Meatballs! Meatballs!

One thing I love about living in NYC is the abundance (maybe even over abundance!) of restaurants. So when my friends mentioned The Meatball Shop (WARNING - When you mouse over the icon of the two guys on the right side it makes a farting noise - scared me the first time) I was skeptical. The only thing I knew of meatballs were those faraway days of rock hard meatless tasting meatballs in school cafeterias or really small ones in canned soups and what not. The prices were okay but then again I never thought of eating just meatballs as being a meal all in itself.

The place is always busy at the usual dinner time and I've tried twice to go but alas the waits around prime time eating time (6pm-8pm) had a 2 hour waiting time. Once we went there around 9pm and the waiting time was still 2 hours but granted we had four people and it was a beautiful Autumn evening. The restaurant inside is rather small so two people would be the best for the shortest wait time.

Third time's the charm! Finally got in on a Sunday at 3pm with no wait (not very surprising). The decor inside reminds me of those old garment factories I use to spend my childhood in. In fact I'm pretty sure all the chairs were salvaged when those factories closed down. It's a very nice comfy ambiance and there's a heavy curtain covering the door to come in which is great since it keeps the drafts (mostly) out!

Any ho! The most important part was the meatballs! My friend and I ordered the "Naked Balls" (I had to giggle at that when I read it on the menu) She ordered the spicy pork while I got the beef one. It's served with this ultra soft bread and choice of cheese and sauce. I personally liked the spicy meatballs because it had that kick in it and also the tomato sauce. The Parmesan sauce I ordered was overwhelming the taste of the slightly dry beef meatballs.
We also shared a side of spaghetti. Nothing special... just regular old spaghetti with tomato sauce and we didn't think it was worth ordering. I totally loved the Arugula and Apple salad. It was very refreshing and crisp and complemented my heavily cheesed up meatball meal. Surprisingly these meatballs were very filling! Don't let their size fool you. I ate 3 and was very full but then again I don't eat too much.

Verdict:
Food is good for the price but not for a 2 hour wait. Next time I'll just order the "Smash" which is 2 balls (hehe) and side salad. This time definitely make room for the dessert which sounded delicious (ice cream with homemade cookies) but I was way too full the first time!

Yelp Reviews for Meatball Shop

Until next time... happy eating!

Mexican + Japanese Fusion

Mexican Kaiten Sushi @ Taka Taka

Sorry guys for being MIA! During the end of last year I got my first full time job and its been exhausting! Some readers/friends have been prodding me to write more posts (you know who you are!) My first review was much better but I had to delete the whole post because there was a glitch in it! SIGH! So here's the first post of the new year!

A new year means new experiences and my sister and I decided to start it off with going to this Mexican Japanese fusion place called TAKA TAKA where their motto is "Mexican Sushi and Japanese Tacos". With us being a lover of both, it was the perfect place to try! The first thing we notice was the conveyor belt of sushi that passed though the kitchen to all the tables outside. We decided to order from the menu rather then the conveyor belt. We noticed the same dishes were rotating on it for the whole hour and a half we were there.

Tuna Sashimi Tostada
The first was a cold dish of thinly slice tuna that was perfect with the crunch of the Tostada and blend of Chipotle sauce, onions, olives and tomatoes. I usually have a lower tolerance for spicy and not a fan of tomatoes but this dish won me over! My sister said "It's s simple but whoever thought of putting tuna on a tostada is a genius!"

Don Cangrero (top left) and the Rib eye Teppanyaki Taco (bottom right)

Both were delicious but what really stood out to us was the Rib eye one because of the blend of sweet sesame sauce and the jalapenos. The meat was tender and full of flavor. I've had my share of flavorless, over/under cooked thin beef to appreciate this wonderful taco. The soft shell crab taco was a tad on the soft side because it also had beans in it. Nevertheless we enjoyed both!

As for the sushi we ordered a modified Philly roll of smoked salmon, avocado, cream cheese with the addition of the fried gyoza strips and tuna. At this point we were already stuffed with the tacos but these were also very good. The details of the crunch strips took these to a new level.

