quicknoms

[quicknoms]

Chip Rankings.

Alright, everyone eats chips and everyone has their own opinions but mine is the only one I care about and here it is.

Starting off with our F tier:

Who goes to a grocery store, sees a bag of Fritos and goes “I want that one.” Nobody. The answer is nobody. Unless my professor loves Fritos then they’re the best chip in the world. Otherwise, Fritos start with F for a reason. 

Veggie Straws. Chips were not made to be healthy, but that’s not the reason why these are in F tier, they coat your teeth with some weird layer that simply DOES NOT GO AWAY. 

Kettle Cooked Salt and Vinegar. I just hate salt and vinegar, that’s all. 

As for the D tier 

These Doritos are no ones favorite, if you’re going to eat a spicy chip, go and get a real spicy chip. Doritos has a flaming hot version too. It’s either go really spicy or don't go spicy at all.

Chex mix traditional is just boring, theres nothing fun about these.

Tostitos relies on you buying their dip as well as buying their chips. Chips are mean to be eaten alone. Tostitos are not the move.

Now for our C tier

I would not go for baked bbq as the first option, but they are not horrible.

Bugles are not that great but I like shape.

Cheezits are a reliable go to even if you don’t like cheese. I hate cheese and I will still eat Cheezits, they are doing something right.

Chex mix BOLD is more exciting than normal Chex mix.

Let’s B clear here

Cheetos are a classic, they’re also reliable, and Cheeto dust jokes are pretty funny.

Cape Cod is not my favorite but I like it more than everything below it.

Cheetos flaming hot is considered S tier to everyone else but they are B for me because I don’t like tangy spicy things.

Doritos Nacho Cheese are also a classic but deserve no praise what so ever.

Gold fish are nostalgic and make me very happy when I eat them.

Lays Classic. 

Takis are in the same boat as flaming hot Cheetos.

Chesters.. I didn’t thnk it would be fair if the rest of the spicy chips were B and put Chesters somewhere else.

Kettle Cooked BBQ is crunchy goodness.

Lays Baked Classic.

A for Effort

Okay, hear me out. Funyuns. The word Fun is in it. It can’t lose. 

I like Cheetos Puffs a lot, puffy chips are the best in my book.

Doritos Cool Ranch are just so much better than nacho cheese and blue is a better color. 

Sun Chips Cheddar are the only “healthy” chip I can tolerate.

Pringles are bangin but sour cream and onion Pringles are the best Pringles out there. 

Lays BBQ. Better than classic, not an obscure flavor, who doesn’t like black packaging.

Finally, S Tier

Lays Sour Cream and Onion. Moving on.

Smartfood is so damn good. Something about white cheddar cheesy fingers makes you want to eat more. On top of that, it’s 160 calories for 2.5 cups. You could eat a party sized bag and probably not feel about it.

Lays Kettle Cooked Jalapeno are the best chips on the planet. They’re crunchy, they have that jalapeno kick, the finger dust is also extravagant. Nothing can compare to this Jalapeno chip. Not Capecod, not Miss Vickie’s, NOBODY. I will argue the rest of these chips but not this one. I will take this opinion to my death bed,

[quicknoms]

Easy Breakfast !

In another post I made, I talked about how I don’t eat breakfast and I usually don’t. Over my winter break I went to visit my boyfriend in Maryland, and he likes to cook breakfast for me.

Even though I was on vacation, he still worked. His work is remote but he still had to wake up earlier than me for meetings and whatnot so, he makes me breakfast. If I asked for something, he would make it for me no hesitation. 

Here is what he makes me for breakfast:

It looks very basic but if you think about it, breakfast foods are usually pretty basic. Eggs, a meat such as ham, sausage, or bacon, and either toast or a bagel. You could get fancy with pancakes, waffles, or oatmeal, which he does do for me but who has the time to do that every single morning? His preparation isn’t very complex. He pops the bagels into the toaster, then puts the bacon on a pan and calls it a day. I like water more than your average person, so I have water with every single meal. I drink way over your 8 cup a day recommendation.

His eggs are slightly more tedious, he has mastered the ways of scrambled eggs.

Ingredients:

4 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Black pepper for serving

Slab of butter

Directions:

Whisk together eggs, milk, and salt until the mixture is a uniform color.

Melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat until the butter coats the bottom of the pan.

Pour the egg mixture and reduce the heat to medium-low.

