Lookbook: Dooney & Bourke

I've been wanting to purchase a dark brown pebble leather satchel for a while, and couldn't resist not bring this home when I saw it in the store.

I love the smell of new leather.

Dooney & Bourke Zip Zip Grommet Satchel

Lookbook: Statement Pieces

Eating Out: Boil me some crabs

1 lb of shrimp.

1 cajun fries.

2 lbs of dungeness crab.

3 potatoes.

7 corns.

The whole ShaBang.

1 hour later, full bellies.

I have been itching to go to Boiling Crabs for over a month. When I finished my last final (of my undergrad career!) on Wednesday, I jumped in the car and drove there right away. We got there at 3:10pm, right after they opened for the evening, and didn't have to wait at all (a week day, I suppose). Half an hour later, I found myself elbow deep in shrimp shells, empty crab legs and lime halves, hands covered in sauce, and devouring my way through bags and bags of seafood with a plastic bib around my neck.

The aftermath:

We honestly spend too much money driving to Boiling Crabs and eating there, so I googled a Boiling Crab copycat recipe, will probably try this one next time: http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-boiling-crab-recipe-426892

In the Kitchen: Mama's cooking

Nothing ever beats my parents' cooking, and being away from home, I miss it a lot especially since the Chinese food near school is greasy and coated in starch. To help me procrastinate studying for my Econometrics final, I called my parents asking them how to cook my favorite dish - chicken wings. Here is my altered version:

I accidentally left the chicken in there a little longer than I should, oops.

Sauteed Taiwan spinach

Garlic shrimp

And refrigerated watermelon for dessert, it was at least 90 degrees today!

In the Kitchen: Cook Me Some Risotto

I have discovered last night that the worst time to look at recipes is midnight, when you're just about done digesting all the food that you just ate, and your stomach is craving more. And this is exactly what I did last night - looking through recipes with my roommate (her fault) nearing midnight, and came across this recipe for red pepper, sausage and chard risotto, and I was determined to make it today. (I altered the recipe a little and added some mushroom)

Ingredients

serves 2

1/2 diced onion

2-3 minced garlic cloves

5-6 sliced button mushroom

1 tsp butter

1/2 diced large red bell pepper (I bought my groceries at a local Andronico's, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that 1 red bell pepper was $5..talk about ripping the customers off)

3 diced Bar S bun length franks (I went to the store meaning to get sausages, but the cheapest was $9 per pack, so I ended up purchasing this)

1 cup arborio rice (I recommend using arborio rice instead of long grain rice, since arborio rice is meant for risotto and it releases starch slowly as it is cooked)

1/4 cup dry white wine

4 cups chicken stock (you can substitute for vegetable stock)

Parsley

Salt & pepper

1. Poor about 2 cupfuls of olive oil into a pan on medium heat, add garlic and onion, sautee until fragrant (you don't want the onion to turn brown)

2. Add the mushroom in, sautee for about another minute, remove into a plate

3. Add about 1 tbsp of butter (you can use more or less depending on personal taste, I personally am not a big fan of butter so I was really hesitant to add too much) into the pan, melt the butter then add the rice to the melted butter. Stir the rice to coat it with butter, just when the rice starts to turn a little transparent, add in the white wine and stir.

4. When the white dry is just about dried up in the rice, add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock, stir and leave it until it's about dried up again. Then keep adding 1/2 cup of chicken stock every time it's about to dry up, add salt and pepper to taste in between. When you are 2/3 way done with the 4 cups of chicken stock, the rice should have a creamy consistency.

5. Add another spoonful of chicken stock, and stir in the red bell pepper and sausage, then add the onion, garlic and mushroom sauteed from before. Mix well. Add parsley for garnish.

Thanks Boo for being my taste test hamster <3

In the Kitchen: How to make Cake Pops

This past weekend, I went home for my mom's birthday. I decided to make her some cake pops, recorded the whole process and made an instructional video on how I made mine. It took a long time making the video and editing it, but it was actually really fun - although I felt awkward talking to the camera.

