The Delicious Festivities of 2009: BBQ/Seafood/Wings

7th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party
Dates: June 13-14 (Saturday and Sunday)

Time: 11-7pm

Location: Madison Square Park
Admission: Free
Cost of Food: $8/plate, $4-6 for desert and drinks

Directions: Subway: 6 to 23rd Street N/R to 23rd Street
For more information: www.bigapplebbq.org

44th Annual Clam Festival
Date: July 17,18, 19 2009

Time: Event Schedule

Location: Yarmouth, Maine (Directions)

Admission: Free
Cost of Food: Varies

For more information: www.clamfestival.com

62nd Annual Maine Lobster Festival

Dates: July 29-August 2, 2009

Time: Check Schedule

Location: Rockland's Harbor Park, Maine (Direction)

Admission: Wednesday 12-10pm Free

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday –$8 ALL DAY

Ages 6-11–admission is $2, 5 and under are free.
Cost of Food: Varies

For more information: www.mainelobsterfestival.com

Maryland Seafood Festival
Dates: September 11, 12, 13, 2009
Time: TBA
Location: Sandy Point State Park (Directions)
Admission: TBA
Cost of Food: Varies
For More Information: www.mdseafoodfestival.com

National Buffalo Wing Festival 2009
Dates: Labor Day Weekend-September 5 and 6, 2009
Time: Saturday 1-8pm, Sunday 1-5pm
Location: Cola-Cola Park, Buffalo NY
Admission: $5 per day, children 8 and under are free
Food tickets are $1 each and used to purchase all food items.
The cost of wings at every stand will be 3 wings for $2, other food price varies.
For more information: www.buffalowing.com

Thanks Ang for the websites! <3>

Memorial Day Celebration-Cooper 35

I meet up with Maribeth aka my gf/bff for Memorial Day. I followed her to run an errand in the afternoon. After that we decided to find a place to pig out. I was craving some cupcakes so we decided to go to near Sugar Sweet Sunshine to find a place to have a drink, eat some snacks then have cupcakes for deserts. We went there but discovered that most places near Essex Street were closed including SSS! For some reason, we always have bad luck going to restaurants on days they are closed. We were disappointed...

We spent ~15 mins on the street brainstorming places where we want to go eat. We decided to go to near St. Marks for some drinks and snack. We ended up at Cooper 35, an Asian fusion restaurant/pub. It was such a great day so we decide to sit at the outdoor garden area. The place was nice and cozy!
Prices for mix drinks and shots are so cheap here! I would usually get these drinks at clubs for $12+ and here it's only $4!! The drinks taste good (I like my drinks fruity) and they aren't cheap on the alcohol either...

1st Round: I had the Bay Breeze and she had the lychee martini. For appetizers, we ordered the fried calamari and salsa&chips (complimentary). The calamari was really good! It was very crispy and the sauce was tangy with a kick of spicy flavor.

2nd Round: I had the Bay Breeze and she had the Sea Breeze. We're still working on our appetizers.....

After two drinks, it was time for some shots!

3rd Round: We ordered the Skittle Boom for both of us. And we also ordered more drinks, I ordered the WooWoo and she ordered the Tequila Sunrise drink. Man, they were really strong... We had to order more food to absorb the alcohol. We ordered a California rolls and a shrimp dish that came with rice. Both of these dish were so so... I don't think I would come here for a sit down dinner.

We hanged out at Cooper 35 for about 4-5 hours. The waiters and waitress didn't bother us at all for staying so long. They just left us alone and came when we needed them. Towards the end of the night the place started to get packed. The garden area was full and the inside area was already 1/2 packed. We couldn't drink anymore so we left and roamed around St. Marks where Maribeth ordered more food to take home. She ordered korean style chicken from BBQ Chicken, fries from Pomme Frits and sushi from somewhere. Yea, this girl can eat! All I ate was a corn dog from BBQ and it was a corn dog that's made from olive oil...

I had such a blast catching up with my gf. What a perfect way to spend a great afternoon with great company, good drinks and yummi snacks. But I gotta say those drink really kicked my ass... Happy Memorial Day!

