Momofuku’s Fried Chicken Dinner

Over the weekend, I went to Momofuku Noodle Bar for their fried chicken dinner. For $100, you get two chickens prepared two different ways: Southern Style (coated with buttermilk, Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper and fried twice) and Korean Style (fried three times and glazed with a semi-spicy Korean red sauce). The meal also comes with mu shu pancakes, long spicy peppers, baby carrots, red ball radishes, shiso leaves, bibb lettuce, four sauces (soy-garlic jalapeno, hoisin, bibim sauce, and soy-ginger scallion sauce) and an herb basket. I invited David, Lou, Blake, Justin, and Julie for the dinner, although I was very skeptical that two chickens could feed 6 people, but I figured it would be more fun with more people.

Initially, I made the reservation for Tuesday night around 10pm, but the dinner is supposed to take about 2 hours, so I gave the reservation to Talida and made another reservation for Saturday night. It was a late dinner (11:55 was the reservation time), but I figured everyone goes out on Saturday nights, anyway, so what’s so late about a midnight dinner?

Blake and I ran into each other on the subway and met up with Lou, David, Justin, and Julie. The restaurant was pretty packed for midnight so they took a little bit getting our table cleaned up. While we waited, we discussed our excitement and Justin’s tummy ache. As soon as we sat down, we were presented with menus for food and drinks (apparently the chicken takes another 20 minutes to cook so we didn’t actually eat until around 12:30). David ordered an egg to curb his appetite while we waited for the chicken:

The egg was topped with some fried scallions, chives, and salt and pepper. They accidentally sent over two and while the first one was really good, the second one was completely over-salted. Lou and Blake said it would’ve been good if the eggs weren’t so salty and I think they might’ve forgotten that they salted it initially and then went to town with the salt again.

After our eggs, our veggie platters arrived. The carrots and radishes were definitely the best AND they come with unlimited refills (same with the sauces and mu shu wrappers). Here’s David eagerly awaiting the arrival of fried chicken:

After a little more waiting (and talking about how excited we were for our chicken dinner), our meal came:

Mu shu wraps, fried chicken (the Southern style is closer in the picture and the Korean style is the shiny glazed chicken), lots of vegetables, and the four dipping sauces. The waiter told us his favorite way to eat the chicken (Southern with a mu shu wrapper, shiso leaf, and some soy-ginger scallion sauce), but told us to be creative. Here are some of our creations:

Blake decided to go with just the mu shu wrap and some hoisin sauce:

He likes his creation:

I went with mu shu wrap, lettuce, Southern style chicken (with skin, of course), and soy-garlic jalapeno:

And Lou went with a garbage plate and just piled everything on it:

The Southern style fried chicken is definitely the chicken you want to eat; the skin is crispy and flavorful and the chicken meat is some of the most tender chicken I’ve ever eaten. The Korean style chicken isn’t terrible, but it pales in comparison to Bon Chon. My favorite sauce was the soy-garlic jalapeno (it’s so good I could almost drink it straight) and the soy-ginger scallion sauce was good, but didn’t go with any of the chickens. The hoisin sauce didn’t taste good with any of the chickens (more of a duck sauce, in my opinion), and the Korean bibim sauce was the same as the glaze, so I didn’t bother with it, either.

The waiter replenished our vegetable platter three times (carrots, chicken, lettuce, mu shu, radishes, and chicken is definitely the way to go; the textures and flavors were incredible!) and we were only left with wings from the Korean style (but Justin only had one piece, so I think if he had felt 100%, we wouldn’t have had any leftovers). The meal was really fun and messy and I would DEFINITELY go back; in fact, I think I enjoyed eating the meal at the later time because the restaurant was practically empty and it wasn’t difficult to get the waiter’s attention. The meal wasn’t too expensive, either, especially since we had 6 people split it evenly; make a reservation now – you won’t regret it!

Labor Day Dinner Party

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom is an amazing cook. We used to have VERY large dinner parties when we lived in Champaign; every Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mom would invite her friends over and we’d have around 50 people in our house for dinner, karaoke, and gift exchanges. Of course, those friends would be David’s electrical engineering professors, so it would be very funny to watch them dance and sing karaoke at 2 in the morning.