Wait for the edges to barely set and using a rubber spatula push the eggs gently from one end of the pan to the other. Continue this process in batches to let the uncooked egg cook. 

When the eggs look mostly cooked, fold the egg and remove from heat.

Transfer to plates and serve.

[quicknoms]

Breakfast

People usually refer to breakfast as the ‘most important meal of the day’ because breakfast breaks the  overnight fasting period and replenishes the supply of glucose to boost energy levels to get the day started.

But if you’re like me, someone who wakes up an hour before class, or sleeps in til 2pm on the weekends, breakfast isn’t something that usually happens. Is skipping breakfast bad for you? Everyone is different in when they go to bed, and when they wake up. Some people eat more than others, etc. Registered dietitian Andrea Dunn says “Listen to your hunger cues to know how important breakfast is for you. What you eat over the whole day is more important than stressing over breakfast.”

I think eating breakfast when you’re young or giving your kids breakfast is rather beneficial. I remember going to school on an empty stomach and not being able to focus on anything. Our teachers always reminded us to eat a big breakfast the day before the MCAT or SATs so we would perform better. I used to call them annoying (to myself of course) but now looking back, they were right. It’s okay to admit that you’re wrong sometimes. 

[quicknoms]

❤️ Date Night ❤️

Every time I visit Rob, we always have one date night. We get dressed up and got to a nice restaurant and usually follow up with a movie either at home or at a movie theatre.  

As a stereotypical woman, I have no idea what I want to eat a lot of the time despite being in denial. Rob picks where we go because he is in charge of date night and I just show up. We went to Il Piccolo Morso in Leonardtown, MD. A cute little Italian restaurant. 

The interior was rather charming, it looked like it used to be an autobody shop of sorts, there was a garage door that was turned into a large window and an extremely tall ceiling.

Starting off, Rob got an old fashioned because he gets one everywhere he goes. I had water and a lemonade because I turn extremely red when I drink. To avoid any embarrassment, I refrain from drinking in public. As an appetizer we got their Frito Misto which is tempura batted shrimp, calamari, with seasonal vegetables served with marinara sauce. It was okay, I’ve had better, significantly better.

For entrees, Rob got their Linguini with Clams in a housemade buerre blanc sauce. He should have gotten more clams but that’s my opinion. I got their Parpadelle Bolognese. Once I ordered, the waitress told me it was their most popular item of the night but I don’t know if I don’t know what bolognese tastes like, but it was rather bland. It actually tasted better after a night in the fridge. On top of that, when we got the food, mine was slightly below room temperature which could only mean my food was ready to be served but someone forgot to serve it for 7-8 minutes. Hopefully none of their employees get to read this. 

For dessert we each got tiramisu, it was served with a dollop of whipped cream and candied strawberry jam? I phrase that as a question because I was very confused why there was strawberry jam. The tiramisu was very good though, I can applaud them for that.

Overall the dining experience was nice, the bread they provided was the second best thing about my dinner, losing to the tiramisu of course. I would order take out from here, I don’t think I would sit down and eat again but the staff was lovely.

[quicknoms]

Battle with Food.

I’m very health conscious but I also want to enjoy my time on this Earth. Being on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc. as a young woman used to be extremely hard on my mental health. I wanted to look like Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner at the same time because they’re both modern day beauty standards but it’s unrealistic to achieve both whether it be due to genetics, body type, convenience, etc. 

Kendall is a tall slim model, whereas her sister is a curvy model. Trying to achieve either one without the same means that they have is extremely hard. I used to work out 7 days a week, I used to calorie count, I used to try a bunch of different diets trying to figure out the easiest way to achieve either Kendall’s figure. I am skinny, but Kendall is 5′10″, she has more places to distribute her weight.

I began to eat less and less, I stopped eating food that I loved out of fear of them being too fatty or having too much grease. I stopped eating my mother’s cooking which hurt her feelings and she couldn’t understand why I wanted to look like a standard. In our parent’s eyes, we are perfect and seeing us hurt ourselves to change is extremely taxing on them.

Having access to so much food but not wanting to eat any of it was super difficult. My mother always took up so much of the kitchen to where I couldn’t cook healthy for myself, I didn’t want to eat what she made, so as a result, I didn’t eat. I used to think I would lose weight if I just had a neutral or negative calorie count for the day. This was an unhealthy mindset.

