2 Year Anniversary Celebration

Woohooo. This was a great weekend for me. Why...you ask? Because, it was Angela's and my 2 year anniversary celebration! Well, technically we've been together for a little more than that, but this was the time we decided to celebrate...so STOP ALL YOUR JUDGEMENT!

To start things off, we met up in Times Square and had lunch at a burger joint recommended to me by a coworker, 5 Napkins. According to him, it's the best burger in all of New York.
Was it really? I don't think so...and neither did Angela. The fries there were SUPER DELICIOUS, however. They were cut to the same thickness as McDonald's fries, so you know it's gonna be good. The burger was good, except both Angela and I ordered our patties "medium rare," and as a result, they were sorta bloody as we chomped into the patty. To add salt to the wound, the juices from the patty made our buns all soggy. Nobody likes soggy buns. They like firm buns!

* 'dem fries be sexy. To the right of the fries is a rosemary aoli. That had a good flavor...but a disgusting texture. Ordinary ketchup will suffice!

So, here's the highlight of the anniversary celebration: we went to a really wonderful Japanese restaurant called "EN Japanese Brasserie." Holy shizzle it's sooo amazing. The entire layout, presentation, and food was just impeccable. Word will not do it justice. I wish my command of English was better, but hey, a picture's worth a thousand words....aka JUST LOOK AT MY PICTURES!!!! 

 * this is the restaurant...unfortunately, my chair is blocking the beautiful settings, but it's dark. After 24 years of traveling and living, I've come to the conclusion that all dark restaurants are fancy and beautiful.

 * our dinner drinks: basically a fancy grapefruit sparkling wine mix drink. And look, we're toasting!

 * Look at our menu! It's served upon a wooden backboard! So fancy! Angela and I are classy!

 * This was a spicy tuna roll. However, the tuna was a marbled tuna belly, with onions and tiny spinach leaves. Seriously one of the best spicy tuna rolls I've ever had. Yummy for my tummy :)

 * We sat at the sushi bar, which allowed us to view the open kitchen. Here are the hard chefs cooking hard...and we got front row seats!

We also ordered Stone-Grilled Wagyu Beef. In other words, you get to cook your beef on a hot stone. For the uncultured, Wagyu beef is beef that's sooo tender and cultivated by the Australians...which is then also flown in from Australia.

 * Angela's prepping the hot stone. She's rubbing beef fat onto the stone. It creates a base for the beef! Japanese people are smart! In addition, we were given a pile of sea salt to drizzle onto our beef. Talk about being resourceful!

 * The beefs are sizzling! Like a muey caliente chica!

 * the cooked beeeeeeeeefie Wagyu beef!

Angela also ordered a duck breast soba dish. Holy crap, that duck breast was sooo succulent, delicious, and orgasmic. That's right. Orgasmic haha.

 * look at how wonderful this dish looks. So happy in between the sushi rolls and Wagyu beef.

And of course, when dining like the king and queen of New York, one must order dessert...and that's exactly what we did!

 * the dessert menu is so classy. This gives you a better view of how the menu's constructed.

 * our spoons for the dessert! So decadent and cute haha.

Our dessert was a TRIO OF CHOCOLATE!!! I'll let that marinate with you for a while.

May I blog some more? Ok, thanks. This dessert consists of a Chocolate mousse,  chocolate cake, and chocolate ice cream. The mousse was super light, fluffy, yet surprisingly rich. The cake was super moist, and the ice cream was.....just ice cream.

 * From left to right: Cake, Mousse, and Ice Cream!


Surprise dish! So I was still hungry after eating the beef and Sushi rolls, so I ordered an Tasmanian Trout with Garlic Soy. Holy shizzle I didn't even mind that the center was still raw. Sooo garlicy and delicious. Even Angela loved it, and she doesn't normally like that raw, fishy texture!

All in all, it was a wonderful anniversary day, and a dinner to never forget. Here's to many more celebrations to come in the future!

Winter Break 2013 part 3

Hopefully, this'll be the final post regarding my winter break! Continuing from last time....

December 31, 2012 
We still had a lot of lobster left over from the other day, so my resourceful mom decided to use the extra lobster to meat and incorporate it into fried noodles! A bit of a cultural lesson for ya'll: whenever Chinese people have left over food, they just make fried rice OR noodles and basically throw all the leftovers into the dish.

* this was more than just your "average" fried noodle; it was GOURMET! So delicious! Love it


Later that evening, I decided that Angela and I needed to evolve into a classier couple. What's classier than an orchestra concert??? NOTHING! Therefore, I took Angela to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's New Year's Eve concert! They played the Blue Danuble Waltz, other music from Liszt, and Brahms. All in all, a wonderful event, filled with beautiful music and culture.

* premium seats!

January 1, 2013 
Happy New Year! Unfortunately, while it was officially the first day of 2013, it would be my last day in Texas (along with Angelawr's). My parents decided that there's no other proper way to send off folks from Texas than treating them to a fancy schmancy steak dinner. We went to Del Frisco's, which is the most popular and oldest steakhouse in Dallas and has opened up several other locations, including right here in Manhattan. Booyah New York, we started it first. Not you. Ya'll are copycats!

