Chinese New Year Traditions

Happy Lunar New Year!

This year is the year of the TIGER! 🐯

Happy Year of the Tiger!

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese culture, so I thought I would share some of the Chinese New Year traditions!

Chinese Zodiac πŸ…

There are 12 Chinese zodiac signs: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

The tiger represents courage and bravery, therefor this year could be a year of resiliency and bravery.

People born in the year of the tiger are brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. They are also quick-witted, resourceful and well liked, however can sometimes be stubborn as well.

Traditional Greetings

Chinese New Year Sweets

Some of the most popular Chinese New Year traditional greetings are:

  • 新年快乐 - Happy New Year!

  • ζ­ε–œε‘θ΄’ - Wishing you happiness and prosperity!

  • 身体ε₯εΊ· - Wising you good health!

Red Envelopes 🧧

Chinese New Year Red Envelope

One tradition during Chinese New Year is to give out red envelopes. Traditionally children wish their parents and grandparents well wishes (see above) and in return they receive red envelopes with β€œlucky” money for the new year.

The envelopes should contain new, crisp bills and not be in a denomination of an unlucky number, such as 4, which sounds like the word for death in Chinese.

Traditional Lucky Food

Similar to many holidays, there are traditional foods that are eaten to bring you luck, happiness and prosperity into the new year.

Chinese New Year Dinner

Chinese New Year Dinner

Here are a few of the dishes and what they represent:

  • Fish 🐟 - Abundance

  • Shrimp 🦐 - Laughter

  • Noodles 🍜 - Longevity

  • A whole soy sauce chicken (head and feet) πŸ“ - Togetherness

  • Lettuce πŸ₯¬ - Wealth

  • Prosperity Cakes (fa gao) πŸ₯  - steamed rice flour cakes

  • Oranges & Tangerines 🍊- wealth, success & good luck

It is also a tradition to have an excess of food and to have the leftovers the next day, this is to represent that you are bountiful and not going hungry into the new year. My family and I try to have 8 dishes since 8 is a lucky number in the Chinese culture.

These are just a few of the many traditions for Chinese New Year!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Lunar New Year with your loved ones!

ζ­ε–œε‘θ΄’!

NOLA Bars & Experiences

In NOLA, the girls and I went to explore quite a few local and toursity bars. Here are some of the bars & local activities we explored!

Live Jazz

The Maison - Live Jazz Music & Bar

The Maison is my new favorite bar for live jazz music, located in the French Quarter. This bar is located a bit off the main touristy spot, Bourbon Street and more of where locals go for night life. I saw the best brass jazz band, the City of Tress Brass Band! The vibes were very chill and we were able to get a table near the front, which was nice as it was near the front but we also had the option to go on the dance floor.

Preservation Hall - Live Jazz Music Performance

Preservation Hall is a jazz music venue, where we watched a jazz show. The band was very seasoned and had even played and recorded with Eric Clapton! The show was great, and the band were very impressive. One thing to note that we did not realize is that Preservation Hall is purely a music venue, the venue is a small room with wooden benches and there are no drinks or anything allowed in the shows.

The Jazz Playhouse - Live Jazz Music & Burlesque

The Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta has a burlesque show with live jazz music. The show was OK, I have seen a better shows in NYC, however they also cost a lot more - I guess you get what you pay for. It was a good event to attend for an occasion such as a bachelorette, however I am not sure if I would attend otherwise. The main performer and producer was fantastic, however the other performers were ok. They made sure to be inclusive and interacted with the big parties and let Jayme showcase her burlesque skills.

Wine

Bacchanal

Bacchanal is an outdoor wine spot, with a backyard patio kind of vibe. They have a shop in the front of the venue where you can purchase bottles of wine and select cheeses that they will put into a cheese plate for you! Depending on when you go, they may also have a live band playing on the stage. There is also an indoor space with a balcony if you want to watch from up above.

Bars

Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone

The Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone is very cool, it is an actual rotating carousel. You sit around the carousel and move around the bar. Depending on the timing the hotel may also have live jazz music in the main room. If you want to guarantee a seat, I would suggest going when the bar opens. However given the impact of Hurricane Ida, the bar and all of NOLA was pretty empty.

Lafitte’s is the oldest bar in the US, with parts of the building dating back to 1722. Lafitte’s is known for their Voodoo Daiquiri, aka Purple Drink, which is a grape frozen slushy like drink. At night, they have live music played on the piano in the back area of the bar. It is rumored that the bar is haunted and Lafitte comes to look after the bar as well as hit on women in the bathroom - HAHAHAHA.

