Pictured are strawberries, a bunch of lavender, pea shoots, and garlic scapes. Not pictured asparagus, cilantro, rhubarb, sugar snap peas, mesclun, kale, and eggs.

Some of this helped make a tasty dinner on Sunday night!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 3:47 PM

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Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos at 5:23 PM

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While skiing at Vail, you can eat barbecue at 11,000' at Wildwood Restaurant. As with all the on-mountain food, it's not cheap. But if you've already eaten your homemade sandwich for a really early lunch, a late lunch of BBQ is good stuff. And since the weather was so nice on our final day, we ate our food outside in the glaring sun.

Posted by tien mao in Colorado, Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos, Travel at 6:21 PM

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Making meatballs is absurdly easy. That's what I discovered last weekend after we bought some meat at the grocery store. It's like making meatloaf, if not easier. You just have to play with raw meat a little more, which is somewhat unappetizing, but the end result is worth it.

And not only did I make the meatballs in the picture, I also made the tomato sauce. The bread is from the grocery store.

If you're wondering what it looked like as I was cooking, this video should give you a good idea:

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 3:55 PM

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Things that sound gross don't always taste bad. For example, when I first saw the Oreo WaferStick, I thought "ew, that's disgusting." But it was actually pretty tasty. I had the same thought about the chocolate flavored Skittles, but those were actually disgusting. Some of the flavors were okay (brownie batter and chocolate pudding), but overall, they were a pretty awful tasting pack of Skittles.

So if you ever find yourself thinking about buying these Skittles, don't do it!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 5:04 PM

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Any thoughts that people had about Calvin being crazy were confirmed yesterday. Last week, the Bacon Explosion was featured in a Times article and what does Calvin make for a Super Bowl party? The Bacon Explosion, of course. Two pounds of bacon, two pounds of sausage, all rolled into one huge log of pork. It was ridiculous and insanely over the top (and I love bacon). That said, it was surprisingly tasty, if not really salty. It's a good thing I was stuffed on lots of other food, otherwise I might have wanted to eat more than one piece of this monster.

Oh, that exploding sound was my heart from eating the Bacon Explosion. My heart aches a little just from looking at these pictures. At the same time, my stomach grumbles.

And if you're wondering what a Bacon Explosion is, here's the breakdown: a woven bacon exterior, with two pounds of sausage inside, and even more bacon inside that.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 12:36 PM

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Happy New Year!!

Above are photos of what we ate to celebrate the Year of the Ox. The highlight, as always, was the lion's head meatballs. MMMMMMM!!!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 5:15 PM

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The cake that Margaret bought for Shannan was so tasty that Jonas kept some around for eating later.

Jonas actually did a very good job of washing the cake off moments after this photo was taken.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos at 6:33 PM

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On January 1st, 2008, I started out on an insane project that many other people have done: taking at least one photo every day for the entire year. After taking the photo, I eventually (usually not the next day) put them onto flickr. Some, but not all, of the photos have appeared here. But the photos are all in one set on flickr.

You may think taking a photo every day for 365 days is easy, but I actually found it really, really hard. It was extra hard in 2008 because there were 366 days.

I encourage you to take a look at the photo set that turned out. It's an interesting capsule into one year of my life.

Posted by tien mao in Film, Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Illinois, Mortimer, NYC, Photos, Randolph, Sports, Travel at 12:08 PM

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When your girlfriend is working late into the night, having Daisy May's BBQ delivered and joining her for dinner is a nice thing to do. At least, I thought it was a nice thing to do.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:08 PM

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Saturday night, we headed to a farewell dinner for a family friend at Danny Ng's Place on Bowery. There was a ridiculous amount of delicious food, including that conch dish in the second picture. Incidentally, I think conch is my favorite seafood item. The "food item" in the third picture is a pig's hoof, which still has hair on it. Ew. I didn't have any of that dish.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:57 PM

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I love Thanksgiving! Too bad those football games sucked. This year, Shannan and I made garlic mashed potatoes as well as a pumpkin pie. It was the first time I made pumpkin pie and it turned out really, really good and I discovered it's absurdly easy to make.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 2:54 PM

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Saturday night, we went out to Sunset Park to check out Zach's new apartment (very nice and it seemed to have a woman's touch) and to have some good Mexican food. We went to Tacos Matamoros, which Peter Meehan of The Times said, "were some of the best, if not the best, tacos I’ve had in New York." Pictured (not that you can see the meat) are two carne asada tacos (left, center) and a chorizo taco (right). I actually liked the chorizo one better, though the carne asada tacos were pretty good.

So much for hating Mexican food, huh? Well, I still hate the bean aspect. And I'm not so into all that enchilada business.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:35 PM

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Neil does!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos at 5:30 PM

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I think the first time I had this tasty drink was when I was visiting Taiwan. Ever so briefly this summer, I saw it at a store in Chinatown. Naturally, I bought some. And it was delicious.

What does it taste like? This is how they describe it on Facebook:
"A crisp and light beverage. It has an apple flavor, but its not an apple cider. Its more like a light sparkling citrus drink like 7up or Sprite. But the apple flavor adds a nice soft edge where the usual lemon-lime drink can be a bit harsh or overly sweet.

This drink is crisp & sweet with dusty apple skin flavors, kind of subtle and enticing additions to the flavor. Overall it is mellow and juicy, a refreshing drink."

I would say that's pretty accurate.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 5:59 PM

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They don't travel well, especially from the Upper West Side all the way to DUMBO. Though it would have still been really good if I didn't already eat lunch.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:57 PM

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Saturday, the Vendy Awards took place at the Tobacco Warehouse in DUMBO. It was a fun, tummy filling event that resulted in the Calexico Carne Asada cart winning the Vendy Cup.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 7:22 PM

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In the top photo, chicken nuggets are dipping themselves in BBQ sauce and a just hatched nugget is drinking egg whites. On the bottom, a rabbit is grooming itself in its display.

Posted by tien mao in Culture, Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:45 PM

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Banksy recently opened a new exhibition up in the West Village at a storefront he's named The Village Pet Store and Grill. Pictured is fish sticks in a fish bowl. Brilliant!

See the full gallery over at Gothamist.

Posted by tien mao in Culture, Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:38 PM

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but it may also make you salivate. Saturday morning, a few of us went to Zingerman's for breakfast. I decided to go with the breakfast B.L.T.: Applewood-smoked bacon, Vermont cheddar, lettuce, tomato & mayo on toasted Bakehouse white bread. Topped with an over-easy egg.

Mmm...heart attack!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Travel at 5:25 PM

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Grandma style pizza from Driggs Pizza with pepperoni and pesto. It was quite delicious, but also quite oily.

What's grandma style, you ask? Adam's got a pretty good description:
"Essentially a thin-crust Sicilian. I've gotten guff for saying that in the past, so if any of you out there want to correct me and argue for a workable definition of this style, please comment. It was sort of a Long Island thing until the past couple of years, when it started making inroads into the boroughs of New York City. Typically has a fresh, lightly seasoned sauce."

In fact, Sliceboy lists out many regional style pizzas. I didn't get an upskirt for the pizza-perv though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:59 PM

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Last night, I made my own English muffin pizzas using homemade tomato sauce from earlier in the week, some mozerella cheese, pepperoni, and Thomas' 100 Calorie Original English Muffin. First, I toasted the English muffins to crisp them up a little. After adding all the toppings, I baked them in my toaster oven. I would say they turned out pretty well!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 6:38 PM

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Late Sunday morning, Shannan and I headed to IKEA in Red Hook to check things out. After taking the ferry to Manhatan and back, we met up with Jeannette and Yvan at the Red Hook Ballfields for some more food. Nothing like eating Swedish meatblals, a pupusa, plantains with sour cream and Mexican corn in a span of about three hours.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 8:28 AM

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Saturday afternoon, after getting brunch at Lokal (poor service, undercooked eggs), Shannan and I stopped by the green market in McCarren Park. On our way out, we spotted the stand selling Ronnybrook Yogurt. Shannan was hesitant about buying a drinkable yogurt at first, but I decided to get a blueberry and pomegranate yogurt. Just after crossing the street, we opened it, tasted it, and promptly turned around to buy some more. We ended up bringing seven home. I wouldn't be surprised if they're all gone by the time I get home.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:12 PM

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Way back in the middle of June (almost exactly two months ago), Matty and I went to Spicy & Tasty in Flushing. We were planning on a Mets game, but torrential rain put a damper (hahahaha) in those plans.

After waiting briefly for a table, we were seated and ordered some of the items that Frank Bruni mentioned in his NY Times review a while back. While the food was occasionally spicy, and occasionally tasty, I didn't think it was all that spicy or tasty. It was good, but it wasn't blow my socks off, give it two stars good. Granted, it was only one meal, so it's hard to judge the place on that visit.

I'll just have to go back another time. Hopefully just with the idea of eating and not going to a baseball game.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 6:58 PM

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After Jonas finished (what could have been his first cotton candy ever), he was a sticky mess. Just brushing against me left a sugar stain! Longtime readers will know that I too love cotton candy at baseball games!

And it should be pointed out that I was using a wide angle lens. Really, really wide angle.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos, Sports at 6:34 PM

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There's nothing like cramming copious amounts of food down your throat on a hot and humid day. The challenge: first to 6 hot dogs (max of 10 minutes) and no reversal of fortune. That's what went down Saturday afternoon on Adam's roof, except the Marlon didn't need 10 minutes to down 6 HDB, just a little over 5:30. It wasn't really much of a contest for Marlon.

I think with training, Marlon could be a contender on the professional eating circuit.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos at 10:49 AM

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assuming you have an unlimited Metrocard. If you don't, this is still a reasonably priced meal for the area.

All you have to do to buy food at this restaurant is take a trip on the F into Manhattan. One short stop from York Street to East Broadway, you'll find a restaurant at East Broadway and Rutgers Street. There, you can get what's pictured above (three treasures over rice or san bao fan in Mandarin) for the super cheap price of $4.50. It even comes with those veggies. My order had two types of pork and chicken and for an extra charge, I think you can get a fried egg on top.

If only the name of the restaurant didn't escape me right now. But if you go, it's right on the corner with meats hanging in the window. And if you work in DUMBO, you'll be back at your desk in 30 minutes.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 3:15 PM

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It's done by saying cheese a lot (when having your photo taken) and showing the contents of your mouth (also when having your photo taken).

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 6:03 PM

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I remember when I first started working in SoHo, I told Jake that there was no way I was paying $7 for a burrito from a cart. But after several months of working here and paying that much for lunch every day, I broke down last week and got a $7 burrito from Calexico. At this point, I think paying $7 for lunch is a bargain. So sad. The biggest downside of eating at Calexico is the 20-30 minute wait for your food. It makes sense considering the small amount of grill space they have and the devoted following.

Pictured is the tasty Calexico carne asada: grilled skirt steak with rice, beans, cheese, pico de gallo & avocado sauce wrapped in a giant flour tortilla.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 12:54 PM

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If you go to Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn, this is what your eating experience will look like. That is assuming you've ordered a steak for three with creamed spinach and German friend potatoes and a "Holy Cow" sundae for dessert.

That thing to the right in the 1st picture is the fish of the day. Sole, I believe it was.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC at 12:38 PM

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Because I didn't sweat enough Saturday at the Belmont Stakes, I decided to hit up the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party on Sunday. I was actually cooler while stuffing myself with meat than I was watching horses running in circles.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:35 PM

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The ping pong table at Iona sat idle for a brief moment.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 12:44 PM

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A plain old hamburger (with lots of ketchup) and a vanilla shake.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos at 12:00 PM

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I'm trying some stuff out in Lightroom. You can see the original photo on flickr.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 9:16 PM

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Pantless, yes. But with the rest of your Easter outfit on.

Posted by tien mao in Film, Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 8:34 AM

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Sunday night, Shannan and I went over to my parents' apartment to participate in a traditional Chinese expeience...dumpling making. I'm not sure I've actually ever done this, but apparently people all over China do this on New Year's Eve when members of the family return home for New Year's celebrations.

There are a few stations involved in the process: the dough maker/chopper, the dough flattener, the skin former, the filling stuffer, and the dumpling pincher. I'm sure there's some official terminology for the actual people in those positions and that some of these roles can be combined, but for the five of us (Aunt Bonnie was there too), that's how the roles were split and that's what I'm calling the process. The easiest job fell to me most of the night - filling the dumplings (if you know how to use chopsticks, you can do this job).

It took us a little while, but we made something like 200 dumplings - pork and shrimp with Chinese leek and pork and shrimp with Chinese cabbage. The best part about the labor intensive process of making dumplings has to be the family bonding and of course the dumpling eating afterwards.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 5:13 PM

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Mmmm...Bo Ssam.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 3:04 PM

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Some of the meat items at Hill Country are rather large. For some reason, Jonas wasn't keen on trying much of the food (perhaps it was the ice cream that he was eating), but he did seem to enjoy the spare rib once he got his hands on it. It's unfortunate that actually eating the rib wasn't an easy task. Jonas also enjoyed dancing around on the stage with some random kids, but I don't have any pictures of that.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos at 10:35 AM

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Or so I would hope they claim to be. I mean, look at all those Peeps they have on display! This was right across the isle from the health-food section.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 1:52 PM

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The first hot pot of the winter.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 8:57 AM

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Sunday brunch at Cafe Henri in Long Island City.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 12:40 PM

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When I relayed what Janelle told me to Shannan - that Taco Bite had reopened - Shannan was very excited. How excited? She insisted that we go that night AND she said I should have kept it a secret and taken her there for a Valentine's Day dinner. Ever since Taco Bite closed way back in 2006, she hasn't been happy. She would go there as many as three times a week for dinner, so when it closed she lost a major part of her diet.

Taco Bite just reopened this past weekend, but it's no longer all that close to us. Now it's on South 4th St at Rodney (by the BQE). They've expanded their menu and are a full fledged restaurant now, no longer just operating out of the side of a restaurant. They're still waiting on their liquor license, but their menu spans a whole two pages now (not including booze/desserts).

After talking to the owners/employees, it seems that they'll deliver all the way to our apartment. I'm not sure if we're really in their delivery zone or if they're just willing to deliver to us because they still remember Shannan.

Taco Bite 310 S. 4th St (at Rodney) in Williamsburg, 718.302.1117, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner except on Mondays

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 4:32 PM

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It may not look appetizing, but it sure tasted good. And I don't even love sausage and peppers that much!

It's not on the regular menu of the Crosby Connection. It was the special that day. Yum.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:22 PM

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It's a Chinese New Year feast fit for a emperor! A king! A prince!

