Chinese Steamed Fish (Yu are so good)

So you guys have seen Celinabean's recipe for steamed fish, right? It was absolutely drool-making and seemed right up my alley when I felt just a wee bit family-sick after being down and with them for so little time this week. Family-sick. What? You use homesick, right? Well, family-sick is the same thing, only with family. Ok, so any way - I really wanted more tasty Chinese food, and I even went to the Hong Kong Bakery, but forgot they were closed on Tuesdays. So what the hey, instead of using my lucky money to buy one meal, I was one going to make one for just a little bit of it.

I plopped some frozen dumplings onto a lightly oiled (1 T peanut oil) high flame, and cooked them until they were well browned. After that, I reduced the heat to medium and tossed in 2/3 C of water and covered. Cook until water evaporates. This was a lot of water, so I might do 1/2 C next time since the freezing process gives off water when I cook them.

After letting my porgy sit in a bath of water with some salt, I stuffed the dickens out of him with cilantro, Chinese chives and ginger. Next time I'll forgo the chives (they didn't add much/any detectable flavor) and up the cilantro and ginger. Use lots of ginger. Probably a 2 inch piece.

Guess how much my fish cost? As you can see, it is a rather large porgy that flops a bit over the edges of a dinner plate. Following Celina's advice, I went to the Asian Food Market on Colvin to get a big porgy and at $2.99/lb, let me tell you - what a great deal! I paid $3.53 for this, and they even scaled it and gutted it for me. Yay! I washed it off and found a few errant scales, but those guys behind the counter really know what they're doing.

Mmm, yummy. But next time double the cilantro. At least double. They're only $0.75 per fresh baggie at the AFM, and this was MAYBE 1/3 of it. Yummy, yummy. I think next time I'll score the skin on top and stick in some ginger and layer cilantro on there as well. Don't be afraid of loading this baby up - it's not as bland as tilapia, but the cilantro and ginger really enhanced the fresh sweetness of the fish.

I'm not a big Heinekin fan like my Yeh-Yeh, but I did pick up a 6 pack of Singapore-based Tiger lagers. Something like $7.69 each, and I thought they were pretty good.

So you've got a caffeinated Albany John who is running around the kitchen trying to stick his paws into your precious fish and put an Albany John spin on things. But you are all "NO, GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN. WELL OKAY, YOU CAN MAKE THE VEGGIES. AND CAN YOU CUT SOME GINGER BECAUSE MY HAND STILL KIND OF HURTS AND YOU'RE BETTER AT IT ANY WAY." Why do I yell so much?
Any whoooo - you put him on veggie patrol, and he whips up some napa cabbage cooked with garlic and some pepper. Yum, it's still crispy. And at $0.59/lb, napa cabbage is a dirt-cheap and delicious side dish. My favorite!

Yay, now those dumplings are finally done, and so yummy. Chewy and crisp, with a porky filling. I even tried to arrange them all pretty-like for y'all, and this was one of the only pictures that wasn't blurry as all get out.

Oh, and a quickie cucumber salad with home-pickled red onion. You can't leave an Albany John in the kitchen too long without him coming up with something.

After dousing your fish with something like equal parts soy sauce and sweet vermout, and letting it steam over medium heat (again, Celina's advice rocks) for about 15 minutes, our fishy-fish-fish was ready to eat. And btw, this is all the same plate that I used for stuffing the fish. No extra fish plate dishes. Just make sure you figure out how to get the plate out of the pot (I used a wok, and barely had any wiggle room to wedge my fingers in) without spilling the sauce. Thankfully I didn't spill a drop. The dumplings tasted REALLY good dipped in this sauce, lemme tell you! And also over rice, and with the fish flaked off and soaked in it, eaten with rice... you don't want to lose a drop of this goodness!

So yea, here's the gist of the fish:

1 Fish, gutted and scaled

Cilantro (1 baggie, or a big fistful)

2-3 inches of ginger, peeled and sliced 1/16" thick

Sweet Vermouth

Soy Sauce

Opt: let fish soak for a bit in some salted water to brine. I might play around with this more and see if I can infuse some flavor as well.

