KUMA INN.

If you're looking for a yummy BYO restaurant - look no farther. This past Friday I went to Kuma Inn, a lovely gem of a restaurant slightly hidden on the 2nd floor of a tenement in the LES. The menu boasts a huge array of Asian tapas-style dishes - all of which were excellent.


The Yellowfin Tuna Tartare with a Rice Noodle Crisp. The tasty tuna sat atop something of a pickled nature - and the acidity and saltiness added such a great flavor to the fish.


The Sauteed Tofu, Thai Basil, Wood Ear Mushrooms in Spicy Soy Mirin is one of those dishes non-vegetarians don't mind eating!! Such strong flavors and great textures between the veggies and the tofu.


The Drunken Spicy Shrimp finished with Sake, Kalamansi, and Thai Chilies. This was probably the most standard, unexciting dish of the evening - the shrimp meat didn't really capture the essence of the dish's flavor. I wouldn't bother ordering this dish again.


The Grilled Salmon with Snap Peas and Mushrooms were well cooked and doused with a flavorful sauce. While we were hesitant to order salmon (I tend to find salmon to be very plain in most restaurants) - this was one of those preparations that would not be easy to mimic at home. Surprisingly fantastic.


And the Shrimp Shumai, which I believe came off the specials menu. I actually dreamed about these plump little buggers last night...and salivated at the thought of them this morning. You think shumai wouldn't be anything of a big deal to me - but let me tell you - there is good shumai and bad shumai. And once you've experienced good shumai, you will know. The best thing about this shumai, in my opinion, was the wrapper. It had a great texture and was perfectly delicate enough to bite into but did not unravel/break in mid-bite.

Kuma Inn is one of the best BYO's I have experienced in the city. The dishes are moderately priced and you will also save a load on money on drinks as there is only a $5 corkage fee!! Definitely making my way back for a second round in the near future.

SUNNYTIMEZ.

Oh bother. Sorry, broggie, for my recent negligence. I have been really busy eating at lots of different restaurants for you, I promise!!! I just haven't had a moment to put it all in writing. Gosh, sometimes I wish I just had a STENOGRAPHER present at all of my meals!!! I'll start with happenings from this past weekend because then I will also be able to infuse fun images of WEATHER and SPORTS into my post. YAY DISTRACTIONS FROM REAL WRITING!!!!


Here we are at Hunter Mountain, gearing up for our second snowboarding experience. The first trip, I will admit, did not go so well...as we had a 15 year old teaching us how to board with only one foot strapped in. So needless to say, I was a little hesitant to give the board another shot. With a little help from our friends, however, this time around was SO MUCH ASTOUNDINGLY BETTER. We were making our way down the slopes on our heels, on our toes (me not so much with the toes), vertical, horizontal, you name it, we did it (to an extent).


Proof that I was actually on a mountain. Hah.


The best part of snowboarding - being able to drink at the ski lodge afterward. The weather was so pleasant on Saturday - sunny, bright, and fairly warm. So relaxing to watch the sun set over the mountain whilst sipping on a strong beverage.

Our snowboarding experience was so transformational that we actually went ahead and purchased snowboarding equipment today!!! I am now a proud owner of a Burton board, bindings, and boots - hey, if you're gonna do it, do it right!!! Hopefully we'll be able to make it back out onto the slopes one last time before the season ends so we can try out all our new gear!


The weather in the city has been phenomenal lately. I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather so I made my way over to the High Line on Sunday afternoon. It's funny how a park in the city is still pretty much surrounded by concrete - but I'll take it.


They built this "theater" where you can sit and watch oncoming traffic from above.


I was so excited for the weather that I broke out my Sperry top siders!!! And didn't wear a jacket!! I might have taken it a little too far.

Afterwards, it was time for brunch at Cookshop - which is located conveniently across the street from the High Line.


So I might have spoken too soon about the deviled eggs dish at Tipsy Parson in my last blog post. I claimed that I had never seen deviled eggs on a menu before...well...I lied. The Deviled Eggs at Cookshop are WAY BETTER than the mediocre ones I had at Tipsy Parson - they are topped with a cornichon, olive, and tarragon relish that adds a nice pickled flavor. The paprika gives it the slightest kick and expertly rounds out the creamy, pickled dish. YUM.


The White Cheddar Grits from Cookshop are delightful. Perfect spoonfuls of soft, warm grits that aren't overly cheesy or creamy.


I decided to order something I have never had before - the Huevos Rancheros. It's one of those dishes you see often on a brunch menu, but one that is often eclipsed if dishes containing lobster are also an option. Good thing that wasn't the case at Cookshop. So as it turns out - Huevos Rancheros are an overwhelming amount of black beans and pickled jalapeno salsa topped off with baked eggs, Monterrey Jack cheese, and creme fraiche. Quite the protein filled breakfast item!!! The dish was pretty standard and not life-altering...and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe the concept would have done better as an omelette? Regardless, it was still a perfectly acceptable dish.