Last night, my mom did her yearly Chinese New Year cooking and as usual it was extremely delicious and filling. From top to bottom are: peanuts, jellyfish, chicken and something to wrap in lettuce, lion's head meatballs, eight vegetable dish, a shrimp dish, vegetables with dried scallops, a whole fish, and glutinous red bean rice cake.

Welcome, Year of the Rat!

Posted by tien mao in Culture, Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 4:53 PM

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Now that I've determined that beans are the main component I hate in Mexican food, I've found that there are actually some items that I like.

With Taco Bite near our apartment closed, we've turned to Acapulco Deli and Restaurant, which is almost as north as you can get in Greenpoint. The typical items I order are pictured - Pacifico (complete with frosty mug!), chips with red sauce, and a steak burrito (no beans). Not pictured is the Mexican Coke I always get as well.

And it's not just me that loves it, the users over at Yelp are big fans too.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 2:10 PM

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One of the better lunch options in SoHo is the Crosby Connection. Pictured here is the meatball sandwich (Crosby special), the smoked gouda and ham sandwich (with apples), and the beautiful prosciutti (freshly sliced prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, sundred tomatoes, sweet roasted peppers, basil, virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar). Yumm.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 3:12 PM

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Way back in 2006, I was given a deep fryer for Christmas. Since then, it's been in our cabinet waiting to be used. Why hasn't it been used since December, 2006? Because Shannan hates the smell associated with deep frying. As she was away this past weekend, I seized the opportunity to fry some shit up! On the menu were fries, onion rings, and chicken wings (I was watching football).

I found that fries were the easiest (essentially all you do is cut and fry), followed by wings, and onion rings. It was hard to tell when the chicken wings were done, but otherwise they were easy. I think I liked the results the best with the onion rings, but my batter, while good, could have used some salt. I also learned that you can't put a whole bunch in at once because they stick to one another.

I think that everything I fried tasted good and seemed healthier than any fried food I would get while eating out. Maybe it's because I used fresh ingredients and knew what I was putting into/onto the food.

Given the results, I don't think Shannan should discourage me from using the deep fryer again. I think she would be pleased to eat the results.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, House and Home, Photos at 12:29 PM

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While it can probably be said that ANY day is a good day for Shake Shack, yesterday was almost the perfect day to go. They may be putting heating lamps in for the winter, but I'm still not sure I would want to sit in the cold eating a burger. After all, those things can only warm you up so much.

Besides, isn't it possible to have too much of a good thing? Waiting for Shake Shack to open used to make the burgers that much more satisfying. Now they're going to be open all year, making a shack burger that much less special.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 12:27 PM

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Looking at this photo, you can kind of see what it was like at Thanksgiving for me. Sadly, you can't really taste what it was like or smell what it was like.

Pictured clockwise from the turkey are: two types of cranberry sauce (one with walnuts), garlic mashed potatoes, yams, corn with pine nuts, some strange avocado/shrimp, and green beans.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 9:35 AM

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Lady Liberty with M&Ms that were made to help the Central Park Conservancy.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 4:20 PM

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Lunch options in SoHo are generally not cheap. A good sandwich runs $6 or $7, depending on where you go, and anything else tends to be $9+ for lunch. Salads (not that I eat them for a meal) can sometimes set you back more than $10. No thanks!

On Lafayette St. near Spring is La Nueva Conquista (formerly just La Conquista), which will stuff you silly for the same price as that good sandwich - $7. Pictured is my lunch from Tuesday - yellow rice, pork chops (which are briefly fried in oil), rice crust (I would call this guo ba in Chinese), and topped with onions and gravy. I usually get plantains as well, but I went with the rice crust this time as I've never seen it as an option. La Nueva Conquista seems to be described as a "hole in the wall" quite frequently, but I think it's slightly larger than a hole. And if you're walking by at any time, you'll see that the restaurant has quite a devoted customer base.

More information:
- La Nueva Conquista is located at 236 Lafayette Street
- Eat for Victory (Village Voice)
- Yelp

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:17 PM

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I think I've figured out one reason Jonas and I get along so well. Our mutual love for pizza (and his snacks). Though I think if he suddenly decided one day that he didn't like pizza anymore, we would probably still get along.

And if you're wondering why he looks so disheveled, it's because he was eating after he got up from his long nap.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 11:43 AM

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Eating this lobster roll at Ed's Lobster Bar last week made up for that horrible, horrible seafood that Jake made me eat at City Island.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 4:16 PM

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After going up to Westchester yesterday, Jake and I stopped in City Island (The Bronx) for lunch. Somehow we ended up at Johnny's Famous Reef Restaurant, which I was pretty disappointed in. I think, in hindsight, I would have preferred a McDonald's (though I didn't see one). Pictured are the fried calamari and fried clams. Not pictured is the horrible stench of sewage that seemed to permeate the establishment.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:08 PM

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From Papabubble, the new candy store that opened up last week. This is their fruit mix, which is my favorite so far. While there are some fruit flavors that I like more than others, it's nice to mix it up on occasion. And the fruit on the sides is a nice touch.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 11:47 AM

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I feel like the quality at Tang Pavilion has dropped off a lot since I last went there a couple of years ago. But it's still popular enough that members of the head of the UN mission for China dines there (he was there on the same night).

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 4:40 PM

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Ahh, October. When we combine socks and the month to create Soktoberfest. It's the best time to break out your fanciest pair of socks for a party at my place. After all, you gotta keep the floors clean. The parties keep getting bigger and better. And despite thinking that there was way too much beer, there really isn't too much left over at all.

Best costume (no, not required) clearly goes to Grego and Adriane (not pictured), who came in authentic (I think?) German outfits. And whatever Jake thinks, he didn't have the best socks. I think that goes to Miguel and Julia, who made their own fancy socks!

Final alcohol consumption totals: 115 12oz beers, 1 1pt 9.4 oz beer, 2 1pt 6oz beers, 1 1pt .9oz beer, and one 1.1 imperial gallon beer.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, House and Home, Photos at 5:17 PM

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While the food looks pretty good, I don't remember it being all that awesome. It was supposedly an example of the local cuisine in Sun Moon Lake though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Taiwan, Travel at 12:30 PM

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In the long-standing tienmao.com tradition of putting things up way after I take the pictures, here are some pictures from The Gutter - a new bar/bowling alley in Greenpoint/Williamsburg (it's really right on the border). Almost the entire bowling alley is made of old lanes, which gives the place a nice look. The best part about The Gutter? It's conveniently located to my apartment.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos, Sports at 12:28 PM

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Last night, I went to Borough Food and Drink for dinner with a bunch of people. At Borough Food and Drink, their menu is a homage (said with an H - think hom-age - by our waitress) and they outsource (again, according to our waitress) their dessert cakes and pies.

Pictured are the dumplings (surprisingly good), the mac and cheese pancake, tobacco onion rings (very good and oily), the jerk lobster (I wouldn't order again or recommend it), and the banana split (the candied walnuts were virtually missing).

I'm guessing the restaurant will be closed in less than two years. It's only okay in my book and Shannan got a martini with glass in it and some possible food poisoning from her braised pork shoulder. That's at least two reasons we won't be passing on another homage to NYC. They also seem to spill maple syrup on occasion.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 3:00 PM

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7-Eleven in Taiwan is all over the place. Taiwan has the 3rd most 7-Eleven locations, only trailing Japan and the United States (in that order). One of the nice things about 7-Eleven in Taiwan is that they have hot food that is actually somewhat appealing. Granted, like 7-Eleven here, you would only want to eat it if you didn't have any better options.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Taiwan at 9:09 AM

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It's been a long time, but last week I finally made pizza again. I'm not sure pizza making is like riding a bike, but it turned out decently. The only issue was that the dough turned out way too thick, so it wasn't really cooked all the way through. Okay, that's kind of a big problem. But I figure if I half the purchased dough, then it will be fine the next time.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:55 AM

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When we arrived in Taipei, it was rather late and my dad and I were hungry. Nobody else was, so we ventured from our hotel to find some food. We found a local restaurant on while walking around that liked serving seafood dishes (as evidenced by the seafood noodles, fried cuttlefish, and clams). The one non-seafood dish we had was stinky tofu.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Taiwan, Travel at 8:13 AM

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Calvin has always been a fast eater and drinker. And he's always loved hot dogs. So one drunken night, he told Adam that he could eat 10 hot dogs in 5 minutes and really thought he could do it. We had our doubts, but on Saturday we did an abbreviated version of that bet - 4 dogs in 4 minutes. Miraculously, he finished in 3 minutes, but not without the shakes from eating so fast. AND he didn't have a reversal of fortune.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 9:09 AM

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Why eat at McDonald's when you're in a foreign country? Never underestimate the power of air conditioning and the knowledge that they have clean bathrooms.

Pictured here is the red bean pie (not nearly as good as the apple pies at non-U.S. locations or the sweet taro pie), corn (not very good), and a coffee from the McCafé.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Hong Kong, Photos, Travel at 9:49 AM

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In case you were wondering, the Mango Madness ice cream cone does in fact taste like mango. It definitely hit the spot on a hot day at Ocean Park.

P.S. - Sorry for the late update, I had about 3" of flooding in my basement because of the wild storms this morning in New York City.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Hong Kong, Travel at 11:39 AM

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Saturday morning, we went up to Fairfield, CT to hang out with Kim, Cyrus, and James. After hitting up the beach, we hung out on their porch, eating and rehydrating. I had to come back Saturday night, but I hear Sunday was fun too. It was a fun little trip that we'll have to do again sometime.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 9:24 AM

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I can't really remember exactly where we got this pizza, but it seemed like a restaurant that turned into bar at night and it was on a somewhat secluded street that had a bunch of bars on it. Nice, right? I think after a few days Japan and a couple more in Hong Kong, I was definitely craving pizza. Pictured is a sausage and olive pizza, which was actually pretty good. I'm not sure if it was good because it was actually good or because I missed pizza that much. If you're so inclined, here's a pizza upskirt.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Hong Kong, Travel at 8:38 AM

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One of our stops in Hong Kong was to the vegetable stand that Calvin's grandmother used to own (Calvin's great aunt currently runs it). While his grandmother is now in New York, the stand is still there. I thought it was a pretty cool, non-touristy stop for us.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Hong Kong, Travel at 8:22 AM

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Tuesday night, a group of us went to Hill Country Barbecue - one of the latest 'cue joints to open here in NYC. A little different than your typical restaurant in NYC, at Hill Country you line up at various counters to order your food. There are counters for the meat, the sides and the drinks. While at the meat counter, you order meat by weight. The first picture is about 1/2 lb of the moist brisket (it didn't seem like enough to share with Calvin). We ended up with 1 lb of the brisket, 1/2 lb of the pork spare rib, and 1 jalapeno cheese sausage. We also had the white shoepeg corn pudding, sweet potato bourbon mash, and corn bread (with ancho honey butter) for sides. It was sooo good (especially the brisket and sides), but super filling. So if you ever go and you like to eat, eating a pound of meat and sides should be your upper limit. This would have been useful information to some of the other people at the table - I think someone got about 2 lbs of meat for himself.

Note to large groups, you can make reservations for 8 or more people, but they only allow a limited number of reservations each day for those groups. Although we didn't have a reservation, we only had to wait about 50 minutes for our table after getting there at 7:30.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 9:57 AM

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Our first meal in Hong Kong was breakfast. What did we get? No, not dim sum, but noodles and Hong Kong-style French toast.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Hong Kong, Photos, Travel at 8:03 AM

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Let's start the photos of Hong Kong off right! With a beer!

While in Hong Kong, we went to Stanley the childhood town of Calvin's mom. We wandered around a bit and grabbed a pint at the Smugglers Inn, a bar that's "that's very popular with both tourists and expats." It even had its own drunk white dude in the middle of the day! One thing that seems rather popular with bartenders in Asia is the shamrock on the Guinness. We saw them a lot in Tokyo as well.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Hong Kong, Photos, Travel at 9:26 AM

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The Yoshinoya chain of restaurants specializes in gyudon (a bowl of rice topped with beef) and is actually one of the larger fast food restaurant chains in Japan. We stopped in one day for lunch and it seemed pretty popular. Not surprising as it's relatively inexpensive and tastes good. I believe that this is just a beef bowl, but I can't be certain as I couldn't read the menu. There was some pointing and nodding going on.

Looking at their US website, they have tons of locations on the West Coast and it seems they even have on in NYC.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 9:08 AM

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This was from a trip to BLT Burger before going to Asia. The 2nd picture is of "waffle bites" - kind of like potato skins with waffle fries instead.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 4:36 PM

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I couldn't bring myself to see these photos from the Big Apple BBQ Block Party on my site until today. I simply had too much BBQ on Sunday to see them again. I'm not sure when I'll be able to eat it again. Maybe when summer's over?

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 8:33 AM

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Another thing tourists do when visiting the French Quarter is go to the Court of Two Sisters to have brunch. They have a jazz brunch buffet every day where they have live jazz and you eat in the ... courtyard of the building. I wasn't all too impressed by the food, but I don't think the restaurant is about the food, but about eating outside in that setting.

Shannan and I didn't have as nice an experience as Margaret, Neil, and Jonas. They saw, and talked to, George Takei - of Star Trek fame and now on Heroes.

In case you can't read it on their site, here's a snippet:
"We are far too cool to say anything or take a photo. I pointed him out to Neil and we had a smile, but that was it. Jonas is, apparently, less cool. He was running around chasing birds while Neil and I called after him, "Jonas, no!"

Suddenly, Takei speaks, "Well, hellooooooo there Jonah! (I didn't correct him.) He had a little conversation with the imp, remarking that while Jonas's throughly slobbered finger might taste good, his tasted better (I'm not even kidding about that.) A few minutes later he even said to someone on the phone, "I'm here having brunch with Jonah and his mommy and daddy!" As we were leaving he commented on what a cute kid we had and Neil responded with a "We love your work." It was, in all, a very pleasant celebrity experience."

