Eating in New York

Wednesday - Brooklyn, NY

*Rocco's Calamari*

- This was our first Brooklyn encounter and one of the best ones yet :) Great calamari!

*Di Fara's Pizza*

- This place is highly recommended by locals and NY lists. But it's also known for the most expensive pizza you will find in NY. It was $6 a slice of pizza with specialty toppings.  They're known for using all authentic italian olive oils and ingredients.  It is also known for the man that has been making the pizzas there for over 40 years. The motto there is "it's worth the wait".

- Elgin and I ordered 2 square pizzas: one with porchini mushrooms and artichokes, and the other with sundried tomatoes. We waited about 30 minutes on a slow day. Yes, it was worth the wait :)

Thursday - Manhattan,  NY

*Katz's Deli*

- This is a deli recommended in tourist books etc. It's a tourist trap!  They're known for their delicious pastrami sandwiches.

- We shared this one pastrami sandwich. It was $16.00 for this one sandwich. It's wasn't huge, not stuffed with meat, and not a superior rye bread. 

- Elgin says the pastrami was great, but definitely not worth the cost.

*Porchetta*

- This was highly recommended from friends and on the NY eat list, but I must have gone on one of their off days. The porchetta was SOooo dry, I felt like I needed gravy.

- pretty disappointed from the hype

*Abraco*

- I also found this place on NY's must try list for best coffee. It's also known for most popular cult coffee in NY.

-Elgin said it was tasty like Blue Bottle..just as good.

*we also went to see Avenue Q this night on Broadway. It was very funny and we loved it :) We got a great deal on the 50% off ticket prices. I found a great online site where you don't have to wait in line or pay service charges each ticket.  

Friday - Manhattan, NY

*Union Sq Farmer's Market*

- We went to the farmer's market this morning. Very convenient out of the subway station. It's not that big but it's still nice to see the local produce in the area. More interestingly, this guy on the side was typing free poems for anyone that wanted one.

-It's no Marin Farmer's market...

*Ippudo*

-That's right, we had such a great experience in Japan that we wanted to find out how good it was in Japan. Definitely, not the same atmosphere, but the noodles and broth are still the same and just as good. The NY one charges double the cost of Japan's and doesn't serve the delicious pickles.

Frozen Yogurt in Lord and Taylor's mall

-I found this on one of New York Times highly recommended lists. Basically, the store probably got closed down in the past year and sold the yogurt to the store in the mall. It sucks now. But it did seem to be very popular with the senior citizens.

Saturday - Brooklyn, NY in Park Slope

*Chip Shop*

- Elgin had fish and chips and I had battered sausage and chips. They practically deep fry anything that can be battered including mac-n-cheese or snickers bars.

- good for a long day's work :) 

*The Chocolate Room*

- chocolate cake with a side of bourbon vanilla ice cream and a double scoop ice cream (belgian chocolate and mint chip)

- we loved every bite!

Sunday - Flushing, NY

Lan zhou hand pulled noodles 

- in some underground sticky floor type hole in the wall mall building

- excellent noodles!!

- I ate my noodles with duck, and Elgin had oxtail.

Taiwanese shaved ice in a food court of Flushing Mall 

- 4 flavors over shaved ice: tapioca, passion fruit, orange hello, and almond jello

Monday - I helped babysit and Elgin staged at the Spotted Pig.

New York Charm

What's the difference between New York and Japan?

some examples below --

@ the Airport:

Japan - worker takes off luggage from conveyor belt with care and finesse, then lines up the luggage neatly on the floor for individuals to find luggage easily and take away smoothly

NY - union worker takes off the luggage from the conveyor belt with hatred and disgust, and throws it into a pile

@ a Counter-type Restaurant:

Japan - modest waitress greets you at the door and points you to the ticket machine to make your order, she smiles and takes your ticket - you are served promptly and with grace. Elgin and June leave happily satisfied and impressed.

NY - we enter Rocco's Restaurant, known for best calamari, and we stand there at the counter. Man in tight white t-shirt with big muscles greets Elgin - "U wanta make-a orda?! ". 

Elgin: yes please

Man: "ya need to orda at the end of the counta." 

Elgin makes his order. 

Then a waitress says to Elgin "R ya sittin' in?!" 

Elgin: what?  

Waitress: "R ya sittin' in or what?!"

Elgin: oh..no, take out

Man#2: "U want spicy or regula marinara?!"

