Blue Smoke

Location: 116 E. 27th St., New York, NY
Cuisine: American
Hours: SUN-MON (11:30am-10pm); TUE-THU (11:30am-11pm); FRI-SAT (11:30am-1am)
Phone: (212) 447-7733
Website: www.bluesmoke.com
Prices: $30/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 4
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

The last restaurant of my holiday food fest was Blue Smoke with Kelly. New Year's Eve was unusually warm. As I walked out there, it started to feel hot with my light jacket on. So it was a nice day to be out. This place also had a good menu with healthy options. I wasn't going to order any steaks or burgers after all the eating from the rest of the week. I went with something light this time... a veggie burger.

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The service was OK. I think the staff checked back a little too often though. The environment was roomy with the help of a high ceiling. We were seated in the back, which had a refreshing view of the garden. I can't say the portions match up to the price of the meal though. I had a Coke and veggie burger. Kelly had a pulled pork sandwich and iced tea. We both had a slice of banana cream pie. That added up to $60... as if we both had a steak dinner! I'd say it was around $15 over what I thought it was worth. Maybe we paid for the nice window seat!

Palace Diner

Note: Palace Diner will be closed permanently after tonight. So these are the final stats:

Location: formerly 60-15 Main St., Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Diner, Greek, American
Hours: DAILY (24 Hours)
Phone: n/a
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 5

Frequency: Common

We were finally able to schedule a group dinner tonight and I read erlier in the week that Place Diner was going to be closing after 30 years of business. So we all headed there for a farewell dinner. It was sort of a neighborhood hangout when we were in high school and college. I lived in its neighborhood for a few years, but only ate there a few times. Everything was just as it was decades ago... same interior, menu and staff!

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Palace Diner will be replaced by a Chinese Restaurant, which can't be a surprise to anyone. Flushing's Chinatown is rapidly expanding and has now made it all the way up to Horace Harding. A few years ago, a Key Food across the street from the diner was replaced by a Chinese supermarket. It's early impossible to get Western food that's not a chain restaurant now.

Related: Daily News, Queens Tribune, Times Ledger, NY1

Picnic Garden

Location: 147-42 Northern Blvd. Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Korean, Buffet, BBQ
Hours: DAILY (11am-11pm)
Phone: (718) 358-5959
Prices: $16/person (Lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: Common

The holiday food fest continued today at Picnic Garden with my parents, Auntie Kim and Uncle Bock. I first went to this place years ago with my parents after they tried it out with friends. Even though it's outside of the downtown area, it still gets agood crowd at around 12:30. We got there at 12 and by 1 it was packed.

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The buffet counters have a good variety of appetizers and main courses. The appetizers consist of various kim chee and cooked foods (dumplings, soup, chicken wings, etc.). Main courses are all uncooked since the BBQ takes place at the individual table.

The service is constantly at work as staff members made rounds to cut meat and check on the grills. The restaurant space is not that big, but all employees are on a walkie talkie system. Some people don't tip at buffets, but you should definitely do so here because the staff works harder than the typical restaurant waiters.

The food was great as with all Korean BBQ places. The space was a bit small, but still clean and comfortable.

MoMA II

After lunch, we went to Starbucks and ended up talking about MoMA. Since neither of us had plans, we headed out there. For a regular weekday, the museum was more crowded than I had ever seen. It took us forever to get tickets even though I was able to get us on the members' line. Then the bag check took even longer. But it was nice to go there again even though the Talk to Me exhibit is gone.

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Note: Photos from today were added to the end of the album I started in September.

It was a good thing we went too because I just learned that my Wiley benefit to MoMA will be cut slightly for 2012. This year, I can get myself + 2 guests in for free. Next year, I can only get myself in, but up to guests at $5 per person.

BCD Tofu House

Location: 17 W. 32nd St. (between 5th Ave & Broadway)
Cuisine: Korean
Hours: DAILY (24 Hours)
Phone: (212) 967-1900
Website: www.bcdtofu.com
Prices: $16/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

There was the big Christmas meal on the 25th and then 2 days of leftovers. Today, it was back to the restaurants again. This time, I was catching up with James in Koreatown. That was what we were looking at a couple of weeks ago, but our schedules conflicted and we had to put it off. I don't have a lot oif experience with that area, but James had eaten at BCD Tofu House before and it was a good choice because they serve organic tofu. So it was nice to eat something healthy after the Christmas buffet.


Their appetizers were a little bit less than most Korean restaurants, but that was totally fine with me. I didn't want to overeat for another meal! All dishes included their specialty tofu. I ordered the bulgogi (BBQ Sliced Rib Eye). I thought it was a soup based on description, but the bulgogi was served on a plate and the tofu soup on the side. I had some pieces plain and other I mixed into the soup. Either way, it was good.

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011

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Unwrapping


Christmas 2011


Towers

Merry Christmas

Green Papaya

Location: 38-04 Prince St., Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Thai
Hours: DAILY (Lunch & Dinner)
Phone: (718) 353-1888
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 9
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

Holiday vacation officially began for me today. With Christmas on a Sunday, the office gave us Friday 12/23 off. I wasn't able to coordinate a group meal with the rest of the gang, but Ben also had the day off and no lunch plans. So the food fest continued today at Green Papaya, another Flushing Thai restaurant that we could compare to Excellent Thai.


