate sip of this latte. :)
I came to Ugly Mug Cafe once again, this time to fulfill my last-minute studying for my art history final that is taking place about 5 hours from now...I could have studied a bunch yesterday since I had no class, but due to my utter and complete exhaustion from the flash mob that was on Sunday in the downtown area (since we did intense practicing for hours and performed the mob on the same day...in 80 degree weather), I needed to rest instead of reading about art work. So here I am, more energized and motivated as I should be, while hearing the lovely echoes of a Bossa Nova song throughout the cafe, as I am ready to crack open that book you see in the upper part of the photo. ;) Wish me luck! ~~MC
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6/4/2011 0 Comments An Omelette-Filled DayTwo days ago, I came home after another long (fun, but long) day on campus, feeling like my legs were on the treadmill for every second and like my stomach was begging for food after what seemed like an eternity.
...So as I greeted my dad who had just come home from work and was eating a meal of his own, one of the first things I said was asking him if he could make me a cheese omelette. And my dad, being the adorable health freak and natural cook that he is, asked me repeatedly if I was sure I didn't want any colorful vegetables or spices to go with the egg; and I said no, I just want a plain folded omelette with feta cheese melted in the middle. :) And so he made me what was practically the best. omelette. ever... Maybe it was only due to my hours of starvation during the day, or maybe it was just because it had been awhile since I last sat down to enjoy a lovingly-crafted omelette made just for me--but stuffing my face with that large golden-yellow fluffiness sandwiching a sea of melting happiness took me to my calmest state of mind, physically (..by having a satisfied stomach) and mentally/spiritually (well...I just love food). I guess this blog post could have gone into the Life au Cochon page of this site, because I feel like I've typed some sort of a tribute to how wonderfully my dad was ready and happy to make me anything on the imaginary menu, as he did so after we both had an endless day at work/school :) ...but I thought that my description about the delicious egg-infested dish should belong to the page that's specifically dedicated to people who just love drooling over images of food created in their minds! ;D So maybe after you have had one of those rushed, hectic, can-I-even-last-through-this-whole-day-because-I-have-too-much-to-do days, take time to make yourself an omelette, any way you like (or ask a loved one to make one for you ;) ), and take even more time to take in all the scentful and textural pleasures that overtake the scene of a dish that's ready to be devoured and enjoyed by you. Have a lovely omelette-filled day! ~~MC 5/25/2011 0 Comments Waking Up to Pure HappinessThis morning, my mom gave my little brother and I a very early Christmas gift:
A yummy, steaming-like-warm-cozy-tea, intensely-fragrant-yet-deeply-satisfying stack of french toast for breakfast! It was infused with cinnamon and crisply golden sugar that let the smell hover about the kitchen and sneak all the way into our rooms, waking my brother and I up with the sight of pure happiness. Usually my brother and I would eat our own little meals in the morning, as they are very routine (my brother drinks a healthy shake my mom makes, as I eat cold cereal or eggs and bread)--So this morning was like a wake up call to how amazing the first meal of the day can really be! And as I ate the golden-brown, eternally-steaming french toast, I kept exclaiming how delightfully buttery they tasted, as I added in a surprised tone of voice every time my mouth opened since my parents are usually very healthy as to use olive oil in everything they cook...And my mom replied that there was in fact no butter, but just lots and lots of olive oil...Big (but nice) surprise. :) Plus the bread my mom used was whole wheat, which adds even more to the hidden healthiness of the meal. This gave me a sigh of relief, because I generally love to be healthy as I also enjoy indulging myself on something not so healthy, with the hope of not feeling guilty about it afterward. And the fact that something looking and tasting like sinful pleasure was really something to never feel guilty about--that to me was like a revelation! I could talk about these slices of french toast for a billion more paragraphs, but instead I will leave it to your imagination, to take yourself away for a moment to your own kitchen where your mother/sweetie/whoever has surprised you with a gift wrapped in syrup (or ketchup, if it's hash browns...etc. etc.) to make your day just a little bit sweeter. ;) ~~MC Today, on a beautiful warm sunny day in Seattle, I ordered a tall iced decaf latte at Parnassus. (In case you have not read one of my earlier posts for the Foods for Fantasizing page, Parnassus is the art gallery & cafe located in the basement of the Art Building on campus..Where I basically had the best latte ever.)
It took me back to that time I had the hot version of the latte last winter, where after the very first sip I began to hallucinate Johnny Depp standing right in front of me (I didn't really hallucinate..I'm sort of exaggerating..But that's hot amazing the latte was :) P.S. If you feel tempted to read the intensely detailed account of this hallucination, feel free to read the past post under the Parnassus tag). I guess having a coffee drink at Parnassus can be just as tempting and gratifying during the lively spring season as amidst the brisk, freshly-cool air of Winter. ;) Happy Tuesday, and enjoy a latte! ~~MC 5/7/2011 2 Comments Ugly Mug.You may wonder at the title of this post, asking what it means or if I just came up with that out of complete random...
