Mom's Labor Weekend Visit Days 2 and 3

And we're back....so I just dropped my mom off at her hotel. It's been a very busy two days since the last time I've blogged, as this is the first chance I've gotten to actually sit down, upload my pictures, and create a post! So without further ado:

Saturday
Saturday was a very long and tiring day. My mom and I woke up at around 9 am and proceeded to explore lower Manhattan, seeing as it was her first time in the area. We then had brunch around 1 pm at a Thai fusion place called "Sura." It was amazing because they were having this lunch special: appetizer and entree for only $8!!! That's right, 8 buckarooos!!!!

* Appetizers: my mom's appetizer was chicken and shrimp dumplings.
my appetizer was a nice chilled lemongrass soup with basil and cilantro. It had nice flavor and the right amount of spiciness. Bueno!

* Both my mom and I got the chicken with spicy basil and peppers. It was cooked deliciously! The great thing about this lunch was that I gave my mom my egg (since I don't like the egg yolk), and she gave me about a third of her chicken! Great success!!!

For dinner, we went to a very delicious restaurant at South Street Seaport. For those who haven't been there, the place is along includes renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and modern tourist malls featuring food, shopping and nightlife, with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. It overlooks the East River...and creates such a beautiful imagery that you can't help but get caught up in the moment. In lay men's terms, it's pretty much paradise...for New Yorkers.

* Such a beautiful view!!!

 * calamari! Definitely fresh, succulent, one of the better calamaris I've had in a long long time!

 * my dinner: seafood spaghetti with herbs and garlic in a white wine sauce. Note that it had garlic...so of course the dish was AMAZING!!!

* mom's dinner: fish and chips. Now, I'm not too fond of the dish, basically because many of the other variations I've had tend to over fry the fish...thereby allowing the fish to lose its flavor! But not this one. This one was very tender and delicious! I'd definitely order this in the future!

Sunday
On Sunday, I took my mom for brunch...seeing as Manhattan is famous for its numerous brunches. I took my mother to a Mediterranean joint called "Bodrum." And no, it definitely did not disappoint! They served us one of the most delicious breads I've ever tasted. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it...but never fear, the next time I go, I'll take one for sure!

* This was a Turkish omlette...minus the cheese. It had a delicious Mediterranean sausage and diced up tomatoes. Healthy and tasty...a winning combo.

* Mom got poached eggs with home fries. It sits on top of SAUTEED SPINACH WITH GARLIC. My mom was very nice to me; she gave me half her spinach! What a nice woman!

* This was a mushroom omlette...>___<. Gross.

For dinner, my mother and I met up with angela's family at a place in Flushing....once again, I forgot the name...but it was delicious! I was soo hungry, and the food was so scrumptious, that I forgot to take pics of all the food. Here are the ones I managed to take:

 * Delicious fish.

 * Healthy shizzz

 * Beautiful fruit display. So pretty that I actually ate the fruit! I never eat fruit usually.

* Steeaaaaak!!! It was flown in from Australia, so you know it's Grade A Quality! Flushing does it no other way!

Now here are some random pics of everybody at the dinner:

 * From right to left (bottom to top): Angela's Mom, Angela's Dad, Angela's grandmother, me, Brian (Angela's brother) and Angela! We're good looking :)

 * From left to right: Mom, Angela, her mother, her grandmother, Mr. Lau, me, and Brian!

* The young guns...the future generation...the awesome wonders...you get the idea!

The dinner was a super fun event. I'm really glad my family gets along with Angela's family so well. I even ordered a lychee martini...so out of character for me. I'm not afraid to show my true self: the self that is actually in love with fruity, girly cocktails.

Today 
Brunch was at a place called "H Life Bar and Grill." What a cozy place. There were tvs lined up along the walls, comfy booster chairs, and let's not forget...the amazing fooooood!!!!

* That, my friends, is an egg-white omlette with ham and onions. It's accompanied with home fries and mixed greens. This omlette was delicious and fluffy. The home fries were very delicious. The only problem I had were with the mixed greens. I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing...nor wilted greens. Oh well, two out of three ain't that bad!

