Author: cia
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What would be your last meal on death row? It took me a while to answer that question, but the more I eat pork sinigang, the more I stick with it as the last thing I want to eat before I go. It’s my comfort food and it’s the dish I request from my father…
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corner of 139th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard no phone number $25 for a whole rack of pork ribs ♥ ♥ Amidst the condo buildings going up as fast as you can say gentrification, there still remains the open drums on the streets used as makeshift grills to sell home-marinated barbecue in Harlem. The…
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I saw these slimy suckers swimming in a large tub in Chinatown when the Dr. and I met up to buy groceries. Can we buy that? I asked. What are you going to do with it? The Dr. wanted to know, even though my asking does not really mean anything. I was already signaling to…
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corner of 145th Street and St. Nicholas 212/491.8323 $12 for two fish and chips, take-away ♥ Harlem is teeming with fish and chips stores, and living in the neighborhood has taught me that the longer the line outside, the better the food will be. (It doesn’t work the same way downtown.) Case in point: Famous…
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The Dr. requested seafood for dinner in exchange for his accompanying me to Roosevelt Island. While preparing for our meal, I entertained him with a smoked salmon appetizer. With a roasted branzino stuffed with lemon slices, I also served cockles in white wine sauce. Ingredients: 1 bag of cockles, cleaned and scraped off 1 cup…
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It took a lot to convince the Dr. to take the tram to Roosevelt Island with me–like a homemade lunch and dinner kind of a promise–but he finally relented one hazy Saturday. From 59th Street and Second Avenue, we boarded the tram using our Unlimited Metrocards. The tram runs on a much slower schedule on…
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What possessed you? the Dr. asked as he cleaned off his bowl of bibimbap. I’ve always done Korean kalbi at home but have never done bulgogi, so I guess it was just about time. I haven’t had Korean food in a while and I was craving that sweet meat flavor. In Korean, bulgogi is “fire…
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630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills 914/366.9600 $720 for three tasting menus, with wine pairing, with tip ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Is there such a thing as too much? We arrived at Blue Hill Stone Barns just in time for our 5pm table where we were welcomed by fresh air and green grass. We sat in…
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I was in my neighborhood African store ordering my usual halal lamb meat when these tomato-looking things caught my eye. I asked the lady if they were tomatoes. We call them chungu, she said, but couldn’t help me with its American name. Do they taste like tomatoes? She couldn’t answer that either, so she got…
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36 West 48th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues 212/398.2308 about $50 for two, with two drinks, with tip ♥ Wu Liang Ye was highly recommended to me by a Chinese friend. As we walked on 48th Street, past the OTB, the black garbage bags in front and the two crackheads on the steps, I…
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I’m still in shock when I find that most of the ingredients I need for a certain recipe is already in our kitchen. That’s the good thing with store-bought spices: you only have to buy them once in a while because you can store them for up to a year. For this one, all I…
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I received a packet of flor de sal, or flower salt, and a packet of sea salt from Terras de Sal in Portugal last week. What good timing, too, because I ran out sea salt and have been using the grocery store type the last two nights. The Terras de Sal sea salt looks and…