Christmas 2009

Yes, I realize that it is officially Spring. But seeing as how it is cold and wet out today in NYC, I figure it wouldn’t be that inappropriate to put up the pictures from our trip to Hong Kong and then Florida for Christmas 2009. It was a trip of epic proportions. We went to Hong Kong for 8 days, where incidentally, I don’t think Jasmine slept for more than 3 hours at a time. Then flew back to NYC, had a 3 hour layover, and then flew directly to Florida.

I look at these pictures and think back to Christmas, which was a short 3 months ago, and realize how much Jasmine has grown. She’s since become a speed walker, sleeps through us picking her up and taking her out of the car seat, and talks non-stop. I would love to be able to take her back to Hong Kong because I feel like the trip would be much more enjoyable and relaxing this time around. Then she could only crawl, was a very light sleeper, and didn’t say much of anything. If only I could convince Jason…

Hot Doug’s at Astor Center

Surprise surprise, I am behind in posting about our lives lately so naturally this took place all the way back in October. I’m hoping to play catch up in the next week or so and get pics posted from our holiday trips to Hong Kong and Florida.

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A few months back whilst browsing the interwebs, I saw a post on Serious Eats about an event they were sponsoring at Astor Center’s new space with Hot Doug’s. Truth be told, I had never heard of Hot Doug’s prior to this but as soon as I saw the menu, I knew we had to get tickets. If I remember correctly, it was $60 for two and the meal included 6 Dos Equis beers, an amuse, 2 Chicago-style hot dogs, two of their foie gras topped hot dogs, and an order of duck fat fries.

Ed Levine and Doug Sohn

Beer

Chefs in the kitchen

Jason

Jason and JJ

Amuse of fancy pigs in a blanket with spicy mustard (not surprising that these were Jason’s favorite of the whole night, aside from the beer that is)

Chicago-style hot dog with the works

Foie gras topped hot dog

Duck fat fries

All of the food was good but surprisingly, my favorite was the “homely” Chicago dog. I thought it would be the foie gras dog but without anything acidic/sweet/tart, it was a bit too rich for me. The Chicago dog was perfect though with the refreshing and crunchy fresh vegetables on top. I think the duck fat fries had been fried a little bit earlier so by the time we got to them, they weren’t as crispy as I would have liked but the flavor was good nonetheless.

The highlight/memorable moment of the evening for me though wasn’t the food. It was getting to meet and speak to Doug Sohn for a few minutes as we waited in line to get our food. Yes, he is THE Doug behind Hot Doug’s. He stood at the front of the line and spoke to each and every person at the event. It wasn’t surprising that he did though because he apparently mans the register at the storefront in Chicago almost all the time. Being owners of a food establishment ourselves, we totally respect his passion for his craft and appreciate that he loves to talk to his customers. He is a very funny, down to earth, and approachable guy.

When he learned that we were new owners of a food place, he quickly offered up some hard-earned advice. He told us to never look at blogs and online review sites (i.e; Yelp). He said that our goal shouldn’t be to please everybody and that we shouldn’t change what we do based on the opinion of a few people. That’s hard for me to do and whilst I don’t agree 100% with that philosophy because I do think that listening to our customers is important, I do understand that there will always be naysayers no matter how good the food. Now every time I read a negative review or comment on Twitter about us, I think about Doug’s advice, take a deep breathe, assess whether there’s any merit in the person’s opinion, and usually just close down my browser because I find none.

In any case, Jason and I are heading to Chicago for our annual anniversary trip (read about last year’s in New Orleans here) this year. So far I have about 30 places on our Chicago Google map to go to but rest assured, Hot Doug is at the top of the list and one of the places that definitely will not be missed.

Eating with a Fork

Jasmine has made considerable progress from when she was slurping mush to now, where she can “feed herself.” I use the phrase feeding herself rather loosely of course because if you or I fed ourselves like she does herself, then we’d get kicked out of every restaurant in America.

In the video below, we were in a patient mood and decided this particular Saturday was as good as any to start letting her try to use utensils — and she LOVED it. Now two months later,
we have worked into the pattern of feeding her, helping her feed herself, letting her feed herself, and then letting her stir her food around in circles. It makes meal time a fun mess.

NYC Food Bloggers’ Bake Sale 2010 - Hot Links

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Click here for Information (why, where, and when)

Click here to see what your favorite bloggers are baking up for the sale!
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Buzz:

Call for bakers on New York Serious Eats
Call for bakers on In Jennie’s Kitchen
Amy from Amy Blogs Chow in Daily News talks about her contribution
The Skint
Midtown Lunch lets people know of the sale!
Give and Get NYC
The Naked Beet
The Girl Who Ate Everything

NYC Food Bloggers Bake Sale 2010 - Info

The National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, which is part of Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale campaign, was born from the mind of Gaby at What’s Gaby Cooking. Share Our Strength’s annual campaign encourages people to hold bake sales in their local communities to raise money towards their good fight of ending childhood hunger in America. A shocking 1 out of 4 children in America are hungry and while we can argue semantics in terms of what “hungry” really means, it’s still an unacceptable number.