Pat O’Brien’s

Pat O’Brien’s is known for their Hurricane, is a bright red drink full of a lot of different liquors. What’s great about Pat O’Briens is they have a nice outdoor courtyard, which is great for large groups!

French 75 Bar

French 75 is a cute French inspired bar with a James Beard Award and ranked Top 5 in the country! This is a great spot for a drink before of after dinner. They have a lot of nice cocktails, including the French 75, which is their signature cocktail.

Check out some of the yummy restaurants and cafes I visited here!

NOLA Eats

I had a lot of delicious food while I was out in New Orleans. I thought I’d dedicate a blog post just for all the yummy restaurant I ate at while I was there!

Dinner

Restaurant Revolution

Restaurant Revolution has a modern steak house vibe with excellent service and food. We had our own room in the back and 2 people servicing us. Some of my favorites for the night were the crab beignets, death by gumbo, the seared scallops and all of the desserts!

Arnaud’s

Arnaud’s has a classic, old school steak house vibe. The food was great, my favorites were the potato soufflΓ© appetizer and the bananas foster dessert - can someone please recreate the potato soufflΓ©s for me? For my entrΓ©e I got the filet mignon which was also tasty, but was less unique than the other dishes.

Costera

At Costera the table opted in for the chef’s tasting menu, which was a blind tasting menu, aka dealers choice, and only cost $55! All the dishes that were brought out were FANTASTIC! Some of the highlights were scallops, paella, steak and all the desserts! Costera is an Uber ride away from the French Quarter, but definitely worth it!

Brunch/Lunch

Napoleon House

Napoleon House has a very old school European ambiance and a nice outdoor back patio where we ate. This is a great spot for lunch, we had some very carb heavy, but tasty appetizers including a spinach artichoke dip, cheese platter and bruschetta. However, what was the true winner of the meal was the alligator po’ boy!

CafΓ© Amelie

CafΓ© Amelie is a cute garden vibe brunch spot in the French Quarter, with some light breakfast/brunch options. We got salads, breakfast sandwiches and short rib with cornmeal pancakes.

Sylvain

Sylvain is also a nice outdoor brunch spot, a bit smaller outside area than CafΓ© Amelie. Their menu was a lot more southern based, known for their fried chicken. I loved the cornmeal pancakes, parmesan fries and chicken and waffles.

Cafes

CafΓ© du Monde

CafΓ© du Monde is a staple beignet spot in New Orleans, so you know I had to stop there! For those of you who do not know what a beignet is, it is a piece of delicious fried dough covered in powdered sugar. Beignets make a great snack for the morning, afternoon or evening. CafΓ© du Monde really streamlined the process, I was able to walk up to the window, get my order and grab a seat! A must do if you go to NOLA!

And if for some reason you are unable to make it to CafΓ© du Monde while you are in the French Quarter, they also have a location at the airport, right near the security check. You know I got 2 orders on my way home to NY!

Check out some of the NOLA Bars and live jazz venues I visited here

New Orleans Bachelorette

This past weekend I flew to New Orleans for my college friend Jayme’s bachelorette party! It was a ton of fun, but wow did we have a jam packed agenda for just 3 days!

I have been to Nola before on a family vacation, which was quite a different than this trip. This trip we did a lot more eating, drinking and local activities. I’ll share some of the fun adventures in this post and the links here will have more about food and bars!

Hurricane Ida really impacted the tourism in New Orleans. While the infrastructure and electricity were fine in the French Quarter, a lot of the restaurants and bars were still closed or closed early. All the tourist areas were extremely empty as well as the nightlife. Our local friend said this is the most empty she has ever seen the French Quarter.

Day 1

Sunny Day in Jackson Square

Sunny Day in Jackson Square

All the girls and I flew in on Thursday, we had a decent crew of 7 girls. Funny enough I found out the day before that one of the girls was on my flight and we were actually next to each other on the flight - what are the chances?

When we arrived, the first thing we did was go to Starbucks for a much needed iced Chai Latte (I don’t drink coffee). After that we checked into our hotel, the Omni Royal Orleans, we decorated the bride-to-be’s room.

Starving, we went to Napoleon House for some alligator po boys, which were DELICOUS. One of the old man managers walking around came up to us and asked Jayme what her hat spelled, pretending he couldn’t read that it spelled out β€œBride.” We couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but then he came back with a glass of champagne for her. How sweet!

After that we were so full, but managed to roll around Jackson Square for some shopping and stumbled upon some jello shots syringes, which was harder to eat than you would think!