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Louisiana, Photos, Travel at 8:57 AM

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One afternoon in the French Quarter, we were looking for a light snack so we went to the Acme Oyster House. It's a pretty touristy destination (isn't the whole Quarter somewhat touristy), but it was tasty nonetheless. We shared the oysters (Neil's first one, I believe) and I had the Creole Jambalaya.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Louisiana, Photos, Travel at 8:23 AM

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I can confirm that the Hurricane from Pat O'Brien's are very strong. Not long after Jonas passed out, I too passed out. The Hand Grenades from Tropical Isle clearly aren't as strong. Even Jonas withstood the alcohol from them.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Louisiana, Photos, Travel at 3:14 PM

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Nothing like a double shack burger. Plus that grilled/burnt cheese stuff at the top was pretty tasty too.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 4:17 PM

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Onto New Orleans! One of our first stops in New Orleans was Café Du Monde, a café famous for its beignets. It's a stop that every tourist to the city needs to make, no? For those unfamiliar with what a beignet is, here's a simple explanation: deep-fried dough with powdered sugar on top. The Café Du Monde website explains them thusly: "the beignet is a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar." Pretty straightforward. They also say that historically, they were sometimes filled with fruit and brought to Louisiana by the Acadians (the word that Cajun originated from). The coffee they serve at Café Du Monde is a coffee-chicory mix, a custom also brought to New Orleans by the Acadians. What can I add about the beignet? They are awesome. That's pretty much it. There's also a ton of powdered sugar as you can see. There's so much of it that the floors, tables, and chairs are covered with it. On a somewhat breezy day (as the day we went was), you can't leave without being covered by the stuff.

The coffee that I ordered while there was my first ever. Quite a milestone, I think. And if that last photo isn't sexy enough for you, check this one out.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Louisiana, Photos, Travel at 7:35 AM

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The day after the wedding, Thuy's parents were nice enough to have people over to their home for a crawfish boil. Thuy's dad bought 160 pounds of crawfish and prepared them himself behind the house. He has quite the set-up back there, perfect for entertaining people.

The crawfish we had were gigantic as it's relatively late in the season and Mr. Bui actually toned down the spice on the boil this time, but it still seemed adequately hot for me.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Louisiana, Photos, Travel at 9:18 AM

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If you like to buy expensive clothes and eat food at almost the same time, there's a store in Tokyo that's perfect for you. Journal Standard, which has a few stores throughout Japan, has a location in Shinjuku with expensive men's and women's clothes on the first and second floors and food on the top floor. While I don't buy too many expensive items of clothing, I do like to eat food. The store was obviously Calvin's dream come true. We also went to their location in Shibuya, but the store and deli there are in two separate, but close, locations. They call their restaurant the "Standard Deli" and as you can see, I had a burger. I think it was the "Standard Burger", which, while decent, wasn't nearly as good as MOS Burger.

The Shinjuku location used to have a trailer where they cooked the food outside on the roof, but it's no longer there. It seems like they moved it outside the location of their Shibuya store.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 8:05 AM

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While visiting Tsukiji Market to see the fish market is something you shouldn't miss in Tokyo, eating there is another must do. It's literally the freshest sushi you can get in the world. There are two sushi places in the market, both insanely crowded with tourists, but what can you do? We went to Daiwa. Though it's not the most ideal thing to eat at 7 in the morning, Calvin and I throughly enjoyed the experience. Johnny, not so much. I think the meal ran us about $30 something for the set meal, which worked out best because we didn't have to order a thing.

I even ate the unagi, which I usually stay away from, and what looks like the ark shell thing that I took a picture of (3rd picture). I believe Calvin and I walked away agreeing that it was the best sushi we've ever had.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 9:36 AM

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It's all in the eyes. Seriously. It's slight, but it's there.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 10:46 AM

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Back in March I posted one image of the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. Here are some more from the early-morning trip to the market. If you ever go to Tokyo, I would highly recommend a visit. Just watch out for all the tractors and the people that are actually there to shop. I think some of the fishmongers really had disdain for the tourists, while others were somewhat receptive.

If you're wondering what's in that third picture is, I have no idea. And to get an idea of how large those frozen tuna carcases are, check out this image for scale (only a half tuna pictured). And that picture is just a fraction of the tuna that were on sale that day.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 8:54 AM

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One night while in Tokyo, we met up with Calvin's friend Akira for dinner. I'm not sure I ever knew the name of the restaurant (it might have been Teppanya), but it was teppanyaki, which uses a griddle to cook the food. It was really, really tasty. Insanely tasty. We also got a little tipsy, as you might be able to tell. I didn't have quite as much to drink as I nearly fell asleep at dinner (jetlag, yo).

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 9:48 AM

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In my first night out in Japan, I wasn't able to stay awake. It was bad. I would have a beer in hand and be falling asleep. The second night out I was a little better. We spent most of the night at Propoganda in Roppongi (a popular district for Gaijin). After teaching the bartender how to make an Irish car bomb, the three of us had quite a few.

The best part of being the person with the camera? You can edit the pictures of you out!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Japan, Photos, Travel at 8:56 AM

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With Johnny away from most Western foods while in Medan, Indonesia (the third largest city in that country), he was jonesing for bread that wasn't sweet. We passed a bagel place one night, but couldn't find it the next morning, so we settled on the Excelsior Caffe. With my lack of Japanese and the lack of English from the person taking my order, there was a lot of nodding and pointing on my part. Somehow, I ended up with two sandwiches - the smoked ham & cheese, mushroom and some other "panini" - it had egg, ham, and cheese and was warmed/cooked in the microwave (the egg was still slightly runny). It might have been what they called the croque monsieur.

While it wasn't what I envisioned as a traditional Japanese breakfast, there were a fair amount of people that came in and out of the store while we were there. Calvin told us that a lot of people eat like this in Japan.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 8:43 AM

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I don't think I've ever seen a Lamb of God before, so I've certainly never seen one beheaded. Well, that all changed yesterday. It's a good thing Jonas was occupied while Margaret lopped the lamb's head off. She also made a stuffed toast (2nd image) that had cheese and bacon on top. Inside was a whole egg! It was tasty, but probably would have been even better if warm. Best food item of the day - Margaret's brandied pear dessert topping.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 9:11 AM

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It was breakfast, so it's okay, right? One morning, we were hungry for some Japanese food, so we stopped into a little ramen shop for breakfast. This was some ramen with some pork and scallops in it. To purchase, you actually put money into a vending machine (with pictures and no English) and the staff takes your printed order.

Oh, and it was delicious. The butter just made it better.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 8:10 AM

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When we arrived in Japan, our first meal wasn't ramen, udon, or any fish related item, it was MOS Burger (MOS stands for mountain, ocean, sun). Chalk it up to arriving very late and Calvin's never ending love of the Japanese chain.

Pictured above is the spicy MOS burger, French fries and onion rings, MOS burger, teriyaki chicken burger, and the MOS chicken. My favorite of the bunch had to be the spicy MOS burger, which had a nice kick to it with the jalapeños on it. The best way that I can describe the sauce on the MOS burger is that it's similar, yet not the same, as a marinara sauce. I didn't care too much for the teriyaki chicken burger. The MOS chicken is a fried chicken leg that is partially de-boned. The drumstick part still has the bone in it, making it easy to eat the rest of it. And it comes in nifty packaging!

More information:
- MOS Burger's English site
- Wikipedia on MOS Burger
- MOS Burger pool on flickr
- AHT on MOS Burger

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 8:29 AM

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Perhaps a little too much food that had a casing?

From the Bohemian Hall, Nathan's, and Totonno's.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 8:01 AM

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A word of advice for those that are going to the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo - you're going to end up smelling like fish. It's a pretty crazy scene. While we didn't make it in time for the auction, there was still plenty of fish around. The size of the actual tuna fish is gigantic (as pictured here). I've got plenty more photos from the fish market as well as some photos of the sushi we ate. Best sushi I've ever had? Yes. Freshest sushi ever? No doubt.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Japan, Photos, Travel at 12:01 AM

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I guess you can never have enough if you're running Grey's Papaya.

I'll be traveling some over the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to update when possible. Things I may miss - hot dogs, a good burger, maybe steak. Good thing I had all those recently!

And yes, I know there's a new error somewhere in the redesign.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 5:32 AM

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Ever since it opened, I've been hearing things about Lucali. I'm not sure I heard one bad peep, but until last week, I haven't made it to the Carol Gardens restaurant. I was not disappointed. You may recall that I tried to go to Lucali a couple of weeks ago, only to find that it's not open on Tuesdays. So keep that in mind if you're going. This time, I made the trip with Matty, Adam and Janice. We ordered one plain pie, the calzone, and a pepperoni pie. While the menu may be sparse, the food certainly doesn't lack in taste. Something else to note is that Lucali doesn't have a liquor license, so you can bring your own alcohol. Conveniently, there's a deli a couple doors down from Lucali.

More on Lucali:
- Gothamist
- Slice
- NY Times
- NY Magazine

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 8:59 AM

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Last night, I was going to hit up Lucali's in Carroll Gardens for some pizza. Little did I know that they're actually closed on Tuesday. That was my fun discovery when I got there, only to see chairs stacked on the tables. Matty suggested we try an Italian place called Sam's, which was only a short walk away. Closed. Possibly for good.

We eventually decided to go to Yemen Cuisine...which serves Yemenese food. I was somewhat skeptical, but Matty tried to comfort me by telling me it was on The Villiage Voice's Best of List and that it was similar to Indian food. Not necessarily that comforting. But we tried it, and it was really tasty. There was lots of lamb on the menu, but I steered clear of that (I don't eat lamb) and went for the chicken gelaba, which Matty recommended. What's chicken gelaba? From their menu: small pieces of chicken sauteed in tomato sauce. It came with rice and we ordered some aseed (that giant pizza/naan-like bread. The portions for the chicken gelaba are very generous and I waddled away quite satisfied.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 9:07 AM

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There are still lots of reminders that Chinese New Year was recently celebrated in Chinatown - confetti on the sidewalks, festive lights and decorations, etc. But I think this display is there no matter what time of year or what year it is.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 8:25 AM

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Hello, food photos! When was the last time so many of you appeared on this site? Saturday night, we went over to Brooklyn Heights to have dinner with my parents. Also there were my cousin Julia and her husband and my other cousin Stephanie. What we encountered was a 13 dish meal (plus dessert) to help ring in the Chinese New Year. Based on the Lunar calendar, it's 4705 (2007 is so far behind) and the Year of the Pig. As we do every year, my mom made an amazing assortment of dishes. My favorite was the lion's head meatballs and the rice cakes. I could eat those every day!

See also the Year of the Dog, the Year of the Rooster, and the Year of the Monkey.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:31 AM

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I've been to Momofuku Ssäm Bar a few times now, but last week's trip was the first time I actually took pictures. Pictured are the insanely tasty steamed buns and the cured hamachi with edamame, horseradish, and pea leaves.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 8:18 AM

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Was delicious. We should have had a side of fries though. And this was the aftermath.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:58 AM

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When we went to Oregon last August (can you tell I'm catching up on photos? It's a resolution), we drove through Shannan's college town of Corvallis. She was going to show me around campus a little and take me to a pizza place that she's been raving about ever since I've known her. Campus was really, really dead as pre-school year activity had yet to start up, but at least American Dream Pizza was open.

American Dream is kind of a psychedelic pizzeria, which seems perfect for the state of Oregon and a college town. I can imagine scores of college students flocking there after a night of drinking or smoking to satiate their hunger.

While I'm not generally a fan of crazy items on my pizza, American Dream has a long list of toppings that you can combine to make your own pizza. When in Corvallis... The combination we went with on our pizza were the normal crust, tomato sauce, American bacon, jerk chicken, olives and fresh garlic. The pizza was very tasty (it better be with all those toppings) despite its cornmeal crust, something I tend to despise on pizza. The crust was fine, but a tad chewy. Maybe that was because we were there very early in the day? Or maybe they just count on the cornmeal to make their crust crispier.

We left American Dream full, smelling of garlic and with several slices left for the road.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:59 AM

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While in Oregon, we stumbled upon Burgerville while driving around. Shannan and her uncle both had Burgerville in the past (as they lived and live there), but I never even heard of it before our trip. The chain takes pride in its Northwest roots, using "fresh all-natural Oregon Country Beef" and lots of seasonal ingredients for their milkshakes. I didn't notice any discernible difference in the meat and didn't think the burger was all too special, but it certainly wasn't bad. I had the Tillamook Cheeseburger which has Tillamook Cheddar Cheese (I visited their cheese factory). The milkshake I got was delicious though.

Check out their full menu. (.PDF file)

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 9:10 AM

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Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you with the reason deep frying a turkey is dangerous. Lucky for us, the attempt was made on grass and not on a deck. And nobody was foolish enough to put the fire out with water or anything like that. Shannan's mom decided that a ham wasn't enough for Christmas dinner, so she thought about preparing a turkey. When she asked how to prepare it - oven, deep fry, etc. - I might have said something like, "I've never had a deep fried turkey." Problem is - they had never made a deep fried turkey. Despite the flame, a turkey eventually went in the oil.

The end result was less than tasty. While the meat was tender and moist, the injected marinade wasn't very good. It actually smelled pretty repulsive. I'm told that there's a large, large oil spot in their back yard now. I wonder if anything will grow there in the future.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Illinois, Travel at 7:57 AM

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Last week, Shannan's company had a bake off in their office. She decided to make her tasty, tasty pumpkin roll and dress it up a little bit. There were awards for best taste, best appearance, and most original. Her pumpkin roll won for taste and appearance.

I believe the recipe is online somewhere.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:59 AM

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In case you didn't remember from a while back. This was at Cronkite Pizzeria & Wine Bar and not the Mets game. I might have a sugar high in the 2nd photo.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 7:59 AM

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While driving up the Oregon Coast, we stopped at Tillamook Cheese to take a little tour. Shannan was always raving about Tillamook, but it seemed like any other cheese to me. While there, I made sure to get a little something from the creamery section of the tour. I had the marionberry pie (see blurry picture here) ice cream as marionberries are a west coast thing. Marion Barry and Marion Berry are unrelated.

And if you're wondering how much Shannan likes Tillamook Cheese - we've got two 2 lbs blocks of extra sharp cheddar sitting in our freezer. She already consumed one.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Oregon, Travel at 7:57 AM

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From the night before it closed for the winter. They actually ran out of burgers.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 7:58 AM

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To celebrate the end of prohibition, LVHRD and Dewar's threw a party at The Players. The club opened on New Year's Eve in 1888 and was founded by Edwin Booth - John Wilkes' brother. The club has an impressive list of past and current members.

P.S. - I took Janelle's cherry. She let me have it.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 7:45 AM

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As much as I enjoy having a new bagel store only a few hundred feet from my apartment, I would gladly trade it for the return of Taco Bite (and I don't even like Mexican food that much). The tasty hole in the wall eatery that operated out of Monsignor's Italian restaurant (I hear it wasn't any good) disappeared just before Thanksgiving. We thought that they were just closed for the long weekend, but last week we saw signs on the building and the roll-down gate that the store was for rent.

