Filed under: Random Ramblings
My Compaq Presario has finally died. After 3 years of faithful service, it has shut down one last time. I spent today searching for a computer store just so I could have a laptop when I intern in Germany.
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I’m having pangs of nostalgia now that undergraduate life is over and everyone is moving on. I sure will miss the inane chatter during dinner and the little things that make everyone unique.
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Ludwigshafen, here I come.
There was one week between the end of finals and graduation weekend, so Chris and I decided to head down to the Bahamas to get some much-missed sun. I’ve always wanted to see the Bahamas anyway and images of white sandy beaches and blue clear seas loomed irresistibly in my head. I guess I’m just a sucker for these sort of things.
First sight of the Bahamas from the air. The Bahamas is a collection of 700 islands and Nassau, being the capital, is the most touristy and populated of all. It’s no surprise that tourism is the biggest industry in the Bahamas. Off-shore banking comes in second, since this is like the summer home for rich millionaires. But that said, it’s so pretty! Any sea that lets you see the reefs from the air has to be awesome.
The Bahamian local beer: Kalik! Light like a Sol or Corona. We had this beer on the first night at this place called Goldie’s along the Fish Fry stretch. Goldie’s was horrible and was obviously more of a bar than an eating place. The conch (pronounced konk by some Bahamian boat tour guide) fritter was more of flour than anything. My grilled snapper was more steamed than grilled, but since I adore steamed snapper, I wasn’t too displeased. Anyway, conch is supposedly a shellfish that’s featured predominantly in Bahamian cuisine and is an aphrodisiac to guys. The shell behind the Kalik bottle is a conch shell.
The final on Goldie’s is: 0.7 thumbs/2 thumbs. It’s cheap, filling but of little quality.
We went diving on the second day. Pity there weren’t any underwater photos but the Caribbean sea was simply amazing. We saw a plane wreck from the set of Jaws 4, flown by Michael Caine and schools of snappers. Visibility was excellent and sigh..I’m missing it already.
We saw scuba divers looking for sharks too. Looks like shark food to me.
Cabbage Beach on Paradise Island after diving. Where my fantasies became a reality. The water was so clear that you could see your feet as you waded in the ocean. It was blazing hot though, and drinks sold on the beach are insanely expensive. Cabbage Beach is THE beach worth visiting in Nassau/Paradise Island.
Jerked chicken for dinner, another Bahamian dish. We got this from one of the roadside stalls for $10. The hotel people told me that a typical jerked chicken dish costs between $4 to $7, i.e. we got ripped off. It’s rather nice though.
The Cloisters on Paradise Island on the third day. It seems rather touristy and we had to trek for a crazy long time in the sweltering sun to get there. Not worth sweating it out for. It’s pretty, but somewhat superficial, like there isn’t much history. Yea, it was imported brick by brick from some 14th century French monastry but nothing much more. It’s a site for many weddings though. Oh, and on the way to Paradise Island via the boat ferry, we heard trivia repeated by our various boat tour guides so many times that I now know:
- Nicholas Cage has a house in Bahamas and his yatch is named Sea Ghost
- His neighbours include the late Richard Harris, whose house was owned by Charlie Chaplin
- Anna Nicole Smth gave birth to her daughter and her son died at Doctor’s Hospital, a peach looking building
- The most expensive room in the Atlantis costs $25,000/night, 4 nights minimum. It’s the bridge suite connecting the 2 towers of the Atlantis. It has 10 rooms, and is booked for 5 years solid.
- The Atlantis is currently is in its third phase of construction
- Those mansions belonging to all those rich people have no roads linking to the rest of Paradise Island because they want their privacy. The only way to their mansions is by boat
- There’s a yoga place run by Swamis. No meat, alcohol, tobacco and sex. That’s why it’s so empty in the Bahamas (they repeat this joke almost everytime).
I learn a lot.
If I’m coming back Bahamas, I’m going to stay on Paradise Island. Forget Nassau. There’s nothing much there and if you are looking for a cultural experience, it’s so watered down with all that tourism you don’t know what how real it is anyway. Paradise Island is money-making tourism to the max but at least you can get everything you need from that place. On Nassau, most shops close by 6 pm which makes the place boring at night. The only places open are McDonalds and expensive restaurants. So if you are broke and want to see the Bahamas, save up and come back another day.