Cookshop is a bright and lively place to enjoy brunch on the weekend and I definitely want to make it back again for dinner. Enjoy the weather, tout le monde!!!!!!

ERRBODY IN THE CLUB GET TIPSY.

Tipsy Parson, the new-ish restaurant in Chelsea serving up southern comfort on a platter, is going to become one of those I'M-HAVING-A-BAD-DAY-LET'S-JUST-EAT-CRAP go-to restaurants for me. But not because it is crap. It is AMAZING crap. Like the window outside states, it is "belly-filling goodness" - I couldn't describe it better myself (I tried, and all I could come up with was 'amazing crap').


I started with the Ginger Mint Julep - a frozen slush of ginger, lemon, and bourbon with a few sprigs of mint. It was absolutely phenomenal!!


Soon after, the Hush Puppies arrived with a nice Old Bay Aioli for dipping. I normally don't even LIKE hush puppies, yet I was a fan of these ones...for some reason they had a little more substance than your typical deep fried ball of corn bread.


Deviled eggs, hello my old friend. I remember stuffing my face with deviled eggs at one Bat Mitzvah back in middle school while everyone else was probably doing the Macarena on the dance floor...and falling in love (with the egg, not a boy)...and I haven't eaten them since. Mostly because they seem extremely time-consuming and messy to make and they aren't typically served at restaurants!! Well, Tipsy Parson, thanks for coming to the rescue!!!


I also ordered the Warm Spinach & Kale Salad. I didn't realize I hated Kale until the moment I tried chomping on those bitter, rough greens!!! The salad was topped with dried cherries, button mushrooms, cornbread croutons, and a shallot-sherry vinaigrette. You would think cornbread croutons would be something OUTTA THIS WORLD...but really, how amazing can stale cornbread taste? So I mostly just picked out the dried fruit and some mushrooms from this dish.


The Mac & Cheese arrived soon after and I quickly shoved the nasty plate of kale out of my peripheral vision so I could focus my complete attention and pay homage towards the most amazing macaroni and cheese I have had in a long time. This completely reminded me of the first version of macaroni and cheese I ever experienced, hardcore HOMEMADE by my Portuguese babysitter. It had almost a dry cheesiness to it (perhaps from the addition of ricotta, I am guessing??) and took nearly an arms length pull to separate one amazing, cheesy bite from the rest of the deliciously congealed mass. I will now delve into a detailed description of the actual pasta - I commend their use of pasta shape - they used a stout, non-ribbed tubini rather than an elbow. The pasta had slightly thicker walls than others and had a nice soft, moist texture. This definitely worked well with the drier-cheese coating and the delicious, crunchy breadcrumb topping. LOVEDLOVEDLOVED this dish.


My Dayboat Scallops, which sat upon a celery root puree, pan roasted mushrooms, meyer lemon, and walnut brown butter, were absolutely marvelous!! Two huge, plump, perfectly-cooked scallops that had the sweetness from the brown butter, the slight tartness and acidity from the lemon, an earthiness from the walnuts and the mushrooms, and mixed with a nice creamy/mashy texture from the celery root puree. Completely enjoyed this dish.


Et finalement, the Grasshopper for dessert. This little pot need not have a lid because I don't know how anyone could fathom bottling it up for later. Layers of mint mousse, chocolate streusel, chocolate creameaux, whipped cream, and little chunks of chocolate crunchies...so heavenly. We dug out every last molecule of mousse before finally sitting back...sighing with happiness...and realizing that once again, we had gone a little overboard for a Monday evening dinner. Especially when the meal replaced a gym session.

Looking forward to trying out Tipsy's parent restaurant, Little Giant, in the LES.

KINOKUNIYA.

One of my favorite past times as a child was begging my mother to drive hours to Edgewater, New Jersey to take me to Yaohan, which is now known as Mitsuwa Marketplace. I loved eating ramen and bento boxes in their food court and then going to the Japanese bookstore and forcing my mother to buy me lots of stickers, stationary, and art/design books. Japanese bookstores always have the best stickers, stationary, and art/design books.

The Kinokuniya Bookstore near Bryant Park is no exception and it is even better than the bookstore at Mitsuwa Marketplace because it is in Manhattan and a mere subway ride away.


Can you just feel the amazingness!?!? And do you see that Kristen already ran down the stairs ahead of me so she could point out the HUGE TOTORO in the stationary/office supply/toy section!?!?


I tumbled down the stairs and the HUGE TOTORO jumped into my arms. Pure bliss.


