a rather hilarious (but almost requisite) meal at ikea that seems to come around maybe every 5-6 years.

we came down to red hook ikea for some pre-baby shopping, and had to recharge in the middle.

i got salmon lasagna with sad veggies, and m got 2 dishes - ribs (!!) with mashed potatoes, and swedish meatballs with mac & cheese and cornbread. everything else was decent except the lasagna/veggies i got. in fact, the ribs were excellent!

to replenish my diet with more protein (80g/day apparently O_O), m got me some pre-cooked sirloin steak from trader joe's along with many other frozen goodies from there.
he cooked up this huge platter for both of us - steak, hash browns (also from TJ), sauteed kale, and eggs. holy crap, i ate more than half of this steak (probably 2/3 pound) and i could've eaten my weight in that kale he made. nom nom nom so so good - and definitely well replenished in protein (so much so i couldn't sleep, i had so much energy).

m made amazing white bean stew/chili - all from scratch starting with mirepoix, then with chorizo, peas, corn, and a bunch of other vegetables. so delicious topped with parseley, cheese and tomatoes!!
it's so nice that it's finally cooled off enough to want to eat soup like this.

had an ultrasound appointment that ran 1.5 hrs behind, so by the time we were done, i was famished.

we walked a few blocks to naruto ramen (we wanted something soupy but didn't want hancos again).

we got their lunch special, shoyu ramen with gyoza and another shoyu ramen with chicken curry rice.

the sides came first and we gobbled it up - it was so satisfying. the ramen came, it was a little more on the unctuous side than we normally like, the noodles seemed a bit generic (like the supermarket kind, a little), broth a bit too oily and salty for our tastes, but the toppings and pork were delicious. it hit the spot for us nonetheless, proven by my waddly walk back to the train.

a very indecisive food day, and after a blustery walk, we just popped into pillow café, discarding our initial plan to go to café 232 for some korean food. since it was so windy out, m ordered a side of cup of turkey chili with some toppings alongside our usual sandwiches - garden bagel and egg salad sandwich.

the sandwiches were delicious as usual - unfortunately, what started as a $3.95 side of cup of chili, which seemed steep to begin with for a really small teacup, the toppings (avocado, sour cream & onions - onions, really??) combined together were additional $3.50, making the teeny cup of soup more expensive than either of the sandwiches!

i have no idea how they justified $2 for 4 little cubes of avocado, but man, should we never deviate from just ordering these two sandwiches and nothing else! otherwise pillow cafe is sheer ripoff.

beautiful fall equinox day (albeit a bit windy), we sat in the patio section of pequeña - it was actually empty enough for us to pick a seat, but alas, we picked wrong... next to some loudly gabby couple of ladies. :( even though we sort of had to rush through our meal quietly, overwhelmed by their noise & gossip, our food was good nonetheless - m got chicken enchiladas with roja & verde sauces, and i got fried fish tacos, which i hadn't tried yet there (i normally get sauteed fish). the fresh radish and pickled onions on the tacos really make the dish. enchiladas were delicious and well-cooked as usual too.

too bad some neighbors can ruin your food experiences, but oh well! it's nyc.

mmmm homemade quick delicious meal! left over kimchi miso soup i'd made a few days ago for poor m's cold, kimchi over tofu, fried eggs, and some hotdogs, seaweed (gim) with black/brown rice. 

so simple, but amazingly satisfying.

we randomly ended up here at mike's diner, after ambling for a while, to have some breakfast food for dinner (yay!). steak & eggs (so so so much better than this) that came with fries instead of their usual grits, pancaks, scrambled eggs with sausages. yummy!!

stopped by kulushka for some late dinner after our birthing class - not as flavorful as our usual falafel place, but it was still pretty yummy. more "done up" than we'd like, and we wished that there were some tangy hot sauces to brighten up the flavors.

weird colors but i couldn't adjust it any longer. -_-

i had yummy dinner at chuko with a friend (a friend with hook up deals, since she knows people there).

we ordered all their specials! starting with pork & cabbage gyoza, fried brussels sprouts on the house, and i got their pork bone ramen - a tonkotsu broth ramen with skinny noodles, topped with melty pork meat, mustard greens, and woodear mushrooms - and kana got mentaiko mazemen, a soupless ramen dish with mentaiko, shiso leaves, seaweed, & bacon. so yummy!! 

i normally don't even like tonkotsu broth that much but this one was light and not too heavy or lardy.

the pork just melted into my mouth, and mustard greens just balanced everything out well.

i couldn't even finish everything, but it was so good!

kimchi fried rice with omelette top (kind of a half assed kimchi fried omurice) for dinner.

unfortunately, i overcompensated for the small amount of kimchi we had and pregnancy brain made me forget about the saltiness of the hotdog sausages that i put a bit too much gochujang, it was a tad salty.

 went back to get some more of these yummies at cammareri café. the bbq sandwich (turns out to be pork AND beef bbq!) was just as saucy and yummy but they didn't have the ciabatta bun as last time. the baguette was good, but the first version was just so much better. the mac & cheese was delicious, although the walnut crusties were a little too fine like breadcrumbs. they were both still very delicious together!