The people packed everything in this adorable to-go box! It was rather pricey being $70 for the both of us but it was definitely a wonderful and unusual food experience. Not an everyday place but you know whenever I feel the need for Mexican sushi and Japanese tacos... I know exactly where to go!

Until next time... how's everyone doing?!

Madison Square Garden Eats

Last Friday my awesome friend Jingo and I went to this little area of pop up restaurants and eateries called Madison Square Park Eats. This little event takes place for a whole month and unfortunately we were only able to make it for the last day. The experience made me wish I had known about this sooner!

What make this event so great is that many of these little pop up shops have their main restaurants in Brooklyn or the other boroughs of NYC. It's definitely made me more incline to travel to those places despite the usually unpredictable and horribly slow weekend mass transit complications (MTA is fixing various subway platforms and etc so check out the MTA site before you travel around by subway especially on the weekends).

The crowd was really bumping and mingling. The area is the rather tiny triangular piece of side walk next to the park and beloved home of Shake Shack (another favorite place... cheese fries are awesome!) They had several chairs and tables at the center and an atm machine to boot.

We also got there towards the early evening and I was able to snag the last cookie from Momofuku. Cornflakes and marshmallows? Yes I was a tad skeptical and the cookie looked a bit on the greasy side. But it was surprisingly delicious. The cornflakes added this crunch to the soft cookie and when you ripped the cookie apart you can see strands of marshmallows melted inside. I really wanted to try the other desserts there but alas it was completely sold out.

My friend and I basically ravaged the cookie because we were waiting for our orders from Calexico. My friend Jingo had showed me another food blog of last years and I got hooked onto the picture of the piping hot carne asada quesadilla with melty cheese and chunks of meat. The wait for it was about an hour but I don't blame them. There was a line for this place and those guys were working as hard as they can. There was also the usually order of one person ordering like 10 tacos. It was such a tease because the orders with our names hung on top so we could see how many orders were in front of ours.

The next thing that really intrigued me was from Roberta's Pizza. They brought their own pizza firing oven above. The pizzas were small and made and fired fresh. They smelled heavenly. They had this one I think that involved a touch of honey and that was very intriguing. Alas my heart was already set.

It may not look impressive from the picture but I assure you it is gooooooood. The outside was soft and slightly crisp. It was the meat and the cheese that really surprised me. The beef was actually infused with a lot of different herbs and spices. I normally don't eat spicy food I like the kick the meat had. Coupled with the gooey cheese it was heaven. That cost about 6 dollars and they don't go skimpy on the meat!

My friend got the pork burrito and she thought it was pretty good which meant it was awesome because she's such a picky eater hehe.

With the food, people and the beautiful setting sun on Madison Avenue it was definitely a great even to go to. Don't worry you may have missed this one but every week at the Brooklyn Flea and Hester Street Fair are some of the same food vendors along some new favorites.So definitely go out and try something new!

Until next time...
happy eating!

Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek to Chibi's Mini Guide to NYC Yummies!

I'm extremely excited to give you a sneak peek of a mini food guide of my favorite places in New York City. It's going to be a couple of pages of illustrated goodness with restaurant addresses and small tips on some of my favorite eateries. I'm planning on making it about wallet sized with some blank pages for note taking and stuffs. The one above is for my "Ramen" page and I'm trying my hardest to finish some for Brooklyn Flea this Sunday that I will be vending at. I'm also planning to give a copy or two away for the upcoming NYC Giveaway I will be introducing hopefully this weekend or at the very least early next week. So keep an eye out for it!

Until next time... live, love and eat tons of good food!

Dumplings nom nom!

Dumpling time at my house and my mom just happen to be making some and I jumped on the chance to take pictures of her in action! Dumplings are fairly easy to make and keep for a long time the freezer. It takes about 10 minutes to cook'em up which is great for breakfast or a a snack. Also you can put in a whole lot of different stuffing. The dumpling skin my mom got the premade ones and they're about slightly bigger then the palm of your hands.

