Bia Garden

Meant to post these photos from Bia Garden, where Jess and I stopped in a few weeks ago. I still cannot wrap my head around expensive Vietnamese food, especially when that's what I had for family dinners most nights in Hawai'i.

Despite an unwarranted price, our meal was tasty enough. Photos below :)

Spicy Roasted Peanuts

Crab Spring Roll, Pork, Shrimp, Lettuce Wrap

Shaking Beef, Spicy Cress, Red Onion, Mustard Vinaigrette

To dip: Chili Salt, Lime

BBQ Lemongrass Spare Ribs, Honey Glazed

Bia Garden
154 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 780-0010

Don't Know What This Is Called...

...but I can most certainly tell you that it is delicious. And cannot be purchased anywhere in this city. Zubair's mom made this Pakistani sweet of supple silky noodles cooked down to a pudding with cream, sugar and a fragrant air of rosewater. Chopped dates and almonds for crunch. Served hot, served chilled. Either way, I am in heaven ^_^

Saturday Afternoon...and into the Night: Gottino, Magnolia Bakery, and Moustache

It's that time on a Saturday during an easygoing weekend - the one that comes after brunch and before dinner. That time when you're not quite hungry, but not quite full, and hmmm, perhaps a drink would be nice ;)

So we met (in very lovely weather!), and set off to Gottino...

...and took that corner seat we always occupy. Almonds and walnuts...

...wine...

...prosecco and pomegranate...

...along with a few plates of the snack-y sort: Prosciutto, Black Pepper, and Grape Must...

..Goat Cheese, Almonds, Honey and Figs...

...and Duck Confit with Cranberry Beans.

Post-Giottino we had ourselves a short walk and a bit of shopping. Then ducked off into Magnolia Bakery for dessert.

I'm not a huge fan of their cupcakes, but they do a few other sweets quite well. Banana Pudding, Peppermint, Chocolate Ice Box Cake, and pictured above, Banana Cream Pie...

...and Pumpkin Cheesecake. We were only supposed to share one sweet, but were carried away. We ate in the living room, in front of the television which just happened to be airing The Notebook. My goodness, is that movie a tearjerker! I believe it was the only time I ever cried while holding plates of cheesecake and pie ;)

Later on in the evening - midnight delivery from our neighborhood favourite, Moustache. Zubair had his usual Chicken Kebab Plate, consisting of lentil puree (SO GOOD!!!) and chicken breast with cilantro, garlic.

Breaking out of my usual Lahambajin Pitza mode, I went with the Ouzi, a baked rice dish wrapped in filo, with tangy yogurt and mint sauce on the side.

The rice is mixed with chicken, carrots, sweet peas, onions, raisins, almonds, basmati rice and "special spices." I imagine that it is easy to see why Moustache is a standby for us ^__^

Gottino
52 Greenwich Avenue
New York, NY 10011
(212) 633-2590

Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 462-2572

Moustache
90 Bedford Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 229-2220

Numero 28

Friday, 3:00pm. Pizza with Ray at Numero 28 in the West Village. Thank goodness for a career that allows for mid-afternoon pizza breaks (we make up for it by working nights and weekends ^_^)

upskirt

The pizza -> Capricciosa: Olives, Artichokes, Ham, and Mushrooms. Thank you Ray for the afternoon "snack"! :D

Numero 28
28 Carmine Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 463-9653

Gotham Cookies

I met Michelle while I was covering the Swirl Dessert & Wine event last week for Serious Eats, and was completely enamored with her almond butter and lemon-coconut cookie. It was chocolatiere Rhonda Kave, better known as the owner of the Lower East Side chocolate shop, Roni-Sue (I've been a fan of this place since it opened in 2007), who introduced me to Michelle. Michelle was, and still is one of Roni-Sue's chocolate assistants - she recently started a company of her own: Gotham Cookies.

We hit it off (how can you NOT with someone who creates such tastiness!) and Michelle was so sweet to drop off her collection of goodies. She started her company two months ago, and is working on her website which should be up and running in a few weeks.

My favourite of her cookies is definitely the Lemon-Coconut, though Mocha-Almond comes awfully close. And for you non-cookie people, she also does Chocolate Brownies and Peanut Butter Bars. Everything is organic.

Below, cookie porn! ^_^ heehee.

Lemon Coconut Cookie

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Mocha Almond Cookie

Almond Butter Cookie

Organic Chocolate Brownies and Peanut Butter Bar are packed in boxes by sets of four.

Chocolate Brownie

Peanut Butter Bar

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend ^_^

P.S.
A little tidbit. Roni-Sue's other assistant, Liz Gutman also just recently opened her own sweets shop! The company is called Liddabit Sweets, and it's a joint venture with her culinary school friend, Jen King. Their Beer & Pretzel Caramels along with a line of Hard Cider Caramels are crazy good!

Gotham Cookies
www.gothamcookies.com
michelle@gothamcookies.com
(347) 452-6106

Sugar Rush'ed...

