NYC's Coffee + Tea Fest and Ktown Cool-off

This is how we do.

At the Coffee and Tea Festival, Chloe and I downed tea sample after tea sample, ranging from persimmon to chocolate rooibos and even these goofy-looking organic coffee pouches that made us feel like we were chewing paper. Our collective favorites were Serendipitea and Tay Tea. Try Serendipitea's Buccaneer (Coconut, Chocolate Bits, Vanilla, Rooibos, Nilgiri, Indian Black Tea) and Tay Tea's caffeine-free Better Than Sex ("A sinfully delicious rooibos blend with bits of Belgian dark chocolate and peppermint"). Joe Tea was another winner with their cold Classic lemonade that actually tasted like real, fresh-squeezed lemons, rather than a sugar pill.

I think I would have appreciated the Korean tea brand Hancha a bit more if the green teas had actually been brewed properly. Due to mass production sampling, they left in the teabags longer than originally intended, lending each of their teas a bitter acidity. "Earth," a green tea, had a rustic flavor that almost tricked me into believing I had munched on grass. Not sure if that's a good thing...

Yoon Hee Kim from the Korean Tea Culture Foundation (also the owner of Hancha) demonstrated a Korean loose leaf tea ceremony. Unfortunately, it was hard to see what she was doing since she did not have a raised platform to view the ceremony and instead poured tea from ground level. Kim went into a detailed history of tisane tea and how Korean teas, specifically green tea, are now becoming more popular in other parts of the world. Chloe noted how she kept making eye contact with us (because we're so Korean...actually, we're not).

A scruffy, nondescript guy in a black hoodie and skinny jeans (doesn't this sound like a lot of people?) was peddling his photography. Next to no one stopped by his stand. Tough crowd.

When I passed by the Sacred Rose booth, a woman accosted me with a bottle of what looked like aromatherapy oil. However, upon closer inspection, it was actually rose elixir. She squeezed a drop onto my hand. I thought she wanted me to sniff it, but then she told me, "Lick it." With some hesitancy, I acquiesced. Nothing harmful, but it didn't exactly knock my socks off.

And what is this rose elixir supposed to do again? According to the flyer, it "softens and heals the heart with love to forgive the past pain that women have endured and encoded in their bones." A bit of a stretch, but um, sure.

Other highlights:
Zen Green Tea Liqueur: The suited up Japanese guy manning the booth made cocktails with the liqueur. The zesty, tart lemon-green tea concoction was so invigorating that we went for seconds. We hope Booth Man didn't notice. ("Really, you haven't seen us before. We're all Asian and we all..uh..look alike.") If only he'd given away a bottle of that stuff. I'd readily take up bartending if I had this liqueur on my hit list.

Some recipes:
Zentini
1 part Zen Green Tea Liqueur
2 parts Skyy Vodka
A splash of Fresh lime juice
Shake and serve in a martini glass.

Zen Saketini
1 part Zen Green Tea Liqueur
2 parts Dry Sake
Shake and serve in a martini glass.

Zen Breeze (Virgin)
1 part Zen Green Tea Liqueur
2 parts White Cranberry Juice
Serve in a tall glass over ice. Garnish with mint sprig.

Zen Milkshake (Looks highly adventurous. Attempt at your own discretion.)
2 parts Zen Green Tea Liqueur
1 part Skyy Vanilla Vodka
2 parts milk
Shake well; strain into martini glass. If desired garnish with a very small scoop of green tea ice cream.

Potential DESSERT usage: Served over vanilla ice cream or used as a glaze over a pastry dessert.


I spotted a woman chomping on a big ole raspberry croissant and followed her flaky trail. I ended up at A Taste of Home and stuck around to joke with the proprietor -

Me: What's the name of this?
Him: That would be a chocolate chip cookie.
Me: (thinking it was going to be some special, intricate name) Ah, I see. How about this? (points to another pastry)
Him: Mm..brownie.
Me: (Chomps on one, feeling stupider by the minute) Oh, they're good.
Him: Would you like to give it a name?
Me: How about Bob?
Him: Sounds good to me. You can name it whatever you want. :winks:

Ban chon. My favorite part of the meal.

Two hours later and all this liquidage has made me uber hungry. While we're not claiming Korean heritage, what do we go for? ......Korean! At Hangang.

It was a hot day - I was wearing jeans and sneakers, and the jeans were starting to stick to the back of my thighs. Gross. Should've gone with a skirt...

Oddly enough, Chloe and I were both craving the same thing, Mul naengmyun: slices of beef and vegetables over chilled noodles in cold beef broth soup. And loads of ban chon to go with it (a salad with ginger dressing and eight side dishes we couldn't finish, though we did our best).

Mul naengmyun, take 1.