Considerably more disappointed than me was Shannan, who swears that the burritos were laced in crack and that it was the best burrito in Brooklyn, if not all of New York (there are other rave reviews as well). I think it was just the hot sauce that she liked. I think there's only one future occupant in that space that could make her happy...Starbucks. It probably won't happen, as that intersection is pretty sleepy, but a Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins did open up just a block away.

I'll never forget your burritos and your freshly fried tortilla chips.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:56 AM

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I showed this picture to Shannan and she said, "Where are the mashed potatoes? Where's the pumpkin pie?" Well, at least we had a turkey. Clockwise from the turkey is the cranberry sauce (homemade, though I prefer canned), Asian sweet potatoes, green beans, sweet corn with pine nuts, yams. We didn't have stuffing either - which is fine by me as I'm no fan of stuffing. I thought everything we ate was great and the turkey was very juicy.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:47 AM

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There are many things that I'm thankful for this year. I won't bore you with them here, but this is one of them. The new bagel store that opened up in Greenpoint. It opened its doors about a week and a half ago and I had my first bagel there yesterday. It's apparently the Baker's Dozen Bagels' second location (the first in Kew Gardens). Not only do they have a full assortment of bagels and spreads for the bagels, but they also have a heathy deli selection. There's a list of sandwiches and panini (31 in all). The bagel is good, but I think it needs a little work. They certainly weren't as good as Joe's Bagels, but I think they were better thank Peter Pan Bakery's bagels.

My biggest problem with the store - they think Greenpoint is two words.

It's located on Manhattan Ave. between Meserole and Calyer (closer to Meserole).

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 9:35 AM

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Isn't this image sad? We were all waiting for our pot of half hot-half mild broth and all we could do is look at all the uncooked food. Eventually that did arrive and it was delicious. It almost surprises me how many of my friends didn't know what hot pot was. Here's the Wikipedia entry on it.

There are actually a lot of hot pot entries on this site.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:11 AM

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A little more than two years ago, Adam and I went to the opening of Fornino in Williamsburg. On Monday, we went to the opening of Cronkite Pizzeria & Wine Bar in the Lower East Side. Cronkite is the latest pizza venture by Fornino's owner, Michael Ayoub. At Cronkite's opening, Adam and I had a Margherita Classica and a Pugliese (mozzarella, sausage, broccoli rabe). We didn't end up getting any wine and the restaurant is still so new (you can still smell the paint). I'm sure that given time, Cronkite will be just as good as Fornino. Right now, they're still experimenting with the dough formula as the two have different oven types.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:52 AM

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Okay, so "Joe's Bagels" isn't an actual store, but it could be. On Saturday Joe invited a few people to make and eat bagels at his apartment in Harlem. He had the dough made before everyone got there and it had extra gluten in it. Everyone rolled their dough, formed bagels, applied toppings, and waited for the end result. How did they taste? Pretty damn delicious. Whether or not they were better than the best bagels in New York is hard to say as they were fresh out of the oven.

Because the bagels weren't enough deliciousness, Joe also made apple pie and pumpkin ice cream with ginger chunks.

Joe was so prepared for the event (maybe overly) that he'll be eating creamcheese all week! For a more detailed analysis on the whole process we went through, check out Bagel in Harlem.

A few more photos in my flickr set.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:50 AM

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Tuesday night I made my first and second trip to Shake Shack this year. The first was to get a shake and concrete for Shannan and the second was to actually eat. While eating my double Shack burger I wondered where the tomato was. It turns out that it was there, but just really, really small. Like size of pepperoni small. The best part of eating the burger? The last bite that was nearly all meat. Mmm!!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:49 AM

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Friday night at the hotel and Saturday before the game, there were some hilarious games of chubby bunny. What's chubby bunny, you ask? Well, you stuff a food item in your mouth and say 'chubby bunny' afterwards. Kristin and Schreiber played first with Schreiber easily winning that competition. Later, I played against Shannan and Mickala, which I won despite shoving one less mini powdered doughnut in my mouth. They both shoved six in their mouth and I put five in my mouth (I could have had one more, but Shannan had one doughnut, gave up and started over). They lost because they didn't swallow after putting six doughnuts in their mouth. I had no problems with that.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:05 AM

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The day after gorging on pig the other week, I went to Long Island to judge a pizza contest organized by LongIsland.com. Naturally, I was in heaven. Over the course of about 5 hours, I sampled 25 slices of pizza in five different categories. I also witnessed a guy eat a whole pie (except for about 4 inches of crust) in around 6 minutes.

A lot more photos in my flickr set on the contest.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:48 AM

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I have mixed feelings about French toast. I'm not usually a huge fan, but when I saw the French toast at Two Boots in Brooklyn, I had to give it serious consideration because of the bananas Foster factor. In the end, it beat out pizza, a burger, and ordering eggs. I just love bananas Foster and it's rare that you find it at a restaurant in any form, let alone something like French toast. I did have to get a side of bacon though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:19 AM

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One of our stops on our drive up the Oregon Coast was Newport. After spending the night in town, the next morning, we took in a few sites - Mo's Chowder, sea lions (more on that later), and the Rogue Brewery. Unfortunately, we missed the brewery tour, but we did stop by the bar to sample some of the beers Rogue makes. This left me drunk after about 2 sips from each our eight small glasses of beer. Unfortunately, because of the airline restrictions, we weren't able to bring back any of the tasty, tasty beer they had.

Fortunately, at Barcade tomorrow, they are going to have 20 (!!) Rogue beers on tap. Details in the extended entry. I know where I'll be tomorrow night!!

This Thursday night 9/28 we are very excited to welcome Rogue Ales and brewmaster John Maier to Barcade as they take over our taps and pour 20 of their amazing beers. On draft:

Dead Guy Ale
"Dry Hopped" St.Rogue Red
Juniper Pale Ale
Kells Irish Lager
Smoke Ale
Brewer Doppelbock (Locker Stock #3, vintage keg)
I2PA
Old Crusty Barley Wine
Russian Imperial Stout
Imperial Porter
Chipotle Ale
Glen Ale (vintage keg)
Brutal Bitter
Integrity IPA
Schwarzbier
Love & Hoppiness
Uber Pils
Shakespeare Stout
Issaquah Bull Frog Ale

and

Chocolate Stout (on cask)

Basically, there should be something for everybody in there. If not, then you don't like beer and you're probably not coming anyway. Also, we'll be giving away a lot of cool Rogue stuff, plus there'll be a nice bread and cheese spread too. Beer starts flowing at 6pm.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:48 AM

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On the drive up the coast in Oregon is Mo's Chowder in Newport. The Newport location is the original storefront for the restaurant that now has many locations and will actually ship chowder via FedEx. They actually make 500,000 pounds of chowder a year, which seems like an insane amount.

The chowder was good, not all that spectacular or anything, but probably better than average. It was just regular New England Clam Chowder - served in Oregon. The one thing I had never seen before was the piece of butter they placed on top of the soup.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 8:14 AM

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While last Sunday was Eric's birthday, he and his wife organized a trip to the North Fork of Long Island this past weekend to celebrate. Of course we had to travel in an H2 limo. Nothing like gas-guzzling, prom-style class. We had some major problems with our limo driver: he was an asshole, two of the vineyards we went to wouldn't accept large groups without appointments (he said we didn't need any because he knew all the places), and he charged more than the contracted amount. Despite those problems, the trip was fun as we went to 3 vineyards (and not the promised 5). Oh, and the douchebag driver was also talking on his phone while driving (not handsfree) and looking at a map while driving.

And in case you didn't notice, there was some tasty macaroni salad.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:51 AM

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I can't count the number of times that I've finished dinner and had a craving for ice cream. Soon my problems will be answered with the newest addition to Greenpoint - a Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robins on Manhattan Ave and Bedford Ave. The are moving into the old Moon Shadow space and the store next door. From the looks of it, the store will be open pretty soon. They lights are done and they've got a freezer already delivered.

The donut/ice cream combination will certainly open before the We the People bagel spot which now has an awning and real name. They should have kept the old name and the notary. People are always in need of a notary with their bagel.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 8:17 AM

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After Saturday's Cyclones game, there was a little giveaway of Smucker's Uncrustables sandwiches, something that I'm not sure that I even knew about let alone eaten before. I didn't actually grab one on the way out, but someone else handed me theirs (apparently they thought it was a disgusting concept). Slightly hungry and very curious, I opened the Uncrustable up and started to eat.

In case you're wondering what an Uncrustable is, here's the general idea - a packaged sandwich with different types of fillings with a crimped crustless edge. I had the peanut butter-strawberry sandwich which was just a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich on white bread. There were two layers of "creamy" peanut butter surrounding the jam and applied to the bread. As far as I was concerned, the sandwich was pretty tasty. While the bread seemed slightly damp and soggy, I liked the even distribution and ratio of peanut butter to jam. The best part might have been that there was no possibility of jam drippage.

While I liked the sandwich, I'm not sure if I would actually buy these in a store - mostly because it's not hard to make a PB&J and because it's probably much cheaper to make one yourself. That said, if I was going somewhere where I couldn't make a sandwich, I would be all over these.

And if you think these are disgusting, there's also a grilled cheese flavor, which I'm not sure I would ever, ever try.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:46 AM

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Sadly we didn't have any blueberries left or any vanilla ice cream. We did have strawberries and powdered sugar though. And I wish I made the blueberry crepes myself, but they're store bought.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:08 AM

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I've always enjoyed the kiwi fruit, but sometimes it's a little acidic for my taste - even in the ripe versions. This weekend, I had the golden kiwi (also sometimes called yellow kiwi) for the first time and it was excellent. The golden kiwi has a sweeter taste and no noticeable acidity. You still get little seeds in your teeth, but that's not that big a problem. Wikipedia says it took 11 years to develop the golden version through cross-polinization. Apparently the skin is edible, but not something that I ate. Next time I'll be sure to give it a try. Now I just need to find out where to get some of these from my mom.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:08 AM

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There's nothing quite like a trip to Katz's to get the arteries clogged. I can't seem to remember the last time I went too well, but I don't think I had as much difficulty finishing as I did on this last trip. I swear that by the end of my pastrami sandwich, I was thisclose to puking. One problem could have been the two beers I had before eating. About 20 minutes after returning home, I went to pass out in bed.

Crazy that I actually wanted to take another trip to Katz's the next day.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:47 AM

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Yummy! From top: Guber Burger (that's tasty Peter Pan pb), the Green Chile Cheeseburger, and the Butter Burger. And as good as the Butter Burger might sound, it was a little too much butter for my taste. Think buttery bread, with buttery meat, and a lot more butter after that. The Green Chile was my favorite of the ones pictured.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 7:50 AM

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At the Gothamist-A Hamburger Today QBQ BBQ last month. Perhaps some pictures of the tasty food tomorrow. And I think that 2nd picture is one of my favorite pictures ever.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Photos at 7:59 AM

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It was the yummiest castle-like creation around. I could eat another half of that castle right now. All in our preparation to split a crave case.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:46 AM

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Last Saturday, I went on a little trip out to Belmont Park to catch the third leg of horse racing's Triple Crown. With no possibility of a Triple Crown and none of the horses that won the previous two legs (Barbaro was injured and Bernardini was resting), so there wasn't too big a crowd on hand. In 2004, the last time I went, there were about 120,000 people on hand. This year, the crowd was a little more than 60,000. After boarding a bus of 56 people at 10 in the morning and being suffeciently drunk by noon, I threw away less than $30 on the ponies (a number I'm kind of proud of) coming close to winning bets a couple of times.

For a much better summary of the day, be sure to read Arash Markazi's account on SI.com (he was on the same bus I was).

Also, some more photos in my Belmont photoset on Flickr.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 7:56 AM

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Ahh, the final day of my 2006 food diary. A week is a long ass time to keep one, I can't imagine keeping it for a year. Thankfully, I didn't have to take photos of everything I ate because there were a couple of days where it would have been insane. I endured a countless number of people wondering what I was doing. Why I was writing down everything I ingested. Was I on a diet? Nope. Why are you keeping track of it then? Just because.

But there are things you learn from keeping a food diary. I drink lots of water (and pee a lot). It's clear that I can also pack in the food. And while I don't think I'm that horrible an eater, the food diary provides evidence to the contrary. But I don't think this past week was a very typical eating week for me. Not enough pizza, too many bagels, too much alcohol, and a weekend full of gluttony.

Finally, while the diary should merely been something to track my food and beverage intake, it somewhat helped in keeping myself in check (believe it or not). Sunday night, I probably could have eaten more pizza, but I didn't because I could clearly see that I already had 9 slices (incidentally, these were pretty small slices and pies). There were also times where I didn't eat something just because I would have to write something down - not anything major just a snack that I knew I didn't really need.

So without further adieu, here is my final day of the 2006 food diary. You can see all the archives from this year and 2004 here.

Oh, and that image has nothing to do with the food diary. I just like it and dug it up from my archives.

2006 Food Diary, Day 7
9:15 a.m.: Start 30 oz water. Finished at 12:05.
9:22: sesame seed bagel with cream cheese
1:03 p.m.: Start of 20 oz water. Finished at 3:14. Lunch - chicken rice noodles, Coke.
3:38: Start of 16 oz water. Finished at 5:26.
4:13: Fuji apple
4:52: One pretzel that was kind of sweet - almost like a graham cracker pretzel. Nasty.
8:15: Home. Take out from Wasabi. 1 pint of water, edamame, sip of miso soup, 2 pieces of gyoza, soy sauce with wasabi, 5 pieces spicy tuna roll, 4 pieces of California roll, 1 piece sushi, 2 pieces sashimi.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:49 AM

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Matty is so sexy that I'm just not sure what to say.

I've had two crazy days of eating. Saturday was a group trip to Belmont, affectionately called Hellmont. It was a bus of 56 people and lots of alcohol. Sunday, I went to a barbecue in Palisades Park in New Jersey.

