A couple of weeks ago I was surprised with a package from our friends Carol and René, new purveyors of Gourmet on Wheels, Inc (make sure to check them out next time you are in L.A.!) It was a yummy box of homemade chocolate biscotti! A Carol specialty! I squealed with delight as she had sent us some before and do love them! I posted about it now as I just ate the last of them today.
Thank you Carol and René!
I’m a little behind in my posts as Chinese New Year was on Monday. Sienna had a slight fever last Friday and since the weekend was very cold, we hibernated and we were all getting cabin fever by Sunday. Sienna was overjoyed to be getting out of the house when we went to my parent’s house for New Year Eve’s dinner on Sunday. In my family the big celebration is on the eve and my parents cook chicken, cellophane noodles, sausages, abalone (one of my faves and the only time of year I get to eat it!), baby bok choy and a few other things that I don’t remember because I usually don’t eat it! HA!
(the abalone is the beige in brown sauce dish on the left)
Sienna’s digging into the fried rice, made especially for her and Yves
I’m digging into the cellophane noodles, my second favorite dish!
He poses with chicken feet, he pretends to gobble up raw ricotta cheesecake and hangs out with Sienna, he helps us do a test run for our first ghetto BBQ, he doesn’t pretend to not know me when I rock out to Kelly Clarkson, he’s Skippy’s cuddle buddy and…
he gave me his old Ipod Touch! (The monkey is Sienna’s). Thanks Pete!!
My friend Tammy is buying a house in the ‘burbs (upstate NY) and is hightailing it outta NYC. Tuesday night we went out for a girls night only. Nothing too wild, just dinner at Festival Mexicana and cupcakes at our favorite Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Last week I finally bought Vosges Mo’ Bacon chocolate bar to try and saved it for tonight.
So what’s the verdict on the chocolate, you wonder? It’s yummy! The bacon felt like it was just the right amount, nothing was too overwhelming. It is quite delicious! I can’t get Yves to try a piece because he thinks it’s disgusting but maybe I can try and trick him somehow…When I was at the chocolate store, there was this group of 3 people looking at the chocolate and repeating all the names and the ingredients in the bars and sounding a bit disgusted. I guess this is not for everyone! (I also bought the Calindia Bar and had a hard time deciding which other one to try and was very tempted to try all of them!)
Joy contemplates….
She likes it! “Pork Fat Rules!”
It looks like Tammy is suspicious of her piece but she likes it (I mean, she keeps harping about these Bacon Brownies I have yet to try!)
My first bite (a bit blurry!)
 
On Saturday, Pete came over with some Wii games he’d been wanting to play with us so I took the opportunity to bake. I already knew I wanted to make Banana Chocolate Chip muffins because we had super ripe bananas and I made them for the first time a couple of weeks ago and they were so yummy! And I knew I wanted to make New York style cheesecake so I could use up the 2nd graham cracker crust I had. But then I also decided to bake apple crumb pie while I was at the market and picked up some apples and crust. I was having a baking bonanza! Everything came out delicious. The cheesecake was Yves’ favorite and the muffins were Pete’s favorite. I liked the pie but next time I will use different apples as the Granny Smith were a bit tart for my tastes (they were on sale at the market!) I also made turkey chili for lunch (yes, we did eat an actual nutritious meal beforehand!)
I knew I could pawn off the baked goods to Pete so there wouldn’t be so much in the house and he did not disappoint! He was going to a party later and I heard it was well received there! They might not look very pretty but it all tastes great! 😉
The Wii games he brought over were super fun!! I enjoyed them all! We played Ravin Rabbids 2, Wario Smooth Moves (by far the most bizarre game played ever!) and Mario Party 8. Sienna woke up from her nap during Mario Party 8 and seemed to enjoy the graphics. All in all a very fun and filling day! Thanks Pete!
I rushed to take a picture of Sienna on Pete’s lap and had the wrong setting on the camera!
This one is cute but Sienna’s little car was blocking Skippy!
Pete’s like “if I smile again, she won’t stop taking pictures! I’m making a somber face now!”
Wednesday I finally decided to go to the Lower East Side and get properly fitted for a bra at Orchard Corset Center. My friend Tammy gave me the name during the summer and told me stories she heard of the owner kinda feeling you up to size you but was a miracle worker on sizing. Then after he got married, he didn’t do the sizing anymore but his wife or shop assistant did it. I was tired of constantly pulling up my bra strap so finally went down there on that rainy day.
