me and julie in boston

Oldies but goodies from a trip to Boston several months back. Good weather and lots of tasty treats! Again, bonding over foodventures. We've got a lobster roll from James Hook & Co., fancy shmancey dinner at the Eastern Standard in celebration of my promotion at work (was that the occasion? I can't remember anymore), cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes!

 

a woman of many skills

I've got a backlog of photos that need to be posted here, but for now I'll share just these two, which I'm quite proud of, as I think they demonstrate my food styling skills, not to mention my iPhone picture taking skills.

The first photo is from Labor Day weekend, which I spent at home in Georgia. One of my family's greatest talents is tea time. We have a small collection of teapots and teacups which we use to brew different Chinese herbal teas. We also have a pastry slash Chinese bakery addiction, as seen below. We love our tea time! It's the most wonderful time of the year (or weekend really)!

The second photo is from our company dinner at Woodland in Brooklyn. We had lots of little plates to share, such as a charcuterie plate, which included a rabbit pâté, as well as different types of meat and cheese. Actually, now that I think about it, the food isn't all that memorable because I can't for the life of me recall anything else I ate... Mostly I remember the terrible cocktail I had: a "new" old fashioned, made up of whiskey and champagne... or was it wine? Either way, just a terrible, terrible drink. It was a fun night though. I got to talk to some of my co-workers in a more laid back atmosphere, which was good.

Look forward to more posts soon!

new york city restaurant week - perilla

Restaurant Week ran in New York City from July 22 through August 16. There were a bunch of places I really wanted to try out, but sadly most of the ones on my list were only running specials for lunch Monday through Friday. Alas. The woes of working deep in the bowels of Brooklyn.

However, I did have the opportunity to dine at Perilla in the West Village with my high school friend Isabel and her college friend Susan. They had a really delicious prix fixe menu, featuring a selection of appetizers, mains, and desserts.

I think we each ended up ordering the exact same thing: mussels to start, followed by a roast chicken with either a peach or apricot glaze, a small loaf bread for dessert with some sort of consommé on the side.  (Can you tell it's been a while since I ate here?) We also shared some sort of duck meatball side dish with cipollini onions and mozzarella and some other flavors. And to round everything off, the waiter brought us little chocolate cookies topped with sea salt sprinkled on top.

Seriously yummy meal. I don't consider myself a New Yorker by any stretch of the imagination, but once in a while I catch myself in these "New York" moments, and this dinner felt like one of them.

bonding through food

Julie came to visit me in New York back in the middle of July. As we are wont to do, we embarked on many foodventures. For example, we went back to Burger Bistro. We had a breakfast picnic in Washington Square Park. We had lots of snacks.

Here is some photographic evidence:

 

And some more foodventures that we've shared over the past few months, prior to that... because when it comes to bonding through sisterly activities, we're a little bit predictable.

the burger bistro

 

When Julie was here – weeks and weeks ago now... this is a very late post – we had dinner at the Burger Bistro in Bay Ridge (also located in Park Slope and the Upper East Side). I freaking love this place and wish I still lived as close to it as I used to. Make-your-own burger menus, fries, tater tots (we love our totz), and ICE CREAM SANDWICHES. Not to mention local sodas that come in fancy bottles and in flavors like "ginger root" and whatnot. Ahhh.

molly's cupcakes

A while back I got to meet up with Allie, one of the most elusive friends I have. We met on our study abroad trip to London and fell in platonic love. After graduation, she proceeded to disappear off the face of the earth, but I've managed to reign her back in. (No, that is a lie.)

We had dinner at a sushi restaurant in the West Village that is not even worth mentioning, really – what is worth mentioning is the cupcake shop we went to afterwards: Molly's Cupcakes. Allie's sister just started working at their Chicago location and has been raving about it apparently, so we decided to try it out.

Gulp.

DE-LISH.

Molly's has a great selection of in-house flavors, all filled with some special concoction (Boston creme pie, caramel butterscotch, blueberry cheesecake, cookie monster, cake batter, and one called "the Ron Bennington"). They also let you put together your own cupcake – i.e., you choose the cake, frosting, and any toppings you want.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

I love this place so much that when my sister came to visit slash help me move, I forced her back here as well. Their red velvet is regal. Their cake batter cupcake is literally (no, not literally) a party in your mouth. Their cookie monster cupcake is fab.