I oftentimes look at Jasmine and feel so grateful that I am able to provide her with basic needs and I can’t imagine being one of those loving mothers or fathers who due to unfortunate circumstances, are unable to do the same. I knew I had to participate in a sale by me but when I emailed Gaby, she told me that nobody had volunteered to lead up the NYC bake sale yet. I told her that I would be happy to take up the effort because I know there are so many wonderful bloggers/bakers/eaters in NYC and it would be a loss if there wasn’t a bake sale here.

So I got started contacting a few venues and thanks to Eric at the Brooklyn Flea, we have a kick-arse location to hold it! I also contacted as many bloggers as I knew via email and Twitter and we’ve gotten a great group of bakers together so far! I’ve listed them and what they are planning on bringing in a separate post below this one.

Thanks for stopping by our little space on the interwebs and I hope that you can join us on the day of the bake sale to support your favorite bloggers and contribute to a great cause! If you can’t make it the day of, please consider donating towards our team goal here.

Thank you again and we hope to see you on April 17th!

Where: The Brooklyn Flea
176 Lafayette Avenue
Fort Greene, Brooklyn

When: Saturday, April 17, 2010 (rain or shine!)
10 AM to 5 PM

View Larger Map

NYC Food Bloggers’ Bake Sale 2010 - Participants

If you don’t see your favorite NYC food blogger on this list, please contact them and let them know that they should be~

Name	Website	Twitter	Goodies
Amy Cao	Amy Blogs Chow	@amyblogschow	Monster cookies
Kate Farber (and friends)	Restaurants & Recipes	@katefarber	mini berry cobblers
Beth Lipton	Cookie Pie	@cookiepie0402	Peanut butter cookies
Diorella	A Girl Bakes in New York		Walnut tartlets
Christine	Fresh Local and Best	@freshlocalbest	Lemon Bars
Jenny Tyler Lee	Cupcakes In Heels		cupcakes
Teanna	Spork or Foon	@sporkorfoon	Tiramisu bread pudding and fresh strawberry shortcake cupcakes
Tina Hu			chocolate cake
Robyn Lee	The Girl Who Ate Everything	@roboppy	chocolate chip cookies from Ad Hoc at Home
Emily Hanhan	[non]adventures of an amateur	@emilyhanhan	banana bread
Gabriela	Gabriela’s Kitchen	@gabirelaskitchn	tres leches cupcakes; biscochitos (cookies)
Jennifer Perillo	In Jennie’s Kitchen	@JenniferPerillo	Devil’s food cupcakes
Jackie Gordon	The Diva That Ate New York	@divathatateny	chocolate marshmallows
Kristen V. Brown	Kristen V. Brown		olive oil cake
Su Lei			White chocolate chip cranberry coconut oatmeal cookies
Roopa Kalyanaraman Marcello	Raspberry Eggplant	@rspberryeggplnt	mini cupcakes - pistachio cardamom with rosewater buttercream, chocolate-coffee porter with salted caramel buttercream, coconut milk with kaffir lime-ginger cc frosting
Rebecca Lando	Working Class Foodies	@wcfoodies	Pumpkin seed brittle and apple spice cakes with bourbon-maple-cc frosting
Kurt Schewe			chocolate chip cookies
Chris	The Skint	@theskint	Vegan brownies
Joanna and Jessie	Simply Sifted		Chocolate-caramel slices, pb & banana oatmeal cookies, and linzer cookies
Bill Homan			Mint-chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal scotchies, and peanut butter brownies
Jeannie Rose	The Faux Gourmet	@TheFauxGourmet	triple chocolate flourless cake
Aimee Bariteau	Bacon and Chocolate		Oreo cookie cookies
Stacy Young	Sweet Escape Desserts		bon bons/truffles
Faye Hess	Faye Food	@dinnerconfidential	carrot cupcakes with cc frosting
Cara & Phoebe	Big Girls Small Kitchen	@BGSK	M&M blondies
Carissa Peluso			carrot cake with cc frosting
Rhonda	Geared to Cook	@GearedToCook	bibingka (Filipino coconut cakes) and ensaimada (Filipino brioche)
Allison Parker	Feeding the Saints	@acparker	Mastiha brownies bites with brandied cherries and phanouropita (traditional Greek nut cake)
Kathryn Zeller			port ganache glazed brownies with dried cherries
Elina	The Naked Beet	@nakedbeet	cranberry trail mix cookies; chocolate peanut butter bars; banana lime bread
Leinana Two Moon	Vegan Good Things		Vegan Pineapple Upside-Down cupcakes
Jacquie	The JLH Life	@JacquieLH	Homemade nutella (jarred)
Jessica Levine	Hartley Confections		Fruit filled sour cream coffee crumb cake
Hillary Trautmann			Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies; French toast cupcakes with with maple buttercream frosting and crumbled bacon
Christina Ha		@macaronparlour	Candied bacon maple cream cheese macarons
Sage General Store	Sage General Store
Yvo	The Feisty Foodie	@feistyfoodie	chocolate chip cookies
Siobhan (a.k.a. Blondie)	Blondie and Brownie	@BlondieBrownie	Pig Candy cookies
Jen	Local Appetite	@LocalAppetite	Lace cookies; cheesecake brownies
Anna	Sweet By Half and London Foodie NY	@londonfoodieny	English flapjacks