oyceter. Entries tagged with trips: new york 2005

Argh, have just found out that LJ is still not emailing me all my comments! Grrrr.

But... Yay! I have made my very first gingerbread house ever, with much help from

cychi, who I made do the icing. It is ugly and lopsided and completely, disgustingly packed with candy, but now I feel all holiday traditional! Well, as much as you can get with a prefabricated gingerbread house kit from Costco. But I care not! Plus, have never made one before ^_^. (Also, the front has a frightening resemblance to a spider's face. I am not quite sure how this happened.)

Am still somewhat missing New York and visiting people and crashing at my sister's apartment, and all that happy holiday stuff. It was also just nice being in the city itself again; four years of college in New Jersey, and I'd grown to think of New York as The City. I didn't get to go there as often as I liked, just enough to pretend that I actually knew where I was going and the like. Also, I just like cities. I like figuring out the subway and the bus systems, and I like digging around in all the nooks and crannies.

New York was grey and dirty and much taller than San Francisco, which is cloudy but pastel and ornate. There's more honking and more biting wind. And I don't care, because I love it, from the clanking subway cars that come to screeching halts to the crowded streets. I seriously contemplated moving there for a few hours (mostly while I was at Chikalicious and the Strand and

coffeeandink and my sister's apartments), but promptly reconsidered the second I stepped outside. I don't deal well with the cold.

I felt all happy because after a day being completely confused by what was where, I went around and felt all New-Yorker-y because I was walking around really fast and dodging people and avoiding eye contact! Of course, the fact that this excited me probably already disqualifies me from New-Yorker-dom ;).

And now... book loot!

( Much loot )

Wah, now that I have typed this all up, all I can think about are the poor books that made their sad way to my cull pile =(. Oh well. The library calls!

After seeing

coffeeandink's book-filled house, I am now inspired to fit in even more bookcases!

fannishly and I sort of went through the living room and figured that we could fit in three more bookcases or so, and I think I can fit more shallow media cases for manga or mass markets in my bedroom. Ha! And! I shall copy Mely and use my kitchen cabinets too!

This is probably a good thing, because I just found out that the library sale is this weekend! My public library always has things in pretty good condition. I am planning on going twice, once for stuff I actually want and once for the bag sale.

Why, yes, Bob, I did indeed buy over twenty books this weekend. I do not understand what this has to do with anything ;).

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Anyhow, dim sum with eight people was very fun. It was noisy and crowded, we got too much food, and there were about five different conversations going at the same time, and it was lovely. Usually I don't like loud, noisy things, but it just feels sort of appropriate for dim sum and Chinese restaurants in general.

And then! I went to

coffeeandink's for dinner with her and

oracne! Home-cooked food! Wow! It is two full days later, and I am still amazed that Mely made it all! (well, except the bread and cheese, courtesy of

oracne. I now feel really bad about not bringing anything.)

There were cranberry scones made of cornmeal, which were very tasty and had a satisfying texture due to the cornmeal. I topped mine off with loads and loads of cloudberry preserves. I have no idea what a cloudberry is, but the preserves are really, really tasty. Mostly I avoided the pumpkin butter, since I already ate my weight in pumpkin pie previously. And then there were little fried eggplant bits with a yogurt-cucumber dip, which was really, really good and crispy, and I can't believe it was the first time Mely made it.

Wah.

I am now inspired to cook. Ok, mostly I am inspired to make cornmeal scones and buy lots of cloudberry preserves so I can eat them for breakfast because they are the tastiest things ever. And they are so nicely substantial and dense! I felt sort of bad because I kept eating out with

oracne and

coffeeandink, which basically meant a total lack of conversational skills on my part -- am too busy stuffing mouth to talk. I am also now very sad that I didn't go for Scone #3, because I want another one now, sigh.

Mmmmm, scones....

Oh yeah. Mely's apartment is incredibly cute and she has a Wall of Books. I mean, seriously. I got through the door, and then sort of stopped dead and ogled. I need more shelves!

Vids were watched, artbooks were flipped through, and I got to read a Moto Hagio interview, which was extremely cool.