Preservation Hall

Preservation Hall

We headed to Preservation Hall before dinner for some live jazz music, was AMAZING!!! The band had even played with Eric Clapton. (Fun Fact: I used to play the piano, so was super excited to see some jazz piano playing!)

We then went for a quick drink at French 75, then onto dinner at Restaurant Revolution, which was fantastic!! We had our own private room in the back all to ourselves! The food was delicious, if I wasn’t full before, I definitely was now!
On a random personal note: Our waiter’s name was Daniel and on the way back right outside of the restaurant we saw a MN license plate - if that isn’t a sign about my ex, I don’t know what is… (Monica agreed) What does the sign mean, that is to be determined...

We then hung out on the balcony of Jayme’s room and people watched, which meant listening to people singing really loudly with speakers from blocks away! :P

Day 2

We started off the morning with brunch at a super cute garden cafΓ©, CafΓ© Amelie. After brunch, we walked around the French Quarter, did some shopping and ended up at a wig shop, where a few of the girls tried on some fun wigs! We then found our way to Pat O’Brien’s Courtyard, known for their hurricanes and is a favorite spot for many of the girls.

After this we went to Bacchanal, for some wine and cheese. The concept is very cool, you can choose your own wines and cheese and they make a yummy cheese platter for you! We had the entire upstairs to ourselves!

For dinner we went to Arnaud’s, which had an old school vibe, and some amazing delicious food! my favorite was the potato soufflΓ©!

After this we went to see a jazz burlesque show at the Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta. Ill be honest, the show was fun, but not as good as the show I saw in NYC. One of the performers gave Jayme her fans and let her do her thing!

We went to Old Absinthe House afterwards, however the city was pretty much dead after that, which was surprising for a Friday night.

Day 3

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We started off the morning with a pole dancing class at Awakenings Pole & Aerial Fitness, which was actually a chair dance, pole dance, spinning on the pole and silks! I loved the silks and want to find a place in the city for silks!

Next we headed to Sylvain for some lunch at another cute garden vibe restaurant. I had the best chicken and cornmeal waffles!

We had a pool party at the hotel and played some bridal games before heading to Costera for dinner.

At Costera, we had a delicious blind chef’s tasting menu - yummy apps, paella, scallops and more!

After dinner we went to The Maison on Frenchmen Street for some awesome live brass band jazz music by the City of Trees Brass Band!

Day 4

One last drink at our final spot!

One last drink at our final spot!

For our final day in Nola, we got bunch with the bride before she flew home. Monica and I were the final two, not flying out until ~6PM, so we decided why not live our best lives and explore.

We didn’t do much touristy stuff the earlier in the week, so we packed it in our last few hours in Nola. We did some souvenir shopping for pralines and ate some beignets from CafΓ© du Monde before heading to some bars.

We went to the quintessential touristy bars, the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone, Lafitte’s for a voodoo daiquiri and Pat O’Brien’s for another hurricane!

What a great trip - CONGRATULATIONS JAYME!!! Can’t wait for the wedding in a few weeks!

Dim Sum: COVID Edition

Some of my favorite dim sum dishes!

Some of my favorite dim sum dishes!

Today I had dim sum for lunch at Lake Pavilion in Flushing, Queens. This was the first time I had dim sum at an authentic dim sum restaurant since COVID started - and it was definitely a different experience than the traditional, pre-covid dim sum experience.

Traditionally at dim sum, metal carts filled with the delicious dim sum dishes are pushed throughout the restaurant with the women pushing the carts shouting the names of the dishes in Chinese for you to select what you would like to order.

Today’s experience was different for a few reasons (in the order of experience):

Dim Sum in the parking lot at Lake Pavillion

Dim Sum in the parking lot at Lake Pavillion

  1. We were seated outside in a tent set up in the parking lot of Lake Pavilion Restaurant, which is the new norm in NYC for outdoor dining.

  2. We were served with disposable paper goods - paper plates, disposable wooden chopsticks. However what was very different to me, was that instead of tea cups, we were given mini paper cups for tea (similar to the ones that you get for sampling drinks or from a water dispenser at the doctor’s office).

  3. We ordered our dishes by finding the item we wanted on the paper menu and writing the # of that dish that we wanted, rather than selecting the food from the carts directly. I have seen this done at some smaller (less traditional, Americanized) dim sum restaurants, but not at traditional dim sum restaurants. However, this does reduce the dishes from being exposed to the germs, and it would also be difficult to get the carts to and from the restaurant kitchen and the parking lot.