The Cat Bus took an immediate liking to Kristen and begged her to take him home.


What, Totoro?? You think I should purchase this little $10 White Totoro keychain??


Why, yes, I agree. Say hello to my new zipper pull.


And one thing non-Miyazaki related. I spotted INUIT ART OWL CARDS!!!!njsegnlseg I am absolutely OBSESSED with Inuit art (and was deeply disappointed that Borders did not carry another Inuit Art calendar for 2010), probably because they commonly use owls as subjects in their work. The Inuits have deep respect for all living things so when you study birds and other animals in Inuit art, you will notice that each one has its own special character. From top to bottom: "OH HAI, I LOOK POWERFUL BUT IT'S JUST BECAUSE I DON'T MOVE MUCH AND AM USUALLY JUST HONGRY." "OH HAI, I AM NERVOUS AND ALERT." "OH HAI, I WANT A LOVE MARRIAGE."

Love marriage!??? Just a way for me to segue into the best song I have heard in quite some time. Thank you, Wilbur Sargunaraj.

I LOVE EATING SNOW.

The snowflakes today were particularly tasty. Something about their size and the fact that they didn't instantly melt as soon as they hit your comparably-warmer skin...and possibly the fact that I was letting them fall on my tongue as I walked to the gym at...oh...noon. On a weekday. If you can put two and two together, you will be able to deduce that I HAD A SNOW DAY TODAY!!! A truly unexpected miracle!!!


The mounds of snow I faced when I walked out of my apartment in the West Village.


Later on in the day, I made my way over to Bryant Park. Here you can get a good gauge of the snow fall level, as it was nearly covering the subway sign!! The snow never stopped falling from the previous morning!!!


Look how beautiful the New York Public Library looks when coated in a frosty white and guarded by snow-covered trees.

So, as I was saying...the snow tasted EXTRA WONDERFUL today. It made me suddenly begin to have crazy cravings for shaved ice and patbingsu!!! And started making me somewhat delusional...


It took all my willpower to not shove my face into this perfect POWDERED SUGAR DONUT...until I finally came to grips with the fact that it was, in actuality, a GARBAGE CAN.


I meannn...does NO ONE see a Drake's Cake coffee cake in that middle mound!?!? To the left is obviously a Starburst, and to the right is obviously one of those fun sized chocolates.

OK, DONT DAMAGE WITH ME. I, like, JUST came from the gym and I was HONGRY, dammit.


It was a good thing I quickly made my way over to Cafe Zaiya before I started diving into the piles of snow screaming, "WHO NEEDS FOOD STAMPS WHEN YOU CAN ENJOY ALL THE GLORIES OF MOTHER NATURE!?!?!" Which would have resulted in me being shipped straight to an old Roosevelt Island mental facility and suffering from a bad case of frostbite on my lip. They have a super yummy BLACK SESAME SOFT SERVE there!!!! If there is one thing I love more than ice cream, it is SOFT SERVE. I have NEVER had black sesame flavored soft serve before and this one was 100% YAMMIEZ - super creamy, full-bodied (not fluffy, Tasti-D style), and DERICIOUS.

I became kind of concerned about the fact that I was SURROUNDED by ice, slush, and snow and still felt the need to consume some form of ice and cream. Which got me to thinking...is there like a ICE/SLUSH/SNOW version of PICA, a disorder in which people feel an unnatural urge to consume inedible materials such as paper!?!! WHY DO I LOVE EATING SHAVED ICE, SOFT SERVE, FROZEN YOGURT, AND ICE CREAM SO MUCH!?!?! Oh right. That disease is called obesity.

F THE SNOW.

Well, apparently because of my recent interest in politics and my politically slanted blog posts (please see my one previous blog post concerning Madeline Albright's brooch collection), Mayor Bloomberg has taken the initiative to contact me in an attempt to sway me into a career with his office. I am, of course, completely taking things out of context and overexaggerating - is this considered SLANDER!?!?! But I was, however, invited to Mayor Bloomberg's Lunar New Year reception which took place on this fine, snowy, rainy, slushy evening.


The crumpled envelope that suffered being dropped in a pile of wet snow and slush and the invitation donning a SNOWY TIGER, in honor of the Chinese year of the tiger. P to the S, did ya'll know that this is the year of the WHITE TIGER which signifies TERRIBLE LUCK and MISFORTUNES and comes only once every 48 years!!?!? Stay on your toes, my friends...


They transformed the Surrogate's Court with this festive Asian theme - red lanterns and red lighting aglow.


There was also plenty of yummy Asian food from various restaurants in Chinatown being served up...and most importantly, OPEN BAR! Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg!!!