But really, it's the name of my "second home" (besides the other second homes that include bookstores and coffee shops in general!), a cafe that I never get tired of and that sits happily near UW campus. It's a very small space--yet the cozy furniture and humbling art work surrounded by the warm yellow-painted walls, the coffee drinks and meals made purely with heart, and their diverse yet soothing music make you feel like you're in your own little room... So words like "hurry" or "rush" don't exist in this cafe. :) Their coffee drinks are mostly what you may find in other cafes, but each drink has so much character to the way it looks that you'll find yourself admiring it almost too long before actually drinking it! Their meals include soups (my favorite of which is pumpkin tomato), sandwiches (Veggie Foccacia is the best!!), and even a breakfast plate where they give you eggs, an english muffin with a sweet creamy spread, and other delicate eats! And as for the drinks, I mostly order their Ovaltine Latte (sweet and rich) or their milky dreamy Earl Grey Tea Latte...Mmmmmmm. If you all of a sudden find yourself in the bustling busy street of University Ave in Seattle, achingly wondering where you can get yourself the best, coziest, warmest meal of your life, just walk in the delightful aura of Ugly Mug and you let the noise of life drain out of you. :) Happy Saturday (and Happy early Mother's Day)! ~~MC 3/6/2011 0 Comments Le Pomme au Four...Bonjour tout le monde! Je voulais justement vous montrez des photos, au sujet de ce dont j'avais parlé dans le dernier <<blog>>... Le pomme au four. :) Je me demandais, 'Quoi est meilleur que parler au sujet du pomme au four??' Et la seule réponse que j'ai eu, c'était cela: Des photos! Donc, voilà le pomme avant et après la magie... Au revoir! ~~MC 2/20/2011 1 Comment Deep PleasureHello to all the lovely "Mademoiselle (ou Monsieur) Cochons" out there,
I apologize that it's taken me quite awhile to venture myself back to this website...Things have been a bit hectic in school and such, and it's definitely made me miss writing to you. :) But anyhow, I shall dive myself into writing about one thing I had promised to write about in my previous blog... Baked apples. I may have only mentioned it in the last blog, but baked apples are so timelessly delicious that it would almost be a crime to not write about it in more succulent detail! So here it goes... Personally, I would start baking an apple when certain situations come up... ...Like if I've come home from school after a long day (which actually seems to happen every day lately, which means I'll need to buy gigantic hoards of apples in the next grocery shopping trip...) and I want nothing more or less than to bite into the warm juiciness of an apple decorated by symphonies of walnuts and sweet raisins... ...Or when it's late into the night, and the birds have gone to sleep to reserve their lively chirping for the next morning, and the world has sunk deeply into the clear night skies and beyond...And that makes me want to get lost into the pleasure of a fruit.. ...Or really, when I just feel like eating a baked apple. :) Most recipes that I looked into, before making my first baked apple, said to throw in pecans..But since I don't have pecans at home, I just use walnuts that are tasty as well. The recipe is very easy--you basically take the core out of a large-sized apple while your oven is heating to the 375 deg F temperature, after which you fill the hole with chopped walnuts/pecans, raisins, as you sprinkle the little world of sweetness with cinnamon and nutmeg. Then you finish it off with a slice of butter on top (I usually put on a thin slice because I'm a super health freak..Except for the days when I've had a hard day and would like to have some extra indulgence..); and then you let your apple sit comfortably in the warm baking oven for 35-45 min, depending on whether you would like your finished product a little tough and crunchy, or cloud-like soft and meltingly juicy (I personally like the second option, which means 45 min). And this part is too good not to mention--As the apple is baking, and probably sometime after the 20 minute mark, you start to smell what seems like a gigantic apple pie that has all of a sudden popped into your home (that might seem like a scary image to some I guess; and if it frightens you, just concentrate on how lovely your house smells now! ;) ). You find yourself entirely consumed by the smell that reminds you of home, Thanksgivings and holidays, or maybe just last weekend. It's the warm, inviting atmosphere that makes you never want to leave your home the next morning, because as soon as you wake up that morning, you'll only want to fantasize about how amazing that smell was. And the baked apple scene almost reaches the point of becoming a major distraction from whatever work you may be doing while waiting for the alarm to go off--because it makes you want to rush to the oven and eat the apple even before it's actually ready! I've never actually done that, but I've always had the urge... And when the apple is finally taken out after an eternity, you will find that is was worth waiting every one of the 35-45 minutes. As you cut your first slice out of the apple, a rush of hot steam will suddenly escape, and you will once again be taken over. And as you eat the delicate, overflowing mounds of juiciness, as you top that off with the gleaming, golden-brown walnuts and the hard-candy-like raisins covered by the rich veil of melted butter, the night sky that is hovering peacefully outside your window will take you even deeper into pleasure..The pleasure of being comforted, of being fed, of having a lovely thought linger with you as you later go to sleep. The cinnamon and nutmeg, well, they'll just add even more flavor to your night. :) Enjoy your day, and if you please, eat a baked apple! ~~MC 1/17/2011 1 Comment Volcanic ExplosionDark chocolate. Who doesn't love it?
