Bye bye King

King, the beloved German Shepherd in my neighborhood, passed away this September.

Three years ago, I was watching Animal Police in a hotel during my trip in Puerto Rico. It was about a German Shepherd who has been kept inside a car parts garage. Obviously, the owner never takes him outside the lot where dangerous and toxic car parts are scattered around. I instantly recognized this garage in my neighborhood and visited him after the trip.

Even though he's been raised in such an environment, he is absolutely sweet and sticks his head from the gate to play with people. We met a neighbor lady who comes and feeds him every day. She told me people were calling him King. I always wished if I could keep him, only if I had a big house. And last couple months, I saw another lady walking with King. He was walking so slowly, dragging his rare foot in socks. As great to see him outside, I was sad how old he got.

After many cold winters and hot summer in NY, he finally went to the heaven. One may think he had a good life. Still, its so sad that one lovely dog never knew the world outside this lot until the last few months of his life. We will always miss you, King!

JFK Birth Place

I took my parents who were visiting from Japan to Boston, where I spent 2 years to get Master's Degree from Emerson College. Regardless of what people say about Boston, it is one of the most beautiful cities, I believe. And I had lots of places to show. All other recommendations set aside here for now, let me talk about JFK's birthplace.

Managed by National Park Service, this birthplace was first purchased by JFK's mother Rose. She collected all the furniture and pieces from their old house and made this house into a museum, honoring her children. You have to take a tour ($3/person) to see inside the house. While we waited, we watched a documentary about Rose and her children, including JFK. And for the tour, they have multi-lingual audio guides. The audio guide was initially created by Rose, recording her own voice.

Through this tour, you learn that this family's central figure was the mother Rose who had a strong discipline and considered being a mother as a professional. The first 4 children were born when Rose and Mr. Kennedy lived here. The other 3 children, including the youngest girl who was mentally challenged, were born in the bigger house couple blocks away. The new house now belongs to another family so we only saw the exterior.

Although it's more about his mother than JFK himself, I really enjoyed to learn about her and where JFK came from.

Manhattan Sailing

After being in New York for 6 years, there are still so much I haven't tried, especially touristy things. I took a whole week of from work to spend time with my parents who recently came to visit me in the States for the first time in the eight years since I left Japan.

We did pretty much everything, Empire State Building to Broadway, Met to Ground Zero. But the most memorable and fun experience for them was the sailing cruise. So was for me. There are number of sailing tours. Some are on a sailboat, some are on a gigantic ship. Since the weather was unpredictable, I chose the boat with seats on a deck as well as inside. Luckily, the weather was excellent and we stayed out the whole time, but I think it was a good choice. The sailboat Schooners seems fun and refreshing, but you can't really keep standing.

Another good choice is the time of the cruise. I selected sunset cruise so we start while it's light, cruise in twilight and ends watching the Manhattan's night view. I absolutely recommend this plan as the city is almost the best at night. The cost for 1.5 hours cruising was $50 per person with one complimentary drink of wine, beer or champaign. Additional drinks are around $6.

Sail NYC
http://www.sail-nyc.com/

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

After seeing the trailer, I had a huge expectation in this movie. It's a truly charming, good movie, but not Allen's best.

Allen knows how to capture the beauty of the city, weather in NY or Spain, without using dazzling gimmicks. This movie did make me want to go to Spain.

Javier, in my mind, still is the powerful villain from No Country for Old Men. Scarlett is always Scarlett. Penelope completely nailed the hysterical, beautiful artist character. I wanted to see more of her. Her character was stronger than the story itself. I don't expect a big finale in movies, but I left the theater, feeling unsatisfied.

It's a worth-seeing movie but not in the theater necessarily.

Man on Wire

Why did you do this? --There’s no why.When someone needs to do something totally crazy, there’s probably no much reason for that. This documentary, which may not be a significant piece in and out of itself as a movie. What’s interesting is the story told here. The real story about this real man who achieved an insane adventure of his dream: Crossing on a wire between the Twin Towers, 1370 ft above the ground.

Philippe himself to begin with, this project team consist of all unique characters from France and U.S who recall the days emotionally and humorously.

While other people do something similar, like the recent New York Times building scaling, Philippe’s lunatic idea probably can’t be overwritten until someone tries Petronas Towers.

Five Napkin Burger

I wouldn't travel all the way to mid town for this burger, but it was good. We had the turkey burger with grilled peppers and Five Napkin Burger with lots of cheese on top. The ambience is fun and the food came really quick. Next time, I will try the veggie burger which is supposed to be very tasty and home made.

La Superior

A new Mexican street food join opened up around the corner from my apartment. It's a very small, casually decorated spot. They don't deliver and BYOB for now, but the menu looked pretty interesting. I tried cactus salad. As I love seaweed, a bit slimy cactus was enjoyable. But maybe not for many people. It's simply seasoned with cheese and salt.
Enchilada is very unique here. Instead of red rich sauce, they use salsa verde with lots of cheese.