 * delicious bread. Of course, it was free. Yaaaay!

 * Those are onion rings on steroids! They were very tender and crispy. I had to eat 4, while everybody else only ate 1. Again, happy days.

 * fried calamari. This wasn't your average fried calamari dish. It was served "Shanghai-style," which is just an offensive term for sweet and sour. Nevertheless, it was beautifully cooked, and I would definitely order it again.

* the signature dessert: 6 Layer Lemon cake. Yes, that hand holding the fork is Angela's hand. Yes, she ate about 5/6 of the cake :). My girlfriend is a lil fattie :). Don't worry, I helped her out: I had 3 bites! Talk about lending a "hand."

So yea, after 3 posts, I've managed to capture my winter break for 2012-2013. Hopefully, my future winter breaks will be just as fun! Till next time....

 

2013 winter trip....continued!!!

This is part two of my winter break post...hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long! I gotta keep ya'll always wanting more....

December 30, 2012 
On this wonderful day, Angela and I got tickets to watch the Dallas Mavericks vs. the San Antonio Spurs. Unfortunately, the Mavs lost by a score that we shall never mention; all people need to know is that they were embarrassed and swept off the court, so to speak. However, the good news is that Angela and I needed to grab something to eat before the game. I took her to "Noodle Wave," a Thai Restaurant...and boy, was it delicious!

* Angela's dish: thai spicy chicken. It consists of minced chicken, basil, gross mushrooms, carrots, and delicious onions! Despite the mushrooms, from what I tasted, the dish was spectacular!

 * My dish: "Drunken Noodles"...at least that's what I believe it's called; it was the same as the Thai Spicy Chicken dish...except there were flat noodles. AND NO MUSHROOMS, which clearly makes my dish better haha.

All in all, Angela really enjoyed the place...and I'm glad she scarfed down her dish almost as quickly as I finished mine!

December 31, 2012 
Another food adventure! My dad took Angela and I out to lunch  at a Korean restaurant...which I so conveniently happened to forget the name of...like a dummy! But anyways, it was a very delicious meal. We ended up getting a dish recommended by our not-so-friendly waitress. It's called: "Bulgogi Meat Stew." I have no idea what genius came up with that name, but it was super delicious! So thank you, Ms. Not-Really-Nice-So-I-Won't-Tip-You-Very-Nicely for your recommendation.

* This "stew" is a mixture of a white clear liquid (get your mind out of the gutter) and the juices from the bulgogi as it was being cooked on the grill. As you can see from the picture, there are also onions, scallions, and noodles that sit in a basin....so as the meat's getting cooked, the bulgogi juice and clear broth "marinate" all the contents within the basin...making for a very harmonious union of flavors in the mouth! ;)

Summary: it was a glorious dish. Koreans are innovative.

So after lunch, my father took us to a nice Korean desert/caf, Mozart. We ended up ordering coffee and delicious desserts and talking for a good hour. What a wonderful way to relax after eating! 

* From left to right: Tiramisu, Three layer chocolate cake, Green Tea Cake. 

Unfortunately, I forgot that Tiramisu contains some cheese...>__< oops! But despite that, the Tiramisu was still mucho scrumptious! I've come to realize in my old age that desserts make the tummy happy....and bloated at the same time! I guess that's the sacrifice one has to make for comfort... :( 

So...guess what???? 

I still have some more pictures of my winter break...

Stay tuned for part 3 of my winter break!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D 

I'm baaaack in 2013!!!

Wa Wa Wee Wah!!! Guess who it is? Yep, it's me. Sorry for the long absence from my last post, but it's the holidays, and I've been spending some quality time with my family, girlfriend, and girlfriend's family. It was a great holiday....and before I forget, Happy 2013! May all ya'll's hopes and dreams come true :)

December 28, 2012 
My girlfriend, Angela(wr) flew down to visit me on the 27th. My parents and I decided to take everybody out to see an actual Texas rodeo...seeing as Angela had never been to one, and the last time I went to a rodeo was back when I was 4 years old! Suffice to say, everybody had a great time!

 * Angela and I. I have an awesome scarf fyi.

 * The horses were very majestic.

 * The Mequite Rodeo...an outside view!

* "rope that cattle!"
....I don't think he actually managed to lasso this calf.

December 29, 2012 
My family enjoys seafood, and they've recently discovered where to buy fresh lobsters! Another treat for Angela was fresh, home cooked, steamed lobsters. And boy, will you be surprised at the size of these suckers!

 * the amazing gizmo that contains the lobsters! it was gigantic!

 * this lobster's name is Jorma; he would like to say hi.

* quick interlude: the dogs would like to say hi! 

 * the dogs still don't want to leave :)

 * back to the lobsters!

 * this is how you cook the lobsters. you need two gigantic pots to cook them...and it doesn't even cook all the lobsters!!!

