Madison Square Park

I went to Madison Square Park two times this summer. Both were for food events. Of course. Why else would I ever go outside?

Madison Square Eats

Madison Square Eats, which was just a month of outdoor food vendors setting up shop in Worth Square, was ending just as I arrived in New York. The weather was pretty mild at the time, so this was a great place to hang out with friends and enjoy some great food and drinks. There was a big variety of vendors from tacos to pizza to jewelry and artwork. One of the stands had this array of spices in a rainbow of colors. I have no idea what any of this stuff is or how to cook with them, but it looked so pretty.

all these spices!

Time for crepes!

Hoisin Chicken

Bar Suzette had menu of both sweet and savory crepes, but since it was dinnertime, I decided on the hoisin chicken. Diced chicken, crunchy veggies, cucumbers slices, basil, and lots of hoisin sauce. The crepe was nice and thin, and the flavor was strong. A little too much basil for my liking, but overall really really good.

Barbecue!!!

Not long after Madison Square Eats was the BBQ Block Party, where 15 or so pitmasters from all over the US come together to show off their barbecue. It was glorious! I got out of the subway and could smell the smoke two blocks away. Everyone was barbecueing different things. There was pulled pork, beef brisket, and even sausages and turkey. But there was only one thing that I wanted: RIBS!

Pappy's

I got in line for Pappy’s Smokehouse and for $8 you get baby back ribs with a side of baked beans. Lines are usually not very fun, but you can watch them preparing the ribs, so it wasn’t that bad.

Baby back ribs and baked beans

The meat fell right off the bone and had just the right amount of smokiness. The barbecue sauce was perfect, and while the beans looked ordinary, those were amazing as well. Ah, that was a good meal!

Blue Smoke

Blue Smoke was one of the few vendors that also had dessert, and when I saw people walking around with a bowl of their blueberry crisp, I just had to get it. The line for this was ridiculously long! They had to have these people holding up colored flags to show people where the end of the line was for each vendor.

Blueberry Crisp a la mode

Blueberry insides with a crispy crust and topped with a large dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream. I love warm desserts coupled with cold ice cream. Plus, the portion size was huge. Perfect ending to the afternoon!

Bar Suzette
Yelp
Chelsea Market
425 W 15th St
Manhattan, NY 10014

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party
Yelp

 

A Cup of Tea

When I was little, I was never interested in having tea parties with my stuffed animals. Instead, I played restaurant, where I was the chef and waitress, and I made my little brother sit there and order food and then pay me money. I suppose that says a lot about me.

But recently, I’ve really gotten into this idea of having tea parties. So when I found out about Alice’s Tea Cup, I promptly dragged a friend there with me. This place is adorable! As in cutesy, girly, chubby-baby-cheeks adorable!

Alice's Blend

The tea menu was extensive, but being the noobs that we were, we got Alice’s blend, figuring that the house blend should be pretty good. And it was! Plus, it came in a super cute teapot.

Cute teapot

The Mad Hatter for Two

We then ordered the Mad Hatter for two, which comes with so much food! You get your choice of 3 scones, 2 sandwiches, and a dessert. We couldn’t finish it and had to take some of the scones and all of the cookies home. Of course, it probably didn’t help that we’d already gone to another bakery in Chinatown and stuffed our faces before heading over here. Such piggies…

Pumpkin, ham and cheese, and fresh berry scones with clotted cream and jam

For the scones, we picked the pumpkin, berry, and a ham and cheese. I was about to type that the pumpkin was my favorite, but I actually really liked the other two as well. I can’t pick a favorite. They were all yummy! And they came with clotted cream!!!! AHHH!!!! I LOVE CLOTTED CREAM! I haven’t had any since being in England last summer, and it’s the best thing ever. If you’ve never had clotted cream, oh man, you’ve got to try it!

Curried chicken salad and smoked chicken breast sandwiches

Both of the sandwiches we got were delicious, although the curried chicken was messy to eat because the diced chicken kept falling all over the place. Maybe I’m just a bad sandwich-eater.