2006 Food Diary, Day 5
10:15 a.m.: Miller Light, everything bagel with scallion cream cheese.
10:44: Milwaukee's Best
11:56: Miller Genuine Draft
12:19 p.m.: One cup Chatham Artillery Punch, which includes: win, rye whisky, gin, rum, brandy, grenadine, tea, brown sugar, and champagne.
12:28: 1/4 ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomato, onion.
12:34: Small piece of brownie
1:27: Half cup of punch (the other somehow fell out of my hand)
2:40: Two handfulls of Cracker Jack
2:43: Potato chips
5:52: Sausage and peppers
7:03: Half a plain bagel
7:10: Vitamin Water (Power-C)
7:43: ~20 Pringles, 1 Sapporo
10:19: 2 strawberries, 1 glass water, 1/2 mango

2006 Food Diary, Day 6
9:46 a.m.: Tea egg, cup of water
11:16: 20 oz bottle of Coke
12:00 p.m.: Blue Corn Tostidos
12:11: Rice Crispy treat
12:21: BBQ chips, Blue Corn Tostidos with salsa
12:34: Hot dog with ketchup
12:39: Cheeseburger with ketchup and onion, potato salad
12:51: Corn
1:02: Hot sausage
1:53: One piece of beef from a shish kebab
1:54: BBQ chicken
2:03: 2 cups Pepsi
2:09: Pound cake with strawberry topping and vanilla ice cream
3:51: 1 cup Pepsi
3:56: 2 chicken drumsticks
6:10: 2 gulps of water
6:38: 2 gulps of water
7:42: Handful of popcorn
8:39: 2 gulps of water
9:01: 2 gulps of water
9:25: Hoegaarden with lemon
9:57: Regular pizza, 6 slices, with pepper, 1 slice, with pepperoni, 2 slices.
10:30: 8 oz of water
11:07: Pint of water

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:59 AM

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Aww, how cute is that. Randolph sleeping on a pizza box. Could this even win the heart of a certain non-cat loving pizza lover? I'm not sure what topping category Randolph falls under though.

2006 Food Diary, Day 4 (This could be the worst day of eating for this entire endeavor. Today could encroach that though, we'll see.)
9:52 a.m. - #1 meal from McDonald's (Egg McMuffin, hash brown, orange juice)
11:59 - Start of 24 oz of water. Finished at 3:24.
1:17 p.m. - Ham and swiss sandwich with mustard, lettuce, and tomato on white bread. One bag of Firey Habenero Doritos and 20 oz of water.
4:52: Start of 18 oz of water. Finished at 6:23
4:59: 3 pieces of Welch's Concord Grape fruit snacks
5:19: 3 pieces of Welch's Concord Grape fruit snacks
6:54: #1 meal from White Castle (4 burgers with cheese, fries, Coke)
7:26: Magic Hat Hocus Pocus on Calvin's roof.
8:44: Rinse and repeat the above.
10:38: Home. Glass of water.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Randolph at 7:31 AM

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Having my parents' cat Bobo around is helping Mortimer deal with Randolph - mostly because Randolph and Bobo chase each other. Shortly after this picture though, Randolph and Bobo chased each other around for a bit. But the reason he loves Bobo the most is that he eats any food she doesn't finish right away.

2006 Food Diary, Day 3:
8:52 - Still warm everything bagel with scallion cream cheese from Baglesmith.
9:23 - Work, start of 25 oz of water from Nalgene. Finished at 11:31.
11:40 - One substantial sized strawberry
12:48 p.m. - 20 oz bottle of water with lunch. Same sandwich as Monday from BP.
2:23 - 26 oz of water. Finished at 3:30.
3:53 - one chestnut - at this point, I'm getting a little hungry.
3:58 - 10 Veggie Stix
4:02 - small piece spicy chocolate
4:05 - half a fig newton-like fig bar
4:09 - one stick Stride gum
4:27 - six nacho cheese Doritos. I think they should have a variety with extra flavor, something like extra nacho cheese. Mmm.
4:37 - 18 oz of water. Finished 5:17.
5:46 - 6 more Doritos
6:43 - 10 peanuts
7:12 - Dinner at Rialto. Three glasses water, one mojito, two pieces of bread with butter, calamari with chipotle dipping sauce, grilled pork chop topped with shredded apple in a honey sauce with mashed potatoes and spinach, shared an ice cream sundae.
10:47 - Home. One pint water.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Mortimer at 8:59 AM

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Last Friday, I went to my first roller derby bout ever. The Gotham Girls Roller Derby match was between the Queens of Pain and the Brooklyn Bombshells (their other two teams are the Bronx Gridlock and the Manhattan Mayhem - clearly no love for Staten Island). It was really a lot of fun. I sat rinkside, which got me insanely close to the action, which proved to be a bad idea (or good, depending on how you look at it) when Raggedy Animal got shoved into me. Picture 7 of 8 happened right before I was flattened. My camera and I didn't seem to be damaged either, which is probably the most important thing. In the end, the Bombshells won the close match making their home Brooklyn crowd quite happy.

- More photos from Bombshells vs Pain in my Gotham Girls Roller Derby set on Flickr

2006 Food Diary, Day 2
12:26 a.m. - Home, one glass water. Really needed that glass of water after 64 oz of Bud Light.
9:04 - Work, 32 oz of water. Finished at 12:02.
12:46 p.m. - McDonald's medium #1 meal (that's a BigMac and fries) with a Coke. For some ungodly reason, they were selling an extra Big Mac for only $1 more. Of course, I had to buy and eat it.
3:07 - 30 oz of water. Finished at 5:54.
8:02 - Home, pasta with clams and garlic, one glass white wine.
8:20 - Water, one pint.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 7:48 AM

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Believe it or not, Calvin graduated from Brooklyn Law yesterday. Jessica, his sister also graduated, but with many, many honors. Both of them will be great lawyers, especially as they will never be late for a deposition, meeting, or court date (they might not ever have these) because of their fancy graduation gifts from their parents.

Also yesterday, Youngna pointed out a New York Magazine article which details the eating habbits of 5 New Yorkers over a week. Longtime readers may remember that I did this for a week back in 2004 when the NY Times had an article about Tucker Shaw. Shaw had been keeping track of everything he ate in photos and was also the co-author of the New York article. This time, no photos of everything, just a list every day of the previous day's items and maybe some photos.

So I invite those of you who wonder how I'm not 500 pounds (my clothes hide the extra weight well) to follow along and compare what you eat to what I eat.

2006 Food Diary, Day 1
Tuesday:
9:00 a.m. - Work, everything bagel with cream cheese from BP, can of Arizona Green Tea with ginseng and honey (the ginseng makes it healthy)
9:56 - Work, started 24 oz of water from my Nalgene bottle. Finished at 10:56.
10:49 - Work, Portuguese egg custard from Egg King Custard Cafe. I have no idea how the Portuguese egg custard is different than a regular one. It just seems to be burnt and heavier. I need to do a side by side comparison.
12:37 p.m. - Turkey sandwich from BP. Including tomato, lettuce, mayo, cheddar cheese, smoked turkey on a multi-grain bread. 26 oz of water from Nalgene. Finished at 2:14.
3:20 - Chinese milk candy
3:26 - Chinese milk candy
3:31 - Starting on 18 oz of water to get that nasty milk candy taste out of my mouth. Finished at 6:00.
7:19 - Oriental Garden Seafood Restaurant for Calvin and Jessica's graduation party. 2 cups of Coke, 1 cup tea, pickled vegetables, one shrimp, 1 glass red wine, 2 sea scallops with mayo, 2 bowls fish soup, fish, squab and chinese broccoli, 2 crab legs, lobster with noodles, 2 bowls rice wrapped in lotus leaf, 2 pieces of watermelon, a mini almond cookie, a mini moon cake-like ginger thing.
10:02 - Palais Royale, 32 oz of Bud Light
11:14 - Palais Royale, 32 oz of Bud Light

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:52 AM

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It's been too long since my last trip to Congee Village on Allen Street. But last night we went over with my parents and aunt (dad's b-day and mom and aunt heading to China today). Even though I don't like thousand year old egg, my favorite congee is the one with the egg and pork. And of course you can't go to Congee Village without getting the rice with chicken baked in the bamboo. But one of the best items last night was that chicken. Mmm. That last dish was some sweet potato desert thing, but it was just okay.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:53 AM

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Today in Red Hook was the 2nd Annual Schnack Stahl-Meyer Hot Dog Eating Contest at Schnack. I've always considered myself a pretty good eater, after all, I did win a small cheesecake eating competition. But this was insane. "Gentleman" Joe Menchetti finished a custom made 30" Stahl-Meyer hot dog in under two minutes. 1:53 to be precise. He just blew away the competition. A man amongst boys in this competition. He won't be in the Nathan's competition though as he's an independent eater and that's an IFOCE event.

- More photos from the Schnack Stahl-Meyer Hot Dog Eating Contest in my set on flickr
- Jesse has more photos in his flickr photoset as well

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 4:15 PM

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The last time I went to Steak 'n Shake was in November when I went to Ann Arbor. When I heard that there one in Peoria, we had to go. It was tasty as always, but I forgot to get cheese on my Steakburger. It was tasty nonetheless.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 9:56 AM

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The first stop when we got off the airplane in Peoria was for lunch at Emo's Dairy Mart. Shannan kept telling me about how good their Coney Dogs were. They were quite delicious, but I think the actual hot dog could have been of better quality. I can't argue with the bean-less chili though, as I hate beans. A standard Emo's Coney Dog is a hot dog with mustard, bean-less chili, and raw onions.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:48 AM

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About two weeks ago, I helped out at a banquet for St. Vincent's Living-at-Home Program at Jing Fong in Chinatown. It was complete with entertainment in the form of purple-haired singers. It was a good time despite hanging out behind the bar for most of it and cutting my finger in an attempt to open a bottle of wine.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 8:07 AM

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I previously spotted the Donut Pub, but never went in. Some time last month, I took a chance despite being full after eating fabulous "Mexican" food. It was late when I went in, so nothing was too fresh and it showed when I started to eat my Boston creme donut. So I was a little disappointed, but I'll have to give the Donut Pub another chance.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:06 AM

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You just can't stop the improvements in Greenpoint. With local residents unsatisfied with just a Subway up Manhattan Avenue, a Blimpie opened up just recently at one end of the Nassau Avenue G stop. While it doesn't seem like they bake their own bread or to have Hershey's Ice Cream in the store (Subway has both), they seem to have some little cart that is destined to serve some craptastic Mexican food. On the plus side, they have an eager and helpful staff and plenty of seating.

So it's T-Mobile, "We the People Bagles" (which hasn't made much progress) and now Blimpie. What's next?

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 7:58 AM

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Over the weekend, Shannan and I had dinner with Jeannnette, Yvan, and Vivian here in Greenpoint. Shockingly, it was the first time I've had Polish food despite living in Greenpoint almost two years. On one of Jeannette and Yvan's neighbor's recommendation, we went to Christina's on Manhattan Avenue. It was really good. Granted, I can't necessarily say that it was authentic as I'm not Polish, but it was definitely tasty. The most peculiar thing though was the wait-staff - both Polish and both wearing similar skimpy outfits.

I had the fried kielbasa with a side of sauerkraut and corn. Also pictured is the Polish platter, an assortment of pierogis, and red cabbage with cole slaw. For dessert, we had the blintzes - the fruit and the fruit with cheese.

As you can see from the picture of the menu (full menu here), the prices were pretty reasonable. I don't have any idea if the pig knuckles are any good though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:58 AM

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Saturday afternoon I went over to Taste of Chinatown despite the weather forecast. The turnout was surprising as well as the miniscule amount of food I ate. Not sure why I didn't eat that much despite my hunger. Maybe it was the imperfect system of walking around with food in my hands and camera under my arm while trying not to get wet.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos at 8:02 AM

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Over the weekend, I had brunch at Aurora again. With the weather nice out, it's becoming a favorite brunch spot because it's a nice walk over from Greenpoint and I tire of the madhouse that Enid's is sometimes. Last time I went, I had the French toast, this time, I went with the Aurora beef burger. It's a tasty home-made burger topped with bacon and fontina cheese. The burger itself has some sort of green spice inside (I didn't stop long enough to figure it out). I'm not sure what the other dish is and I didn't try it - I think it was just two eggs that came with mushrooms, beans, and a potato croquette.

I think the next time I go, it will have to be for dinner.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:49 AM

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Fish? Ass? Roses? I guess it depends on the foot, doesn't it? If the food bandaids came scented, I would probably go with bacon. Because when it comes down to it, you can't go wrong with bacon.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:00 AM

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Oh that Matty. So, so young. Matty had a bit of an early celebration for his birthday yesterday as he'll be away on his actual birthday on Friday. It seems like he tried to re-enact his mozzarella eating, but it's just not the same. He gathered a whopping 17 people for a dinner at Frank.

Food pictured is the antipasto, garlic bread with anchovies, black linguine (black with squid ink!) with calamari, and the skirt steak. All very tasty. The garlic bread could have used some more garlic though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:58 AM

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Not only do we have a T-Mobile, but it looks like some bagels are coming to Greenpoint. I, for one, welcome them. Especially since the bagel place on the corner of Meserole and Manhattan is horrible. I also think they should keep the canopy and name of the previous occupant.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 8:15 AM

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I've previously said that I hate Mexican food, which I think I can probably back off on slightly. Now, I probably just dislike it. I've started to find some items that I'll eat and even like at times.

The other night, I went to Chipotle and it's "Mexican" food that I think I could eat on a consistent basis (nevermind the digestive issues I had later). I had the crispy tacos (I can't stand the smell of the soft tortillas) with steak and roasted chili-corn salsa. Taaasty!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:02 AM

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Saturday morning, we took a short walk around Williamsburg. Looking for brunch, we happened upon Aurora, which has an awesome backyard garden. I had my eyes on the Nutella doughnut, but it was unavailable. They did, however, have an awesome Nutella croissant. I didn't end up finishing it though as it was insanely rich. While the French toast was also good, I probably shouldn't have had two really sweet dishes in one meal.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:51 AM

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There are many signs of a good girlfriend, like encouraging your boyfriend to do stuff with various books, kind words, stuff like that. Shannan does that and she bought me some fresh garnishes to use when I cook. While a nice gesture, I think she just wants me to cook more and make more pizza. I can see right through her dirty tricks!

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, House and Home at 7:30 AM

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Can I say I've never had truffles sprinkled into my mouth before? And why would I have? Well, that all changed last night at the Gothamist-Slice Pizza Party at Fornino in Williamsburg. It was so amazing. Michael Ayoub (the owner) estimated that there were 200 pizzas served (he had very little dough left) through the night. One of them was the truffle pizza, which usually runs $35/45 a pie - and there were at least 20 of those made. That was one of my favorites. There was also a mozzarella making demo and some spumoni at the end of the night. I was so full at the end that I thought I was going to throw up. I tell you, that's the sign of a good pizza event.

A few more photos in my flickr set.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:20 AM

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Alas, I did not go into this magnificent concoction for a sampling of their fare. I really should have though, no matter how full I might have been.