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35 Cooper Sq
New York, NY 10079
(212) 375-919

Review of International Food Festival '09

This Saturday, we had to run errands the whole day so we got to the festival around 5pm. We thought the crowds would die down during this time but it was still packed and filled with people. Food was everywhere and I couldn't wait to check out each stand! I was hunting for some cheap eats, street fair food and something spectacular but I didn't find anything that was spectacular.... The best thing about being at the festival so late is that the food vendors sell their stuff for cheaper because they want to get rid of the food. I got some two for one deals! yay! The first thing I spotted was Kyotofu! I've been wanting to check out their cupcake and I did...I got the chocolate souffle cupcake. It has a very rich chocolate taste and was very moist. I liked it but I prefer my cupcakes to be lighter....Andy wasn't impressed said it was just a really moist brownie. I won't say this place has the best cupcakes but I do want to go back to try more of their stuff! Who wants to go with me?

There was alot of Thai food stands at the festival. Most of the Thai place sold the same things like skewer stuff, pad Thai, noodles, egg rolls and etc. I notice Thai food was the cheapest food at the fair. How come all Asian cuisine are mostly cheap eats? Most of their stuff was $1-5 so I tried out a few of the Thai places, this was one of them...This place served different flavor popsicles...
This is a deep fried soft shell crab, the skin was soggy and cold so it tasted really bad... Maybe it would've been good if it was hot. so i tired soft shell crab somewhere else....it was cold but it was actually good. The soft shell crab was kinda of meaty and tasted fresh. some healthy choices... fresh fruit or smoothies.
This piggie was being grilled for the restaurant called Chimichurri Grill. We didn't try it but it sure looks good!
This piggie didn't want to get the piggie flu! We wanted to eat more stuff but everyone was packing. Now I wish we went earlier! I didn't get to eat the fair foods like funnel cakes and stuff like that but at this point I was kinda of stuffed from all the fried food. Oh well...

Since the weather is getting nicer, I'm looking forward to all street fairs and out door activities. That means more food everywhere!! YAY!

Bad economy = free drink!

International Food Festival and New York's Third Annual Dance Parade This Weekend!

Event name: International Food Festival
Time: 9:30am - 6:30pm
Date: May 16 (Saturday) and May 17 (Sunday)
Location: Ninth Avenue, between 37th and 57th Streets
http://nycgo.com/?event=view.eventdetails&id=148220Taste

I hope the weather will be great this weekend because Hell’s Kitchen is cooking at this annual food festival. Restaurants and outdoor vendors serve up food from all different countries. The 20-block gastronomic extravaganza features cuisine from Greece, Brazil, Italy, Morocco, Senegal, Ukraine, Thailand and many other countries.

For those of you who like dancing, the New York's Third Annual Dance Parade and it will be held on May 16th starting at 1pm. Here is more information:

Parade site: http://danceparade.org/EE/
Parade route: http://www.danceparade.org/EE/index.php/about/parade_route/

Have a great weekend of eating and dancing! <3

(Thank you Helen for the infor! Hope to see you at the events!)

Mad for some Bon Chon!

The other night Andy was craving for some wings. He doesn't want just any wings, he wanted some Bon Chon. We found their menu in our menu collection and called to ordered two large orders of wings (no we didn't finish it in one sitting..) Then we drove all the way to Flushing to pick it up. We haven't been to Bon Chon for a long time so Andy forgot which street it was on but I remember it was one block away from the other chicken wing place call KyoChon. When we finally saw KyoChon I told him we are near. We drove by the next block of KyoChon but we didn't see Bon Chon so he kept on driving. I told him I was 100% sure it is suppose to be on that block so he went back but instead of finding Bon Chon we saw "Mad For Chicken"!! WTF??

Our conversation while we were parked across the street from "Mad For Chicken":
Me: Who did you call before to order the wings?
Andy: Bon Chon
Me: Where the hell is Bon Chon? Did you call the Manhattan one?
Andy: No!
Me: *checking the phone number that Andy called before and looking at the "Mad For Chicken" phone number on their front store sign* it's the same number as the old Bon Chon!
Andy: what happen to Bon Chon!
Me: Should we pick up the order? It's not Bon Chon! What the hell is this mad chicken!! Why didn't they tell you it's not Bon Chon? (this is me all hungry and cranky btw it's around 9 something in the evening)
Andy: it's probably the same but they just changed the name...
Me: This mad chicken better be good...

We walked in the restaurant and it looks exactly the same as the old Bon Chon. I looked around at what people are eating at their table. The chicken wings looks similar but then I spotted dishes of popcorn on peoples table. This is not Bon Chon.... But when we got to the counter towards the back area we saw take out orders in Bon Chon bags! We were so happy to see the Bon Chon bag but Andy had to ask the waiter:

Andy: is this really Bon Chon or you guys just using the Bon Chon bags.
Waiter: *laughs* we just change management.
Andy: so the chicken wings taste the same right?
Waiter: yes, it's the same...

