Happy Birthday, Mom...(from Nikki)

Nikki seems to outdo herself each year when it comes to my birthday. That...or whatever she does is always wonderful to me that I am simply very appreciative.

A month ago or more, she asked me if I would like to attend an Alvin Ailey performance for my birthday with brunch before.  I jumped at it!  So she picked up tickets for March 24th...Sunday...today.

She also suggested brunching at The Smith at Lincoln Center,  Loving brunch as I do, any place is good for me.

She showed up with a gift bag of goodies from a boutique store named "Brooklyn Larder" which we visited once to browsed around and it was awesome!

Top:Olive oil, "salt and nibbles " chocolate bar, cheese coins
Bottom: Crostini rounds, manchego cheese
Cards: Cupcake card from Tom, Gem card from Nikki, Doggie card from Lupe

The Smith was super busy!  But as soon as Nikki showed up, we got seated.  I couldn't decide between savory or sweet...vanilla french toast with caramelized bananas or sunny side eggs with smoked ham and gruyere cheese.  I went with savory and wasn't disappointed.

The Croaker

Country Breakfast: eggs, cheddar grits, grilled ham steak
biscuit and gravy

Delectable French Fries to share

Nikki scored 3rd row center seats for Ailey II.  The dance ensemble are the promising future for their troupe.  Talented & Oh-So-beautiful.  It was a most enjoyable afternoon.  Thanks, Nic! xoxo

Nikki - 28!!

Today my daughter, Nikki, is exactly half my age.  28 years ago...on a Sunday like today, March 17th, I gave birth to her at 10:06am.

How does the years fly by so quickly?  At this time every year, I reminisced on her younger birthday years and all the parties I had to plan and devise and make lists, invites and so on and so on.  For her first "school year" party, we had it at the local bowling alley - Hollywood Lanes.  Her kindergarten buddies were in attendance along with cousin Kris and everyone had a fun time.  22 years later, Nikki has joined a bowling league.  They bowled their first games last Tuesday and she scored the highest on her team...a chip off the old block(s) - I say!  Both Stan and I were in leagues and I was even awarded a "high score" trophy!  Ahhh...the good old days!

Happy Birthday to my girl....xoxo

Lena, Kris, Nikki, Adam. Matthew, Arti & Daniel

Disney 2013

On Feb 26th, after a morning of working from 5-10:30am, I met Winnie at LaGuardia airport for a flight to Orlando for a 6 night stay.  Kathy met us at the airport and I picked up a Dollar rental car, following Tony home to their new house.  The place is lovely.  An over-55 gated community, their new house is situated by a golf course with a resort-like clubhouse that offers 2 heated pools, a gym, billiards room, arts and crafts, computer room, library and meeting/banquet space among other amenities.

On our first full day there, (Wed) - Winnie & I got Kathy to take a walk with us.  We waved to many of the residents there who were also on strolls or doing their morning exercise.  For an early bird special, we went to their favorite Chinese /Sushi / Mongolian grill buffet.  I didn't catch the name but it excelled in our expectations!  We followed the Lagoda's found method of dining there.  Skip the "regular" Chinese assortment and go with the sushi (good variety and fresh) and the Mongolian Grill. Load up the veggies of choice (mushrooms, water chestnuts, cabbage, bean sprouts, baby corn, bean curd...etc) - noodles or rice and add uncooked slices of beef, chicken, shrimp, pork onto a plate and then give the heaping mountain to the grill master with your choice of :flavoring: soy sauce, teriyaki, garlic or chili sauce and he cooks it right in front of you.  Fantastic!  All this was about $8pp!!  Remember:  Weekday early bird! :-)

On Thursday, the four of us went to the Magic Kingdom.  I probably hadn't been there in over 15 years!  I had purchased a 5 day One Day One Park pass with no expiration from an on-line site.  Unfortunately it got lost in the mail.  But with some terrific customer service, I was able to pick up a replacement at the will-call windows.  Winnie had purchased a child's pass years ago and never did get a chance to use it and now Liz is 21!  She was hoping to exchange it for possibly 2 days worth but discovered she had 7 days plus 3 days water parks still valid on it!  She upgraded it to a no-expiration and was very happy to also be advised that 3 passes she had from her last trip to Disney yielded 2 more days on them.  Kathy & Tony picked up annual resident passes.  We were all set for Main Street.

