finding your bliss x canellini bean and pancetta pizza

There's nothing I enjoy more than a cold slice of pizza. You wake up after a late night, find leftover pizza in the fridge, and start munching while brewing coffee in your pajamas. Is there no better way to celebrate a successful night and the beginning of a new day? Because I love leftovers, I purposely made extra. My boyfriend is partial to a simple margherita, but I love a white pizza. Trying to find a healthy alternative without tomato (just a bit tomato-ed out from this summer), I settled with a cannellini bean and pancetta pizza with fontina cheese and a lot of arugula on top. Some confit garlic and chili flakes sealed the deal. I had so much dough, and so little oven space, all my pizzas had to be baked in quarter sheet pans. Juggling a ton of quarter sheet pans of pizza with limited counter space, I vowed never to be greedy about making so much for leftovers. Ah the joys of apartment living in NYC. We'll see how my promise holds up.

finding your bliss x sundays at home

Sundays are bittersweet. It's one whole day dedicated to rest but at the same time it's the last of the weekend. Because of that, I relish it. I save my favorite books, shows, and recipes for Sunday. Alas, I'm also a procrastinator so I always have to catch up with laundry and chores. On the plus side, it's nice to start the week with a clean home. My Sunday ritual is to cook a leisurely brunch, flip through cookbooks for work inspiration, buy myself flowers and enjoy a good book or show. It's pampering & relaxing, and centers me for the coming week. It never fails to put me in a good mood even if I know a busy week is coming. What are your sunday rituals? 

finding your bliss x everything but the kitchen sink ramen

Since I work in a professional kitchen, most people assume that I am an amazing cook at home. Not...exactly. I love pastry and making desserts, but it's different when it's your profession. Not to mention, savory food is a completely different mindset. At work I'm all about precision, consistency, and volume. I use my arsenal of tested recipes and techniques to ensure that every guests gets exactly what they want. But at home, anything goes. I don't follow recipes and I cook on a whim. There's something very satisfying when you're cooking for yourself. That gets lost sometimes at work, cooking is part of the hospitality business, its all about the guests. Honestly, most of the time I'm too tired to cook an entire meal after I get home

. And that's when ramen comes into play. I love packaged noodles. I grew up on them. There's just something so comforting to me about the chewy noodles, salty and spicy broth, and the fact that it cooks in 5 minutes in one pot. When I come home after a long day, it's Shin Ramyun noodles with all the leftovers I can fit in the bowl. This is an example of one of my leftover ramen dishes. I always have kimchi at home (perks of dating a Korean who's mother makes amazing homemade kimchi), so that is thrown in. Tofu, check. I always have some type of leftover protein, whether it's korean bbq, steak, chicken, seafood, that gets thrown in. Of course you have to have vegetables, so thats where the pea shoots come in. All that gets topped with some chopped green onion. My other ramen add-in favorites include an egg, avocado, melted american cheese, bok choy, baby spinach, and seaweed. Honestly, anything works. It's whatever you want to eat. That's the best part. A bowl of this, on the couch, watching my favorite show (currently, Scandal) and it is bliss.