Buddakan

A couple Saturdays ago we (meaning my mother, step-father and I) went to Buddakan, a Chinese/Fusion restaurant on Ninth Avenue right next to Chelsea Market. The space itself is huge; two floors are completely filled with tables and it's so dark that you can barely make your way around.

As an appetizer, we ordered steamed buns with pork belly and cabbage. The softness of the pork belly mixed with the crunchiness of the cabbage made for a delightful contrast in the mouth; the cabbage was seasoned with spices which balanced out the fatty pork quite nicely. We also ordered taro puff lollipops, which basically consist of pork inside crunchy taro on a stick. The saltiness of the minced pork went quite well with the sweetness and crunchiness of the taro, making the lollipops one of my favorite dishes for the night. The last appetizer we ordered was scallion pancakes with short ribs and green apple. The concept was quite innovative, and had it worked out it would have been delicious, but the execution was poor. The short ribs were overly seasoned and tasted strange, which drowned out the scallion pancakes and the sweetness of the green apple. The apple itself was a wonderful addition to the dish, but the spices in the short ribs completely masked the texture and taste of the apple.

Now, on to main courses. It has been my personal experience that chefs spend all their time and creativity thinking up appetizers, and may sometimes fall flat on main courses. This was not the case that night. My mother ordered whole crispy fish with cabbage, apple (which seems to be a part of many of the dishes). The fish was excellent; the skin was crispy but the inside of the fish was tender and flavorful. The fish itself was very fresh and had its own flavor without any sauce; the sauce just made it taste better. My step-father had Mongolian lamb chops. The lamp was coated with crystallized ginger, which added a nice crunch and sweetness to the juicy meat. I ordered roast duck and noodle soup, with roast duck meat, noodles, and wontons. The wontons were so fresh that the vegetables in it were still crispy; not like those wontons that you get at your average chinatown haunt. The duck meat was fresh but it didn't have much flavor on its own. The noodles were good, but were a bit soft and thin for my taste. The broth was very flavorful and spices that were added into the broth enhanced the flavor of the duck, noodles and wontons.

For dessert, we ordered a coconut creme brulee. The texture was different from your average creme brulee; the creme was not as creamy as it usually is. We also ordered something called "crying chocolate", which was basically a chocolate cake filled with molten chocolate. It was very good, of course. After all, how bad can chocolate and chocolate together be?

Rating: One star

Life... just cuz i feel like talking about it =]

Yeah... I know... it's been ages since I posted last and I'm SORRY... if anybody is actually reading this.

SO... I HAVE BIG NEWS!!!!! I finally got my ears pierced. Yeah, I know, I'm fourteen years old and the fact that this just happened NOW is kinda sad. I get it. The funny part is, my step-dad hasn't even noticed yet. I wonder what will happen when I go to school tomorrow... either everybody's going to notice or nobody will. I'm hoping it's the former, just because I don't really like being the invisible person nobody sees.

On a completely unrelated subject, GO YANKEES!!!! They are so totally awesome this year... they just have to start WINNING the ALCS!!! I mean seriously, all they have to win is one more freaking game. They've had so many chances but they've blown it every single time. But this will be our year!!! The Yankees will prevail... hopefully.

I'm not sure if I'm going to go back to blogging about food. It's a good way to remember all the great meals I've eaten, but I feel like its a bit too mature for me to write about. There's also the fact that I'm a lazy procrastinator and can't go through with anything... but let's just ignore that teensy weensy little fact and move on.

Last night I went to see Jersey Boys and boy was that great!! The music was incredible, and in fact today I sat in front of my computer and listened to The Four Seasons for about an hour straight. (Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I still listened for a very long time!)

My relationship status is a little iffy. To be honest, I haven't spoken with the guy for months now. I can barely look him in the eye (for whatever reason), and I avoid him whenever possible. I guess that we rushed into things... I still barely know a thing about him. I'm feeling kind of bummed out, but I guess that I started dating him just for the sake of dating someone, and not because I had any strong personal feelings for him.

On that melancholy note, good night guys!! And please, comment if you have something to say.

some random thoughts

I was looking through a friend's blog (click the title of the post to visit it; I highly recommend it) earlier today. The depth of her thoughts really amazed me and got me thinking. She's one of my best friends, but I don't think I've ever really seen this side of her before. I started thinking about the front people put on for the appearance's sake, and how it's through a computer that people can really communicate their thoughts. It's so much easier to be able to communicate without seeing people face to face or even hearing their voice, because you aren't able to see their reactions and you don't have to pretend to be something you're not.

Sometimes I wonder if it really is better to have all this technology... I think technology is brainwashing us! We can't imagine life without computers, phones, iPods... and I know this is nothing new. Anybody who's reading this has probably heard this a million times before, but I feel like ranting about this subject again =].

