Hmhmmh…Yogurtland. :) I was intrigued by this concept ever since I saw pictures of multi-colored bits of “fro-yo” on a friend’s Facebook page this past summer. I had been eating increasing amounts of frozen yogurt ever since discovering Pinkberry and Red Mango spring semester. But Yogurtland. It was different. I absolutely loved the self-service aspect and the freedom of choosing which handle to pull as yogurt slowly oozed into my cup. I stepped in, and I was immediately hit by a blast of bright happy light and pinkness.
…keep reading
November 22nd, 2008 | Category: Dessert, Street Eats | Leave a comment
I really like pho. In fact, I’m craving it right now and hopefully I’ll be eating a big bowl of pho for dinner in Chinatown this Friday :D. It’s been one hectic month, but I am back (again) to work on this baby. And oh so many food adventures to catch up on.
When in Chinatown and not craving, well, Chinese, my next favorite comfort food to turn to is this very popular Vietnamese dish. There are several Vietnamese restaurant options on Baxter St, but I tend to frequent Nha Trang for their pho. I’ve had their spring rolls too, but no matter how often i try them, I’m just not a fan. But hello pho dac biet. The waiter is always quick to bring out the big bowl of piping hot soup filled with rice noodles, beef eye round, tendon, and thin slivers of pink beef brisket that slowly cooks and browns in the soup. (I suspect they have everything prepared already and just throw them into the big bowl of hot broth). …keep reading
November 19th, 2008 | Category: Eating Out, Vietnamese | Leave a comment
A friend of mine, who also happens to be a fellow foodie, had long ago suggested this casual Italian restaurant. It took a full year before I actually had the opportunity and (memory) to check Paprika out, and I was not disappointed for the most part. Unfortunately, we just missed the early bird special, which ended at 7pm, but the regular dinner prices were fairly reasonable. I refrained from getting an appetizer, but others at the table did. And of course I had to try some. =3
Yes, even after spending a semester abroad in Florence, my first time trying Prosciutto e Melone was at Paprika. It was an interesting blend of sweet and salty - not quite my cup of tea, but a good appetizer to try nonetheless. I cut off pieces of the cantaloupe and then wrapped the prosciutto around it before eating the combination. Haha please let me know if this is the correct way to eat this! For those unfamiliar with prosciutto, it is dry-cured spiced Italian ham that is usually sliced thin and served without cooking.
…keep reading
October 18th, 2008 | Category: Eating Out, Italian | Leave a comment
Hhmmhhm yummy…this is one of my proudest cooking achievements so far, the soy sauce chicken! (see yau gei in Canto) It’s a dish my parents always made at home, and through the years they eventually moved from cooking huge perdue chickens to cooking cornish hens. These tiny little hens are faster to cook with more tender meat, and you’re also more likely to finish it in one sitting. The meat was pretty much falling off the bones when I took it out of the soy sauce concoction.
Unfortunately, Chinese cooking often doesn’t use precise measurements of ingredients - the taste is constantly adjusted as you cook, and my parents rarely use measuring cups or recipe books. I follow this general trend when I try to imitate my parents’ dishes, but often turn to online recipes for other cooking ventures. As for this soy sauce chicken, I tried coming up with precise measurements for the recipe, but please note that eyeballing is key too, especially when you’re deciding on how much sauce to make. …keep reading
October 10th, 2008 | Category: Home Cooked | Leave a comment
One of the reasons why I love NYC (yes, I have grown from feeling neutral about the city freshman year to liking it last year to pretty much loving it this year) is the variety of food options available. Not everything in the city is expensive, and there are so many delicious, cheap goodies to eat if you know where to look. ;D
The weekly street fairs between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend are fun to walk through, and there has been more than one occasion where I have accidentally stumbled upon a street fair while walking to get somewhere else. The smells of roasting gyro meat and sizzling Italian sausages permeate the air as other vendors market their home-squeezed lemonades (I often find these are too watered down to be enjoyable), crepes, and fresh fruit smoothies. The fairs are pretty consistent as they move from street to street every Saturday or Sunday, and there are many purse, craft (finger puppets!), and $2 jewelry stands peddling their products. I do feel bad for the unfortunate cars that come across the fair and must find alternative routes to get to their destination, especially when the fairs take over busy streets like Broadway and 3rd Avenue.