Especially after seeing such kind words on the Internets:
- Menupages
- Roboppy's set on Flickr

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 7:49 AM

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I stumbled upon these chips last night at the grocery store. I think it's a new line of products from Frito-Lay as I thought I saw a potato chip in the "Sensations" line of products as well. We chose the Red Chile & Lime over the Southwestern Ranch (that had a picture of some black pepper-like flakes on a chip). While the image on the packaging might make you think "hot," it's not that hot at all. You can certainly taste the lime though. I definitely like Frito-Lay's Spicy Nacho Doritos better.

Come to think of it, the potato chips actually sound a lot better: Kettle Cooked Four Cheese, Kettle Cooked Lime & Black Pepper, and Kettle Cooked Sweet Chili & Sour Cream.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:05 AM

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It's good to know that while changing Gage & Tollner to Friday's they were still able to preserve some of the historical interiors. Despite Friday's not even close to being the oldest restaurant in New York, let alone that stretch of Fulton St, I like how they kept the old window signs. On the inside of Friday's, they still have the lamps that used to be gas lamps before Gage closed down. Obviously there's no gas there anymore.

All this comes from that awesome heart attack inducing trip to Fridays.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 8:07 AM

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For Johnny's birthday dinner, Katie organized a substantial sized gathering for Ethiopian food at Ghenet. I had previously only had Ethiopian at Meskerem. It was the perfect type of meal for a group of our size - especially with all the food we got.

Pictured top to bottom are the sambusa, engouday tibs, kitfo (I think), and several main meat dishes - yebeg tibs, shrimp and scallop tibs, doro wett, and the siga wett - with vegetable dishes around them. With plenty of injera, it's safe to say that we were all full when we left.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:06 AM

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I think I just had a heart attack! Last night, I went to TGI Friday's with Janelle, Jesse, Youngna, Brian and Shannan (missing from the team were Jake and Jason - shame on them but good for their bodies) for the heart attack special - their 3 course menu for $12.99. There were two options, the healthy side and the unhealthy dark side. I had the fried mozzarella, the bacon cheeseburger (it had more fried mozzarella on it) and the Cinnabon cheesecake. Guess what I chose.

And let it be known that if you go to a Friday's in NYC, you probably can't use your gift card. The location we went to was the former Gage and Tollner. Some pictures from the interior next week.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:02 AM

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That 2nd photo is the nutella panini from 'inoteca. Yeah, it's as good as it sounds. The last photo is by Youngna, who, as evidenced by all the photos on my computer, now knows about burst mode.

Previously at 'inoteca last year for JK's birthday. It's kind of striking how different my photos of food are in just one year.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 7:53 AM

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Arf! Arf! Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay. Hmm, can't think of anymore. Over the weekend, we celebrated Chinese New Year with some crazy eating. Pretty much the same as last year (the title of my post is even the same). The food did change slightly though.

On this year's menu: beef with eggs, "lion's head" meatballs, whole chicken soup, shrimp, duck, eight assorted vegetables, a whole fish, and glutinous rice cake. Not pictured are the cumquats.

And for more, check out food pictures from last year (year of the Rooster) and the year before (year of the Monkey).

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 7:55 AM

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You gotta love when you can barely take a bite of your cheeseburger.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:42 AM

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Before heading over to Mark's party, we went up to dinner at Katie and Johnny's. On the menu was a really tasty osso buco using a crock pot (!!) and an excellent creme brulée. Sending out the 2005 with a delicious meal was a good way to go. But lesson to the wise, champagne can be dangerous.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:02 AM

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After seeing David's photo of the Egg Custard King Cafe in his flickr photostream, I decided that I must go. Over the weekend, I finally went. While the name might make you think they only have egg custard, that would be incorrect as they also have actual food. OF course, I didn't get any of this. Just an overload of egg custard.

Egg Custard King Cafe has several flavors of egg custard and I went with four different ones, none of which were the traditional flavor you might find at dim sum. Pictured are the almond, strawberry, honey dew, and mango flavored egg custards. They also had plain, banana and some sort of white egg custard (possibly egg white?).

Are they tasty? You bet. Just don't eat four in a 5 minute span. Why would I do that? Well, I had to taste one right after another but without finishing the whole thing. It's a good thing I didn't get each flavor they had. I think my favorite of the bunch was the honey dew egg custard followed by the almond, strawberry, and mango.

And for 75¢ each, I might have to go back and try the other flavors. Certainly not all at once though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:18 AM

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After eating an insane amount of food for dinner, we moved onto dessert which included a Bûche de Noël from Bouley and a tiramisu cheesecake from Fairway. The Bûche was a Bûche Jivara (milk chocolate and vanilla) and was really, really good. The tiramisu cheesecake was good, but it was just overkill. Combining the two is pure madness.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:15 AM

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Sunday night, I went over to J-Dub's as he and Jen graciously played host for a Christmas dinner. They ordered an insane amount of food from David Bouley's Boulet Bakery. It was an insane amount of food, especially purees. On the menu for dinner was a lobster bisque, string bean and walnut salad, butternut squash puree, potato puree, zucchini mint puree, chestnut puree, roasted chicken and a roasted pork loin. See? Insane amount of purees. Needless to say, I'm pureed out for the rest of the year.

Pictured are the butternut squash puree, zucchini mint puree, string bean walnut salad, Bouley's signature bread, the pork loin and roasted chicken. And yes, the zucchini mint puree was kind of strange tasting, but not in a bad way. Just something I've never had before. I'm not sure I could taste zucchini at all.

Tomorrow, pictures of dessert including a really tasty Bûche de Noël.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:00 AM

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Last Friday, I headed out to Woodside with Jeannette and Yvan to Sripraphai (SEE-PAH-FYE). I had not been since last winter before they finished renovating part of the restaurant. Despite the finished renovation/expansion, the place was packed when we got there. For good reason too because Sripraphai is great. (It's not even owned by Chinese people!) The food is marvelous and occasionally knock-your-socks-off hot. We didn't even order hot, we just asked for slightly hot. Even with that degree of hotness, we were already enduring stomach pains and runny noses. Not that that's a bad thing.

Pictured above are the crispy Chinese watercress salad, green duck curry, drunken noodles with pork, sticky rice container, and the clams with basil and chili sauce. All of it was great. We determined he drunken noodles to be the hottest and that's without the addition of the sauce on the side.

- Frank Bruni's two-star review in the NY Times
- NY Metro's listing on Sripraphai
- Citysearch listing for Sripraphai

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:30 AM

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Saturday night, I went to Shelly's on 57th St. to help Katie celebrate her 20-something birthday. I personally had never been to Shelly's, but anything that has steak and seafood couldn't have been too bad. The item I was most disappointed in was probably the creamed spinach, which seemed too watery/creamy.

And if you're curious as to what that last item is, it's a marshmallow dessert with ice cream inside. It was doused with flaming Bacardi 151, which was really, really cool.

Also disappointing was the quality of the pictures I took. Man, going back to the S70 in low light didn't turn out well. Perhaps it was a combination of the lack of usage of the S70 combined with the stellar results of the 20D in low light, which makes the results so disheartening. Mental note, lug 20D wherever I go from now on.

Posted by tien mao in Birthdays, Food/Drink at 8:04 AM

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Friday night, I had some hot pot at Grand Sichuan with my parents. I can't tell you how good hot pot is when it's cold out. Funny thing is that it's mostly eaten here when it is cold since you tend to sweat profusely when you're eating out of the spicy side. I remember traveling in China a while back and seeing restaurants that were dedicated to hot pot. There was no option of a half mild, half spicy side. It was only spicy and really red looking. I wish I could say I tried it, but alas I did not. It didn't seem like the best idea to burn a hole in my stomach while in Chongqing.

And don't blame me for the photos - I was trying to eat and take photos at the same time.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:58 AM

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After reading Adam's glowing review of Dumont Burger, I went to check it out Monday night. For some strange reason, I decided to get blue cheese on my burger, which probably wasn't a great idea. The burger was still great, but blue cheese is a little much on the pungent side. I went through a "hmm, it tastes good on wings, why not burger" thought process.

One thing I didn't love as much as Adam was the onion rings. I kind of like them crispier and not with a sweet taste. I also didn't like the pickles that they provided. The pickle chips were sweet and the pickle spear that came with the burger was tasteless. But those two things shouldn't detract from the tall and tasty burger.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:06 AM

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I've determined that my favorite candy bar is Hershey's SKOR. You can't go wrong. There's milk chocolate (I hate that dark chocolate crap) and a tasty butter toffee inside. Mmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

One thing I noticed recently is that they changed the shape of it. Making it narrower and longer but keeping the same net weight. I could swear that it was less candy, but I guess not. It must be a psychological ploy to make consumers think there is less so they have to buy more. Gotta love consumer gluttony because that's exactly what I did.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:07 AM

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Saturday afternoon, we headed to Clinton Street Baking Company for some lunch. I was torn between the cheeseburger (which I could really go for right now) and the Cuban sandwich. As you can see, I went with the Cuban. I'm curious if the Cuban is one of the saltiest sandwiches out there. While I enjoyed eating it, the sandwich was almost like instant dehydration.

In addition to the Cuban, I also got a raspberry-chocolate milkshake, which was good, but I couldn't really taste any chocolate.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:03 AM

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Mmm...Thanksgiving. It's a good thing there were lots of leftovers, because I can eat the meal all over again for the rest of the weekend. Okay, not all of the meal. Just a couple of items.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:55 AM

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So when I make my own pizza at home, I like to use homemade sauce (the store bought crap really didn't cut it). And when I say homemade, I don't mean fresh tomatoes, although that's not out of the question, I just don't do it because it's a bigger pain. After picking up a tip from Adam, I started using canned whole plum tomatoes for the sauce.

Here's the list of ingredients I add:
- olive oil
- fresh garlic
- 1 can whole plum
- oregano
- basil
- hot peppers (I added 3 yesterday)
- salt
The outcome is pretty good in my mind, but I wonder if there's anything else I should add. One recipe I read had onions as an ingredient, but I've never really added them. I suppose if I'm actually using the sauce for pasta, there would be a longer list of things I could add.

Thoughts?

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:59 AM

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Friday night, I went to Din Tai Fung's "traveling road show" at the Sheraton in Flushing. For about nine days, the Taiwaneese restaurant sets up shop at the Sheraton selling a reasonable facsimile of their famous soup dumplings. Unfortunately, I have this cold and was severely congested to the point that I couldn't taste anything.

Nevertheless, I forged on, eating the dishes that we ordered and just imagined how good they tasted. From what I was told, the soup dumplings were not as good as the original restaurant in Taipei (of course not) but were still better than all other soup dumplings in New York.

Din Tai Fung's last day in New York is Sunday, November 20th with reservations needed to eat there. Unfortunately, it is fully booked so I won't be tasting it again this year. Unless I travel to one of their 25 locations around the world.

- Din Tai Fung set on flickr

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:08 AM

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I've often lamented New York's lacking in fine burger franchises (Sonic, In-N-Out) and while I was in Michigan, I found yet another chain my fair city is missing, Steak 'n Shake. Sure real estate prices in New York might make it impossible for any of these chains to survive, but how about placing one in Long Island or in New Jersey. Plenty of land available. I would certainly make a trip.

Started in the town of Normal, Illinois in 1934, Steak 'n Shake is "famous for its Steakburgers" and has insanely delicious milk shakes. If those two items aren't enough, they also have a good list of side dishes including a Bean Crock, which has made cameo appearances in their advertising (ad #4).

While it currently isn't in the New York market, apparently a franchise opportunity is available here. Anybody out there have some money they want to throw towards this? It's a guaranteed hit! Especially with those fancy hats.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:48 AM

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A week or so ago, we went to the Bleu Drawes Cafe here in Greenpoint. Man is that place hard to get to. It's pretty much as north as you can get in Greenpoint on a quiet industrial street (obviously it's becoming more residential).

Pictured is the really tasty jerk chicken, a grilled pork chop, and two desserts - the insanely sweet carrot cake (it almost seemed like it was pre-packaged and then nuked) and the Bleu Drawes, a really heavy sweet-potato pudding that almost looks like something uneatable.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos at 7:58 AM

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A week ago we went to Bozu with the rents for a tasty, tasty meal of Japanese Tapas. Yeah, who knew there was Japanese Tapas to begin with. Everything we ordered was so good. The dessert pictured is a red wine sorbet wrapped in strawberry. Yeah, crazy, but really good. Very sweet though, not that I have an issue with that.

The food pictured top to bottom is seaweed salad and tuna, stuffed mushrooms, asparagus with bacon and mushrooms, scallops and shrimp, spicy tuna rolls, the Party Bomb (Pink bomb with salmon and scallion; Mclow bomb with tuna, avocado, wasabi cream sauce; Spicy mcbomb with tuna, cucumber, spicy mayo; Ikura bomb with salmon roe and cucumber), the dipping sauces with varying amounts of wasabi, skirt steak, and the red wine sorbet.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:05 AM

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From one week ago when I was in Michigan. Yes, that is a huge match lighter. It was actually pretty awesome. And yes, that's a gummy worm hanging out of Andrew's mouth while he's drinking beer.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, Sports at 9:48 AM

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OMG OMG!!! I just had the best cupcakes in New York ever!! And you know what? You don't have to wait in line and they are available almost everywhere!! From your local grocery store to your local bodega. These cupcakes come neatly packaged in a container of two, have a creme filling, and you don't even have to peel a silly wrapper before eating! Even better, they last forever! SOOOO GOOOD.

I like cupcakes and all, but it's not a fucking godsend. It's a freaking desert, people! Lets move on. Stupid cupcake craze. I'm not even sure the cupcake is the best cup or cake. I would rather have a cup of water or a cheesecake.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:08 AM

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There's nothing quite like outdoor dining. It's even better when the food is made for you. The only problem with it is that tasty food goes cold after about 5 minutes.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 11:53 AM

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I'm not much of a fancy eater. I typically don't eat very many fancy foods, just the occasional fancy meal here and there, so what I am about to say might not count for much. I think the meal I had Thursday night at Chez Panisse in Berkeley was the best meal I've ever had. That's right, the best meal I've ever had. But really, what do I have to compare it to? I'm not sure what the fanciest place I've ever eaten at is and I've never been to the vaunted restaurants of New York (it's just not my scene). Then again, I'm not saying that Chez Panisse is the best restaurant in the world, it just happened to serve me the best meal I've ever had.