Stuff the cavity of the fish with ginger and cilantro (or whatever else you want, it's your fish) and use tooth picks to close.

Pour equal amounts of soy and sweet vermouth onto fish, so you've got about 1-2 inches of space on the border.

Steam over medium heat 12-15 minutes if around 1 lb.

Carefully pull out and eat. Yum!

This fish would have been more than enough for 3 people, and good with other dishes for 4-5 people. We ate all of the fish, but that's just because it was so good, and you know it won't taste nearly as good the next day.

So gung hey fat choy again, ya'll. This will totally cure any blues you have.

Oh, and the AFM folks speak mandarin, not cantonese. Whoopsies :/ Gong xi fa cai to you!

Chinese New Year in Manhattan and Flushing

Gong hey fat choy! I am back in the ALB area. And phew what a crazy 24 hours it was!

My brother, sister-in-law and I took the megabus down to NYC yesterday. No problems with the bus at all. It was waiting where it said it would be, and we were soon on our way to New York City. As soon as we hopped off the bus, we scooted over to the nearest subway and went over to Canal Street (this took longer than I thought it would.) and by the time we arrived we got to see Mott Street completely closed off with tons of confetti poppers littering the streets and some dragons dancing.

We were also pretty hungry, and went to a nearby bakery. It was swarmed, but I had an excellent baked char siu bao. It had onions in it that were still a bit crisp, and a rich, meaty flavor. I took a picture or two of the crowd, and was quickly flagged off by one of the managers. Whoops, sorry! Albany John is trying to teach me to say "Sorry" and "No Problem" in Chinese. All I know is that it was so good - I can't wait to go back and get some more of those juicy baos!

We had met up with my Father and sister in Manhattan Chinatown, so after we saw enough of the festivities, we went back to our Yeh Yeh's place and chatted a bit before heading over to dinner at Canton Gourmet (38-08 Prince St, Flushing, NY 11354). One of the things I love about visiting my family in the city is that wherever we go to eat, the food is amazing. Always. I might only remember a handful of the places' names, but the food... oh, the food.

Here's the jellyfish with cured pork meat. It tasted kind of like a chinese prosciutto. Other kinds have tasted hammier. I liked this plate - there wasn't too much jellyfish (and the jellyfish was well seasoned, not bland or anything. If it's under seasoned or not seasoned at all I think it can just taste like cold gooky things). There were also pickled shreds of daikon and carrot beneath the jellyfish. They were sweet pickles, yummy.

A shrimp dish. So succulent, sweet and simple. The peas were plump and tender. So was the other vegetable (they said it was asparagus. I didn't think it tasted like it, but whatever it was certainly was tasty)

Canton Garden's house special chicken - the skin is cooked all crisp and crackly, and topped with crispy garlic and scallions. I thought this was Peking duck for little bit. The meat was so juicy and tender. Just look at the skin - it was amazing. This was a very big platter of one whole chicken. The garlic crisps were so good too - a very good complement to the rich chicken.

Look at the salt and pepper baked pork chops in the upper right corner! These were soft, soft, soft. Melt-in-your-mouth tender and numtacular. They also had a sweet saucy coating on them. I liked that too, and I normally don't like to combine sweet sauces with meats. (We also had made some pretty good headway on the chicken at that point)

Beef chow fun! My sister-in-law is awesome. These are one of her favorite Chinese dishes, and one of mine as well. I love the soft-yet-chewy texture of fat fun noodles. The beef was very tender, the bean sprouts crisp, and both had a great char. I love it when my fun tastes a bit smoky. Mmm, mmm

Sauteed beef with some veggies. Also tender as anything. We all agreed that Canton Gourmet had incredibly tender meat, and it was for all of the meat. Was it lots of tenderizer? Cornstarch? Magic? I'll call magic. It was Chinese New Year after all.

Sauteed bak choy. These were also so buttery and tender. We ordered them sans animal products, and they were simple and refreshing. A good complement to some of the heavier dishes (not that I ate a ton of those pork chops or anything... I ate a ton of everything! hee hee), and wholly enjoyable.

