November is the season for pumpkin! A day's worth of pumpkin recipes to try~

My favorite thing about NOVEMBER is all of the food, family, and warm thoughts associated with the Thanksgiving season. However, one of the first things that comes to mind when I think November is without-a-doubt pumpkin! 

So below is a list of five pumpkin recipes that I can't wait to try! And hey, I just bought five cans of PUMPKIN PUREE. Yay!

1. BREAKFAST: Protein Pumpkin Oatmeal with Egg Whites

EGG WHITES? I know that sounds kind of odd in oatmeal, but doesn't Brittany from Eating Bird Food's recipe look absolutely delicious? Furthermore, the egg whites give you an extra boost of protein in the morning--perfect as a POST-WORKOUT MEAL... that is, if you can wake up that early!

2. MEAL: Black Bean and Pumpkin Veggie Burgers

Although I typically think of desserts when it comes to pumpkin, Anne from Fannetastic Food manages to combine black beans and pumpkin into a totally HEALTHY and DELICIOUS-LOOKING veggie burger! I can't wait to try it out~ 

3. SNACK: Pumpkin Cheesecake Crepes 

PUMPKIN and CHEESECAKE! What could be better than this? When I first saw Ashton from Something Swanky's recipe, the first thought that came to mind was, "I can't wait for my afternoon snack."

4. DESSERT: Healthy Pumpkin Pie

PUMPKIN PIE is a must-have staple during the Thanksgiving season, and I'm sure thankful for Chocolate-Covered Katie's recipe. Not only is it DIET-FRIENDLY, the pie looks absolutely mouth-watering!

5. DRINK: Healthier Pumpkin Spice Latte

The word HEALTHY always catches my eye! After all, who wouldn't want to "INDULGE" in a healthy treat? Megan from the Detoxinista has the perfect recipe for pumpkin spice latte~

Hope you guys enjoyed this post! 

Let me know what your favorite part about November is!

Home Sweet Home: Mom's (& Dad's) Cooking!

Hey guys! Wow, it's been forever since my last post.

School has been super crazy. I don't know why, but I thought I could take on 20 units (as opposed to the typical 16 units most students take) and still handle grad school interviews. Well, I definitely got under three to four hours of sleep at least four days a week. However, things are getting better now; grad school interviews are over! So thankful and so relieved!

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Anyways, last weekend I went home to Portland to celebrate my birthday with family! (...I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22.... eh sorry, lol) It was such a blessing after all those weeks of stressing over interviews and school. Although I still had a lot of homework to do, there's just something about being at home that makes everything better.

As expected, we went out to eat a lot. On the night we got back, we went to a steakhouse called Ringside Steakhouse. I'm no expert when it comes to steak, but I thought it was pretty good! I got the dry aged New York with a baked potato as a side. Dessert was their cheesecake. It was overall a very delicious and flavorful meal. Sadly, I don't have any good pictures because my iPhone's picture quality is absolute horrendous when it comes to dark lighting.

However, my favorite thing about going home is still definitely home-cooked meals. What can beat the taste of mom's (and dad's) cooking, right?

Don't they look adorable together? <3 <3 <3 I love my parents, haha.

Tofu Shrimp with Wood Ear Mushrooms

Radish with Oyster Mushrooms

Some dishes even came with love from my grandma (奶奶 - "nainai"), who lives in China! My dad had just come back from a trip to China, and he brought back a glutinous rice product that my nainai made and dried herself! Yay~ This is the end product:

This pancake (饼 - "bing") is made of the glutinous rice product--sorry! not sure what it's called--and the inside is a filling of tofu, egg, and salted vegetables. It's pan-fried, which makes the outside kind of crunchy but leaves the inside chewy. Super delicious!

The weekend definitely passed way too fast! I love LA and all, but I feel like every time I go home to the Pacific Northwest, it gets harder and harder to go back to LA. :( Does anyone else feel the same way?

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Burnt Toast and Beard Papa's?

I burned six slices of bread the last couple days! I'm too lazy to turn on the oven, so I usually just toast my toast on the stove. But more often than not, I forget about it.... and why hello Mr. Burnt Toast!

Lol, don't ask...

Anyways!! My post today is on Beard Papa's. I didn't realize until this summer that this was an international chain. I saw it when I was in Shanghai, and my roommate said she's been to the Beard Papa's in South Korea too! When I checked out their website, I saw they even have locations in Russia, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. Cool eh?

Earlier this week, my sister bought a Groupon, which gave us a $10 for $16 discount. Since Beard Papa's is best known for their cream puffs, we decided to get $16 worth of cream puffs! We bought three very berry ones and five vanilla ones.

The Making Process:
Seeing them make the cream puffs was really cool. Although the dough part was already made, they add the filling when you order! They stick a tube into the puff and "inject" it with the cream filling.

The Review:
To tell the truth, I was slightly disappointed with this Beard Papa's. I didn't like how the bakery only had two flavors available when I went: the very berry one and the vanilla one. I thought there would have be more options, but I guess they only have strawberry (which they didn't have at the time) and vanilla daily with one specialty flavor each week. Today, it was the very berry cream puff.

Vanilla Cream Puff

Furthermore, the cream puffs themselves weren't as good as I thought. That's not to say I didn't enjoy them, but my expectations were definitely built really high after hearing so many people rave about them. I tried both the vanilla and the very berry one, but I liked the berry one better.

(Sorry, I ate the very berry cream puff before I took a picture!!)

But the reason why I liked the berry one better is probably because the vanilla filling had a slightly more milky flavor, which I'm not a huge fan of. Nevertheless, I loved--LOVED--the creamy, smooth texture of the cream and how the cream puffs aren't overly sweet.

Overall... I'd probably go again, not by myself, but definitely if friends wanted to go. I probably won't get the vanilla one a second time, but I really want to try some of their other flavors. Maybe the green tea one?!

Have you been to Beard Papa's? If so, what's your favorite flavor?