My life as a train commuter: Food

My office moved from Upper Saddle River [an average of a hour and 15 minutes drive north from my house on a good a good day] to Hoboken [60 minute train ride plus 10 minute car ride to the train station] this February and my life as train commuter began.

I tried my hand at train commuting to Upper Saddle River when the gas prices were high but that took over 2 hours a day [don't know why it so hard to commute within the state when it is so easy to commute NYC]. I gave that up when the weather started getting bad out.

Matcha Smoothie for my breakfast

I have to say food is playing a big part of this new commute. I pack my breakfast, lunch and snack for the day and a lot of planning goes into that--how to pack it up, will it travel well, do it fall into my dietary restrictions and does it taste good. Sundays is all about what is on the menu for lunch that week.

Breakfast for me for the longest time has been oatmeal with greek yogurt, some kind of fruit and a spoonful of my jam. But a bit bulky to transport [on top of my lunch] and I've been look for something new. 

That's where my matcha smoothie comes in. I've been a little matcha crazy since my valentine's day dessert. I was looking for something else to make with matcha. I found a smoothie recipe with oatmeal and my insulated travel mug that locks [I can shove into side water bottle holder in my backpack], so everything looks good from here.

I'm sure this smoothie can be fiddle with whatever you have at home but this is what I have now and it has been keeping me full way past usually lunch time. And I'm hoping I don't have to drink as much coffee now that my smoothie has matcha in it. Let's see how that goes. 

1.25c some kind of milk 
1/2 of banana, frozen better
handful of another fruit [frozen berries are always in my freezer]
1/2c old fashion oatmeal
1/2t matcha
1t sweetener [whatever you like honey, agave, brown rice syrup]

If your fruits are not frozen, I'd add some ice to thicken it up a bit. Blend until smooth. May need to adjust sweetener. 

My Valentine's Day sweets

I'm resigned to the fact that the week or so before valentine is a very busy time for me. And last week didn't let me down. Started out with my meringue kisses dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkles. And . . . I forgot to take a picture of it. I didn't do the technique I tested a week before--too messy and sticky so I stuck to the pale pink kisses. 

I brought back the old favorite --red velvet cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache and topped with cream cheese frosting. I need to make another batch tonight all gone in 3 days. I guess they missed their favorite cupcakes.

red velvet cupcake--everyone's favorite

I was talked into making this next dessert by the chefs, wait staff and friends. I didn't think it would do well but I thought I'd try. Although it is one of my favorite sweet, most people don't like the the chewy texture of chi chi dango. Chi chi dango is a sweeten mochi made with mochiko [sweet rice flour], coconut milk and sugar, flavored with vanilla and tinted with food coloring. I used a this recipe from justjennrecipes. Really simple and makes a lot.

Decided to fancy it up cut the dango into heart shapes and added matcha and raspberry sauce with a strawberry. [all the extra dango I sliced up for samples for the customers and the any extra for the restaurant staff]

slightly creamy and bitter

plated!

I made two more desserts for the valentines weekend--chocolate molten cake and coconut lime pie. No time for the cheesecake or the flourless chocolate sesame cake, it was just too much.

But I did me something on Sunday--Korean sweet potato doughnuts. These are made with mochiko and has a chewy texture similar to mochi. I posted about these doughnuts here. I was inspired by friend's post on doughnuts. This is what I made. Shared with the staff at the restaurant. I think I made the happy.

getting golden brown

cinnamon sugar coated