Though Chloe says it's not the best mul naengmyun she's tasted, I was just relieved that the cool broth was rubbing off on my internal temperature. Within ten minutes I could feel the positive effect of the ginger-infused soup. Plus, I loved the starchy, chewy texture of the buckwheat noodles. The beef, however, was on the dry side.

Mul naengmyun, take 2.

Charmsoju. How...charming?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Admittedly, I've never tried mul naengmyun before, so I don't have much to compare it to. However, this cooling soup is the perfect antidote to an overdose of sun exposure. And who can resist the ban chon? My personal favorites are the dried squid and potatoes.


Location:
Hangang
34 West 32nd Street
New York, NY 10001
212.736.9900

Dumplings, Boba & All That Flushing

Cabbage, celery and pork dumplings.

Best Northern Dumplings. Impressions: good, but wouldn't call them "the best." But ten dumplings for just $3.25 is indeed a bargain. I prefer the juicy xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, at Joe's Shanghai. I also don't have an affinity for leeks, even though that's a popular ingredient for the second thing on the menu: Leek & Aquatic Food Dumpling.

Quickly Corp.

The sun was steadily melting my face into a hot mess. So what did I crave? Boba, of course! Enter Quickly Corporation: The guy in the white polo is so stiff with his popped collar that I had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't a mannequin.

Kumquat boba.

When I saw the guy behind the counter push down on the yellow syrup container, my heart almost burst. What -- no real kumquat? I guess I was expecting too much, though. For $3.25, this boba is alright but nothing special. At least the tapioca pearls were the right texture...not too hard, not too soft.

Assorted pastries.

Several blocks away, I trucked on over to Grandpa's for some afternoon refreshments and grandfather-granddaughter bonding time. Featured: Chicken pot pie bun from Star Bakery on Kissena, and banana walnut muffin.

Ratings:
Best Northern Dumplings: 4 out of 5 stars. After hungrily downing all 10 dumplings, my head was a wee bit dizzy. Could it be the MSG content? It's good for lunch, but it wasn't exactly quick. I do love the red vinegar sauce.

Quickly Corp.: 3.5 out of 5 stars. Stick to the regular bubble tea and skip the simple syrups.


Locations:
Best Northern Dumpling Shop
135-08 Roosevelt Av A4
Flushing, NY 11354
917.834.4991

Quickly Corporation
41-40 Kissena Blvd
Flushing, NY 11355
718.358.1835

Joe's Shanghai
136-21 37th Ave
Flushing, NY 11354
718.539.3838

Mister Softee!

Crisscrossed skylines.

Breaking out.

Tufts of marshmallows - I mean clouds.

My childhood love.

Chocolate milkshake - "The Very Best."

Photo montage taken April 16. NHP, NY.

Ctown: Green Tea Cafe

Appetizer: Egg Drop Soup.

This entry originally took place on April 11.

7 p.m.: It was a chilly, rainy Saturday night when I attended my friend Ada's baptism at Transfiguration Church in Chinatown. But the church, with its high ceilings and paintings of Jesus, was lit up with hundreds of people holding little candle wicks. It was the Saturday night vigil before Easter. The head bishop, a Caucasian man speaking heavily enunciated Cantonese, officiated the ceremony. Five minutes before the actual service started, the church was already so crowded that I ended up taking a seat upstairs in the furthest right corner, next to a man and his five-year-old son who was busy playing cars (vrooom vrooom!) under the pew.

A whopping total of 41 people were baptized that night. Even though I'm not Catholic, it filled me with a great sense of peace that so many friends and family members had come to support the baptized. Since the service was conducted in both English and Cantonese, it took awhile to get to the baptism part, which was at the end.

Fast-forward to the conclusion: It's 10:30 and I haven't eaten a thing for six hours. What to do for dinner?

Tempting flyers.

Figuring I couldn't go wrong with Mott St., I wandered down the block and saw a well-lit cafe, brimming with bobbing heads and young folks in colorful clothes gabbing away. Green Tea Cafe. Couples and girlfriends chatted loudly in both English and Chinese. I saw Tsingtao beer on the menu and automatically thought of Chloe's warning years ago: "Disgusting. It's the worst beer."

Chicken Cutlet with Portuguese sauce.

Beyond famished, I scanned the menu quickly for a meat-heavy dish and settled on the Chicken Cutlet with Portuguese sauce ($6.75). The chicken was HUGE and took up half the plate. Who knew they'd be so generous? I asked my waiter what the Portuguese sauce entailed, and he told me it was made of peanut. My waiter paid attention to my every cue. Whenever I needed something, he wasn't too far away, despite the cafe being packed to the max at 10 p.m.

Hot sake $8.50 for two. All kinds of boba for $4.25. I wanted to try the Kumquat lemon but I was on a budget. Maybe next time.

So many choices...

Ah, dessert. You're probably thinking -- What? This girl's still hungry after eating all that grub? Well, there's always room for dessert!