Anyways, onto slightly more uplifting topics... well, maybe not. I feel like I have to say this somewhere so I'll just say it here where the chances of a certain person reading this is much more unlikely. So... I'm in a relationship right? And... I used to like this guy. A lot. But now... let's just say we NEVER, EVER talk. Not on the phone, not in person. I don't know if he's just shy, or what, but it's KILLING ME. I can't keep "dating" someone who refuses to say two words to me. I know I should probably go up to him and talk, but I shouldn't have to. I think we just went from having absolutely no contact with one another to being in a relationship, and we just completely skipped the middle ground. I'm thinking of telling him we should step back and just be friends, but... I don't know. I don't think I should have to think this hard about it. I either like him or not, right?

Well, thanks for listening/reading my little rant. I feel all better now :).

Oh wait. Before I forget, my mom and I went to see the movie Julie & Julia. It's about this woman named Julie who decides to write a blog talking about how she cooked all 524 (or something like that) recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, and it's also about Julia Child's life and how she first got interested in French cooking. It reminded me of why I started writing in this blog again, and I don't want people to think I'm a copycat or something. I never even heard of this woman until after I started writing in here. Did I mention that the movie is based on two true stories? I guess I neglected to mention that, didn't I.

Ok. I'm really done now. I promise.

Saturday dinner

I know it's been a while since I last posted, and I'm sorry. I'll try to be better about posting in the future.

So, my mom, step-father and I went to this restaurant called Pranna. It's sort of fusion-ish, but it mostly includes dishes from southeast Asia. We decided to eat family style, that is, everybody shares all the food ordered. We started out with a bunch of satays: chicken, shrimp, vegetable, and beef, with lime mint, peanut, sour mandarin galangal, and lemongrass sauces. The satays were extremely disappointing. They were bland and ordinary; no thought appeared to have gone into their creation. Next, we ordered a bunch of "small bites". We got Penang chicken spring rolls, a lobster slider, and mushroom stuffed tofu. The spring rolls and tofu was average, and the lobster slider was overly ambitious and ended up being passed around from person to person looking for a final resting place. As main courses, we ordered braised Malaysian goat and Vietnamese clay pot chicken. The goat and chicken were both extremely tender. I wish they had given us a bit more goat meat, rather than all the fat and bones, but otherwise it was succulent and we enjoyed it very much. The clay pot chicken was excellent. The chicken was marinated very thoroughly in a very flavorful sauce, and it was probably my favorite dish of the whole night. For dessert, we had the Pranna bakery for the table. It came with chocolate cake, banana bread, peanut butter cookies, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, and chocolate, caramel and peanut butter dippings. The confections were obviously preheated with the exception of the brownie, which was stone cold. Overall, the meal was rather disappointing and I would not recommend this restaurant.

Note: If you wish to view the menu on the restaurant's website, just click the title of this post. Thanks for reading!

ny times shang review

After posting about my saturday night dinner, I went back and read the review of Shang that was featured in the New York Times Dining Out section on February 18, 2009. The New York Times gave Shang one star, which I think was richly undeserved. According to the article, the food was too complex and all over the place. Maybe Shang has cleaned up its act in the amount of time between when the review was written and when I ate there, but the food I had was not complicated at all. The flavors were very clean, and the menu was mainly focused on Chinese food.

NOTE: To go to the New York Times review, just click on the title of the post. Also, the menu on Shang's website is not the one they are currently using at the restaurant.

saturday night dinner

This Saturday my parents and I went to this great chinese/fusion restaurant called Shang on 187 Orchard St., New York, NY. The food was great; the perfect mixture of chinese food and american influence. For appetizers, we shared Szechwan Slaw, a salad with carrots, greens, nuts and crunchy noodles, and taro and beef puffs. The taro and beef puffs were just right; crunchy and savory. As a side we ordered some whole wheat bread chinese style with condensed milk to dip it in. The bread came, steaming, and the condensed milk added the right amount of sweetness to the bread. For main courses, my mom had caramelized black cod. The fish was fresh and in itself very good, personally I couldn't taste much miso. My dad had mongolian lamb chops which he said were very good and slightly spicy. I had sweet and sour pork, which, delightfully, was a far cry from the sweet and sour pork you find at your average take out place. It was not overly sweet nor sour and had the right amount of crunch to it. As a table we shared a plate of cantonese pearl noodles. The noodles were perfect: chewy and slightly spicy, but also savory and with a slight crunch. For desert we had something they called "assortment of dim sum", which turned out to be a tasting of deserts that ranged from classic chinese sesame balls to banana and chocolate cake, and a mango panna cotta with chocolate mousse and a sesame wafer on top. Both deserts were exceptional, the perfect ending to what was a very good meal. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to all who love "authentic" chinese food, as opposed to the average chinese food takeout.

Wagner Reunion!!!

So guys, as of now the reunion is planned for 8/23. Anybody in Class 823 is invited and if you want to come just let me know!!