Filed under: Food, New York City | Tags: babbo, Food, joe's shanghai, New York City
As fans of Iron Chef America, we decided to head down to NYC for a day just to try Mario Batali’s Babbo. That has to be one of the craziest things we have done in a moment of rashness, since we were banking on faith that Babbo would be worth the 4 hours drive there and back and braving NYC’s crazy traffic.
We 4 foodies travelled down on the Saturday in the middle of exam period. Kudos to Ku (haha, rhymes eh?) since he had a crazy amount of finals the next week but he still gave up a Saturday to join Chris, Junch and I on our food adventure. Our first stop was lunch at Joe’s Shanghai, nestled in one of those messy lanes in NYC’s Chinatown.
The staple food everyone has to order at Joe’s Shanghai is the Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings). It’s not the best I had, but it’s cheap, really filling and so all in all, really value for money. Get the Xiao Long Bao with crab roe, but be sure to share it because it can get uncomfortable after 3 or 4 of those babies. I’m not sure how dinner is like, but lunchtime can be really busy so you have to get there early to get a table. Oh, and be prepared to share tables with strangers since the waiters will rush your group to a huge round table meant for 10 and plonked you right next to someone you don’t know. So with a few awkward glances and nods, we sat down with strangers and attacked our food with gusto. It was immensely satisfying. And the waiters are extremely curt and efficient. The moment we finish our Xiao Long Bao, our waiter swooped down and gathered the basket, leaving us almost no time to attack the Nappa leaves at the bottom. And did I mention the late Ong Teng Cheong visited Joe’s Shanghai before?
And so, here’s the final on Joe’s Shanghai:
Food: 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs
Service: 1 thumbs/2 thumbs
Value for Money: 1.5 thumbs/2 thumbs
Overall: 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs
After walking off lunch around NYC, it was with great expectations and excitment when we finally went to Babbo.
Rumor has it that Babbo is constantly packed and has only 6 tables and 10 bar seats for walk-ins daily. We decided to play it safe and started queuing at 4 pm when the restaurant opens at 5.30 pm. But to our surprise, we weren’t the first and we were beaten by these 2 old ladies. That only served to raise my expectations because I have never queued for a restaurant for one and a half hours. Ku and I spent the time trying to memorize the tasting menu in Italian, much to the embarrassment of Junch and Chris.
Fortunately, queuing so early was a good idea. There was a long queue when the restaurant finally opened and we managed to get a table. I would hate to be eating at the bar. Guess those rumors aren’t unfounded. When we finally got to our table, we were greeted by this really curt Asian waiter who seems displeased to serve us. Boo. Thumbs down for service. I’m expecting to be treated like a god, but I feel like someone who doesn’t deserve to dine at Babbo. So anyway, we decided to try the tasting menu as Junch pointed out there’s where a restaurant makes its name. And since I had such an awesome experience at Morimoto in Phily where I had the tasting menu too (which I will blog about once I get my hands on the food photos, but believe me, it was VERY VERY VERY good), I figured we can’t go wrong with that.
The food was good. I thought the pork was interesting since they used a risotto made of barley (called a barlotto), but it had a slight smell that was a bit of a turn off. The pork had an excellent texture though. The pappardelle with porcini and thyme was a show-stealer but I thought the duck tortelli tasted like lamb which was weird. I liked the prosciutto dish but I felt that it didn’t say much about the chefs’ skills since it was a dish that relied mainly on the quality of the ingredients. Desserts were awesome and wowed us more than the salty dishes.
Since we were paying $75 per pax, it was only fair that we were expecting something of high quality. Babbo met the expectations but did not exceed it as I was hoping it would. I’m blaming it on expectations raised too high. Here’s the final on Babbo:
Food: 1.5 thumbs/2 thumbs
Service: 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs
Value for Money: 1.4 thumbs/2 thumbs
Overall: 1.4 thumbs/2 thumbs
The next time I’m going Babbo, I’m ording a la carte because that menu sounds so much more appetizing and exciting.
