KALI EATS

hi! I just discovered your site through Very Short List. Did the inspiration for some of your childhood drawings come from "Berenstein Bears and Too Much Junk Food" by any chance? I too was obsessed with illustrations of food in children's books when I was a kid, and that one had lots of "Yums" and other fun things to look at. The Brambly Hedge books were another favorite. Boy, those mice could eat. thanks! Sarah

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:11:29 -0500

Haha, you are spot-on, Sarah! Yep, a lot of those little childhood drawings are copied from that book. I don’t remember The Brambly Hedge, but I think there was another book I liked about mice and a big strawberry?? I totally forgot the name. Mice are apparently big eaters!

And hopefully someday soon I will have enough spare time between projects to update this site…I’m glad people are still finding and enjoying it, though!

hellothisisfood: Free Donut Day! Go get a free donut and devour...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:25:13 -0400

hellothisisfood:

Free Donut Day! Go get a free donut and devour it.

More Nat’l Donut Day celebration— by Kyle Fewell! Donuts forever!!

fig. 06.01.12 DONUT Happy National Donut Day everyone! Today...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:34:30 -0400

fig. 06.01.12

DONUT

Happy National Donut Day everyone!
Today we celebrate the Salvation Army ‘Lassies’ who delivered donuts & cheer to WWI soldiers in the trenches. You can get a free donut from Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts (though only with purchase of a drink, at DD) today, and some independent donut stores have their own deals.
Go forth and celebrate American deliciousness!

As a youngster one of my favorite things to do was look through...

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:58:55 -0400

As a youngster one of my favorite things to do was look through all my illustrated kids books and pick out my favorite drawings of food from each one (ALL DESSERTS), and then I’d draw my own favorite foods (ALL DESSERTS) on little pieces of paper. Some things never change!

Since I’m still booked with a bunch of illustration work to do, I unearthed some of these early, early Kali Eats drawings—circa gradeschool/jr. high. Though technically most of these drawings are things I wanted to eat…I didn’t actually have 3 cakes, chips, a sundae, and a box of ‘yums’ all at once, though I’m sure I tried.

I am sooooo happy to see this blog because food is my favourite subject in art hurhur and your illustrations are gorgeoussssss <3 I would like to suggest soups! Cream soups specifically, you know, mushrooms, chicken, tomatoes, what-have-yous.

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:20:01 -0400

Aw, thank you! I’m also a fan of food art (can you tell??) ;) And soups! I’ll probably be making some sort of a tomato bisque this summer, it’s my favorite summer soup!

Hello food enthusiasts! Thanks for all the kind words and recipe...

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:49:22 -0400

Hello food enthusiasts! Thanks for all the kind words and recipe suggestions, guys, you are great! My apologies for the lack of posts lately—I have some food illos in the works (the drawing above is an WIP snippet of one!) but I also have some real illustration work to deal with first. Gotta pay the bills!

In the mean time, you might enjoy this recipe for Parmesan zucchini fries, which I am baking RIGHT NOW as I work. Cheers!

P.S. Can you guess the ingredients in my dinner, from the rough preview above??

Hey Kali! Awesome new blog, it's made me pine for my favorite sandwich at On The Hill- it's called The Eutaw and it's made of spinach, beats, avocado, spicy mayo, and goat cheese. So tasty and also pretty, you should go enjoy one for me while I'm out of town! -Devin

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:20:45 -0400

Hey Devin! I hope you’re having fun outside of Baltimore! :)
Yesss, On the Hill has some awesome sandwiches—I haven’t tried the Eutaw though! I definitely will next time, thanks for the tip!

Have you been to the Bolton Hill Deli next to the commons? The sandwiches there aren’t as fancy—though I usually just get a BLT anyway—but they are cheaper, AND they have a mindblowing Chai milkshake. ;) (always a bonus for me)

In fact, I should probably try making that milkshake at home…I’m pretty sure it’s only vanilla ice cream, milk, and some of that concentrated chai liquid (like Oregon chai). Whoops, now I’m hungry again!

fig. 05.09.12 honey butter thick challah slice, toasted TIP:...

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:13:00 -0400

fig. 05.09.12

honey
butter
thick challah slice, toasted

TIP: Slap the butter on the challah when it’s piping hot, add a nice honey drizzle, then swirl it all together with the knife. (Also great with strawberry cream cheese instead!) Super easy, super tasty.