There were a lot of good appetizers, so the right choice for a 2 person meal was the sampler, which had 2 of everything from fish cakes to satay sticks. The most interesting was the tuxedo shrimp (detail next to restaurant info.). It's a fried shrimp wrapped like a Shanghai eggroll and shaped like the inner part of a tuxedo.


For my main course, I picked my Thai restaurant benchmark... curry beef stew. The meat at Green Papaya was tender and not overly chewy. The dish felt more like a curry soup than stew as it was too watered down. Instead of putting the curry sauce over my rice, I ended up dumping rice into the soup bowl. Overall, it tasted good still and was a descent size for one person.

I didn't check out the restrooms, but the restuarant itself was pretty clean and the environment was confortable. Service was good as well.

Happy Buddha

We're starting to get close to the holidays. Like last year, I ended up with a lot of vacation days to burn in December. So I scheduled every Monday off + the last week of the year. I usually spend this time meeting up with friends for meals. I kicked off this Holiday Food Fest today with Lewis for lunch at Happy Buddha. For pictures and restaurant details, please check out my previous posts:

- December 17, 2010 (Lunch)
- June 26, 2009 (Dinner)

Emily's Birthday

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Windy City adiZero Rose 2.0

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Grand Restaurant (Dim Sum)

Location: 40-21 Main St., Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese
Hours: SUN-THU (11:30am-9:30pm); FRI-SAT (11:30am-10:30pm)
Phone: (718) 321-8258
Website: grandrestaurantny.com
Prices: $11/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

The last time I went out for dim sum with my parents on a day off, we attempted to go to Grand Restaurant when it first opened. We decided to eat there because the line was too long. I think we ended up in Tung Yi Fung. My mom heard from a friend that the crowds have died down a bit since it was the new thing in Flushing, so we gave it another shot today. It was still pretty crowded for 11:30am on Monday, but much more comfortable and no line/wait.

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The food was pretty good. They had all of the standard dim sum items and a few original ones I haven't had anywhere else. Having Grand Restaurant around makes up for the closing of Gala Manor.

More Clam Case Pics

The Clam Case I just wrote about deserved more photos, so it was the subject of my first photo shoot with my new class 10 memory card:

Lost Videos

I got a new memory card for my camera, so I reviewed my old one before wiping it and found some short video clips that I never posted. This tends to happen when I shoot video with my still camera. I posted them based on original date so they would be close to related entries. Here are the links:

Sizzling Beef
Chinese New Year Dinner
February 14, 2010

Bryce's Dog
Bryce's Birthday
March 20, 2010

Cancun Dolphins
Reinhard & Marites' Wedding
July 5, 2010

Something interesting about the memory card upgrade... the first shot I took on it was from August, 21 2009 when we ate at Tito Rad's. The last shot was at Ben's Birthday party, catered by Tito Rad's!

Ben's Birthday

The monthly dinners went on hold in 2011 because there were a lot of changes within the group. I started a new job last year. Charlotte & Jeff moved to Long Island. Emily had a work schedule change and recently started classes. Irene moved to Kansas City. Reinhard moved to Forest Hills. So it's been a bit harder to meet up, which made tonight's get together more fun. Not everyone was there, but I got to catchup with Ben, Charlotte & Jeff.

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The food was fittingly catered by Tito Rad's, which was our group dinner location for August 2009.

White Clam Case

I ended up getting the Clam Case after all as the white one just came out last week. The generic case I bought back in June didn't turn out to be so good. Sometimes it would work perfectly and other times the keyboard would act up, either not responding to keypresses or typing multiple letters on a single press. This started to make me less efficient when typing on the train. I was backspacing so much to make corrections that documents often took me 2-3x longer than they should have. So even though the Clam Case was $150, I still felt it was worth it because I'd be able to type normally. Since the generic one was just $35, I didn't feel too bad. Some parts of the imitation leather were starting to wear down and it did a great job of protecting my iPad for 6 months. While the keyboard was mediocre, it was an excellent folio case.

The Clam Case is worth every penny. It's a solid construction that will protect your iPad on all sides. It's versatile because you can use you iPad as a tablet or laptop without removing it from the case. The keyboard is solid and as responsive as a computer's keyboard. The generic one I had was to soft, which is probably why it had contact issues. If there's one downside to the Clam Case it's the weight. In order for it to stand up like a laptop, the base/keyboard needs to be heavier than the iPad otherwise it would tip over. When attached to the case, the iPad weight doubles and feels like a netbook.

Thanksgiving

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Ihawan 2

Location: 10-07 50th Avenue, Long Island City
Cuisine: Filipino
Hours: SUN-THU (11:30am-9:30pm); FRI-SAT (11:30am-10:30pm)
Phone: (718) 937-7373
Website: www.ihawan2.com
Prices: $17/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 9
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

We finally tried out Ihawan 2, the 2nd establishment from the family owned Ihawan in Woodside. The Long Island City branch retains all of the items as the original, but seems to have a large grill menu. Since it was our first time here, we went with all of the usual dishes so we could compare. For more details on the food, click into the Picasa album.

