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

I recently decided to make salmon, but I wanted a new recipe. I have baked and marinated before, but this time, I wanted a different kind of salmon. For this, I consulted my beloved Gordon Ramsay . After scouring the internet, I decided to try his crispy skin salmon, which was delicious and so easy! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did!  Ingredients: - salmon filets (for the 3 of us, I ordered 1.5 lb) - olive oil - salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder Directions: 1. Cut you salmon into separate filets.  2. Using a knife, score the salmon, drive the knife about halfway through the meat and cut the long way. The closer you cut together, the better. 3. Marinade your salmon with olive oil, salt, pepper, ground onion, and garlic powder. Really rub it in there.   4. In a pan, heat olive oil until smoking. Once the olive oil is hot, place the salmon in the pan skin side down. Allow it to cook until 2/3 of the salmon is visibly cooked....

Although we were tired from our walking adventure of the East Village, on our way back to my apartment, by mother and I stopped into a very amusing cooking store called "The Broadway Panhandler." This store is a specialty cooking supplies store, much like Chef Central, but I think the items sold here are much more interesting and amusing. The store is a fun mix of serious cooking equipment and novelty items. Mom and I had a really fun time browsing and laughing. Here are some of my favorite items that I saw: If it were up to me, I probably would've bought everything. I don't know what I would use everything for...but nonetheless, I really wanted to buy them all!

Last week, my mother and I decided to explore the East Village. Well, my mom wanted to explore the East Village and asked me to join her. Being the excellent daughter that I am, I obliged her and it actually ended up being a lot of fun! We walked a lot, saw a lot, and most importantly --- ate a lot! The area of the EV that my mom was interested in was the St. Marks area (between 3rd & 2nd Ave) because it is essentially "little Tokyo." Literally, almost every business establishment is a Japanese restaurant! The St. Marks area also has some more exotic stores (tattoo parlors, vendors, etc...) and it is always lively in the evening, however, there is definitely a very strong Japanese presence.  interesting pet store we walked past St. Marks (a non-Japanese section) popular East Village cafe One place I have walked by dozens of times, but never visited is "Japadog." What is Japadog? It's a Japanese hot dog place that sells hot dogs with...

Happy New Year to you all! I hope that 2013 brings you all good health, happiness, and good fortune! Before I tell you about our annual Japanese New Years feast, I wanted to let you all know that this post is in fact my 100TH POST! How incredible is that? My first post was on June 24, 2012 and now here we are on January 6th, 2013. It's a little surreal for me! I wanted to thank each and every one of you worldwide for reading my blog. It's funny, I started this blog thinking, "no one is every going to read this except for my mom..." and I am blown away by how wrong I was. Last time I checked, my blog has been viewed over 8100 times, internationally, and I am so gobsmacked. Thank you thank you thank you! I know that we don't know each other personally, but please know that your interest means a lot to me, and when I blog, I feel like I am sharing my adventures with friends. I hope that you will continue following me in 2013. Again, thank you everyone for reading...