More Film Festivals

Summer is officially here and it's time for Film Festivals...
Here are a few

Japan Cuts
July 1 - July 16, 2010


New York Asian Film Festival
June 25 - July 8, 2010

Enjoy everyone!

Free Food @ Xi'an Famous Foods!

Do you remember our last visit to Flushing for some lamb burgers and handmade noodles?
Apparently, while I wasn't paying attention, that specific restaurant has been expanding. There is one location in Chinatown now, 2nd location in Flushing, and a new one is opening in East Village.

And on their opening day of one in East Village, they are giving out their free burgers.

Go check out Xi'an Famous Foods' new location on July 3rd! You must RSVP!

Opening on July 3rd:

81 St. Mark's Place
New York, NY 10003

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Better late than never...

Human Rights Watch Film Festival is back...
It already started and it's ending on soon, June 24th... Sorry, I just found out about this.


http://www.hrw.org/en/iff

Happy Anniversary!

Every anniversary, we try to go to a restaurant that we have never been to. This time, we decided on David Burke's Fishtail after trying out his other restaurant.

It's at a quite location, and restaurant itself was quiet, too, which is a plus.
My seafood tower had more to be desired but fish tacos were very good.







Fishtail by David Burke
135 East 62nd Street
New York, NY 10065-7301
(212) 754-1300

Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Anthony Bourdain has a new book out: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Read more.

Gaza Blockade

Those of you who know me well understand where I stand on Israel and Palestine issue.
But even those who know nothing about the issue or don't care about the issue should have heard about Flotilla. Today another Gaza-bound vessel was seized.

Gaza's 3 year old blockade is uncalled for and inhumane. I found a list of prohibited items into Gaza.

Here are a few items that caught my attention (that are ridiculous):

1. sage
2. cardamom
3. cumin
4. coriander
5. chocolate
6. dried fruit

There are the things that got me very upset:

1. notebooks
2. newspapers
3. toys

Israel's excuse for the blockade is for Hamas to have no access to weapons. But above items have nothing to do with weapons. How is Israel getting away with this? Israel's existential threat has nothing to do with coriander and chocolate. Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

Tokyo Quest: Ramen 101

Pea Soup

Pea soup topped with prosciutto, tomato, cucumber, & pistachio

David Burke at Bloomingdale's

A friend of mine recommended a movie called Agora, which was about the fall of Roman Alexandria, and we went to see it today. Since we have been to Alexandria, I was curious how it was supposed to be...

Movie was very well done but was such a traumatic story...

After the movie we had to eat something good and Chris suggested David Burke at Bloomingdale's. Bloomingdale's is probably the only department store I go to... and I have never seen this restaurant before. The entrance is on 59th Street and we were served by the friendliest waiter.

Now I am interested in checking out his other restaurants.

Meatloaf

Hanger stake

David Burke at Bloomingdale's
1000 3rd Avenue New York, NY 10022
212-813-2195

Events in June & July in and around New York

Here are few events that caught my eyes in June & July:


June 3rd - 6th
Umai Gourmet Food Fair at Mitsuwa

June 6th
Japan Day at Central Park

July 12th
2010 Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital in Central Park

July 13th
Free New York Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Concert


Enjoy your summer, everyone!!!

BUCATINI ALL'AMATRICIANA

This was Chris's first Bucatini...
After eating at Lupa, he's been obsessed with Bucatini. We had Bucatini at Lupa and it was really good. So he found Bucatini recipe on Babbo's website and made it at home... After this, I can't go back to regular pastas...

Here is the link to recipe.

Enjoy...

Happy Birthday

Chris's birthday is around Mother's Day, so it's always hard to make reservations at restaurants. We wanted to go back to one of Mario Batali's restaurants, but the only place that we were able to get a reservation at was Lupa at 10PM.

So before dinner, we ate at Salt - the above picture is from Salt.
Salt serves everything organic, so it was very refreshing. We had appetizers there.
Plus it was nice to get a table without a reservation on a Saturday night, which is very unusual for Manhattan. It was very cozy inside and casual, which we enjoyed very much.