Cookies and chocolate mousse

After these amazing scones and sandwiches, the dessert platter was a let-down for me. The chocolate mousse was great, but the cookies were dry and nothing to be excited about. 4 different cookies, and I didn’t like any of them. Sadness. Nevertheless, Alice’s Tea House was great. I’m curious to try some of the other stuff on their menu. The table next to ours had these french toast bites that looked amazing. That’s what I’m getting next time.

The next weekend, I went to visit a friend in Flushing, and she took me to this lovely teahouse called The Rose House.

The Rose House

I love this place! It would be the perfect teahouse to meet up with a girlfriend and just chit chat over afternoon tea. The atmosphere was classy and elegant, although the prices also reflected that. But it was worth it, and I would come back in a heartbeat.

English rose tea

Pretty teapot kept warm by a candle

Iced milk tea

We chose the English rose tea (I think that’s what it was.) and an iced milk tea. Both were great! And to go along with that are desserts!

Cappucino ice cream, rose cookies, cheesecake

I wasn’t a fan of the ice cream. It was more icy and not creamy enough. I don’t remember much about the cheesecake, but the rose cookies were to die for. I could’ve eaten 10 more of those. You can taste the rose in it. Absolutely amazing.

our table

Hmmm, anyone know of any place in Charlottesville where I can get rose cookies?

Alice’s Tea Cup
156 East 64th St
btw Lex & 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10021

The Rose House
Yelp
38-10 138th St, 1st Fl
Flushing, NY 11354

 

Sweets for my sweeties

I have so many so many pictures that I want to show you! There are so many so many wonderful yummy food that I want to share! But, I am camera-cord less still. Arg! The minute I get home, and I get my pictures onto my laptop, I will go on a blogging rampage. You can hold me to it.

So in the meantime, let’s talk about dessert! I’m actually not a very big dessert person. I prefer hearty, savory foods (like ribs!) but occasionally, I’ll have cravings for a huge bowl of slightly melty ice cream. Or if the dessert is cute and pretty, then I cannot resist. I do the same thing with sushi. I don’t like sushi. I don’t like how it smells. I don’t like how it tastes. I have not met any type of sushi that I’ve liked. But the problem is: they are SO cute! Absolutely adorable! So I get tricked every single time, because I’ll see it and marvel at how cute it is and then buy it thinking that cuteness equals deliciousness. Then of course, I regret it later because I have once again proved to myself that I do not like sushi.

Anyways, back to desserts. Here are some recent sweets that I’ve eaten:

Baked by Melissa, conveniently, has a location right below my office, so I have been there many many times this summer. I love the concept of this place because it solves all of my problems with cupcakes. Cupcake shops have so many different flavors and combinations, and I want to try all of them but I never can because one cupcake is more than enough for me. Plus the cupcakes always get cloyingly sweet by the time I’m halfway done, so it’s really only the first 2 bites that are the yummiest. Enter Baked by Melissa, the land of bite-sized cupcakes!

Yummy bites!

I think the order of flavors in this particular box is (starting at the top left and clockwise) cinnamon, cookie dough, smores, smores, peanut butter cup, and mint chocolate chip. I shared this with a friend, and it was the perfect dessert to end your lunch hour on. Some people might be wary on spending $1 on just one bite, but I think it’s worth it. You get to try all these flavors, and you won’t feel sick and bloated afterwards because you just downed an entire cupcake the size of a plate. Plus these are sooooo cute!

Baked by Melissa

My goal is to try all of their flavors by the end of the summer, and I’ve almost accomplished that goal. I think there are 2 or 3 more that I need to try. So far, I highly recommend the smores, peanut butter cup, chocolate chip pancake, and their July flavor of the month: the Firecracker. Only 5 more days before the Firecracker is gone! I am super psyched for their August flavor too.

