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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Fujinoya

Fujinoya in Hartsdale is definitely one of my favorite Japanese restaurants. I love their 3209480293482 page menu, and I love how they offer more traditional Japanese dishes (beyond the "teriyaki" stuff). I hadn't been there in a while, but last Friday, my mom and brother and I kicked it old school and met up there for lunch. They are still busting during the lunch hours!

They are still awesome, offering delicious Japanese food at a very reasonable price! Their sushi is very good too! Every time I go there, I ask if they have Fatty Tuna and a lot of times they don't. On this visit, as soon as I walked in, the lady says "We have Fatty Tuna today!"

I usually always get something sushi-related, whether its a roll, nigiri, sashimi, or chirashi don. But I also love their cold soba in the summer :-) My mom and brother always get a "don" (something over rice). On this visit, my mom got the Katsu-Don and my brother got the Una-Don.


To start, my brother always gets the Shishamo


My Sushi Platter

My Toro, mom's Toro, brother's 2 pieces of Tuna, Egg, complimentary toro and scallion roll, Uni, Anago, and Yellowtail. My Favorites!


Katsu Don


Una Don



Soooooooooooooo delicious!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Momofuku Milk Bar Again

So, on my last trip to Momofuku Milk Bar, i got the Banana Cake, Compost Cookie, and the Cornflake Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookie. All in all, I really enjoyed the cake (although the cake was a little on the dry side) and the cookies were, ehhhh. But I decided that since their cakes were so interesting sounding, I had to try other ones. After my birthday dinner at Lan, me and took a nice little walk over to Momofuku Milk Bar to get us a nice dessert!
I was so indecisive, but I knew I wanted a cake and definitely not a cookie (of course Ed got the massive C-M-CC cookie because he loved it the last time he had it)... I felt rushed because the place was like so packed, even at like 10 pm, so I decided on the Chocolate Chip Cake because I had heard good things about it.

It was a tender, moist, yellow cake with passion fruit curd, chocolate crumbs, and coffee buttercream. Where the eff does the coffee buttercream come in?! But let me tell you, the combination of all the flavors worked! And it worked really well!

Good for you, Momofuku, for creating weird combos!

Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar
207 2nd Ave (13th St. entrance)
New York, NY 10003

Greek Style Mexican

Yes... more Fage Greek Yogurt!

Brown rice topped with homemade salsa/tomato sauce topped with YOGURT! Plus roasted Kabocha... the Kabocha is still going strong :-)

Monday, May 18, 2009

Fage!

I am obsessed with Greek Yogurt (only Fage though... I tried Oikos made by Stonyfield and it was not nearly as thick!). I like it with fruit and honey. I like it with cinnamon. But KathEats has once again opened my eyes up to using a favorite ingredient in a new way... as a substitute for sour cream!


2 weeks ago, me and Ed were at the grocery store and we couldn't decide on what we wanted. Suddenly, I got this weird craving for Nachos!!!! RANDOM! So we got all the ingredients. Our last item was sour cream and then I remembered how Kath from KathEats uses Greek Yogurt as a creamy sour cream substitution topping for everything!

So of course Ed and I made different versions of the nachos. His involved freaky deaky canned chili!

We also added pretzels, and a Mexican Blend shredded cheese. And I made him add celery sticks for healthy veggies!


Mine was a little more gourmet :-)
Chips, pretels, pepperoncini peppers, goat cheese, and the Mexican blend cheese. I had the salsa and "sour cream" on the side so as to not make the chips soggy.

So cute!

Here's my face in action while eating. This series of facial expression happens every time I eat something extraordinary... I am famous for these faces :-)

Eager

Concentration

Thinking/Analyzing

Yes, it's coming...

Success!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

My Birthday, Part 3429874

Ok, so this is probably the last part of my birthday post.... Dinner at Lan Japanese Restaurant in the East Village.

My request for my birthday dinner was simple. I knew exactly what I wanted. Either Shabu-Shabu or Sukiyaki. Shabu Shabu is a communal hot pot dish filled with vegetables. You are served raw, super-thin slices of beef and you dip it in the boiling hot pot to cook and then have 2 choices of dipping sauces. Either a refreshing ponzu sauce or a creamy sesame sauce. Sukiyaki is also a communal hot pot dish filled with vegetables. However the broth is already flavored with a soy based sauce. You also have the raw thin slices of beef that you cook in the pot yourself. Therefore, since the meat and vegetables are already flavored with the soy sauce, instead of dipping it in a sauce, you dip it in raw egg! BRILLIANT!

My mom got a recommendation from her friend to try Lan because they had Shabu Shabu. As I went online to look at their menu, they had way more than just Shabu Shabu... I was tempted by all their awesome sounding appetizers!!! Also, as I was reading their reviews on Yelp, I saw that most of the people were recommending the steaks...

Ed, my mom, my brother, and his girlfriend Amanda helped me to try many things on the menu! We tried a bunch of appetizers and everyone got a different entree and desserts so, I think we almost got the whole menu down haha! The portions were quite small for the appetizers which was nice because we were able to try more things!