Elgin: spicy please

Man #2 packs the calamari into a box with the cup of marinara. "U want garlic bread?!"

Elgin: yes please

Man #2 throws in 2-3 pieces of garlic bread into the bag. One of the pieces of bread fell on the counter so he tossed it over his shoulder aiming for the trash can, but missed. Then he punches the bag twice to close the bag. (yes, he punched the bag, not a neat fold)

We paid and walked outside and then burst out laughing from the culture shock and cultural difference we've experienced. 

The funny part is I think they were actually being nice.

Homeless:

Japan - all the homeless are provided with cardboxes and blue tarp so they all look uniform;they are pretty clean and clean up after themselves; they do not beg and do not hassle

New York - you can smell the streets and subways where the homeless (or others that do not care) have relieved themselves; they use their cardboard to make beer signs

Customer Service in stores:

Japan -"Irashaimasu" greetings by all; when we asked for help and wondered where something was, they would bring us to the location of the item and show it to us

New York - we walked into a Walgreens and I asked this female worker where the travel section was.. she barely looked at me, flung her hand towards the back, and said "Aisle 2"

 

Tokyo Disneyland

 
      

Tokyo Disneyland - what a dream come true :)

Best of Tokyo Disneyland --

Interesting food (i'll post more pics of in picasa soon)

Popcorn buckets (flavors: soy sauce and butter popcorn, caramel popcorn, and honey popcorn) 

Extra clean - spotless restrooms, clean cement - people literally took naps on the floor, some with mats and some without mats

Japanese Onsen and Buffet Time

04/16/09 THURSDAY

Tita and Uncle took us to Nikko where you can find some of the oldest historical sights of Japan. We drove about 3+ hours to Nikko.  We saw temples, shrines, and the tomb of the first shogun. Then we went to Tobu World Square – an amusement park full of miniature sized world famous landmarks. We saw so much..you’ll have to see the pics on this one.

The hotel was considered low end for Tita, but it was cheap and a reasonable place to stay. The room had a table, tv, fridge, shower, toilet, and chairs. We slept on futons on the tatami mats. We had a nice view of the water fall and river outside.

Onsen – Japanese bathing area – includes several shower heads, buckets to sit on, and a large hot water pool

Onsen rules:

- you must be completely naked to enter, no swimming suits

- no tattoos because the Japanese associate tattoos with the mafia

- you must rinse off first before you go into the pool

- you must dry off before entering the dry area of the locker room

 As Tita taught me – best way to enjoy an onsen and also bathing at home in the tub (Nudity is normal and natural in Japan; Japanese people look at nudity as art)

1.      Rinse off your entire body while sitting on the bucket

2.     Get into pool or hot tub to get warm and open your pores – Enjoy

3.     Go back to the shower, sit on the bucket, and clean yourself from head to toe

4.     Get back into the pool or hot tub to get warm and cleanse your pores - Enjoy

5.     Sit for as long as you like in the pool, but not too long because you might get light headed from the heat

6.     When you’re done relaxing, you must go back to the shower, sit on the bucket, and rinse off one more time

Tita told me that when she goes with her friends to onsen hotels, they’ll go to the onsen 3-5 times a day! Before breakfast – after breakfast – after lunch – after dinner – and then later before bed!!

This is what we had for dinner and breakfast at the hotel.  Nothing fancy, very cafeteria style, and the very typical Japanese food.  Let’s just say we didn’t go nuts and sit for hours to stuff ourselves. Yet, some things were very edible and just ok.

 

Dinner Buffet:

White Rice

Miso Soup

Rice Noodles in dried shrimp and chicken broth

Tempura – lotus root, squid, and eggplant

Seafood Ceviche – squid, tuna, and salmon

3 different types of tofu – fresh, saucy, and deep fried

3-5 more types of pickles – daikon, cucumbers, etc..

Sardines

Vegetable Curry

Mentaigo spaghetti

Coconut soup tapioca

 

Breakfast Buffet:

Bread

Packets of strawberry jam and butter that squeeze out at the same time

White Rice

Miso Soup

Natto – fermented beans

3-5 different types of seaweed toppings – paste, pickled, etc

Umeboshi – pickled plums

Tamago – sweet egg chunk

Sausage

Tofu

Cooked salmon

Canned pineapple

Plain chopped cabbage for salad

KitKat Crazy!

we did not buy this, but I thought it was interesting!

