Obama inauguration lunch at O'Neil's

The whole morning I was actually very excited about today's inauguration and told myself I must make time to see it during lunch. So the afternoon came, I was wondering if we can watch TV in our conference room. Then I heard Shao Ping going into the conference room and trying to see if the TV is set up and it wasn't! I was kind of disappointed. Shao Ping and I really want to see it and was trying to figure out where we would find a TV. I actually suggested that we go to a dim sum place and have lunch so we can watch it on the big screen TVs. Most Asian places, especially the dim sum place all have big screen TV. They usually have a few of them hanging all over the restaurants w/ different channels turned on at the same time. We usually can't hear the TV because it's always packed with people and everyone talks loudly. The captions are usually on and people just read it.

So we decide to check if "Red Egg", a new dim sum place across the street from us. It was 11:50, we went across the street and went into Red Egg. We asked the first person we saw who was at the bar area. "Do you have a TV?" He looked at us weirdly and say "Sorry, we don't. Why do you need a TV?" Then we told him we wanted to see the inauguration on TV. He told us to go to a bar one block over because he knows for sure there's a TV. So we hurried our way to the bar. We walked in, it was quiet and the only sound was Obama's voice. Everyone was staring at the TV.

The whole event, well part of what I saw was breathe taking, so many people traveling from everywhere coming together to be a part of this event. At the bar, people were clapping and cheering for Obama. I was really happy because I do believe he'll bring change, hopefully good change. Yes, we can!!

We couldn't just sit there and not order so this is my Obama's inauguration lunch. It was realllly good. The crab tasted fresh and the chipotle sause on top was great. The fries were really good. They probably fried it 2x so it was extra chrispy. I will def. come back here for lunch again.

Oneil’s Crab Cake Sandwich 12

Jumbo lump crab meat, cheddar cheese, chipotle sauce, jalapeno coleslaw

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O'Neil's
174 Grand St
New York, NY 10013
212-941-9119
http://www.onieals.com/

Announcement: Winter Restaurant Week '09

Jan 18-23/ 25-30
Three course prix fix lunch or dinner
Lunch $24.07/Dinner $35.00 (plus tax and gratitude)

For more details on participating restaurants check out nycgo.com .
Check out menus here.

Now where should I go eat? Any recommendations?

Warning: Kelloggs and Austin brand peanut butter crackers recall...

The Kellogg Co. announced on Wednesday they are removing Austin and Keebler brand of peanut butter crackers from the stores and holding on to all inventory due to the recent events of salmonella (a type ofbacteria carried by some animals, which can be transmitted from kitchen surfaces and can be in water, soil, animal feces, raw meats, and eggs) food poisoning. The products include their:

-Toasted peanut butter sandwich crackers

-Peanut butter and jelly sandwich crackers

-Cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers

-Peanut butter-chocolate sandwich crackers.

These products are made at its bakery in Cary, North Carolina.Since September, it has been reported at least 400+ people in 43 states have been affected. Kelloggs are advising consumers not to eat their peanut butter crackers. If you would like to get a refund, you can find out more details by calling 888-314-2060.

Signs and symptoms of salmonella:
-nausea
-vomiting
-abdominal pain
-diarrhea

These symptoms usually appear within 3 days of contamination and typically go away without medical treatment.

Prevention:
-Don't serve raw or undercooked eggs/poultry or meat.
-When preparing meals, avoid cross contamination: keep uncooked meats away from cooked food.
-Wash hands after using the toilet and preparing food. It's also important to wash the kitchen counter, cutting boards, utensils after handling uncooked foods.
-Avoid food that contains unrecognized raw food products Ex: homemade ice cream, eggnog, cookie dough, and frosting contains raw eggs.
-And in this case, don't eat Kelloggs and Austin Brand peanut butter crackers.

What's new with the King?

Recently I've been seeing and hearing alot about Burger King. They have been promoting their whopper virgin commercials on TV, a quest to find "whopper virgins" aka someone who never tasted the whopper before. They ask the whopper virgin to do a taste test against their top competitor's burger and have them choose which burger taste the best. Many people are giving Burger King's whopper virgin commercial bad marks and controversy sprung up on the news about these commercials.

Last week BK appeared on digg.com two times:
1) A new application "Whopper Sacrifice" has been developed where you will get a free whopper if you delete 10 people from your friends lists. If you notice you're not on my friend's list, you know why now! *evil laugh*

2)I saw a funny video "Whopper Freakout GHETTO VRS. (UNCUT-R)":
**ADVISORY: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND IS INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES***


Then this past weekend, SNL did a skit about the whopper virgin commercials, it's soo funny!

The last time I had a Whopper was probably when I was still in Stony (more then 4 yrs ago!). It was one of the cheapest food at the food courts so a poor student like me often at there. By the end of my sophomore or junior year I was totally sick of it. I swear I would never eat at BK again but after seeing so much of the commercials, ads and videos about it we decide to get lunch at BK this past weekend. Damn these advertisement worked!

Actually our first date was in Roth's dining hall at Burger King. Memories. (8/00) <3

I gotta say it doesn't taste as good as it use to I guess because they use different oil
then=extremely fatty oil
now=no trans fat oil (Trans fat raises your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and lowers our "good" (HDL) cholesterol). The whopper suppose to be "healthier" now but it still has alot of calories, scary.... I almost didn't want to order it because of it but hey...once in awhile is okay. I don't think I'll be eating there again for a very long time.
Are you feeling for a whopper now?? ahhah....