ETA: Doh! I got so distracted by the scones that I forgot about all the food after the appetizers! Anyhow, actual dinner was roasted red pepper soup with polenta croutons (I shall now never go back to normal croutons), which was lovely and creamy and pinky-orange, and there was very good bread and cheese, which was the only thing that didn't come from Mely's kitchen (it was really good cheese, but I don't remember what it was). Oh wait, we also had some raspberry lambic (raspberry beer type thing) which was also courtesy of

oracne. And clementines and raw peas for dessert (and more scones!), after which I sort of collapsed on the sofa in food coma.

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I'm trying to keep myself up so I can catch my flight, which is at an ungodly hour of the morning.

Um, someone please tell me if everyone is already really sick of all the fooding already? I can talk about food and obsess about food nearly non-stop, so... uh, yes.

Also, as I'm sure everyone has noticed, LJ's email comments function still isn't working that great. I'm trying to keep track, but since most of my brain power has been dedicated to books and food the past few days, my replying to comments batting average is currently really bad.

Anyway... I ate more today! What a surprise ;). Me and my sister and a whole bunch of my sister's friends went to have dim sum in Chinatown. Technically it was more of a ... 2:00 pm thing, but the restaurant was still really crowded, so everyone else must have gotten up late as well ^_^.

coffeeandink, I totally forgot to give you the business card tonight! I think your Incredible Wall of Books hypnotized me. Anyhow, the place is called Ping Seafood Restaurant, and it is on 22 Mott St.

We had some pretty typical dim sum: BBQ pork buns, turnip cake, shrimp wrapped with some noodle-y thing in these long tubes with soy sauce on top (I have got to learn the English name for these things), taro dumpling things with crispy outsides and some meat on the inside, etc. The dim sum was serviceable but not spectacular; I think there were too many people post-Thanksgiving, so all our stuff was slightly cold. On the other hand, I had some things that I either wasn't able to get at other places before, or just was but didn't know I should ask for it. This is why I love eating with people who are not my family. I mean, I love eating with people who are my family, because there are some standard dishes that are absolute musts, and sharing is a good thing. But eating with new people means new things that I haven't had before!

In this case, it was the shrimp-noodle-y thing, except with fried strips of dough instead of shrimp on the inside (you tiao). The you tiao are really deep fried, but they aren't thick at all. Instead, they're long but mostly hollow and honey-combed with bubbles, really crispy and usually eating with shao bing, these denser, more floury, scallion pancake like things sans the scallion and plus sesame seeds on the outside for late night snacks or breakfast. Anyway, it was good and crunchy, especially with the white floppy noodle-y skin. Yum. Also, one of Ning's friends got this shrimp mixture on a hot chili pepper, and it totally works.

I have also lost total Asian foodie cred, because I thought it was super spicy and everyone else did not. Woe. Hey, this means I should have more Korean ^_^.

And the special on the window outside was salt and pepper soft shell crab, which I got because it sounded good. It was good. It was deep-fried, so the outside was wonderfully crunchy, and there was enough salt and pepper on the outside for spice and flavor, and the inside was melty, rich crab, with all the guts and legs still attached, which meant extra sea flavor and extra crunchiness. It probably would have been better if it had come to us directly from the deep fryer, but oh well. Such are the hazards of busy restaurants.

Anyway, I sadly have no idea if the place's seafood was any good, despite the many good reviews pasted on the window outside (I tend to distrust reviews of Chinese restaurants unless they come from people who have had non-American Chinese food, because I inevitably end up comparing the place to Taiwan, which is entirely unfair). But there were giant tanks with live fish and crabs and shrimp right by the entrance, which is always a good sign.

I walked off most of the fooding via window shopping in SoHo with my sister and one of her friends (found this really cute white leather motorcycle jacket, and I've been dying to get one because my sister has one and I covet it, but it wasn't in great condition. Want to go to mall tomorrow).

