Jonas and Orange Hot Chocolate

We all know there was some serious snow this weekend in the NJ/NY area (see Winter Storm Jonas 2016). I hope everyone is safe and well-stocked with hot chocolate and nice teas.

A few days before the storm, I saw a recipe for orange mocha in my inbox and decided to try it out during the weekend since trains were suspended anyway.

Ingredients (for 2 people)

• 1 packet of Via instant coffee (Veranda, I didn't have espresso so this was a good sub)
• 2 cups of milk (I used non-fat, you can use anything from skim to half-n-half)
• 10 tbsp of hot chocolate mix (I had Max Brenner's dark chocolate handy, you can use your favorite mix)
• 2 tbsp of turbinado sugar (you can skip this or use any type of sugar you like to taste, it was just what was in the pantry)
• 1 orange (for zesting only, but go ahead and eat the inside anyway!)
• Optional items: nutmeg, cinnamon, other spices of choice.
• orange cookie (optional. I happened to have one of these sitting around from Maison Kaiser. it was a nice chocolate cookie with candied orange pieces. you can also obviously drink your hot chocolate with any cookie or sweet you like. 

Directions:

1. Measure out all ingredients
2. Take a knife or zester and get a good 3-4 large strips of orange zest
3. Pour milk into small sauce pan to heat up on low heat
4. Mix in sugar, hot chocolate mix, coffee, and orange zest strips
5. After low simmer for a few min and most items mixed, pour out hot chocolate in serving mugs (discard orange zest strips)
6. Top each mug with whipped cream, marshmallows, and small amount of fine orange zest

Sources:

Original mocha recipe with video: http://1912pike.com/recipe-orange-mocha/
Four ways to froth milk: https://youtu.be/iLNmPRPQ6UU

Three bars and a karaoke

Rye House
http://ryehousenyc.com/
11 W. 17th Street, NY, NY
(btw 5th and 6th ave)
Props to W. for recommending this place. Near Union Sq. Quiet space on a week night and friendly service.
beer: milk stout. excellent, would order again.
bourbon: Elijah Craig. learned to put water by the tiny spoonful in my bourbon to open it up. very nice.

Village Pour House http://www.villagepourhouse.com/
64th 3rd Ave, NY, NY
(at 11th st)
Near St. Marks. Amazing beer selection and giant screens for sports. I went with K. and C. for a Yankees vs. Rangers game (disclaimer, I’m not a fan of either team). I remember Beck’s Octoberfest was a new find that I enjoyed.

Jimmy’s Corner
http://nymag.com/listings/bar/jimmys_corner/
140 W. 44th St, NY, NY
(near Broadway times square)
G. and her husband J. were coming down from CT to visit NYC and recommended this place after we had dinner at Hurley’s. I could not believe the amazing music selection, boxing photos, and reasonable drink prices (especially in Times Square!). Everyone should go here with friends and visitors. Just watch your liver (since your wallet is saved)!

U2 Karaoke
http://www.wewantu2sing.com/
6 St. Marks Place, NY, NY
(btw 2nd and 3rd Ave)
I love St. Marks so this new place makes it much easier to plan for food/karaoke nights. I usually go to Karaoke Duet [link] but I’m very impressed with U2’s music selection, especially new pop songs. Better system than Duet but the Chinese songs are different to navigate. Not sure how they sorted it. I’m sure we’ll be back often!

Avocado Shake

When I have a lot of fruit left over, I try to come up with new ways to eat them. Last time, I had to many mangos, and came up with mango crepes. This time I’m dealing with avocados. Besides making them into guacamole, I like to have avocado in my egg sandwiches or egg salads. Sometimes I also eat them raw with a bit of black pepper. I searched in my past entries and found a good salad I made as well. [avocado salad] 

Just as I was wondering what to do with the bag of soft avocados, I remembered that I had sampled an avocado shake back in Chicago’s Chinatown. [see menu] While it was delicious, it was a bit too rich and I recall that the servicing size was very generous. Anyways, I looked up avocado shake recipes online and found a few here and here. Since I was making this test batch for my grandma and she’s diabetic, I decided to substitute half a banana instead of adding sugar. My modified recipe below:

Ingredients (serves 2)
-half of a ripe avocado
-half a ripe banana
-1 and a half cup low-fat milk (skim is probably better but I just took whatever was in the fridge)

Directions
1. Cut avocado in half, scoop out half and place in blender
2. Put the half banana in the blender (I sliced it but I’m sure it’s unnecessary)
3. Use the blender to Chop, Blend, and Stir until smooth
4. Pour shake in two glasses and serve!