Albany John called up mid-meal to wish us Gong Hey Fat Choy and his ears must have been burning, because right before he called, my family said that if he were there, we wouldn't have had these leftovers. Albany John didn't skip a beat and said he certainly would! I don't think he could have finished all of it, but maybe a good 50-60%.

Best red bean soup dessert ever! The soup wasn't overly sweet, and nice and thick with pureed beans and a few chunks of beans. I ate the whole bowl, but my sibs aren't big fans of it.

We also celebrated my brother's birthday - the staff even started singing with us when we sang him Happy Birthday. The fam ordered and picked up a cake for him - a sponge and fruit cake. Yummy!

Happy Chinese New Year - The OX!

Gung Hey Fat Choy! Wishing everyone lots of happiness and prosperity for the new year – the Ox!

I’m hopping down to NYC very shortly to spend New Year’s Day with my family. I’ve armed myself with enough lai see to handle a classroom of toddlers.
Lai see are the lucky money red envelopes given to unmarried younger people by older married couples. This is my first year to give them out – oh I am so excited!

We’ll be going out to dinner tonight somewhere in Flushing Chinatown – yum, yum! Have a good new year, guys! Try making some dumplings or scallion pancakes!

Fancy Spinach and Onions

"I don't know what to call this dish without it sounding all fancy. I guess it is fancy spinach and onions."

And with that, Fancy Spinach and Onions was born. Albany John 'whipped' something up. When I whip something up, it's usually the froth to my nightly cocktails. For him, it's letting himself loose in the kitchen and making the above on the fly. *sigh* The man oozes creativity.

What's in it? First, Albany John roasted some almonds in ghee (droooool) with a magical melange of spices. Once those were roasting, he slowly cooked some onions until they were becoming translucent. Then I think he blanched some spinach and combined them all together. But really, he's right. It's a mouthful of fancy.

(Albany John will also hopefully be back to taking some occasional photos. These ones I take hurt the eyes!)

French Onion Soup and Crabs

If you wear contacts like me, don't take them off after slicing several onions thinly. You will cry all night, and it won't be pretty. But other than that, making French Onion Soup is pretty easy.

FOS Recipe:

Slice a bunch of white/yellow/sweet onions, depending on your preference.

Caramelize them on a low stove top for around 2 hours (it's not that demanding - just come back every 8-10 minutes and stir it around a bit).

Chuck in some seasonings (I used a bit of oregano and marjoram)

Cover with beef stock/broth.

Note: if you are spending the time to make French Onion Soup from scratch, make the broth too. Or at the very least, don't buy canned beef broth from the Supermarket. GAG. It tasted so tinny I was kicking myself over being so lazy. I doctored it up with a bit of Worcestershire sauce and a healthy splash of soy sauce, and it really took the metallic taste out of the broth and improved it loads. But still not great. I also suspect that boxed beef broth would be much better, but I will have to ask Albany John's father, since he always knows that kind of stuff.

We also ate crab with it since I was at the Asian Food Market on Colvin Ave in Albany, NY and I noticed their lobster prices skyrocketed back up to $10.99/lb after being a delectably affordable $5.99/lb. And they were chock-a-block full of lobbies! Ah well. But the blue crabs were $2.99/lb and I've never tried making those before, so I chucked two in a bag and just boiled them for 5-6 min at home. Really pick them over, though, because it seemed like most of the crabs in the bin were dead or in a 'please buy me and put me out of my misery' state. We're talking missing limbs. They were practically wheezing 'kill me... kill meeee'. But I didn't. I found the liveliest crabs I could. Two.

These two were so sweet and succulent! We dipped them in melted butter (like the slabs of munster cheese in the french onion soup wasn't enough, hee hee) and picked at them like ... well, like me. Trust me, it's a sight. Not necessarily one to behold, but it's a sight alright. They were a lot of work, but I can now see why "crab people" (not these crab people) love the little buggers so much. It's a lot of work and not a lot of reward (compared to lobster), but the sweet, tender meat is just delicious.

