International Food Experience at East Lansing MSU of Campus Food and Restaurants (1)

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Skyin

When trying to find material for my blog of food review and recopies, I reviewed most of the pictures I took during the last one year when I was living in Owen Hall on MSU campus. With the inconvenience of cooking on campus living, I have got more chances to eat outside. However, as a Chinese, I was desperately in need those friends who live off-campus to “feed” me during those days. Luckily, MSU on campus food do have some great choices, and also there are some good restaurants out there in East Lansing. Following are some of my collections of the international food experience I had last one year.

1. MSU on campus Cafeteria

My favorite ones are Gallery and Brody! Share with you some pics I took!

These are typical kinds of meal I had in MSU cafeteria.

(when you see some pics in empty plate, it means that one is sooooo good that I did not have time to take pic until I finish them!)

One thing I would miss most about MSU are MSU Ice creams!!!

2. Some Good Restaurants to Try

Actually I have not tried so many restaurants in East Lansing. However, for those international students who are in the same situation (on campus living, no car) as I did in my first year here, these maybe your choices to try.

Everyday Chinese Restaurant

Ok, I have to admit, I don’t have any pictures taken when eating there, but this is my favorite Chinese restaurant in East Lansing. They belong to Cantonese Cuisine which are comparatively moderate flavor than Sichuan cuisine. I heard that they have changed their menu this semester with even better food!!

Maru Sushi & Omi Sushi

Maru has always been one of my favorite sushi restaurants in East Lansing last year. My must-to-eat dishes include Soy Joy and Maru Signature Salad!

(Yes! It’s the first page of my blog! See how much I love Soy Joy!)

For Omi Sushi, its location is really advantageous to those who don’t want to go too far from campus. Located near Grand River Avenue near campus, you can go there whenever you want even without car or bus if you live on campus!

Thai Princess

Thai Princess is also my love! I heard from some Thailand friends that this is said to be authentic Thai food. One thing to mention is its enjoyable dining environment and experience with aesthetic appealing interior decoration, good services, and also great FOOD!

Udon

Udon is my first favorite when I just arrived here in MSU. The interior design is pretty special! Just can not forget the peanut bubble tea!!

Ok. That’s for today’s sharing. Again, feel free to share your thoughts here! Impressive international food on campus or any favorite or bad restaurants in East Lansing? Tell us your International food experience!!

American Veggies Grill-It’s So convenient and delicious!!

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Skyin

Before I start my first recipe, I would like to thank my dear roommates Laura, Erika, and Camille, who lead me into a whole new different world of international food! Their excellent cooking and generous sharing change my perception of American food. My dear international friends, step into real America by starting with trying diverse American Food!

One thing keeps me from cooking is the long time and preparation to start cooking. Therefore, I am especially interested in the convenient yet tasty recipes! The American Veggie Grill is a very good example!

Ingredients: Mushrooms (my personal favorite, MUST-HAVE!) , Green and Red Peppers, Green Beans, Onions, Green Onions, (Almost Any veggies you like)

Steps:

Cut the veggies into shapes like the picture below, oh wait, mushrooms are not cut yet, just cut them into half pieces!

2. Fold them into foil paper with olive oil, salt, and pepper on the veggies. Take the pictures below for references. ( Lucky that I took pictures, sorry for my limited vocabulary, I am making efforts to enrich it!!)

3. We grilled them but also you can just put them into Oven at the temperature of 350 F, and bake for about 20-30 minutes. The time may differ.Every oven has its own “temper”. The oven in my house is a strong one!

4. Finally! It is what you get! Juicy fresh veggies with their original flavors!

Which is your favorite food blog?

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Skyin

After reviewing the food blogs I mentioned in my first post and more appealing food blogs, I felt like becoming a full-time food blogger because the more I explore, the more excited I am, and to maintain an informative, attractive blog, tons of efforts are required!

Ok, I would like to share with you what I have found as the common features of good food blogs:

1. “Tasty” Photos: No matter what kind of food you are talking about, those food in brighter, more professional looking photo are more attractive for readers. The high quality of pictures of food or restaurants or kitchen in recipes posts are very helpful in generating readers’ desire to dig out more. (TasteSpotting.com is a very good example of how you would become hungry just by looking at pictures!)

(Source: http://www.tastespotting.com/browse/3)

2. Rich References of how food tastes: Instead of simply using “sweet”, “spicy”,”salty”,”juicy”, to make the tastes clearer and more vivid, references matter. For example, as sweet as caramel is definitely different from the sweet like cane sugar! Another good example is people’s different acceptance level of “Spicy”. I have heard some stories that usually when an American says he/she loves spicy food, the level of his/her spicy is quite uncertain! If the description can use more references, reader would have closer understanding of how exactly the dish tastes.

3. Make the food blog unique with your Identity: Recipes and food reviews from interesting writers turn to be creative and interesting. Those from serious bloggers are serious. With increasing popularity of food blog, how to stand out? The secret lies in your ability to mark the content with your identity!

The above are the three points I concluded from the observations till now, but I believe there must be much more out there waiting for me to learn!

Dear friends, can you share with me which is your favorite food blog and why you like it? Thanks for helping me to be your next top food blog!