On the menu for September 1st was:

White gazpacho with almonds, grapes, figs, and jamon serrano
Shrimp and squid paella with quid ink sauce and allioli
Loin of Laughing Stock Farm piglet with summer vegetables baked in the coals
Ricotta fritters with warm honey and Indian Red peaches

The shrimp and squid paella might have been the best single dish - and easily best rice dish - I've had in my life (and this includes my love for Peter Luger steak). It had a smokey flavor that was outstanding and beyond delicious. I can't really describe it, but any description I give it wouldn't do it justice. Oh how I wish I could eat that paella over and over again.

Everything else was excellent as well. The gazpacho might have been the "worst" course of the meal, but it was by no means bad. I'm just not a huge gazpacho fan. Why? Because you don't make friends with salad, that's why. The pork was tender and tasty as well, but the coal baked vegetables were just okay. And the ricotta fritters were a perfect way to end the meal. I was very close to licking the honey off the plate during the dessert. I can't imagine that would have gone over well though.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 8:09 AM

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While in San Francisco over the long weekend, I had dim sum with some family members at Yank Sing. San Francisco has one of the better (if not the best) Chinatowns in the country, but the Yank Sing wasn't really in Chinatown. It was in the financial district's Rincon Center. It was kind of odd and food court like. We were sitting in the atrium of the building and eating dim sum.

That didn't detract from the tastiness of the food though.

Full sized photos in my Yank Sing Flickr set.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:56 AM

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Sunday night was the last Cyclones ticket in my weekend package, so it might be the last time I head to Coney Island this year. The last trip to Nathan's, the last ride on The Cyclone, the last time to hear the PC Richards jingle, to hear the "We Deliver" song for a local car dealership. Okay, maybe another trip to Coney Island has to happen. If not for a baseball game, then at least for rollercoaster fun and eating.

The game against the Staten Island Yankees wasn't pretty. The Yankees started with two quick runs in the 1st inning, hitting balls that had eyes and proceeded to shut the Cyclones out. In fact, Brooklyn failed to get a hit until the seventh inning.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Sports at 7:53 AM

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Yesterday afternoon we went to Ward's Island for BBQ NYC. It was delicious, as you can kind of tell from the photos. It was very different than my previous BBQ experience this year, the Big Apple BBQ Block Party. Like I did then, I really liked the hot links. I also loved the salmon. Actually, everything was really good. Perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 10:37 AM

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So a couple weeks ago when I was at Paprika for Calvin's birthday, I ordered a lemon desert. It was a tasty lemon ice that came in a whole lemon. Determined to get every last drop of lemony goodness, I started licking the lemon and trying to bite it. Eventually, I stuck as much as it could into my mouth and sucked on the lemon. It was pretty much frozen solid, making my mouth kind of numb.

And does anyone know where the phrase "go suck a lemon" came from?

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:45 AM

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I haven't made pizza in a while, but last week, we made a Fresh Direct order so I ordered some pizza items. While you can make pizza without Fresh Direct, I spotted some grilled flat bread while placing my order. Longing for home-made pizza and grilled pizza, buying the flat bread seemed like a perfect solution. Their description of the bread didn't hurt either:

Our tempting flatbread gets its extra-toasty flavor from a brief encounter with a hot grill. This flatbread is exceptionally versatile -- makes a wonderfully crisp pizza crust, great hot or cold wraps, and is an ideal platform for dips or a brushing with our herb butter. For a Middle Eastern treat, cut into wedges and serve with hummus.

So I made some spicy tomato sauce, which I should really do more often, that would eventually be used on the pizza. The first pizza I made was good, but it didn't turn out great. I should have kept it in the oven a little longer. My pizza stone helped the crispness of the crust, but it could have been better.

The second and third pizzas, pictured, were awesome. I decided to make a spinach pizza and another pepperoni pizza. I'm usually skeptical of veggies on pizza because it turns a good pie mushy, but I must say that it came out pretty damn good.

So if anyone wants to buy some flat bread and beer, I'll totally make some pizza.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:57 AM

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Not only was the meal pictured here on our last night in Cancun, but it was also Eric's birthday. So in a way, it was a happy and sad occasion. Happy because of the birthday thing and sad because he's soon to be wed. But the speech he gave went something like this, "I can't wait to get married!!"

This is the last of my Cancun photos (finally!), and besides the fact that I'm not in the 3rd picture, can you spot what's slightly off?

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:55 AM

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There's nothing quite like a late night taco when drunk, hungry, tired and ready for bed. That's where the Taco Factory comes through in a pinch at 5:30 am. And I don't even like Mexican food.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 9:56 AM

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After catching the fish out at sea, they were filleted for us so we could take it with us to eat. Little did we know that barracuda isn't the tastiest fish out there - at least not the ones in Cancun. The meat was just too tough. The first few bites were tasty though, but I chalk that up to being really hungry and the e"we just caught it, it's going to be good" syndrome.

A couple things that were tasty were freshly made tortilla chips (just fried and still warm) and the rice. Not sure what it was about the rice that made it so good.

And yes, that's a lame fish taco. What do you want, I didn't have salsa or anything yet.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 12:23 PM

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Immediately after kayaking in the Back Bay, we had dinner at Blue Pete's. The cool thing about eating there was that we literally rowed our kayak ashore in front of the restaurant. The restaurant is right on the river and has a good selection of food and is surprisingly reasonable price wise.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 4:18 AM

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(I believe I'm on slice 3 in the first picture and 4 in the second. Note the amusement of the crowd and the visiting team. Photos by Kim)

Yesterday I went to my first Brooklyn Cyclones game of the season after missing the first ticket in my weekend ticket package. While waiting for the game to start, I was presented with a unique opportunity, a cheesecake eating competition. Despite some hesitation and some questions to the Cyclones marketing rep, I agreed to the contest and signed my waiver. I was told that the slices of cheesecake were not that big, my competition was bigger than me, and that the record was five slices of cheesecake. Sounds pretty easy, except it's a 30 second competition.

While waiting for the end of the 3rd inning (when I was to report for the competition), my mind was going crazy. What kind of cheesecake will it be? Thick? Fluffy? Will there be water? Do I drink the water? How much bigger is this guy than me? Is he old? Young? How much chewing should I actually do? Would three cheesecakes be enough to win?

My competition, while technically bigger than me, was not very intimidating at all. He was probably in his 50s, about 5'5", but he had a belly like he knew how to pack away a cheesecake. I was happy to hear that he had never participated in an eating competition before, but dismayed to hear that he usually gets a cheesecake when he goes to a Cyclones game. Little did he know that I could pack away a decent amount of food and that cheesecake is my favorite cake.

Around comes the end of the 4th inning and it's showtime. The MC decides to introduce us by last names. To his left is Edison and to his right, me. "...Mao. He claims no relation to the Communist dictator." Nice. Before us is a table of 18 cheesecakes, 9 for each of us. No forks allowed and we were told that the messier, the better. Of course. 30 seconds, here we go...

I move to pick up the first piece and it's a disaster. The cheesecake breaks in half. It's warm and humid, and the cheesecakes have become soft, making them easy to shove into your mouth, but difficult to pick up. A cheesy mess. I shove the first piece (now two pieces) into my mouth and go with the natural, but unnecessary, instinct to chew before swallowing. As I start on my second piece, the MC says I'm actually behind with Edison at 1.5 slices. I look over and it seems like he's on his second too. This was probably about 10 seconds into it. Time to focus.

The beauty of eating the soft cheesecake is that it was very easy to cram into your mouth. So I proceed to cram, chew, swallow through the second piece, then the third. "Mao is now in the lead!" The fourth goes in, and finally piece number five as time expires. While I didn't really swallow #5, I'm going to go with what I see during IFOCE competitions - if it's in the mouth, it counts. Lets ignore the fact that at least half a slice was on my hands and face. I had vanquished Edison who probably only ate 2.5-3 slices. Easy as pie. My arm was raised in victory. As we walked off the field, I proceeded to eat the cake off my hand. Why waste it, right?

My prize was a hand that smelled like cheese the rest of the night and a $50 gift certificate for more cheesecake. Now, pass the Lipitor and sign me up for that angioplasty.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Sports at 11:25 AM

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If there's one thing about this whole larger images thing, it's that my photos of food are now even larger. Then again, if I'm hungry (or you're hungry), it's going to make looking at this site all the more painful.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:00 AM

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For the first time in the Northeast, I've seen a Waffle House! I didn't have time to stop in, but perhaps I will in the future. Yum.

Now, if we could only get an In-N-Out in the area...

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 10:12 AM

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I think for anything people do, there is a certain effort/reward calculation. Is the effort worth the reward? I think this calculation also applies to eating. One thing I have to put in a lot of effort for is fresh shrimp. Now, I'm not talking about the stuff you get at Red Lobster with the shells off and only that little tail part left, but the kind you get in Chinatown - head, shell, swimmerets.

Shrimp meat is very tasty, but it's such a huge pain to get to. You have to rip off the head, the swimmerets, the shell. Such an ordeal. Even though I've virtually perfected a speedy and ill-mannered way of eating them. Take the head off, bite off the swimmerets and spit onto plate, and then tear off the shell with my teeth. See, very painful process that is so much effort that it's not really worth it. The effort to meat ratio is all imbalanced.

I feel like the lychee is the fruit equivalent to shrimp. The shell is hard to open and somewhat prickly. Once you do crack the shell, you're left with a tasty bit of fruit with a pit so big that you wonder why you did all that work. Just like the shrimp, the effort to meat is all out of whack.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 10:37 AM

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I sure do hope so, because as you can see in these pictures of food from the long weekend, there weren't many vegetables in my diet. Not pictured were a piece or two of lettuce and onion as well as some spinach. At least I loaded up on watermelon and didn't really eat too much ice cream.

God, I'm hungry now.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:06 AM

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Last night, I made my first trip to Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. First trip?? Yep, despite all the food I've had pictured on my site, I only made my first trip last night. It was the perfect night to go. Overcast with drizzle and a non-existant line and plenty of seating. I ordered a double shack burger, fries and a chocolate milkshake.

I must say that the burger was very, very tasty and possibly the best burger I've had in New York. I can't think of one that's better off the top of my head, but I can say that it's better than the burger at Corner Bistro. Then again, I think the only reason people love the Bistro Burger that much is because they are either drunk when they start eating or waited so long that they can't help but love it.

One thing that I loved about the burger was the meat to bun ratio. It was perfect. At the end, there was a nice little beef overflow that makes that last bite delicious. Mmm. I'll be coming back to this page all day to torture myself with these images.

More information (much more comprehensive):
- A Hamburger Today on Shake Shack
- Cheese Dip on Shake Shack

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:59 AM

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Hmm, post coming a bit late, I suppose. But there's nothing quite like a stomach burning, ass flaming father's day dinner.

The 2nd dish is called "ants crawling up trees" (or something like that) because that's what it's supposed to look like. I don't see it, but it sure tasted good and un-ant like. Hmm, Fear Factor should do a real dish with ants crawling up trees. And the fish tasted better than it looks.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 9:04 AM

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Just the other day, I cracked open a box of Twistini Pure Butter Croissant Twists that I've had for a little while. I'll just say that the next box won't be sitting around for nearly that long. They should rename the product though. Maybe to something like "Twistini Pure Heart Stopping Twists." I mean, they are PURE BUTTER. Well, they use pure butter. Is that a change from regular croissants, which always taste buttery to me.

I think all the twists were gone within a few hours of opening the box. Granted, the box didn't have many to begin with. And despite using pure butter, there are only 85 calories per serving with 30 of those from fat. I can think of plenty of other things that are more unhealthy. Minor detail - each serving is two twists.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:58 AM

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are FABULOUS and served with Swiss chard and mashed potatoes. I'm curious as to how the meatballs would turn out in a meatball sub. But that would just be a waste, yes? I kind think they look better in the picture than they did in person, but I can say that they taste as good as they look.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:59 AM

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I've never liked Lombardi's Pizza. Sure it's historic, but I don't think that a pizza crust should be so bread-like and I feel like that's what you get with Lombardi's. As much as I don't like their pizza, I'll gladly eat it (especially late at night when hungry), but was it really necessary to expand like they did?

I had no idea until last night that Lombardi's expanded. Not only did it expand, but it did so in such a tacky tourist trap manner that can't be good for the pizza - there's a jukebox for crying out loud. There will be butts in the seats because of the 100 year history that the establishment has, but I'm sure the "quality" of pizza can't keep up. Not quite 100 years down the drain or Gennaro Lombardi rolling in grave changes, but it's just too different. It's lost that feeling.

I remember John's tried a similar thing thing at some point in the 90's, and more than doubled its size. They even added ovens, but the quality of the pizza and the general feel of the whole place changed. They since went back to a smaller size, but I don't think the quality has ever returned.

Oh, and if you didn't know, for all things pizza, you should turn to Slice.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 12:25 PM

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On my way to dinner last night, I was on the 4 to City Hall when a passenger broke out a 1/4 watermelon piece. If that wasn't somewhat odd enough, he decided that he wanted to share it with his friend. To break it, the two geniuses decided to push down on each end of the melon while balancing it on a knee. Not surprisingly, one half of the watermelon tumbled to the floor and skid about half a foot. The man who was going to eat that half said "Damn!", picked up his half thought about it for a second and then started to pick a few things off his half and dug in. As you can see, I captured it on the cameraphone and for that one man, the 5 second rule applies to the subway too.

Quite possibly one of the more disturbing things I've seen inside the subway. It's up there with the pile of shit I once saw.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 8:05 AM

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Because the photos I posted yesterday weren't tasty enough looking, here are some more from my trip Saturday to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Of everything I tried, I think the sausage from Southside Market & BBQ in Elgin, TX was my favorite. I was told that they are famous for it. Besides, when an establishment brings 1000 pounds (HALF A FREAKING TON) of sausage, you know they take their sausage seriously.

Then again, there might have been a slight bias to the food I tried in the beginning because at the end I was absurdly full.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:51 AM

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Much like last year, the Big Apple BBQ Block Party was an insane eating extravaganza. So much food, so much over eating, so many people. All very bad on the waistline, but it seemed like such a good idea at the time. I believe I had one of each barbecue item at the event except for the snoot and anything from Blue Smoke.

So, a list of what I had:
- Brisket with sausage and beans from Southside Market & BBQ in Elgin, TX
- St. Louis spareribs with coleslaw from Whole Hog Cafe in Little Rock, AR
- Whole pork shoulder with beans from Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, AL
- Baby back ribs with beans from 17th St Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, IL
- Whole hog with coleslaw from Mitchell's BBQ in Wilson, NC
- Beef brisket, sausage and coleslaw from The Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX
- Pork shoulder with coleslaw from Ubon's in Yazoo, MS
- Pork shoulder with beans from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in New York

Insane, I say! INSANE!!!! More later. Damn, I could go for some more today...

