Alex's Birthday Bash

After I got back from my fishing trip in New York, I headed directly over to my relatives’ for my little cousin’s birthday party. As always is the case at these kinds of family gatherings, a lot of food and drink was involved. It was essentially a buffet-style pot luck with every family member contributing a dish or two, so there was a large spread of food from which to choose.

A diverse mix of dishes filled the dining room table, ranging from Chinese barbequed pork spare ribs, typical American picnic potato salad, to an Italian-inspired orzo, tomato, and basil antipasto salad. My aunt and uncle are big on grilling too. They have a nice Webber that gets lots of usage throughout the year, so we also had the pleasure of feasting on an array of grilled items like eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, Vidalia onions, marinated flank steak, chicken wings, and swordfish.

In addition to that massive Webber grilling beast parked on their deck, my aunt and uncle are now proud owners of a 6-burner, commercial-grade stovetop and oven range. It cost almost 5 grand! For anyone not into food or cooking, it might seem a bit lavish or unnecessary, but I’m sure they’ll make good use of it, as they do entertain quite a bit. You can always use an extra burner, right? It’s all part of the renovations taking place at their home. They completely renovated their kitchen and added a whole new wing to their home. I’m green with envy, I might add.

We ended the several-hour-long food affair with dessert – and not just one, but about four or five. Hey, my family just likes choices. My little cousin, Alex, is a chocoholic, so naturally my aunt had to get a chocolate fudge birthday cake for him. Among the other dessert items were a strawberry cheesecake, brownies, fruit salad, and chocolate cookies. Pictured below is the flan that one of my relatives baked.

My relative recently visited Mexico for vacation, ate the flan there, loved it, and had to get the recipe to bring back to make for us. For anyone who does not know what it is, flan is commonly used as a term to describe the Spanish, Portuguese or Mexican version of Crème Caramel. It is normally baked in a water bath and turned out of its mold onto a plate for serving. The flan was pretty good – light and fluffy in consistency with a mild custardy taste.

Gone Fishin' - Long Island

I’m tired out from the miles and miles of travel logged this weekend, but it was well worth it. Despite my mom’s vehement protests and obvious concerns in light of the Fung Wah fiasco a few weeks ago, I took the $15 Boston-NY bus on Friday night and arrived in the city at around 11pm. Eric, Ivan, and John picked me up in Chinatown, and then we made a quick stop in Queens before heading off to John’s summer home near the Hamptons in Long Island.

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to go fishing. Before heading to the marina, we stopped at a local shop to pick up supplies for the trip. In addition to bait and tackle, the shop sold all kinds of fresh, locally caught fish and seafood. I thought the mussels and clams looked great.

By mid-morning, we finally boarded John’s boat called “The 3 J’s” – named after him and his two brothers – and then headed out into the bay. We were fortunate to have great weather – not too hot or humid, bright and sunny, clear blue skies above, and a light, gentle breeze blowing in from the water.

Unfortunately, none of us had much luck catching fish. I think it just had to do with the area and where we were anchored. Perhaps if we had gone further out into the bay we would have had better results…but then again, I know absolutely nothing about fishing. Out of the four us, we only caught one fish. Eric managed to reel in a decent-sized Scup, known more affectionately by some as “Porgy.”

Despite our abysmal results and failed attempts, I had good fun hanging out on the boat and chilling with the guys. I suppose the trip really made me grow more of an appreciation for fishermen and what they do. The comparison is pretty flawed and ridiculous considering what they do is exceedingly more challenging, complex, and not to mention dangerous. But you can see where I’m going with this.

Eating at a restaurant on a Saturday night, you might ask the waiter for the catch of the day and within a half hour or so, the cod or swordfish arrives at your table. You’ll take a quick look and smell, admire the plating and design, and perhaps check for doneness. Then you’ll proceed to devour it in a matter of minutes without giving any thought about all the work that was previously done to arrive at the final product. I’ll be the first to admit that I never even consider things like where the fish came from or who caught it. But when you actually spend some time trying to catch the fish yourself like I did this weekend, you might stop to think next time about all the steps involved between 1. fish from sea and 2. nice pan-seared fillet on plate.

Back on land after fishing, we went food shopping for dinner. On Long Island, there is tons of open space, and a lot of the land is used for farming and agriculture. Several plots of land were devoted to grape-growing for wine production as well. Along the major road, we spotted a number of farmers’ markets selling fresh produce and ended up stopping at Harbes, one of the more popular ones in the area.

Showcased were all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables like sweet yellow bell peppers, peaches, Japanese eggplant, and extra-large heirloom tomatoes.

Harbes also had a nice selection of plants and flowers for sale. We bought a bag full of corn, and it turned out surprisingly sweet and tender for such a late harvest in the summer. More pictures from this weekend are posted here.

Stephanie's on Newbury

Today was the last day for several of the other interns, and to celebrate the end of their internships and bring a close to the summer, we went out to lunch for one last time at Stephanie’s on Newbury.

I had seen Stephanie's on Newbury numerous times in the past while strolling around Copley, but I had never eaten there. Whenever I would walk by, the place was always packed. There would be a waiting line spilling out onto the street, and from my brief glimpses at the dishes of patrons eating out on the patio, the food seemed decent. All of these things would seemingly signfy to a hungry diner that this might be a good place to stop for a bite. But I guess something about it screamed "tourist trap," preventing me from ever actually trying the place.

Well, it turns out my initial suspicions were right. For my order, I chose the grilled chicken breast sandwich. It was served on an onion roll and topped with melted cheddar, garlicky tomato, field greens, roasted red peppers, and basil mayonnaise. A handful of Cape Cod potato chips were served on the side. The description sounds nice, but the sandwich was like any other chicken sandwich and was highly forgettable. Over-priced I might add as well.