Appetizers:

Simmered Berkshire Pork Cheek with Potato Puree... melted like butter :-)

Miso Infused Filet Mignon “Tataki” with Parmigiano Reggiano... Delicious flavor and the meat was extremely tender!

Poached Foie Gras with Wasabi Ponzu Sauce... I have never had such refreshing foir gras! Usually, it's so very rich and a few bites will do. Perhaps this one was so refreshing because it was poached instead of pan fried? And the sauce definitely helped in lightening up the dish!

U.S. Kobe Beef Tongue Simmered with Sweet Miso and Red Wine Topped with Mascarpone Cheese... That's a huge tongue. This was good as well, but it just didn't satisfy my love for tongue because it didn't have that chewiness :-(

Crispy Warm Japanese Red Snapper Sashimi... Delicious. The sesame oil was the perfect flavoring to this fresh fish!

Handmade Tofu Steamed With Sear Urchin, Shimeji Mushroom Sauce... I was a little disappointed with this because since Uni was cooked, it had lost a lot of it's sweetness. Also, the tofu was more like a Chawanmushi consistency... extremely delicate.

Lobster Salad Topped With Sturgeon Caviar, Yuzu Citrus Vinaigrette... Perfect. Regreshing. Simple.


Grilled Organic Chicken & Scallion Skewer... Choice of two flavors: Spicy Yuzu Pepper Paste or Honey Soy. We got both! The chicken was super moist! I LOVED both but I think I preferred the honey soy!


That was just apps... Here were our entrées :-)

12 oz Rib Eye

Roasted Lamb Chops with Sesame Mustard Crust with Pan Seared Garlic Soy Sauce

Honey Roasted Berkshire Pork with Ginger Garlic Soy

Japanese Wagyu Rib Eye and Prime Rib Eye Shabu Shabu

Ok so here's what I generally thought of everyone's food. The flavors were great and interesting. However I found the meat itself to be either tough or dry. Me and my mom's shabu shabu, I thought was great! I thought it was marbled beautifully and had lots of flavor. My mom on the other hand (she wanted me to report her review) was that the Japanese Wagyu Ribeye looked beautiful, but it didn't have that special flavor that Japanese Wagyu should have. She said it just tasted like fat. I have never had Japanese wagyu so to me (and comparing it to beef that I've had in America), I thought it was great! She said it definitely wasn't worth the $68.00 (per one order!!) was worth it.

And finally dessert!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Mont Blanc Atop Rice Pudding with Cream Chestnut Soup... My favorite! I love Mont Blanc!

Poached Pear with Caramel Sauce... This was good also, but kinda plain.

Chocolate Soufflé, Raspberry Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream... This was good as well, but it was just a good ol' chocolate soufflé.

Mango, Passionfruit, and Blackberry Sorbet... Passionfruit was my fav!

All in all, I would say it was a great dinner. I was surprised though that the best dishes were the appetizers because I was so pumped for the beef!!

I am a seriously lucky girl... it was a great birthday filled with amazing people, great food, and lots of love :-) Thank you everyone!

Lan
56 3rd Ave (Btw 10th St and 11th St),
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-254-1959

Friday, May 15, 2009

23? LAME!

Jeese, I keep thinking being 23 years old is like the most unexciting age ever! I'm almost in my mid twenties, I can't yet rent a car, I can't get anyone under the age of 21 into Dave and Busters. But let's focus on the positives. I can buy alcohol and I can buy cigarettes :-)

Well my birthday started off awesome. I had my usual Friday pilates class and then I went to get my nails did with my mom, and I also got a (very rough) back massage. Then we came back to my apartment so I could shower, get ready, and open presents! I was showered with gifts from mommy, and my brother and his gf got me the coolest Hello Kitty Cooler/Heater!

At around 3 we left for Manhattan. We went in early to just walk around and chill. Since we were going to dinner at Lan in the East Village, we hung around there. I found Cha-An which is a little Japanese tea house that I'd been dying to go to!



This is how they served me my tea!

My mom's Sake Mojito

My brother's Hoji-Cha... my favorite tea!

My Tibetan Pu - Erh

My brother's tea set: Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwich and Raspberry Butter Tea Sandwich on fresh, mini bagels (The bagels were amazing!)... Hot and crusty!

Also comes with sweets... the scones are piping hot, straight from the oven! I had one with fresh cream and blueberry jam. O-M-F-G.... the best scone I have ever had! It also comes with a Macaron, Shortbread Cookie, and Poundcake

Second order of tea: Genmai-Cha... this tasted very light to me. When I have Genmai-Cha at my mom's, it has much more flavor.


I'm so glad I finally know where this place is. It's such a nice place to just relax and have a cup-o-tea.

Cha-An Japanese Tea House
230 E 9th St 2nd Fl (Btwn 2nd & 3rd Ave),
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-228-8030


My birthday dinner? Lan... coming soon!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I love my birthday! I always have to announce it wherever I am! And it was no different yesterday at school (it wasn't even officially my birthday yet!). Today, the 15th, is my birthday. But just to give you a teaser post on how my birthday started off, here's the surprise that I got at school.

A Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, and Oreo cupcake from Enrico's in Morris Park.


I am such a lucky girl. My whole birthday post will arrive tomorrow!

Enrico's Pastry Shop & Café
1057 Morris Park Ave
Bronx, NY 10461
Phone: 718- 823-7207

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mothers Are Amazing

I think mothers are amazing. I mean, I think parents are amazing in general. I think raising children is one of the most difficult tasks. Not that I know, but I do recognize the hard work that parents put in... mostly because I was SUCH a difficult kid. Especially as an adolescent!
So now as a more mature, semi-adult, I absolutely cherish the relationship that my mom and I have. And I love Mother's Day because it makes her see what an awesome job she did as a mom.
Today was totally up to my mom. I told her that we'd do whatever she wanted. So of course dinner was on the agenda. We were also supposed to go into the city early to go shopping. But some things changed (I guess HP wanted us to go shopping locally... Lord and Taylor!) so we just went into the city for dinner at Bouley. My mom had eaten here a few weeks ago and loved it, so she wanted to come back.

The decor of Bouley is really interesting. When you first walk through the doors, you enter a little area with a green door and a wall lined with apples... a very Alice in Wonderland feel. Then the bar, lounge area is modern. Then the main dining area... at first glance, I thought it looked really stuffy, and like old school French. But the longer I sat there and looked around, I realized it was more interesting than ugly. There were so many different floral prints, and different textures, and different paintings, and different light fixtures. It was kind of a mess, but it was kind of cool!

Our waiters and waitress were incredible. So friendly, and so funny (the man waiter reminded me of Ed... he was like the French reincarnation of Ed!). The service was really great.... just enough attention so that we got everything we needed, but like not all up in our shizz. Also, the waiters and waitresses were so comfortable to talk to... yet still so professional.

So onto the food. They had a special Mother's Day Tasting Menu. There were 5 Courses. Just an FYI- their portions are small! It was definitely enough for me, but I was so concerned for my brother! He finished everything in two bites!

It started off with delicious Sourdough Bread and Apple and Raisin Bread with creamy butter.
Also, as an amuse bouche, they served us little cups layered with tomato coulis, some white mousse-like substance, topped with trout caviar.



First Course:

I got the White Asparagus appetizer. Delicious. It was a very wintery flavor though... it had a mushroom sauce and I equate shroomy flavors with winter.

My mom got the Tuna. It was absolutely delicious. I usually really dislike red tuna sashimi. It's like too "bloody" (lacking in fatty flavor) for me. But this was fresh and tasty with the yuzu miso sauce.

My brother got the Porcini Flan with tons of crabmeat. It was so freakin good. As my brother mentioned, it was very similar in texture to Japanese "chawan-mushi".

Second Course:

My brother and I both got the Lobster. In my opinion, this was really lacking in flavor. I love the taste of lobster on its own, so usually prefer to have it with simple lemon and/or butter. This one had a dark sauce with it. I couldn't tell what the sauce was, or better yet, what the role the sauce played. It was bland and vague.

My mom's Trout on the other hand was great! The semi-crispy skin was doused with this delicious sauce. Again, I couldn't tell what the flavor was, but this one was a positive addition to the fish!

Third Course:

My personal favorite was my Duckling with a gingery sauce, and sweetened julienned vegetables and what I thought was wheat berries. The skin was nice and crispy, the meat was perfectly medium rare, and I really enjoyed my first experience of "duckling"!

My mom's Chicken with almond purée. OMG.... what the eff?! This was too moist, too tender to be chicken. I really thought it was a firm fish... like swordfish. You wouldn't believe it.

And my brother's Rack of Lamb with mint purée and brussels sprouts. Delish.

As a side, they served us the most amazing duo of Mashed Potatoes and Puréed Ramps... it was so addictive. I couldn't stop eating it!

Fourth Course:

Coconut Soup with passionfruit, pineapple granite, organic yogurt sorbet... Better than the real dessert course! This was sooooooooooo good! The tangy yogurt sorbet went perfectly with the passionfruit!

Fifth Course:

A little teaser of Banana Creme Brulée.

Poached Pears (it was actually more like a cheesecake wrapped in thinly sliced poached pears) with vanilla and some other flavor of ice cream.

All I could say when I saw my mom's Chocolate Frivolous was OMG!!!! Chocolate brulée, chocolate dacquoise, warm chocolate cake (the best!), and other chocolatey things! This was like chocolate overload.

The Amaretto Flan that my brother "ordered". Since he does not like sweets, he usually is obligated to order whatever dessert my mother and I don't get ;-) This was good as well and it came with two flavors of ice cream. I really didn't know what the flavors were... some kinda liquor. My fav was the carmelized bananas... I <3 BANANAS!

This dinner was definitely a success... My experience was filled with laughter, joy, family, comfort and serenity. Everything from the timing of the food to the interactions with my brother and mom were amazing! I love my family. I'm really so lucky!





Bouley
163 Duane Street (@ Hudson Street)
New York, NY 10013
Phone: 212-964-2525