Mango ice cream.

Unfortunately, my mango ice cream tasted more like a mix of weak sorbet, with a graham cracker texture and only a hint of mango, i.e. not really made of mango at all. It reminded me of my grandma's freezer-burned packages of year-old vanilla ice cream. Not that it tasted awful, it just wasn't authentic. So if you come here, skip the ice cream and go for the boba. This is, after all, a bubble tea cafe.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. The appetizing peanut sauce made a simple chicken, rice and broccoli dish memorable. The ice cream could've been better. But my waiter was awesome, and even packed a napkin and fork to go with my doggie bag (I didn't end up eating the whole dish, after all). It didn't hurt that he looked like a cuter version of Shi Yuan Jie from Miss No Good.


Location:
Green Tea Cafe
45 Mott St
Ste A (between Bayard & Pell St)
New York, NY 10013
212.693.2888

(Do Not) Feed the Pigeons

Photo by sparker_rd.

Haven't we all been told not to feed the pigeons? Well, one lady from the Bay is paying no heed to that rule. Moved by the plight of abandoned pigeons, Elizabeth Young started a pigeon coop in her backyard.

"A pigeon," Young said, while holding Kizzie the pigeon in her well-pecked arms, "is no less worthy than any other animal. This may not be a magnificent animal, like a tiger, but it is an animal that wants to live and has a right to be treated with respect."

I'm not sure if I can agree with her rationale. As a hardened New Yorker, pigeons were always deemed a nuisance. They are often associated with terms like "rodents," "pests" and "disease carriers." And they're everywhere. When you cross the street, lounge on a park bench, dine alfresco on the sidewalk - there they are. Over the years, I resigned myself to sharing space with them. I've just learned to adjust.


Note: The picture above does not coincide with the actual story. I just thought it was funny.

Volunteer or Die!

From the New York Times:

"Heeding President Obama’s call for boosting Americans’ engagement in civic service, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Monday a sweeping plan to encourage volunteerism among city residents.

The announcement came on the eve of Mr. Obama’s signing of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act,which over five years will more than triple the size of AmeriCorps, the nation’s civilian service force. The legislation would mobilize volunteers to undertake some of the country’s most urgent social challenges, like shoring up communities hard-hit by the recession."

Seriously? Does it take Mayor Bloomberg to get everyone hyped to volunteer? I can't help but recall a similar call-to-arms by the Brooklyn-based Vote or Die initiative that emerged in 2004. During the Bush v. Kerry election, celebrities such as P. Diddy and Leonardo DiCaprio stressed the 4000+ deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq as a way to get young people to vote against the war.

Increasing voter participation among the 18-24 demographic is a good idea, but no one could give me a clear reason why I should listen to celebrities endorsing bipartisan votership. I mean, why the heck would I get my political information from P. Diddy? Seems like more gimmick than anything else. I'll stick with CNN and the BBC, thank you very much.

Then came the 2008 presidential campaign. With Will.I.Am and other prominent musicians creating a viral trend of "Yes We Can" Youtube videos. There's no doubt that social networking and user-generated video content sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Youtube, are affecting opinions. Anyone has the ability to create a quick video or jump-start trends. And while Vote or Die may have been a means to target the "hip-hop generation," it seems Obama doesn't actually favor the low-slung look himself.

But enough on that. What I meant to say in the beginning is that volunteering doesn't have to be- shouldn't be- a hassle. The public's current fascination with eco-friendly design, sustainable living, bicycling and organic, locally produced food lends itself well to giving back to the community that first nurtured them.




How about some guerrilla gardening? Guerilla gardening, or "making vacant, neglected public lands green and flower-filled," is becoming more mainstream these days. While I'm not exactly endorsing mass takeovers of public soil, some people have managed to beautify the cities they live in by sprinkling seeds over abandoned fields and watching their flowers come to fruition. So go spread some sunshine in your 'hood today!


Some resources:
Volunteermatch.org
Volunteernyc.org
Idealist.org
Networkforgood.com
Volunteerinternational.org
Habitat.org
Worldwildlife.org

Caked by Chai

Photo by The Food Librarian.

The Food Librarian's recent foray into baking Sky-High Cakes using Chai Black Tea inspired me to do the same. Her three-inch stack rendition, above. As much as I'm a tea connoisseur, I'd never really thought about incorporating tea into cakes. (Can someone tell me why tea cakes don't actually...contain...tea?)

Oh how I love Chai Tea. I like mine spicy (as I enjoy most things). While I don't mind a cup of Yogi Chai Black or Peet's Masala Chai, nothing beats home-style Punjabi Chai. I had it once in Arlington, Mass. and it was the epitome of Chai-ness. Stash Chai Spice is great for making at home.

I declare Chai Cake as my next experiment!