Tacos here are $3, which is a bit pricey for this single-tortilla tiny tacos. But they are good. I personally have no eye for Rajas...

This popular street food was my favorite. Tiny tortilla looking thing has cheese, chorizo, lettuce inside. Very good snack!

Bird Man

Once in a while, a school of pigeons fly in circle over the buildings in my neighborhood. A couple of the neighborhood buildings seem to have a bird man, who feed and fly the birds. Not sure exactly but he maybe the one.

Dim Sum GO GO

If you don't care so much about cart-style dim sum, Dim Sum Go Go on the lower Chinatown is a highly recommended spot. It's much cleaner than most Chinese restaurants, with two floors which serve even a long line to customers relatively quickly.

I personally don't eat the steamed rice thingy often, but this one with scallion and cilantro became one of my new favorites. As they steam most dishes on order, it's not too greasy and taste fresh out of the steamer.

They specialize in dumplings and other steamed dim sum dishes. Everything we picked was good and is not slimy as you sometimes get from a cart.

A side of steamed Chinese broccoli is always a good compliment to meat/sea food centric dim sum. Some places over steam but here they keep the crunch perfectly!

A sneak shot from the next table. These people now how to enjoy dim sum!

Dim Sum Go Go
5 E. Broadway, New York, NY 10038

Ippudo

Ippudo is a franchise ramen joint from Japan. They specialize in thick, rich tonkotsu (pork flavor) with smooth, straight noodle. I've already been twice and I do think it's as good as you get in Japan. However, the price is much higher and the ambience is totally different. It's more like a bar lounge and the menu has only a few ramen options but many appetizers. I guess western people don't buy the idea of slurping a bowl of noodle in a short time. To my fellow western friends, I sincerely ask that you set aside your appetizers and focus on the ramen when it's served.

You may have to wait a little but normally they seat you in less than 20 minutes. Weekends are really busy though.

Ippudo NY
http://www.ippudo.com/ny

Casa Mono

I've been to most of Mario Batali's restaurants and all have been a great dining experience. For my friend's birthday, I went to Casa Mono near Union Square, about which I have been hearing great reviews.

The restaurant is pretty small. You get locked into your seat. Service is fairly good. Not too uptight, not too casual. Their wine list is amazing in a way that they have nothing under $35 but lots of $xxx. We tried $40 red wine as per the server's recommendation. I liked it so much that we emptied 2 bottles.

I'd say the razor cram and fried sardine were the best pick of the night. Especially the sardine was fried light and crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy inside. They were quite big—three pieces served—but we quickly finish the plate.


The least two favorites were the quail with fig salad and pumpkin goat cheese croquette. While the fig salad was really tasty, they salted the quail too much. Pumpkin was too sweet to my taste (I am used to and fond of Japanese kabocha pumpkin which is less sweet and more fluffy).

Overall, I had a good time. And I might try again to see if they normally use less salt overall...

Casa Mono
www.casamononyc.com
reservation suggested

Biggest Puppy

This picture is from 2 years ago when I visited my friends in Pasadena. They have 3 German Shepherds. The biggest one is the baby. He sits on the lap every time people try to sit on the flower. They come wake me up in the morning. Oh, I miss them!

Fragrant Lilly

Some people can't take it. I love it. The lilly at the market caught me with its intense, elegant smell. After a week, the two bunches are still doing well, all flowers bloomed.

Jeff Koons

I just took a mini trip to Chicago. Stuck in the glamorous ballroom in Marriott hotel all day for this academic exhibition, I almost missed to experience Chicago. I sneaked out from the conference and gave myself one hour to do something touristy. The closest thing was the Museum of Contemporary Art, where Jeff Koons was featured.

There is a debate over him being called an artist since he creates his artwork without actually producing them but by having other people to make them into a form. Well, maybe a half artist. But I don’t think people are recognizing the excellence or beauty of the production process. How nicely Michael Jackson is molded or painted in gold has so little to do with the piece’s artistic value. I think.


Perhaps, Murakami, who recently captured attention from media and industries, also holds the fame as an artist and a pop culture visionary.

Keeping Cut Flower Fresh

Here's a tip to keep cut flower fresh from the flower vender at the Union Square farmer's market:

Start with a clean vase: Sterilize your vase prior to use. The build up of bacteria can cause your flowers to breakdown much faster than they may naturally.

Clean foliage from stems that will be submerged in water. Ethylene gas submitted from foliage, as it break down in water, can cause flower heads to wilt.

Rinse vase with cool to lukewarm water. Flowers, like people, tend to absorb water more effectively if it is not ice cold.

Cut stem ends at an angle, 1/4" to 1/2" from the bottom, and immediately submerge in water. An angled cut allows for more surface area from which flowers may drink. Repeat entire process every 2-3 days.