Notes
The banana was actually enough to make the shake a little bit sweet without going overboard. I think a bit of honey on top could have been nice too. The color of the shake is light green, perfect for a sunny spring day. It provides just enough energy for me after a long walk. 

I also looked up some Chinese recipes (example here). They all recommended an apple to go with the recipe. The site also claims that drinking avocado shakes regularly will naturally enhance a woman’s breasts… 

Pound & Pence Pub

So I went to this pub with coworkers to celebrate someone's birthday. When the waitress came around to take drink orders, I asked her about the draft list and ordered a draft London Pride (excellent by the way). Next thing I know, people are asking me why I'm drinking dark beer. Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but apparently girls don't drink beers (even at a pub?), let alone dark beers. I look around and take in other women's orders: red wine (classy, especially with a smart dress), tea (they serve it in a small teapot, wow), and some other cocktails that I don't know the names of, and probably has some kind of fruity taste. I finally explained that I'm just more used to beers and that I don't know much about wine outside of merlot. Light beer is too light for me and Guinness is too foamy for me. and I haven't developed a taste for anything sweet (although my cousin did buy a case of Mike's Lemonade once...and after we went through it in a month I'd sworn off it forever).

Pound & Pence

55 Liberty St.

Between Nassau & Broadway

New York, NY 10005

website | drinks menu

My drink preference:
Yay List 
any IPA, Brooklyn Lager, Brooklyn Oktoberfest, gin straight, gin&tonic, Bass, Smithwicks, Becks, high grade tequila, Sam Adams Regular, sherry (extra dry), port, cognac

Nay List
Bud, Corona, TsingTao (this is almost unavoidable at a Chinese restaurant but oh well), vodka (unavoidable at most parties and in most cocktails...argh), margaritas (I don't know why I never cared for them, esp salt rim and umbrella), rum and most rum cocktails. there's probably a huge list of sweet drinks here...most flavored vodkas and rums.

Fav Non-alcoholic
cranberry juice (it looks pretty! Hot Fuzz reference, anyone?), fruit juice with seltzer, coke (yup, I don't care what people say, it's good), coffee and baileys (o wait...it's a bit alcoholic).

The above list may make me out to be an alcoholic but the reality of the matter is, I was just lucky to try a variety of drinks out of curiosity on different occasions. I'm still looking for that perfect, safe drink to get when I go to a bar and can't decide what I want. Until then, more experimentation!

Calculating those drinks

On a totally random topic, the other day K. and I were debating how much calories bailey's actually has. I found the answer (is it for real though? shocking). The not-so-shocking fact is that hard liquors are not that bad (in shotglass quantities less than 100 calories) compared to beers (12 oz. blue moon is 171 calories! damn). So if you're watching your weight, you should drink more hard liquor and less beer. Yea. and absolutely no girly drinks (you know, the sweet and pretty stuff). Referenced site here.

Another alcohol calculator here.

Barley Love?

Beer Menus (website)
Saw this from gothamist, just wow....what a great resource.

Ever since I got back from Boston (and the Sam Adams tasting tour) I've been very selective about my beers. As in, why drink bottles when there are microbreweries and quality draft stuff? and I finally agree with W. that Corona is really not that amazing. The lime fizz at San Loco, though...that's one fine quality non-alcoholic drink!

Getting the Sam Adams Boston Lager and Brooklyn Lager on draft at my recent sports events were definitely highlights too. One at Madison Square Garden (great venue for music and beer, not for the Knicks, no offense). Another at Shea Stadium (Mets won...it's the last season before Citifield, how sad). So glad we didn't have to settle for aluminum bottled budweiser though. The carvel chocolate/vanilla softserve ice cream inside Mets caps were also amazing, but nearly beer prices, what gives?

Two places the Beer Menu page inspired me to try:
Ginger Man (36th St btw Madison and 5th Ave, Beermenu): Blue Point Berry sounds good.
Village Pourhouse (11th at 3nd ave, Website, Beermenu): Chimay Cinq Cents (pricey though)

Since we're on the topic of alcohol, I want to also mention that clearly I've been spoiled by decent wines and expensive liquors by B., K., among others. We went to the 5 shots for $10 place near St. Marks and I could only stand the Red Label (we have Blue Label at home, sick, yes) although Southern Comfort was interesting (sour and sweet). I'm disappointed to say that while Jameson has great subway ads and Dewar's has great magazine ads, they do not taste that great.

Aged tequila is meant to be savored.

Rum, Avocado Salad, and Hot peppers

Rejoice, I finally have a digital camera to take photos with. although my blog will never be as pretty as my friend Suhxie's. Sigh.

