Owner: Leena Eats this Blog URL:www.leenaeats.com/blog Join Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:02:41 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Leena eats this blog
... and just about anything else that crosses her path. Recently returning from Australia with her Masters in Gastronomy, Leena is a food writer living and eating her way through Chicago and the rest of the world, sharing her past an Site statistics:Click here
Copycat (5 things I am embarrassed I like to eat) 2007-09-19 17:30:00 Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a total wannabe. I am that girl you knew in high school who wanted desperately to be one of the cool kids, but never quite made it. I used to call them superpops, short for the super popular crowd. I would try to dress like them, buy the same shoes, I even taught myself to dance to the same cool tunes they were rocking out to. I'm not proud to admit I have several dances to "Baby Got Back" in my arsenal. And then when I didn't get invited to the party that weekend (please place a collective AWWWWWWW here), I made my own party. Okay, so it usually involved my mom, my cat, and a good book, but hey, I rocked what coolness I had as hard as I could.
Welcome to my own party. Always the meme bridesmaid, never the meme bride! I read a great meme started on the blog f00die, and continued in the Sunday Night Dinner blog. Although I was not tagged, I'm gonna pretend I'm a superpop of the blog world and do it anyways, damn it. Just try and stop me!
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Someone please stop me (Pear and Pistachio Tart) 2007-09-18 17:30:00
Wanted: Someone to eat my baked goods
Requirements: appreciates delicious food, gives honest feedback, lives in Adelaide, South Australia, unconcerned about their pants size.
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i heart baked eggs 2007-09-13 22:00:00
Must...eat...food! My partner and I joined a local start running group, and on this particular Sunday, we ran 8k. Around a month and a half ago, neither of us had run since, oh, freshman year of high school, which was certainly not yesterday. The entire time, our "teacher" was a kindly older gentleman on a bicycle who could no longer run, but was more than able to critique our running and bark out orders.
"Relax your thumbs...then your hands will relax, then your shoulders will relax and then you won't run the WRONG way." My shoulders don't relax when I'm shopping at the mall--how the hell can I do it while running? And relax your thumbs? How the hell do you do that?
We could barely walk afterwards (we’re not really the “exercising type”), and needed something immensely delicious and fatty to keep up from passing out on the floor in a puddle of overworked chunkiness.
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Buttery Zucchini Goodness 2007-09-11 22:00:00
With spring just around the corner, I’ve been keen to start working a wider variety of vegetables into our diet. We’ve been rocking the corn and carrots pretty hard lately, so a slight change was more than welcome.
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, Goodness
The Dumplings of Destiny 2007-09-09 22:00:00 After eating some amazing pan fried dumplings in Sydney, Adam and I were on the hunt for the next best thing in Adelaide. A hunt that started and ended in one single trip.
The Dumpling King sits at the front of Adelaide’s Chinatown, just behind the entrance gate. I assumed since they are the “king” of dumplings they would have to kick ass, so that was our first stop. It had a lot to live up to to beat the Chinese Noodle Restaurant.
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, Destiny
You are cordially invited to a kick ass dinner party 2007-09-06 22:00:00
If I am not cooking food for other people, I am not in my element. For six months now, I have been living in a foreign country, having only my partner to cook for. I love him to death, but the man could eat Ramen noodles and canned spaghetti and be happy. I like a good challenge. Certain dislikes? I can take it. Food allergies? Bring it. When you come to Leena’s kitchen, you eat and you eat well.
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Nugget of the Week! 2007-09-05 22:00:00
I caught Nugget sleeping with Tyler Florence again. My little kitten is growing into a hussy.
~LTG
Leena's Cotton Candy Experience 2007-09-04 22:00:00
During our kick ass trip to Sydney, we stumbled upon perhaps the greatest creation known to man…it makes babies laugh, immigrants employed and grown women cry, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the D I Y Fairy Floss machine.
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, Candy
, Cotton Candy
Yo Quiero Taco Bell...or Taco anything... 2007-09-28 08:28:03
Whether it’s steaming hot street cart elotes or a warm, fresh stack of homemade corn tortillas topped with guacamole and queso fresco, I love me some Mexican food. Which makes sense, since I come from the United States. The U.S. is so close to Mexico, we are lucky enough to be blessed with their amazing cuisine. In my hometown of Chicago alone, supermercados abound, taquerias are on practically every corner and are a welcome sight for the 4am drunk munchies, and of course, who could forget the Maxwell Street Market every weekend, home to some of the best tamales this lady has ever tasted. Even in the major national grocery store chains like Jewel, you will find a decent representation of Mexican ingredients at your disposal. Salsa recently topped ketchup as the number one condiment in America! It's almost impossible to ignore the Mexican influences on food in the United States.