Our first ride was the Jungle Cruise.  40 min wait but it didn't seem so bad - probably because it wasn't hot and humid out.  After that we did Pirates of the Caribbean and then the train around the park.  When we got back to Frontier Land, Kathy & Tony parted ways with us.  Winnie "talked" me into riding Thunder Mountain!  Anyone who knows me....KNOWS I am not a thrill ride person.  BUT I figured..."when in Rome..."...I tried not to think about it as we wound our way around the line and then we were on and OFF! Ahhhh...if only there was a video tape of it.  I was actually lifted off my seat and practically onto Winnie's lap at every sharp turn!  Winnie was laughing hysterically doing that instead of screaming.  I was screaming.  Yeah...must have been a sight!

After that, we had lunch...we tried to find the new Be Our Guest restaurant but with all the construction in Fantasy Land, we kept getting turned around.  Finally we found it but the wait was 1 hour!  We were too hungry to wait and went to the Cosmic Ray Star Light restaurant where we got the Bacon Cheese Burger Deluxe.  We were so hungry and so grateful to find two spots at the counter that we gobbled everything down before discovering a complete "fixings" bar!!

We followed Nikki's itinerary practically to the T.  We loved Monster's Inc Laugh Floor (I didn't know what to expect and was so pleasantly surprised!) and Mickey's PhilharMagic in 3D.

The real surprise happened when we were done...leaving the park and had to take the requisite photo op shot by the pathway of Tomorrow Land with the castle as a backdrop. (see below)  There was a professional photographer there also and suddenly a rat ran out.  No...not Mickey...a real life rat!  Everyone was screaming and jumping.  Pretty funny.

                                          

The next day, only Winnie & I went to Epcot.  It was a brisk cool day and the park was rather quiet.  We parked in the entrance lot (Journey) so we didn't have to take a tram.  With the exception of Soarin' which we got a Fast Pass, we walked onto every ride!  It was won-der-ful!  We rode Spaceship Earth 4 times!  We did that because the first time - we didn't know about the custom video made of us at the end of the ride.  I wasn't even in it!  So at the end of the ride, we asked if we could go around again and they said yes.  We liked our video but wanted a different scenario so prior to leaving the park, we went on again.  (No lines!)  We made a good one of us skiing:

Esther & Winnie's Spaceship Earth Video

We left the park to meet Kathy & Tony for dinner and went to Cracker Barrel.  After dinner and freshening up, Winnie and I went back to see Illuminations.  The evening's temperature was quite chilly that I wore my puffy winter jacket and scarf and was happily comfortable.  We stopped at France to get dessert....chocolate Mousse for me and a Napoleon for Winnie.  We stood by Japan to watch the show and it was wondrous!  We need to return for a visit to MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom!!

The rest of our visit was relaxing, shopping and plenty of eating!!  Just what a vacay should be!
Thanks, Kathy & Tony for being perfect hosts and to Winnie, for being a great companion !!

Year of the Snake

As much of a spontaneous person that I can be...I do love tradition.  And routine.  And annual events.  I've said it before, I'll say it again (especially around this time of year) - but I am one lucky gal!

Tonight was my third "annual" invite to Noodletown's end of year dinner.  I was Winnie's plus one as I joined her parents, Connie & Peter and three of Mr. & Mrs. Moy's friends.

I was able to drive down to Chinatown and parked right on Bayard Street.  The restaurant is on Elizabeth.  This year there was an added bonus of a raffle although everyone was allowed to pick a number out of a bag and get a gift.  I got lucky number 8 and was awarded a his and hers watch set. Winnie's gift was a CD player with speakers, Connie got a camcorder, Peter, a stainless steel roaster, Winnie's mom got a slow cooker and Winnie's father got a gift practically made for him:  An ivory carving encased in glass.

Near the end of the dinner, a surprise announcement was made.  One of the Noodletown's cashier had just married one of the waiters! Much cheering, toasting and clinking of glasses was made and then a hilarious "kissing" game ensued.  Any couple present had to kiss!  Any! Suffice it to say...it was laugh out loud craziness.

I was given a doggie bag of chicken, squab and fried rice to take home plus a very generous red envelope.  Yep...one pretty lucky girl!