Cupcakes from Crumbs

Since we’re on the topic of cupcakes, I got to try Crumbs as well, but this was not nearly as successful. I didn’t like it at all. The cupcakes were humongous and way too sweet. The cake itself was a little dry, and the icing was all sugar. I suppose if you’re a sugar fiend, you’ll like it. My friend, who got the cookie dough (I can’t remember if that was the flavor?) cupcake on the left seemed to like hers, but she’s a dessert freak. haha

Now, onto chocolate chip cookies! Cookies are the best things ever, but it is really difficult to find a perfect one. The best chocolate chip cookies that I have ever eaten were from Ben’s Cookies in Oxford, England. They were warm and soft with a crispy edge but a gooey center and just absolutely heavenly. I will never forget those. Just writing about them makes me want to jump on a plane and fly over there right now.

Chocolate Chip Cookie from Pret

Although there are no Ben’s Cookies in New York, I did taste a pretty good chocolate chip cookie from Pret a Manger. Funny how Pret is also a British chain. Anyways, the cookie wasn’t memorable but certainly above average. This food blog called Serious Eats, which I am an avid follower of, actually went out and tried to find the best chocolate chip cookies in NYC. The winner is the Roasted Plant in the Lower East Side, which is about a 15 min. walk from my apartment, so that will be my destination tomorrow.

Happy eating everyone!

Baked by Melissa

Crumbs

Ben’s Cookies

Pret a Manger

Serious Eats: New York

 

Crepes all around

I love crepes, and I love hole-in-the-wall kind of places. The Flat is perfect because it is literally a hole in the wall serving crepes. Best thing ever!

Strawberry and nutella crepe

I’ve only ever their dessert crepes, such as the strawberry and nutella that is pictured. The prices are pretty reasonable considering how big the crepe is. Everything was delicious, and I just think it’s a ton of fun to be able to walk down the street with a giant crepe in your hands.

They often have specials depending on the season, which I think says a lot about such a small place. I want to try some of their savory crepes too, which means I need to be making more trips downtown.

The Flat
111 E Water St
Charlottesville, VA 22902

 

Christian’s, Marco and Luca’s, and Splendora’s

We were planning to go to Eppie’s, but that fell through because it was late and Eppie’s was closed. That was probably my fault because I was supposed to plan this, and I thought that Eppie’s was open but apparently not. However, since we were already downtown and it was late and we didn’t want to go anywhere bar-ish, we ended up at Christian’s!!! Except, we weren’t satisfied with just Christian’s, so  half of us went next door to get some Marco and Luca’s dumplings and the other half of us got Chinese takeout.

Spicy Chicken Pizza

I have actually never been to Christian’s before this. I know. I know. I’m a terrible person because Christian’s Pizza is such a Cville classic. But I can redeem myself because I LOVED CHRISTIAN’S!! I prefer pizza with really thin, crisp crusts over the thick, deep dish kind and Christian’s does the thin and crispy the best.  Plus they’ve got toppings that are interesting and different from the usual pepperoni and cheese.  I got a slice of Spicy Chicken Pizza, which was really spicy. Yay! I love spicy.

Dumplings!

Vegetable Hot Bun

Marco and Luca’s Noodle Shop is a family-owned restaurant that is extremely popular in Charlottesville and especially with college students because it’s really cheap. The menu has only around 6 items. They have dumplings, hot buns of either meat or vegetables, 2 types of noodles, and hot sour soup. What is so special about this place is their dipping sauce for the dumplings. It’s amazing!! It’s the perfect balance of savory, sweet, and spicy. Every time I go, I get 2 orders of dumplings and a vegetable hot bun. It’s awesome.

Pumpkin Gelato

After stuffing our faces, we decided to get even more food: dessert! At Splendora’s!! Splendora’s is a gelato place downtown that is consistently lovely and delicious. They have at least 30 different flavors ranging from the classic chocolate or cookies and cream to the more adventurous amaretto and blood orange. This time, I got pumpkin, which was a seasonal flavor. I loved it! Another one of my favorites is Gianduia. You must try that if you go to Splendora’s!

