I know I haven’t written in a loong time. It’s not that I’m ignoring you intentionally, it’s just that my life is flooded with a lot of drama that I don’t want to go into depth. If you can recall recently about my mom being sick and all, she has been operated a couple of days ago and she’s doing okay so far. She’s just fatigued and a bit dizzy since she’s been in bed for a while and the surgery has taken a bit of a toll on her. As I’ve said earlier I’m behind so I’ll catch you up with the food things that happened since my last post that was notable.
Back two Friday mornings ago, my parents and I went to Mt. Sinai Hospital to meet the surgeon and consult about what will happen to my mom and schedule the surgery. After that, I have to run a few errands in regards to school so I left my parents and walked down Madison Avenue. Somehow I was curious to about Yura & Company’s food when I was about to pass by, and just dropped in to see what they have.
Pastry counter
Pastries
Eventually, I settled for a chocolate cupcake ($2) and a Parisian croissant ($2.75).
Cupcake
Innards
The cupcake was very moist and slightly dense. I didn’t really get much in terms of chocolate flavor or sweetness from the cake but it was made up from the frosting that topped it. It’s good but not my favorite.
Parisian Croissant
Bitten
The croissant would’ve been better if I haven’t eaten this at 11 AM. It’s light but the layers absorbed the pastry cream that it was a bit soggy. It’s sweet enough to satiate my sweet tooth in a croissant since it’s topped with powdered sugar, almonds, and that vanilla pastry cream. I like it in terms of the idea but I was disappointed in the soft, chewy texture.
The important event of sorts that happened last weekend was that it’s my younger brother’s birthday. He turned 20 as of last Saturday. Since I’m a baker in the family and I do want to do something special for him, I baked him a batch of Boston Cream cupcakes. Why Boston cream? It’s because of the fact that he loves the donut form and since I don’t have the patience to make a yeast donut batter, shape it, and fry them I just make a cupcake version. It’s less of a hassle to do so. The recipe I used was from Cupcake Bakeshop’s blog, using the Martha Stewart’s version of this cupcake sans the banana. Here’s the photo of the finished product:
Agreeing to what Cheryl of Cupcake Bakeshop said, the cupcake is dense than light and it did lacked character even though I did add an extra teaspoon of vanilla, it didn’t really help it either. At least my family did enjoy the cupcakes, so no complaint there.
My mom wanted to take my brother out for dinner just because he’s leaving home soon to back upstate to Bingamton for school and for his birthday. Strangely, she picked out this Chinese restaurant in Flushing called Linden Place, where they did have dim sum back in February during Chinese New Year. I have never went there before since classes were still on even though it’s my holiday of sorts. Anyways, this place looked nice but so…gaudy.
Looking toward the dance floor
Near the bar area
The seating/lounge area
My parents somehow liked the decor; thinking it looks upscale and grandeur. I just hope besides (being blinded with so much dramatic reds and gold) is that the food is good. My parents ended up choosing four dishes, most of them being seafood dishes.
The sugar snap peas and seafood stir fry (it’s not the actual name but it’s what I can think of) was good. The vegetables, scallops, and shrimp weren’t overcooked. The interesting ingredient in this dish was the use of mango. I thought the mango was a bit odd since the raw-sour flavor of the fruit was a bit too overbearing once I eat it with the other elements.
Bowl of sizzling seafood
The Thai Seafood Bowl came out hot and sizzling when the waiter brought it to our table. As much as I appreciate the fact that the food is a bit spicy (a bit too hot for my brother), I just hated the fact that the squid was overcooked. It felt like I’m chewing rubber.
Seafood rice
My parents ordered what they thought was seafood stir-fried rice but it’s actually rice with seafood on top since this particular dish was listed under the different types of stir-fried rice that restaurant offers. Anyways, this wasn’t so bad. Nothing was overcooked and it’s seasoned just fine.
A plate of fried pork chops
This dish above is basically a plate of fried pork chops (technically it’s near the rib) mixed in a sweet and sour sauce. This dish is essentially what I have many times while I was growing up, whenever my family ate out amongst ourselves or with my relatives in a restaurant. Why is that? I don’t know. I guess it’s something that has to do with having the fried meat with a tasty sauce that is so appealing to every soul who is going to devour them. In case you’re wondering, this dish was tasty but I wish the pork itself had more meat than bone.
The dish you see above was almost the biggest disappointment of the night since this was supposed to be a flounder stir-fry. But as you can see there isn’t much fish in there; it’s just mostly celery with a few chunks of fish. It would’ve been better if we had known that this would cost less than $20, which was the price of this dish.
Fruit
To cap off our entire meal, they present us with the typical plate of fruit but it’s pineapple and watermelon, and the sweet red bean soup (I didn’t take a photo of the latter). Here’s a few photos of my family and my dad.
Fast forward to the past Friday, I visited my mom the day after her surgery and on the way back home I dropped in Dean & Deluca for no good reason. Honestly it’s been a long while since I’ve been in any Dean & Deluca store. As I perused their goods, I ended up getting Baked‘s Salty & Sweet Brownie ($3.50) since I’m too lazy and I don’t have the time to schlep all the way to Red Hook, Brooklyn to get my grubby paws on their baked goods.
Brownie
Innards
I’m really surprised how moist this brownie is. It’s almost fudgey but not exactly fudgey…if you get my drift. The chocolate flavor was quite robust and the sweetness was highlighted by the salted caramel. Ooh, I like this brownie a lot. I just don’t really like the fact that I have to shell out a bit more than three bucks for a brownie. I need their recipe.
Then today, I visited my mom again but then went to the west side of the city to pick up textbooks for my classes since it’s starting on Monday. I hate lines so that’s why I ordered in advance so it makes my life microscopically less stressful than what it is already. Anyways, since I was early before my school’s bookstore opened, I went back to my old standby, Bouchon Bakery and picked up their seasonal almond fig pound cake ($4.75) and a peach jam donut ($4.25) to go and eat at home.
Donut
Innards
Even though this donut has been braving through the muggy heat that New York is going through, this donut is texturally heavy to me. It’s not really light, I tasted a hint of the oil that it’s been fried in and the peach jam isn’t that peachy. I’m a bit disenchanted.
At least the almond fig pound cake fared a lot better. It’s packed with a ton of dried figs, the cake was light and vanilla-y, and it’s sweet enough. I would sum it up that Bouchon’s desserts have its hits and misses after trying almost everything they have.
A small note to the reader: I know those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know I’m obsessed with this place but I’m trying not to go there that often since this is going to be my last semester in college so I want to make the most out of it by not eating here as much as I used to.
Addresses:
Yura & Company
1292 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10128
Linden Place
34-20 Linden Place
Flushing, NY 11354
Dean & Deluca
1150 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10028
Bouchon Bakery
10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10019
