September 1, 2005
bring on the dumplings
I'm going to start off this entry with bee cake:
- bee cake?
I spotted it outside a bakery in Chinatown on Bowery. WOO! ANATOMICALLY INCORRECT BEE CAKE! Incorrect because it has a tongue and it's 200000 times larger than a real bee. And it has "Happy Birthday" coming out of its butt (er, abdomen). And it's wheat-based. That's a giver.
"STOP TALKING ABOUT BEE CAKE, ROBYN!"
Okay. But isn't that fun to say? Bee cake! Bee! Cake. BEECAKE! BEEEECAAAKE! I'll stop now.
Yesterday I ate a lunch of Greek yogurt + accompanying fruity goo at Whole Foods in Union Square. Yum. Sometimes you just want Greek yogurt. I, however, happen to want it more than sometimes. After licking the container dry (not literally, I swear), I went to the Greenmarket for some yummy nectarines and peaches. Each fruit costs about $1! Eek. Well. They are really tasty, that's for sure. I guess there's no point in wasting money on fruit that tastes like crap.
Last night I met up with Diana and Allen for BOWLING! And by bowling, I mean...FOODING! HAHA! I didn't really fool you. Why would be bowl? You can't eat bowling balls (and feel comfortable afterwards, at least).
Sooo, we went to Chef Liu's, a Chinese place that Diana had just discovered and Allen has been going to forever. And me? Being the non-Brooklynite in this trio, I had never been there, which is why I had to go there. But because I'm a moron (and keep in mind I start classes next week with an obviously ill-prepared brain) I took the wrong train for 30 minutes and then decided to backtrack when I should've kept going. We ate about an hour later than expected, but that was okay. I guess. Unless Diana and Allen secretly wanted to kill me.
- <
- xiao long bao
Chef Liu's gives you a tray of xiao long bao (aka soup dumplings) for $2.50. So we got two. :) I think I ate the majority of them because I can't even remember how many I ate. Oops. I have no complaints, although to tell you the truth almost all xiao long bao taste the same to me. I only notice when the sizes are a little different. :P Inside, it looks like...meat:
- mm, pork
Which makes sense. We also got vegetable dumplings and seafood dumplings. We really do like our little dumps.
- vegetable dumpling innards
- seafood dumpling innards
Diana likes seafood dumplings so I don't have much to say about them besides that they were seafood-y. The vegetable dumplings were nice, not the best I've had but better than other ones I've tried before. I think I'm looking for a vegetable dumpling that's bursting at the seams with filling, but I've only seen that at Lin's Dumpling House, which doesn't exist anymore. :(
We also tried a dessert called "red bean pancake" since none of us knew what it was:
- red bean pancake
In my opinion, it's not really like a pancake, but more of a fried...thing. A filled fried dough thing. I described it to my mum and she said it was a traditional Chinese dessert. I think it'd be better with chocolate and marshmallows, or just chocolate. Or ice cream. Hell, what am I talking about--fried anything is good.
I guess it's a good thing I don't live near there or I'd go there a lot since it's cheap:
- the bill
I'm sure I ate the most. Oops. That would explain why I'm the biggest of the three of us. ;)
For no reason, here's something I spotted at a Chinese grocery store:
- Fresh Pie
Not only is it fresh, but it's NOW! NOW! PIE! NOW! Oh my god, this pie is so now. ...I didn't buy it, but I'm curious. Actually, I'm curious about many packaged cookie-esque things from China and beyond. Seriously, I'd like to have some kind of tasting party where we buy loads of this crap (and it's all pretty cheap) and rate everything. In the end, we'd probably find out that nothing is really worth eating. That's probably why there's no Chinese equivalent (to my knowledge) of Japanese Snacks.
Today I mainly ate fruit and dried figs I got from Whole Foods (DAMN, THEY'RE SO GOOD). For dinner, I roamed around Chinatown after I got my hair cut, thinking "Food...where?" I don't think in grammatically correct sentences. Bah.
- vegetarian duck
Why is this called vegetarian duck? Or rather, "duck"? It doesn't taste like duck or really look like (vaguely, maybe). If it actually tasted like duck, I wouldn't like it since I don't enjoy eating duck. If you're wondering what it is, it's a gazillion thin layers of tofu roll up into...something. Something duck-esque.
I don't think I'm going to use the word "duck-esque" again.
Posted by roboppy at 10:13 PM
Comments (5)
-I luv Xio Long Bao!
-Once again you're in Brooklyn and I'm not there!
-I thought you wrote beefcake instead of bee cake and i'm like "Robyn is checking out guys on her food blog?"
Posted by: Amy at September 2, 2005 1:43 PM [#]
Vegetarian mock duck is nasty, even at otherwise good restaurants! As a general rule, I try never to eat vegetarian dishes that are mock anything, they always a) taste nothing like they purport to and b) taste extra bad. If you're gonna feed me tofu, stop pretending it's something it isn't!
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New Orleans Hospitality Workers Disaster Relief Fund A fund has been established to benefit employees of the hospitality industry of the Greater New Orleans area who have experienced hardships because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Contributions may be sent to:
New Orleans Hospitality Workers Disaster Relief Fund
Greater Houston Community Foundation
4550 Post Oak Place, Suite 100
Houston, TX 77027
Call 713-333-2200 for additional information
oh that fresh pie is soooo good.
it's actually Korean and it's good just as it is or frozen!
Posted by: luna at February 5, 2006 9:30 AM [#]
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OMG!!! i can't believe the coincidence. if it is... did you see the bee cake in manhattan's chinatown?? i saw the predecorated cake in the window, took a picture of it, and wondered, and have been wondering until thirty seconds ago what it was supposed to be... this was.. a few weeks ago, when i was coming back to singapore and we were in brooklyn for the singapore chilli crab festival, and i told my uncle i wanted to visit chinatown. it was a sunday i think. the 11th of last month or something. i can't believe it. in the wide world of the internet i find something that i was thinking of an answer for and never thought i would find out!!
by the way... i have the picture i could send to u if you re interested :)
Posted by: DEe at September 2, 2005 2:31 AM [#]