Also, wash anything that came into contact with the crabs right after you're done eating. Don't just rinse your dishes off. If you wait until the next day to do it... you'll have to wash the crabby stink out of your plates a good 3-4 times. Trust me, it was NOT something I want to do, ever again.

Popcorn

There is not much I love as much as popcorn. The Spectrum’s popcorn ranks highly – real, melted delicious butter on hot fresh popcorn. The more butter, the better! I’ve been straying a bit from my usual popcorn regime lately, and the results have been fabulous.

My typical popcorn order is either olive oil and kosher salt (and maybe parmesan) or butter and salt. Walnut oil has become a new favorite – it gives a subtle but surprisingly rich buttery flavor in each kernel. This picture is of popcorn popped in walnut oil, with a bit of melted butter (look, it’s hard to do less than 2 T of butter for popcorn. I’m kind of addicted) and gobs of paprika. It’s stain-yer-fingers good and the paprika just makes everything taste even more buttery. Yum!

My least favorite popcorn topping of all time has to be Old Bay. That is just WRONG. But then again Old Bay is also my least favorite flavoring. Pleh. What’s your favorite? Or most hated?

Rose-y Gin Fizz

I've become borderline infatuated with Great Cocktails on Hulu.com. They've got great personalities on the show who are well versed in how to make, well, Great Cocktails.

A recent episode showed the history of the Ramos Gin Fizz. After that piece was over, I was convinced I absolutely had to try making one RIGHT THIS MINUTE. However, we were out of lemon, and have never had orange blossom water/extract. So I improvised. Ladies and Gents, I give you a rose-y gin fizz:

Rose-y Gin Fizz

1 Oz heavy cream
4 oz milk
3 oz gin
¼ t rose water
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz lime juice
1 egg white

Club Soda

Add egg white, cream, gin, and rosewater to a shaker. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Add in all but club soda and shake 30-60 seconds more.

Pour halfway into glass, fill with club soda.
Serves 2.

This was quite good – I really enjoyed it. I over did it a bit with the rosewater (you really just want a hint of roses. Too much makes it taste soapy. Pleh) once and completely wrecked the drink. What's your favorite new cocktail of late?

Helmbold's

Last night I trekked over to Helmbold's in Troy, NY. It's kind of near Hudson Valley Community College, but not really. I can tell you that if you're there during peak times, driving can be a pain in the booty, though. It is easy enough to find, though.

Helmbold's is a butcher shop with a few deli condiments as well. They had non-Smithfield pork and had no problem at all telling me where they sourced their meats. I initially went in for one thing, and then came out with three things. But three tasty thing.

Above is what Albany John made out of the weisswurst ($4.99 for a 1 lb package, 4 to a package) - weisswurst with spinach and white beans. It was so tasty. He browned the sausages whole and then cut them up and tossed them in with the fresh spinach and beans. I have no clue what other sort of magic he worked, only that it all tasted great. The weisswurst was so tender, and the natural casing on the sausage gave it a great snap.

Helmbold's is definitely worth a trip out - that's why I went. I had never been and wanted to see what they had. Good prices, good looking meat, and great tasting weisswurst.

And because I'm an addict, we also made french fries out of potato in the deep fryer. Yum!

White Trash Dip

This is my own take on white trash dip, aka the heavenly velveeta dips I have grown to love this past year. I figure I rep the ol' Chinesey side of the fam here all the time, why not rep the other?

Ground beef, some beans (I just used leftover beans from our earlier Mexican food we made) and velveeta. Melt in a pan and you are golden. Literally, it'll be all golden cause Velveeta is neon yellow all on its own. Just don't tell my mom I put beans in this because that would just absolutely ruin the thought for her - I suppose authenticity would require absolutely no beans at all, just more ground beef.

Y'all - this was so sinfully good with flax seed tortilla chips. I couldn’t get enough of it (thankfully we only made like ½ cup so I couldn’t OD on Velveeta dip), although Albany John had some, um, GI distress later on, if ye get my drift. Thankfully (or something like that) I was practically raised on fatty foods, so this didn’t do a thing to me.