The store was really a throwback to the old times. Its a small rectangle store with boxes all over the place but neatly stacked. There was a little tv on a table with The View on and a nice Hasidic Jew sitting behind the counter, which was the owner. The owner was very nice, just looked at me, my back and felt the side of me. He did ask me what size I was wearing and I can’t remember if he asked me before, during or after he went to get a bra for me to try. He gave me a bra that was the same size I was already wearing! What a bummer! For some reason I was expecting some revelation about my sizing. I was actually kinda disappointed that I didn’t get felt up by somebody! I went behind the curtain with the assistant and tried on 3 bras. I decided on the first 2 he gave me. I spend $54 on them and was initially shocked at first, I don’t usually spend that much on 2 bras (which could be the problem in the first place!) and this store is, from what I read, discounted. The bras are in the hamper now so only time will tell if these bras were worth it.
Then I had decided to have lunch at Shopsin’s. I can’t remember how I first heard about this place but did remember that this was a foodie’s paradise, the owner pretty much cooks what he wants (mac n’ cheese pancakes anyone?). The menu apparently has over 900 items with 300 soups! I didn’t count but it was 11×17 smallish print, double sided. Here’s a NY times article that better explains the philosophy and attitude of Shopsin’s. I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent there (more on that next). The owner and his son both have trucker’s mouths and the food was delicious! I had sliders and fries and a chocolate egg cream. My goodness, the sliders were soooo awesome! The onions, oh man! YUM! When I think of sliders, I think of White Castle sized where I can easily eat 6 of them. 3 were on my plate and I was stuffed after them and barely could touch my fries! The egg cream was scrumptious as well (and I was having fun with the goose necked straw! It’s always the little things that get me!)
To explain more about my experience. First of all, I didn’t even realize I was there (it’s in a stall at the Essex Street Market). There isn’t a sign with the name and I realized it was the place because I saw the menu hanging and recognized it from their website. I think the owner had walked away or went to do something because the son took the order of the table with 2 guys to my left.They wanted each an order of sliders and 1 order of ghetto fries. The son didn’t know what ghetto fries were and said to them, “What the fuck are ghetto fries?” He then called up his father on the cell phone and asked “Dad? That the fuck are ghetto fries?” I thought it was hilarious and while some people might find it rude, I didn’t feel like he was doing it on purpose, just thought he was being himself and talking like he was talking to his buddies. While taking their order, he saw a flash go off and said “who the fuck is taking pictures? This ain’t no museum!” He was very sweet to me when he took my order! The only incident I saw with the father was when he took the order of the table to my right, another slider order, and the woman said ‘medium.’ The father (Kenny Shopsin) said “what do you mean medium?” The woman explained she wanted the burger cooked medium. Kenny then explained, ‘we cook it the way we cook it. It comes out the way it comes out.” LOL! I love it and can’t wait to have a chance to go back again. (I’m sure Yves would hate it as it is also a place NOT to go if you are in a hurry!)
I also finally had the opportunity to check out Economy Candy! I really was like a little kid in a candy store! This place was really stuffed to the gills with candy! I only bought some UK candy tho, didn’t go crazy! I guess cuz I was still so full from lunch!
Wednesday we went to the beach called Hellshire, a locals beach, no tourists at all and JP met us there. It’s about an hour from Kingston and since it takes almost an hour to get down the mountain, it was about a 2 hour ride to the beach. And since we were only visiting for a week, we only got a chance to go once. It’s a beach the family has been going to for years and they always go to Shorty’s Joint. The beach has a bunch of shacks that people make food in and they have wooden lounges in front. Shorty’s was the one we went to. We had fried fish, festival (a fried dough) and bammy’s. YUM! (Although I got a fish bone stabbed into my gums relatively early, I still enjoyed the fish!)
photo by Shuggy
While waiting for our lunch, my father in law enjoyed some fresh raw oysters. There were various people walking around trying to sell stuff to people. Such as horse rides, fresh lobster (any of the shacks will cook it up for you), fresh oysters and massages (!). The rest of us enjoyed the wonderful, warm, blue water. Sienna loved it and would not stop laughing or smiling. The water was a tad rough but wonderful all the same. Sienna went in quite a few times and I know I probably could have stayed in it all day! Gaby seemed to be enjoying the sand more that day and Sienna was just as content in doing that as well!
On the way back from the beach, we finally enjoyed our first truly Jamaican patty! My mother in law picked us up some from Tastees, as we were told this is the best place. It was quite delicious and the crust was thinner than the ones we are used to at Golden Krust in NY and the meat seemed to be all meat! YUM! I wish I could have one right now! We also got to see a beautiful rainbow going up the mountain. It turned out to be the first in at least 3 more rainbows to be seen on this trip!
