A Lovely Weekend in Portland, Maine

Breezy, seaside weather. Great company. Really good food. We tried as many eateries as we possible could in America's "Foodiest Small Town". Favorites were omakase at Miyake, dinner with friends at Fore Street, and poutine at Duckfat.

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 =)

Trip to Japan

Just a few days back from our trip to Japan and I wish we hadn't left. It seems like we only caught a glimpse.

As we explored parts of Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo during our 10-day trip, we walked and took trains and saw shrines and shopped. 

But mainly, we ate. Yes, we were absolutely guilty of over-indulging ourselves with all the great food-- from yakitori and sushi, to kobe beef, and of course, lots of ramen.

From the kitchen

Ramps fresh from Greenmarket

Neil's sauteed ramps with sous vide egg

And for dinner, exactly what it looks like-- roast chicken

Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders "Excuses" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

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.

Daysleeper

I see today with a newsprint fray. My night is colored headache grey.

Farm fresh eggs from a small farm in Newtown, Pennsylvania. Compared to supermarket eggs, the yolks are much smaller and vary in size, but the color (no photoshop here!) is so rich.

I used some of the eggs to try out my own variation of this chai ice cream recipe from the blog Not Eating Out in New York. I didn't have all the ingredients and used raw milk and cream instead. I thought it turned out terrible at first but now that I'm trying it again, it tastes pretty good!

Spring Forward!!!

I would have worked tonight, if I had remembered we were going to lose an hour today-- I was one of the suckers who worked an extra hour for free back in the fall!

But I'm also glad I got to enjoy a nice Saturday night out, even if it was raining. A nice dinner at Golden Palace in Flushing (which leftovers I am now eating!) followed by Green Zone.

Speaking of movies, I've seen quite a few lately. Last week, Petek came to visit us from Pennsylvania for a couple of days. We've only been able to hang out together a handful of times since we met as roommates in Beijing in 2004. She has lived in a different country every year since then-- and now speaks better Mandarin than me! But neither of us could understand a single word of the Northern Chinese dialect spoken by the characters in Walking on the Wild Side, one of the 7 films currently featured at the Asia Society. The series, called China's Past, Present, Future on Film is going on through April.

From Asia Society

Went to Bobolink Dairy in Vernon, New Jersey today for a farm tour. We also picked up some of their delicious breads and cheeses from their store.

Below, the ciabatta bread made with duck fat

and our favorite cranberry walnut sticks

Kumquats are definitely not locally produced, but I couldn't resist buying them anyways. I thought about making a marmalade but really didn't feel like going through all the effort to can and preserve it-- I am lazy-- so I decided to experiment with our ice cream machine.

A day later and we had kumquat sorbet!

Since I've been posting lots of food pictures, I might as well continue.

Prosciutto and mozzarella from Fairway

and Neil's pasta with bolognese sauce-- his best yet.

Making Kumquat Sorbet

More photos soon.

Lovely day.

Salt & Pepper Dungeness Crab from R & G Lounge

At The Slanted Door, we had Crispy Imperial Rolls

Cellophane Noodles

And Blood Orange Sorbet

Dessert at Chez Panisse Cafe, a slice of Pink Lady Apple and Sour Cherry Tart and Lime Sherbet with Candied Mint

12-course prix fixe dinner at Jai Yun

A fire while we were walking on Pine Street

Ferry Building/Farmer's Market

Dungeness Crab Omelette with Avocados and Brie

And side of Brioche French Toast from Mama's

We arrived at 8am for breakfast and this was the line after we finished eating.

Of course there's nothing like home-cooked food: Neil's Aunt Amy's banana bread-- the best I've ever had!

Back from San Francisco

And we had such great food! Above, Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart from The Slanted Door. More to come soon!

President's Day Weekend

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio!

Awake in the middle of the night.

Once again.

And hungry.

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!

Missing Montana

My first movie of the year, Sweetgrass, a documentary about sheepherders in Montana. We went to see it at the Film Forum after reading great reviews and although I enjoyed the film (it's set in Montana after all!) my sister and husband did not share the same enthusiasm. Shobes had to keep herself from falling asleep and Neil's sole response was to mimic the noise we heard for the majority of the film... "Baaahh."