She got her little work station set up. On the top is the dumpling skin, a single cracked egg in a bowl, the chives and shrimp stuffing mixture and a lightly flour dusted pan to put the made dumplings on.

First mom puts in a nice spoonful of stuffing in the center.

She dabs her finger in the egg white mixture and spreads it along the edges of the dumpling.

Then she pinches them tightly.

Then folds the outside corner. I assume this is to prevent stuffing from coming out when you're cooking them.

And ta-da! Dumpling! There are many different ways to make dumplings and many types of dumplings. Which reminds me if you don't have the time to make these little delectable there's The Dumpling Festival in Manhattan this month September 25th! Check it out =D.

Until next time... keep on cooking!

Simple Congee

Every culture and country has it's own version of a food that is homey and in China "Jook/Congee" is that homey food perfect food that's warm, soothing and great for people who are ailing. My sister caught a pretty bad cold so I decided to try my hand at making some congee. I used the Rice Congee Soup Recipe as a base and changed it a bit to mimic the awesome congee my grandma use to make.

Ingredients (makes about 4-5 bowls):
1 cup of rice
9 cups of water
half an inch knob of ginger
1 tbls of salt (normally about 2 tbls but since the meat is already salty I halved it)
fist size salted pork

Slice the pork into small fingertip sized bites. Cut the outside of the ginger and leave whole (my grandpa suggested to leave the skin on because it's suppose to have some kind of healing properties) Add all the ingredients to a pot and boil it until it reaches your ideal consistency (some like congee watery and some like it more thick). Watch the pot or else it'll boil over. I usually boil it with the cover on for half an hour and then leave it to boil uncovered for another half an hour. Ta-da easy breezy and very good for colds/flu or a weak stomach. You can also substitute other things in it like different meats or seasonings. Green onion, tiny dried shrimps and scallops are common. Thousand year old eggs are also used if you like the unique flavor. My sister appreciated the congee and said it was surprisingly good. Here's a simple recipe if you ever need some comfort food =)

Until next time... stay well =)

Garden Goodies

Carrot and Rabbit Chibi Girl @ LiPeony

So summer is half gone and it's one of the hottest ones... phew... Besides that it's also middle of gardening season where people should be seeing the fruits of their labor springing to life! I'm not a gardener and besides the chili peppers outside my fire escape I've never grown any veggies or fruits. However my bf and his mom have been cultivating a rather nice garden in their backyard. Being a city girl I see how much work it does to maintain a garden from soil, making those wooden props/stakes to support the plants, watering, weeding etc. It's been about two or three months and lookie!

The tons of tomato plants are bearing little green tomatoes. I'm not a fan of tomatoes but everyone else I know love love tomatoes. I'm not sure how green tomatoes taste like but I remember reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder series The Little House Books that they once made a green tomato pie that tasted just like an apple pie and green tomato pickles. I haven't tried the two recipes yet but it seems intriguing. I do recommend the books... I read and have most of the whole series and definitely instilled in me a sense of adventure and survival.

Now here is the prize of my boyfriend. He's so extremely proud his little watermelon is growing. Those lines are from getting caught in the lattice that was supporting the plants. It's as big as his hand right there and hopefully it'll be big and sweet! They also grow chili peppers, chives and parsley. My mom and I are still waiting for our tiny fire escape chili peppers to grow some chilies =D

Until next time... how are you gardens coming along? =D

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was a busy one! I was vending at the Hester Street Fair and it was very fun! I shared the space with two other NewNew Teammates... Corey from Sansmap that makes these awesome bags and Angela that has her own WEBSITE in the making and Etsy shop EnchantraGirl also in progress =D. She mixes and makes all these beautiful jewelry that has a fresh simple taste to it. I've already ordered a ring XD. Can't wait to see it!

Today was slow and probably because the weather had that "threatening it might rain" outlook but the day was actually very beautiful and warm. I was also the day with the World Cup game between England and the U.S.A if I'm not mistaken.