Then we were off to Lupa. We weren't that impressed with entrees, but were extremely happy with pasta dishes. We would definitely go back to Lupa for pastas.

http://www.saltnyc.com/
58 MacDougal Street
new york, NY 10012


http://www.luparestaurant.com/
170 Thompson Street
New York, NY 10012-2575

By the way, there was a Japanese restaurant next to Lupa, and people were lined up.
If you are in that neighborhood, check that out... Sorry, I can't remember the name...

Monsanto

I am writing a paper on Monsanto. I knew a bit about Monsanto but now I am finding more and more about Monsanto and it's very disturbing.

Here is a helpful link on what I am writing about.

You need to know. You know how much I love to eat and how much I love to talk about food, but it's important to know what we put in our mouths.

It seems like Europeans care... But it doesn't seem that we give a crap... Maybe we should!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Chris made:

Chorizo and Vermont White Cheddar Tostada
with red wine vinegar infused red onion herb slaw in an avocado ring /
truffle, tomato, and English cucumber salad

Taverna Kyclades

I still keep in touch with a few ladies that I used to work with from my airline days. I can't believe that I left there almost 4 years ago. I still travel, but am definitely paying a lot for it these days.

This time we went to Taverna Kyclades in Astoria. A few friends told me about this place for a long time, and this time I was determined.

It definitely lived up to its hype. Greek salad (as shown above) was great. We also had grilled octopus, sea bass, and stuffed shrimp, and they were all really good and fresh.
But then what's there not to like!!! Fresh seafood, good weather, and great friends!!!
This time Chris joined as well.

Make sure to get there early. We were there by 6PM and got a table right away.
They don't take reservations, because they don't have to. If you don't get there early, be prepared to wait for an hour or more.


Taverna Kyclades

www.tavernakyclades.com
33-07 Ditmars Blvd
Queens, New York 11105

Highlights from Egypt - Antiquities

Of course, we went to Egypt see pyramids and temples. So here are a few photos.
First two are from Giza and the last two are from Luxor.

Highlights from Egypt - FOOD

Here are some highlights from Egypt - FOOD!!!

This was our first stop - Grocery Market. First time around, it took us 3 hours to find one (this is after asking about 7 - 8 people), but when we went back for the second time, we loaded up the cart.

Strawberry juice!!! Michelle's friend recommended it and it was the best thing in Egypt.

Koshary - unofficial national dish of Egypt
This particular one was from Abou Tarek - the most well-known Koshary restaurant

All the flavors that we don't have in the States... We tried a few different flavors / different brands, and Pringles Prawn Cocktail flavor won!!!

Michelle told me Todo saved her life in Luxor, so Todo makes it to the list

Sabaya at Intercontinental Cairo Semiramis

OK, by this point, I had already left Cairo, but the rest of crew went to Lebanese restaurant, Sabaya at Intercontinental.

Too bad, I missed it. They told me it was really good.

Intercontinental Cairo Semiramis
Corniche El Nil
PO Box 60
Cairo, 11511
Egypt
Front Desk: +++2-02-27957171 • Fax: ++2-02-27963020

Abou El Sid, Cairo

I had read about Abou El Sid in few different sources, but when Michelle's friend who used to live in Cairo recommended, it was a destination we couldn't miss.

Reservation is definitely recommended, even though we still had to wait for a while.
I have to say, it represented the best part of Egyptian cuisine. And prices were pretty reasonable.

Sorry for dark photos. The restaurant was pretty dark inside.






Abou El Sid
157, 26th of July Street, Zamalek, Cairo

Telephone: 73 59 640

Alexandria, Egypt

After a few days in crazy Cairo, we decided to head to Alexandria for a day. I read about this restaurant called "Fish Market," so we had to check that out too.

Fish Market was definitely a good choice. You get to choose your own seafood, and they cook it for you. Fish Market also had their own oven for bread. The best!!!

Appetizer set came with more than what you can ask for.

Choose your own seafood

Fish Market
Corniche, Bahari
Alexandria
+20 3 480 5119