Actually, and unfortunately, there is an actual answer to that question...I deemed it "unfortunate" because I personally devote myself to chocolate no lighter than with 75% cocoa (or "cacao," as how they sometimes write it on the boxes..). Not only is it proven to be healthier than milk chocolate, but it also gives a stronger amount of the joy and satisfaction you would expect from chocolate in general. Also, milk chocolate is too overwhelmingly sweet, in my opinion. Every time I snack on a piece (which is not very often), the sugar has such a booming effect that I can barely distinct the taste of actual chocolate...And it makes me wonder, why not just call it "brown squares of an extremely smooth-textured version of sugar" instead of "milk chocolate"? XD ... And as to the answer of who doesn't love dark chocolate, here it this: People who love milk chocolate. :) I obviously didn't have to answer that question, but there you go! ;D When I compare the two types of chocolat, I feel like milk chocolate definitely doesn't speak the same language as dark chocolate. When you talk dark chocolate, it isn't the smack-dab-in-the-mouth-without-any-smooth-transition-between-tastes treat that milk chocolate presents. Rather, its flavor is like an intense rush of brilliant lava, the result of a volcanic boom that erupts every time you take a bite of the smooth-textured surface. Dark chocolate is what the deities' answer would be if human were to desperately implore, What is the quickest way to pure, incurable happiness? This is what I assume, because every time a moment comes during the day that I wonder how I could take a quick-second break from studies or from anything potentially stressful, I just grab a carefully crafted square of delicate goodness and pop it in my mouth, waiting for the volcanic explosion to happen once again. If you are reading this and are a loyal companion to milk chocolate, and have always thought of dark chocolate as "so bitter it's like you're eating bark" (I'm directly quoting my sister here ;) ), I hope you understand my point of view of the chocolate world, and that although I have tried warming up to the dark chocolate's sweeter, more innocent alter-ego, I find it difficult to think about it as lovingly and passionately as with the daring boldness of dark chocolate. And especially if you are an intense milk chocolate-lover, I thank you for reading this blog, because it must show how open minded you are. :) Anyhow, I'm going to end this post now, because the alarm has just gone off in the kitchen and my baked apple is ready, waiting for me to devour it. (I will bring up baked apples sometime in the future of course!). And also, on my way to the oven, I will devour another piece of dark chocolate that I store in the kitchen, after having spent this entire post talking about it... Bonne nuit, and have a chocolat! ~~MC P.S. Chocolate tip: If you want a less murky taste of chocolate, and a flavor that's more straight-forward and with a bigger punch, try storing your chocolate-y friend in the refrigerator...And by the way this works for both alter egos of chocolate. :) 1/14/2011 0 Comments Johnny Depp, One Sip Later..Hello all! I hope you all had a great week and are enjoying the three-day weekend--And with the cherry on top of the sundae, I hope you all are going to tune in to this year's Golden Globes! ...I'm a huge movie fan, though I haven't seen all the nominated films, ..but I'm pretty sure that The Black Swan is going to win some awards because it looks so finely crafted when I watch the previews...Natalie Portman is such a great actress that she scares me even when I see normal pictures of her XD ..
Anyways, before I get even more side-tracked, I'd like to say welcome to the first post of "Food Fantasizing"! Particularly if you are a food lover already, you will be shortly transported to heaven, because I am about to reminisce about a latte I had (or rather, to be more accurate, inhaled) at a certain coffee place this past week... For the last few months, a couple of friends of mine have raved about how delicious the coffee was at Parnassus, an art gallery and coffee shop (by the way, those are the exact words written under the name Parnassus, on the wall right outside the cafe) located in the basement of the art building on campus--I was especially intrigued, when one friend told me that she walks 20 minutes in the rain (or no rain..but that's like 10 percent likely in Seattle) from the science building, just to snuggle up with a tall steaming drink! With this conviction, I decided three days ago to buy their tall latte... ...When I took the first sip, I thought for a second that I was face-to-face with Johnny Depp, standing in front of me with his gold tooth gleaming slightly through his pearly-white shy smile, and a meltingly intense red rose gestured by one hand, just for me...In other words, I thought all my dreams had come true in that one sip! :) Now I don't mean to say that I hallucinate about Johnny Depp every time I drink a latte, but that was how amazed I was by the drink...The rich yet subtle creaminess of the milk, blended with the (decaf) shots that were as artistically thrown in as the firework sparks of vibrant paint...And, like a perfectly wrapped Christmas present, the barista had topped the drink off with an eloquent, beautiful design with the light magical foam. Even before I took that first sip, I fell in love. WIth a latte. And by the time I had tipped the cup downward to get the very last bit of foam in my mouth--because the foam is always my favorite part of a hot beverage! Yum!--, I had made the decision to make every other encounter the rest of the day just as amazing and embraceful (that isn't even a real word, but oh well) as that latte had been. Even as I opened the pages to my Art History reading after the latte was finished, and the booming, fluctuating beats of the music were echoing throughout Parnassus, decorated with the laughs and exclamations of customers and baristas, I felt like I was still in heaven. ;) Have a latte-full day! ~~MC |
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