Despite that there was a fair amount to traffic coming in and there was 50/50 amount of vendors and food vendors. The food is awesome... I tried out the chocolate baguettes from the bread stand across from me and it was so so so good! Angela raved about the omelet station and the summer rolls. There was also the interesting spice vendors that had just bowls and bowls of different spices above. They also made blends of spices on request and I thought that was pretty darn nifty. Thankfully the wind was minor and the spices weren't sent to our tent as I'm very sensitive to strong smells.

Here are the new cards I made with the new stamps and stamp pads. If you want to know more about the process and reviews on the new ink I brought you can refer to this POST. My sister was surprised they were stamped on because they look printed to her. The ink dries so smoothly on the paper. I was surprised at what sold which was this octopus tea card I made a while ago.

These are my prints. I've yet to find a nice 5 x 7 photo holder that can hold my photos both vertically and horizontally so I left them in small piles. One thing I do love is the 5 x 7 three photo frame where I put my animal trio in. That was how I had meant for the trio to be displayed. It would look awesome in a nursery or child's room. I might be making some new animal prints like that very soon. I've also been asked to make custom orders of the simpler designs like the animals with people's names on it. I haven't thought of that but that's a great gift for people.

Sunday my friends and I had a crafting party of sorts where we made different pocket invitations for the wedding. We followed these simple instructions on Wedding Bee. I don't have any pictures which I regret but it was fairly easy. If you do like pocket invites you can adjust these to fit your style. Once thing is I do love the Martha Stewart Score Board which is awesome for scoring =D.

Until next time how was ya weekend?

Fluffy Sweets =D

Cotton Candy Balloon Bunny @ LiPeony
When it gets warmer around here I get a craving for cotton candy. Around the summer there are several small fairs and carnivals with rides for kids, games and lots and lots of food! Last weekend I went to the Hester Street Fair. It was small with about 20-30 vendors and most of it was food. There were also vintage and jewelry shops there. It was very windy when my sister and I went so there was tons of dust flying everywhere >=( . The neighborhood is very old and there's a library and the Fair took place in the large park. I'll be vending there June 12th 2010 so if you happen to be in the hood stop on by.

The most popular and well known vendor was from Luke's Lobster. I went to their store on E. 7th street and I must say the lobster rolls were delicious. The bread is awesome and they're not cheap on the lobster. There's less mayo then on some of the others that I tried which I prefer but they add this pinch of spices that I love. They also have this Maine root beer and the blueberry one was so refreshing! One thing is I didn't like the pickle which gave me a stomach ache =_=. Right afterward I went to watch Avatar in 3D so that was not a very good experience. I don't like or eat pickles in general. I was very impressed with the amount of baked goods and I brought some macaroons from Macaron Parlour. I got the Earl Grey and Smores macaroon and boy they were so so so good. It was slight crisp crunch and chewy. I was very surprised by the Earl Grey one because I'm not a fan of that variety of tea but as a macaroon I'd eat it any time =D. It also turns out that the weekend I went was also Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Bake for Hope Sale. I got some red velvet lollipops which are balls of red velvet dipped in white chocolate on a lollipop stick which were scrumptious!

Until next time... stay sweet sweet sweet! =D

Sweet Cold Tofu Treat

Okay it's getting hot and humid and the long dog days of summer are about to be upon us. Though ice cream is the one thing I love during the summer another great cold treat is something called "Tofu Flower" (Tofu fa) It's basically very smooth silken tofu in a sweet ginger sugar syrup. Normally they have this during dim sum hours and you really can't miss the cart. It's inside this huge rice cooker like steamer and if you're not quick it'll be all gone. They only seem to have a set amount so if you snooze you lose. Oh you can ask for more sugar syrup though sometimes they can get a bit cranky for giving it out =P

The tofu is very very smooth and can be served hot or cold. The intensity of the ginger syrup or sometimes sugar cane syrup can differ. I like mine light. Frankly the best places to get these tofu flower is from the street vendors or the old mom and pop shops that exclusive deal in tofu and the like. One of my favorite is a small hole in the wall on Grand Street crossing Bowery Street in Chinatown NYC. The food is very good and they've been there for years. Definitely got to try the bottled soy bean milk (sweetened) and the herbal tea drink. They're around 75 cents a good bottle. Seriously cannot get this stuff any cheaper in NYC. Though around rush hour and hot days and weekends they have a long line and run out of things quick >_<.