Though it has been about 2 months since we went Hawaii, the beautiful land of luaus, volcanos and a melting pot of cultures still remain high on my lists of must-go-before-you-die and places-i-want-to-see-again. And this post is the perfect opportunity to display my cross-processed Holga slide photos, which I think turned out rather well. Ah, the self-indulgence of it all (and on a separate note, this paragraph has loads of hyphens)
Waikiki beach. I miss the blue sky and sea.
The outrigger was hilarious. Ideally, we should paddle all the way out and when the wave comes in, we have to paddle hard so that we can catch the wave without getting submerged. We did it the first time and it was thrilling. So our guide brought us out again for a second time. However this time, we were exhausted. It did not help that Cheewei was at the front laughing his ass off for some reason, and despite Estelle yelling, “Cheewei, stop laughing and f*cking paddle!”, we were just not fast enough. For the first time, I saw what the guide meant when he said we will submerge. And since I stupidly thought we will never submerge (hey, tourist traps shouldn’t endanger your life), I lost my Nikon Coolpix camera, R.I.P.
Requisite photos of us in beach wear.
Off to see the volcanos at Hawai’i, or commonly called Big Island. This is not the state of Hawaii, but rather, an island with an active volcano that is constantly spewing lava. As the lava dries up, the island expands. Pretty cool stuff. The capital of Hawaii, Honolulu, is on O’ahu which is where you’ll find your touristy stuff like Waikiki Beach and Polynesian dinners that are never worth their price. So we took a plane from O’ahu and flew to Hawai’i for a day to see real volcanos. If you are expecting to see red hot molten lava, you might be a little underwhelmed, unless you are really lucky. But, it’s kinda cool to just look at the barren crater and wonder at Mother Nature. -cue thoughtful look-. The black stuff in the background you see on the last two photos, that’s dried lava for you.
The volcano crater.
There are still so many places I want to see in Hawaii but Spring Break is much too short to cover everything. Besides, money is always a limiting factor. My personal take is if you are looking for beautiful beaches, Maui is probably a better bet than O’ahu. Most of O’ahu looks a little like a 1980s Singapore anyway so you won’t be missing much if you don’t spend most of your holiday there. Do the island hopping thing, if finances allow, because that lets you see the different aspects of Hawaiian life.
So here are the much-delayed photos from Grad Night 2008. It was a splendid dinner party at Olivia and an awesome after party at 909. Why didn’t we do this more often?
It is MUCH smaller than what the photos on the Olivia website would have you believe.
One of the rare occasions where we get to dress up for a night out. Cos Ithaca is just not worth the effort.
Seared tuna. They served us Chinese dinner-style (i.e. serve food on a huge plate and everyone just helps themselves). I was expecting individual portions so that was a bit of a let down. Frankly, the food was not great. Some dishes were not even of an acceptable standard. The rice they served was bland and hard. Any respectable restaurant should have gotten rice right. That is not to say I didn’t enjoy myself. I love what Sheryl and co did, what with all the fun activities and the awesome gifts they made for us seniors. But then again, dinner at last year’s Sheldrake Point was a let down too. Which brings me to believe these restaurants can’t cater to a huge party. That say, kudos to Sheryl and co for an awesome grad night.
So judging from that dinner, here’s the final on Olivia:
Service: 1.3/2 thumbs up
Food: 0.8/2 thumbs up
Value: 0.8/2 thumbs up
Overall: 1/2 thumbs up
After dinner, it’s after-party at 909. Kings and Never Ever Ever (I forgot how many Evers are there in the name) are the best drinking games. Period. And there is always the requisite drunk clown, who in this case is Ian Mr Puke. Copious amount of alcohol drunk later, there were many many happy people that night (and one massive cleaning up of a bathroom stained with Mr Puke’s dinner).
Junch’s midnight snack for us. Chocolate and corn crepe (?) with erm…I forgot what it’s called. Some chocolaty thing but it’s mighty good!
I’m still waiting for photos from Grad Night @ Olivia’s so until then, I can’t blog about it. I promise that will be the first thing I’ll put up once I get my hands on them. It was a fun time though, with a smashing after-party at 909 where we christened one of our fellow seniors Mr. Puke. More on that later.
Though this has been a while, I still think The Heights Cafe & Grill is one of Ithaca’s gems. I had this with C last Valentine’s Day and it was one of the better restaurants I had in Ithaca so far.
