It’s all my fault, though. Blame my twisted logic and crappy math skills. I manage to dwindle down some of my baking ingredients by baking 24 green tea mochi-cupcakes. I invite my friends over, and they love them so much they stuffed themselves full, and then gaily skipped off with a doggy bag of cupcakes each.

Because I was left with no more cupcakes for myself, and because my friends enjoyed them so much, I decide that it’s a good idea to bake another 2 dozen more to share (this time hiding a good portion for myself). Except…I have only 2 eggs and 1/2 cup sugar left. The recipe calls for 3 eggs and 1 1/2 cups sugar. What do I do?

My failing Operation Flush-the-Pantry is also due to the fact that I’ve been eating out a lot. For example, my dear friend Valerie took off for Brazil on Friday. As our final time together, we went out to lunch at the Panini Cafe, with another friend, Jessica:
Check my two friends out…They still carry backpacks, and they’re not even students. Fashionistas, they are not.
But it’s okay, Valerie and Jessica! I still love you~
They’re so adorable. Even though they are older than I am, and much, much more spiritual (They work full-time for my church fellowship).
The day was nice so we tried to get a seat outside, but none was available. We had to settle for the indoors, which was also bustling with downtown workers on their lunch break.
It was brightly lit…a bit too glaringly lit for good pictures, but oh well, I’ll take that over pitch-dark restaurants. And I got to sit across from a mirror! I took a mirror shot once again, of course.
Say paniniiii~

I knew I had to order a panini in a cafe named after that pressed sandwich, of course. There were quite a few choices that struck out to me, but I eventually went with the Salmon Panini, on 7-grain bread. It had a “MUST TRY!!” written next to it, so obviously I had to see what this fuss was about which I simply “MUST TRY".
Roasted salmon, melted brie, fresh dill, tomatoes, capers, and red onions on 7-Grain bread. Side of fresh fruit.
I was happy to see that it was a pretty adequate portion, but was nonplussed to see that the amount of brie they put in there was pathetic. Seriously? There was so little brie, that it practically evaporated away while melting.
But the salmon was pretty fresh and flavorful and oozing with good fats, so that made me happy. The bread was hefty, substantial, and crusty, too. I wonder if they make their own bread…

Valerie ordered the second most popular item in the menu, the Chicken Panini, which came with a “Highly Recommended!” sign next to it:
 Grilled Chicken breast, sundried tomatoes, fontina cheese, artichokes, and pesto on grilled Filone. Side of fresh fruit.
Valerie split half the sandwich with me. Honestly? I detested it. The chicken was dry and tough like leather. I felt like I was chewing on a mangled piece of belt that had been slathered with BBQ sauce. Ergh!
The rest of the ingredients were good, though. After eating half of this sandwich, I had to leave out the chicken and eat it sans meat.
Jessica ordered the third most popular item on the menu, the Koobideh Kabob:
Two skewers of seasoned charboiled ground sirloin, with skewer-grilled vegetables, bulghur pilaf, and romaine avocado salad.
Strangely enough, this was actually the best dish of all. Panini Cafe should change their name to Kabob Cafe, because the meat on that thing was so tender, juicy, and flavorful.
I loved the bulghur as well, which was cooked in some tomato and had a fresh, bright flavor and fluffy texture. I had to explain to my two friends what it was. By the end of the day, they still called it wheat-rice. Sigh. We’ll try again next time.
I didn’t touch the salad because it’s got plain avocados on it (ew), but Jessica devoured that part first.
Oh, and Aletheia, I know you’re hopping with joy right now, and we both talked about you that day! You are well missed, my dear!

Okay, I’ve got just 4 more days to endure, before I finally fly off to my hometown(s): Singapore and Korea. Oh, and did I mention that I’ll be visiting Hong Kong and Malaysia, too? Seriously, can 96 hours crawl by any s..l..o..w..e..r? I’m so excited, I can barely even think about it without itching to just run physically all the way across the ocean because it seems like that will actually be less painful than merely waiting.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 3 seconds gone, and a bazillion more to go.

Question of the Day: Do you usually find yourself explaining each ingredient in the menu to your food-ignoramus friends? Any incredulous stories?

I do get a bit hissy when someone doesn’t know what kimchi is (And why is Live Writer underlining this word as a spelling error?!!!).
And I’m a bit ticked off when I see supermarkets mislabeling sweet potatoes as yams. Oh, and though I know it’s not that available everywhere, I also get caught off guard when people don’t know what kabocha is, since it’s like, my favorite food in the world.