Thirstea at Smorgasburg

... the best bubble tea in the city!

Greens from my balcony. Garlic and garlic scapes from Greenmarket. Lounging in the sun. Dinner of black cod, millet, veggies, and micro cilantro.

It was Neil's first Saturday launching Lumpia Shack at the Smorgasburg in Brooklyn and it was a success! We had prepared all week and the hard work paid off. Looking forward to next week-- we're already starting to shop, cook, and store. Hopefully, we'll be more organized and prepared.

Aside from that, it's been a good long weekend. Dinner at the John Dory, biking around the neighborhood, catching up on shows, and spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

Lunch in Brooklyn Heights with Grandpa, then a walk with a view of lower Manhattan.

Winter's Here!

First time the cats have experienced snow!

Friday the 13th

Photo from the New York Times

This is where we got our oil changed yesterday.

Good weekend at Artists and Fleas in Williamsburg this past weekend with my friend Mandy. Above, a few of the vintage items I sold: French Limoges trinket box; red rose earrings; and 1950's After Five evening clutch purse.

Also, check out Mandy's jewelry at VoonNYC.

We'll be back again at Artists and Fleas on April 16-17.

It's been getting a lot warmer lately so we decided to go check out some of the food at the Brooklyn Flea that we've been hearing much about. We tried Pizza Moto's margherita pizza and Red Hook Lobster Pound's lobster roll, Maine style. My favorite were ice pops from People's Pops. I tried the rhubarb and chamomile pop, which was tart and filled with small chunks of rhubarb-- totally refreshing for a hot spring day.

While I'm on the subject of small businesses, I'd like to say some good things about a small LES restaurant called Soy. We happened to pass by last week while going to Global Grub (which you should also go eat at!) and were caught by their slogan "Japanese home cooking". So we gave it a try tonight. The atmosphere is totally unpretentious-- there were clothes hanging by the window above a bookshelf, made to look like someone's home somewhere in Japan. The gyoza were made by hand and the chilled silken tofu appetizer was so good. We tried the tofu pockets and also the spicy tuna and avocado bowl, which we noticed almost everyone who stepped in the restaurant ordered. Since they are "for vegetarian and non-vegetarian" alike, there is something for everyone. Will definitely go back.

By the way, the owner's adorable baby-- which you can see on their website's main page, as well as at the restaurant-- really is that happy all the time =)

A Walk with the Wildman

Chickweed, one of the wild edible plants we learned how to identify yesterday while following "Wildman" Steve Brill around Prospect Park. He gives many other walking tours, including at Central Park and Blue Hill Stone Barns.

Today we went to Mitsuwa, a Japanese supermarket that I used to go to with my family when I lived in California. Since Neil has been wanting to buy some Japanese ingredients to cook with, we decided to drive over to the supermarket's East Coast store, located in Edgewater, New Jersey.

We had lunch at the food court before heading into the city to do a little shopping. Below, my free-range chicken cutlet from Katsuhana.

For dinner, a great meal at Bombay Masala in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Yes, my life seems to revolve around food, though I was too hungry by dinner to take any pictures. Great pick, Mandy-- we'll definitely have to go again!

To celebrate my birthday, I wanted to go to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a restaurant on a Rockefeller estate headed by chef Dan Barber. After reading a review hailing it as the most important restaurant in America, I had high expectations. After eating there, I can say that I appreciate the farm-to-table concept which is based on the locavore movement-- and the food was indeed very good-- but I still would have preferred dressing down and eating at their cafe instead. So after the four-course brunch and after roaming around the estate to see the greenhouse and animals, we headed home. On our way back towards the city, we stopped by Stew Leonard's to pick up some groceries and decided to prepare a feast of our own. Below, dinner.



“In Brooklyn, to be into food is do it yourself, to get your hands dirty, to roll up your sleeves. You want to peek in the kitchen in the back, as opposed to being served in the front.”

From this article about food in Brooklyn. Okay, so the quote is a bit self-righteous, and locavorism has become very trendy lately, despite the fact that it would take a whole lifestyle overhaul to stick to the tenets of the movement. But it's true there is a distinction between Brooklyn and Manhattan dining, and it's interesting to observe the trends and differences. While only buying/using locally grown or manufactured food can be difficult nowadays, preparing food yourself is really not a new concept... after all, isn't cooking at home how most people in this country eat?

On a different note, King Arthur has been playing on television for the last hour or so. I look up from my laptop and see Kiera Knightly in face paint and what looks like an iron bikini top, running towards Saxon warriors armed with shield and sword to engage in battle-- sorry folks, can't miss this.

Brunch at Bubby's in Brooklyn

Brooklyn Botanical & Thoughts on My Impending Deportation

Went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden last week with my friend Dan.

Getting ready to leave my home in Brooklyn for an indefinite period. I will be heading back to Canada to await a new work visa. I keep joking that I'm being deported, but since I'm leaving within the given grace period and not illegally overstaying, should I rather say that it's more like... um, an exile? Apparently, I need to be screened by this agency called the Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools... even though I graduated from NYU! Anyways, although I was upset at first, since I was still on orientation (a 3-month-long training as a new nurse before working without supervision), it gave me an unexpected vacation. The only downside, besides the obvious lack of income, is that this will set me back a few months in getting my very valuable first year experience. Not that I would want to work anywhere else, since I work at great hospital :) but in case I would ever have to work in Canada or something awful like that ;)



Well, because of the recent turn of events, I was able to visit my relatives in California and make it to my cousin's graduation from UCI. Above, a drawing of hers that arrived in my mailbox yesterday (I forgot to take it with me), which was inspired by Filipino artist BenCab's work.

As Years Go By

I've always wanted to keep a journal or diary of some sorts, mainly for the same reasons as everyone else: to chronicle events, record thoughts, and to track the progression of both. So, this will be my first attempt to write a journal--my simple blog.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Wong Kar-Wai's first film, the BAMcinématek played As Tears Go By (1988) last week, May 2-8. I've seen almost every film (8 to be exact) that Wong Kar Wai has directed. But I'm aspiring to watch all of them, even the not-so-great though equally as ambitious ones, and then all of them all over again, in order to declare myself a true admirer :)