Ingredients
1 clementine (or tangerine, mandarin, orange, whatever citrus you prefer)
2 overripe persimmons (gooey on the inside, extremely soft to the touch)
1 avocado (slightly soft to the touch)
4 Thai peppers, 2 red and 2 green (optional)
a bit of rum
lime juice (half of a lime, or more depending on taste)

Preparation
1. peel the skin off of the clementine, remove white membrane.
2. cut persimmon open and scoop out gooey stuff inside.
3. cut avocado in half and scoop out flesh, cube.
4. slice Thai peppers, leave in the seeds.

Directions
1. Put clementine, persimmon, avocado, and Thai peppers in a salad bowl.
2. squeeze lime juice into bowl.
3. Add rum as needed.
4. Mix and serve.

Taste/Notes
1. Soft gooey persimmon is perfect for dressing the avocado and clementines.
2. Thai peppers add color and spicy kick to otherwise very sweet fruit salad. Do watch out if you are not used to spicy food, though. If it's too much for you, drink some cold milk. It does wonders.
3. I can probably add more lime juice next time I make this salad.
4. I love dishes that look pretty. Green, orange, and red make it so appetizing and spring!

Drink
Orange juice, rum, and lime juice. Simple, yet yummy.

Vitamin Water and drinks from China

I'm usually not a fan of "colored" water but Vitamin Water actually taste pretty good.
My only gripe is the caffeine content of the yellow one called "Energy". According to the bottle, there are 50 mg per 20 oz. bottle. The aftertaste isn't all that pleasant, either, compared to other Vitamin Waters. I didn't have a concept of how much 50 mg is and I had found out from here that a Coke classic has only 34 mg per 12 oz. I know that this means Coke still has more caffeine per oz. but I'm want more after finishing 12 oz. whereas I don't like to leave the 20 oz. Vitamin Water sitting there.

Enough about that, other flavors I have tried and liked:
Name: Multi-V. Color: White. Flavor: Lemonade
Name: Focus. Color: Pink. Flavor: Kiwi Strawberry
Name: Power-C. Color: Red. Flavor: Dragon fruit

Even if the water is called Vitamin Water, it really doesn't contain that much vitamins. I suppose it's better than most beverages which has no vitamins, but Vitamin Water is completely artificial, from flavor (no juice) to nutrition content (added vitamins to water?).

When it comes down to it, I just like the taste. Water gets boring after a while and nothing tastes better than sweetened water that has a pretty color and a funny story (the website has some, although different from the ones on my bottles) attached to it. Of course, it's rather overpriced at our food courts. I usually buy the boxed variety (less flavors, and contains the dreaded "Energy") and try the other flavors randomly when I have too much money to throw away. I remember liking the oranged colored one (Essential) but dislikeing this tea flavored one.

Speaking of drinks, I have to give a shoutout to some drinks I loved during my summer in Shanghai.

康师傅茉莉清茶 Master Kong's Jasmine Tea. light, with just a tint of tea flavor. After you start drinking this (barely any sugar added), you'll never drink Master Kong's green tea or red tea anymore (way too sweet due to sugar content).

康师傅大麦香茶 Master Kong's Barley Tea. At first I didn't like this because I was never a huge fan of barley tea. Later I started to appreciate its taste because it's not sweet at all.

乐百氏脉动青柠 Mizone Lime Sports Drink. Also comes in orange and peach flavors. Lime is the only one worth drinking though. After a hot summer day out (and Shanghai is hot), this is the best drink to recharge. Iced, of course. Someone told me this is the Propel of USA. I was so excited I bought a box of Propel. They're clearly not the same. Propel has some kind of artificial sweetner whereas Mizone doesn't. Although if you ice Propel, it's somewhat tolerable. Never drinking it unless I absolutely have to, though.

三得利乌龙茶 Suntory Oolong Tea. Another favorite, especially if you like the hot Oolong already. Suntory also makes great beer (better than Tsingtao, but don't tell crazy Tsingtao lovers that). In fact, there are many beers better than Tsingtao, which tastes too sweet for me.

Avoid the orange juice type beverages in China like the plague. If you're spoiled by fresh squeezed or even Tropicana, don't buy any orange drinks. You may get lucky at a fancy restaurant and get fresh squeezed orange juice. but don't count on it. Of course, there's also coke and pepsi if you are not feeling particularly adventurous. I was so sad they didn't have Cherry Coke and so angry that the mint flavored sprite (sounded like a good idea) gave me a sore throat. Diet Coke is also catching on in China if you're interested in that.