Sienna helping her grandpa mix up the salad for dinner.
I promise a post soon about our wonderful trip to Jamaica! I thought instead of getting too far behind, I would post about Christmas and hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
We made out pretty good since we really didn’t want to spend too much on gifts because of our trip. I really lucked out as Yves bought me a new ipod! 120 gb! What a surprise too! I also got some afghan hooks to try tunisian crochet, a zakka sewing book, ‘tell me what to say‘ parenting book and a case for my new ipod! I got Yves one of those furry bomber hats and a pair of Keen shoes (which were a bit too small but since I got it from zappos.com, they were open today and able to exchange them- I LOVE zappos.com and wish all online stores were as good as them!) Sienna made out pretty well with a farm set, baking set, guitar, toy camera and Auntie Joy stopped by later and gave her a Little People’s camping set. She played with it all! My parents had also bought her a table and chair set and some cute clothes. Yves family gave us a nice assortment of stuff that we carried home in our bags. I got pretty earrings and an earring and necklace set, Yves got a book and a t-shirt and Sienna got a pretty gold bracelet, some books and a puzzle board and we are all sharing the Jamaican rubber bracelets and keychain and screwdriver set with JP’s radio station logos on them, a bossa n’ Bob Marley covers CD an Jamaica cap! I hope I didn’t forget anything! I made a bacon, egg and cheese frittata and turkey sausage for breakfast and my parents came over for lunch. They cooked broccoli, baby bok choy and spinach and we ordered Hong Kong style steak and Honey Walnut Shrimp from the chinese restaurant. All quite good! We were able to connect with the family in Jamaica and got to watch them open the presents we got for them. Almost as good as being there!
Tomorrow we are flying down to Jamaica for a week! woohoo!! While I am NOT looking forward to the 4 hour flight with Sienna, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that all will run smoothly. I posted this picture of noodle soup because the day I got this was dreary, rainy and a little cold! This shot is from last Thursday and I took Joy out for her birthday. We went to try this hand pulled noodle soup place on 60th off of 8th Avenue in Sunset Park (I’m way too lazy to look up the name right now.) It’s a little hole in the wall and the guy hand pulls the noodles right there for your soup. The noodles were delicious!! The meat wasn’t the greatest, a bit tough. So, not being truly satisfied, we headed over to our favorite bahn mi place and tried something different for both of us, the meatball sandwich. It was good. Not as good as the chicken one I get but still tasty. Me and Joy split the sandwich so didn’t make a total glutton out of ourselves !
See ya in a week!
On Sunday I met up with Pete and Joy for some chop chop lunch at Big Wing Wong. I haven’t been there in ages and it did not disappoint! Joy ordered for us and got congee, roast pork, roast duck, wonton noodle soup, rice noodle with roast pork and noodles. YUM! Ya can’t beat that for just $10 each! We headed over to Fay Da to get some pastries (which I ended up bringing home) and then to Ten Ren for hot bubble tea.
Pete also gave us the things he got for us from his trip to Japan. I had asked him to just pick me up some crafty magazines that he thought would look cool so I can peruse the pictures and just marvel at their ingenouity, since I can’t read Japanese. He ended bringing me back 4 very cool books! 3 were magic shrubber books- crochet and knitting tawashi (used for dish washing/face washing/any kind of dusting and cleaning, etc.)! I couldn’t believe the luck as the term tawashi just started popping up for me. There was a tawashi article in the latest Craft magazine and a tawashi swap on swap-bot (which I just joined). All the patterns also include charts and I’ve never done crochet via chart before. I’m very excited to give it a try! I found some really cool links to help decipher the codes in the chart but the books all have pictures for each symbol showing you how to do it. I already made a cheat sheet on the symbols, except for a couple I couldn’t figure out (although I’m a graphic artist, I can’t seem to learn visually). I decided to give one a try and picked a super duper easy one, a heart!
The fourth book on the upper right is a pom pom book-make cute creatures out of pom poms. Pete thought it was cute so got that for me too! Aren’t I lucky? Arigato Pete!
Ok, so this might not be very challenging but I figured the edging might be so I figured I’d dip my toe into it with the heart and maybe by the time I got to the edging, I’d get the hang of looking at the chart. This blog entry really helped!
I also made this flower tawashi to use up the rest of this cotton yarn from a dishcloth I made for a swap:
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