Honey Biscotti and Sweet Melissa Sundays
So I recently joined a baking group called Sweet Melissa Sundays. We base our recipes on a book called The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, which is a bakery based out of our very own Brooklyn. Each Sunday, someone will bake a recipe out of that book until we make it through all of the recipes. My bake date is August 16th, which is still months away, but no worries; I can still bake along with each of the weekly hosts.

This week's recipe was the Honey Biscotti (Melissa calls it the Beescotti) and will be made by Lorelei, which is where the recipe can be found as well. Now, I've made biscottis previously, but this one was new for me. First, I've never baked with honey before, and it was a somewhat frustrating experience that really tests your patience. Waiting for the honey to drip from your measuring spoon is seriously like waiting for a chick to hatch -- NOT FUN, as I am not a patient person by all means. And then there's the whole, I'm not a big fan of almonds thing. I debated left and right but decided to put in chopped almonds anyways (since I was leaving out the candied orange peels and caraway seeds).

The house smelled so wonderful that I think I will have to make these again and again... this is not to say that the biscottis weren't good. They were very good -- not too sweet, honey and almond taste were present but not overwhelming and super satisfying crunch. I did have some issues with the temperatures in the original recipe, so next time I think I will lessen the baking time for the first round of baking and lower the temperature for the second round of baking. With the original baking temp and time, the bottoms of some of the biscottis came out slightly burnt.
Sunday, April 05, 2009 | Category: , , | 4 comments

Recipe: Matcha Shortbread Cookies
I love green tea flavored anything and when I purchased green tea cookies from Panya bakery, I knew that I would have to find a recipe to make my own.

After much searching, I found the following recipe from Recipezaar and it really closely resembles what I had bought. The tea flavor is very strong, the cookie is not too sweet and there is a slight crunch factor, but after biting into it, it literally melts in your mouth. Simply delightful! I will definitely make this recipe again and again.


Ingredients:
2 cups bleached all purpose flour
1-2 tablespoons of green tea powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar (more if you like your cookie sweeter)

  • Sift the flour, tea powder and salt into a bowl.
  • In a mixer bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
  • Add flour mixture to mixer bowl and mix slowly until dough just comes together
  • Pull dough together carefully in a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter.
  • Wrap dough log and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until dough has firmed to the touch.
  • Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet, approximately 1 inch apart
  • Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven for 16-18 minutes (or until the edges start turning golden)
  • Remove cookies immediately and cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!!
Thursday, April 02, 2009 | Category: , , , | 1 comments

Restaurant: Aquagrill
I picked Aquagrill for our group dinner to celebrate Babe's birthday. It was the big 2-8, afterall!

Keeping in mind the last minuteness and the fact that not everyone ate everything, I picked Aquagrill due to 1. everyone ate (and enjoyed) seafood and most importantly, 2. it had really great reviews on Yelp (also we were able to get reservations was a big plus too).

The restaurant is located on the quieter side of Spring Street; it wasn't the SoHo area that everyone associates the street with. There seemed to be ample parking in the area, but like most New Yorkers, we parked at the first spot we saw on West Broadway and had a 7-minute walk which was perfectly fine with me.

Aquagrill is located right on the corner of Spring and 6th Avenue; one of the guys had said there is a subway station right across the street but I didn't notice it. The ambiance is very lively, but not too trendy-noisy. We were seated immediately and greeted by a waiter. Throughout the night we were greeted by different people, so I'm not sure they have assigned waiters/waitresses or anything.

We started off with a delicious bread basket full of corn bread, biscuits and warm rolls, accompanied by a fragrant olive oil.


The restaurant is known for it's selection of oysters, which is what we started with. We asked our server to recommend some rare oysters and she brought over the top 5:

  1. Chincoteague
  2. Carlsbad Blonde
  3. La St. Simon
  4. Pemaquid XL
  5. Canoe Lagoon

And if you ask me now, I wouldn't be able to tell you which was which, or which was the best, but according to Babe, he loved 1 and 5 *shrug*.



Oysters

We also had a delicious plate of Clam Steamers, which was steamed and then dipped into Pilsner beer and garlic butter. SO DELICIOUS! The clams were very fresh and plentiful, so much so that it was recommended that we share, which we did. I cannot stress how much I loved this starter dish and that it will be something that I will order everytime I goto a seafood restaurant. Yes, it was that good.


My entree was the Chilean Sea Bass, with a crust of some sort. Unfortunately this was off the specials menu so I cannot look it up on their website for more details. Whatever it was, it was great. The fish was so tender and light, on a bed of peanuts and spinach with a light white wine sauce. The portion might be small for some, but it was definitely more than enough for me.