Tombs

The Tombs
1226 36th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Phone (202) 337-6668

How I managed to not review this fine Georgetown establishment is beyond me. Just a block away from the library, it is always always filled with students. At any given evening, you're bound to find people you know sitting at the table next to you. or better yet, a friend who happens to be part of the waiting staff. Interesting fact, the waiters and waitress all wear nice clean blue shirts with bow ties. Not going to lie, they look good!

While I used to not be thrilled about this place, recently (especially this semester) I have started to enjoy it more.
Maybe it's the study snacks special prices, maybe it's the crowded Thursday afternoon atmosphere, but I'm sure the company I was with made all the difference.

Decor
The place is decorated with various Crew items, including oars and photos and paintings. The lighting is usually ambient but the music needs to be louder, either that or the crowd usually drowns out the music.

Get a booth if you can, with comfy couches, privacy for your group, and less probability of hearing the people sitting at the next table having loud and embarassing conversations. Use any means necessary, my favorite time was when Vin told the waiter that we needed a booth because we were "anarchists". It worked though, and we got a huge booth all to the four of us.

The Review
I have to thank Phil for introducing Tomb's Ale to me. I'm usually not a beer fan, given my lightweight, the "glow after half a beer" face, and dislike of bitter stuff. Well, and I haven't had too many kinds of beer to begin with. I guess I was spoiled on Heineken, Corona, Blackbeard's Ale, Guiness, Sam Adams, and Sapporo. All very refreshing and light and not bitter. I've had some good ale at the Triumph Brewery near the border of NJ/PA as well. Anyway, a pitcher of Tomb's Ale is definitely a must for all parties of 4 or more. It's actually not bad, and you know how picky I can get.

As for study snacks (3pm-5pm), the amazing crab and artichoke dip never fails to deliver. This stuff never gets old. Although you probably need to share with a friend due to the share size of it. Hot, gooey, melts in your mouth, served with good French bread, I think I'll go back there next week just to order it again.

Another hot item is the Buffalo Wings, which taste just as good as Wingos', Clydes (well...same owner as Tombs so I guess the similarity is there) and Rhinos. I can't really tell the difference, wings are all good. You can really smell the hot sauce when the wings are served at the table. I was lucky when I ordered it, they gave me less drumsticks, more wings. Well...whatever the piece with the two bones are called, I like those parts of wings better, because they're usually softer and less tough than the other kind.

Calamari is cheaper during study snacks hour, however, it tends to be a little greasy, especially during early afternoon hours when my greasy tolerance is low. Besides, I don't ever want to have fried calamari again after I tried the soft kind at News Cafe.

Never quite hungry enough to get a burger, although they look comparable to the dinner fare and are cheaper. My friends pointed out that many study snack menu items are the same as dinner prices. Well, they have to make money somehow, right?

Chili is good, comparable to Clyde's, although still a bit too sweet for me.

Desserts never really wowed me when I went to Tombs for dinner. Although I keep on getting reminded that the dessert is amazing because the kitchen that makes it also work for 1789, a crazy, fancy, expensive, take your parents to it type of place. I think it's the only reason people remember when Georgetown was founded...by the name of the restaurant.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my 1789 experience. but this is a Tombs review after all.

Bottom line
go during study snacks hours with parties of 4 or more, and save money for another place for dinner. Not quite the best place for a date although some days it takes too much effort to walk more than a block away from campus.

drinks drinks drinks

basics:
-black black coffee: do not ever add sugar in my coffee!
-espresso: only from good cafes and Italian restaurants, duh. must be served in demitasse cup.)
-cherry coke: from Coca Cola Company or regular Coke mixed with grenadine
-Chinese tea: made from tea leaves. red/green/white/mum/whatever. I love them all.
-any Stewart's fountain sodas, but especially orange soda
-milk: 2% or whole, skim for days when I've had too many cups of 2% already.
-water: well duh...not much to say about this one.

random:
-hot or iced strong black/green tea with milk
-coke and Cruzan Rum: vanilla or regular flavored.
-bailey's and milk: try this in the morning when regular milk just doesn't do it.
-apple/cranberry/orange juice: use this ratio 5-dash-1. cran is only there for color and orange for texture. prepare to have a toothache from the sweetness!
-sprite and fruit juice: this works wonders. ratio depends on your carbonation needs.
-cherry coke and root beer: another sugar overdose warning. half and half.
-iced tazo tea lemonade (tried this at a Starbucks the other day, amazing!)
-hot or iced chai: with milk and a lot of cardamom of course

St. John Sunset Herbal Tea and Restaurant

New find:
Sunset Herbal Tea - Mint, hibiscus, lemon grass, rosehips, vanilla, chamomile, valerian, sassafras, strawberry and raspberry leaves, passion flowers and hyssop.