I wanna see what u can do with cheesecake....

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:53:06 -0400

Oh man! Yes please. First I have to find a nice place around here that I can buy a slice of good cheesecake from, I don’t totally trust myself to make it….I’d probably eat a whole cake in a couple days.

Get a pot of water and make a large batch of black tea. Then add garlic, a few dried shiitake mushrooms and salt to season. Then prep some artichokes by pulling off all the leaves, spooning out all the choke and cleaning up the rest of the unwanted green parts with a vegetable peeler. Poach artichokes in the tea until tender. Remove and slice then saute with brown butter. Mix with pasta and fresh mint. Enjoy

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:26:01 -0400

Ooo, fancy!! Sounds delicious! I’ve never worked with fresh artichokes before, but sometime I’ll have to go on a culinary adventure and try this out :)

Some various meals I’ve had the last few days! Sometime...

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:37:00 -0400

Some various meals I’ve had the last few days! Sometime I’ll have to do dessert drawings—the amount of regular food on here belies the crazy sweet tooth I have.
I’ve been too busy working to do an involved illo, so I hope that these sketches suffice. As you can see, I reuse a lot of ingredients but try to make varied combos with them.

fig. 1 - sesame whole wheat bread, mayo, roma tomato, english cucumber, yellow pepper, avocado, english cucumber
fig. 2 - chicken flavored rice, kimchi, baked chicken, broccoli
fig. 3 - sesame whole wheat bread, goat cheese, mixed lettuces, sriracha sauce, yellow pepper, baked chicken, green onion, smashed avocado
fig. 4 - chicken flavored rice, broccoli, cheesy breaded baked chicken
fig. 5 - sesame whole wheat bread, goat cheese, mixed lettuces, sriracha, yellow pepper, english cucumber, mediterranean chicken salad (hummus, chicken, lemon, and green onions)
fig. 6 - country bread roll, goat cheese, arugula, garlic & herb sauteed mushrooms, goat cheese

suggestion: pasta, maybe? i had this amazing pasta from California Pizza Kitchen (which are only in the USA, i think- so depending on where you live you might be able to go to one). it was spaghetti with raw chopped tomatoes, cooked asparagus and spinach, and permesan cheese. it sounds simple (and it is), but it was so good!! drools :)

Tue, 08 May 2012 22:08:35 -0400

Yum! Y’know, most of the time the simple stuff is best! I love pasta, and I definitely eat other things besides sandwiches! I guess I’ve just been on a sandwich kick lately because I’ve been trying to get more veggies into my meals and it’s easy to just slap a bunch of ingredients between bread and have it turn out ok—and cheap too! Pasta and rice things will be in this blog’s future, though. I even hear-tell of mashing up avocado and using it as a pasta-sauce as is (!)

gantpants: Today’s Lunch! Inspired by Kali Ciesemier’s blog...

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:40:24 -0400

gantpants:

Today’s Lunch! Inspired by Kali Ciesemier’s blog Kali Eats as well as some delicious illustrations by Rebecca Bradley, and Kelly Lasserre.

Recipe:

1 Avocado
1 small can of tuna
1tbsp of EV Olive Oil
1tbsp of Balsamic vinaigrette or of lime juice
1 large tomato, halved, or 1 small tomato

feeds one mildly hungry guy for lunch.

Halve and pit your avocado. Salt and pepper to taste and leave it to the side. Slice your tomato evenly, salt and pepper to taste and leave it to the side.

In a bowl, mix tuna, vinegar, and olive oil together, until all the tuna is coated. add a little salt and pepper (i love pepper). Use a spoon to heap the tuna into the pit cavity in your avocado halves. Dribble what’s left of the dressing in the bowl over the avocado and tuna. Serve the tomatoes next to it and enjoy!

Try adding walnuts, celery bits, golden raisins, or other tasty things to the tuna, or make a traditional tuna salad by using 2 tbsps of mayonaise rather than the O/V mixture. You can also substitute chicken for tuna.

Also, you if you want a tasty hors-d’ouevre for a party, mix the avocado meat in with the rest of the tuna dressing mixture, and serve on sliced tomatoes on top of crackers. They’re colorful, and tasty.