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Congrats to the funniest lady in Chicago 2007-09-25 17:30:00 Hey everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my pal, Kristen Studard.
She has been a good friend of mine for twelve years; we met in high school back when my eyebrows could be referred to in the singular form and Kriss Kross was on the radio. And she is quite possibly the funniest lady I know, which I why I wanted to introduce you guys. I know. A non-food post. Hell has frozen over.
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I wasn't lying, I have a problem... 2007-09-23 17:30:00
...and it’s in the form of pastry goodness. Seriously, somebody needs to do an intervention or something, because I am stress bunny armed with a whisk and a silpat, and I CAN’T STOP...baking.
This time, it was a red wine caramel apple tartan with thyme from sexy man Tyler Florence’s book, Real Kitchen. How fun is this—basically an upside down apple tart tatin Now I will admit, I have been cooking a lot from Tyler Florence. But I’m am livening Australia with pretty much three cookbooks, two of which are Tyler’s. Plus, he rocks.
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Beer Tasting 2007-10-03 17:30:00
One of our recent assignments was to write three different restaurant reviews, and my friend Joanne chose to cover the Belgian Beer Café in Adelaide. Sure, they have food, but what fun is that? Thus, we sampled the finest and strangest beers they had available. Yup. School is hard work.
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i hate this war. 2007-10-01 20:00:29 I have been extremely lucky to have the two people I knew in the war to return safely, although not completely undamaged.
It is with a sad heart that I report a fellow food blogger, The Madeater, has not been so lucky. There is no option to comment on her latest post, so please, if you get a chance, just a take a moment of silence for her loss, and for the family and friends who are still over there, fighting for our country.
~LTG
Wad of meat +cheese = mouth-gasm 2007-10-09 17:30:00 I decided to switch from comfort baking to comfort cooking. And nothing says comfort like giant wads of meat shoved with cheese and topped with a bit of Italian lovin in sauce form.
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more of my "I miss home" baking 2007-10-07 17:30:00
Yup, I still miss home. This was back from my crazy baking days. I’m not gonna go into huge detail here, but this was toasted coconut bread I made from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen (apparently stolen from a Sydney restaurant I went to called bills), topped with local raspberry jam and chocolate coconut sorbet.
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To one year of wedded bliss... 2007-10-05 11:30:15 You can tell a lot about a person by how they eat their artichoke. Take this plate for example.
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Brekky for Bobby 2007-10-18 20:23:20 Dear American bacon ,
I really think its crappy you don’t live in Australia. I like to think we have some good memories together…like the time I made ten slices of you to top off a killer baked potato soup, but ate all of you before dinner even started. And then there was the time I put you on top of my chicken before roasting it, and your lovely fat kept my chicken breasts moist and unbelievably delicious while flavoring the vegetables that my chicken rested on with just a touch of kick-ass ness.
Oh, it wasn’t all sugar and spice. I know this. But what relationship ever is? I like to think we have learned from our mistakes, and I think we BOTH know I will never attempt to cook you while only partially clothed. It was a dark time for both of us, me with third degree burns in embarrassing places and you literally dark after I forgot about you and burned you. But I kept coming back for more and you know why?
You are special, bacon. A special, special meat p Read more:Bobby
I Make Burgers look good. 2007-10-17 03:11:46 This is not a post about why I am not a fan of Burger Time. I already wrote a post that explained my first underwhelming experience there.
Instead of writing yet another post on my most recent visit(because I’ve recently had moral issues with the whole concept of restaurant reviews and negative reviews specifically--more on that later), I would like to show you this:
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On food blogs and controversy 2007-10-23 17:30:00 This past Sunday marked the end of Tasting Australia, a two week event held here in Adelaide that celebrated food, drink and food writers.
There were dinners cooked by celebrity chefs, cooking classes, special tours of Adelaide sights and local wineries, and even booths where you could taste the best of what Australia has to offer.
They also offered a Food, Beer and Wine Writers Festival sponsored by James Squire beer. This involved a series of seminars from some of the top food and drink writers today about a variety of topics, everything from the phenomenon of a celebrity chef to the importance of browning in cooking, beer and coffee making. For the most part, it was really interesting, and most importantly, FREE. Yay.
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Class parties, or Leena's Blog Squishie #1 2007-10-21 19:52:58 I’ve been really behind in blogging, like stories from over a month ago sort of behind, and I have only the end of classes and dissertation preparation week to blame. Its been school, school, school, so after doing the occasional fun thing with the class, I had no time to actually write about it. Thus, the newly patented Leena’s blog squishie, in which all of these lovely events get squished into one blog for your reading enjoyment. Also named for the beverage sold by Apu on the Simpsons, pretty much the only role model Indians have on popular American television today. This one’s for you, Apu.