~

When traveling, my sister Francine taught us that one of the easiest things to buy and look for that are unique in different countries is chocolate and other candies.  When she travels, she always brings us back KitKat, other chocolates, or candies.         

Here is our KitKat Collection:

Strawberry

Cherry

Espresso Coffee

Cookies

Green Tea - Kyoto

Jasmine Tea

Muscat Grapes - Hiroshima

Koi Kinako - Tokyo

Soy Sauce - Tokyo

Yuzu and Japanese Hot Pepper - Hakata

Red Bean

Custard

Rose

White and Yellow Peach

Caramel Macchiato

Sweet Yam

Cheesecake

We found out that you can only find certain flavors in specific cities of Japan. It’s so fun to look for it too!

Crazy Harajuku Sunday!

04/12/09 SUNDAY

Sunday was a very special day for us :) I know it was Easter Sunday for most of you, but it was Harajuku Sunday for us! We met up with our traveling friends that we met in Hiroshima. 

Quick profile of traveling friends: (Gaijin = what the Japanese people call us foriegners)

Gaijin #1 – Dan - 24, from London, he's into filming and directing; fun, wild, and joker; loves to meet people and loves Japan! I think he looks a little like Neil Patrick Harris in his Doogie Howser days, with not so big of a forehead.

Gaijin #2 – Monique – 29, Philippino born in Australia, she’s an ER doctor!; fun, wild, and crazy; loves to be wined and dined, appreciates good food and service.

Gaijin #3 – Immy aka Imogen – 19, from London, she’s a university student (studying art history?); funny, vibrant, and has no fear; she usually roles with a posse. People usually take a double take when they pass her.

We love their accents! And after hanging out with them for an extended period of time, for some reason, Elgin and I start having wannabe British accents too J

We all decided to meet at the Harajuku station South end at 2:30pm.  When Elgin and I got there, we didn’t realize how crowded it was going to be. Maybe the South end wasn’t the best idea. So Elgin and I split up, created a home base, and kept our eyes peeled for anyone. There was actually a lot of people waiting to meet others at that station too. Luckily, we gaijins kinda stick out in crowds. Closer to 3:00pm, I waited by the gates and bumped into Monique! Yeah! So happy that one of them showed up! Then about 5 minutes later, we hear this loud scream and it’s Immy with like 5 Japanese boys.  She  was so happy to see us! She came over to us and introduced us to her posse. They were these boys that she picked up off the street. She needed help to get to our meeting point and they escorted her. Immy was really excited about Harajuku Sunday and dressed up for it too with the cutest skirt! Dan finally showed up around 3:30pm. Yeah! Off to the main shopping street.

It took us like 10 minutes to get half a block anywhere because Immy would practically stop every person in an interesting outfit for a picture. It was actually very entertaining and hilarious, because Immy would stop people for pictures and then they would want a picture of or with her. On the main shopping street, Monique bought a cute skirt to dress for the Harajuku occasion as well. And no, I didn’t, because I was being cheap. J Dan wore Immy’s bunny ears and the fun just began! Everyone would stop us for pictures because of Dan and Immy. They were so “kawaii” – cute!

Sooner or later, we made it to Yoyogi Park to have a semi-hanami party with no blue tarp. But we were satisfied with street snacks and a couple cans of beer J We sat in the park to people watch until past sundown. It was starting to get chilly with the skirts and so we headed off to the train station.

We went to Akihabara – Electric town. We weren’t too impressed with the shops on this street. Definitely not incredible deals, and not that cool electronics.  Immy said that she wanted to go to a “Maid” café/restaurant. After Immy asked maybe 5-6 men on the street, we found one maid café that wasn’t anything special. Then we found the café that Immy was looking for -- @HomeCafe. It was 5 floors of Maid cafes. Pictures aren’t allowed, so I can’t show you exactly what they are. The servers basically wear a cartoonish type maid outfit with stuffed animal like flare, it’s adorable. We didn’t actually enter and sit down because there was a 700 yen per person fee and each person needed to order a menu item, but we did get a good look of the place. Too expensive for us travelers.  Supposedly, the waitresses do cute things, sing, and act out on stage. The café’s customers were mainly men, so  we’re thinking it’s like a Japanese Hooters, except they don’t sell buffalo wings. I’m not sure if there are sexual connotations in this place or not, but it was very cartoony and cute, and full of red/pink hearts on the wall. Tita told us later that mainly men go there if they are away from home and miss their wives. It’s the men’s way of getting some motherly/spouse unconditional love because women always care for their men at home. http://www.cafe-athome.com/pics/?lang=en

Then we just walked the streets of Akihabara. We didn’t realize this initially, but I think we somehow found the “Broadway St” of Tokyo. First we saw several cute stores with maid uniforms and other anime type uniforms. Then we saw some interesting toys of some sort, and some more maid cafes of a different type, and then we realized we were on “Broadway St.” Doh!