I am SO making this the next time I have a party. Oh, and BTW – what is up with Velveeta being in the refrigerated section of grocery stores now? For real? It’s flipping Velveeta. That thing has the shelf life of a cockroach. I don’t know what it’s getting all fancy and needing refrigeration.

Hola Tastiness!

So I have been a bit derelict and am now returning to my Mexican roots. Ok, I don't have any hispanic roots that I know of but I love eating and occasionally cooking Mexican food.

I'm pretty sure I'm getting close to mastering tortillas, too. First off, if you buy the 5 lb bag of Masa, just ignore the water recommended. It takes a lot more water. LOTS. You want something with the consistency of soft play doh. Then let it sit for around 20-30 minutes for the water to fully saturate the dough.

Making the tortillas in a press is becoming much easier the more often I do it, and the cooking isn’t even too bad. I’ve been using lots of oil lately, but I tried just cooking them over high heat in a cast iron pan and I’ve had beautiful results as well. Keep it lightly oiled as needed to keep the finish on the pan. I cook them for about 20 sec on one side, flip and cook 30-40 seconds until puffy and then flip over again to finish.

Albany John made some seasoned black beans from Madhur Jaffrey’s vegetarian book, which were excellent stuffed in a tortilla.

The Mexican Rice is really easy too – all done in the rice cooker:
½ C diced tomatoes
3-6 T hot sauce – we had a super spicy paste Albany John made a while ago from dried peppers which really added some seasoning and kick.
½ onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, diced
1 C long grain rice
¾-1 C water Plop them all in and cook until the thingy pops up, heh heh. My rice cooker is very low tech, if you can’t tell.

I also liberally dusted everything with Adobo. Mmm, adobo!

I also made enchiladas, which could have been moderately time consuming except that we bought the enchilada sauce, so it made everything way easier (and less spicy). Albany John made the same black beans spiced up the whazoo this time, so that made up for it.

My tortillas were a bit greasy, but now that I’ve gotten the pattern figured out hopefully everything will be less so from now on. I read that the way to make tortillas pliable to roll is to let them sit for a bit. Once I first cooked them they were like Frisbees. Tasty Frisbees, but still, not easy to make into a taco or anything. I just keep them covered and pile them atop one another once they are done cooking, and let them sit for maybe 10 minutes to soften before filling them and rolling them.

I cooked them in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes, and they puffed up a bit, absorbing some of the enchilada sauce. Yum, yum! I topped with a bit of cheese since I can hardly ever taste the cheese if it’s rolled in an enchilada.
After leaving them sitting in the sauce for a bit longer and cooling off they absorbed about all of the sauce – wow, these puppies were little sponges!

Blooming Onion

My mom so nailed my/our Christmas present this year. We got a deep fryer! I have been lusting over deep fryers for so long, but couldn't really justify the purchase. And then we would have had to pick the right brand, and oh, it would have turned into a greasy headache. Mom took that all out of my hands and no joke, I have been eating more than my fair share of fried things. But they haven't been greasy!

This puppy (I think it's a Hamilton Beach brand) is a 3-in-one Fryer, Steamer and Boiler, but c'mon. Let's be serious here. Am I going to use this for anything but deep frying? Hell no! It's cute they tried to be kind of healthy about it, though.

Anywhozle, we have made some awesome french fries (both frozen and fresh) and they taste so much better out of a deep fryer than baking or trying to fry them on the stove. The stove top just doesn't get as hot as it needs. This fryulator goes up to 375F, which is how hot I fry everything on.



Albany John made a blooming onion! I will flip my shit for a blooming onion - no lie. Heck, consider my shiz a-flipping right now just talking about one. I love the things. We've even got one of those blooming onion cutters. I can see Alton Brown rolling is eyes at this "unitasker", but baby, it is worth the kitchen real estate. It also saves you boatloads of cash from spending $9 or whatever it is for a blooming onion from any other place. Ahem. Not that every 2 years I'd get an unstoppable blooming onion craving or anything.

When we've made blooming onions before we normally didn't have a pot big enough to put it in, or it barely covered it. And they'd get greasy quickly. But with the deep fryer it cooked up quickly and wasn't really greasy at all. The petals stayed crisp, and....asdijjiofmmfslmk. Whoops, sorry, I was just drooling about eating another one. RIGHT NOW.