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC at 10:40 AM

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It's unfortunate that one cannot subsist on pizza, hamburgers, and cheesesteaks alone because if you could, I would be eating them all the damn time. And like nobody can replicate New York pizza if they tried, nobody can replicate a cheeseteak from Philly. Carl's, 99 Miles, nobody.

The cheesesteak above is from Jim's Steaks, which I had been to before. I was going to head to Tony Jr's, but for some reason they were closed on Sunday. It's unfortunate that I only had one cheesesteak on the weekend. Especially since I'm convinced I can easily eat two in one sitting.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 9:03 AM

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The top two are from the rehearsal dinner when I had to order the key lime pie (that's something I have to order if it's available). Dinner at the wedding is pictured in photos 2-5. It was a pear salad, some steak related item with tasty mashed potatoes, and a chocolate containing wedding cake.

Many more photos on Flickr including the wedding cake before it was cut and the awesome looking groom's cake which I didn't get to try.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 8:09 AM

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Since I love sesame seeds, when I saw a bag of sesame pretzels in the supermarket I thought to myself, "could this be the greatest invention ever?!?" Not quite. While the Osem Pretzels are good, they lack the crunch of your typical pretzel. They have a consistency similar to that of a cracker if that makes any sense. The sesame is a nice and tasty touch though.

Another problem is that they aren't salty enough. So note to those Osem people: while your product might be perfectly Parve and certified by the Orthodox Union, it could be tastier with a little salt and crunch.

Also, what's with the OU Chinese site?

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:04 AM

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After the wedding rehearsal Saturday afternoon, everyone made the quick walk over to Amsterdam Restaurant and Tapas Lounge for dinner. Of course I took pictures. The first picture was of chicken with prosciutto and spinach, the second is steak and the rest is dessert. The desert options were an apple crisp, some crepes, and a molten chocolate souffle.

More pictures from the wedding to follow. And yes, Tom, I take a lot of food pictures.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 11:38 AM

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The whole time I was in China, I was craving some local fare, but it seemed like all I ate was fancy dinners at restaurants. The last morning I was there though, I was dead-set on something more low key. When we asked the doorman to the hotel where we might get xiao shao bing and you tiao, he seemed hesitant to point us in the right direction. I'm happy that he eventually did.

If I remember correctly, the whole meal (for 5 of us) cost about 2.5 RMB or about 30 cents. Not exactly a fancy place, but it was good, cheap, and really hit the spot.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:46 AM

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Last night I did something for the first time ever...cooked for my parents. It was a mild success. You can never tell with parents. Are they just being modest or do they genuinely like your food? Dammed if I know. All I know is that most of the food came out well.

On the menu, with thanks to a Fresh Direct order, was: Caesar salad, corn on the cob, spaghetti with spicy tomato sauce (my own recipe), and a lime and cumin crusted skirt steak. For desert, fresh strawberries and raspberries.

The skirt steak was good and tender, but there might have been a bit too much seasoning. I also kind of thought that the steak was much smaller than it was...oops. Besides those minor issues, it was great. Hopefully, my parents enjoyed the meal to some extent.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 9:14 AM

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Fried rice has to be one of the easiest Chinese dishes to make. It's got to be if I can do it with decent results. The ingredients I used were a cured ham, eggs, scallions, peas, and rice. I've made it with chicken before, but that never turns out quite that well because I always seem to cut the chicken too thick.

The secret is not to use fresh rice as that's usually too moist. I cooked the rice in the morning and made the fried rice in the late afternoon. Decent results, but I didn't get the rice crisp enough. Maybe I'll make it again in a couple of weeks and see how that turns out.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:03 AM

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Over the weekend, I went to The Burger Joint on 3rd Ave and 20th St (241 3rd Ave) for some eating, which regular readers will know I'm always up for. The Burger Joint shouldn't be confused with Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridian, which is totally different. The Burger Joint serves tiny burgers with freshly ground beef and very few options. Customers have their choice of cheese, grilled onions, and how they want their burger done. That's it. No lettuce, no tomato. If so inclined, one can double their burger/cheeseburger.

Possibly the best feature of The Burger Joint is their selection of sodas. Besides Stewart's, RC Cola, and the like, they have Bosco (!!) mixed into a chocolate soda form. George Costanza would surely be upset.

And if that's not enough reason, it's cheap and they use potato rolls for buns. A cheeseburger costs a mere $1.00 and a cheeseburger is $1.25. I would not recommend getting four burgers and an order fries. A bit too filling.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:04 AM

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So I went to China about a month ago, and I still haven't gotten through all my photos. I took a long break in posting them and only started to get back at the end of last week. I've got this food set and another one or two food posts and then some more "scenic" china photos. Actually, I just looked at my photos again, and I've got maybe seven more China posts. Sigh. Mental note: take less photos in the future.

While I was in China, we ate out so many times. I think the only meals we at at my aunt's house were our breakfasts, the won ton meal, and one lunch. We were at her home for about 4 days. Not too much in the way of home cooked goodness. The meal pictured here was actually one of the more low key ones at a Sichuan restaurant in Jiading. The funny thing is that besides the fish, it didn't feel/taste very Sichuan-like to me.

Pictured are some vegetable dish, a spicy fish dish, Indian bread (how it can be "Indian bread" with beef in it is beyond me), fried custard/milk, some tripe containing dish (didn't eat it), and a dessert dish with some glutinous dough-like balls.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:42 AM

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Last night, a bunch of people from Gothamist Food headed over Cafe Swish for some shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot). It was good, but I think the broth we selected was a little too bland. I think I prefer the spicy Sichuan hot pot to the shabu I had last night. That said, it was quite enjoyable. There's nothing quite like cooking your own food...

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:53 AM

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I don't like Mexican food, as I've stated before, but last night I went to Alma in Red Hook, which is another one of the restaurants participating in Dine in Brooklyn. My pictures turned out crappy, but I had the flautas, which are corn tortillas stuffed with seasoned shredded chicken and deep fried and the steak fajitas. The flautas were really excellent and the steak was good too. I didn't eat the rest of the dish, mainly because I don't really like tortillas either.

Topping off the meal was the key lime pie. I just love key lime and to make it even better, it was Steve's Key Lime Pie! My favorite!! And a local Red Hook business.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:57 AM

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Last night, I went to Thomas Beisl in Ft. Greene with Jeannette and Yvan. The restaurant is participating in Dine in Brooklyn which ends today. Nothing on the prix fixe really appealed to me, so I got the burger, which was good. For dessert, we had a crepe and a linzertorte.

Also at Thomas Beisl, they had Terry Bradshaw Heinz ketchup.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:58 AM

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For my mom's birthday, which is today, the family went to Park Slope to dine at Tempo. Conveniently, Tempo is also participating in Dine in Brooklyn. For $20, I had the duck pastilla roll, roasted chicken and nutella gelato. Pretty good deal. The duck pastilla roll was amazing. I highly recommend that.

Happy birthday mom, your birthday is on a day that I can never forget.

Posted by tien mao in Birthdays, Food/Drink, Friends/Family at 9:01 AM

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Last night, I headed up to Patsy's with Calvin and we had some pizza. Well, he had some, I had a lot. Like 9 slices, a lot. We probably didn't need the 2nd pie, but after eating the first, I just wasn't that full. After eating eight slices, I told Calvin, "You know, I once ate one of these in 2 or 3 bites." He didn't believe me. For shame, for shame.

The good thing is the Patsy's slices are very thin, soft, and pretty easy to eat. We had three slices left, one on the small side (even for Patsy's), another was medium, and the third was a little larger than the medium, but quite charred. I went with the smallest one. Eating it wasn't really that hard. Step one: stuff the slice up to the crust into your mouth. Finish that and polish off the crust.

Oh, that's two bites. Nine slices on the night. I think I might need a good bout of exercise sometime soon. Oh wait, I exercised this weekend.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 8:07 AM

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Because I apparently have nothing better to do and because I just got an order of FreshDirect yesterday, I was chatting with Jen about doing a Flickr group. Originally, it was going to just be a FreshDirect group, but that might have been too exclusive, so Jen suggested "nyc groceries," which is obviously perfect.

Jen's description on her first group image:

After interrogating Tien about what he ordered from FreshDirect, I thought it would be funny if FreshDirect had a Netflix/Flickr-like functionality where you could see what your friends ordered, what they liked. He suggested I upload my Fresh Direct order. And there was talk of starting a group for all NYC grocery shopping. Let's see how this group goes.

We'll probably be bored of doing this in a couple of weeks, if not sooner. If you're on flickr, join on up! Plus, you know it's fun getting an idea of what people do with their time and what they buy.

My most recent order and my biggest order (really, not that big).

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Tech at 8:00 AM

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The influence of American culture in China doesn't stop at McDonald's and Häagen-Dazs, but it reaches into the grocery stores and convenience stores too. Many of the products have a slight twist in them from the American original. McDonald's has their sweet taro pie, Sprite has some extra flavors, and the chips are totally wild. Besides that good old lemon-lime Sprite, there is also Sprite Icy Mint and Sprite on Fire. I didn't get to try Sprite on Fire, but the Icy Mint one was like Sprite with a breath mint aftertaste that left a cool (as in cold) feeling in your mouth. Kind of strange.

Also strange are some of the potato chips they had. I didn't buy the Laa-Laa or Tinky Winky chips, but I did try two Lay's flavors pictured. They nailed the flavors right on. Cool Cucumber tasted light like a fresh cucumber, but Cool Lemon was kind of strange like the Sprite Icy Mint. Lay's also had chips that weren't of the cool line, including what I think was a Mexican Meat flavor. Yeah, didn't try that one.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:52 AM

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I have a confession to make - I've never eaten a crawfish in my life and have obviously never been to a crawfish boil. That changed yesterday when I went to a crawfish boil by Crawfish NY. Suffice it to say, I had more than a few crawfish. Crawfish NY compares the crawfish with the lobster, but to me it's more like a hard-shelled shrimp. Kind of small, not that easy to eat, and almost not worth the effort to eat. But at a crawfish boil, it's more than just eating crawfish. I had a great time and if I had a house with a backyard, I would totally do a boil.

The only problem is that I think I still smell like crawfish almost 24-hours later.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 12:26 PM

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While the first meal we had in China was some homemade won tons, the first meal we had out was at lunch at a restaurant where we ordered a bunch of small dishes. To order these, there wasn't much of a menu, but you would walk up to a table covered with food and order what you wanted.

Pictured are some sort of glutinous pumpkin item that tasted somewhat like pumpkin, smelly tofu that didn't smell that bad until you got it right to your nose, salted duck egg with mayo (yes, strange), fish, and some sort of wine in the last picture.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 1:24 PM

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In China, American franchises, products and stores are all slightly different from their original American form. McDonald's has the fried pies that I love so much and Häagen-Dazs is also a sit-down ice cream store. While in the Xin Tian Di area of Shanghai, we stepped into a Häagen-Dazs because someone had a craving for something sweet. Cough, cough.

There were a whole bunch of strange drinks that we couldn't really decipher as well as your standard ice creams. Nothing really all that different on the ice cream front - a green tea, mango, red bean, but nothing too crazy. We opted for the ice cream hot pot/fondue.

The hot pot (not really hot pot, but I believe that's what was on the menu)/fondu dish had something like 14 different small scoops of ice cream, some fruit, wafers, and both chocolate and raspberry dipping sauces. To dip the balls of ice cream, they give you these handy forks that were pretty much long seafood-forks. Great concept, but it doesn't really work that well. The ice cream is so hard that when you try to stick the fork into the balls of ice cream, they squirt away. And the flame that is warming the dipping sauces comes from a candle. Eventually, the ice cream melts enough that the chance of losing ice cream is reduced.

The cost was $200 RMB, which is about $25 USD, kind of pricey.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:58 AM

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When McDonald's went "healthy", more than one thing changed. The most unfortunate change in my opinion, was the apple pies. Now they have more of a baked like quality (who knows if they actually are baked) while they used to be fried. Thankfully, McDonald's has chosen not to change their pies in China.

Unfortunately, I was only able to have one apple pie, but I did try out the other pies on their menu. They had pineapple, banana, and sweet taro. The pineapple was not bad, the banana was too banana-y, and the taro was actually good.

Oh, and in China they still seem to use the "I'm lovin' it" slogan.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink at 7:53 AM

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The last thing I probably wanted to do after the 13 hour flight to China was eat. Then again, eating a light meal of homemade won tons was probably the best thing I could have eaten after all that airplane food. It seems like my relatives made thousands of won tons. Clearly, it was a sign of lots of eating to come.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 10:22 AM

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As a child, I would never eat on an airplane. I would get airsick most of the time anyway, so it didn't make sense to eat all that bad food on the flight. All I would usually need is a can of Planters Cheese Balls and some food on the stopover. Times have changed. It seems like airplane food has improved (somewhat, at least), I no longer get airsick, and I eat the food now.

In my absurd travels in the past week, I was served all the "food" pictured above. A flight to San Francisco, then another to Shanghai. On the return, Shanghai to Chicago. Nice of them to stuff me so full while I'm strapped into my seat.

JFK to SFO:
- Pancakes with sausage: pancakes were very dry and absorbent, leaving me to want more syrup; sausage was surprisingly good.
- Oven roasted chicken and cheddar: also dry, but I had mustard which seemed to make things tolerable.

SFO to PVG:
- Meatloaf, potatoes, peas: meatloaf was dry (sensing a theme) but surprisingly decent; potatoes were horrible; peas okay.
- Instant noodles: not much to say about those, are there? nice of them to provide some trans fat for the flight too.
- Ginger beef: ginger beef (?!?!?) was eh; rice in these meals tend to get stuck to the containers because of the heat, which isn't good; not bad, but really not great meal.

PVG to ORD:
- Chicken: decent, taste and good vegetables with it.
- Instant noodles: see above
- Noodles: most horrible meal all week - foul tasting and everything - I really regret getting this selection.

Oh, and I'm well aware that the pancakes and sausage kind of looks like shit and butt cheeks.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 10:12 AM

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This local market in Jiading is decidedly different than the über-store I posted about yesterday. Perhaps this is the type of store that Auchan is putting out of business? Perhaps not. This small little market has several vendors selling the same goods. A couple of vegetable isles, a row of meat merchants, a row of fishmongers, and a few booths selling other staples. It doesn't, however, carry any bras. Much to my disappointment, of course. Any fish purchased in this market were guaranteed fresh as they killed and cleaned on site - I assume by request only.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Travel at 7:52 AM

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