Off to find something to eat! Yes, we found McDonald’s, the 100 yen menu is definitely affordable. 10:00pm at McDonald’s, you’ll see tons of people playing Fantasy cards, charging their cell phones, or making out. Yes, we actually saw two girls in a booth making out.  After McDonald’s, Immy decided to go back to her hostel because she had only slept 3 hours in the past 48 hours and couldn’t pull another all nighter.

Dan, Monique, Elgin, and I ventured off to find Karaoke near Tokyo station so we could merely walk to the Tsukiji market later. We found a deal at a karaoke place – 3500 yen per person for 2.5 hours of singing and unlimited drinks. At 3:30am, we left the karaoke place and started walking towards Tsukiji Fish market. We got to the fish market about 4:30am. It was quite chaotic in the fish warehouse, trucks, and carts seem to be ready to run you over etc.. We saw the huge tuna in the auction area, and tons of foreigners that were pushy and not really friendly. It wasn’t what we thought it was I guess, so we took the pictures, and left for home.

Misato City in Saitama Prefecture

Yesterday, we took the Shinkansen from Hiroshima to Tokyo and the JR rail to Misato City. Our JR rail passes expired now. That sucks! It was well worth the 14-day pass to go anywhere and everywhere for a flat fee.

When we arrived in Misato City last night, Elgin's Tita Babe and Uncle Ando came to pick us up. Tita invited us in the house and assigned us our slippers. Elgin's slippers has blue dots and mine has pink dots. Tita led us to the living room area to sit and relax, and right before we sat, she said oh no..you sit here and you sit there because there were designated seats in the house. She told us where to put our shoes and where we will be sleeping. Elgin made the mistake of walking in the tatami mat room with his slippers, that's a huge no-no here. We must leave our slippers outside of any tatami mat room, any bedroom, the toilet room, and the shower room, mainly so they know who is in what room and the room floor stays clean. 

During dinner, Tita told us that she had especially bought us chopsticks to use during our stay. Elgin's chopsticks has blue flowers, and mine has red flowers. She said that Japanese tradition is that everyone has their own individual chopsticks because it is yours to take care of and only for you to use. She told us where to sit at the dinner table and what bowl to use. Tita made us a tempura plate of pork, octopus, and shrimp with a side of salad. Then only I was offered miso soup and rice. Elgin was eating and drinking at Uncle Ando's pace. By that I mean, that Elgin didn't get miso soup and rice until maybe an hour or so later. Uncle Ando likes to drink warm sake and eat pickled vegetables first, then his tempura, and then rice. We learned that if you drink cheap sake, it's best to drink it warm so you don't get a headache or a bad hangover. Since Uncle Ando is retired, he makes most of the pickled vegetables. He made spicy mini fish, pickled wakame, burdock and carrots, and pickled napa cabbage. So Elgin drank warm sake with Uncle Ando, ate pickled veg, and then after an hour or so, was offered miso soup and white rice.  While eating the white rice, they were offered mentaiko (raw salted cod roe), crushed salmon, and umeboshi (pickled plum).  I think they finished eating around 12:30am... I just sat and observed after finishing my dinner at 10:30pm.  Elgin and I would just look at each other, making sure we didn't impose or say anything wrong, and make sure to wait before answering. 

Today, Tita and Uncle walked us around their neighborhood to show us their cherry blossom trees. It's almost the end of the cherry blossoms now...so sad. The Japanese will wait all year long for the cherry blossoms to bloom and they can only enjoy them for about 7-12 days. The best part I think is the sakura fubuki (cherry blossom petals snow storm). If you watch japanese movies and you've see that one romantic scene of where the couple is walking down a street of cherry blossom trees and there's a sudden gust of wind -- all the cherry blossom petals will blow off the cherry and fall on you..yes it's really that sweet and romantic. It's breathtaking how beautiful it is.  Since the trees are near its end, all the petals are blown and there are piles and piles of petals on the floor.  Uncle and Tita would grab the petals off the floor and throw them up in the air and all the petals would just blow everywhere like snow. 