Usually, my mom would have us clean the house while she cooked the night away and we’d end up eating 20 or 30 different dishes that she made from scratch. I always looked forward to our holiday parties because it’s always fun to entertain large groups, especially when my mom is there to keep things fun. For Labor Day, my mom hosted a small dinner party for her friends in North Carolina; these friends don’t sing karaoke as much, but they are OBSESSED with card games and usually play until the morning (seriously…the last party we had, I went to sleep around 2AM and they were STILL playing! They ended up staying until around 4 or so). Since my mom didn’t have too much time to prepare, she had a simple (in her eyes) party. Below are some pictures from the party and the dishes she created. Enjoy!

Tea smoked chicken:

My mom adding some cilantro to the chicken:

My mom and her friends frying up some homemade dumplings (her friend brought these):

Ti pong (marinated pig’s butt) with daikon radishes:

Mung bean noodles with peanut butter sauce and cucumbers (and lots of garlic):

Bok choy with vinegar, sugar, salt, and sesame oil (a cold dish my grandmother used to make):

Noodles with chili pepper flakes, sesame oil, and green onions (easy and surprisingly good):

Marinated green papaya (this was brought by friend):

Sticky rice with pork and mushrooms (no shrimp because David is allergic). My mom made the sticky rice and then steamed it with lotus leaves underneath- one of the best dishes of the night!:

Mustard greens (grown in a friend’s garden) with mushrooms and garlic:

The tea-smoked chicken:

Marinated pig’s feet with peanuts (another amazing dish – apparently a lot of older women eat this dish because of the gelatin):

Lotus seed buns made from scratch (brought by another friend):

Crab’s legs (brought by another friend):

One of the tables (we had two since there were so many people we had another set of tables in our grand room):

After our amazing dinner, the guests got down to business; they are all obsessed with a card game (San-Xian):

It gets pretty intense (lots of yelling if you put down the wrong cards since you’re playing in teams), so the women decided to split off and play on their own:

Around midnight, we started with our desserts. My mom’s friend makes a really good red bean soup with lots of mochi balls:

Someone brought a fruit tart:

I made a chocolate cheesecake with chocolate ganache:

And someone else brought a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache:

I went to bed around 1 and things were still in full swing; I heard the next day that the party ended around 3 AM. Not bad for a last minute get-together!

Lunch in North Carolina

During Labor Day weekend, my mom made us amazing lunches and dinners since we missed her home cooking so much. Everyday we had something delicious and I took some pictures of one of our meals:

Our lunch spread:

Fried brown rice with asparagus and eggs:

My mom doesn’t use white rice, but instead, makes nutritious brown rice that’s nuttier and more flavorful. She adds some eggs and asparagus to make the rice more interesting.

Mung bean noodles with cucumbers and peanut butter:

Mung bean noodles are really easy to make and can be pan fried with hot sauce or eaten cold with a ton of different toppings. My favorite: cucumbers and peanut butter (with soy sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar).

Corn on the cob:

I grew up eating a ton of corn on the cob (or corn mixed with mashed potatoes), but I never seem to eat corn when I’m in New York. Maybe it’s just too difficult to cook because I don’t have any pots large enough to fit in an ear of corn!

My personal favorite: mu-er (wood ear mushrooms) with roasted red peppers, red onions, and cilantro:

My mom roasted the red peppers, soaked the wood ear mushrooms, and sliced up some red onions and cilantro to put this dish together. It was slightly sweet from the peppers and was refreshing from the cilantro. The combination of all of the flavors was a big party in my mouth and the textures were all great, too.

We also had a big party while we were home – I’ll post pictures from the feast my mom prepared later this week!

