Food

Kansas City: Shio Ramen

Eating Out, Food July 21, 2016

One thing that’s been pretty fun (and delicious) here in Kansas City is the recent rise in popularity of ramen shops. When I lived in NYC, I had my pick of ramen joints, with varying degrees of quality and popularity, from “sure, I’ll pay 6 bucks for izakaya ramen at 2am” to “omgggg Ippudo best ramen EVER!” When I moved to the Midwest last year, I was pleasantly surprised with my go-to ramen joint here in KC, the relatively new Columbus Park Ramen shop. Their tonkatsu ramen is the bomb! However, recently Shio Ramen Shop opened up, and I knew I had to try it out. So which noodles reigned supreme? Read on to find out. Continue Reading

Lucky Rice Cookthrough: Japanese Pancakes

Cooking / Eating In, Events / Giveaways / Partnerships July 12, 2016

Happy Wednesday, Noshers! I’ve been a little MIA lately as I recover from a pretty awesome weekend trip (er…two weekends ago) to Sedona and Scottsdale. I’ll be posting a few photos, so keep your eyes peeled! In the meantime, I’m super excited to share a new project I’ve set up for myself – my very first cookbook cookthrough!

Ok, I’m not sure if that’s a real word, but much like the movie Julie and Julia, I plan to cook every recipe in one of my newest cookbooks. I’m going easy on myself to start – I don’t have a set time limit (yet…if I start lagging behind, I might set some rules in place), and I’m not cooking the recipes in order. Rather, I’m skimming through and picking recipes that most interest me (but I will try all of them), and more importantly, for which I can find the ingredients. And the cookbook I’ve chosen for my very first cookthrough is……the Lucky Rice cookbook!

I actually won this book a while back, and when browsing through it, I realized that I wanted to try making every single recipe. The cookbook features both classic and new takes on Asian dishes, and author Danielle Chang infuses the book with her own personal stories. It’s a fantastic read! I also chose this cookbook because I was super-spoiled in NYC with ethnic grocery stores galore, tons and tons of live seafood, and a bustling Chinatown from which to purchase ingredients. I might have to get a little creative in Kansas City, but it should be an interesting challenge! I’d love if you cooked along with me – it would be so fun for us to cook together and for me to see photos of your cooking! I’ll be tagging my posts/photos with #BigAppleNoshLuckyRice – tag yours as well so I make sure I see them 🙂

The very first recipe I wanted to try was for Japanese Pancakes, or okonomiyaki. Unlike American pancakes, the Japanese version is savory, with meat, scallions, ketchup, and Kewpie mayo. My challenges for this recipe was sourcing the Kewpie mayo (which is delish) – I wasn’t able to find it at my local grocery store, but Amazon saved the day (link here). Yay! Continue Reading

4th of July Cupcake Decorating with Sprouts!

Cooking / Eating In, Events / Giveaways / Partnerships June 22, 2016

Happy Wednesday, Noshers! I recently partnered with Sprouts market for a 4th of July DIY project, where I was given free reign to come up with my own DIY activity related to the holiday. I thought and thought, but the answer was pretty obvious – patriotic CUPCAKES!! I love baking, decorating and most importantly eating sweets, so this was a perfect fit. Today I’ll be walking you through some cute and patriotic cupcake designs just in time for the holiday :).

But first, let me just rave about how awesome new-to-me Sprouts is – coming from the NYC/NJ area, I’d never been to a Sprouts before. When I made my way to my local Sprouts to purchase ingredients for this project, I was pleasantly surprised and super impressed with the store – high quality produce at amazing prices, hard-to-find fruit (including my favorite cotton candy grapes, which I could only find at Whole Foods in NYC), their own brand for staples such as cereal, granola, cocoa, and an awesome selection of organic ingredients. I admit I wasn’t familiar with Sprouts prior to this shopping trip, but I’ll definitely be returning.

Now onto the cupcakes! Continue Reading

Green Dirt Farm Creamery – Grand Opening!

Eating Out June 9, 2016

I love these little sheep that greeted me on the way in!

Oh happy day, Noshers! Today I’m excited to share the grand opening of Green Dirt Farm Creamery & Terra Vox Tasting Room. I attended their sneak preview last week and I was super impressed with the space, the team, and oh my goodness the CHEESE! I shouldn’t have been surprised, as Green Dirt Farm makes some pretty amazing sheep’s milk cheeses and yogurts that are carried and served by fan favorites such as Whole Foods, Cosentino’s, and The Farmhouse. As you can see, there was a ton to choose from – just take a look at those chalkboard menus: Continue Reading

Tutorial: Avocado Rose

Cooking / Eating In June 1, 2016

Happy Wednesday, Noshers! Today I’m excited to share this super easy tutorial on making avocado roses. Avocado roses have been popping up all over lately, and I thought I’d try my hand at doing it – turns out it’s really quick and simple, and really brightens up your brunch or salad plate! All you need is half an avocado to make one rose. Let’s get started, shall we? Continue Reading