BBQ in Long Beach

We went over to Ross's BBQ. It was first time for us to hit the beach this year... I know, I know. That's lame, but beaches are not the same on East Coast.

After spending some time on the beach, showing off our pale bodies, we were back to Ross's place for some BBQ.

Dave joined us later and entertained us with his guitar.

My three boys...

This one is for Fina!

OK, I don't know they were trying to do.

Dave can sing and play guitar at the same time!

Here is our American idol!!!
Christoff wants to form a band - Dave Wong and the Dragons!!!!

A Day in Flushing

After reading the below New York Times article, we were off to Flushing today.
With a map in our hand, we got on #7 train. Flushing was crowded as ever - it seemed more crowded than I had remembered.

Our first stop was Xi'An Small Delights in Shi Hong Mall. Right away, there was a problem. There was no Shi Hong Mall. By accident, we found another mall that had a food court, and there it was! A small corner shop that was surrounded by a bunch of white people. Until today, I didn't know the power of New York Times. All these people came out to Flushing, after reading the article - just as we did. Everyone had the actual newspaper or the printout. I was one of them.

Christoff liked the lamb sandwich. I wasn't really a fan, but I liked the cold noodle (Liangpi cold noodle). It was just like being in Beijing. As New York (or San Francisco for that matter) is saturated with Cantonese cuisine, it was a nice change to be eating Northern cuisine.

The entrance to the mall's food court

This is what happens. New York Times publish the restaurant, people want to try, and there is a long line. I know, I know, we were just one of them... I don't think this food court had ever seen this many white people in one sitting.

Christoff was happy to find his lamb sandwich.

And I was happy with my Liangpi cold noodle.

Spicy handmade noodle was good, but we were way full!

After this meal, we were off to find S & C Shaved Ice Stall in Flushing Mall. However, after a long walk to the mall and a long walk inside the mall, we were told by the dumpling ladies that S & C Shaved Ice Stall doesn't exist anymore. I was very upset - upset at New York Times.

Then on the way to the train station, we accidentally ran into Sentosa - Malaysian restaurant that was recommended to me. After picking up a few items to take home, I fell better all of a sudden...


Golden Mall Food Court
41-28 Main Street
Entrance to the basement food court is in the corner of Main St / 41st Rd.
Xi'An Small Delights can be found at all the way at the end / your left hand side

Sentosa
39-07 Prince Street
Flushing, NY 11354
718-886-6331
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/sentosa/

Let's go to Flushing

New York Times had an article about Flushing.
We are planning to hit Flushing this month! We haven't been in about 2 years...
It's about time!

New York Times Article

Interactive Map

My latest obsession - Ramen

I would definitely go extra miles for some good ramen, but these packaged ramens are pretty good. Look for them at refrigerated section at Japanese markets. Just follow directions!
It's super easy. Once you try it, you will never go back to top ramens.

Sripraphai

As Thai food lovers, we were just hating New York for a long time until we found Sripraphai. It has the best Thai food in New York by far! You have to eat here to appreciate it!

Thai-style omelette

Ground pork with basil & Tom Yum Kung

Whole fish - Before

Whole fish - After

Sripraphai
62-13 39th Ave
Woodside, NY
718-899-9599

Bring enough cash!
No credit cards accepted.

The Best Meal I've Ever Had!

When Christoff told me he made a reservation at Jean-Georges' restaurant, my reply was "who's that? Why does he sound familiar?"

I love food, I know a few chefs' names, but I am definitely not an expert when it comes down to the restaurant world. So when Christoff told me that he was taking me to a French restaurant, I was reluctant (French cuisine is not my favorite cuisine).

However, the moment we set down at our table, I knew something was very different at Nougatine.

I had a Tasting Menu - 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and dessert. Watermelon with goat cheese was to die for and dessert was incredible.

Chritoff had gazpacho, peekytoe crab salad with asparagus with mustard and melon juice, and short ribs. He said he can never have gazpacho somewhere else again.

The restaurant also had its own sodas - you have to order them!!!

This has to be the best meal I have ever had!
It definitely changed my idea of a good meal.

Some chefs become celebrities because they are on TV. However, others don't have to be on TV to become well known. They are just so darn GOOD!

Sorry, no pictures of food.
Not that the dishes were not picture worthy, it was not a picture taking environment.