Don't worry, I've been trying to offset the frying by eating more greenery, but let me tell you... I think I'm failing. I did eat about a ¼ head of cabbage with my dinner last night, just don’t ask about the leftover gingerbread cake. Or the cocktail I just HAD to try making after watching Great Cocktails. Shhhh.

Albany John has also been good at keeping me at bay from the fryer. But I think for Chinese New Year we need to have a frying party. That's good luck, right?

NYC Spa-tacular weekend

Albany John and I hopped the megabus down to Manhattan for the weekend this past Friday. Right now they are in the process of working out some kinks. Hopefully. We got to the Rensselear train station early and stood in front of surface parking lot B. One of the lot people came out and said that the bus was going to be inside the lot because the city of Rensselear didn't want them picking up people on the side of the road for whatever reason and that Megabus had talked with the train station so they would pick up inside the parking lot. He also said that each driver was different and that most of the time this didn't happen, and a lot of the time the drivers would go to the original place in front of the Rensselear Amtrak train station, even though their website says there has been a change. Our bus stopped at the bus stop in front of the lot and we just kind of sprinted out of the lot over to the station. It's a good thing that it didn't stop in the old location, as that would have been one hell of a sprint in the snow.

But we arrived in good shape - and actually had a really good ride. Better than most of the rides on the double happiness bus - much smoother. Once we got off at Penn Station we ambled around in the cold looking for the right subway station to hop on to and made our way over to our friend Manhattan Maka's. She's currently dating Chicago Velvet Smoove, Albany John's brother. Phew, got it? Well, ya better, cause I ain't got no more time to explain it!

CVS made beef stew with fresh rosemary. It was fan-fucking-tastic, and normally I hate rosemary, but in its fresh form it added a nice smokiness to the soup.



The next day we began the trek over to Spa Castle in College Point, Queens. They had a free shuttle picking up inside the Flushing public parking lot (right across from the Woori bank/bus stop by the pay meter on 39th). We got there a bit early, so we went to Fay Da to grab a snacky brunch while we waited. One of the things I got was a pork wrap, made of pork floss, egg omlette strip and fresh lettuce. The fresh lettuce had a nice crunch, and at $1.50 this was so filling.

I also got a pork puff for $0.95, which had roasted pork inside a thick layer of flaky pastries. I was pretty much in heaven. Wash it all down with a milk tea and you're good to go. Fay da was awesome because it was like this: you pick up a tray and tongs and pick out buns and such from an island of them. It was lots of fun and then I could wait around more and figure out what I wanted. Once you head up to pay you better know what you want - those ladies go fast!

Manhattan Maka got a cheese bun and made a face like she just bit into glass - turns out there was bacon in the cheese bun, and she absolutely hates bacon. Albany John traded her a sweet potato bun instead, and both were quite happy with the trade.

There was also a guy sleeping there who looked like a homeless Santa, sleeping by their Christmas tree. He was there when we passed again after catching the subway home, and I was partially convinced he was dead, but then I saw him breathing and everyone else said he was ok and I was crazy too.

The spa castle was awesome. It's a bit pricy at $45 per person on the weekend, but we four highly enjoyed ourselves for the couple of hours we were there (I thought pictures in a sauna would be weird, not to mention probably leathal for my wee camera).

You get some uniforms to wear while you’re there and there’re so many levels. The locker room also has the gender only hot tubs and saunas where you can be naked! Woo hoo! Actually, I think you have to be butt naked in there since everyone was nekkid… I just kind of went with the flow since none of the attendants I tried talking to could really speak English, they just kept saying “UPSTAIRS” but I couldn’t find anyone upstairs. I figured if I was doing something horribly wrong someone would come running over flailing their arms at me or something. On the 2nd level there are some pricy food vendors and the saunas they really pimp out on their website. They were pretty awesome too – hot, of course. Hee hee. The 3rd level you need to bring/rent a bathing suit for and it had heated pools outside (even a Japanese bade pool) and some indoor pools with massaging water functions too. There’s a wide mix of people there and it’s pretty easy to figure out what to do: Relax!



