...more recent posts
our kitty loves mint, he eat a little chocolate mint from the market this am, than we gave him the freash catnip, he went wild, eat a lot and went on a trip, he is still bonkers, eating twice his normal crunchies (munchies??), and the bouquet of catnip is still by his bowl but he hasnt gone back, is he having a bad trip....
had a quick tour of WD50, when finished there will be a hugh kitchen area w/skylight!!, groovey room, fireplace, big table in a downstairs wine cellar (which i tried to book for new years eve:>)...COOL RTR
Test run of brunch went very well last week. AKA will be open to the public for brunch this week (and forever on...) on Sundays (probably do Saturday's too shortly) from 11:30. Omlettes, egg in the hole, french toast, hanger slider... Mmmmm.
out to eat w/ marianne nowottny
Last night at Felidia confirms they are one of my fav's spots...
"I used to ridicule the Riedel fetishists. Then I became one. Riedel, for those not in the know, is the world's trendiest brand of wineglass—the Manolo Blahniks of stemware. Wine geeks tote their Riedels to restaurants, dinner parties, and pretty much any place else where quality bottles might be uncorked."
This week, to accompany the Food Issue of The New Yorker, here is a selection of New Yorker food writing from the past. In this Talk of the Town piece from 1945, Lillian Ross writes about what was at the time a novelty: frozen dinners.
The Minnow in Park Slope has turned into a great neiborhood spot, fresh tasty seafood!!
as wierd as this sounds, we had a fab veggie meal out of Taipei on China Airlines, a multi bean salad followed by tofu and veggies in a dark sauce w/ sticky rice, dessert fresh fruit, we were not hungry and we both ate every bite, and i licked my plates!!
Day 12/ Hoi An: Market for am meal and it was one of the best, Cao Lau a fab pork and noodle dish (linda got a veggie version with pickled banana flowers) sticky rice w/ peanuts, a thin pancake w/ seafood and veggies wraped in an rice paper, boiled pork in banana leaf--AWESOME. Dinner at Tam Tam, great place for views and great drinks but besides for the homemade pasta (yummy) the food was bad.
Day 13/ Saigon: Last supper at Temple Club (29 Ton Trat Thiep St) was better than our first night here, we ate the same two favorites plus a few more dishes, a bottle of champagne and one of rose, than retired to thier beautiful lounge room for desserts and dessert wines, wonderful end to the trip and the restaurant of the tour (outside markets).
You know it's slow when Page Six leads with food news. See comments for the scoop on the Times' critic and here for his side project.
Day 10/ Hoi An: Getting the stomach back in order with coke's, orangina's, water, omlette, chicken sandwich and finally MEDICINE.....need to get it ready for more market food:>), wonderful visit to an ancient Hindu spot...
Day 11/ Hoi An: By night I was back, so we went to the beautiful upmarket Brothers Cafe, food was good, views amazing, sadly they overcooked the tuna (the tuna in the market is so beautiful, we hoped to see it on a menu, it was yummy but we could only imagine if it was cooked right!!). We have realized that besides for the market and a few restaurants the only real was to eat would be befriending a local family and go to the market and shop with them and cook it up....if you read Saveur (a must) you can see they go to some regions and eat w/ family's....#2 would be get hold of a kitchen myself:>)
wylie is a cut-up.
Day 8/ My Khe Beach & Hoi An: Lunch at Loi Restaurant (all seafood and its in tanks) was great, grilled clams w/ spicy tomatoe, stir fried shrimp w/ tomatoe onion, 3 small lobsters, and I am sure we were overcharged at $20 w/ 4 beers but I cant bargin....Dinner in Hoi An (a famous port city from 1400's to late 1800's) at Ly 22 Cafe was purr-fecto, shrimp dumplings, green papaya salad, fried wontons, all were clean and clear.
Day 9/ Hoi An: 6:30 am to the market, one of the best I have been to, boats moar up and fish is unloaded, greens of every shape and scent are cleaned and sold, we eat a donut like cake w/ a bean paste in side 100 points, right by the river in a down and dirty stall I go for a local dish, rich fatty pork over rice + egg cake, with a side of a green's I have never seen or can name but it was like spanish taraggon. All afternoon I felt microbe's eating my insides, not an amebic(sp?) reality luckly but a bugger for sure, Linda's just thinks I am getting lazy, so we head to the pool and than a long nap.
Dinner at Cafe des Amis, open now 10 years, set menu's at less than 4$ either seafood or veggie, we do one of each, all the history of the local food is in these dish's, one is verry Chinese, one is made with curry, others are local specialty's (Haoi An's sister city's in history are Malaka and Macau), we thought very good and the view's of the river and its activity from the balcony was priceless. After dinner Ho Chi's revenge sets in......
Day 6 Hue: Com Hen (Clam Rice), one of the greatest dishes so far, beach for lunch steamed crab & grilled fish, dinner at Paradise Garden Restaurant, very nice riverside setting, nice food best is grilled chicken lemon leaves...
Day 7 Hue: Com hen at another location (Quan Thanh Xuan/4 Truong Dinh, yesterday was 2 Truong Dinh but today they not serving), this dish is amazing, clams, rice, clam broth, some slivered browned corbicula, couple sauce's, on top peanuts, sliced starfruit, and crispy pork rind, than you add hot peppers to taste plus some stinky gray (fish) sauce.....
Dinner at Truong Tien 1 under the bridge in a drop dead location on the river, a local joint, fab beef wraped in a leave like the other day but this time steamed in banana leaf so tender and more juicy, located at Cong Vien Thuong Bac.
Day 4/ Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City: Awesome breakfast at the market (one of the best eating spots for sure), lunch of coffee (here coffee is STRONG and served over condensed milk-YUMMY), dinner @ Indochine--ROCKED--crab x 4:>): spring rolls, Asian Stone claws tamarind, fried soft shell, medium sized steamed in ginger, we also had clams lemongrass, grilled crawfish, and I needed some pork chops like no other!!--GRAND CRU.
Day 5/Hue: Lunch at Houng Sen, a 16 sided wood building in a water lily patch, we were not so hungry so we passed on the house special of blood curd and crab, had a tasty ground cow with herb/sesame fried in an aromatic leaf.
Dinner at Tinh Gia Vien was sadly not at all what we expected, we loved the villa and Madame Ha, the presentations were Imperial for sure but not special in flavor, we had hoped to eat here all 3 nights. BUT A MUST FOR ONE NIGHT!!