Everyone's Gelato

cool pic of DC's hand snatching away his gelato

Christian’s Pizza

118 W Main St
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Marco and Luca’s Noodle Shop

110 2nd St NE
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Splendora’s

317 E Main St
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Splendora on Yelp

 

Batik Cake

Batik Cake

I made Batik Cake!!!! It is a Southeast Asian dessert, named after the Batik wax patterns in Southeast Asia. I have never made anything like it before, but it came out really well and was absolutely delicious. Between some apartment mates and some other friends, they were literally gone in a day. I got the recipe here. That page also explains the origins of this dessert much better than I did.

More Cake!

Everyone should try it. It’s really very easy. You don’t even have to bake anything! It’s refrigerated overnight.  My only mistake was when I had the custard on the stove and was stirring it, I had the heat on too low, so it took forever for the custard to thicken. Once I figured that out, everything went very smoothly. Oh, and I used Ovaltine instead of Milo and graham crackers instead of Marie biscuits.

Closeup!

 

Fancy Schmancy

Recently, I attended some employer panel discussions at the McIntire School of Commerce, and the Comm School provided all the attendees with a catered reception afterwards. I had to get a red dot drawn on my hand to prevent me from getting any drinks since I’m underage. They used some crazy permanent market because that red dot took me three days to wash off.

The hors d’oeuvres were beautiful and delicious. I haven’t had such fancy food in a long time, so I was really really excited for this. Also, the catering for the night seemed to have an Asian theme going on, which was interesting.

My Plate

Here’s my plate, and I guess I’ll start from the top and go clockwise. First, there was the shrimp, which came with a sweet, tangy sauce for dipping. Absolutely mouth-watering! They ran out of this soon after I got my plate, so I sadly could not get seconds. Next, in the adorable little boats was some type of beef and noodles except they used sliced vegetables in place of noodles. I loved the presentation, but sadly, I didn’t like the taste of the combination. I was expecting so much with the cute boat and mini chopstick-forklike utensils, but it was disappointing. Another rather disappointing one was the dumpling-like pastry that looked like a dumpling but tasted like a pastry. I have no idea what was on the inside, but it was bland and had no flavor at all. Now, my favorite of the night would have to be the mini lumpia. It was delicious! This one also ran out quickly, so it was obviously very popular. The last item on my plate is the fudge ball, which was divine. It was incredibly rich, and I am quite embarrassed to say that I gobbled quite a few of them. For drinks, I could not get my hands on any alcohol, so I went with the alternative, watermelon juice, which I much preferred anyways. I was so excited when I saw the watermelon juice because I have only ever found watermelon juice in 3 places: China, Chinatown, and my house. And it came in the tiny glasses too! Amazing!

Hors d'oeuvres

This is one of the tables of food. I only took one picture because people were giving me some weird looks. I guess I did look rather strange with my camera taking pictures of the food. And I didn’t want to give a bad impression to any possible future employers, so I quickly put my camera away.

 

Lemongrass and Hotcakes

Charlottesville has a number of Thai restaurants: Thai 99, Lime Leaf Café, Tara Thai, Lemongrass, Downtown Thai, etc. I have only been to Lemongrass and Tara Thai. And since I haven’t tried them all yet, I can’t say that I have a favorite. However, I can say that I LOVE Lemongrass. It is this tiny little restaurant on the Corner with beautiful décor and delicious food. They advertise themselves as a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant, but it’s basically Thai with a couple Vietnamese appetizers thrown in there.

Thai Spicy Pork Belly

This time, I decided to try the Thai Spicy Pork Belly. They will ask you how spicy you want it on a scale of 1 to 10. However, I have found that this so-called scale of theirs is rather…iffy. One time, I ordered a 5 while my mom ordered an 8, and mine was definitely spicier than hers. Maybe they got our orders messed up? But anyways, this time I got a 5, which was pretty good. I could have gone a little higher. The dish was yummy. The pork belly had a good mix of lean meat and the juicy fatty fat that I love. My main complaint would be that it wasn’t as tender as I would have liked. I had to chew really really hard on some of the pieces, which should not happen.