Beautiful appetizers. I can’t remember what it is though, but it was really really good. Oh hell, who cares if I can’t remember what it is. Don’t the pictures say it all?
I think this is a roasted half ducking but I can’t be sure. According to C, the thigh was overcooked, but the other half was just nice. But the skin was crispy and that burst of duck oil is just to die for.
I love my veal porterhouse with sea scallops and beggars purse. The beggars purse was a bit too rich with the meaty veal, but I liked how the scallops balances out the richness. The veal was cooked nicely, and really, what else could you complain about a perfectly-cooked huge chunk of veal?
So all in all, a nice 1.4 thumbs/2 thumbs up.
If there’s one thing everyone looks forward to at the end of spring semester here in Ithaca/Cornell, it’s Slope Day. Every year, there will be a huge open air concert on the slope and everyone celebrates the end of another academic year. It’s a day of debauchery, decadence and alcohol. The first year I was here, Ben Folds headlined the concert. TI came last year, but since I was not into rap, I really couldn’t give a damn. This year is Gym Class Heroes, which I must say was pretty good.
Gym Class Heroes in action and happy people
Brunch at 909 before the concert. I debuted my homemade bacon-flavored vodka, as inspired by Cowboy Caleb. I thought it would be liquid gold, but it wasn’t a hit. Goes nicely with coke though.
Poached eggs, asparagus and homemade hollandaise sauce. Hollandaise sauce is such a pain to make and so incredibly unhealthy, given that it’s butter-based. But a hollandaise-based sauce is the way to go, since there are so many things you can do with it. There was also quiche (Thomas Keller’s recipe) and pistachio encrusted french toast (Wolfgang Puck’s recipe), so all in all, it was a good brunch.
How to make hollandaise sauce:
1) Reduce a mixture of vineger and black pepper. Get rid of the big specks.
2) Beat 4 egg yolks with the vineger reduction over simmering water until the mixture thickens. DO NOT SCRAMBLE THE EGGS!
3) Melt 120g of butter and gradually incorporate it into the eggs. Whisk continuously.
4) Add lemon juice to lighten the flavor if you want. You should aim for a lemony-yellow color and butter should be the predominant taste.
The bad thing about hollandaise sauce is that you can’t keep it for long. Put it in the fridge and the butter will coagulate. Heating the sauce will only scramble the eggs, giving the sauce a bad grainy texture. So after the sauce is made, keep it in a warm place and use it within the next 2 hours before it goes bad. Don’t forget, the sauce has semi-raw eggs in it, but the acidity from the vineger/lemon juice should keep bacteria growth at bay at least for a while.
If I had to use one word to describe Lucatelli’s at Ithaca, it’s disappointing. We happen to stop by for dinner whilst grocery shopping since J always wanted to try it. Since it was unplanned, no photos as I have no camera 
But, take my word for it, if you happen to be in Ithaca, and you are choosing between Lucatelli’s and Wegmans’ Fish Fry, choose Fish Fry. My pasta with clams was dry and there was hardly any clam taste in the almost non-existant white sauce. The only saving grace was that they were not stingy with the clams, though I think the chopped up clams were from a can. Oh and they have a free salad bar with soup so if you like quantity (esp veggies), Lucatelli’s is not that bad.
1 thunb/2 thumbs up
It’s been 3 years since I came Ithaca. I have never really blogged about it since, well, I just assumed it will always be there in my life. But now I’m about to graduate, I guess I can’t take it for granted anymore. Yeah, I’ll still be here for 1 more year, but 1 year passes really fast and before I know it, it’ll be time for me to go back to the Lion City.
This is what I have been doing the entire semester for 14 weeks. I’ve been designing an MTBE decomposition plant to manufacture isooctene from MTBE for further gasoline blending. Sounds nerdy, I know, but when you have devoted a good part of your 14 weeks to this damn project (sweat and tears), you gotta take some pride in it.
Mussels at Zaza’s Ithaca! The reputed Italian restaurant to go in Ithaca. Sadly, doesn’t live up to the hype. The mussels were not as delicious as the one at Caseus at New Haven. A bit bland I think.
The lobster risotto was better than the mussels though. One of the better ones I had. I liked the requisite bread and olive oil they give. Pity the photos didn’t turn out well. Overall, a nice 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs up.