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Ihawan 2 opened up a few years ago and since it was the 2nd in the chain, it was build ground up with nice looking materials. It has a restaurant feel as opposed to kitchen or backyard BBQ like the original. The space is well decorated, has nice lighting and high ceilings. Seating accommodates mostly groups of 2 and 4, but the layout is very movable for larger groups.

Located just outside of the Vernon-Jackson 7 Train stop, Ihawan 2 is in a business/industrial neighborhood, so things are a bit slow around dinner time. We went tonight at 6:30pm and it was empty for a long time. They had only 2 other dine-in customers while we were there. So it's not as festive as Woodside, but could be just what you're looking for if you want a nice quiet restaurant with great food.

Jiuzhaigou, China

While we were in Singapore, our parents went on a separate side trip to Jiuzhaigou, China. It was almost the same group that went to Xiamen 4 years ago.

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Jiuzhaigou, though not as popular to Americans as Beijing and Shanghai, is a well-known national park just north of Sichuan. It features some of the most scenic waterfall and lake scenes in the world.

Elan Cafe

Philippines - Last Day

8:30am - On our last day, we almost saw everyone for a little bit. As with every morning, we started the day at Elan Cafe, but this time in a much larger groups as Uncle Philip, Auntie Tina, Uncle Ramon joined us for breakfast.

10am - Right after, we drove out to see my Mom's Aunt, Lau Dee Go and Uncle Charlie. Their house still looked the same as 4 years ago, even after that huge flood that immersed the entire 1st floor.

12pm - Then, Auntie Remy battled through traffic to get us to Gloria Maris for lunch with Uncle Mariano and his friends.

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2pm - After lunch, we hung out at the hotel where Auntie Aida and Auntie Solidad joined us. All of the parents talked about their recent China trip and the Si Bian Stone brushes for hours.

3pm - Ifore and I went out to bring back snacks from Razon's.

5pm - After some rest and getting ready for dinner, we were still a little bit early. Ifore picked up Jiselle and we all went to Greenhills Mall where I picked up some last second gifts. James met up with us there and we all headed to dinner together.

6:30pm - My Mom's side of the family took over Elan Cafe for dinner, where the staff prepared a special Filipino style buffet (most of the normal menu is international). Oddly enough, there were a few other customers mixed in with our tables. That must have felt super awkward!

9pm - As the party was dying down, some of us went upstairs to the room. Uncle Mariano and family also came down later (they have an apartment on the 25th floor).

Wedding Toast

As one of principle sponsors, Matthew picked my Dad to do the toast at the reception:


The speech started out as a few short sentences that were very templated, but he really got into customizing it. After adjusting and adding, it became a much less generic speech.

Wedding Games

When it came time for the wedding games at the reception, I told Alvin and Cheryl to get ready. Couples were being called and they were the only unmarried couple on our side of the family. They were absolutely going to get picked!


The first game had the girl holding a pack of needles and the guy had to thread as many as he could in 2 minutes. Alvin and Cheryl did get called as expected and made it to the 2nd round (not in video).

Matthew & Hanika

Wedding days are always full day events when you're involved. I headed out at 9:30am to meet with Matt and the rest of the groomsmen to have pictures taken at Crowne Plaza Hotel. Guess what we had for brunch? Jollibee! I think that was my 4th time already. After the photo shoot, we all went to Grace Village for the wedding. We miraculously made it there in record time with no traffic. We were so early that the church wasn't even ready for us to enter! That was great because we had about 45 minutes to relax.

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The wedding itself was a bit less than an hour, so it wasn't boring at all. The ceremony was to-the-point, which was surprising because it was the same pastor that married Christine and Nino. The group pictures were done pretty efficiently as well.

It was about 3:30pm when we got out of the church, leaving plenty of time to get back to San Juan for rest, a snack and then the reception, right? That didn't go as planned as we ran into heavy traffic. We didn't make it to the hotel until about 5:30pm. So we just had a quick snack... Papa John's pizza of all things! That broke my non-American streak! We headed out to the reception at Gloria Maris, just across the street around 7pm. The pizza snack was practical because the banquet didn't start until after 8:30pm. I was tempted to take some of the kids to Jollibee, just as the announcement came on that it was beginning!

JT's Manukan Grille

Location: Valencia St. & Granada St., San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: Filipino, BBQ
Phone: (02) 721 9025
Prices: $5/person (no joke)
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 10
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

Uncle Charlie will be going on a business trip to China/HK tomorrow, so I wanted to see him one last time. As we were heading back to San Juan, Ifore called his dad on the phone and caught him just before he was about to go to bed (he sleeps weird hours). So we went over the house to chat for a while. When dinner time came around, we went to JT's Manukan Grille.