Dinner was at Loeb Boathouse, which is situated in Central Park. It was sooo tough to find! The three of us (mom, Angela, and myself) had to walk all the way from 82nd street to  72nd street. Seems easy right? Except in Central Park, there's no road that takes you straight down 10 blocks. Instead, you get taken on this Junamji meets Jurassic Park-esque type of journey, complete with winding paths, narrow paths, wildlife devoid of humans....and tired limbs! But fear not, the incredible trio eventually made it to their destination...with 2 minutes to spare for their reservation! And the great thing was that all the walking we did (about 30 minutes) was worth it in that the food was amazingly delicious!!!!

 * creamed spinach. For creamed spinach, it was edible. That's all I'm going to say about that.

 * Mom's rissotto. It smelled and tasted very good. Job well done, Mr. Chef.

 * Angela's Rigottoni with Bolognese sauce. For the uncultured, bolognese is an italian word for "Meat Sauce." What differentiated this was that the dish was spicy. Not too mild, but not too burning that the mouth was suffering; just a nice kick to the dish.

 * My dish: A bone-in ribeye with garlic basil butter. Sooo delicious! I'm soo glad I ordered this place....and walked all those miles...because I definitely needed the calories that only this dish could afford me.

And now, for some pretty pictures of the scenery:

 * view from our table. Soo romantic...just my mom, Angela, and me. You get the picture...

 * THAT WAS A VERY ADORABLE TURTLE. HE KEPT CREEPING HIS HEAD UP BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE FEEDING HIM. It was funny because the water was very still and seemed devoid of all life...and then BAM, all these wonderful creatures started appearing out of nowhere!

* TUUUUURTLE

 * Mama Lee and me

 * There was an orange fish! Sooo awesome! I think it was a salmon, based on my extensive travels.

* Evan and his girlfriend.

Whew, I'm actually really tired from the past few days, so I will update with more pictures later. Thanks for keeping up with me!

Mom's 2012 Labor Day Visit Day 1

Howdy folks! Evan back in action tonight. Me madre is visiting during the Labor day weekend, so I wanted to take her out to dinner on her first night in New York. We mosied on into Koreatown (or street) for some delicious eating. It's actually very funny how NYC's Koreatown is called Koreatown, seeing as it is just one street populated by Korean restaurants...and culture haha. I think it should be called KoreaSTREET. But what do I know? I'm no city planner.

I forgot the name of the restaurant I took my mom to, but it had some generic Korean name....basically a variation of the name Yup-Kim-Sung...

 * These are the traditional appetizers that're served. The best part is that they're free. If you've never tried eating it, just follow the words on my mother's t-shirt: "JUST DO IT!" You won't regret it.

* This is a seafood pancake. It was delicious and seafood-y...full of delicious nutrients. I really enjoyed the fact that it was served with a pie cutter. Make's the dish very classy :)

* The main course; BBQ Combination. What is this grill contraption you see? Well, in Korea, they really like to cook their meats on a table grill...much like how here in America, we like to cook our meats on a barbeque grill. Instead of being boring and just ordering one type of meat, we ordered a PLETHORA OF MEAT: Kalbi (pork ribs), Spicy Kalbi (spicy pork ribs), chicken breast, and Bulgogi (beef). YUMMMY FOR MY TUMMY!

New York sure does know how to cook Korean food. Both my mom's and my stomach were satisfied. I'm now going to go food coma. Thanks for tuning in again.

Till next time, I bid you good eating.

Steeeaaaak!!!

Due to constant request from my adoring fans to blog, I've decided to oblige...because I am a man of the people...and I'm a giver :). Today, I cooked myself steak for dinner. It's nothing new, but I figured...I'm in a new place, new environment....I thought people would want to know what type of meat I'm working with here in the Upper West Side...