 * these are what the lobsters look like....dead and cooked! Yummy! Look at how delicious and sexy this lobster looks.

 * because a front view wasn't enough, the lobster would like to show you his side profile! which side do YOU prefer? ;)

 * instead of a normal lobster cracking gizmo, we had to use an actual nutcracker to crack the claws open.

* look at how big the claw meat is! The most impressive part is that I managed to extract the entire claw meat without ripping any of it! Impressive!!!

So there are more pictures, but I'd like to save them for future posts....to keep ya'll wanting more...because I'm a tease like that. Till my next post....AU REVOIR!!!!

Cafe Duke's Pasta Recreation

Wattup homeslices. It's me again, back with another amazing post.

During the weekdays, I like to treat myself to Cafe Duke's for lunch. It's a nice, short walk from work to this restaurant, and it provides me with a nice escape from the office. I always find myself in their pasta line, where customers can select from a variety of ingredients, noodles, and pasta sauce...and have chefs cook their pastas right in front of their eyes. For my pasta dish, I always order the same things: angel hair pasta, garlic, and chicken. Pretty shocking right haha?

I woke up this morning deciding I wanted to cook dinner tonight. But what was I going to cook? I still had some left over pasta and thought, perfect, time to recreate my lunch from Dukes. So today, I give you my take on Evan's Cafe Duke's Pasta. 

Ingredients: 

From right to left: 2 packs of thin-slice chicken breasts, Angel Hair pasta, Garlic, and olive oil

1) First, slice the chicken breasts into smaller quarter sized pieces. This way, that'll ensure that the chicken breasts take less time to cook all the way through. Unfortunately, this is a very laborious task, so if you're lazy, this is not the task for you. Also, it's kinda gross, so weak stomachs are not welcome.

 * so much chicken!

2) This is my favorite task; grab one whole clove and slice them into thin pieces. As you cut the cloves, the kitchen air will be filled with a delicious garlic smell. If you want to know what heaven smells like, just slice some garlic and let the air be filled with its scrumptious aroma.

 * garlic looks so beautiful.

3) Now, cook your pasta. You know the drill: boil the water. Once it's boiling, dump the pasta into the water and let it sit for about 7-10 minutes. Sprinkle some salt in the pot to make sure that the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

 * I added a box and a half of angel hair pasta

4) Now, once the pasta is finished cooking, set it aside. Turn the stove to a medium setting. Grab a skillet pan, add olive oil and the chopped garlic to the pan, and cook the olive oil/garlic concoction for about 2 minutes. You don't want the garlic to brown!

 * this smells soo good!

5) Now, add the chickens to the pan and cook the chicken with the olive oil and garlic until the chicken no longer has that raw red color. Remember, raw chicken is gross and eating them raw will induce diarrhea....and DEATH! So moral of the story is, don't eat raw chicken.

6) Once the chickens are beautifully browned, add your pasta to the pan. Thoroughly use your dextrous wrists to evenly disperse the pasta into the chicken and olive oil. As well, sprinkle salt to taste. 

7) DUNZO! This is the finished product; it's a thing of beauty. 

* Note: I eat a lot because I'm a fattie. This is not a normal amount people would cook. This'll last me for about 3 days tops. However, with the portions I utilize, this'll last a normal person about a week! Yay for efficiency and pre made food!

Well, hope this was interesting, hope this wets your appetite...and definitely give this a shot! It only takes about a total of 30 minutes to complete, from prep time to cooking time! Plus, this pasta dish will allow you to carbo load, allowing you to maintain your energy during the lulls in the day!

Toodles
 

Thanksgiving in Dallas

Heeeeey everybody! So I'm in Texas right now, relaxing and enjoying all that the South has to offer me. Along with that, I've been reaping the benefits of enjoying my mother's home cooking....as they say, there's nothing better than a home cooked meal!


I forget when, but earlier this week, my parents surprised me with WHOLE STEAMED LOBSTERS!!! mmmm, twas delicious! And unlike my normal self, I actually remembered to take pictures! Enjoy....

 * Whole live lobsters! They looked menacing!

 * Because they were menacing, it was time to end their lives....in other words, drown them in boiling water! talk about torture!

 * Diced scallions, seranno peppers, ginger, and garlic. You'll find out what this is for later...gotta keep you on your toes.

 * dead lobsters :). so lifeless and less menacing.

 *My daddy really likes to eat his lobster with "special sauce." Look closer, do you see anything familiar??? That's right, it's the garlic, peppers, ginger, and scallions from earlier! The sauce contains soy sauce and sesame oil, in addition to the herbs! 

 *gobble gobble! I thought this plate was cool. It's got a turkey in the center.


As well, to celebrate Thanksgiving, instead of the usual turkey, we decided to eat duck! Why? Because we're Chinese, and that's what Chinese people do.

 * whole duck on our special rotisserie machine :)

* duck after being put through the rotisserie! Delicious!

Wonderful food for a wonderful break! Stay tuned for my next post