But I could not have cared less about my sandwich because after all, it was the last time during this summer to spend some time with the interns all together. I suppose it was somewhat bittersweet for them. On the bright side, they no longer have to wake up at god-forsaken hours in the morning to make it in on time for work. Nor do they have to endure the drudgery and often monotony of the daily 9 to 5.

But I’m sure there are things they will miss as well. Things like the humorous emails sent among us on all kinds of random subjects ranging from hobos, thinkgeek.com, crushes on co-workers, and Liberty’s bathrooms. Or maybe it’ll be the discussions over lunch that they’ll miss. Like the light-hearted ones about hippos and tax on “clothing,” the serious ones about racial stereotypes and the famine crisis in Niger, or maybe the silly ones about Simba and breast implants.

For me, seeing them leave was just…well, bitter. I hate a lot of aspects about my job this summer, but the one thing that’s made it all worthwhile is having met the other interns. I’m sure I’ll have a few more jobs in the future that I dislike, but if my co-workers are anything like the interns I’ve met this summer, I'm positive I’ll be just fine.

I’ve really had a great summer…a great year in general so far actually. I’ve traveled to the other side of the world, learned about a new culture, and seen all kinds of distant, exotic lands. They have all been wonderful experiences. But above all, I am most fortunate for having been able to share them with great people. This summer working at Liberty has been no different.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. I never did like final goodbyes or farewells very much. I don’t think I was very good at them either. But that’s why this time was easy. It was not a good-bye – it was just a see-you-later.

The Cheesecake Factory

Some people think of food merely as subsistence. Others think eating food should be some kind of mystical, perhaps even spiritual experience. Well, I guess I’m somewhere in between. I’ve read a fair share of food writing, and lots of critics go on tons of tangents and get lost in all sorts of things that seem to have nothing to do about food. Who cares about all that other stuff? After all, in the end it is the food that we really care about…

Or is it?

Most people think that the food should be the star on any given night at a restaurant. In most cases I think they are right. But sometimes it shouldn’t be about the food at all. Sometimes the food should just play a supporting role...like on an evening when old friends reunite to catch up with one another and reminisce about old times. Yesterday was one of those nights.

Albert, a friend from high school who had been living in Michigan for this summer, was back home for a few days. Yesterday was his last night in town before leaving again for Cornell for the fall semester, so a few us went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Chestnut Hill. Although the Cheesecake Factory seems to be quite popular among most, I had only eaten there maybe once or twice a long time ago.

We ordered the fried calamari to start off the meal. It had a light batter and was tender and nicely cooked, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary in terms of taste. I've definitely had better. Vinny T's version immediately comes to mind. For my main, per Jon's recommendation, I ordered the Chicken Marsala. Supposedly it's one of the more popular dishes there. The chicken absorbed much of the rich, wine flavor, but some of the pasta was undercooked, leaving it a little too chewy for my liking.

I tried some of my friends' dishes, and while I wasn't blown away by any, overall I was fairly pleased with the food. But really, the food didn't matter a whole lot. It was the first time I had seen many of these friends since coming back from Sydney. A mini high school reunion you could perhaps describe it – all of the same, old, familiar faces but with lots of new stories to tell. I suppose we could have been eating a lesser meal and had just as good a time.

Fried Calamari

Grilled Chicken and Avocado Club

Chicken Marsala and Mushrooms
Sheila's Blackened Chicken Pasta
Cajun Jambalaya Pasta

Sel de la Terre

So my best friend Eric was in Boston for a business trip last week. He's interning at Fidelity for the summer, and they have an intern swap program that allows New Jersey interns to visit the Boston office and vice versa. Both of us are foodies and he was only going to be in town for a day or two, so we decided to hit up a more upscale restaurant and splurge a little. A so-called "celebration." We decided on a French bistro restaurant located near the aquarium called Sel de la Terre. I had heard good things about this place and wanted to see if it could live up to its hype. I mean, it did get a rating of "Gourmet Greatness" on Phantom Gourmet! After work, we met up at the Seaport Hotel where Eric was staying and then headed for the restaurant, which turned out to be not too far away. Another friend, Arne, joined us in this culinary affair. It turned out to be pretty good, and I'd probably go back if it were not for the plethora of other great restaurants in Boston to also try. Here are a few pictures from the dinner. Enjoy!

Seared scallops with grilled corn, mushrooms, caramelized onions and smoked bacon

Pulled duck tart with caramelized onions, spinach, and comté; red wine vinaigrette

Assiette de charcuterie: semi dried Summer sausage, house smoked ham with maple-vanilla honey, and duck liver terrine with port aspic; toasted brioche, mustard and chutney

Slow roasted rack of lamb with mint-pea risotto, roasted carrots and Bordeaux jus

Skillet roasted all natural pork rib chop with cauliflower, stone fruits and Black Mission figs

What should this be...

My first entry on blogspot. How exciting. So I'm currently debating what kind of blog this should really be. Should it be for my random thoughts and musings? A diary of daily events and occurences? I used to have an account on Xanga but I never posted much on there. My whole Xanga experience wasn't very good. Maybe my life was too dull or boring and I never had anything of note to post. Or maybe I was just too lazy.

In any event, lately I've been curbing my boredom at work (never work for an insurance company, by the way) by surfing the web and checking out different food blogs. And you know what? I've decided that this blog will be about food - mainly. I guess I've been inspired to start my own now. I've always been into food - everything about it. I like to look at it, smell it, cook it, and of course, eat it. I'm a lover of all kinds of food. I honestly could spend all day watching the Food Network and be content. So there it is - this blog is going to be about food.