If you want to know the recipe for steak, please peruse my previous blogs at your convenience and select the one that revolves around cooking steak. Easy enough...I hope. If not, go get some more education.

* I know you missed my George Foreman Grill...so I thought I'd bring it back. Still as sexy smooth and silver as when I first got it...and still grilling up sexy meat one dish at a time.

* After a little Evan magic, BAM: here's my succulent steak. Still got the grill marks, still a nice brown color, and still ever so scrumptious...mmmhmmmm!!!

One great thing about today was...I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT STEAK ON THE FOREMAN GRILL, as evidenced by the picture up top. Yay for me. All in all, I've decided everybody needs a good steak after work every once in a while...or twice in a week. Hopefully, I'll be able to cook more food now that I'm all settled in. At the very least, I'll post about restaurants I've been to or any exciting events that happen in my life. Till then....

Evan out!

New Apartment

Woooowzers, it's been a while since I last posted something on this site. My apologies, fair lads and lasses. I've been busy organizing and dealing with apartment stuff....since I JUST MOVED UP (well, actually down) to the West (not East) side!!!!

This past month has been really hectic. The first obstacle I ran into was buying a mattress for my room. The actual act of purchasing a mattress wasn't the hectic part. Instead, because I was using a furniture store (Sleepy's) to deliver my bed, my building management needed them to submit a "Certificate of Insurance." Easy enough, right? Well, I bought a bed about a week before planning on moving it into my apartment, so there would be ample time for Sleepy's to send over the certificate. In fact, I was assured that my building management would receive it well in advance of Friday (the day of the move). Well, after calling Sleepy's every day leading up to Friday...and being assured that it would be sent, it was never sent when I called my building management on Friday. But wait! This is the funny part: after calling up Sleepy's Customer Service Line and explaining my situation to them, PRESTO, they were able to send the Certificate before I could even grab an apple from the fridge.
Why couldn't they have just sent the Certificate when I asked them to? Sigh, sometimes, I feel sorry for what the future generation has to deal with....

 * this is what my room looked like prior to the move. Notice how naked my bed looks...;)

August 12, 2012
Well, I was actually able to move everything today!!!!

* my room sure looks mighty spacious and clean. hopefully it'll stay that way in 3 days....

 * this is my hanging clothes thingy. It's very nice. Notice how I intelligently incorporated my tie guards onto this gizmo. Innovative!

 * this is my real life closet. I ACTUALLY HAVE A CLOSET THAT FITS EVERYTHING!!!!!

I really like this apartment in that it has a doorman (for security :D), AIR CONDITIONING, laundry room, movie theater, and gym all in the complex! Plus, my mattress is super comfy, I have a lot of space in my new room; I know I'm gonna love it here. Did I mention how close this place is to work? ONLY 7 MINUTES!!!!

Let the snoozefest begin -___-

Evan's Own Chicken and Beans Concoction

Hello folks! It's time for another update. As has been a trend in my previous posts, I've become a fan of pairing chicken with beans. And again, I've decided to post another chicken + bean delicacy. This time, however, instead of following some sort of recipe, I decided to make up my own!!!

Ingredients: 

Left to right: Pepper, Salt, Crushed Red Pepper, Olive Oil, Oregano, Thyme, Chicken Thighs (8 to be exact)

Not pictured: 30 oz. Cannellini Beans

1) Pour the beans into a casserole dish. Evenly distribute it out among the dish. Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. You want to make sure the beans are slick and oily, but not to the point where it gets disgusting. Then, add salt and pepper, oregano, and thyme to taste.

2) Now, toss everything together with two spoons...because that's how master chefs do it. Again, you want to evenly distribute the spices and oil among the beans. As always, make sure your wrists are dextrous! 

* I also decided to add garlic last minute. I sauteed them and then mixed them into the bean mixture. While mixing, I decided to mash it up to get a nice garlic-y flavor for the beans. :P

3) The beans are done for a while. Heat up a wok on a high setting. Then, add about a teaspoon of olive oil into the wok. Grab about 4 cloves of garlic and let them sit in the wok first. Then, add your chicken thighs to the mixture and cook them in the wok for about 25-30 minutes. While the chicken is cooking, add salt and pepper to taste. You want to achieve a nice golden color on the skin of the chicken. A tan chicken is better than a pasty white chicken.