After just *exhausting* ourselves at the saunas, we went over to Pho 32 & Shabu since when we were waiting for the shuttle Manhattan Maka spotted ‘SHABU SHABU’ and decided we had to eat there for dinner. That girl loves her some shabu shabu. Lucky table 3!

Albany John and I ordered pho soups while Manhattan Maka and CVS went for the shabu shabus. Mine was beef flank, some other kind of beef and soft tendon. Albany John got the same thing plus tripe. This is mine – it’s a small for $6.95 and damned good! Albany John got a large for $7.95 and it made me so glad that I got a small because I am like a dog – I’ll eat all of the food you put out in front of me and as it was I had to practically roll my self out of the restaurant when we were finished.

This was the best pho ever – the broth was so beefy and delicious. I’ve had pho from My Linh before and thought the broth was really weak and watery and that I just wasn’t a pho fan. Not anymore – dudes, this pho was kick ass! It had some noodles on the bottom as well, and omg, I want to go back for more. MORE!

Here's the setup when things first came. Aww, double date!

This was absolutely delicious - it was a soy sauce mix thing on the condiment bar they had and I couldn't get enough of it. I think it was made of soy sauce, fish sauce, a pinch of chili oil, plus the raw sesame seeds and scallions.

Of course soup has this tendancy of filling me up only so much, and by 8:30 or so I got the munchies again. So we ordered sushi from Yu Ka, a place that delivers to Manhattan Maka's building. Don't ask me where it is - I'm glad I remembered the name, but upon using the google I’ve found that it might also have all you can eat sushi, and if that is the case bring it ON because this was some of the best sushi I’ve eaten in a long time.

CVS is pointing out our awesome spread for something like $30 with delivery. They include a 12.5% delivery fee but ask that you don't tip the delivery guy at all. Ok, cool with me.

Left to right: spicy tuna roll - oholyfuckthisburnslikeyouwouldn'tbelieve hot. Seriously - no nothing to calm down the sriracha. Not my favorite. It was also huge and hard for me to eat. The boys took one for the team on this one. Actually, the took a lot for the team since I tend to order for 3-4 people, and this fed us all nicely. I tend to order a lot and poop out about 1/4-1/3 of the way through. But I like seeing a lot of sushi!

Yellowtail and scallion roll. Chicago Velevet Smoove ordered this one - really fresh and tasty.

Salmon and Avocado roll - yummy! Can't go wrong with this, and they used ultra creamy avocado in the roll.

Rice and salad, miso soup

Sashimi regular - $12.50 for 15 pieces of super-fresh goodness. Dear goodness, I am talking Saso's quality good, and probably even better. Damn you lucky Manhattanites for being surrounded by top quality sushi! The only meh of the bunch was the unseared tuna that was lean as all heck and really hard for me to chew. Manhattan Maka said it's probably because UES-ers really like their food lean. The salmon though - oh baby. Some of the best salmon I've ever had. Huge slices of butter, unctuous goodness. I am so going back here.

The next morning we had to leave and we went to a diner on 79th street that was closing that day. It's weird to be in a place that is closing that day. A lot of the staff looked really sad, like they were losing a friend. Our waiter was really nice and our food came out very quickly. I got 2 eggs over easy, home fries and sausage for $5.95. Yummy! Nice crisp sausage links with a bite to them, and easy on the fennel.

We putzed over to Penn Station and had some time to walk around when Albany John spotted another Fay Da! Woo hoo! This one also had a hot bar, but I went straight for the buns again, getting a coconut and cream filled one (fucking AWESOME), cheese bun, more pork puffs (but here they were $1.50 each - yipes!) and a fresh mango filled mochi ($0.95). I need more of these mochis.

The megabus was a little late, but we all boarded and were soon on our way to Albany. We got dropped off at the 'old' bus stop in front of the rail station even though the website says differently, and the driver was adamantly telling all the passengers that they would be picked up there as well. Oi, I hope they all make their bus back!