  4. Some of the dishes were even served in plastic to go boxes instead of plates or traditional dim sum trays

Dim sum served with paper goods

Dim sum served with paper goods

While this was a different experience, the food was just as delicious as normal and definitely hit the spot! I am glad the restaurants were able to open while adhering to the COVID-19 safety precautions! I was really worried that dim sum would be lost to COVID - that is one thing i am happy to be wrong about and can’t wait to go back for more!

Happy National Ice Cream Day

Outside Van Leeuwen Ice Cream at Hudson Yards

Outside Van Leeuwen Ice Cream at Hudson Yards

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE ice cream - nothing beats some delicious ice cream on a hot summer day, especially during this heat wave in NYC!

What is your favorite place to get ice cream? Some of my favorite places in NYC are:

  • Ample Hills - TBD on their future :\

  • Van Leeuwen - this is where this picture was taken

  • Morgenstern’s

  • Ice & Vice

  • Grom

  • Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

    Honorable Mention - Sprinkles: Red Velvet Ice Cream is definitely my all time favorite! If you can find a location that sells ice cream, I would recommend this - you will not regret it! The only locations I know of that are still open are in Las Vegas and Disney Springs, FL.

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Stay safe and cool everyone!

P.S. Thank you to Sensodyne for sending me this yummy Build Your Own Ice Cream Sundae Kit, this made my day! :)

July 4th - Patriotic Rainbow Cookies

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Since I am quarantined this July 4th and I love baking, I wanted to bake something patriotic. I decided why not bake one of my favorite cookies RAINBOW COOKIES in patriotic colors!

The recipe was very tasty and easy to make.

Here is the recipe I used. Let me know your cookies come out!

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces almond paste

  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

  • 1 cup white sugar

  • 4 eggs separated

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 25 drops red food coloring

  • 25 drops blue food coloring

  • 1/2 cup seedless red raspberry jam

  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Line 3 9x13 inch baking pans with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl, break apart almond paste and mix with butter, sugar and egg yolks. When mixture is fluffy and smooth, mix in flour to form the mixture.

  3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites to form small peaks and fold into mixture.

  4. Divide mixture into 3 equal portions, mix red food coloring into 1 bowl & blue food coloring into another.

  5. Pour each bowl into a separate baking pan and place in oven for 10-12 minutes and cool after baking.

  6. Once cooled, place bottom layer (blue) on a large piece of plastic wrap. Spread a layer of raspberry jam on top of the blue layer and place white layer on top, sandwiching the jelly. Repeat and spread raspberry jam on top of white layer and red layer on top of white and blue layer.

  7. Wrap and cover cakes with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator with weight (heavy pans, plates or cutting board) on top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

  8. Remove plastic wrap from the cake after refrigeration and spread a layer of chocolate on top of the cookies and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chocolate is cooled.

  9. Once chocolate is set, remove from refrigerator, cut into small 1/2 inch pieces & serve!

Happy Ο€ Day!!!

 
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Happy Ο€ Day!!!

Today some friends and I ventured to Four & Twenty Blackbirds in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, NY. They had some delicious pies, including a Caramel Crumble Apple Pie, Birch Beer Pie and Matcha Custard Pie!

Happy National Dessert Day

Β  

Β 

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Hope everyone has a sweet day!!!​

​I just tasted these delicious cupcakes from Huascar & Co Bake Shop.  The flavors going clockwise were Nutty Fella (chocolate fudge cupcake with Nutella filling, Glanduja buttercream frosting with chocolate pearls toasted hazelnuts), Pink Lemonade (lemon sour cream and raspberry cupcake with raspberry buttercream frosting and raspberry chocolate curls) and Berry Champgne (pink champagne cupcake with strawberries baked in iced with vanilla-pink champagne frosting)! 

​Huascar & Co had a bunch of fun flavors and other items in the store, such as spiked tres leches cake which is one of my favorite kind of cakes!  The cupcakes were pretty tasty, more dense than fluffy, the Nutty Fella even had a filling, which was delicious. As for the frosting, I thought it was a bit hard and too bitter tasting, however they did have interesting frosting flavors to go with the different cupcakes. 

Little Havana Food Tour in Miami

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During my vacation in Miami, I wanted to more than just your typical beach and party routine.Β  After seeking out some recommendations from my new friends from Sunrise, Florida, my friend and I decided to take a food tour with Miami Culinary Tours.Β  They had a few tour options, but decided the Little Havana Food tour, would give us a new cultural tour in addition to some yummy Cuban Food!