…keep reading
October 5th, 2008 | Category: Street Eats | Leave a comment
I ate here on a very special night back on January 31, and while I know I’m backtracking, there were just too many good eats in the past that I have to mention in my food blog. Perilla is a “Seasonal American” restaurant owned by Top Chef season 1 winner Harold in the West Village (very close to school!), and the menu rotates around seasonal ingredients. Even now I’m looking at their website menu, and there are items on the menu I don’t remember being offered 9 months ago. Variety, all the more reason to keep going back, no? :) Alas, once I can eat out more often…
The soft lighting of the restaurant made the place seem very warm and inviting, and the flickering candles on each table heightened that feeling. My date and I shared the Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly to start - the perfect way to start. The pork skin was just the right amount of crispiness and the layer of fat under the skin absolutely melted in your mouth. The rectangular piece of meat lay on top of a bed of bok choy and mushrooms (?). I have to admit, my initial reaction when it came out though was “this is it?! it looks like a piece of meat from Chinatown.” But the display and ultimately taste trumped the roasted pigs that hang in the windows in Chinatown just waiting to be chopped up and eaten.
…keep reading
October 2nd, 2008 | Category: American, Fine Dining | Comments (1)
Alas, my school/work/social life schedule has finally caught up to me, and I have abandoned this blog temporarily. =( Rest assured, my love for food can never die out, and I have been eating and cooking well these past two weeks. I hope to get a real food post up by this weekend, but for now, here is some more eye candy, featuring food from Buenos Aires. Can you say meat? And lots of it?
I thought I had landed in heaven when I arrived in Buenos Aires. Warm weather, exchange rate of 3 pesos to 1 U.S. dollar (sure beat the Euro I had to survive on Fall Semester 07), and STEAK. I’m pretty sure I ate different forms of steak at least four times that week. Our undergraduate business school sends every Junior on a one week trip to one of three locations every spring break to study a company based in that foreign country. They usually feature a city each from Asia, Europe, and South America. Buenos Aires had been top of my choices for a long time. I reasoned to myself that I could go to Asia more easily because of my ethnic background, and I had already globe-trotted Europe during my semester abroad in Florence. The week was a whirlwind of eating, partying, not getting enough sleep, and the occasional academic lectures and school-hosted events we were required to attend. One of the best spent weeks of my Junior college career.
Couldn’t resist the meats…
…keep reading
September 24th, 2008 | Category: Food Porn | Leave a comment
Sometimes it’s fun to just go through your fridge and throw together all the bits of veggies and meat that aren’t enough to make a stand-alone meal but combine splendidly to make quite a filling breakfast (or lunch, or dinner). I have a strange love affair with eggs: scrambled, hard-boiled, over easy, fried, and recently poached. What a versatile food product, and chock full of protein! If only the yolk wasn’t chock full of cholesterol too..
…keep reading
September 8th, 2008 | Category: Home Cooked | Leave a comment
With a slightly fatter wallet this summer from my internship (and a boyfriend who returned from a semester abroad ;D), I finally had the chance to experience New York City’s Restaurant Week. For those unfamiliar with RW…
“Twice a year, in January and June/July, there is a unique opportunity to experience some of New York City’s finest restaurants for a fraction of the usual price. Throughout the city, restaurants participate in “Restaurant Week” where they offer a three-course lunch for $24.07 (& some even offer dinner for $35). Restaurant Week is a great opportunity to try out a restaurant that may usually be out of your budget, or test some new restaurants with a little less financial risk.” - about.com
I went out with a group of college friends to Barbounia, a Mediterranean restaurant, for dinner. Chosen because two of our friends 
were vegetarian and we wanted a cuisine slightly out of the ordinary, we were surprised to see no vegetarian options on the RW menu (one of them ended up ordering mushroom linguini from the regular menu). As for myself, I started out with the Tuna Carpaccio served with pickled red onion, sumac, and pommegranate moulass. The tuna was quite fresh with a slight tang from the garnishes. Hmhmhm yuumm raw fish. Despite strong warnings from two table mates, I chose the Long Island Duck Breast as my entree. It came with a carmalized endive on top (which I stupidly thought was the duck meat at first when I started cutting…) along with fennel puree. It wasn’t the best piece of duck that ever entered my mouth, but I can safely say that the meat was not as overcooked and tough as the warnings had caused me to fear. …keep reading
September 4th, 2008 | Category: Fine Dining, Mediterranean | Comments (2)
As my last week as a summer intern at GMAM drew closer (along with my two week vacation before starting part-time during the school year), I thought to myself, what better way to bring everybody in my group together than over a delicious meal? I like sampling a little of everything, so an ethnic-themed potluck was the perfect idea. I actually expected some to forget their dishes, but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed quite a filling, varied meal. Other employees eating the normal cafeteria lunches sure felt jealous of the banquet we laid out. :)
…keep reading
August 29th, 2008 | Category: Home Cooked | Comments (1)
