On my third attempt making arepas, I finally felt like they were perfect. The first try was a complete failure. The second was tasty but the arepas were a little too thick. I suppose the third time is a charm cliche is true because making these was quick and effortless, the whole lunch taking only 25 minutes. I had this filling at caracas arepa bar (if you refresh a few times, its actually on the landing page) and was very interested in the idea of a chicken salad with avocado instead of mayo. I do it all the time with tuna salad, but previously hadn’t thought of it with chicken. I have extra everything, and can’t wait to have another for lunch today!

This was the last dish I made during my 2 week stay in Manhattan. Nick had two of his cousins up visiting and they drove me home the next morning. Thanks for the ride guys! I have never really heard of a Chinese casserole, but recently Chow has linked me on a thread complaining about the fact that casseroles are crap, so I feel the need to keep making new and innovative ones! This dish would NOT been as good if it was not in a casserole form. Take that food snobs!

I think that sundried tomatoes are a great match for cheesy pasta. For some reason, this idea popped into my head a few weeks back and it was the perfect thing to cook for some of nicks friends when I was staying in his apartment last week. This is the best time of the year to use sundried tomatoes, when tomatoes at the store are pretty gross tasting and nothing is fresh and local. Sundried tomatoes pack such an awesome deep tomato flavor.

This didn’t really photograph well being all white, but it actually came out really good. It sort of blew people minds having a cheesecake as an appetizer instead of a dessert, but it didn’t seem that weird to me. Honestly if you think about it, cheese seems weirder as a dessert, doesn’t it? I stole this recipe from Giada, but I added some spinach to it, to make it red and green for Christmas.