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Many Filipino foods have been commercialized and franchised, so it's difficult to avoid the chains if you're a tourist. Only locals would know which mom-and-pop shops could be trusted. Ifore has been going to JT's Manukan Grille regularly and it's as authentic as it gets. It's a roadside food stand with some outdoor seating... a true Philippines dining experience. The food is even served on leaves, so you can go kamayan if you choose! JT's Manukan Grille is actually a small chain now, but it still retains the same experience as when it was unique.

This was my best meal in Philippines... tied with Jollibee of course! Besides the taste, the greatest part about this meal was the price... came out to $16 US for 3 people. That wasn't a tiny snack either. We had 3 BBQ sticks, bangus, beef ribs, soup and rice. If I lived here, I'd eat this all the time!

Happy Lemon

Location: 1st Level Promenade Mall, Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: Dessert, Tea
Website: www.happy-lemon.com
Prices: $3/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

Right after, we went downstairs to Happy Lemon for dessert to try one of Ifore's favorites. He warned us that it's not for everyone, but still something that should be tried. It turned out to be an interesting and good drink. I'd probably get it again if I passed by. For more details, click here.

Freska Ilonggo

Location: 2nd Level Promenade Mall, Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: Filipino, Seafood
Phone: (02) 744-3446
Website: freskagroup.com
Prices: $10/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 9
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

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After everyone got rest from the Singapore trip, we were at it again in the Philippines. Continuing with local cuisines, we went to Freska Ilonggo for Filipino seafood. I had asked Ifore if there was a place that had tuna jaw and this was the most likely place to have it. He also mentioned a raw fish dish that I should try. Green mango shake, which was still on my list should have been at every Filipino restaurant, but I still hadn't had it yet. They didn't have the tuna jaw, but the other 2 items were knocked off the list. Overall, the food here was OK, but those of us who went to Singapore had our seafood taste buds spoiled. The raw fish was pretty cool, but I felt the non-seafood items were better than the seafood that they claim to specialize in.

Osaka Town

Location: Raffles City, Singapore
Cuisine: Japanese
Hours: DAILY (11:30am-10pm)
Phone: (+65) 6336 5363
Prices: $10/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

Wing dropped me off at the hotel around 11:30am after our Chinatown breakfast. I already had everything packed, so I just quickly changed into my airport clothes because we had to checkout by noon. Our flight was at 5:45pm, so with the 3-hour rule, we had to leave at around 2:45pm. That still gave us time to eat lunch and shop around the area. The hotel had a storage area for baggage, so we were able to leave it there while we went around. This was the one day with good weather, so it was a bit hotter than the previous 3 days... and we were all wearing long pants in preparation for the flight!

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Everyone was already familiar with Bugis Junction, so we headed over to Raffles City instead. Ifore, Jiselle and Jerick hadn't really shopped around there yet. And I went through very quickly the other day, just looking for the watch. There was a nice Singaporean restaurant with many local dishes, but the place was packed with a long line. So we went for Osaka Town instead, a Japenese ramen restaurant with some Singaporean influence. One of the things they were advertising was Okonomiyaki, or "okos," which are combination noodle dishes. Ordering more entrees than people was tempting because the okos looked small in the menu, but once they were brought out, we were glad we didn't get anything extra. They were pretty big bowls! The food was good and unique, but didn't blow me away. I guess I was spoiled by the Newton and Dempsey meals!

Chinatown Hawker Center

Location: Chinatown, Singapore
Cuisine: Chinese
Prices: $5-10/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 8
Service: 6
Value: 10
Environment: 3

Frequency: Unique

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Because he worked late last night, Wing was able to meet me for breakfast today. He took me to Singapore's Chinatown. The hawker center there was pretty large and had stands on 2 floors. Many were already open even though the foods they served were more for lunch than breakfast. I couldn't find anything breakfast like, so I went for a chicken noodle dish that looked similar to the Hainanese chicken rice. This complex wasn't as full service as the Newton one and not nearly as clean. I probably wouldn't have picked to place if I was alone, so it was good to have a local take me there. I would have missed out if not for Wing.

P.S. Cafe

Location: 28B Harding Rd., Dempsey Hill, Singapore
Cuisine: International
Hours: SUN (9:30am-12am); MON-THU (11:30am-12am); FRI (11:30am-2am); SAT (9:30am-2am)
Phone: (+65) 6479 3343
Website: www.pscafe.sg
Prices: $40/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 10
Service: 9
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

I got back to the hotel around 5:30pm to check in with my friends. Laura was going to meet me at 6:30pm for dinner. Wing was caught up at work and wouldn't be able to meet, so we set a date for breakfast tomorrow. That allowed me to meet with Laura without the pressure of leaving early. She also got held up at work, which let me get organized, wash up, edit photos and do a few blog posts. We met around 7:45pm when she took me outside of the city area to Dempsey Hill... a nice find only a local would know about.

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This was a special dinner because it would be the first time we spent more than an hour together! We had a quick meeting in NY in June and then a couple of days ago. PS Cafe was a nice setting because it was outside of the city. That alone made it a relaxing atmosphere. The lighting was calm and the environment was clean. Decorations were simple, but classy.

