hot day, another good day for zaru soba and crispy salad.

i still had some left over soba tsuyu from a couple weeks ago (yikes!), so we made a csa salad,

boiled some soba noodles, and topped them off with scallions, grated turnip oroshi, seaweed,

and dipped them all into the tsuyu!

a satisfying but not overfilling meal for a hot day (as illustrated by the two kitties below).

warm summer nights are so magical in nyc, especially chinatown (but that's just me).

we tried cong ly for some bùn (vermicelli noodle salad) and pho, a c-grade kind of place that probably scares off a lot of people (e.g. tourists), so it's decently empty most of the time.

the food was very good, and so much cheaper than other places that are better known and written

up about in the vicinity. will definitely go there again!

then after a long stroll around the area, in and out of all the nooks and crannies of the magic

that is chinatown, we stopped in for some little dessert at quickly :

i got watermelon shake, m got a papaya shake with tapioca pearls.

then we noticed a whole tray of cream cakes in the back from the day's sale, so we haggled and got a huge amount for $2! (normally 8 pieces for $2)

a really nice ending to a perfect night. :)

banh mi day!!! at paris sandwich - a classic and a grilled chicken. so yummy, though

probably not as good as saigon, or maybe even hanco's. still such a good deal!

(m even got another undocumented banh mi a couple hours later)

then we saw the egg cake guy, though not the nice, sweet guy we saw last time.

i was so filled with "cake" type things from last night's cream cakes, so i barely ate half a bag.

plus it was too hot!

a great day of beautiful weather, great food!

i woke up to a pile of greens & veggies that m had cooked up - collard greens, broccoli,

squash, carrots, etc etc. though the veggies were old-ish, it was so good to eat some greens

first thing in the morning - i made a simple little omelette to go with it.

nothing much, except creamy eggs with a bit of cheese sprinkled inside. fluffy and yummy!

then for dinner, still feeling a bit sick, i wanted some more broth...

so we went to cafe 232 korean again!

apparently, we can't get enough of this place. it sure is good there, though.

we got spicy squid stir-fry and denjang jigae - which was surprisingly spicy.

spicy squid was really good, perfectly cooked, spicy and all roasty.

both were so delicious, though they probably don't measure up to the amazingness factor that

is the chicken dish there.

and the amazing sunset from the roof :

amazing turkey & avocado sandwich with side salad made by m tonight.

really really amazing!!!

a little bit of horseradish, a bit of funky cheese (forgot the name), and turkey slices on

7-grain. then the lettuce salad with mushrooms, walnuts, carrots, was so so amazing,

with some kind of crack salad dressing he made - and made with love. :D

tortas are definitely the things to get at tepango - we ordered a tinga (their chipotle chicken)

and a carne asada. they're both good, but man, is their chicken tinga amazing!!!

it does come at a price - stomach upset! :(

cafe 232 korean food again! sore throat calls for some spicy broth and food.

we ordered soon dubu jigae (spicy tofu stew) and spicy chicken bbq.

man, the tofu was so silky and the broth so refreshing and hot - the chicken was so good,

yet again - spicy, but not too saucy, and it's all breast meat but none of them too dry.

they even had mook (korean savory jelly) made from mung bean starch as banchan!

what a treat. yum yum

a big CSA veggie haul already, 2 weeks into the season! :D

we made some huge salad with all the left over old veggies from last week and some

new ones from this week - russian kale, lettuce, komatsuna, shredded broccoli stems,

carrots, and radish. i also made a kohlrabi & apple salad, dressed with fish sauce, sri racha,

cilantros, and sesame seed oil. it was amazing! next time with more cilantro!

pho & 2 banh mi sandwiches at nicky's for lunch.

delicious pho (especially the broth), grilled chicken banh mi & the classic dac biet banh mi

with all the good pork products (pâté, ham, ground, etc). mmmmm~~~~

then walked over to one girl cookie for desserts after :

iced coffee, lemon pound cake, and angel food cake with passion fruit glaze & crushed pistachios.

one girl cookie, despite the name, really makes perfect cake, imho - not too fluffy, not too dense, not dry or too moist, and the right amount of sweetness.

the glaze was very sweet so its proportion to the cake was just right - and the pistachio crunchiness

only added to the yumminess.

then!!!!

m went beef-crazy and made another meat sandwich for dinner!

roasted beef (from trader joe's) with melted cheddar, horseradish sauce, and arugula on 7 grain.

with flaxseed chips on the side, and cherries to chase away the tearjerking horseradish.

it was deeeeelicious and i must go lie down to flatten out my huge belly.

beautiful 70ºF weather today - we got together with a bunch of friends

and rode our bikes down to rockaway taco by rockaway beach.

the line was magically short and we got our fish tacos in no time. it really

felt like we were in california somewhere with these yummy tacos.

watermelon juice was great & refreshing as well.

then we rode down to fort tilden, where it was surprisingly hipster-free on

a beautiful sunday (thanks to a very mild weather) :

m & i left a bit earlier (i was sunburned) and stopped midway in midwood (haha)

for some random sushi :

our eyes (way bigger than our bellies) led us to order these huge platters

of food, confusing the cheaper prices with the level of our hunger. oops.

ikura (salmon roe) roll, tuna & salmon roll, eel & cucumber roll, with tempura

and salad above.

then my platter of choice : futomaki, salmon & cream cheese roll, and

mackerel & ginger roll, with gyoza & salad.

these came with miso soup as well, and we were disgustingly full by the end.

the sushi was decent but not great, but it was a fun, random stop on our trip back!

brunch at le gamin - audrey & m and got croque-mesdames, and i got their pain perdu

(french toast). the croque was really good, despite the heavy richness of the béchamel.

but my french toast was a disappointment from what i remember them to be - made

crispy with baguette, not this thick slab of mushy brioche. oh well, you win some, you

lose some!

later in the afternoon, we went to get some coffee and dessert :

we ended up at blue stove bakery, with a hot coffee & an iced, and their last slice

of key lime pie - which was pretty good, but too sweet for my taste. next key lime

pie craving attack, i'll know to head to pequeña, and order apple pie here instead.

hot, sunny, summery day calls for something cooling - like cold soba noodles!

i made zaru soba today, making the tsuyu (dipping sauce) from scratch for the first time

(very simple).

since we only had one pack of noodles at home, i made a big salad with CSA greens

which we ended up dipping them in the tsuyu too! so good & refreshing, especially with a copious amount of wasabi mixed in. :D

after our first day of CSA veggie pickup, we went for an impromptu (well, prompted

by massive hunger) dinner at menkuitei. m got his old favorite, hiyashi chuka-men, and

since i'd been only getting noodles there recently, and because it wasn't too hot today,

i ordered a mabo-don. mmmm~~~ it was so good, paired with a pint of sapporo!

we then searched for something sweet after, and ended up at birdbath bakery, where we

got 15% off discount for having come in on our bikes.

we got this gigantic chocolate chip cookie and a chocolate toffee cookie (hiding in the bag)

with their coffee - the choc-chip was too rich for us. chocolate toffee

was surprisingly much milder and less oily. very good coffee, though!