For lunch, Tita made ma-po tofu over rice. And then they took us to the cemetary to visit Uncle Ando's parents and experience their tradition. We went to the store of the caretaker's of their grave, they offered us tea and rice crackers. Uncle Ando looked for the wooden water pail labeled with his family name in this huge shed of water pails. Then we drove to the cemetary, weeded around the family stones, and cleaned the stones. Uncle and Tita placed flowers and incense on the stone, then they poured water on the stone and bowed. I never understood what the pouring of water meant on the stone since we saw others do it at temples to idols as well. Uncle said that it was to ward off the evil, a type of cleansing for them. He pointed out all the family crests on the stones. It just clicked to me what my friend Christine was working on when she made her family crest onto jewelry for her grandmother. Uncle's family name partially means "wisteria" which is a flower, and his family crest was designed with wisteria floral pattern. All the family crests are very special and unique to each family. 

For dinner, we had yakinuki - grilled meats and vegetables. It's very interactive. Tita and Uncle set up the dinner table very nice with a large flat grill pan and different meats surrounding it. There was slices of pork shoulder, pork loin, and canadian beef. The veg platter had slices of onion, cabbage, and bell pepper. In front of each of us was a bowl of edadame (soybeans), bowl of sweet onions topped with bonito flakes that you mix with a little soy sauce, and a small bowl of dipping sauce. Tita and Uncle are so hospitable and accomodating. They knew that we had already tried shoju, sake, and plum wines, so he deliberately bought a japanese red wine to try. Tita likes to drink her red wine with cider. I added cider to my red wine too, it tastes like sangria almost. Uncle and Elgin drank more sake, plum wine, and other liquors that Uncle's mother made a long time ago. Elgin is loving it..he gets to really taste it all and understand it. We had a lovely dinner and great conversation tonight with Tita and Uncle. We cooked and ate slowly for hours..now that's slow food :) Good food, good drinks, and good company :)

Biking in Hiroshima

Today, we decided to rent bikes to get around Hiroshima. We were told it was one of the best ways to really enjoy Hiroshima. We woke up early to go to the local market by Hiroshima station. It was not that big, but there were some great deals on produce and interesting snacks that we haven't seen elsewhere. We bought these strawberries that had unusual tops, quite sweet. 

Then, we biked to the Hiroshima Castle and Shukkein Garden. The Shukkein Garden was very lovely. I could go there every day for lunch, breaks, or dinner. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The Japanese Tea Garden in SF, really isn't very special at all anymore. If I could redo our engagement pictures, it would definitely be at the Shukkein Garden. We biked everywhere and just made a day of it :)

For dinner, we made maitago (sp?) spagetti, fish eggs/roe and a miso soup with daikon, tofu, maitake mushrooms, onions, and yam cake. Delicious! 

Hakata - Fukuoka

04/07/09 TUESDAY

After a late night, we woke up late for Hakata. We ate lunch at the hostel and made our way by Shinkansen to Hakata. Known for it's mobile food stalls called Yatai. There were other things that we went to see as well - garden, temple, and malls. The only problem was that by the time we got to the garden and temple, they were closed only by a few minutes before we arrived. And then the one mall that was highly recommended in one of our guides was completely shut down and secluded. I don't know what happened there. The other malls we went to check out were sad malls, nothing close to the extravagant malls in Kyoto or Kashiwa. But we did see an indoor snowboarding arena.

We were truly hoping that Hakata had something great to offer with their food stalls :) The brochure said that there were up to 2,000 existing food stalls along the river near Tenjin.

 

 Honestly, we didn't see more than 20 maybe. We ate at 2 food stalls. At the first food stall, we had Hakata ramen, and oden (a traditional winter dish of different components - tofu cakes, fish cakes, and cabbage wrapped pork in a broth). The ramen was good, not as good as Ippudo, and the Oden was tasty. The 2nd stall, we had grilled Wagyu beef, and sardine. Beef was tasty, and the sardine was excellent! 

We left Hakata a little later than we thought on the Shinkansen train. We missed the last local bus and had to walk back to the hostel :( Took about 45 minutes walk..so sad. I guess we had good exercise right?