In one of our Google Talk chats, we were talking about wagyu burgers (kobe beef). Laura remembered that and the fact that I never had one. So she chose PS Cafe. After all the years, I finally got to try one out. I had a hard time shelling out for one in NYC because they cost around $50. In Singapore, it was just $28 ($22 US). It was a nice, big burger with spinach, melted cheese, crispy onions and special sauce. All of the ingredients enhanced the taste without interfering with the beef patty. With the first bite, I could already tell the difference between wagyu and conventional. I only ate there once, but just based on that meal, I gave this place a 10... my second in the same day. That will never happen again, I'm sure!

J. Co Donuts & Coffee

Location: Raffles City, Singapore
Cuisine: Singaporean, Snacks
Website: www.jcodonuts.com
Prices: $4/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

I had already done a bunch of walking by the time I was at Raffles City, so I earned myself the snack that I passed up on Day 1... the green tea donut at J.Co. There were so many interesting flavors, but the green tea was the one that caught my eye the first time. There was a Mrs. Green Tea, with a nice, glossy green glaze and a Mr. Green Tea with crusted almonds. I went for the Mr. The person at the register said "only one?" I guess most people order by the dozen, but I was just there to eat one and go. I then grabbed a coffee, which was oddly located at a separate register. They threw in a free donut with the coffee... not sure if that was normal, a promo or the guy sensed I was a new customer. The donuts were great... not heavy like the ones I'm used to, but nice and fluffy. They were also very fresh and still a little warm.

Bugis-Raffles Shopping

After lunch, the rest of the group headed over to Orchard/Somerset for shopping. I spoke with Emily earlier in the morning over MagicJack and she mentioned that she was looking for a certain old Casio watch that was cheaper in Singapore. Based on my memory of the first day, I knew we passed by several watch stores in Bugis Junction and Iluma. So I headed there to quickly retrace my steps from Day 1. There was no luck in either, so I went over to Raffles City and an underground mall called City Link. Out of all of those, I only found 2 places with a similar, but not exact model. It turned out to be a new model based on the classic Emily was looking for.

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It started getting close to the end of the work day, so I had to get back to the hotel to call Wing and Laura. I headed back to the hotel and decided to make a quick stop to this hidden shopping area right across the street from Victoria Hotel. I found 2 places that had the watch. The US price is $40, so I was looking for something from $20-30 US. The first store I came across had it at $55 SG and only willing to go down to $50 ($39.53 US). The second place had it at $50 and after a lot of talking offered me $35 ($27.67). That was the true value because they let me walk away from it. I went back after a few minutes to get it.

Another achievement completed! Shopping normally bores me unless I have a goal.

Newton Hawker Center

Location: Newton, Singapore
Cuisine: Singaporean, Seafood
Prices: $18-20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 10
Service: 10
Value: 8
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

Today is the last full day of our stay in Singapore and we still hadn't eaten the famous chili crab yet. So that was to goal of the day. We headed to Newton based on Emily and one of the mall guard's recommendation. Newton is known as one of the more expensive hawker centers, but with chili crabs readily available. We took the SMRT a few stops over. There was a park and overpass we needed to cross in light drizzle. Once we got to the roof covered hawker center, a heavy downpour came. A minute later and we would have been soaked. Most food stands were scheduled to open at 3pm, but there were a few that already had chili crab. We browsed around until we found the right one with everything we wanted. We ended up getting a chili crab, pepper crab, stingray and cereal prawns. It was tempting to add more to the list, but we figured we would order those 4 first and then see how we feel after.

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Topping the previous day, this became the best meal of the trip by far. At the end of our meal, there were piles of bones and shell at the middle of the table. Looking at the whole hawker center, our table looked like the end of a Thanksgiving feast compared to other local tables that had 2 plates. For more details on the dishes, see the Picasa album. This was not only the best meal of the trip so far, but probably one of the best I've ever had, earning the rare 10 mark.

The stand we chose had great service. All the people running it were super friendly. They explained all of the dishes to us and served right to our table, which was on the other side of the stand. Though prices were much higher than other meals we had, they were still very low compared to the NY equivalent of the same dishes. And this was the real thing, not some fake workaround. I'm not sure of the breakdown, but the 2 crabs were $28 each and the total receipt was $88 (less than $70 US). So that leaves $32 for both the stingray and cereal prawns.

The environment was fairly clean for a hawker center... probably around the same level as a fast food place. Bathrooms were pretty good actually.

Only halfway through the day and I was already fully satisfied!

Singapore Day 2

We woke up to heavy rains on the second day and were deciding what to do. The forecast for both today and tomorrow are scattered thunderstorms, so it probably didn't matter. If we didn't make an effort to head out, we'd be in Bugis for the entire trip! So today was the day we'd head for Sentosa. We were told by the locals that it's cheesy and not worth going to, but we decided to see it just to see it. We just weren't planning on spending the entire day there. We headed out about 11am. It was only drizzling at the time, so we made it over to Raffles St. without getting too wet. Then we got a cab to Vivo City for just $7.

