Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

A few weekends ago, my boyfriend decided to have a guys movie night. Normally, this is my cue to exit and let him have the place to himself and his friends, however, much to my surprise, he asked me to stick around. I was honored and yet wondered whether my presence would be welcomed by his friends. Would I been seen as some sort of invader? or welcomed with open arms? Not sure how to proceed, I resorted to my usual plan: BAKING. The question was: what do I bake? What do his friends like? Do I bake cookies? cake? pie? cupcakes? Endless possibilities! After consulting with R, we decided that I should whip up a batch of my signature red velvet cupcakes , but instead of the cream cheese frosting (R is slightly lactose intolerant), I made chocolate frosting from scratch.  My ingredients At this point, I've baked these so many times I can do it with my eyes closed! In no time at all, I whipped up a dozen red velvet cupcakes and the kitchen smelled heavenly!  For my

It was my cousin's final day in Manhattan and there was a lot to do, but not much time to do it in. Before returning to Europe, she wanted to do some shopping and we had a lot of ground to cover. Not wanting to eat too much, I took E to Fairway for a nice light breakfast. Now some of you may be thinking, "you took your cousin to a grocery store for brunch?" The answer is yes AND no. Yes, I took her to Fairway, which is a grocery store, however, the one of the Upper West Side has a rather nice cafe upstairs. I've been here a couple times and I've always enjoyed my meals here. It's a nice spot for schmoozing.  Like I said, we didn't want anything too heavy, and since we had a fair amount of shopping to do, we wanted something relatively quick and fast. For brunch, we both ordered an iced coffee and silver dollar pancakes. The pancakes were very adorable and fluffy --- I devoured them with such gusto! My coffee with very refreshing and I loved that i

After a busy morning on the Upper East Side and a late breakfast, E and I were very ready for a late lunch. While in New York City, I wanted to take E for some good ramen. There are so many places in the city, so selecting a place was a bit of a challenge. In the end, I decided to take E to Ippudo, near Astor Place. I chose this place for a couple reasons: (1) everyone I know raves about this place, (2) it is always crowded, and (3) I've never been, but have been wanting to taste their ramen. Normally, when I walk past Ippudo, there is a line around the block. Easily a couple hours wait. I am not a very patient person, so I have never felt compelled to wait on such a long line. Frankly, I can't justify it. Ramen is delicious, but not something I will wait hours for. That said, since it was getting late in the day and closing time was nearing, I figured, there should be no line --- and I was right! The bar counter has ramen in it --- love it! Trendy interior Cool

On our visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, E and I stumbled upon the "China: Through the Looking Glass" Exhibition. We were on our way to the exhibit on Japanese art that I was interested in, but on the way, we were distracted by some rather modern and fantastical art pieces, as well as costumes. We weren't sure what we had encountered, but we were both intrigued.  At first, we were drawn to these giant opaque sticks. We were both thinking, "WTF are these?" You know, I'm still not entirely sure I know what these are, but they looked cool. Reminded me of a fountain, but freeze framed.  The "China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibition was mixed into the regular Chinese art exhibit, but somehow, this addition made the whole Chinese art gallery cooler. The walls were black, sleek, and futuristic. The way the costumes were displayed and the fantastical nature of them --- it made me think of the film Bladerunner.   Something out of B

After spending the morning at the Neue Galerie,  E and I walked a few blocks over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This art museum is a New York City staple and it's massive. Frankly, one could spend an entire week at the Met, just seeing everything on display here! The entrance We didn't want to go overboard, but E and I both had things we wanted to see at the Met. As soon as we got there, we grabbed a map and began to hatch a plan. We both said what interested us and created a game plan that would allow us to see everything without leaving us exhausted.  The lobby of the museum E expressed an interest in seeing the European art, so that was the first area of the Met that we covered. I'll be honest, I'm not great when it comes to art. I appreciate a nice painting, but I'm not art historian. Also, I'm not very knowledgable about art --- but I know what I like. As we wandered through the galleries, making our way deeper and deeper into the

After having breakfast at Cafe Sabarsky, E and I explored the Neue Galerie. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Neue Galeries specializes in 20th century German and Austrian art. It usually features the works of individuals like Adolf Loos or Egon Schiele. The building itself is really gorgeous and reminiscent of German Expressionism, with it's black and white color scheme. Personally, Gustav Klimt is one of my all time favorite artists and the Neue Galerie has a fair amount of his works on display -- that's one of the reasons why I always enjoy visiting this art museum.  Gustav Klimt and his cat I have been trying to get to the Neue Galerie for months, ever since I learned about their "The Woman in Gold" exhibition. This special exhibit focuses around Gustav Klimt's iconic gold portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer and was launched to promote the Helen Mirren film of the same title.   The exhibit wasn't very large, but it offered an impressive d

There are so many museums to visit in New York City and choosing where to visit is always tough. My cousin E wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is a must see, however, I wanted to introduce her to one of my all time favorite museums: The Neue Galerie . The Neue Galerie is a "museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located in the William Starr Miller House at 86th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City." (Wikipedia). I'm not sure how well known the Neue Galerie is, but I like to visit whenever I can.  E and I decided to meet on the Upper East Side for breakfast and then we would go to the Met. We originally intended to have brunch at Alice's Tea Cup, however it was not open, so we were forced to find a different venue. After wandering and making our way to the Met, it occurred to me, let's have brunch at Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie. I always enjoy my meals at Cafe Sabarsky, especially the apple strudel.

E was telling us that while she loves sushi and Japanese food, it's hard to come by in Europe. For this reason, we made sure we treated her to Japanese cuisine! (It also helps that this is our food of choice.) From the moment we learned that E would be spending time with us, we knew that we had to take her to our favorite Japanese restaurant in New Jersey -- Umeya .  Dinner at Umeya is always a lot of fun. We eat a lot, drink a fair amount, and overall always have a great night! We also tend to close the restaurant. To kick off the meal, while my parents enjoyed sake, E and I enjoyed glasses of umeshu (plum wine).  For appetizers, we ordered quite a selection. I had my usual "ika uni", which is thinly cut pieces of squid topped with sea urchin. It is so fresh and delicious! I absolutely love it! To share, we ordered: eel and cucumber rolls, takoyaki , fresh oysters dressed with spicy radish and ponzu, as well as fried aji (mackerel) bones. So many yummy appetizer