Dinners at home with my family almost always turns out to be a feast or buffet. If anyone’s coming over, you’re sure to be leaving with a very full stomach. Ever since the recent trickling of companies started to send me some of their products to eat or drink with for the past few months and my garden’s growing quite a bit of cucumbers, I thought I might as well utilize them for my dinners (and of course, my parents chipped in the help, both cooking and eating).
Big ol’ cuke
Large, fat cucumbers that are larger than my hand’s grasp are bursting out from its vines, I made a simple, refreshing salad by using the mandoline. The remarkable difference between homegrown cucumbers to the ones you buy from a grocery store is the freshness and the flavor; it’s so much sweeter and juicier. Continue reading “Dinners at Home” »
I’m putting my Parisian vacation experience on pause for now, to bring us back to NYC in a more current time setting.
Scenes from different rooms
On Thursday, June 24th, I attended the 4th Annual NYC Food Film Festival: Brad Farmerie’s Southeast Street Food Asian Market at the Astor Center. It’s an food event featuring dishes [...]
Apologies for the extended delay on updating this blog. I’m packing up my bags to get ready for Paris next week and I’m busy with work and eating out a few more places before I jet out from New York City. I’m sorry, my readers.
Back on Thursday, April 29th, I attended Lucky Rice Festival’s Opening Night Cocktail Party at the Bowery Hotel hosted by Kelly Choi. Being that this was my first time to visit this hotel’s bar, I’m pretty excited as I read it’s spacious and gorgeous venue. (Thanks to Lucky Rice for inviting me to this event.)
By chance, I have met three lovely women, who happened to be food bloggers, Julie of Peek & Eat and Amy of Amy Blogs Chow, and Jessica of Food Mayhem, as we’re all waited on-line and gotten a chance to hang out with them for the night.
My dear readers, probably if you read my blog long enough to know the essence of my eating habits most of my diet would compose of approximately 50% meat (preferably pork), 30% complex carbohydrates (as in noodles and rice), the remaining 20% miscellaneous (drinks, coffee, desserts, etc.). For the past month or so, all the buzz has been around Baohaus. Prodding around their site and reading Chef/Owner Eddie Huang’s own blog, I like his style (he said “PORK FAT IS FOREVER” and the meats are red cooked (meaning, braised in a flavorful, aromatic broth containing soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, etc., cooked until fork tender) and persuaded a few dependable, pork-lovin’ friends to come along.
Once we arrived to Baohaus, we’re a bit perplexed by the large crowd of young Asians around my age waiting outside the door around 3 PM on a Saturday. I’ve asked them are they waiting on line or something else? One of them said they’ve ordered and we allowed ourselves in and walk up to the counter. After excusing ourselves through the almost claustrophobic space (it’s a narrow storefront with a large island/ bar seating area with another table tucked on the corner near the door done up in blue and white color scheme). I saw Eddie Huang toiling behind the stove trying to catch up to three orders, while his assistant is taking down orders and the dishes in the back.
As Eddie cranked out the baos and Royal Frushes, I’ve observed most of diners were young Asians taking out cameras of every kind shooting photos of his food (from iPhones and point-and-shoots to dSLRs similar to my 5D Mark II). Oversaturated food blog market in New York City? Perhaps or we’re becoming too predictable to play up on trends.
True that.
Whilst waiting for our order, my friends spotted this (pointing above) sticker. I totally wanted one since pork fat is awesome and it does rule my life. Besides butter. Continue reading “Baohaus” »
After lamenting from the losses of Pastry Chef Pichet Ong’s P*Ong and Batch that was located in West Village, I have never felt happier when I read that he’s opening again in the East Village, named Spot.
Menu
I have been to both P*Ong (review here but I’m warning you the photos aren’t that great back then) and Batch (went there twice – here’s the photos I went a few weeks before it closed) and it is a hybrid of the former two places. The minimalist interior and plated desserts reminds me of P*Ong while the baked goods and the use of edible glitter reminds me of Batch.
I’m putting my HK/China posts on the back burner for now since I’m eating out NYC a bit more since it’s SUMMER here. If you’re anticipating the HK/China posts, just hang on for a bit. Sorry.
Back on June 11th, I had lunch at Marea, after reading positive reviews on this place. I like seafood and thankfully, I’m not allergic to them anymore. (I know weird, right?) So, I hauled my butt over and tried their tasting menu, which is four courses but you pick your own from the menu.
Dishes from Marea
I’m not going into depth since I’m waay behind blogging, I’ll succinctly say Marea is a very good seafood-centric restaurant. You can’t go wrong with pastas since Chef Michael White is great at making tender strands of noodles and it’s oversauced. If you want the break down of each dish, go to my set. It’s not Le Bernardin-level seafood but it’s close to it. Continue reading “Lunches at Marea & Momofuku Ssäm Bar” »
It’s been a loong time since I’ve seen any of my friends because of my mom’s hospitalization a few weeks earlier and prepping for my upcoming vacation. Julie commented on my blog recently wanted to see me before I’m leaving NYC, I made time last Friday to have dinner with her at 6:30. Almost by default, I’ve brought Helen along because she’s out from work early and can accompany for pre-dinner. (What I mean by “pre-dinner” is consuming food right before dinner just to kill time.)
It was a warm (finally) evening, Helen and I wanted ice cream. We thought of getting coffee but creamy, frozen dairy trumps caffeine during the later hours of the day. Anyway, we took the subway down to Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery. Yes, I know most of your are thinking this place is overrated but I like this place (implicitly, the Momofuku empire) a lot.
Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery’s Menus
When we arrived there, I looked up at the menu boards and spotted the “Coming Soon” section, indicating the possible existence of Arnold Palmer Tea Cake and Cookie Cookie Dough. My eyes were wide open and my mind screamed, “I WANT.” But going back to earth, I’ve made up my mind about getting the Bavarian cream soft serve with banana crumble topping and Helen wanted the chocolate donut soft serve. Continue reading “Pre-Dinner at Momofuku Milk Bar & Ssäm Bar, Dinner at Baoguette Cafe, and Dessert Truck” »
Two weeks ago, Helen and I attended an event at Bryant Park where we sampled Canadian ice wine and two different hors d’ouevrs. Obviously, this didn’t make us full and the food was disappointing enough that we left under an hour and went to the East Village. Since it was a chilly evening and us being Asian, we craved a bowl of hot soup and noodles, which Helen said, “I want to go to Ippudo.”
By the time we got there around 8:15, it’s already packed – people were waiting by the door and the crowded bar area. I asked one of the hostesses that evening how long was the wait and she said, “an hour, hour and a half at least.” Disgruntled and not willing to wait that long for a bowl of noodles, I told Helen, “Let’s go to Momofuku [Ssäm Bar].” And off we walked.
Crowded…
Despite the fact that this place was packed and buzzing with activity, we were fortunate enough to snag a table a few minutes after we walked in. A four-top just finished and the guy before us didn’t have a complete party, we ended up getting the table. Woot. Continue reading “Impromptu Dinner at Momofuku Ssäm Bar” »
Big ol’ cuke