Babe's entree was the Striped Bass, which was also off the specials menu. It wasn't as good as my Sea Bass, but still pretty good. The little round of green off to the left? That's creamed spinach and THE BEST creamed spinach I've eaten. EVER. I finished it since he doesn't like veggies (he really doesn't, I swear!)

Some other dishes ordered by our friends were the Sea Scallops (medium rare, done just right) and the Bouillabaisse, which is basically a stew of lots of seafood in a garlic saffron tomato broth.

We ended the meal with the Chocolate Tasting Plate, which had a warm dark chocolate cake, white chocolate mousse and milk chocolate ice cream. Delicious and beautifully presented, this is one of my all-time favorite desserts.

A wonderful meal with an attentive staff and a friendly atmosphere. This is a place that I would definitely come back to.

Aquagrill
210 Spring Street (corner of 6th Avenue)
New York, NY
http://www.aquagrill.com/

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | Category: , , , | 0 comments

Restaurant: Fishtail by David Burke
As per the previous post, this meal was for Babe's birthday, but this time, it was just the two of us. I wanted to try a "well-known" restaurant and someone had recommended a David Burke joint. Now, I knew that David Burke was famous for his steakhouse in Chicago, but could he pull off fish? We decided to take a chance on Fishtail.

Let me preface this by saying that Fishtail is located near Bloomingdale's, which means that there is absolutely NO PARKING available. We drove around for so long and finally lucked out on a spot on Park Avenue and 65th Street. It seriously is a headache of a place if you were to drive, I tell ya...

But I digress.

Fishtail is located in a townhouse on 62nd Street. The lady next to me said that this used to be some other restaurant not that long ago (I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear... she was just talking way too loud). The interior is painted red, with white accents. You'd think that it would be crass and ugly, but it's actually very modern and minimalistic. There are fish paintings all over the walls and huge mirrors, giving it a spacious feeling. As with all townhouses, there are floor to ceiling windows that look out across the street to other townhouses.

The first floor of Fishtail is the raw bar and the kitchen. There are also booths, although I did not see anyone sitting in them. We were escorted upstairs to the dining area, which was relatively small and compact. Our table was a mere 2 inches away from the other two tables on either side of us. I could probably eat off of my neighbor's table and it wouldn't even have been noticeable!

We were presented with this amazing bread basket. The croissants were flakey and crusty but soft in the middle. Those "pocky" sticks were his favorite... I did not taste it (I think I forgot to?!) Yes, those are carrots. Why they are in a bread basket is beyond me, but they were by far the sweetest mini carrots we've ever had.

We started off with raw oysters (for him) and fish tacos (for me).


The oysters were noted as 3 West Coast and 3 East Coast. I had one of the smaller ones (can't remember what Coast it was) and it was sweet and fresh.

I was, by far, the most disappointed with my tacos. First, I thought they would be cooked fish. They were all raw (but I guess I just didn't notice the "Tartare" in the description) and tasteless. The 3 were -- Tuna Tartare, Crab Salad and Hamachi. The Crab Salad was too salady -- too much mayo and was just too creamy and left a filmy taste in my mouth. The Tuna and Hamachi were bland, even with the sauces provided. Sorely disappointed!

For our entrees, I had the Swordfish Steak Frites and Maitre d'Hotel Butter and he had the Giant Head-on Grilled Prawns cooked in basil and lemon.

Swordfish is one of those fishes that is hard to catch, expensive but not good. The meat is hard, there is no flavor and it's no wonder they usually serve it as a "steak". The butter did not add anything to the fish and I left 2/3 of my fish untouched. The frites, on the other hand, were amazing. There was a sprinkling of what Babe thinks is wakame (seaweed) and each fry was crunchy but not oily. It came in the little fryer basket that I wanted to steal so badly. But no, I overcame my impulses. Sigh.

If you look closely, there were no actual heads on the "Giant Head-on Prawns" that Babe ordered. Granted, we don't eat that anyways, but isn't that sort of like false advertising?! These prawns were good. Fresh and huge. Grilled to perfection. However, there were only 3. How disappointing! And this dish cost $35... that's practically $12/prawn!!! Highway robbery...

We completed our meal with a Passion Fruit Creme Brulee, and Napoleon of Chocolate Leaves. When I made the reservation on OpenTable, I noted that it was a birthday, and they thoughtfully placed Babe's creme brulee on a plate that said Happy Birthday. I thought this was indeed a nice touch. Kudos, Fishtail!

My Napoleon of Chocolate Leaves was good, but a bit too chocolately. Should've came with a glass of milk instead of a shot of milkshake!

