Argo Tea

Soooo…this is not a full, blown-out post, but I thought I’d share one of my favorite hang out spots in the city. This is my go-to place whenever I want to have a quiet afternoon to sit down, relax, and catch up with old friends: Argo Tea.

I think of Argo Tea as the Starbucks version of tea, but more relaxing and well-lit. Originally started in Chicago, they began opening in NYC a few years ago and have various locations in Manhattan. They have a wide selection of specialty tea drinks (both hot and cold), as well as plain tea and coffee. My favorite (and regular) is the Earl Grey Vanilla Creme. I love this cafe because it’s a great alternative for non-coffee drinkers like me.

Argo Tea offers free wifi for two hours along with your purchase. Many of their tables are equipped with outlets on the table ledge for those customers planning to spend their afternoon tapping away at their laptops as they enjoy their cup of tea.

This is just a quick tip, but I might have a more detailed post or more pictures in the future. For now, enjoy!

Hungry Tummy

Hello!

Wow! Has it really been a two year hiatus? I have returned! There shall be more food to come in the future. Promise

Can you feel the love tonight?

Seeing how my mom and dad search for each other’s hand as my dad laid painfully frail and quiet in the hospital bed, the intensity of their emotions in such a quiet moment makes you feel the great love and loyalty between the two of them. It makes you appreciate the little moments. I hope one day I’ll find someone that I feel such a way about and someone who feels that way about me.

NYC Chocolate Show 2010

On Sunday, I attended the annual NYC Chocolate Show for the first time and it left me spinning from the fun and sugar rush. I’ve always appreciated chocolate as a sweet treat, but I don’t think I realized what an art and experience it is until now. Originally, I thought I’d be quickly bored because I expected that I’d be walking from table to table of vendors, all trying to sell me plain, old chocolates. But after entering the show and hovering around the first few tables, I realized that everything there was anything but plain or boring. The show was an explosion of flavors, a stage for couture, a gallery of art, and a classroom devoted to sweets.

The show consisted of over 40 chocolate exhibitors from all over the world; each offered a taste of his/her delight with free samples. I had the chance to experience the richness of traditional chocolates (e.g. chocolate truffles with cocoa powder, milk chocolates, dark chocolates) and the flirtation of  uniquely-flavored chocolates (e.g. chocolates with lemongrass, wasabi-and-chocolate-covered rice grains, and tea-infused chocolates).

Not only did the show offer a sampling of delights, but it also highlighted chocolate-making as an art in its display of numerous chocolate sculptures and fashion pieces. The show’s culinary theater offered hourly cooking demonstrations by famous dessert chefs, who served up both cooking tips and tasty treats.

The chocolate show was a whirlwind of fun and flavors. Here’s a photo recap of that day:

.

Food landscape by Carl Warner

Opened cacao pod, the fruit from which cacao comes from

Green tea/chocolate covered rice grains

Ginger covered cacao beans

Truffle balls!

Chocolates everywhere!

Eek! Creepy chocolate sculpture

Chocolate Couture

Fashionista

Cooking demonstrations led by famous dessert chefs

Danielle Kyrillos (judge from Top Chef Just Desserts) hosting the cooking demos

Chef Joelle Mahoney (from Chocolaterie Maya) signing my autograph =)

Cake decorating

After sampling all those chocolates in one day, I experienced my first chocolate overdose– my legs felt wobbly and jittery and my stomach was full, but oh boy, it was worth it!

Unfortunately, the chocolate show is now over in New York City, but here’s a link to the website if you’re interested in learning more about the show, which travels internationally.

New York Show website: http://newyork.salon-du-chocolat.com/accueil.aspx

International website: http://www.salon-du-chocolat.com/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Crumbs

I love my desserts, but I’ve never been a cupcake fanatic so I never made it an occasion to visit Crumbs to try out its famously delicious cupcakes until recently, when an out-of-town friend wanted to try its cupcakes. Upon entering the store, I was bedazzled by the different varieties of cupcakes it offered– from the traditional, plain vanilla and chocolate flavors to the more exotic fruit-inspired choices to the rich, creamy special creations.

In the mood for something fruity, I chose the Apple Cobbler cupcake ($3.75). The fist-sized cupcake was made of a cinnamon cake base with apple preserve bits in the center. It was covered with a layer of vanilla cream cheese frosting sprinkled with crumbly, sugary streusels and topped with apple preserves with a dash of cinnamon. The cake was soft and moist with a subtle hint of spices that didn’t distract from the other flavors of the cupcake. To my surprise, even with the vanilla cream cheese frosting and the preserves jam, the cupcake was light on the stomach. Not only did the cupcake not feel too heavy, but it was the perfect level of sweetness; the mild cream cheese flavor balanced the sweetness of the frosting and the apple preserves, so that all the different flavors were brought out in the overall cupcake. By the time I was finished, not a crumb was left!

Crumbs/ Various locations in New York City/ http://www.crumbs.com/

Gyu-kaku

Japanese BBQ…mmm-mmm…

It’s been a few months (yes…i know…someone’s been slacking :p ) but I still remember enjoying dinner over a nice, warm grill with my friends. Ah…memories 

It’s been awhile so I can’t really give a detailed account of my experience and the food as I usually do. Hopefully, the pictures will give you some ideas.

The restaurant is quite BIG, but it’s still a good idea to make reservations beforehand because it is a popular restaurant, especially with their 50% off Happy Hour specials and Sunday specials on select meats. Reservations can be made via OpenTable.  Most of the tables are booths, offering some privacy and intimacy for each party.

We were seated at a booth in the back section of the restaurant, which felt like an individual private section. I felt special. Hehe.

From my recollection, the menu offered a wide variety of meats, which were mostly beef and steak, including those you would normally see at a Korean restaurant. However, they also offered lamb, duck, pork, seafood and vegetables wrapped in foil. Besides the BBQ, Gyu-kaku seemed to have a mix of Korean and Japanese food like bibimpap, ramen, salad, edamame, kimchi, etc.

For our yummy meal, we ordered different meats for the BBQ. Each meat comes marinated in a special sauce of your choice (e.g. garlic with lemon juice, shio with lemon juice, tare with house dipping sauce). Besides the BBQ, we also ordered chicken garlic noodles and tofu jigae.

TOFU JIGAE!!! =)

veggies, noodles, rice, meat, meat and MEATTTTT

Cooking up the grill

 Oooooo…a cool part about our meal was that we received complimentary food in return for filling out a short survey about our dining experience. We had a choice of soda/beer, smores, or ice cream. What did we choose?

Of course, SWEETSSSSSS!!!

Each survey could be exchanged for one item, so we had ice cream AND smores. Hehe.

I had a pretty good experience at Gyu-kaku. It was a lot of fun cooking and chatting with friends. And the most memorable part I remember as we left the restaurant was: we didn’t smell!!! Haha. ( They must have an awesome ventilation system. No BBQ stench at all.)

 

Pickled Chili Mango

Is it sweet?

Is it salty?

Is it sour?

Is it spicy?

It’s all of those combined! It’s PICKLED CHILI MANGO!!!

So Zombie Killer and I were grocery shopping one day and came upon these things. Upon seeing the words “Pickled Mango (chilli)”, I thought “Hmm… I wonder how that would taste?”, so I grabbed a bag and headed for the register. As weird as they might sound, they taste pretty good, but they’re kind of hard to digest for some reason. I think they’re a good snack for when you’re bored and want some flavoring in your mouth.

P.S. They’re very mild in terms of spiciness, so don’t fret if you don’t do well with spicy foods.

P.P.S. In case you’re wondering, they’re a product of Thailand.