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Vivo City
Vivo City is a shopping area just outside of Sentosa and the last chance to get cheap food before entering the touristy island. Laura had recommended a bunch of things to get at the Vivo City food court and we knocked off quite a few of the items. Our lunch consisted of Hainanese chicken, pork sandwiches, fishball soup and sugar cane juice. This meal topped the first day's lunch as the best meal of the trip. It was raining hard after we ate, so we hung out in Vivo City for about another hour just browsing shops. The regular mall shops were very American along with the prices. So I didn't end up buying anything. There were tons of phone and tablet accessories, but nothing wildly exotic that I couldn't find online. There were many interesting food stands throughout the mall, but I was too full to get anything else.

Sentosa
After the rain died down, we took the boardwalk over to Sentosa. It was a scenic route that allowed me to take nice pictures along the way. Sentosa was just what we expected... pretty much a touristy amusement park, but still worth visiting for a few hours just to get some pictures and say we were there.

Marina Bay Sands
We left Sentosa around 4:30pm, checked back at the hotel and then headed off to Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The others had gone there the night before while I was with Wing. Apparently, you have to go on the $50 tour in order to go up to the famous roof deck. Even then, they don't allow you go go in the infinity pool unless you're a guest. We just stayed on the outside, which already provided some interesting camera shots.

Orchard Street
Jiselle wanted to get a preview of shopping for tomorrow, so we headed to Orchard Street after MBS. We had dinner at another Food Republic, this time at the top floor of a Somerset mall. The food stands were similar, but we got a chance to try more different things. I went for Wing's recommendation on the oyster omelet. This is something available in NY, but tastes better in Singapore. After dinner, we checked out the shops in the same building. It was more of the same for me... lots of accessories, nothing that special... no interesting gift items. I made note of the SMRT stop in case we got lost. We then headed out. Jiselle went to H&M while the rest of us went to Courts, Singapore's famous electronics/appliance store. They had a great selection of computer equipment. The prices weren't that good though... about the same as US, but with the tax break. I just wasn't looking for anything, but got to try out the ASUS U36 laptop I always wanted (I didn't end up getting this because my office already provided me with a Macbook Pro).

So that was another complete day where we covered a lot of ground in a short period of time

Singapore Day 1

The Phone
After walking around, we returned to the hotel. I called Laura first, but the phone kept ringing and didn't go to voicemail. Then I dialed Wing's number and it gave me some kind of alert tone instead of a ring. Fortunately, Victoria Hotel had free call AND wi-fi. I was able to get Laura on Whatsapp and she gave me a different number. It turned out that I was getting the errors because I was dialing the country code, 65. After that, I was able to call both Laura and Wing. I even made plans with both on the same night!

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Bugis Junction
Since it was already past noon, we didn't want to venture to one of the hawker centers for lunch. We just went over to Bugis Junction. I walked around first to see which stands were Singaporean because there were a lot of different Asian cuisines there. I narrowed it down to 3... a curry place, satay and chicken rice. I went for the curry in the end because they had a combo plate that offered the most items in a single meal. Jerick got a custom curry combo. Ifore got the Hainanese chicken and Jiselle some satay. Together, we covered a lot of the native dishes on the first meal. We spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the shops and stands and grabbing snacks here and there.

Marina Bay
We got back to the hotel around 5:30pm. I always had to make sure I got back towards the end of the work day so I could make calls to Wing and Laura. I was set to meet Wing first, but got a nap in there since it was already a long day. When I got his call, I grabbed my bag and ran to the lobby. I was still sleeping even though I was walking! I even forgot to hand him the gift I got for him in NY. So that means I'll have to meet him again later in the week! From the hotel, we walked over to Raffles City, another mall with food court in the basement. We sat down at a local coffee place. I was wide awake shortly after that! Then we headed over to the Marina Bay where we took a river cruise... a shorter version of NYC's Circle Line tour. It was the perfect thing to do with my short stay here. I also had a good hour to catch up with Wing, who I have not seen since graduation in 1997!


Iluma
I got back to the hotel just before 9pm so I could catch Laura after dance class. I was able to wash up and change before she got to Bugis. We met around 9:30 for bubble tea and snack at Iluma. Like our NY meeting this Summer, this was just a short one, but I was happy to see her and catch up on the past 4 months. Iluma was just about to close for the night, but yet no one rushed us out of the cafe upstairs... very different than NYC!

What an amazingly complete day starting from 3am up to 11pm! I already got to see a lot on the first day. I already met up with both Wing and Laura! I guess that's the advantage of a red-eye flight... no time wasted. I am tired though!

Off to Singapore

This was the start of a very long day as we headed out to the airport at around 3:30am. On the way, we had breakfast at Jollibee... my second time there in 3 days already and my first breakfast meal. I wasn't sure what to order until I saw the sausage, egg and pandesal sandwich. It's basically the Filipino version of McDonald's Sausage Egg McMuffin w/ Cheese. It had a similar taste, but with the enhancement of pandesal.