YES, it is the same...we ordered the soy garlic, our favorite!

but...it instead of giving us the pickled radish they gave us corn as the side dish!

It wasn't just plan corn, they mixed in colesalw so it was a little sour. It was okay, I was actually craving those pickled radish...

Fluffy Chinese Sponge Cake

My coworker Eileen got some of us at the office addicted to sponge cake from a particular bakery in Chinatown. After having my first sponge cake a few days ago, I couldn't stop thinking about it. The sponge cake is so light and fluffy. It taste so good especially when it's hot! It almost melts in your mouth.

Today during lunch time I decide to go get some. Eileen told me it's between Baxter and Hester Steet. She says to look for a store with long plastic blinds on the door. She also warned me to look carefully because I might miss the store. I asked her why and she said because it doesn't look like a bakery. I wasn't sure what she meant because most Chinese bakeries in Chinatown are usually very nice with glass windows and pretty cakes displaying at the counters or windows. But she was right, it doesn't look like a bakery at all. If I didn't read the sign I would've thought it was a vegetable store or a ghetto deli. The plastic blinds on the door was the only sign that I was at the right place.

I walked in this coffee shop and saw there were only 1 little table occupied by two old Asian men. The surprising thing was the person behind the counter and everyone in the kitchen were all Spanish. It was impressive because the guy at the counter spoke some Chinese. I looked around the counter and saw some pastries but didn't see any sponge cake so I asked if they had anymore. He asked me how many I want and I told him 3. He called out to the people in the kitchen and they brought it out for us. The sponge cake was nice and warm. I couldn't wait to eat it! The only thing I have to complain is about the size, compare this to other sponge cake in Chinatown this is so tiny! But this is the best sponge cake I've ever had. Each one is 65 cents.

In the afternoon I told Stella I got some sponge cake and she wanted some too. Suddenly I wanted to get more. After raving about these sponge cake we got Lin wanting to try some too. So we asked Joe to go get some for us. He couldn't say no to 3 hungry ladies so he went with Lin. They came back with a box. We were all so happy!

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Kam Hing Coffee Shop

119 Baxter St New York, NY 10013

Arby's Free Sandwich Review

Last week my brother sent me an email of a Arby's coupon that offers a free sandwich with purchase of fries and drink (other specials such as a free sweet tea and malt shake also available). I've never eaten at Arby's or seen it around before so I didn't know it was available in New York or anywhere near me. A few days ago Andy and I was driving in Queens and suddenly I saw a huge Arby's sign. I got excited and told Andy we have to come here because we can get a free sandwich.

Yesterday, after Andy, Charles and Nadia finished their daily training for the marathon (btw: I'm so very proud of you guys!) we decided to go check out Arby's. I printed out 4 coupons for all of us:

Most of us ordered the small fries and small drink to get the free sandwich. Both item came out to be $3 and change. I added a order of the loaded potato bites. I didn't know I could subsitite the fries with the potato bites which is what I would've done.

I got the American roast beef sandwich. It has bacon, cheese, letteus, tomato and roast beef. I added a $1 and got double the meat. They gave us alot of roast beef! It was sooo good! The roast beef tasted surprisingly fresh and has lots of taste! I expected it to be rough and dry like the ones in the deli which need alot of ketchup or sauce. I didn't think they can serve such fresh roast beef in a fast food chain. So yummi!!!

The gravy was good with the sandwich but you need to pay 40 cents for it. It was worth it!
Charles and Andy ate the sandwich their way by taking a bite of roast beef sandwich and then gulp down some gravy. Andy says this way you will have control of how much gravy you want. Sounds gross but I got to admit it does taste good this way. After we all finished our sandwich Charles and Andy were both still hungry. We got a coupon for a free sandwich for buying 3 sandwiches. We brought these meals individually but they still gave us a coupon, they were so nice! So they got a free sandwich and split it. Andy got the bigger piece but then he gave back some to Charles, how sweet! ahhah...

This deal was so great! We will try to squeeze another trip to Arby's before the deal expires (3/31/09). I'm so happy that we found a new place with good roast beef sandwich! I haven't had a good roast beef sandwich in a long time! The calories content for these meals wasn't bad, it's somewhat healthier then McDonalds or Taco Bell so I'm happy about that.

Go get your free Arby's sandwich too!

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Arby's

6916 Metropolitan Ave

Flushing, NY‎ - (718) 894-0485‎