‘wichcraft Pole Caught Tuna Sandwich

Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Craft, was overrated and really expensive. His sandwich shop, ‘wichcraft, on the other hand, has an amazing sandwich that I could probably eat for lunch everyday (if it weren’t $8.50 for just the sandwich). I found my way to ‘wichcraft last Thursday after walking around Saks on Fashion Night Out and was looking for a snack before heading to my friend’s fashion show in the west village. I’m not too familiar with quick dinners around Rockefeller (unless you count chicken and rice) but I somehow landed in front of ‘wichcraft and decided it was time I finally tried their sandwiches. The pole caught tuna caught my eye and the cashier said it was a really good sandwich, except for the lemon, but she said I could just pick it out. I devoured the sandwich in less than 5 minutes; it was crunchy, creamy, really flavorful and so delicious I contemplated ordering another one to go. I didn’t, but on Friday, I purchased some tuna at Whole Foods so I could recreate the sandwich at home.

The only thing I didn’t like about the sandwich was the bread; the baguette was a little tough (possibly because it was the end of the night and the bread was lying around the store all day) but since I was making it at home, I had the luxury of choosing what kind of bread I wanted to use!

Ingredients:

Olive oil (if you buy tuna in water instead of olive oil)
One can of tuna
Mayonnaise (‘wichcraft has aioli, but I used mayonnaise because I didn’t feel like making aioli)
Fennel (I used about 1/4 of a bulb)
One lemon (I used about half of a lemon for one can
Kalamata olives
Salt and pepper
Bread (I bought some rosemary sourdough bread from Whole Foods and it is AMAZING)

This sandwich is super easy to make and it’s a protein-packed snack, so it’s great for everyday eating (especially if you keep the mayo portion to a minimum). First, I cut up a lemon:

The cashier didn’t like the lemon because I’m guessing the pith was a little bitter, so I just got rid of it. After slicing up the lemon, I sliced up these delicious olives:

I used about 7 olives because it’s really the only salt you need for the tuna, but you can vary this based on your preference. Set aside the cut up olives. Also cut up some fennel (I used about 1/4 of the bulb for one can of tuna, but this really depends on your preference for crunchiness). Set aside the fennel.

Next, open up your can of tuna and start breaking it up:

Any tuna is fine, especially if you don’t have enough money for ventresca tuna ($12 at Whole Foods) or you don’t have an Ecuadorian friend bringing it in every time she visits home (thank you, Maria!) Add some olive oil, too, especially if you end up buying tuna in spring water because it’s the only tuna left at the store:

Don’t worry if your tuna isn’t bite-sized yet, there will be more mixing soon. After the olive oil has been added (only a little bit – about 1/2 tablespoon), add the mayonnaise:

I added one big spoonful because tuna and mayo just go together. After the mayo has been mixed a little, add the lemon slices:

And the fennel:

And finally, the olives:

Mix them together, add some pepper, and pack it up:

Spread it over some bread (I like to eat it as an open-faced sandwich) the way we did at the office:

The fennel is a grown-up version of celery because of the slight anise taste and the lemon adds a fresh taste as well. It was an amazing late afternoon snack that David loved, too!:

Aerogarden: Week 8

Looking back at week 7’s post, I noticed that the plants all made a lot of progress, even though I still haven’t used any of them. This week’s update:

I think the mint grew the most this week:

However, I tried a couple of pieces and it doesn’t taste like mint at all, which kind of scares me. Has anyone else had this problem with their Aerogarden? I noticed that the mint doesn’t really look like the mint leaves I used to see in my neighbor’s garden. The leaves have a very faint smell of mint, but I don’t think they’re safe to eat yet!!

The thyme is still doing well:

It feels like a big tangle of little vines, but I’m excited to actually use some (one of these days).

David was watching me take my weekly photos and said that the chives made a lot of progress:

I suppose he’s right, considering there’s a new little growth. Still not enough for anything, unless you’re dressing a small baked potato.

The basil continues to grow like a weed:

I trimmed the bails over the weekend because it seemed like it was going to get burnt by the lights again.

The dill is growing a lot, but it’s lying down as it grows, so I’m afraid that the leaves are too heavy for the stem:

Finally, the oregano is doing well, although I pulled out some dead leaves over the weekend:

Have you noticed that half of the herbs are doing really well and the other half aren’t growing as fast? I wonder if I positioned the pods incorrectly or if the light strength is somehow different. Time to call up Aerogarden and find out!