Blinking Eye Lobster salad
with apple and mango

Oysters on bed of Sea (Hair) Moss

Trio of Seafood including squid

Shark's Fin Soup

Abalone and Flower mushroom over Baby Bok Choy

Jai Gee Gai (Chinese Fried Chicken)

Squab

Steam Sea Bass in Soy Sauce

Fried Rice

Noodles

Sweet papaya and Snow fungus soup

Lucky Cupcakes

Oranges and Cherries

My Gift

Live Like A Star

Last Wednesday, Nikki was able to join me, Winnie & Connie for a Wendy Williams taping.  For a month starting last Monday, Wendy's theme is "Live Like A Star" and will be offering a giveaway each show.  One of the segments today showcased Soul Cycle and we each received a free pass for a soul cycling class.  Looks like it is one heck of a workout...something I will need to build up to!  We also received a skin perfecting system called "Tria" - which uses a "blue light" to prevent acne breakouts - system is worth $245 but it has been a while since I have had acne.  Maybe it'll be more of a skin renewal process for me which would be glorious if it works!

After the show, Nikki, Winnie and I went to Highpoint on 7th Ave & 23rd St for a much needed lunch.

Started with tuna tartare tacos

Gruyere Cheeseburgers with fries - presented
in adorable shopping carts

My Pan Fried Noodles

Inspired by my sister, Evelyn's "Eats" blog postings,  I wanted to put up a recipe of my own.  We did grow up loving and eating good food.  Both parents able to cook traditional Cantonese dishes - family style cuisine.  My mother was a quick study.  Taught once and she would mastered a particular dish.  She succeeded more times than not but her foray into baking bread will never be forgotten.  The loaf weighed a ton and was inedible.  She learned from that disaster and now makes her own "lop cheung baos" (Chinese sausage buns) - the bun itself, soft and very edible.

My dad roasted a mean prime rib and broiled the best steaks.  He liked to experiment with American recipes.  After he retired, he watched many cooking shows (Nikki, at a very young age, would shout out "Yan Can Cook"!! having watched with my dad) and I don't know why it appealed to my dad but he started baking cheesecakes in his latter years.

This is not to say we only ate home-cooking.  My dad liked fine dining.  I didn't have fast food until my high school years.  Once a week, when my parents closed their store, we would go on an outing.  Sometimes it was to a mall (Green Acres on Long Island) or to a game farm (Catskills) or Jones Beach in the summer. I remember going all the way to Montauk for scallops or was it Long Island duck?  Other times, it was just out to dinner.  Cooky's (Green Acres) or the Statler Hilton (34th Street) for prime rib or Blue Sea (2nd Ave) for lobster.  When we were very young, we would head to Shanghai Village, located above the store for sizzling crispy rice tomato soup and my dad's favorite spicy fish head casserole along with sui lung bao (soupy buns).  Or my mother would take us for lunch on Doyer street for Canton chow mein.  Extra noodles, please.

I love pan fried noodles - probably from those lunches.  I like the texture of the dry crispy noodles being drenched in the gravy of meat and vegetables.  I would always splash on red wine vinegar giving it that extra tang.

And so the other day, with all these frigid temperatures, I had a hankering for those pan fried noodles.
Here are my results:

Chinese Broccoli - washed and cut up

Pre-cooked Chinese roast pork - sliced into strips

Blanched greens for 5 mins., drain and flash in
cold water to stop cooking.

Bag of Hong Kong style pan fried noodles

Pan fry noodles in small amt of oil  - 4-5 min on each side

Sauteed garlic, add greens & roast pork until warmed. Add water
or broth & oyster sauce.   Heat until boiling. Stir in corn starch mixed
 in water for thickening.  Spoon gravy over noodles.

Finished product.  Enjoy!

Barclay Center with the Nets & Nic

I have been looking forward to tonight ever since I opened my gift from Tom on Christmas Day.  A pair of Nets tickets at the Barclay Center.  They played against the Toronto Raptors and won...113-106.

I invited Nikki which was perfect since she now knows her way around there.  We met first at Taro, her favorite sushi restaurant in easy walking distance to the arena.  I was lucky enough to also find parking a block away.

My appetizer: Chef's Choice - Mackerel,  Squid & Salmon Roe
and Scallop with Sea Urchin

Nikki's appetizer: Sea Urchin special

We both ordered the Sashimi Deluxe...the fish was extremely
fresh and melted in my mouth.  De-lec-table!

It was advantageous to have Nikki with me for my first time at the Barclay.  She knows her way around.  It's a beautiful building and as we passed the different food counters, I loved the variety of cuisines and their names: Brooklyn Bangers and Dogs, Bed Stuy Grill, Fatty Cue BBQ to name a few.

Although we were in the upper level, there is no bad seat!  The outcome of this night surpassed my anticipation.  But then, any opportunity I get to spend time with Nikki is price. less.

The winning moment!