Molly's Cupcakes is a bit pricier than my beloved Sugar Sweet Sunshine – but then the location is much larger, the flavor options are fancy-schmancier, and there is more cupcake to go around. Also, West Village versus Lower East Side? I mean... yeah.

a trip to the brooklyn bridge

On my parents' last day in New York, we decided to take a trip up to the Brooklyn Bridge. My dad had been wanting to go for some time now, and we didn't have time to go when everyone was here back in December. It was a cool 50-something degrees, so we bundled up and headed out to Dumbo.

I see the Brooklyn Bridge from a distance every time I travel along the Manhattan Bridge, but seeing it up close was kind of weird... surreal, almost. It was so windy! And so many Europeans everywhere!

Afterwards we were hungry for lunch so we went to Grimaldi's – the real reason for my dad's interest in the Brooklyn Bridge – where we found ourselves in a surprisingly short line. (Not even ten minutes and we were at a table for three. It's a far cry from the hour-long waits that people talk about on Yelp.)

This is not the best New York-style pizza i've ever had, and it's probably not worth waiting an hour in the rain/heat/snow, but it is pretty decent brick-oven pizza, and it's fun to say you've been here and tried the food! All in all, a fun way to wrap up an activity-filled weekend. Yay. Family is fun.

brief tour of flushing

When my parents flew up to visit me recently, we met up with one of my mother's old middle school friends – a woman she hadn't seen in 40 years! My mom was so cute – even though it had been such a long time since she last saw Gloria, when they got together, she said it was like nothing had really changed. The two of them linked arms immediately, my dad and I trailing behind, and it wasn't hard to imagine how they might have looked when they were younger.

We met Gloria in Flushing, Queens, where she lives in a great quirky house built in 1907. She took us around to a few of the places most popular with the locals, starting with breakfast at a little restaurant off of 41st & Main that serves "the best" traditional Taiwanese breakfast: shao bing you tiao and dou jiang.

The you tiao are Chinese crullers wrapped in shao bing, or sesame flatbread. Chinese people like to pair this with dou jiang, which is a sort of milk made from soybeans (but different from the soymilk you put in your coffee or cereal). I haven't had this kind of food in ages... brought me back to the last time I was in Taiwan, almost eight years ago now. Memories.

Later we went to Paris Baguette, apparently the best bakery in Flushing. Really really beautiful pastries there, perfectly flaky, and all sorts of interesting flavors. Whilst wandering, we also ended up at a stall off of 41st Ave & Main St & Kissena Blvd, underneath a sign that says "AA Plaza." Cheap-cheap-cheap Chinese street food – scallion pancakes, chicken drumsticks, fish balls, steamed pork buns (4 for only $1.25!), and more.

Flushing is really a cool area, a busy and bustling Chinatown without being overwhelmingly crowded or stinky (ahem, 8th Avenue) or ridiculously touristy and overpriced (ahem, Canal Street). And it was nice to be there with someone who calls it home – to sit and have tea and chat about everything and nothing.

smorgasburg

Smorgasburg started back up this weekend, so Betsy and I decided to go together – our first date in something like seven months. Happy days and gorgeous weather and so much food. I'm so looking forward to coming back when the weather gets warmer... more outdoor naps, fewer coats and sweaters.

     
Sandwich with pit beef, white onion, and Tiger Sauce on a Kaiser roll from Pit Beef NYC.
S'mores pie from Butter & Scotch, which we ate while waiting in line for doughnuts from Dough. (Lush.)

 
 
Teriyaki balls from Mimi and Coco, a bizarre mix between pancake & crepe but with a Japanese twist.
We also split an avocado shake (soy milk and liquefied avocado... love! love! love!).


Such a nice lazy day. I feel like this is what you're meant to do in New York – eat delicious overpriced food, enjoy the company of good friends, fall into food coma, and nap for the next few hours (if you're lucky).