Home Made Vietnamese Beef Pho Noodle Soup

On Friday, Isabel came back from her lunch break carrying a bunch of groceries. I was curious what she brought so I went up to her and asked. She said she was going to make Vietnamese Beef Pho Noodle Soup (aka the #1 on every Vietnamese restaurants menu). She told me that the soup take around 4-5 hours to make and has alot of ingredients in it. She was telling me how to make it but it sounds quite complicated and I didn't know half the ingredient in it. I told her I'll probably stick with ordering it from the restaurants but I wonder how the homemade one taste like and how similar it would be from the restaurant's. I jokingly said oh how I wish I can taste hers and being an awesome coworker and friend, she surprised me with her delicious beef pho noodles soup a few days later....

She packed the noodles and soup separately:
The noodles nicely packed, it has viet noodles, thin sliced beef, bean sprouts, beef balls and cilantro.
I heated up the soup first then I added the noodle packet into the soup and heat it up some more. Another coworker caught me taking pics in the kitchen area...it was quite awkward. See what foodies have to go through to bring you guys pics of food but I don't mind at all!! ahha...

When I opened the cover to the container, the aroma of the soup filled the air and made my mouth water from just smelling it. I think it taste better then the viet restaurants because it wasn't as salty and I didn't taste alot of MSG so it was light but yet very flavorful. The noodles wasn't soggy or over cooked because she separated it in the beginning. The beef was fully cooked not raw like how they would serve you in the viet restaurants (they usually give you thinly sliced raw meat on top of the noodles and the boiling hot soup suppose to cook it for you). This was exactly what I needed on a freezing cold day like this. I hate Mondays but she made this one a very warm and delicious one. I <3 Isabel!

I found a recipe, if anyone would like to make it! Enjoy and let me know how it goes....

Sister date at Mitsuwa Market and around....<3

The day we planned our sister date, the weather was horrible so our original plan was ruined. booo...We were going to go for a few categories of best of:

Donut @ Doughnut plant
Falafel @ Taim
Cheese steak @ Wogie's Bar & Grill

Tacos @ Pinche Tagueria
Pastrami Sandwich @ Katz Deli
Pizza @ Grimaldi's
Chicken wings @ BonChon

Not sure how many places we would've gone to but I bet our stomach would've been so full! Maybe next time she comes back we'll try this list again....

Instead of being out in the rain and snow, we went to Mitsuwa Market . It was perfect for that day because it was indoors and the food court has alot of different type of food (Japanese) to choose from...not very N.Y but still great food! We didn't just eat and eat the whole time...we walked around the huge supermarket that sells alot of Japanese products and checked out the few stores they got there, a book store and a stationary store with every from kitchenware to cutesy anime stuff.

Cutesy stuff I found: This device teaches you how to hold a chopstick. It's so cute! I so need one...

A cute lunch box w/ one of my favorite anime, My Neighbor Totoro.

In the food court, walls were surrounded by plastic display of food to help you choose what you want to eat. It showcase all types of Japanese food from rice dishes, ramen noodle, soba noodles, tempura, even desserts and drinks. Alot of the meals comes in sets which include salad, soup and desert. SoOOoO yummi....

I'm hungry growl....seriously I was!

Sushi and packaged meals are in the supermarket area (you don't find any sushi at the food court, only in the supermarket) all the fish are very fresh and they make so many different kinds of sushi.

Check out interesting products from the supermarket:
Weird flavors of KitKat: mcflurry, berry and grape:
Snoopy peanut butter in a squeeze tube

Hello Kitty brownie mix w/ the mold:

Cute kitty and cow mochi. At first, I thought they are flan or jello but you're suppose to peel the bottom of the container and inside has alot of little small mochi in individual package.

These pretty containers are filled with colorful substance which we think are some kind of honey and you're suppose to use the stick to eat it. We were busy taking pics of it people were asking us what they are and we said we had no idea! hahahSo what did we order in the food court and supermarket...
Eel over rice meal w/ salad, miso soup and mandarin orange in light syrup :
Gyoza (Japanese dumplings): the skin was light, not doughy and it had pork and chives in the middle, it was good...

Crab and potato croquette: very creamy inside and the crispy outside, so yummi! (you will find these in the supermarket's hot food section, they also have vegetable ones)

Seaweed chicken wings: these were so good! (you can also find these in the supermarket's hot food section.)For dessert we had:

Taiyaki cake: fish shaped waffle batter cake filled with red bean and the other one is a cute bunny character on the round cake which is filled with egg custard. it's really good when you eat them fresh and goes really good w/ ice cream.

let viv show you how it's done: one bite of cake and then another bite of ice cream, hmmm...

One of the must have at this food court, sesame soft serve ice cream! The taste is very unique! It has a light sesame favor which isn't too overwhelming and plus the creaminess and the sweetness of the ice cream goes really well w/ the favor. I didn't think I would like it but this kick ass!

Surprisingly after eating and shopping at Mitzuwa, the sky was clear and we continued our sister date around New York City.

This was taken right next to the mall, it was so beautiful....

Us holding bags of food and snacks roaming around the city at night:

I'm gonna miss you sis! Good luck in Taiwan <3>

Good news I've officially made my sister Vivian, my Taiwan food correspondent. I will be posting awesome food pics that she takes from Taiwan! woohoo! So far she's been doing a great job of taking pics and making videos of the food market and her reviews of the street food. Once I figure out how to post them you'll see...

One of my goals for this year is to make videos to introduce the places I go to and the food I eat (not just pics and pics of food...boring!). Thanks to my awesome sister in law who started this trend ahhaha...she really has a talent for doing this kind of stuff, I hope TVB or foodnetwork will find her!

Stay tuned....
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Mitsuwa Market Place (New Jersey)

595 River Road,

Edgewater, NJ 07020

TEL: (201) 941-9113

Shuttle from Port Authorities to Mitsuwa Market

Cost: Adult $3/ Children and Senior $2 each way

For weekends, remember to find gate 51 near the white statues...funny pic ahha