Then we went home and made fantabulous food while drinking gin and tonics and I polished off the rest of the Fay Da goodies. And that is how you do NYC on the relatively cheap!

Oliver's Naturals

Albany John once went to Oliver's Naturals in Troy, NY and told me about how awesome their food was. It was so awesome I didn't even get any leftovers, and after recently eating there, I can see why. Dish and Dirt liked Oliver's too.

When I walked in, I was greeted all friendly like and introduced to the people there. It's a really nice atmosphere in there - very convivial. One was Adam, the owner and Oliver's dad.

I ordered the tempeh reuben ($9.00 with either fries or a salad) and a hot tea ($2.50). The tempeh reuben was a little steep at $9, but you don't need to tip (there's a jar by the cash register) and you're more than welcome to hang out all afternoon. There was one guy playing guitar and eventually almost everyone in the restaurant broke out into hums and impromptu singing.

The tempeh reuben was delicious – crunchy and buttery crust on the outside of the bread, and a solid, firm and tasty reuben on the inside. I was also curious about tempeh reubens since I was wondering how they’d compare to a regular reuben made with meat. Now, you won’t confuse the two any time soon, but the tempeh was slathered in Russian dressing, sauerkraut and cheese. I don’t really see how anything can go wrong with that delicious trinity. It was freaking phenomenal. Texturally, it doesn’t taste like deli/sliced meat, but the tempeh has a nice density and took well to reuben seasoning.
To sum it up for carnivores – it won’t be exactly like a meat reuben, but the sum of its parts makes it an excellent reuben all on its own. Once you take a bite of that crunchy, cheesy, slatherific sandwich there’s no denying how good it is. Vegetarians – you’ll probably flip your shit for this. I know I wanted another one after finishing this.

I got the salad, which was ok but sneaky bits of green bell peppers were hiding in there. I just picked around them. The organic tomatoes were really tasty, but I ordered the salad on a cold, cold, cold day and was trying to ‘balance’ out the healthfulness of the salad with the sandwich. Next time I’m going to try the fries. Cash only - so bring ya monies. Or walk to an ATM like I did. There are tons of them in downtown Troy.

Fenugreek Curry Chicken

You know that wonderfully warm smell that curry has? It smells so rich, velvety, and sweet? That's fenugreek. Once you smell it you'll have to resist slathering yourself and bathing in its goodness.

I've been trying to make my own curry powder, since I have yet to taste one that doesn't reek of turmeric. Bleh, too metallic and I am not a fan. I decided to give the fenugreek a sniff at the Co-Op, and woah baby! I had to get some!

So instead of a yellow curry, I made a white curry, and oh it was awesome.

I'll have to look up the recipe later, but FWIW, yogurt works fine when you see 'curd' as an ingredient.

I also made the nan in the picture. OK, but not like real nan from restaurants. Kind of like soft pita.

Happy New Year

I hope you all had a great new year's eve and are rocking 2009!

Albany John and I went down to Orange County to hang with my bffsister and help her move into her very first apartment. Yay! Albany John christened her stove by making baby munster stuffed chicken boobs slathered in vodka sauce and some instant biscuits on NYE. We stopped off at Shop Rite along the way to procure food for her empty fridge.

I made it to midnight (I have a bad track record of falling asleep just before midnight on NYE) by Albany John and OCbff poking me and shouting "NOT THIS YEAR! WAKE UP!" I also munched through Utz cheese crunchies like my life depended on it. Chomp. 11:52. Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp... 11:52. Dang. Chomp, chomp. I think I am still digesting those. Once the clock hit 12, my head hit the inflatable mattress :p

We spent New Year's day packing and moving her stuff into her new place. Thankfully (or not so thankfully) the hubito and I are seasoned movers and like to get everything done as quickly as possible. Can I just say, next time I move, I am so renting a gigantic U-Haul? That thing made it a lot easier, esp since there was so much. We'd never have finished by the end of the day if we made a lot of little trips.

Ok, more later lovies. We were slapping ourselves in the face to stay awake during the car ride home late last night after a day of moving, so I am gonna nap now.