Annnnnnddd….here’s what the other girls ordered!

Lemongrass and Lime with Chicken

CM had the Lemongrass and Lime with Chicken. Oh my goodness. I just realized that JW and JW have the same initials. Shoot. Now how am I supposed to distinguish between you two? Arg!

Thai Spicy Chicken

Well one of the JWs had Thai Spicy Chicken.

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu

XXL and the other JW had Spicy Lemongrass Tofu.

There was also fried ice cream on the menu, but I was too full to order it. I do want to try that sometime though. I heard from other people that it’s pretty good.

Side Note: I went home for my birthday on the weekend, and my mom cooked me this amazing, delicious, humongous feast. We had at least 10 different dishes. Our big dining table was filled! But I was a pig and promptly sat down to stuff my face without taking a single picture. So, that’s why there won’t be a post of the birthday dinner. Hahaha. You can probably tell that my family has had a HUGE influence on my love of food.

I came back to school on Sunday and was surprised by some of the most wonderful friends in the world who covered my wall with birthday post-its and waited 2 hours for my late self to show up (Sorry!). AND they got this “Chocolate Sin” cake from Hotcakes!! I’ve always wanted to try Hotcakes, which is this gourmet bakery/cafe/coffeeshop that makes delicious cake.

Chocolate Sin

It was so scrumptious! This cake was perfect because not only was it a rich, fudgy texture, but there was no frosting. There was whipped cream instead. I cannot stand frosting because it is way too heavy and sweet for me.

Fudgy and Whipped

Perfect cake! As was my birthday. Yay for family and friends! Muah! Thank you thank you thank you!

Lemongrass

104 14th St NW
Charlottesville, VA 22903-2715

Hotcakes

1137 Emmet St N # A
Charlottesville, VA 22903-4837

 

Panera’s pastries

KC and I went to Panera to grab a mid-afternoon snack. Every time I go to Panera, I always spend a long time staring at the giant display of pastries, but I’ve never tried any of them. I’ve only ever gotten lunch food, I was really excited to go there at a non-lunch time. I got the Pecan Braid Pastry, which was pretty good. However, it was slightly too sweet for me, and I wish that it had more pecans in it.

Pecan Braid Pastry

heehee! I took a big bite!

 

People Watching (NYC Part 4)

One of my favorite parts of this weekend actually wasn’t any of the touristy hot spots or the glamorous clothes but rather people watching. It’s really interesting to imagine what all of these people are like, where they’re going, what their stories are. We did see some weird, crazy people like that guy in the subway who asked for my address and the lady who kept talking/laughing to herself, but for the most part, I had a lot of fun just sitting in the subway or in Central Park, watching people go by.

We had our last full meal in NYC at Little Italy. We went to Novella and got a table outside. We got a table outside on a beautiful day, and the ambiance was great. Three of us (hahaha) got the Gnocchi al Pesto, which was pretty good. SS got the Gnocchi al Pomodoro.

Gnocchi al Pesto

Gnocchi al Pomodoro

Before we left NYC, SS and I just had to get some more bubble tea, so we stopped by Quickly, which had the most delicious bubble tea. Plus, you get a $.50 discount if you have a student ID. Quickly is apparently a bubble tea chain from Taiwan, but in NYC, they also added shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) to make it an actual sit-down restaurant. They also sold these cream puffs, which AN and I wanted to try. We bought some to share, and they were SO DELICIOUS! They were nice and warm and the cream inside was actually kind of like egg custard. I was expecting something along the lines of whipped cream, but this was really really good. I want more!

Novella Ristorante

Little Italy
191 Grand St
(between Mott St & Mulberry St)
New York, NY 10013

Quickly

Lower East Side
237B Grand St
New York, NY 10002