By the time we finished breakfast and got on all of the ridiculous lines in the Philippines airport, we were already boarding the Tiger Airways flight to Singapore. It was my first time flying the budget airline and it's very different than the US ones. While JetBlue is cheap, it doesn't cut down on any of its services. In fact, it actually has more than many non-budget lines. Tiger Airways is truly budget. The plane is basic with no technology. There's no complimentary service at all... not even a free pack of nuts or drink. We were warned that the flight would be turbulent. While most airlines try to avoid turbulence, especially if known beforehand, Tiger Airways flies right through it. A good portion of the flight was rocky for a long period of time. I probably got 1 hour of sleep out of the 3 as I got through a movie and part of a TV episode.

We landed on time and were ready to proceed with the plan. The travel agent at Mandarin Vacations suggested we travel by train to the hotel to avoid a ~$40 airport limo fare. We first took a shuttle bus to Changi Airport, the main airport. From there, we caught the SMRT EW (East-West) line and got to Bugis (EW12) shortly. The first train we were on was relatively empty as they were mostly airport passengers. When we transferred, the next train was packed with rush hour commuters. At EW12 (stop names are logically numbered), we looked at the map and exited. Just a few blocks away, although it felt longer because of our luggage) was the Victoria Hotel.

Jerick stayed back to rest while the rest of us scouted the area near the hotel. We browsed some restaurants across the street and then came across Bugis Junction, a mall/marketplace/food court. We were pretty sure that our first meal would be in that area. We headed back to the hotel to get Jerick and I also had to figure out how to make phone calls.

Related: Changi Airport, SMRT, Victoria Hotel, Bugis Junction

C2 Classic Cuisine

Location: Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: Filipino
Hours: DAILY (10am-9pm)
Phone: 723 2347
Website: www.facebook.com/C2.Philippines
Prices: $10/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 9
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

For my last meal before the side trip to Singapore, I went with Ifore, Jiselle and Uncle Charlie to a local non-chain Filipino restaurant. C2 Classic Cuisine is a restaurant run by Center for Culinary Arts Manila, specializing in traditional Filipino food. We didn't order anything out of the ordinary... just the usual stuff people order in any Filipino restaurant like adobo, bangus and kare-kare. The food was good, but I thought the presentation was a little weird. It was the first time I saw kare-kare with the sauce served separately. The adobo was the same.

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The place was pretty clean, but it may have been because we were there early on a slow Sunday night. Our flight was set for 6am, so it meant we needed to wake up at around 3am. Dinner was at 5:30 and I went to sleep at around 9pm.

Edwin & Barbie

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Philippines Day 1

The flight yesterday was pretty uncomfortable and I had a hard time sleeping. Out of the 20 hours in the air, I probably only slept 2-3 total. That probably helped with jet lag a bit because I woke up at 6am today... my normal time for a weekday.

Jollibee
Jollibee, my main food goal in the Philippines has never come on the first day of my trip. I've even missed it on some trips, but it was crossed off right away this time around. My parents when with aunts and uncles to a nearby Chinese restaurant while I went with Ifore and Jiselle to Jollibee. I had my usual champ burger, but this time tried the popular Chicken Joy... finally.

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Greenhills Mall
After Jollibee, we walked around Greenhills Mall, which is an Asian style mall with shops and flea market-like stands. I had no idea what to buy, but there were a lot of t-shirt stands filled with Angry Birds products. Since everything is unofficial, the prices were several times cheaper than licensed items in the US. I just browsed and didn't buy anything yet. This will be a last minute thing if I find nothing else on the trip.

Razon's
After the mall, we dropped Jiselle off and then went to Razon's, another place that's on my list for dessert. When I came here the first time, the chain was relatively new in Metro Manila. Everything was pretty much consistent this time... same menu... same halo-halo. Even the table arrangement was the same.

Marriott Cafe
With this trip in October, planned well over a year ago, there's no way I could make a second trip in the same year in December for Alvin and Cheryl's wedding. So the first dinner of my trip was reserved for Alvin's family. I got a chance to meet Cheryl for the first time. We all spent a good 5 hours catching up and playing with Nadine.

(fluff)Art Through the Ages

(fluff)Friends is being abandoned after 4.5 years. The game will still run, but it will not be maintained or updated. This usually means a gradual death, so I quickly saved out all of my (fluff)arts or "habis" as we call them in the game. I installed the game way back in 2007, but didn't save out any art until 2008. Check out the graphics below for parodies of life, art movement and movie reenactments!

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Ai Passion

Location: 20-02 Utopia Parkway, Whitestone, NY 11357
Cuisine: Asian
Hours: SUN (1:30pm-10pm); MON-THU (11:30am-10:30pm); FRI (11:30am-11:30pm); SAT (12:30pm-11:30pm)
Phone: (718) 352-8100
Email: eat@aipassion.com
Website: www.aipassion.com
Prices: $15/person (Lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 9

Frequency: Uncommon

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This is an update to the original review from last December. I'm still happy with the food in Ai Passion as we ordered all completely new dishes this time around and none of them missed. I lowered the service by a point because I felt the staff was a little bit off. Last time I thought it was because it was a new waiter, but they all seem to be like this. The more skilled waiters will take an order and remember who ordered which dish. Our waiter tonight had no idea, so he placed everything in the middle. Also, 2 of our dishes included either soup or salad and we weren't given that option. I also gave the environment a -1 from last time because they seem to have a mosquito problem. Other than that, the place is clean and well-designed.