Along with the basics, adding a couple drops of bleach and some 7UP or Sprite can help to keep your field cut flowers brighter and longer. Keep in mind that your flowers can be adversely affected by heat, by cold, by wind and by smoke.

Summer Food

During the summer, I leave for work a bit early and walk through the farmers market in Union Square. My favorite in this market is one of the Korean farmers. They got Japanese vegetables, some of which are hard to find. For the summer, they have Japanese eggplant, seedless cucumber, okra, Japanese sweet pepper and mizuna leaf.

Using these summer vegetables:

Okra and Chicken
Cut chicken breast, onion and okra into about 1/2" cubes. If you have, fine chop some fresh ginger and garlic. Stir-fry chicken and ginger/garlic first and add the vegetables. Season with salt, pepper and some chili sauce or soy sauce if you like.

Fried Eggplant and Shishito Pepper in Bonito Broth
Cut Japanese eggplant into 2 inches. Deep-fry the veggies quickly in vegetable oil (salad oil, corn, canola oil)
Put them in bonito broth with a bit of mirin and soy sauce with grated ginger. (I personally love the ginger. Really good combination with eggplant.) Put a piece or flakes of dried hot chili if you like.
Leave it for a while and chill in the refrigerator till it cools down. (no need to make it super cold)

Beets Salad

One of our favorite salad by Girogio who owns an Italian restaurant in Minnesota.

GIORGIO RESTAURANT WARM BEET SALA (Servings: 4)

4 medium beets
1 small red onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup crimini mushrooms, halved
1/2 cup goat cheese (blue cheese works well too)
pinch of salt and pepper

Dressing:
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup whole grain mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Roast beets with skin on for 45 minutes or until they are soft all the way through. Cut the onion in half, pour a small amount of olive oil over onion and roast 15 minutes. Toss the crimini mushrooms in a small amount of olive oil and roast 5-10 minutes.

When beets are done, peel and slice them 1/2" thick. Cut red onion into 1/2" dice. Combine beets, mushrooms, and onion on a cookie sheet. Add small pieces of goat cheese on top, salt & pepper to taste; bake 5 minutes or until cheese has browned.

To make dressing, combine the mustards and honey in a bowl of a food processor. On high setting, pulse the ingredients. adding olive oil slowly in a pencil-thin stream. The dressing is done when all ingredients are well emulsified together. Makes about 1 cup.

Coat the bottom of a plate with the dressing and slide the warm salad on top. Serve warm.

We normally roast when we find nice beets and make the salad later. This way, all you have to do is make dressing and serve cold. Some fresh basil is a good match for this salad. This sliced cucumbers add some crispy, refreshing flavor too.

Gutter

Some smart people came up with an idea to further invigorate the Brooklyn’s hipster neighborhood by opening up a bowling center. A cool bar and short lanes with old score monitor seem to get easily packed even during the weekday. I felt like doing something more than just a bike ride one night. Past 10 pm on Wednesday, the lanes are all taken and we had to wait a bit. I didn’t expect that. Come to think of it, this neighborhood is full of non-9-to-6 lifestyle people. $7 per game per person is expensive, but the fun is guaranteed.

The Gutter
http://www.thegutterbrooklyn.com/

July 4

In the past, we’d thrown a party on July 4. First year, we humbly grilled on the fire escape by the kitchen window—a semi barbecue party. Our building roof peeked through other buildings and surprisingly had a really good view of Macy’s firework. The next year, our super informed us that he wouldn’t be able to open the roof. Apparently, some idiots threw bottles from the roof previous year. It must have been at another building our landlord owned. We told our guests about the news and still ended up having over 30 people in our tiny apartment. Our signature chili-rubbed beef tenderloin was sold out in less than five minutes! There's no better feelings than cooking for people and seeing the dishes all empty at the end of the party.

To most NY residents, July 4 isn’t all about firework. It’s about gathering with friends. Plus, to me, firework in the states is nothing compared to what we have in Japan where it is a traditional craft. This year, we were invited to our friend’s high-rise mid-town apartment. Although the “Spider Man” building blocked the view, we enjoyed the food and friends—and that’s all you need.

New Italian in E W'burg

Il Passatore, a charming, small Italian restaurant on Bushwick Avenue is my new favorite. For a good pasta in the hood, I usually go to Aurora, Bacci and Abracci or PT. But at Il Passatore, the price is much more reasonable, nothing is over 20 dollars. Their lam ragu pasta was the best pick in my group. I had gnocchi in sage and butter sauce. It was not my favorite gnocchi but liked the flavor. My friend had a pasta with ham from special; the simple butter sauce has a hearty flavor with ham yet not greasy at all.

If you are in the area, I highly recommend this place. As expected, they took no credit card.

Il Passatore
http://ilpassatorebrooklyn.com/