There use to be many places that specialize in tofu and fresh cooked noodles and lo mein cooked right on the spot. A few good ones remain like the one I mentioned above and another on Mott street across the street from the bubble tea places. I'll try to get photos and actual cards of the place so if you ever visit NYC you should go to these hidden gems. They sometimes seem a bit dingy and unkempt but the food is generally cheaper and tastes much better then the fast processed food at large restaurants.

As for people who cannot readily get it. I think there are ready or almost ready made packages of tofu flower in stores but it's going to be hard to find unless there's an Asian specialty store somewhere.

Until next time... what kind of desserts do you cool down with?

Week In Review

The weather was simply gorgeous this weekend! I had a fantastic time on Saturday selling at the Brooklyn Flea. I was there with my wonderful little sister Anita and my Cousin Victor and they spent their money on the awesome food downstairs. I again had those slamming fish tacos and Anita totally agreed with me. My tables mates were awesome Felicity from WishbyFelicity and Yaniamore. My new 4 foot table was easy to build and was really awesome. It's from ALPS Mountaineer and I highly recommend it, I got the XL one and I think this one is a new version and I got it on sale for $60 instead of $90 =D!

Here are some pictures of my setup and having multiple prints on the table though I have to find a way to have people browse them all as many though the small piles were of the same prints. I was thinking of having some books to flip but its been a bit hard finding 5 x 7 holders as most are 4 x 6 picture holders =(I do love this display unit it's actually for photos but you can obviously use the clips (which are included) to clip other things too =D I got this one from DickBlick. Afterward the super day we went out to BonChon to eat some Korean Fried Chicken. It's kind of weird since the atmosphere was a club/lounge but their main thing is fried chicken. Unfortunately we waited for 1.5 hours because the place was small and it was PACKED.

BUT the chicken was really good. What makes Korean Fried Chicken different is that it's double fried and apparently less oil then the fried chicken we're use to. I'm not good at eating spicy stuff the ones we got was soy garlic fried chicken. It was extremely good but definitely not worth 1.5 hours wait. Half an hour to 45 minutes seems fine to me. You can make reservations until 6pm I think. The service isn't exactly top notch but they do make some great chicken and they also have a bar. Here are some reviews of the particular BonChon near the Empire State Building, we went to: BonChon Reviews. While on twitter RusticRainbow who makes the cutest felt items asked if I could make a custom stamp. It's my first time ever and I think they turned out great! I tried to make it look similar to the font of the shop and it did take me a while as I wanted to be as careful as I can. I'll be making one that says "Please Do Not Bend" for my prints when I mail them =D. That's my week in review =D

Until next time... hope everyone is having a great day =D

Goodies from China =D

After a long two month trip to China my bf came back but not empty handed! He got me these beautiful cheongsam ( qipio or mandarin dress) and they actually fit very very well. I'm naturally very slender and short to boot but these were perfect and I love the intricate beading and designs onto the fabric. Everyone liked the brown one the best though upon first seeing it you'd think it looks rather drab or old style but it was actually a very demure modern brown with flowers.

For some reason I am a huge fan of airline peanuts. I don't know why but ever since I was young my grandparents would travel back and forth and bring back a couple of these little snacks. He got some and also this odd rice cake thing he got from Korean Airlines but I've yet to eat it. The last couple of things are dried food. One is dried bamboo shoots which are apparently insanely expensive in the US and extremely hard to find. My mom loved them and when they're soaked in water returns back to this soft rubbery consistency and has this slightly sour taste to it. My bf's family hails from Yunnan which is famous for it's tea and he brought back some family grown and dried tea above. I didn't try it yet but my mom is also gaga for this too. It has a slight sweet taste and she's been brewing a cup every morning.