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how first anniversaries can rock. 2007-10-30 18:57:55
Step one: marry a kick ass man (or woman). Preferably one that doesn’t annoy you after several hours alone together and especially one that makes late night potato chip runs and still shares the sandwich he got (that you originally didn't want) because he/she likes you.
Step two: make sure you rock. If you’re me, that’s pretty easy. If you do not rock, please see step three…
Step three: Explore your own backyard. Silly, I know, because I totally stole that from the South Australian Tourism commission's latest ad campaign, but also because it can be difficult if you don’t live in a place like Australia. But it is possible...where there’s a will, there is bound to be a cheese shop or bbq shack.
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Thank God, Aussies finally know how to make a pizza. 2007-11-06 17:41:58
Australia pizza just doesn’t do it for me. Too many toppings, flavorless, soggy crust, there is nothing memorable about it at all and it is starting to give cheap food a bad name here in Adelaide, at least among the foreigners. I mean, I come from Chicago, home of the stuffed pizza, and maker of several very decent cheap pizza pies. In all fairness, Adelaide has a lot of live up to.
Thank
fully, Adelaide has produced a pizza worthy of my seasoned palate. Farina is a brand spanking new bar and restaurant in Grenfell Square. I first tried Farina a few weeks back with peeps from my class, sampling various wines and exhausting their impressive looking pizza menu. They have Moscato D’Asti by the glass. They make a killer gourmet pizza. Thus, they have my heart.
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Red Ochre 2007-11-04 07:15:34
What is Australian cuisine? If you ask your average American, they are likely to answer “a blooming onion!”, referring to the popular deep fried battered onion sold at the Outback Steakhouse. The menu includes such delights as steak, steak, and …more steak. Shrimp on the Barbie is another popular dish (even though they are called prawns down under), as are the different variations on chooks, or chicken dishes, such as Alice Springs chicken, chicken breasts topped with mushrooms, bacon (American bacon), cheese and served with a honey mustard sauce. Top it off with a giant can of “authentic” Aussie beer, Fosters (I have yet to see an Aussie drink one here), and you have yourself America’s version of a proper Aussie meal.
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Hello, Melbourne! 2007-11-07 18:25:19
I'm taking another short trip next week, this time to Melbourne
. Never been, super excited to be in a city that DOESN'T shut down at 5pm.
But I need things to do, places to eat at! Any suggestions? Nice restaurants, cheap eats, even food-centered neighborhoods (or just cool neighborhoods) would rock. Help a food sista out, would ya?
~LTG
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I Challenge You to a Chili Cookoff. 2007-11-15 18:07:39
When I was around three or so, I ate a lot of chili in one sitting, got sick, and never touched the stuff for another 20 years. Sad story, but one that has been repeated several times in my life. I just like eating good food so much, I go crazy. I should be locked up in an institution but thanks to the current climate of America, this is totally acceptable. Yay.
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, Chili
What could possibly be better than food? 2007-11-13 17:18:55
My man. Seriously. This guy rocks. I am a day away from turning in my first few chapters for my dissertation, so cooking is the last thing from my mind as I try to summarize months of research into a tiny word count.
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Tasting Australia: Guess who ate a lot? 2007-11-24 22:08:07 A magical land full of food and ginger beer.
October was a busy month for me. The end of school, prep week for my dissertation, and of course, Tasting Australia
. It was so busy, in fact, it took me more than a month to write this post. But I couldn’t NOT post about a food-filled event that lasted two weeks, could I?
Let me get you up to date. Tasting Australia, as noted on their website, is
“…a festival celebrating the very best Australia has to offer in food, wine and beer. It's one of the most significant events of its kind in the world. Held every two years in Adelaide, Tasting Australia offers a number of events designed for the nation's food and hospitality industry, local and international media and the public.”
Yup, I was too busy to write that in my own words. Or lazy. Take your pick.
Tasting Australia was a lot of fun, although I must say, in Adelaide at least, the advertising was minimal, if any. I didn’t see one single poster fo Read more:Guess
I'm paying it forward! 2007-11-27 04:53:31 Will lamb skewers hold up in the mail?
Wanna play a game that ends in free stuff for you and a warm squishy feeling in your heart? ME TOO!
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Have you met my friend Lamby Mc Lamberton? 2007-12-09 06:13:51 I lurve lamb.
Where does time go? Because I blinked, and it has been two months since I have written a decent post. In all fairness, I have been drowning in a sea of research and procrastination trying to write this dissertation by March, so I think I should be cut some slack. Besides….What other food blog takes you into the Outback? Or give you an outsider’s perspective on Melbourne? And does a little dance for you to keep you entertained while you are waiting for the latest post? That would be me. And maybe a handful of others, but let’s be honest. I am way cuter and funnier than most of those bitches.
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