Have you ever seen or tried a pizza that looks PURPLE? Well, it was my first time seeing a purple colored pizza!!!! My family and I love our pizzas from Arizmendi’s Pizza and Cheeseboard Pizza. Arizmendi is located in Oakland’s Lakeshore district right by Trader Joes and everything else. Cheeseboard is located in Berkeley. All of their pizzas are VEGETARIAN and contain only veggies! My sister and I were shopping at Lakeshore, so we decided to stop by Arizmendi for pizza before work.

Arizmendi and Cheeseboard ONLY has ONE FLAVOR per day so you don’t get to choose! When we went, the flavor of the day was: PURPLE CABBAGE, cilantro, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, garlic oil, and green bell peppers. I know purple cabbage sounds very weird on a pizza..I was a little skeptical about purchasing that pizza! But, I knew in my heart that whatever kind of flavor or topping they use, I will end up liking it! One time, the flavor of the day was sweet potatoes or yams! Who would’ve thought sweet potatoes or even purple cabbage on a pizza would ever taste so yummy?! I was in love with the beautiful color of the pizza!

The taste of the pizza was delicious as always. Even my dad who normally is very picky ate a slice of left over pizza the next day! I am so glad that this pizza place is near my home! And I hope you all get a chance to either try Arizmendi or Cheeseboard! Yummy in my tummy!

Today, I am going to share with everyone a very easy cookie recipe! I love love love cookies, and am always craving them! Sometimes I crave for soft cookie, and sometimes I crave for thin and very chewy cookies. This recipe is very easy, and it’s basically a chocolate chip cookie with whatever that you have!

I make these cookies for my students at work all the time, and they love them! =)

Ingredients:
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of butter softened ( I use half a cup of butter sometimes, using 1 cup will make the cookie more soft and more crumbly)
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 egg
- 1 and 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup regular sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups of oatmeal
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 cups of chocolate chips

This recipe is adjusted for my personal preference in taste! I was craving for cookies the other day, and this is what I found in my kitchen to make the cookies. I normally use 1 cup of butter, but this time I only used 1/2 because I didn’t have enough…haha. But, the cookies still came out delicious!

To make these cookies,

Step 1. I use an electric hand held mixer and beat the butter until it is soft and creamy.

Step 2. Mix in the flour, egg, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, and oil with the butter.

Step 3. Next, I use a spatula and I fold in the chocolate chips and the oatmeal.

Step 4. Let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour for a more chewy texture.

Step 5. Preheat oven to 350, size your cookies to your preference. Since I used less butter, I had to take my spatula and flatten the cookie dough before putting them in the oven.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until brown on the edges and light brown in the middle of the cookie.

Step 6. The BEST Step! Take out, let cookies cool down and harden for a couple of minutes before removing them from the sheet. If you try to remove the cookies right when they come out of the oven, they will break! They need a couple of minutes so they could harden up and then you can move them. Now you can enjoy!

You can adjust this recipe to your own taste, when I have white chocolate, raisins, or different nuts I will throw them in. But since I only had minimal things in my kitchen, I stuck with only oatmeal and chocolate chips! I take the cookies out when the edges of the cookies are brown and the middle of the cookies are light brown. Although the middle of the cookie will look like they are still soft, they will harden up after they cool down! This will give the cookie the soft texture instead of a hard cookie when you bite into them.

I forgot to take pictures of the cookies =(

Okay, so I know I promised to share with you all Kimchi Fried Rice…but I ran out of Kimchi and was not able to go to the Korean Plaza this past week to get my favorite brand! To make up for that, I will share with you my EASY LASAGNA ROLLS recipe!

Since my parents own a restaurant, both my sister and myself are college students…we barely ever have time to cook anymore! But when I do, I like to make things that are fast and simple…and this recipe for LASAGNA ROLLS is so so SIMPLE and quick! I love lasagna but all the traditional layering takes too long, and my sister does not like pork or beef, so to adapt to our busy lifestyle and her being picky….I make SPINACH & CILANTRO LASAGNA ROLLS!

All you need is :
- Lasagna Noodles (10 – 12 pieces)
- Ricotta Cheese (about 7-8oz)
- 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 package of frozen spinach
- Pasta sauce (homemade or store bought)
- A bundle of Cilantro
- Tomatoes (optional), Garlic(diced), Parsley, Salt and Pepper

Step 1: Boil the lasagna noodles and drain them

Step 2: Defrost spinach, drain all the excess water out and squeeze as dry as you can! Chop your Cilantro up. In a bowl, mix the Ricotta, Parmesan, and Mozzarella Cheese together with your spinach and cilantro.( You can adjust how much cheese you want to put into your lasagna, my sister and I prefer more veggies than cheese in our lasagna rolls.) Season with a pinch of salt and pepper

Step 3: Take ONE piece of lasagna noodle and lay it on a flat surface. Take the filling mixture and spread across the piece of noodle. After you are done spreading the filling, ROLL the lasagna noodle up like the candy “Foot by the Foot”. Place seam side down into a pan.

