Tonight I tried to make vegetable lumpia (lumpiang gulay) for dinner. They actually turned out better than I expected, except I put too much carrot. At least now I know. Also, they are pretty hard to fry, but not really, its just waaaay more oily than I thought. For this cooking endeavor I give myself an A-/B+ (I’m a high grader). Hopefully I do better next time!

I’ve been really craving onion rings and guacamole (separately), and so last night was my night to settle my palette of fried foods and avocado. I wanted to make my own onion rings, but Simon said it would take too much work, so I ordered onion rings and cream cheese wontons from a local Chinese restaurant. (Yes, Chinese restaurants in NY serve onion rings). I just want to get this out of the way — those cream cheese wontons were GROSS. First of all, I was just expecting the cheese, but what I was thinking? It definitely came with imitation crab. In theory this doesn’t bother me, but Simon took the first bite, and noticed the crab and gave me the rest of his wonton to finish. Then I took a bite, and seriously — the crab flavor overpowered the cheese, and that flavor was not so great. We didn’t eat anymore wontons the rest of the night.

As for the guacamole, it turned out pretty legit. Nothing too exciting about it, except that its guacamole, and buying it at a restaurant costs like $6.00 for chips and guac. What is that about NY? Our guac includes: red onion, tomato, cayenne, cumin, lime, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro. Anyway, it was nice to have and now I want more. I can never say no to guacamole. Good chip and dip night overall. I love snacky dinners.

Earlier today Simon and I went to Barnes & Nobles, and I checked out some cookbooks for some new recipes. I found a cookbook titled All About Tofu and was inspired by a fried tofu recipe. On our way home from the bookstore, we stopped by Trader Joe’s and spoiled ourselves buying produce we never buy such as baby broccoli and pea shoots, and other goodies.

When we got back to the apartment, we decided to make our own marinade for the fried tofu which included minced jalapenos, green onions, soy sauce, chili sauce, a little bit of vinegar, and sesame oil. After marinating for about 30-45 minutes, we covered the tofu in flour and fried it. IT WAS EFFING DELICIOUS - everything I wanted and MORE. Spicy with a slightly crispy texture on the outside, and soft texture on the inside. For our side dish, I fried the baby broccoli in soy sauce and sesame oil, and Simon made a dip of soy sauce and siracha. (We really like soy sauce). Also, Simon cooked some wildrice, mixed with white rice, mushrooms and onions. It was overall a delicious meal, and I attribute it to the Simon-Bernice cooking tag team effort.