Nougatine
1 Central Park West (Inside the Trump Tower)
New York, NY 10023
212 299 3900

Happy Anniversary!

Those of you who know us well know that we are all about cheap eats! We would take a train for an hour to find small restaurants.
But once or twice a year, we like dressing up and go to restaurants like Morimoto.
This time our excuse was our wedding anniversary.

It was relatively easy to make a reservation, unlike Nobu.
And staff was very accommodating. We were seated in the corner next to a very annoying couple, so we asked to be moved, and the manager got us a new table in 2 minutes.

But food...
Fish quality was great. They are supposed to be shipped from Tsukiji Market, so they better be good. However, other dishes were not that impressive.

I am sure Masaharu Morimoto is talented; however, I think that his restaurant is more of a hype than anything else. People were there to be seen. Teenagers were taking pictures of themselves with flash. It was a restaurant for a Food TV generation! - generation that has made chefs celebrities!

Ok... chocolate cake was very good...

Morimoto
88 10th Avenue
212 989 8883

Brussels, Belgium

When we were shopping around for tkts for Morocco (besides the fact that I was missing my airline days), the cheapest one we found had a stopover on the way home in Brussels. I had never been to Brussels, and Christoff didn't mind a stop in Brussels, so we ended up saving $300 per person on our tkts.

It was a nice transition from Morocco - clean and weather was cooler, until we started noticing different problems. People were starting at me instead of Christoff.
And I almost got into a fight at a chocolate shop with an employee there. Let me just say that they don't like people like me... Don't get me wrong, I still like Europe, I still like Belgium, one of my favorite places in Europe, but I couldn't stop thinking.... 'I don't miss this about Europe.'

On a lighter note, our flight was delayed in the morning, so we had about 3 hours to kill. I was tired, so I didn't want to go back out to the city, but Christoff insisted. I knew that if I didn't go with him, he would have gone by himself, so I reluctantly followed. We checked all our bags except for tagine, so we only had to find a small locker. We took a train out to the city, which was really easy (welcome to Europe), and had nice breakfast there and did a bit of chocolate shopping - my favorite chocolate is Belgian chocolate - that's quite something considering I used to work for a Swiss company for 6 years.

I have to say, though, our modest breakfast was 24 EURO.
That's why we don't plan a trip to Europe, at least not for a while....

Casablanca, Morocco

Our greatest find in Morocco has to be Cafe Maure. Our original destination was Rick's Cafe; however, Rick's Cafe was closed. Then, the doorman there recommended for us to check out Cafe Maure. From the outside, it didn't even look like a restaurant - it was at one point a fortified bastion, and we had no high expectation.

As we walked in, we knew why that doorman recommended it. The garden area was very charming and relaxing and the food.... ohhhh the food..... food was just amazing. I can only describe it as modern Moroccan, but however I describe it, only thing that I can say would be "unbelievably delicious!"

I ordered 5 different spreads, and every single dish was very good. It was an easy exit strategy, but it turned out to be the best thing on the menu.

Cafe Maure
Blvd des Almohades, Medina
Tel: 022 260960

Yes, we went to McDonald's

Yes, we went to McDonald's in Fes, Morocco. But those of you who travel a lot know that McDonald's have local products in each country. I still fondly remember Curry Burger in Hong Kong.

So when we ran into McDonald's in Fes, we couldn't refuse.
First of all, all burgers are Halal, second of all there was a local product!!!

Halal, baby!!! Bring it on!!!

Morocco's local product was McArabia! It was great! It was lamb (I think it was lamb) wrapped with pita bread. The sauce was just amazing. Darren was tempted to bring it to Singapore's McDonald's and complain "I didn't order this!!!"

Look at this burger... What a difference!!!
It wasn't cheap, though. McArabia, 2 Bigmac meals, and one extra fries were about $24.

Meknes, Morocco

On the way from Volubilis, we stopped in Meknes for lunch. Of course, Christoff had to take a look at the market. Christoff bought his spice mix here.

Fes, Morocco

Stepping into Fes was just like stepping into a completely different world - the world of 9th C.
Life without TV, computer, and internet was not easy, but we got used to it as time went on. We were pleasantly surprised by great food that Fes had to offer.

My personal favorite was mint tea. I was never a fan of mint tea, but here I had it everyday, sometimes a few a day. It was a great way to take a break from busy Old Medina.

Our first dinner in Fes. We just focused on basics - Tagine...