Step 4: After you are done rolling up all your lasagna rolls, put them all on a pan. Top with your pasta sauce. Dice up about 2 tomatoes into chunks (if you have any) and add them into sauce along with some parsley and garlic. You can top the Lasagna Rolls with some mozzarella cheese for some color!

Step 5: Bake at 350F in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until hot and you are ready to eat!

This is what the LASAGNA ROLLS look like after you are done rolling them up!

This is right before I popped them into the oven! I made a total of 10 lasagna rolls! =)

RESULT: That is 1 piece of the Spinach & Cilantro LASAGNA ROLL cut in half!!

ENJOY!!!!!!

I am so excited to share with you what I got to experience this past weekend! So every year, there is a gathering of many many bay area vendors/foodtrucks similar to “Off the Grid”, but much bigger! There is an annual 3 day festival hosted at Jack London Square, and this year it was from September 21 – September 24th. This amazing festival is called the “Eat Real Festival”, and it is their 4th annual festival this year! Everything on a vendor’s menu is $5 or less, so people like me can feast and try all the items that we want at a well reasonable price!

Our all time favorite from this festival is “Sam’s Chowder”! The line for this food truck is super duper long, but I feel that it is well worth the wait. When you get the chance to try this restaurant or foodtruck out, you must order the “Lobster Roll”! Since this is a tasting festival, they offered mini size lobster rolls for $5.00. On regular days, their full size Lobster Roll is $16.00.

I don’t get what’s so good about it, but it’s just really really tasty! I believe it is simply buttered lobster with some green onions and seasoning and it is put into a toasted and buttered bread roll. My sister and I kept questioning ourselves and wondering why is it so addicting and so delicious!

Here are some of the pictures from the festival:

From top to bottom, left to right: Caramel Apple, Kamikaze Fries, Bulgogi with Kimchi Fried Rice, Mango & Corn ice cream, Paella from Gerad’s, and Lobster Roll from Sam’s Chowder.

I absolutely love Kimchi, and I have a huge container at home! But, the Kimchi Fried Rice was too soggy for my preference, so now I am craving for Kimchi Fried Rice with Spam! Maybe sometime this week or next week I will have a chance to cook it! It is a very simple and easy dish, so I am determined to make it sometime soon and share it with the rest of the world!
It is 12:30ish, and I am getting very hungry looking at the pictures and talking about food! It is now officially time for lunch. Thank you!

Hello World!!

My name is Michelle Ho and I am from Oakland, California. I am currently pursuing my MBA from Mill’s College, and I will give you a glimpse of my life through this blog. As a college student, I really enjoy FOOD! I love baking, cooking, and of course eating out at restaurants. My family owns a restaurant called Flower Lounge in the heart of the Dimond District in Oakland. It is located on MacArthur and Fruitvale! We serve Mandarin and Cantonese cuisine, and the food is amazing! In addition to my busy busy life, I also run a non-profit After-School Tutoring and Summer Camp in Oakland’s Chinatown! I have been there since 2006, and have fell in love with the place!

With work, school, and the restaurant in my life the one thing that is essential is eating! Since I am on the run all the time, it allows me to taste many different types of cuisine and taste many different restaurants in the bay area. I love eating out and sampling food so much that my boyfriend and I would take a trip all the way down to Los Angeles, California just to satisfy our cravings! Crazy right?

Let me share with you some of my favorite restaurants and foods (excluding my family restaurant)! I forgot to add that since I’m such a fatty and enjoy food so much, I am almost always on Yelp writing reviews! I will be blogging about some of my favorite restaurants!

So as I am writing this introductory blog, I am craving Vientian Cafe in Oakland. This is a Laos/Thai/Vietnamese restaurant. For those who have never sampled Laos food before, I highly suggest this place! The food is so delicious! My favorites from here include

- KAO PIAK, KHAO SOY, LAOS SAUSAGE, STICKY RICE, PAPAYA SALAD, ETC

The first image on the left is the LAOS SAUSAGE, this is hand made in the story and consists of pork, lemon grass, and many other herbs. It is so flavorful and has a hint of spice to it. The second image in the middle is KAO PIAK, the noodles are also hand made in the store. It is a rice flour noodle (similar to udons), and is in a thick chicken soup broth. The third image on the right is the KHAO SOY, it is a ho-fun noodle with beef broth and sauteeed pork in chilli paste. All three of the images are considered Lao’s comfort food, and I must say I totally agree!

I will end my post here, and will continue next time with another favorite restaurant of mine!

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