Fishtail by David Burke
135 East 62nd Street
New York, NY
http://www.fishtaildb.com

Monday, March 23, 2009 | Category: , , , | 0 comments

Flight Review: Continental Airlines
January 2009
Newark to Beijing, Japan to Newark
Economy Class

Seating: Continental Airlines is typical of most American carriers. The seats are "normal" sized so for us Asians who are 5'5" and 5'9", we feel it has just about enough room where your knees are constantly hitting the seat in front of you. When I book seating for long-haul flights, I usually try to put us in a Window/Aisle configuration, banking on the fact that most people do not like to sit in a middle seat and therefore, we'd have 3 seats to ourselves. On both flights, we were successful in this regard.

Food & Drink: I can't even remember what they fed us, so it must not have been that memorable or good. But this was the first time I've ever been given a cheeseburger and icecream for a snack, which was definitely a welcome little meal. The cheeseburgers were pretty hefty and who doesn't love Haagen Daaz, right? The biggest grievance for Babe, however, was the fact that alcohol cost money. Not only that, but you had to purchase some ridiculous card BEFORE you boarded so they could swipe it on-board. What is this nonsense about 1, charging your long distance flight customers for ANYTHING and 2, a pre-paid card?! Ridiculous. Never heard of such penny pinching.

Attendants: Were friendly, in that American-I-Have-To-Be sort of way. This was also the first flight I've been on where there were 3 rows sectioned off in the back for the attendants to rest. We've flown overseas many times, on Cathay, EVA, China Air, Northwest, United... and I've never seen this before. Apparently Continental attendants are lazy.

Check-in: We had no major issues.

Flight Time: Was on time for the most part. But it didn't matter much to us since we were going direct.

Amenities: Free ear phones.

Side Note: The only reason we chose to fly Continental, and out of Newark (since it's such a hassle for us from Queens) is that they were the only ones that flew direct to Beijing and back from Japan. There was no way I was spending a big part of my trip in the airports transferring, especially on the way home. Our flight home, however, was the most uncomfortable flights to date. There was turbulence during 12 of the 13 hours we flew. It got me so sick I couldn't eat or sleep. I'm not sure if turbulence is something the pilot can control, but I'm pretty sure it's something he can try to avoid or at least fly over/under? This was a really bad experience for both of us and we probably will stay away from Continental for long-haul flights in the future.

Friday, February 20, 2009 | Category: , , , , , | 0 comments

Trip Report: Beijing & Xi'an
This past January, we spent a week in Beijing (and then a week in Japan). It was one of the coldest vacations we've ever taken, and we are not cold weather loving people :( so it was quite an ordeal, but definitely a memorable trip.

We stayed at the beautiful Park Plaza Wangfujing, which was rated #2 on TripAdvisor. This hotel was gorgeous and totally comparable to all the other big names (Hyatt, Marriott, Westin) and located in a much more convenient area. It was literally an 8 minute walk from the shopping area of Wangfujing and a 15 minute walk from Forbidden City. Yep, we were that close! The hotel rate varied, depending on when it was booked, but we were lucky and booked it for 80USD a night. The staff spoke terrific English and the concierge was extremely helpful when we wanted to go to certain places. Definitely a recommended stay.

I did a little "stalking" on TripAdvisor, and decided to hire a guide that would take us around. I made my choice based on 1, reviews; 2, price; and 3, it had to be a SHE. I don't know; I just feel safer with a female guide, hah. But little did I know that this was not a good choice.

We chose a girl named Violet. Her rates were very reasonable and she seemed intelligent and had good grasp of English (as per her e-mails). She was punctual on the first day, but once she found out we understood Mandarin, we found out just how bad she had to struggle with her English. Most of the "speeches" she made were memorized from guide books, and there were times when we had to correct her facts. She recommended expensive restaurants (by American standards, which meant that it was probably super expensive by Chinese standards) where she even knew some of the staff at the restaurants. All in all, it wasn't a great experience, and I wish that I had done just a little more research instead of being lazy and taking the easy way out. It was definitely money wasted; we would've been better off hiring someone a little more expensive. But I digress.

We visited the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, TianAnMen, the Olympic stadiums as well as the markets of PanJiaYuan and Silk Market.

January in Beijing is extremely COLD. There is no other way to describe it. We wore so much clothes that sometimes it was hard to move... I even utilized those little warming packs that skiers use on the slopes. Yes, it was that cold. But you know what's good about going in the winter? There are hardly any other tourists. As you can see, we were alone on the Great Wall. Now, that is something that would not happen during peak tourist season. So, you take what you can get.

Before we left for our trip, I made last minute trip arrangements for Xi'an. Most people think that Xi'an = Terracotta Warriors, but it is a city that is so much more. It was the first capital of China, where Qin Shi Huang presided as the first emperor. It has the most complete original city wall, where you can walk or bike around the city. It was also the birthplace of the dumpling banquet, where you can get dumpling fillings of chicken to shrimp to deer to rabbit.
Sunday, February 15, 2009 | Category: , , , , , | 0 comments