sweet-and-spicy-blog:

Strawberry flip | Colossal Cafe | Minneapolis, MN

Hello, world! Sweet and Spicy is a food blog where Sweet and I (Spicy) will share photos of food we eat or make during our four years of medical school.

First up is a pillowy-light strawberry flip we shared at Colossal Cafe in Minneapolis. A flip, based on this trip, is a thin slice of white sponge cake embracing a generous portion of homemade whipped cream and a sliced strawberry. The cake was so light that it dissolved on the tongue, and the cream was delicious—but how hard is it to mess up whipped cream?

I ate my half so ravenously that Sweet let me steal a few bites from hers. I’m a bad person.

We came across this gem when we spontaneously decided to head up to the Twin Cities to see the Qin Terracotta warriors at the Minneapolis Institutes of Art. It was a well-deserved break, after enduring seven grueling weeks of anatomy. If anyone tells you anatomy isn’t that bad, they’re lying. It’s fun in that it forces you to bond with you classmates—but only because it involves daily shared suffering.

So taking a trip to eat at a famous diner and to go look at awe-inspiring ancient art made me and Sweet feel like real human beings again. Real human beings inhaling spoonfuls of cake and whipped cream.

My friend and I started a med school/food blog! Please follow!

I’m Spicy ;)

Pho by ~liminowl

My second food doodle! First one here.

Most Vietnamese people will agree that either fish sauce or pho broth runs through their veins. My mom and I could probably eat pho every week! For those who don’t know, pho is a traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup that is served with a large array of fresh, healthy and flavorful condiments. And Sriracha is a red chili sauce (of Thai origin, I think) that is notorious for being delicious on everything from pizza and burgers to pho.

What I’ve depicted here is my idea of pho—it’s not meant to be universal, so don’t get mad if you don’t agree!! The escarole (and Italian lettuce related to frisee) is a tradition I think is unique to my family, but I’m not sure. It’s definitely not offered in any restaurant I’ve been to.

And because my mom cooks pho at home, we get to keep all the buttery-delicious globs of marrow, fat and tendon that we can coax off the beef bones she used for the broth! Now that marrow is becoming more popular among mainstream America, I bet if someone offered that as a topping in a restaurant, there’d be a long line going out the door!

For me, beef pho is always the way to go. Chicken pho is okay. And then “vegetarian” pho or “seafood” pho are giant signs to run away—you’re better off ordering something else off the menu. But I don’t like restaurant pho, to be honest. Mom’s homemade pho is always the most delicious…

Kimbap by ~liminowl

I really like kimbap…and food illustrations…so I made this! I like how ‘rustic’ it turned out.

Spring rolls, pho, my dream burger are all on my (growing) list…

Tilleul Tea by ~liminowl

CHECK OUT ALL MY TEA ILLUSTRATIONS ON DEVIANTART OR ON TUMBLR.

 If you click through, you’ll see in addition to the usual “about this tea” and “how this tea inspired this” there is an opening section that’s something like “I’m sorry this is so bad”

Assam Tea by ~liminowl

FINALLY!! Now back to studying for tomorrow’s exam…

CHECK OUT ALL MY TEA ILLUSTRATIONS ON DEVIANTART OR ON TUMBLR.

Reasons I am reposting this gif:

1. It is awesome.

2. I’m back from the Bahamas!! I ate so much and got so fat.

3. During this vacation, I read The Road and The Hobbit and loved both books! The Road was really powerful and moving; The Hobbit was an entertaining and smooth read, not slow, boring or difficult like I expected. I can see now how The Hobbit is always called a children’s book, and a little curious about how the movie is going to have the same serious flavor as the Lord of the Rings movies.

More about the cruise—it was really fun! I learned how to ride a motor scooter on a sketchy parking lot in Key West, under beautiful blue skies. I felt so badass but really I was just riding in circles haha

Then I went snorkeling for the second and third time at Rainbow Reef, Bahamas (near Nassau) and in Cococay, Bahamas (a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. At Cococay I went all by myself and swam far away from shore. I swam through a cloud of friendly fish and even up to a huge grouper-like thing. I felt pretty proud of myself.

Downside to the whole trip was there were A LOT of old people. My family and I felt like we were stuck on a floating nursing home. And a lot of them were really snooty.

Funny story, on the first night the entertainment was a comedy show. The comedian opened with a long joke about Vietnamese people and nail salons. “They won the war and now they’re coming over here to do our nails!”

:I

Echinacea Tea by ~liminowl

Click through to read about my thought process, and about Echinacea tea.

CHECK OUT ALL MY TEA ILLUSTRATIONS ON DEVIANTART OR ON TUMBLR.

Darjeeling by ~liminowl

Click through to read about it.

 CHECK OUT ALL MY TEA ILLUSTRATIONS ON DEVIANTART OR ON TUMBLR.

Dragon Jasmine Pearl Tea by ~liminowl

Second in my series of personified teas. Dragon Jasmine Pearl, or Dragon Pearl Jasmine, it’s the same thing. Getting hectic with school and stuff, so next one won’t be coming for a while.

CHECK OUT ALL MY TEA ILLUSTRATIONS ON DEVIANTART OR ON TUMBLR.

Paris Black Tea by ~liminowl

First in my series of personified teas. Paris Black Tea is the only brand-specific tea I will use, and it is owned by Harney & Sons and not me. I was inspired by its description as a black tea flavored with hints of “currant, caramel & citrus”.

CHECK OUT ALL MY TEA ILLUSTRATIONS ON DEVIANTART OR ON TUMBLR.