Stop 1 - El Pub Restaurant

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Stop 1 of the food tour was at El Pub restaurant, they are best known for their beef empanadas & coffee, which exactly what we had and a great way to start the tour!Β  For those of you who do not know, an empanada is basically dough filled with something, such as beef.Β  Variations of empanadas exist in many different cultures, such as calzones and dumplings.Β  I also learned about the "colada," which is a Cuban coffee that is mean to be shared (you should not have a full cup, but rather a small little shot, the size of a creamer).

 
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Stop 2 - Cuba Tobacco Cigar Co.

Next we headed to the Cuba Tobacco Cigar Factory, where we learned how cigars were made and got to see it first hand.Β  Fun Fact - The owner of this factory was actually imprisoned for 20 years prior to starting this factory and was sitting on the couch in the front of the store.

 
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Stop 3 - Domino Park

Domino Park is where all of the seniors go to play, you guessed it... dominos!Β  The park is a social club and the place to be during teh day for dominos and chess (but gambling is not allowed). Don’t forget to bring your ID, because they will card you!

 
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Stop 4 - Old's Havana

We then headed lunch at Old Havana, where we had a delicious Cuban sandwich & croquette.Β  A cuban sandwich consists of pernil (one of my favorites!), ham, pickle and cheese, croquettes are basically fried sticks of food, usually consisting of potato.

 
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Stop 5 - Ball & Chain

We migrated to some live Latin music at Ball & Chain for some refreshing mojitos!Β  Ball & Chain is definitely one of the most lively places in Little Havana, with a fantastic live band in the front of the restaurant and a pineapple theme!Β  Β They also have a nice little patio area in the back, this may have been my favorite spot on the tour - I will definitely be back next time I am in Little Havana!

 
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Stop 6 - Yisell Bakery

On to Yisell Bakery for some guava filled pastries (pastelitos).Β  This little hole in the wall bakery, looked kind of small and run down, but had some great pastries, bread and was very busy with locals. The bakery was crowded in the middle of the day while we were there, which says a lot about a place.

 

Stop 7 - Los Pinarenos Fruteria

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This fruit stand has a variety of fruits that you would not find at your local grocery store, here you can find giant avocados, green plantains, lady fingers (baby bananas), dragon fruit, star fruit and fresh mangos to name a few!Β  Here we had a very fresh mango smoothie, which you could tell was made right on the spot, I could definitely use another one in this heat!Β 

Fun Fact: this is one of the only open air fruit stands left standing AND was featured in some movies.

 
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Stop 8 - Azucar

Time for dessert!Β  For the final stop of the tour we headed to Azucar for some mantecado ICE CREAM topped with guava syrup! This shop was created by a local who saw the need to create a place for tourists to enjoy the local culture, thus Azucar was born!

 

Along the tour, we saw many roosters, both statues and real ones, very depicting of islands in general.Β  Β 

Needless to say my friend and I were STUFFED by the end of this tour.Β  I would definitely recommend taking this tour if you want to learn about the culture, while stuffing your face!

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Rainbow Cookie Ice Cream topped with Homemade Lemon Meringue from Bona Bona Ice Cream

Rainbow Cookie Ice Cream topped with Homemade Lemon Meringue from Bona Bona Ice Cream

Celebrating National Ice Cream Day at the 3rd Annual NYC Summer Ice Cream Blizzard - with a variety of NYC's most unique artisan ice cream makers and flavors.

Celebrating National Ice Cream Day at the 3rd Annual NYC Summer Ice Cream Blizzard - with a variety of NYC's most unique artisan ice cream makers and flavors.

For those of you who know me well, you know I have a big sweet tooth and LOVE ice cream!  

Today I attended the 3rd Annual NYC Summer Ice Cream Blizzard at the Grand Baazar NYC on the Upper West Side. There were so many varieties of ice cream it was hard to choose where to go! There was everything from ice cream mochi from My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream, ice cream sandwiches from Melt Bakery and Thai ice cream rolls from Minus Celsius Ice Cream to ice cream stuffed donuts from Stax Ice Cream, ice cream like cookie dough from 2 Dough Boyz and deep fried ice cream from Sam's Fried Ice Cream to name a few.   

I decided to get something new that I had not seen before (which is rare when it comes to ice cream) - rainbow cookie ice cream topped with toasted lemon meringue from Bona Bona Ice Cream! If you’re wondering, yes it tastes as good as it looks!  The rainbow cookie ice cream had bits of rainbow cookie in it (one of my favorite cookies), and the toasted lemon meringue added a nice touch, definitely a good decision made today! 

Thank you to my friend Della for indulging in my love of ice cream and attending this, despite the intense heat today!  

Until next time, stayed tuned for more ice cream and foodie adventures!