:O !!! Gant, this is awesome, it looks and sounds delicious! I feel like a FOOL right now because I just ate the last of my avocado in a sandwich and I COULD HAVE DONE THIS INSTEAD! So good. More plz. (and you all should check out the rest of Gant, Rebecca, and Kelly’s work too!)

Anonymous asked kalieats: Next semester (hopefully!) I'll be moving out of the dorms and into an apartment and as silly as it sounds, I can't wait to do so so I can create all these lovely recipes you're compiling! I love sandwiches! Do you know any other blogs like this which I can add to my collection? :D

Sun, 06 May 2012 23:54:52 -0400

Hey, awesome! Have fun with your new kitchen! It’s always nice to get more space. :) I don’t follow any sandwich-specific blogs (and to be honest I wasn’t expecting to draw this many sandwiches in a row— I eat other things too!) but there are various types of food blogs I like to follow, like these:

*Marian Churchland’s hchom.com was actually an indirect inspiration for this tumblr. She posts illustrated lists of things she wants—generally focusing on food, clothes, and cool fantasy bits ‘n pieces. It doesn’t have many recipes per se, but if you enjoy collections of yummy-looking things like I do, then you will like this.

*If you’re looking for a tumblr of illustrated food, I looove Kyle Fewell’s drippy, smiley foodstuffs at Hello, this is food.

*I was also just recently made aware of Kat Verhoeven’s Drawn and Devoured, where she blogs about her eating experiences with bunches of illustrations!

As far as regular photography food blogs go, there are a few that I’ve been following for a while, all with yummy recipes!
*The Kitchy Kitchen— verrry nicely designed photos and videos.
*Just Hungry & Just Bento, sister sites with wonderful Japanese recipes from Makiko Itoh.
*Smitten Kitchen—Not many sandwiches, but lots of other things!

And of course, there’s my favorites FoodGawker and TasteSpotting, which I always seem to drool over at the latest possible time at night.

fig. 05.05.12 toasted ciabatta roll lemonaise...

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:04:07 -0400

fig. 05.05.12

toasted ciabatta roll
lemonaise (mayo)
kimchi
fried egg over easy

TIP: Sauté the kimchi in some butter briefly to warm it up and reduce the liquid. This sandwich is very tangy, do not make it if you’re on the fence about kimchi! I loved it, and may add some melted cheese next time! (I also think regular mayo may work better than lemonaise!)

fig. 05.04.12 rosemary & olive oil loaf goat...

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:32:00 -0400

fig. 05.04.12

rosemary & olive oil loaf
goat cheese
‘spring mix’ greens
sauteed onions
roast beef
red pepper pesto

TIP: assemble the beef & pesto (or anything slightly spicy or tangy—sriracha, peppadews, peppers, etc.) on one bread slice, spread the goat cheese on the other slice. While sauteeing the onion, toast both halves openface in toaster oven until everything becomes warm and melty. Add onion & greens, then EAT.

I had the most amazing sandwich at a local cafe. It was thick cut ham and brie cheese on a soft baguette then melted with a drizzle of spicy mango sauce. Everything complemented everything else perfectly!

Fri, 04 May 2012 23:31:22 -0400

Damn! Spicy mango sauce, eh? I feel like I need to be investigating more kinds of relishes and sauces around here, that all sounds delicious! At one of my local cafes I had a breakfast plate of thick ham on potato pancakes with apple butter that sounds like it had a similar balance of sweet/salty/fruity!

Something to broil, from bottom to top: slice of bread, avocado/guac spread like mayo, tuna mixed with thick salsa, cheese. :9

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:21:23 -0400

Ooo, this sounds gooood! Although I will admit I’m not much of a tuna salad person, so maybe a substitute of chicken or chickpeas would also be delicious? Or maybe it’s just time for me to give tuna another chance.
In any case, I’ll definitely give it a try! Yum! Thanks!

fig. 05.01.12 ‘spring mix’ greens diced pickled hot...

Tue, 01 May 2012 21:50:00 -0400

fig. 05.01.12

‘spring mix’ greens
diced pickled hot pepper (sport pepper)
ground black pepper
peeled & seeded cucumber
cilantro
hummus
red pepper pesto
pita bread

fig. 04.30.12 rosemary & olive oil loaf goat cheese sliced...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:35:00 -0400

fig. 04.30.12

rosemary & olive oil loaf
goat cheese
sliced peppadews
‘spring mix’ greens
roast beef
tomato slice
chopped olives