Ai Passion is still a great restaurant outside of the downtown area... a gem in a residential neighborhood.

Note: The album above is the same one from last time. I just added the new dishes from tonight.

Cleaning the Table

This was from September 4, during our visit to the Siews. While we were all talking, Bradley just decided to pick up a napkin and wipe the table. He ended up spreading watermelon juice + drool instead of actually cleaning. That's a spit shine!

9/11

Visiting the MacDonalds

Andrew and Joanne will be moving back to Australia in October, so I was happy I could get together this them over the weekend. I wasn't able to make it up there in the beginning of the Summer since I had so many out of town guests, but things have slowed down since then.

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Everything worked out well today. I had to work early in the morning at 6am, but finished at a reasonable time (8:30am). I left the house at about 9:15am because there were a lot of variables that could have slowed me down. There's the usual slowness of the Q12 bus, possible 7 train slowdown because of US Open traffic and typical weekend MTA construction. Everything went error free through. The bus came right away, which is rare for a weekend. The 7 was normal. I took that to Times Square to pick up a Junior's Cheesecake at 45th St. Then I headed over to the A line. Last time I went over their place, I remembered the A was really bad and took about an hour including wait time. This time, I had a surprisingly short wait and it went all the way through without delay. I was in Inwood by 10:50am. That much earlier than I expected, so I walked around a bit and came across a nice farmer's market. I looked around a bit and picked up some organic apple cider and apple cider donuts.

I still made it to the apartment early, which meant extra playtime with Liam. And I had lots of time to catchup with Andrew and Joanne, who I haven't seen for about a year. The change in routine threw off Liam's schedule though as he missed his nap time. Even after multiple walks and running around the apartment, he was still full of energy!

Labor Day Weekend

Our office was closed the day after Hurricane Irene because most of the mass transit was not ready for the morning rush and a lot of people were still without power. Fortunately Cindy went into labor that day and not during the storm. And I had the day off so I was around to watch Wesley. Because of that, I wasn't able to make it to the hospital to meet to latest addtion to the family, Bentley Ryan Siew. So we all went over last night for a visit...

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Hurricane Irene

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Hurricane Irene came and went. Fortunately, the photos above aren't that exciting. I just documented the "before" and "after," which almost look the same. There were no downed trees or power lines on my street. The rain started pouring last night and the winds sped up at about 1am. Heavy rains continued throughout the night, but seemed to stop abruptly at around 9am. The eye of the hurricane was supposed to stick around until 12pm, but it seems like it flew by much faster. It's still very windy right now, but the worst of it is over. If this was a weekday and I still lived in Congers, I'd probably keep up the paper airplane routine!

Hurricane Gloria

Original Date: September 1985

Hurricane Irene is coming soon! It's been in the news for the past few days and its path is still headed straight for New York City. The last time there was this much preparation for an incoming hurricane was back when I was a kid in 1985. It was Hurricane Gloria. All public schools were closed on a non-snow day for the first time. We were warned not to go outside, but it turned out to be a pretty nice day. They sky was gray and the winds were a lot more powerful than usual, but the Gloria did not hit us directly. I remember going outside to play with paper airplanes in Mike's backyard. We were all happy to have the day off from school for nothing!

Giant Bee

All sorts of things like to find their way under my car cover as I have it wrapped up for the week. There was a huge dead bug today. When I first saw it, I thought it was a cicada based on the size (almost 2"). Then I went closer and discovered it was a giant bee.


Check out the size of the stinger...

The Australian

Location: 20 West 38 St. (btw 5th & 6th Aves), New York, NY
Cuisine: Australian
Hours: SUN-WED (11:30am-12am); THU (11:30am-2am); FRI-SAT (11:30am-4am)
Phone: (212) 869-8601
Website: www.theaustraliannyc.com
Prices: $20/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique


I've been trying to go to The Australian for a while now, but it didn't seem like anyone was interested. I suggested it about 3 times to various friends, but the plans changed all 3 times. I finally made it there today during Kelly's visit to the city. I already knew I was going to order the meat pies as my entree. The in-restaurant menu was a little different than the one they have online though. Like other cuisines, they had a lunch special. So the meat pies entree was $2 lower than I thought. It's served with either fries or salad. On the website menu, they don't mention kangaroo skewers, but they actually had it in the restaurant. Kelly was adventurous enough to try it out, so we shared it as an appetizer. How can you go to an Australian restaurant and not try kangaroo!?

The restaurant had a comfortable crowd with most people eating at the bar... probably office people on lunch break who were by themselves. There were only a few tables taken up. I imagine they get most of their audience at night or during rugby games. Service was pretty good as the food came out at a reasonable time. The waiter was polite and paid a lot of attention to us. In contrast to the rest of the place, the bathrooms weren't that clean. That was the only tiny negative.