what goes moo...

cows. i like them animals because they give us beef and cheese. needless to say, when it comes to food that is a combination of the two, i am a hopeless fan. for them, i am willing to travel. in fact, i did.
some months ago, a few like-minded friends and i took a short day trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, home to the renowned Wharton business school. it was convenient to use visiting upenn as a pretense for our true purpose. but i must admit that the school's architecture was really quite pretty and the business school stood out for being lavish, with wood being the most obvious styling point of the modern interior design. names of very recognizable alumni donors tiled one of the main corridors in Wharton. school visit - checked.

Pat's Philly Cheesesteaks

what we really came for was the Philly Cheesesteaks. legend has it that in the 1930's, two hotdog sellers had a brainwave and decided to serve up something different for lunch. one of them bought some thinly sliced steak from the market, and proceeded to chop up the beef and some onions for grilling. the sizzling product was served on hotdog buns. it was not until 20 something years later did they drizzle the steak sandwiches with cheese wiz. the Philly Cheesesteak was thus born.

due to time constraints, we could only try the two most famous names in town- Pat's (inventor of the sandwich), and Jim's. Pat's beef came in slices that was a tad overcooked, but it was well seasoned and the generous drenching of wiz provided the cheese-lover in me the extra oomph. Jim's beef was minced, moist and very tender, though lacking in salt. i suspect i should have ordered it with extra wiz. Jim's hoagie was also very much more flavorful and had a more robust bite than Pat's. in my opinion, Jim's cheesesteak much surpassed the founder's.

Pre-sliced beef and onions at Jim's

Very juicy cheesesteak at Jim's

although the sandwiches were good, they didn't give me the satisfaction i was looking for. well, i guess only burgers can satiate a burger fan's bovine desires. for the past semester, i'd been on the lookout for The Burger. that meant trawling food blogs, food forums and professional food critiques. i've sampled some of the more popular ones, like Burger Joint, Island Burger, and 5 Guys. in all honesty, they were good, but never great. however, i did have a near-great experience at Shake Shack, Madison Square Park during late fall.

Alfresco dining at Shake Shack, when New York was much warmer

the Shack Burger was simple - a thin patty cooked medium and accompanied by a slice of American cheese, fresh lettuce and two tomato slices, drizzled with the Shack sauce, all sandwiched between two lightly buttered and fried potato buns. it was moist, fresh, beefy, and bursting with flavor. oh yes, it was awesome. the chocolate milkshake was so rich it was like drinking ice cream - just the way i enjoy my shake.

in the hope to relive that experience, i went down to the recently-opened joint at upper west. this time, i ordered the Double Stack instead, which is the Shack Burger stuffed with a 'Shroom patty. the 'Shroom is essentially an inch-think portobello and melted cheese patty that's lightly breaded and fried.

Narrowed vision of a hungry man

From top to bottom: bun, lettuce, tomato, 'Shroom, cheese, beef, bun

the Double Stack had a lot of potential, but it crashed like the Dow because people got greedy. i thought the burger was trying to achieve too much. this was an enormous burger that will have many people finding trouble taking a full bite off it - which i think totally defeats the purpose. to me, a good burger should be sized for a mouthful just big enough to get a little of everything; this one was just a little too tall. because the 'Shroom was twice as thick as the beef - which to me should be the star of the show - it completely overwhelmed the poor dead animal. all i tasted was mushroom and cheese. not that it didn't taste good, but for me it took the meat out of the burger which lowers it to the rank of a sandwich, really. just like how some highly-acclaimed movies can leave you with a twang of disappointment because you expected much more, i suffered the same fate because Shake Shack did the unthinkable - my beef patty came well done.

5 guys and 2 girls

i like having friends over for dinner. not just the type of affair where the hosts cook and the guests are waited on, but also potlucks whereby each guest brings along a dish of his or her choice. the part i enjoy most, aside from the eating and chatting, is the anticipation about what each friend would prepare. each dish reveals a little about how adventurous and experienced the chef is, and the philosophy he or she has regarding food. it's not about judging each other - it's learning a little more about a friend, and having fun while doing it.

what more, it's a great time to experiment with new recipes and get suggestions on how to improve on them, although i suspect everyone was very polite tonight. personally, i thought my muffins were a little overdone (either the folding or baking) because it turned out slightly firmer than i wanted them to be. i was looking for a moist, fluffy texture with substantial density, somewhat resembling that of a pound cake. also, it lacked that buttery fragrance and sugar punch that make muffins taste as sinful as they really are and should be. not too bad for a first, but plenty of room for improvement!

Cooking With Thalia

i once made a crack at the notion of gender role reversals by throwing out the possibility that men would give birth some day not too far in the future. more seriously, i have noticed that men today are spending time on activities that used to be reserved for women, and vice versa. specifically, i am referring to baby-tending (because i overdosed on John and Kate plus 8 over the summer), and cooking at home.

so i returned home from school on sunday night to be greeted by JC who said he decided to "busy himself with domestic chores" since he had a leisure few hours to spare. also, the words "leave some room for dessert" left his lips.

believe it or not, that was my first time eating creme caramel. or at least i don't have any prior memory of such eggy, sugary goodness. personally, i am no fan of custard because its texture didn't quite appeal to me right from when i was a kid; sure i'd eat it but i won't order it for myself. this one changed my dated impression.

you can find the recipe by cooking with thalia.