Every June 23, it's my birthday! A magical time where unicorns and dragons rejoice and sing to the heavens. This year's celebration was even more special because this year, I turn the big 2-5. The quarter century mark! I never thought I'd live to be this old...but hey, I guess I've been doing something well in my lifetime, and the big guy upstairs is rewarding me.
Because I live in New York, my dad and Nai Nai (daddy's mom) came to visit me! What a great way to celebrate. It's good to see the family since I'm all the way here in New York, and it's harder to find time to go visit.
We spent all weekend eating delicious food...and shopping...so without further ado:
Friday
I was working late on Friday, so I met my parents in NYC's Koreatown for dinner. Seeing as the entire "town" is just one street filled with restaurants that pretty much serve the same food, we hopped into the first restaurant that was relatively vacant. We ended up entering a Korean restaurant that served "Korean BBQ the authentic way - w/ a wood grill." What that means is anybody's guess. All I know is that the grill was not made out of wood, but it was still old school enough to appreciate the history of Korean grilling.
We ordered 3 types of meat for dinner: galbi (short ribs), steak, and spicy Pork. And of course, the dishes didn't fail to impress:
* And of course, I couldn't forget the spicy pork dish. It was definitely worth the price; in fact, it was my dad's favorite dish of the night. He couldn't stop eating this dish that he left very little for both my grandmother and me. Basically, if my dad thinks a dish is delicious, it is truly the utmost example of perfection.
All in all, the Korean restaurant definitely satisfied our empty bellies, but as per usual, the dishes were just the same as you would find in any other Korean restaurant located in the heart of NYC's Koreatown.
Saturday
I met my dad and grandmother for some NYC brunch. I was given the choice of finding a "new" place that none of us had every tried before. I ended up settling on a Belgian bar/brunch place called "BXL Belgian." Was it good? Well, take a look:
* this is Tomatoes w/ mussels complete with garlic and basil!
This was my dish. And yes, I had 2 lbs of deliciously steamed mussels...nothing was going to keep me away from sinking my teeth into this wonderful dish. The even better part was how much garlic I found in this dish. They should've just called this the garlic surprise, complete with shellfish and a shit ton of basil!!!!
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Later on in the evening, we met up with Angela's parents at the Peking Duck House in Chinatown to celebrate my birthday. For those uncultured people, Peking Duck is a specialty from the great northern shores of Beijing, China. It is, in essence, a Chinese burrito. It's made by taking a steamed bun or "tortilla," smearing some oyster sauce inside the bun, adding cucumbers and scallions, and then finally finishing it w/ some duck. You then wrap everything up and revel in the tastiness you've just experienced!
In addition to enjoying some delicious Peking Duck, we also enjoyed a variety of other dishes. We had some lobster with scallions, steamed flounder, fried rice, and lettuce wraps!
Sunday
Sunday was my actual birthday!!! I kinda wish that it fell on a Saturday this year instead of a Sunday, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.
For lunch, my grandmother wanted to celebrate by paying for my birthday lunch. According to her, she wanted to go to an "expensive" lunch venue. The only problem was that lunch in NYC is not exactly "super pricey," and it's hard to find a place to eat lunch that's not brunch related. Luckily, I was able to find an Italian restaurant called "Becco." This place is tucked along NYC's restaurant row on w. 46th street, in the heart of Manhattan's Broadway scene. Alas, we didn't have a show lined up to watch, but that would've been such a great way to spend my birthday!
1) Appetizer. We order steamed mussels with garlic and chives in a white wine sauce. In addition, we also ordered prosciutto with cheese. Gross. I will say this though: the prosciutto was delicious.
The mussels were amazing. Why? because Angela ate about a quarter of the mussels (me having eaten the remaining 3/4s). Angela normally doesn't eat many mussels, so when she encroaches on my turf, you know the dish is worth eating.
2) I had a hangar steak with string onions and leek. It wasn't the best piece of meat I've had; I attribute being jaded to my mother and growing up in Texas. Oh, and that extra orange square piece is some Salmon that my grandmother ordered. It was a huge piece of fish originally, and since my grandmother doesn't eat as much as in her glory days, she gave me a sizable piece to nibble on. The fish was ok...again, I think I've been spoiled...
3) My dad ordered beef tenderloin. In all honestly, it was basically the same dish as mine, except his meat surrounded a bed of lettuce...and disgusting CHEESE :(.
4) Angela ordered the unlimited 3 pasta special. The pastas were a ravioli, a penne bolognese, and spaghettie w/ basil and tomato sauce. Angela said it was delicious...however, she didn't take advantage of the unlimited special: She only ate one serving of the pastas -___-
5) This was my grandmother's dish. She ordered Salmon w/ some sort of green puree. I'm not actually sure what the green goop is, but it looks like guacamole. Nonetheless, it was a decent piece of fish. A little tough for my liking, but then again, I'm probably spoiled by my upbringing...
And now we get to the exciting part of the lunch: DESSERT!
6) I ordered a panna cotta. If memory serves me correctly, panna cotta is is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. In laid man's terms, it's a delicious custard that contains just the right amount of sweetness and texture.
6) This is what my Dad and Angela ordered. It was a chocolate mousse that sits on top of some crazy chocolate syrup design. Angela ordered it without the strawberry sauce. My dad, however, wanted all of the sweet goodness on his plate. He really has a sweet tooth! But yeah, I encroached on Angela's territory (to get back at her for devouring my mussels), and I must say, the dish was divine, chocolatey, and brought me up to heaven. I'm sure I will enjoy heaven!
7) My grandmother's dessert: homemade ice cream. The three flavors were strawberry, coffee, and chocolate. Can you guess which flavor corresponds to which ball of ice cream?
The ice cream was very well balanced...which was good because I've had some other restaurants' ice cream desserts, and they were definitely too sweet or didn't contain enough sweetness. My philosophy on ice cream is this: you need to create ice cream whose taste corresponds to my personality: not that sweet, but sweet enough to take home to your parents!
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