Ah, there's the big guy now. Apparently he was born on February 14th which coincided with this year's Chinese New Year!!! New York has the highest Asian population compared to other cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston and the population has drastically increased. throughout Mayor Bloomberg's 8 years in office. Which is no wonder he felt the need to address and celebrate with the Asian people this evening.


The surprise performance for the evening was Columbia University's LION DANCE Team. There is the gong, trying to wake up the lion!!!


Ohh!!! I SEE HIM!!!!


And who would have thunk that the underneath the lion costume was a GIRL?? I have never seen a girl lion in all my years of watching the Lion Dance. Truly inspirational, Columbia University Lion Dance Team!!! The drums were loud and invigorating, and it was nice to take a quick stroll down memory lane to those years in Chinese School when we would perform the Lion Dance every year. Watching this performance makes me proud of my heritage. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg took this opportunity when the entirely Asian audience was obviously CAPTIVATED and DISTRACTED by the Lion Dance to slip away. GRRRRRRRR. So no picture with the Mayor...boo.


I ended the evening on a sweet note - with a scoop of Almond Cookie ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory!! Delish!!!


Then it was off to Gallery Hanahou in Soho for the opening night of Lisa Grue's "Owls Have More Fun" exhibit. Uhm...an art exhibit dedicated to OWLS?!?!? YOU KNOW I'M THERE.


Here is a shot of the artist talking about her work. Grue is a graphic artist/illustrator from Denmark. When I spoke to her, I asked her why she chose owls as her main subject and she responded, "There are many areas in our lives where we can be more wise and remember to be wise. Owls remind us of this...and remind us of the magic of everyday life." Lovely!! I could always use a little reminder to think twice and to appreciate the present.


HUGE carpet trimmed with adorable, florescent pom-poms. This child (I believe she may be Baby Hanahou) thought the floor rug was quite comfortable. My dream home will, mark my words, include this rug.


One one side of the gallery was a large mural with graphic illustrations of owls and fauna. On the other side was Grue's hand-designed plate collection. I am unsure of the larger pieces, but the smaller plates were priced between $100-150.


Here you will see her resounding message to "Be Wise" and "Don't Howl with the Wrong Wolves".


I love that "STAY AWAY" owl...ugh, so ME and my emo self!!!!!! I need this plate in my life!

So go on down to Gallery Hanahou (try not to get lost - it's right next to the Crate and Barrel) and purchase some gifts for me. You can't go wrong!! KTHXBAI!

READ MY PINS.

OMG, MY APOLOGIES BLOGGIESPHERE!! I cannot believe my visit to the Museum of Arts and Design well over a month ago completely SLIPPED THROUGH THE CRACKS!!! I wanted to share with you some highlights from the READ MY PINS exhibit, which featured Madeline Albright's extensive BROOCH collection. OOHHHH, SPARKLY. Unfortunately, the exhibit has since closed and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas and will be on display in Washington, DC in Summer 2010.

Madeline Albright, as you are most likely already aware, was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and also the first female U.S. Secretary of State under the Clinton administration. Apparently she was famous for her "pin diplomacy" - which I had NO IDEA ABOUT...and would have maybe taken a greater interest in politics and foreign policy HAD I KNOWN. Throughout her diplomatic career, she donned pins to represent her mood and feelings. If she thought a message was "something like a sting", she would wear a bee pin. If she was in particularly high spirits or if negotiations were going well, she might have adorned herself with a balloon pin. If she was called a serpent by Saddam Hussein's government and press, she may have chosen to sport a snake pin at her next meeting with Iraq. She "found that jewelery had become a part of [her] diplomatic arsenal." SO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE. I LOVE IT. And without further ado, I present to you two photos I snapped illegally while at the MAD.


ERMM..LOBSTER BROOCH!?!? Madame Albright, you and I are speaking the same language!! But instead of wearing it because lobster is one of her favorite foods and one of her interests on Facebook, she wore it to convey her impatience with the pace of a discussion.


And OF COURSE, she wore my personal favorite - OWLS!!! They were obviously a symbol of her intelligence. Oh, Albright, you wise sage.

So then I got to thinking...what kind of brooches would I wear to best exemplify MY feelings and thoughts?!?


I found this one that is shaped like an ALMOND so I can wear when I'm feeling a little NUTTY...aka daily.


RAWR. This Panthere brooch from the House of Cartier will obviously represent how BLINGBLINGCASHMONEY I am, as it values at just over $1.3 million.


And finally - I thought this one might be useful on all of those DATES I go on (right)!! Perfect way to make the statement that he TICKLES MY FANCY.

If you are interested in learning more about the mystique and intrigue of Madeline Albright's brooch collection - feel free to purchase her new book, Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box, and then let me borrow/keep it afterwards. KTHXBAI!