Alas no cute stuff to be had but the places he traveled to were very rural and I'd hope to post of the pictures of the areas he's been. Currently I'm in full study mode for the stack of midterms next week. I'm also preparing for a craft show this Saturday at Brooklyn Flea. So if you're around just stop by... and gotta try the food... it's so awesome XD

Until next time how's you guys been doing? =D

Wrap Up Fair =D

This Saturday was a great day at the Brooklyn Flea! Thanks to my awesome space mate Felicity from WishByFelicity for lending me a table and putting up with my chatter =D. Check her out for some awesome jewelry... saw her wire wrapping and it's gorgeous. Speaking of unique jewelry my other space mate the talented daughter and father combo of LuisFernando was selling their beautiful jewelry too! We're all part of the fantastic NewNewTeam. Wouldn't be possible without them =)

I had changed my display and I took a gamble on buying and selling framed works. You know what, it paid off! By having them displayed in frames less people assumed they were cards and were more then willing to buy them framed as opposed to just loose which was what I was doing before. I also had people browse though my cards and my octopus design was the most popular one =D. I also sold a good amount of pins and I must thank an anonymous person (you know who you are) who read my blog and said they'll be over to catch the little black cat pins below.

Though being me I was a bit skeptical but I made some anyways and yes she showed up and brought out my little black cat pins and some card and a print! I was completely floored and so flattered. It seriously made my day and I was just so so so happy! I thank you so much ^-^!

The space was beautiful... seriously a piece of art. The inside had mosaics and paintings of constellations. Even the windows had silhouettes of whimsical characters. This place use to be a bank the handmade vendors were in the hallway where the bank tellers would be. There is even the vault downstairs that was turned into a food court. There also a small mezzanine with vendors. It was great!

There were tons and tons of sellers from food vendors (omg the food is delicious! I had these fish tacos and they were just unbelievable!) handmade sellers (I'm always floored by the creative work people do!) and vintage vendors with all these different knickknacks. Speaking of vintage I brought the little book stand above to use to hold my prints for display. I love the way it looks and also how it's detachable. Score! =D Oh and being displayed are my new bags. They're pale blue paper bags from AC Moore and I stamped my shop name and used my own carved pencil stamp and I think they turned out great! The pale blue matches my business card which is pale blue. All in all it was a awesome day with awesome people!

Chinese New Year is winding down and to commemorate that I have sent to have a giveaway of 30 red envelopes of different designs and sizes. They're from collection of red envelopes my family has kept over the many years so many of the designs aren't printed anymore. Each year they tend to have similar but different designs. I included tradition ones ranging with images of oranges, golden carp, people, dragons, flowers to even some Hello Kitty ones. =D So look for it tomorrow!

Until then how was your awesome (or unawesome) weekend?

It's A Raining Cupcakes!

It's A Raining Cupcakes Print @ LiPeony

Mmm I don't know why but my roomie from college is crazy over cupcakes! I think it's starting to rub off on me if it's not obvious from my newest print above. Living in NYC it's very easy to find cupcakes .. in fact there are these dessert trucks... Dessert Truck that I sometimes find around Aster Place on the 6 train line and Cupcake Stop that can be usually found on Broadway around Spring-Prince street. They are delicious and perfect pick me up when you need energy to continue shopping and traveling around the city. You can check out more traveling dessert trucks. Here's a list of some of the best cupcake places in nyc with reviews =) YELP.

I really enjoyed reading other peoples comments and it amazes me on how supportive people are and how creative they be. I'm also glad that I'm wasn't the only one that was inspired by the rain yesterday! It's amazing how people can see the same thing differently. I do have ideas that bounce in my head at night and I try to have a pen and notepad next to my bed. This sweet cupcake post is for you folks out there. Any favorite dessert that just makes your mouth water?