I Am... Brown Butter Brownies Recipe
I have a thing for those Two Bite Brownies they sell at Costco. It's embarrassing, but I get unreasonably excited when I see the nice Costco staff sampling them. They're just so delicious. So soft, so fudge-y, so good. And they're perfectly portioned. Not that I ever could just eat one brownie, but still, it feels good knowing that if I wanted to, I could just have one and stop there – not that that's ever happened!
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I Am... Vietnamese Spring Roll Recipe
I love hand held foods. What could be better than holding something in your hand and eating it? It's the ultimate in minimalism. No utensils, no cutting - just grab and eat. I have a long list of favourite handhelds, but I'd have to say that my absolute favourite is Vietnamese spring rolls. Spring rolls are the one thing I can never refuse, no matter how full I am.
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I Am... Roasted Cauliflower Recipe
I don't have the best knife technique ever but sometimes I like to pretend that I have mad chopping skills. I especially love breaking down cauliflower. Once you get the core out you can just get into the zone cutting up the florets into tiny, bite-sized pieces. I love how cauliflower are fractal - no matter how small you cut the florets, you can still tell they're cauliflower!
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I Am... Ikea Swedish Meatball Recipe
Sometimes Mike and I will go to Ikea just for the meatballs. The furniture shopping is pretty much secondary. I also have a thing for Ikea's mac and cheese (it's sacrilege, I know) but that's a story for another time. Ikea meatballs appeal to me not because they're the tastiest meatballs I've ever eaten (they're not) but because they bring me back to a time when food made everything alright.
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I Am... Momofuku Milk Bar Liquid Cheesecake Recipe
I'm a pretty big fan of David Chang's Momofuku restaurants. I even cooked through his entire cookbook! It's no surprise then, that I thought I would be equally enthralled with the sweets from Momofuku Milk Bar, the dessert outpost of Momofuku. Unfortunately, when I visited the take-out Midtown version a couple of years ago, I was far from jumping with joy.
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I Am... Coddled Egg Recipe
When we were down in Yountville, we had an incredibly delicious coddled egg dish at Thomas Keller's French bistro, Bouchon. The egg was was coddled on top of a potato puree with roasted mushrooms and sautéed spinach. There was buttered brioche for dipping. It was literally the best egg dish I've had in a long time.
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I Am... Spinach Feta Egg Wrap Recipe
I love, love, love the spinach and feta egg wraps from Starbucks. They are seriously good. I don't know if it's because I'm always super hungry when I eat them or if they're really just that good, but there's definitely something very compelling about them. I'll be innocently standing in line, contemplating which sugar-sweet milky water with a touch of coffee drink I'll be getting and I'll see the wrap in the case.
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I Am... Baked Pork and Crab Wonton Recipe
I have a thing for wonton skins. Even when I was a kid, I used to just eat the skins and leave the meat behind. Eating wontons always meant that I'd get a talking to from my mom. "Why are you wasting the best part?!" was a common refrain from my childhood. The funny thing was that I was often delegated the task of making wontons and the resulting wontons were tiny – all skin and almost no meat.
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I Am... Ginger Fried Rice Recipe
Fried rice is one of those dishes where preferences are very individualized (much like how well-done you like your instant noodles). Peas, no peas, soy sauce, no soy sauce, scrabbled egg bits or egg mixed right in, and the list goes on. My mom's fried rice - aside from the protein - always has peas, diced onions, and scrabbled egg bits. She never seasons it with soy sauce. There are a ton of variations out there, but one thing remains consistent across all good fried rice recipes: using old rice.
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I Am... Ebi Tempura Rice Ball Recipe
If you ever have a chance to visit Japan, you should definitely make it a priority to visit the basements of the department stores. Sounds like a weird item to have on your must-visit list, but trust me, the department store basements are where it's at! Take the escalator down in any department store and you'll be in food heaven.
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I Am... Spinach Potato Soup Recipe
I've been wanting a new immersion blender ever since my last one died a sudden death in the middle of blending a pot of soup. It took me two years but I've finally brought a new bright green immersion blender home, so of course I had to make a bright green soup to match!
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I Am... Chai Tea Cupcake Recipe
I kind of have a slight addiction to Starbucks. I've heard all the arguments against: caffeine isn't great for you; the drinks are sugar bombs; and you can save hundreds of thousands of dollars if you just don't go–but I love the sugary-sweet drinks they pass for coffee.
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