we even got gelato there after, which were the best flavors so far (their flavors have been very hit or miss) - brussels mocha & salted toffee. mmmm~

wow easily one of the best meals ever. despite the pouring rain and thunderstorm, we walked down to il porto for a lil birthday dinner. we celebrated m's last birthday here but we were luckier with food this time. after pondering for a while, we decided to get pasta e fagiole soup, their seafood pizza we always see getting packed up for delivery while getting a slice from them, and a grilled salmon entree. 

we've always wanted to try their seafood pizza and we weren't sure if we were even in the mood for pizza today, but holy cow, we would've cried had we not ordered it today. it was hands down one of the MOST flavorful, deliciously made pizzas we've had. packed with seafood, just on simple tomato sauce, it even came with a little bow of seafood bouillabaisse to drizzle over it for extra flavor. wow wow wow taste explosion! so amazing. the salmon was amazing too - perfectly cooked, flaky but not dry, along with this lemony garlicky sauce and potato cheese croquette, it was pretty dang perfect, albeit being so overshadowed by the pizza.

even though we were both full, we ended the delicious meal with more food - ricotta cheesecake!

it came with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream, and luckily it was light (thanks to ricotta) enough to not make us feel sick. it seems like we had no problem finishing it.

soooo gooooood!

i had some kind of food poisoning or stomach bug last night from something (not sure) so i wanted some super clean food. after birthing class, we went to taro sushi again, and ordered what we know to be definitively good there - sushi & appetizers. we got miso soup, and crisped lotus root (reckon) and silken tofu salad, and sushi deluxe. holy crap these were so good!!! all their sushi/sashimi just melt in your mouth, even the california rolls. the salad was amazing - i've never had crispy fried lotus root (only boiled or pan fried, i think?) and it was so good, contrasted against the greens and super yummy silken tofu. mmmm~

after our midwife appointment, and hearing that i might want some more protein in my diet to keep fatigue at bay, we went to try some breakfast food at cousin john's bakery - which didn't serve brekkie anymore after 3pm. so we went a couple doors down to park café (i think that's where la taqueria used to be back in the day?) 

i tried their steak & eggs dish w/fries and m got a cheese burger. i didn't get a good pic of the assembled burger, but it was really good. much better than that sad thing called "steak" and eggs. it was so pitifully small that we actually told the waiter and he gave us a couple bucks off it. not to mention that it didn't taste good at all. next time or anytime i want steak and eggs, i'm only sticking with mike's from now on. and forever. (well... kind of).

dark photos, as usual, at café 232 - somehow they have decided to really swank up their place now.

they were experimenting with different dishes and plates for the past several times we went there, then they all got dark so the photos in there are even darker now. they even made this fancy 'real' menu (they used to have this folded paper take-out menu) and upped the prices of everything by $1-3!! O_O

do NOT like. but luckily their food was decent today - soon dubu jigae and dolsot bibimbap. 

unfortunately, as it happens sometimes after eating here, we both conked out after getting home.

m cooked up this kale, mushroom, & spicy sausage fry up with eggs, in tomato sauce in probably 5 minutes. it was sooooo good! i love eating a huge pile of kale with things. so so tasty with the delicious sausage and tomato sauce. nom nom nom

another late night dinner at taro sushi - this time, we tried the una-don and soba noodles with tempura, instead of sushi and appetizers we normally get here. unfortunately the soba noodles were a bit too soggy for my taste (it was no cocoron, for sure). tempura was good and the eel was good as well, but i thought it was a bit too overpriced for what it was. still not bad or anything to complain about as their food has minimum deliciousness, but next time i'll know to stick to their other dishes!

complete lack of appetite left me uninspired and m just decided we should eat at 3 luigis. i got a slice of hawaiian, and he got a garden salad and a huge philly cheese steak sandwich. i was overly full but their food is always filling, satisfying and cheap - perfect for uninspired days like today. 

amazingly delicious and satisfying burritos at maya taqueria today. we took a long walk for some thrifting excursion (and randomly hit some jackpot garage sale!) and ended up here rather uninspired & hot. i got a molé chicken special burrito and m got a carne asada super deluxe something burrito. and we slathered them with all kinds of spiciness at the salsa bar. :D holy cow mine was so so so delicious. i believe their forte is the vegetarian kind and chicken, but the carne asada wasn't bad either.

 we ended up almost exactly the same way at cammareri as we did yesterday - eating here twice in a row, *gasp*, and actually ordering one same dish in a row. O_O

m wanted to try the chicken pot pie there yesterday but i didn't order it, so he tried it today, and i got the mac & cheese again. chicken pot pie was decently yummy, and a bit on the smaller side (i couldn't find any chicken). hmmm now that i think about it, it kind of reminded me of the healthy, gourmet cat food (but a really delicious human version). the mac & cheese, was of course, really delicious.

then after, we got a 'smores ice cream cone as well as a giant chocolate babka that had been taunting me for the past 5 times i've eaten here. since i hadn't had any desserts all day, i decided to try it. it was pretty decent, though maybe too big for the amount of richness. it was very much in-between cake and croissant (like a cronut, m said).