I also got a really cute pink hat! It is felted! It has a sort of floppy brim! I wear it crooked and pretend it's a fedora so I can be a cool femme fatale or detective or something, although generally that impression is spoiled by the fact that it is pink and has little flowers on the side. Plus, seven dollars, down from 35 ^_^. And... pink! With flowers! Brim! Really cute! (

fannishly, you can yell at me when I get home, seeing how I keep buying hats for the cute factor and not wearing them.) And I stole my sister's new pink houndstooth scarf, along with her pink shirt, and I was totally girly. Yay. And I had striped socks, which made me happy.

Ooo, and then I dragged my sister and her friend to Macy's and ogled at their floor o' Christmas decorations. I got one for me, since I seem to be collecting Christmas ornaments from different places. It is also pink and beaded.

Anyway, the car is here now and I have to go. More on dinner at

coffeeandink's later!

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Well, actually it was quite fun. I suppose it was Black Friday for my wallet? Maybe more of a pink or pretty blue Friday for me!

So I managed to drag myself out of bed at the early hour of 11:30 (shhhh... my claim is that I'm still on West Coast time) in order to meet up with

coffeeandink. Coffee was had (but not ink, which is probably a good thing), along with drinking water. I somehow managed to pick the plastic cup that leaked too, but luckily didn't trip over Mely or greet her with anything stupid, like, "Wow! You are not blue!"

After we were both properly caffeinated, we headed off to the Strand!

** B (my sister's roommate) wants to write now: Things I've learned this weekend...
- Did you know that when animals smile it is typically an act of agression?
- Did you know that one of Ning's friends is looking for a boyfriend who brushes with Crest bubble gum tooth paste and another one of Ning's friends is looking for a boyfriend who doesn't breathe when he sleeps?
- Did you know that Vladamor in Harry Potter is a very bad guy?
- Did you know that they store the balloons for the Macy's day parade in New Jersey...I suppose that isn't a big surprise...
B is now done hijacking my entry (even though she got Voldemort's name wrong!!)**

I will list all the loot later. Suffice to say that about one hour into it, I had a really hard time lugging my basket around, and this was before we had gotten through all of the first floor and the basement. By the way, the Strand is ginormous! I mostly just sort of stood around and ogled at all the books and promptly forgot what I was looking for. (I need a palm pilot like Mely so I can keep track of everything!)

oracne and

geekturnedvamp showed up about halfway through the first floor, and they proved to be much better at resisting the lure of many discounted books than either me or Mely. Mmmmmmm, booooooks.

Also, I sadly had to put away about half the things that Mely recced to me (embarrassingly, I just misspelled that as "wrecked," which in no way says anything about the quality of the books). So, um, yes, Mely, you should email me or comment with the rest!

Then we headed off to Veselka, which is a very tasty Ukranian restaurant (first time I've had Ukranian, yay!). It was near a Tibetan restaurant too, and I sort of ogled at the menu because I've also never had Tibetan. They had six different types of pierogies for the regular pierogie dish and two or three more beyond that. I like pierogies. Especially when they're deep fried and crunchy with sauteed onions and applesauce. I stole several bites of Mely's vegetarian stuffed cabbage too, which was really, really, really tasty (must get some other time). I think I had potato, sweet potato, beef and something, cheese, mushroom, and.... some other kind of pierogie.

Dessert was skipped because we then headed over to Chikalicious, sans

oracne, who was abandoning us for Persian meat on a stick and ice cream with rosewater sauce.

Chikalicious is wonderful. It's got a discreet little entrance, all glass panels. But since it was very cold outside, the glass was mostly fogged on the inside so we couldn't see in, and once we got in, it was lovely and white and clean, only it managed to be so in a way that was calm and peaceful instead of sterile and sci-fi-like. If you sat at the counter, you could see them preparing the desserts, but we opted instead for back support and cushions. Mely got brown sugar panna cotta with grapefruit sorbet and a champagne topping, and oh, it was good. I wish I could describe these things better. But the panna cotta was smooth and sweet and creamy, while the grapefruit sorbet was light and sharp, and there was just a hint of bubbles from the champagne. Also, it came in a lovely square pink bowl with high sides.

geekturnedvamp got the quince pudding (more a bread pudding type thing) topped with Asian pear salad and tea sauce, and it was homey and slightly like apple but also quince, possibly because it had less of the normal appley-cinnamon spices and more mellow tea flavor. I was greedy and got the chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and wine sauce. It was good. It was really, really, really good. The chocolate tart was a little crunchy on the outside (the crust), with a warm and gooey chocolate center, and the peppercorn ice cream isn't weird at all, but cuts through the thickness, and then the wine sauce is rich and plummy and tangily fruity, and it all just works.

