Flushing Field Trip

Matt texted me this morning that he and Jen just got a car and they were planning to go on an adventure to Flushing for Korean food.  Would I like to join?  Um, yes.

Matt and Jen heard from a Korean friend that Ham Ji Bak was legit.  As we drove up, I had a feeling we were in for a genuine Korean feast based solely on the surroundings.  Not a word of English in sight and I saw some mini pigs curing on the front terrace of an apartment.  The people who live in this neighborhood mean business.  

I'm not at all picky so I let Matt do all the ordering.  The waitress was very impressed with Matt's Korean pronunciation and appreciated our willingness to go with a spicy dish.  We may have only ordered four dishes, but we may as well have ordered 40 with the amount of food they placed in front of us.  There were about 15 dishes of [free!] banchan including pickled cucumbers, bean sprouts, tofu, broccoli, fish, kimchi, and much much more.  Next came our main courses.  I couldn't tell you what their real names were or exactly what was in them since there was little English on the menu. 

We ordered beef cooked on a hot plate, pork belly (prepared the same way), a seafood pancake, and squid with noodles in a sweet and spicy sauce.  It was all amazing.  I love DIY food, so I was happy to assemble mini wraps with the beef and pork belly (beef in lettuce, pork belly in pickled radish, both with scallions and sauces) as the waitress instructed.  If I had to choose favorites, I would probably say the pork belly and squid were the two best things we tried, but it seems like you can't really go wrong at this place.  To finish the meal, the waitress brought out a complimentary beef soup followed by complimentary pumpkin slush and pineapple slices.

It was an incredible meal and now that Matt and Jen are equipped with an automobile, I have a feeling we'll be enjoying plenty more adventures.  Bring it.

 

  

Modern Love

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I am newly obsessed with Modern Family.  Don't worry, like How I Met Your Mother, it will not invade the recap portion of the blog.  (I think GG and Glee are enough to keep me busy when there's no food to talk about.)

Modern Family is funny and, unlike most, it is a true situational comedy (that's where the term sitcom comes from, brainiacs).  You don't need to see any other episode to follow the story.  Each episode is its own little unit.  The best part is that it's clean.  You will have absolutely no problem watching this show with your parents.  And take it from the girl who had to sit through all of Unfaithful (including the sex scene by the stairs) with her parents, it is good to avoid those awkward moments whenever possible.

If you're smart, you won't wait forever to watch this show like I did.  It's time to hit up your Netflix queue and play catch-up.

A Wright Night

If you're a chef, receiving the James Beard award is pretty much as good as it gets.  I may think I'm a foodie, but I am nothing compared to Mr. Beard.  His love of food led to the James Beard Foundation and the James Beard Awards, aka the pinnacle of the chef/restaurant pyramid.  I was lucky enough to snag an invite to one of the James Beard House dinners on Monday night with some co-workers.  The menu was as follows:

• Hors d’Oeuvres:
• Pork Belly with Apple Cider Jus: The only one I didn't try.  Sad face.
• Tuna Sashimi with Cucumbers, Scallions, and Ponzu
• Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Pumpkin Seed Mousse: The pumpkin made this much better than the other squash soups I see on every single menu this time of year.
• Short Ribs with Carrots and Citrus: Good, but difficult to eat standing up, clutching a glass of wine.
• Paired with: Hermann Wiemer Dry Riesling 2008 or Coudoulet de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Rouge 2007
• Dinner (each course paired with wine):
• Lightly Smoked King Salmon with Warm Apples and Vanilla: I thought this was a good first course, although the portion was a little large.  Mine was a perfect medium rare and it worked with the apples, though I never would have thought to put them together.
• Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet 2006
• Maine Lobster with Matsutake Mushrooms and Arugula: Solid dish.
• Far Niente Chardonnay 2008
• Gently Cooked Veal Loin with Golden Potatoes and White Truffles: A tad overcooked and the truffles didn't really shine.  This was probably my least favorite course - I could have done without it.
• Etude Carneros Pinot Noir 2007
• 28-Day Dry-Aged Beef Sirloin with Port, Marrow, and Shallot Marmalade: The sauce wasn't very thick but still packed tons of rich flavor.
• No Limit Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard Syrah 2008
• Dessert
• Winter Citrus Fruit with Spiced Red Wine Gelée, Yuzu, and Greek Yogurt Sorbet: the fruit and gelee were tasty and refreshing, but the yuzu was a tad bland for me
• Dark Chocolate–Chestnut Mousse with Roasted Pear Sorbet
• Paired with: Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria 2007

I ate everything.  Our meal was compliments of Chef Rodolfo Contreras of The Wright in the Guggenheim museum.  I have not been to the restaurant, but I have to imagine this was better because it was a more personal experience.  When the chef walked around to each table at the end of the meal, I was like a giddy school girl.  Before I could stop myself, I was asking if I could take a picture with him.  He happily obliged.  In case the meal wasn't enough, as we walked out, the chef handed us each our own loaf of cherry bread (like banana bread or pound cake studded with fresh, juicy cherries).  It has made a wonderful breakfast all week long and acts as a reminder of my great meal.  [I was unable to rotate some of the pics.  My apologies.]

 

Call Me an Idiot...