* chickens are in the process of getting "tan." Unfortunately, my fat, wide chicken thighs are hiding my garlic cloves.

4) When the chickens are done cooking, sit them atop the beans! Then, drizzle the chicken juice that's accumulated with the garlic! This will give the entire dish a nice, moist, juicy flavor to it. Juiciness is the essence of happiness.

* this is a portion I gave myself for dinner.

Woohoo! Another dish bites the dust. Stay tuned for most titillating recipes!

 

Mattituck Wine Tour!

Yipppeee! I visited a winery this past weekend in Long Island at a city named "Mattituck." In 43 BC, a man by the name of Mattituck roamed what we now know as Long Island. He found an area full of bountiful crops and grass and decided to name this newly discovered place "Mattituck." Just a bit of history for the uncultured....

So I visited the Harbes Winery...and to my pleasant surprise, not only did it have wine, it also doubled as an organic farm, filled with fresh vegetables, corn, apple cider donuts....the works!!!! Here are some pictures from the trip:

 * my girlfriend is frolicking towards the wine tasting area

 * what we thought was the wine tasting place. this "barn" was actually a deception; the real wine tasting area was behind the building! duuh!

 * freshly baked pies! and freshly made jams! and freshly made hot sauces....what wasn't freshly made at this place?

 * my girlfriend :)

 * attractive. my girl's actually a very ecstatic farmer.

 * this is an organic sangria. what makes it organic? the fresh ingredients used to make it. honestly, it was the most delicious sangria i've ever had!

 * my girlfriend is a photo hog!

 * meet blazer, the pony! he/she (i don't know what gender blazer was). he really liked me in that he bit my pink brooks brothers shorts! and this was after reading the sign that says "beware of biting!"

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of wines in my excitement...but if anybody's severely disappointed, I have the perfect solution for you. Just google "Wines" into your search, and you'll be gifted with 1029334108234 pictures of wines! 

Toodles!

Lemon-y Chicken with Arugula Salad!!!

This week, I decided to put the cookbook my mom sent to me for good use. After perusing the book for a good 10 minutes, I decided to cook Lemon Chicken and Arugula salad with a twist: instead of using drumsticks (like the recipe says), I used chicken wings!!!!

Ingredients:

Left to right: Canellini Beans, pesto, chicken wings, arugula salad, lemon, and olive oil

1) Place the chicken in a big huge mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper to the chicken and toss it around to make sure the spices are evenly dispersed amongst the chicken.

2) Once that's done, you'll want to place them in a skillet. Drizzle some olive oil into the skillet and place it on a medium-hot heat setting. Let the chickens sizzle in the skillet until they're thoroughly cooked!

* what a nice brown color.

3) Meanwhile, slice the lemon into thin pieces. Why? Because it's aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

4) Meanwhile, place the arugula and beans in a mixing bowl. Season it with salt and pepper (like everything else) and mix it around!

5) Then, add pesto to taste and toss it around...or shake it like a polaroid picture. Whatever floats your boat. Remember to use your dextrous wrists. The salad is now done! Easy, delicious...and it looks like it took a lot of effort when really, it took 5 minutes!

6) Now, place the beautiful lemons into the wok with the chicken oil. Let it brown on each side for about 1-2 minutes. This'll give the sauce a nice lemony taste. Plus, who doesn't like brown lemons?

* This looks like a dandellion flower!!!

7) Now, add this entire concoction onto the freshly cooked chickens. The liquid should poor down the chicken, much like lava flowing down a volcano. You'll know you've completed the dish when it looks like an executive chef prepared the food!

* pretty pro, right?!

Yummy. I love wings. And it's healthy...ish, I think. Most importantly, it's succulent and delicious.