Gaaaaah. Am now extremely envious of sister, who lives in NYC and can go more than once a year.

After which, we decided to really go for it and get ... more dessert! This time to an Italian dessert place, in which I got a fruit tart (it was giant! loads of berries and pineapple on top of custard and crust, and the wonderful bit was that there was a little layer of raspberry jam between the crust and the custard) and

geekturnedvamp got mini raspberry tarts and mini eclairs (I want eclairs now too).

And then.... me and Mely decided to go for more books! B&N ahoy ^_^. And! I got book one of Nana by Yazawa Ai which is now out and everyone must get it and read it because it is my favorite thing ever! And books one and two of Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden, for which I shall lay blame at Mely and Rachel's feet, as well as Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, because my addiction must be fed. Ooo, I also had a pretzel stuffed with cheese at B&N, at which point I think Mely must have been looking at me funny for how much I was still eating (I have somewhat of a bottomless stomach).

Then I went home and camped out outside my sister's door for an hour because Rent had a longer running time than usual, but that's ok, because it meant I got to dig into my books immediately, and I'm already almost done with Pretties, and it is good!

By the time I got in, I decided I wanted something salty again, so I munched on leftover dumplings (I love leftovers!) and then had some more tiramisu and pumpkin pie, courtesy of yesterday's feast. And now we are all watching Mansfield Park and eating grapes and chips, and I am happy and full and have tons of books and finally got to meet Mely and

oracne!

(I finally figured out how I can still be eating after all this -- I forgot to have lunch! My stomach doesn't do well skipping meals, and it must be compensating. Ahhhhhhh, food, how I love you.)

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Happy Day of Much Fooding!

Or, er, giving thanks.

Or... giving thanks for much fooding!

I am sitting in my sister's apartment and doing absolutely nothing to help with the feast-preparing. I think so far mashed potatoes, some sort of herby chicken, pumpkin pie, and dumplings are on the menu. Somehow, dumplings for Thanksgiving are traditional for my sister, and I like that.

This is so very different from the past three Thanksgivings I've had, all of which were at the boy's parents' place. And I don't mean to sound ungrateful, particularly on Thanksgiving, but.. I'm not good at traditionally celebrating things, even things like Chinese New Year's. My family also isn't much for doing this type of thing. I like this Thanksgiving, comprised of 10 people crammed into a two-bedroom apartment, random conversations going on every which way, random DVDs playing, people deciding last minute how to cook the chicken. I like that the plates don't match and that there is no turkey, I like that we all slept through the Macy's parade.

I've had "traditional" Thanksgivings now, in which there are tables laden with cheese and appetizers, where the boy's mom would cook pumpkin soup and pie and turkey in the kitchen while people watched football on TV and his grandmother would bring in mushroom or green bean casserole. And I'm glad that I've been to those, and they were great fun in their own way (also, I had Yorkshire pudding for the first time, which was awesome!). But like I said... my family's isn't very traditional. I'm not very traditional. We celebrate things between cultures and between countries, we're never in the same place at the same time.

In college, Thanksgiving was too short to go home, so we'd go to other people's houses or spend the time with friends, or something. Back in Taiwan, we wouldn't have the day off, so the moms would bring in turkey and mashed potatoes and pie, along with mi fun and fried rice. So I guess this is my tradition -- having a haphazard day with friends, too many cooks in the kitchen, no one quite knowing what to do. And I like it, and it is good.

So happy fooding for anyone else celebrating, and I hope you're doing so in a manner you enjoy, be it with all the works and three types of cranberry jelly (mmmm, I am jealous), or by yourself with a good book on a comfy sofa.

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Entries tagged with trips: new york 2005

NYC and book loot from the Strand and B&N

Even more of my Thanksgiving meals

In which I eat even more

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Happy Fooding Day!

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