...for the week at Serious Eats New York. Plus, "Lunch for One" ^_^


Lunch for One: Ciao for Now


Cafe Zaiya's Chocolate Cake


Twee Fountain Herb Farm Popsicles



Pumpkin Trifle Pudding at Sugar Sweet Sunshine


Thursday at Swirl's Dessert & Wine Tasting


Risotteria's Vegan Winkie

Happy Saturday! ^_^

Terrace Fish & Chip

Monday lunch with Greg at Terrace Fish & Chip down in the financial district. Working downtowns opens you up to MANY more (affordable) food options.

Greg's been telling me about this place since FOREVER, so when I had to stop off at the DMV earlier this week, we met up for a quick meal of fish.

I ordered the fried fish sandwich with french fries. For a few dollars more I added jalapenos, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. Delicious. It came out to just over $10 (with a can of Diet Coke), and the portion size was absolutely massive. Ideal for two people to split, and then finish off with dessert at the nearby Financier.

Greg went the slightly healthier route with the grilled tilapia with seafood rice and a small green salad. Will return :)

Happy Friday!

Terrace Fish & Chip
77 Pearl Street
New York, NY 10004
(212) 809-4604

New Office! Jamaica! Twitter!

mister softee king cone

I have TWO pieces of super exciting news and ONE piece of silly news.

First the exciting!

EXCITING NEWS ONE
I moved work offices! I left the real estate group I was with (but stayed in the same company) to expand my own business.

My new office is in TRIBECA at 90 Hudson Street. I have not formally mentioned it here, but I am a real estate agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman. I took after my super nice mom who is in real estate. She is a partner with the Prudential Hawai'i office where it's called Prudential Locations. If you ever need real estate assistance or know of anyone who does...whether it be in NYC, Hawai'i or anywhere in between, please let me know! I do residential sales and high end rentals ^_^

Oh! And my new office is two blocks away from Corton and La Colombe, and one block from Locanda Verde. We are located directly across the street from Chanterelle, and a two-minute walk to Bouley Bakery and Grandaisy Bakery. So if we ever work together (which I hope we will!), there will be plenty of food involved, heheh.

ahh, happiness at felidia's

EXCITING NEWS TWO
Zubair and I are (planning) to go to Jamaica at the end of October. We have not been before. Any suggestions? We're coming with big appetites. We'll be there five days and plan to eat, dance, and nap on the beach a lot ^_^

koryodang's fruit tart

SILLY NEWS ONE
...has to do with this crazy thing called Twitter. Considering how much time I spend on the computer, I don't know much about technology. On the right side of your Twitter homepage is a line that says "@name." Mine is "@kathyylchan." If you click on that, you see all the instances in which someone has mentioned you in a tweet.

I DID NOT KNOW THIS FUNCTION EXISTED (until Kathyrn pointed it out yesterday ^_^)

This is why I never responded to those tweets :/ including this one:

"danimop@kathyylchan just saw you have breakfast at locanda verde!! I wanted to say hi but I was too shy. I hope you enjoyed your meal!"

So I want to apologize and say Hiii Danielle!! Thank you! You must have seen me with Robyn. Breakfast was awesome ^_^

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That's all the news for today :) Hope everyone is having a happy week!

Saturday by the Hour + Sunday Morning

9:30am
Wake up, a bit of computer time, a bit of life admin.
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11:00am

Head to Abraço with Zubair. Cappuccino for me, drip coffee for him, and a pistachio cookie shared between the two of us.

Just like last week ^_^
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1:00pm

Lunch at Noodle Village in Chinatown. We start off with soup dumplings, and then...

...seafood noodle soup for Zubair...

...and beef and tendon with ho funn for myself.
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3:00pm

Greenmarket-ing. Popsicle time! Lemon-Verbena-Thyme. ^_^
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7:00pm

Early dinner at Nori.

On the menu: sake, mushrooms, and plenty of sushi.
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8:30pm

We thought we were full...

...but then we walked past Prune, and it turned out we were not full! Who would have thought ;) Two seats at the bar, a few drinks...

...and hot plates of roasted bone marrow ...

...and fried sweetbreads with bacon and capers. You bet they were delicious!! ^_^
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10:00pm

Sugar Sweet Sunshine. One big couch and one big cup of happiness: pumpkin trifle pudding on top and banana pudding on the bottom.
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11:00pm
Stop by Arlon's home to catch the tail-end of his very delicious dinner party
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12:00am
Back home. We've both have not seen the television show, Lost, and thought now would be a good time to begin. Covers up, Netflix on. After each episode, we asked one another, like an addict, "one more? one more?"

And one more it was. Till 4:00am.
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4:00am
Sleep
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12:00pm
Wake up time! Back at Abraço.

Drip coffee for him, a cold bottle of Lurisia for myself. Feels so gooood.

We shared a sandwich: fresh ricotta, tomatoes and provolone between Sullivan Street Bakery bread, toasted with a bit of olive oil. It was especially crowded at Abraço this morning, so we used the seat of Zubair's bike as a makeshift table..."street coffee" indeed ^_^

And then it was off to Open House :)

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Abraço
86 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-9731

Noodle Village
3 Mott Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 233-0788

Nori
129 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 677-4825

Prune
54 E 1st Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 677-6221

Sugar Sweet Sunshine
126 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 995-1960