It took me a very long time to get over my extremely toxic relationship with food. I still work out, but on a better schedule, 5 times a week. I eat whatever I want in moderation, and I can finally cook without worries. In 2022, everyone is an advocate for self love but it takes a lot of work to finally be happy in your own skin. 

[quicknoms]

Tiramisu 🍫

I love tiramisu a lot, so I decided to try and make it for the first time. After lots of research, I came up with my own recipe for tiramisu BUT I had to borrow the steps from Natasha’s Kitchen.

Ingredients for Cream:

4 large egg yolks

75 grams sugar

3/4 cups heavy cream

1 cup mascarpone

Ingredients for Assembly:

1 3/4 cups espresso or strong coffee

2 tablespoons rum or cognac

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

24 ladyfingers

Notes: I know there is no cream in tiramisu, but I was working with what I had.

Preparation:

Using an electric mixer in a bowl, whip together egg yolks and half the sugar until the mixture is a pale yellow.

In another bowl, whip the remaining sugar and cream until soft peaks form. Add mascarpone and whip until a spreadable mixture is formed then fold this into the egg yolk mixture until combined.

Combine espresso and rum into a bowl or cup and set aside.

Note: Normally, an 8x8 dish is used but I decided to use ramekin bowls for individual servings instead. Either one gets the job done.

Dust the bottom of the baking dish or ramekin bowls with cocoa powder.

Working quickly, dip each ladyfinger into the espresso mixture and place it into the bottom of the baking dish or bowl until theres one even layer. Spread half the mascarpone mixture onto the ladyfingers in one even layer. Repeat with the remaining espresso dipped ladyfingers and mascarpone mixture.

Dust the top layer with the remaining cocoa powder.

Cover with plastic wrap and let chill the fridge for at least 6 hours. Ideally left overnight. 

[quicknoms]

Smoothies ❤️

Over this winter break, I went to visit my now-boyfriend Rob. He usually eats one or two big meals a day whereas I like to eat 5-6 mini meals a day. Maybe eat isn’t he best word, but I like to consume lots of things throughout the day to keep my energy up. We’re also both very fit people. He is more physically fit than I am, but I am more healthy than he is, if that makes sense. While we were grocery shopping at our local Harris Teeter, we stumbled across frozen fruit. I immediately thought of smoothies. They’re super easy to make and super quick to clean up. After this our grocery trip we also went to Target to buy a blender after realizing he did not have one.

Rob is a very big fan of berries and berry smoothies grew on me very quickly. Here is my recipe for easy frozen fruit smoothies!

Prep: 5-6 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups of frozen berry medley (usually contains raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries)

1 cup of milk* or 1/2 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt*

1-2 cups (preference) orange juice

A spoonful of honey to taste 

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Pour into glasses and serve.

*For non-dairy smoothies, substitute 1 cup rice milk altogether or use soy yogurt/milk instead of dairy. 

[quicknoms]

Hello Boston !

Living away from my mom has been rather hard on me food wise. I taught myself how to cook but nothing compares to the food my mom makes me. On top of that, she never taught me how to make any of the Vietnamese dishes she cooked for me growing up.

Whenever I was sick, my mom would make me chao ga. Chao ga is a Vietnamese chicken porridge. Whenever people hear the word porridge, they usually think of old people with no gums but chao ga will warm your soul. 

Another dish my mom is infamous for is bún riêu. Bún riêu is a traditional Vietnamese soup made of clear stock and rice vermicelli. The main ingredients are tomato, shrimp paste, and rice vermicelli. The area I lived in growing up had an extremely low Asian demographic, and an even lower Vietnamese demographic. Finding ingredients to make Vietnamese dishes was rough. Two Sundays a month every month for over 20 years, my mom would drive 2-3 hours away to the nearest Asian grocery store and come back with hundreds of dollars worth of vegetables, meats, drinks, etc. She would put her heart and soul into making bún riêu. She would add imitation crab, tofu, fish balls, tofu balls, anything I asked for. She would even break tradition and let me eat the soup with rice if I wanted to. 

She also taught me how to eat almost everything on the side plate to the right of the bowl of bún riêu above. Beansprouts, cilantro, mint, carrots, lime, etc. None of these are usually found on the side of anything at American or American-fusion restaurants so Vietnamese-American children usually won’t add them to their food when eating in traditional settings. My grandparents are always overly enthused and impressed whenever they see me take greens or vegetables off the side dish.