...but I am on the fence when it comes to how much I enjoyed American Idiot.  As a Broadway fanatic, I was overjoyed to receive a free ticket to the show last weekend.  I had heard mixed reviews, so I was happy to formulate an opinion of my own.  Unfortunately, my thoughts are just as mixed as everyone else's.

• Downside: 
• Zero plot.  It's basically just Green Day songs that aren't clearly strung together.  They could have done much more with the album's material since all songs were inspired by 9/11, but it fell short.  
• The ending was depressing.  So basically, you're telling me life sucks and there's no hope for it to get better?  Cool, I'm psyched.
• It was trying to be the new Rent (love gone awry, drugs, punk).  Don't try.  There can only be one.
• Upside: 
• True, it was basically just a concert and that's not what I expected when I went to see a Tony nominated musical, but it was a good concert.  Their renditions of the Green Day songs we are all so familiar with were great. 
• I got to see not one, not two, but three of the boys from Spring Awakening (aka one of the best musicals of ALL TIME).  
• The show is only 90 minutes with no intermission, making it a fun Sunday night activity that doesn't eat up your entire day/night.

In the end, I realized I loved the performances but wasn't blown away by the show itself.

Shower Power

On Sunday, Greg, Susan, and I threw a baby shower for Matt and Jen because we are all so excited there will soon be a baby girl added to our group.  And because we live to throw parties and will take just about any excuse to do so.  I am sorry to report there were no games played.  The shower was co-ed and we didn't want to subject boys to what they would consider the torturous activities of measuring Jen's belly or guessing what melted candy bar is in the diaper.  The fact that the shower was game-free meant we had more time to mingle, ogle at Jen's growing belly, and EAT.  I split the cooking responsibilities with Greg and Susan, so we wound up with a ton of food:

• Cheese and chive turnovers
• Sundried tomato dip
• Deviled eggs
• Biscuits
• Chick-fil-A (That's right, we made it happen by sneaking into the NYU building and everyone now thinks we're gods.)
• Grits casserole (grits and cheese in cake form that I could eat for days)
• Brownie bites with cream cheese icing and butterfinger topping
• Chocolate covered red velvet cake balls (Haven't you heard?  Cake balls are the new it thing.  Susan made these from scratch and they were incredible.)
• Carrots and a fruit plate (we had to have something healthy on the table)

We had a house full of almost 30 people - many of them Southerners whose palates we had to appease, hence the Chick-fil-A, grits, biscuits, and deviled eggs.  I like to think these transplanted Southerners don't get to enjoy their favorite foods from home very often so we made sure to give them a little taste of Savannah.

Am I really old enough to have friends with babies?  Apparently.  I now know what a Boppy is.  For those in the dark (as I was), it's a pillow thingy that is THE item for new parents.  I also now know I am totally unequipped to have a baby.  I suppose I'll have to learn how to change a diaper fast because I plan to be the best Aunt EVER.

Harry Hotness

A big thanks to Sasha for sending this video my way.  She knows I was one of those losers dedicated fans who went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I.  Yes, I liked the movie and no, I did not dress up.  (I have to save something special for the final movie.)  If you love Harry Potter as much as me, this is a must-see:

Gleecap: Diva-meter - 12/7/10 Episode

I was surprisingly very happy with this week's episode of Glee.  I thought a Christmas episode would be too cheesy for my taste, but it was all warm and fuzzy with some funky Glee-ness mixed in.

• The one rule for this episode was that every song had to be a Christmas song and somehow they made all of them seem plot-relevant.  I'm not sure how they managed to do that, but I think it's deserving of a +2.
• When Emma sits down with Will in the teachers' lounge, he's eating a cookie...again.  Why is he always bringing a small ziplock baggy of cookies from home?  -1 because it gives me the heebie jeebies for some reason.
• Other Asian's wish to Santa is for Channing Tatum to stop being in stuff.  +1 because I know this is a reference to Harry Shum Jr's role in Step Up 2: The Streets.
• Kurt: "I'm in love with him and he's actually gay.  I call that progress."  So do we, Porcelain.  +1 for your realization that straight guys are not the best object for your affections.  
• Sam worked so hard on that cord blood explanation.  I award it a +1 because it was just bizarre enough for me.
• When the Glee club girls are going to chop off their hair, Santana explains, "Oh it's cool, most of this isn't mine anyway." +1 for this reminder that Santana is the ghetto one of the group.
• Sue gives Mr. Shuster a razor - I think the ensuing hair joke was my own personal gift from Santa.  +2 
• Rachel seems way too into Christmas for someone who is always talking about how she's a Jew.  -1
• +1 for the Ricki Lake reference when Beiste is telling Brittany about a girl who put being husky to good use and why Santa can't help Artie walk.  I've missed Ricki.
• My only regret about this episode is that "All I Want for Christmas" wasn't used.  -1 (I would have subtracted more, but I'm hoping the only reason they didn't use it is because they're saving it for next year).

Total: 6--> This week's episode is the diva equivalent of the Jonas brothers.  Squeaky clean guys that everyone can agree are fun for the whole family.  Perhaps I awarded extra points because I was in the Christmas spirit and because I may have gotten a little choked up when I saw the Christmas miracle of Artie walking.  In the end though, I was happy with the episode and am now super sad we have to wait through a break before the second half of the season begins.  I suppose reruns will have to hold me over.