Ingredients (I bought these from my local Albertson's):

- Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix

- Pillsbury Creamy Supreme strawberry frosting

- Baker's semi-sweet baking chocolate squares

- Cake pop sticks (I purchased mine from Amazon)

Instructions

1. Bake the cake according to the instructions on the back of the cake mix box.

2. Completely cool the cake.

3. Break the cake and crumble it into fine pieces.

4. Add about half a can of frosting, mix well into the crumbled cake.

5. Roll the frosting and cake mix into ping-pong ball sized shapes, freeze them in the freezer for about 30 to 45 minutes.

6. Melt your chocolate squares according to the instructions on the box, take out your cake balls.

7. Dip the sticks into the warm chocolate melt, and stick it into the cake balls. Repeat for every single ball.

8. Coat the frozen cake balls by rolling it in the warm chocolate melt, gently tap off the excess.

9. Stick these coated cake pops into a large block of Styrofoam, so that they can dry upright.

10. For decoration purposes, you can also tap some sprinkles on to the just-coated cake balls.

Traveling: Trip to New York

I went to New York this past weekend, and stayed at a friend's place in Manhattan. This is the 3rd time that I've been to New York, and can confidently say that this time I had the most fun, and made the memorable experience.

Watermelon soju @ Pocha in KTown

Twice baked ham & cheese croissant at Bouchon Bakery

Momofuku steamed pork buns, the picture doesn't do these bite sized treats justice

Staten island on a gloomy day

Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes. My friend told me that the rainbow one is the best, but unfortunately they didn't carry the rainbow kind when I stopped by

Xiao Long Bao at Joe's Shanghai. I loved Din Tai Feng in California, this one is just as good!

Apotheke Speakeasy bar somewhere in Chinatown.
After dinner at Joe's Shanghai, my friend asked if we wanted to go to a speakeasy bar. Being the amateur we were, we were down to see what a speakeasy is like. After a couple of turns in the street, we arrived at a wooden door in the middle of Chinatown. This picture is taken from the door, every bulb in this bar is hugged by a flask, since this particular speakeasy is pharmacy themed. The drinks were very delicious and rather strong for my taste. Their drinks menu is called "House Prescriptions," divided into 8 categories of: Health & Beauty, Stress Relievers, Pain Killers, Aphrodisiacs, Stimulants, Pharmaceuticals, Euphoric Enhancers, and Therapeutic Treatments. I ordered Dr. Ruth (fresh California strawberries, Vodka, rosemary, agave and fresh lime, Champagne) and my friend ordered the Sparkling Star (fresh muddled star fruit, fresh aloe vera, Vodka, Elixir #5, and Champagne). My friend's boyfriend ordered Kissed by Absinth (Saigon cinnamon, Cognac, cloves, star anise, fennel seeds, vanilla with House Absinth, egg white) from the Euphoric Enhancers section. I loved the environment (dim lighting and medium-loud music) and their drinks. Will definitely visit again next time.

Chicken & rice at 53rd Street and 6th Avenue

Shake Shack's double stack mushroom burger (left), Shake Shack single burger and fries @ Madison Square Park

Chicken soupy noodle @ Pure Thai

Paramount Bar @ Times Square

Brunch @ Calle Ocho. We were actually planning on going to Sarabeth's West on Sunday morning to try their brunch, but when we got there at 12pm, the wait was about an hour. Being hungry foodies as we were, we quickly looked up other brunch restaurants around the area and came to this place. The bar/lounge area when you first enter is first come first serve, meaning keeping a sharp eye and grabbing the first open spot you see. There is also a dining room in the back, but the wait was already 45 minutes. We waited around for about 10 minutes before we were able to spot people who were finishing up their meals. After we sat down and read the menu, we realized that they had unlimited white (Havana Banana, Mojito, Tropical, Blanco) and red (Mulata, Fresas, Spanish Harlem, Roja) sangria for brunch - too bad we had a packed schedule for Sunday or else...

Ippudo's ramen. One of my friends told me that it was the best ramen he's had in his life. Being the Asian I am, I made it my last to-visit restaurants, saving the best for last. Let's just say that he was not wrong - the soup was so flavorful I drank the whole bowl!

Serendipity 3's famous frozen hot chocolate (right) and strawberry field sundae (left). The strawberry sundae was a definite winner at our table. We actually ordered 3 desserts since there was a $9 minimum charge per person.

And of course, top of the Rock.

These pictures don't do this trip justice, thank you for those who made this trip possible and so so much fun. I already miss it.