Smells amazing and tastes great! Minty fresh, sweet and fruity, and a little bit tart from the lemongrass.
Bought from St. John Spice Store.
http://www.stjohnspice.com/

More on St. John seafood dishes later.

updated 5.3.06
finally, got a chance to review St. John seafood!

Morgan's Mango
-fresh catch of the day: ginger lemon tilapia. Besides the fact we were starving when we got to this restaurant, the food was amazing. The whole day we spent on trying to get food (blasted "island time" and get settled in our cabins.

Fish Trap
-fresh catch: black peppered halibut
-wild striped bass

Rhumbline
-Tuna szchuan style (5 out of 5 stars!) Sumiyoshi ordered this dish and we all wanted to eat it on our second run. and we did. great sauce, tender tuna, great sides as well. amazing!
-Cuban mojo pork
-Mahi Mahi and sweet potato chips
Dessert:
-peanut butter cake
-key lime tart
-triple chocolate fudge
-baileys with dark and white chocolate mousse (win! a bit of everything I love)

Fish Trap 2nd run
-conch fritters
-swordfish with mango
-trout with crab and lobster
-jambalaya (spicy!)
-bass with curry

It's been too long since the islands trip so I can't review any of them in detail. Just remember to check those places out while in St. John though! Fresh catch of the day is always a best bet. I would watch out for tropical mixed drinks. We had a friend who drank a bit too much...haha.

Raspberry Bellinis Try This

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31039,00.html
Adding another recipe that I want to try. Seems easy enough. I love Food Network.

Lattes and Espressos

After I had a great cafe latte (espresso with steamed milk) at Cafe Bonarparte, I was in love. But atlas...not all lattes are created equal. A brief review:
Best: at Cafe Bonarparte. rich espresso that spreads evenly.
Very good: at Midnight Mug. rather good espresso also.
Bad (avoid at all costs): at MUG, at Union Station's Starbucks. Can't taste the espresso at all...for a second I thought I was drinking straight steamed milk...

I suppose I'll try out UG eventually, if I'm ever in Leavey...

Update 2-11-06: I tried the espresso at MUG and UG, both are excellent. Although I prefer the proper espresso sized cups at MUG to the huge coffee cups at UG. Now, the question is...why is the MUG latte so bad when they have a great espresso to work with?

post your reviews in comments!

Cafe Bonaparte

Located across from Thomas Sweet on Wisconsin.

Bob and I went there for a coffee and afternoon sweets.
The espresso macchiato (expresso with frothed milk foam) and viennese espresso (espresso with vanilla and cinnamon) are sooooo good. It'll wake you up and leave a nice aftertaste in your mouth. I'd recommend the former if you're into good expresso that is dark, deep, and very fragrant. Just remember to drink it hot! The latter is not too sweet, but you really notice the vanilla and cinnamon notes in the flavor. The presentation in a thick clear glass goblet should win an award.
menu descriptions-
Espresso Macchiato: Espresso & frothed milk….for the true connoisseur $2.75
Viennese Espresso: Cinnamon, vanilla…true passion $3.25

They have the best crepes ever. Here are what we had:
Martinique- crepe filled with mangos, served with the smoothest lemon sorbet. the pistachio bits helped as well. It was so exotic. Citrus and tropical at the same time.
menu description: Caramelized mango slices topped with lemon sorbet & pistachio sprinkles $7.95
Moulin Rouge- crepe filled with peaches, garnished with berry and chocolate sauce. served with vanilla ice cream. The red and black does remind me of Moulin Rouge. Very flashy presentation. I saw the person next to me order the same thing 10 minutes after I finished mine.
menu description: Caramelized peaches with vanilla ice cream, chocolate and berry melba sauce
$7.95

Needless to say, I was very impressed. I have to thank Amanda, a friend from work, who recommended the place. Next time I'll definitely try their cafe au lait, since they serve those with a small piece of dark chocolate. Since I sat at the bar, I've seen the bartender prepare so many mimosas that I'm tempted to try that as well. Basically, fill a champagne glass 3/4 with bubbling champagne, then fill to top with orange juice. It was a gorgeous looking drink and VERY popular with the brunch crowd.

The decor is very Parisian, according to Bob, who's been to cafes in Paris. The ceiling was a gorgeously patterned silver. My favorite part is the menu and all the neat names for dishes. Where else can you find Monet/Mozart/Napoleon as dish names?

Find out more about this place at http://www.cafebonaparte.com/