I was never a fan of olives, but Christoff and I have been trying to eat them. And HERE, I found my favorite - spicy olives!!! Korean in me comes out once in a while!!!

We rented a small apartment in Fes, which offered us a tremendous experience. Thanks to my sister, Michelle, we were able to experience 'real life' in Old Medina. The manager of the apartment suggested that his wife could cook for us, and of course, we couldn't say no. She prepared an amazing meal, which was the highlight of our trip in Fes.

My favorite - Moroccan bread!

She prepared beef tagine with prune.

Seba-Seba

Ever since we started our apt search, we have been finding great restaurants in Jackson Heights. This is our latest find: Seba-Seba.
Mainly Columbian, but they have some other South American as well.

Fried pork skin and guacamole on plantain

Steak... eggs are the best part

Soda... people next to us were drinking it, so of course, Christoff had to order

Seba-Seba
79-28 37th Avenue
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
718 478-4691

Christoff's Killer Steak

My dad was in town and Christoff made his killer steak with his creamy mashed potato and asparagus. My dad finished his entire dish.

San Jose, Costa Rica

San Jose was busy, crowded, and vibrant. As soon as we arrived in San Jose from Jaco, the first thing we looked for was something to eat at the Central Market (Mercado Central). We didn't plan it, but our hotel was only about 5 minutes away from the Central Market.

The Central Market was a closed market with lots of different vendors - meat, vegetable, pet store (strange combo), and of course, food stalls. We were busy eating what locals were eating. It was a nice change from Tourist foods that we had been eating in Jaco.

Spices (didn't know they were using this much spices in Costa Rica)

Tamale

OK... our final adventure in Costa Rica was finding the restaurant, Machu Picchu (Peruvian Restaurant).
It was recommended by an article that I read plus my travel book (finally taking advantage of my book) and it was supposed to be close from our hotel. It was raining that night, so we decided to take a cab instead of walking. Our cab driver and the hotel concierge seemed to know right away about the restaurant, so we didn't worry until our driver was about get on a highway.

That's when we found out that our driver was about to take us to another city.
A 5 minute cab ride turned into a 45 minute cab ride and by the time we arrived at the right restaurant, Christoff told the driver, "I will call the police" in Spanish.
Somehow, that completely scared him and he wouldn't even charge us.

OK... after that fiasco, we arrived at the restaurant and the trip was worth it!

Anticuchos - beef heart

Octopus (it was very yummy)

Lamb with white beans

Jaco, Cost Rica

I hadn't been out of country since January 2007. I was going crazy...
So we decided to leave the country just for a few days.
Costa Rica seemed like a good place to go - only 5 hour flight, affordable, & warm... what else can we ask?

We decided to combine beach & city.
Jaco is the closest beach town from San Jose.
It reminded us of Phuket. Touristy beach town, but it was good enough for us.

Wine in cartons. You gotta love this country!

Typical meal...

Pinkberry

It seems like everyone already knows about Pinkberry.
I only found out about it when my sister told me last summer.
Since then, more than a few stores opened up in the city including one near my place.

It's supposed to be frozen yogurt, but it doesn't taste like frozen yogurt.
You can choose your topping, I choose mostly different types of fruit.
It's especially good for someone like me who is lactose-intolerant.

www.pinkberry.com

Graduation

Finally I graduated!
After many many years, it doesn't even seem real, but I must say it's a great feeling.
I didn't go to the graduation ceremony, so Chris promised me to take me out once I got my diploma. Chris took me to Jewel Bako.

Sashimi was good, but rolls weren't that special.
Jewel Bako passed Fraziers' Tuna test & fresh Wasabi test!


Jewel Bako
239 E. 5th Street
New York, NY 10003
212-979-1012

Kabab Cafe

We finally made it to Kebab Cafe in Astoria.
Of course, Anthony Bourdain said everything much better than I could ever describe.
We didn't have crazy stuff, Miyuki, Eddie, Christoff, and I had beef shortribs, lamb, chicken.... they were so good.

Enjoy what Anthony Bourdain has to say...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBFDvyi6p64

PS. I think we walked by the chef's brother's restaurant... I think I saw the brother outside of his restaurant...
PPS. The chef was claiming that he was drunk when Anthony Bourdain was in his restaurant, so he didn't remember much.... HAHA, true or not, that's funny.