Category Archives: Reviews

Trip to NYC

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For our wedding anniversary we went to New York City. Even though it was early March, on the night of our arrival the temperature outside dropped to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. We went to dinner and after braving the cold  for 15 minutes I told my husband that I can’t stand it anymore and I want to go back to the hotel.

We stayed at Park Central, literally few blocks away from Times Square and a block away from Central Park. The rooms are very spacious for New York City, modern and comfortable. We liked that the room had a fairly large flat screen TV and my husband’s only complaint was that the room was not equipped with a coffee maker.

The weather gradually warmed up over the next couple of days of our stay in New York. On the morning of our departure it was supposed to get into the low 50s. I got to see the snow, which I haven’t seen for over 6 years, I got to feel the freezing temperature and high winds. One thing I wish is that I wore a warmer jacket. Otherwise it was perfect!

We did the tour of NBC, which I really liked. We were taken into an actual news broadcasting studio. Then we went inside of a fake studio, where we got to witness how the news are actually filmed. We got to see the set of the Saturday Night Live. Very cool, even though we weren’t allowed inside, we saw the sets of all of the three stages through the glass wall. Definitely recommend.

Tour of Rockefeller Center was part of the deal. We had a guide who walked us through the Rockefeller Center Plaza focusing on different buildings, telling us their stories and their significance in the history of the Center. Honestly, I could take it or leave it. As soon as it was over, I could hardly remember anything. I guess it’s just not my cup of tea.

On a following day we did a 3-hour cruise around Manhattan island. Very cool, you get to see Manhattan from a completely different perspective. Believe it or not, Manhattan actually has some areas that look completely untouched. Trees, grass, rocks, no people, pretty wild. I was also amazed at how hilly the island is. As we were cruising along Hudson and Harlem rivers, we got to check out other areas of the city, like Brooklyn and Bronx.

The New York experience is not complete without a Broadway show. We went to see Phantom Of The Opera. It was awesome, the best Broadway show I’ve ever seen! Highly recommend it! The best place to get tickets is TKTS, right in the middle of Times Square. If you don’t mind buying tickets on the day of the show, you get them half price. Also, at night the line is probably 8 times shorter than during the day. (As a side note, we went in early March, which is off season. During high season, like the summer, the story might be completely different.)

Central park is pretty uneventful in early March. Bare trees, yellow grass, dirt and snow. The key words are bare and empty.

And how can I not mention the newyorkers. What an interesting and intriguing group. They are on the constant run. They do everything fast, they appear to be in the hurry at all times. No time to rest, no time to take a breather, no time to smell the roses (or overpriced steak of the nearby restaurant in their case). I get tired just by looking at them. But I’m sure their impression of us is completely opposite. I’m sure it’s something like “Could they be any slower? Why does it take over 1 minute to make up your mind on what sandwich to get? C’mon man, it’s not Florida!” lol. Yea, yea, we’re from Florida and we’re slow!

But in any case, I really do enjoy getting out to New York City. I lived in a big city as a kid and a teenager. Part of me misses it. The crowds, the rush, the smell of the subway, the pastry stands.

On that note, I’ll be back!!

Homemade Sushi – Is It Worth The Hassle?

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Share photos on twitter with TwitpicI carried out my Valentine’s Day plan of making sushi for the first time. Both my husband and I love sushi, so that was one of my contributions to our Valentine’s Day’s date.

That afternoon I went online, checked out the key ingredients required for basic sushi preparation and left for my hunting, aka grocery store. To my luck, the sushi guy, from whom I was supposed to purchase the sushi-grade fish, was on the break and was due to be back in 20 minutes. So there I was waiting on the sushi guy and staring at already prepared and prepackaged perfectly good sushi.  A thought ran through my mind, maybe I should take a shortcut and buy the premade sushi? Certainly it would be easier, I wouldn’t have to mess with cooking the rice, buying seaweed, rice vinegar…, wrapping it all together. But then what fun would it be?

So I decided to wait. In the meantime I picked up a jar of short grain rice, which wasn’t cheap.  I payed over seven dollars for 2 pounds of it, it’s just rice for god’s sake! I got a tube of wasabi sauce, jar of pickled ginger, rice vinegar and seaweed.  To my surprise seaweed is quite cheap, I payed $1.89 for 20 sheets of it, which is good for 20 sushi rolls.

As for the sushi-grade fish, it ain’t cheap! Tuna goes for $29 per pound and salmon for $19. So I bought a third of a pound of each and it cost me roughly $16. My total for the sushi ingredients was around thirty dollars. On the bright side though next time I make sushi, I will only need to buy the fish. The rest will last me for a while.

As I got home, I realized that I didn’t have the sushi rolling mat. I got creative and used bamboo place mat with plastic wrap instead. I found the process of making sushi fairly easy. Though, I think it would have been easier to use the actual sushi rolling mat.

As you can see on the picture, visually it wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it tasted great! We could definitely taste the difference between the store-bought and the homemade sushi. Homemade tasted more plain and fresher. I got lot’s of compliments from my Valentine. By the way, what you see on the picture is about half of what I made. On the plate next to it, there were two more rolls and couple of pieces of sashimi.

In the end, was making our own sushi worth the hassle? Absolutely! I’m looking forward to the next time!

Choco’s Ice Cream Cookie Bon Bons

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Oh, these bon bons.  You wonderfully surprised me tonight with the odd combination of your chocolaty constituents.  it is a harmonic assembly of the chocolate cookie topped with chocolate ice cream and fully covered with dark chocolate. Drooling yet?

As I saw the site of the dark chocolate, I anticipated the taste of decadence.  As the cookie touched my mouth, I felt the refreshing coolness of its dark chocolate coating. As it started to melt in my mouth, I tasted the sweet bitterness of the dark chocolate, combined with the cold, sweet sensation of the chocolate ice cream. As I bit further into the firm chocolate cookie, it all came together!  All the flavors and textures combined into one refreshing, wonderfully delicious, chocolaty tasting experience!

And the best thing is I didn’t feel a bit guilty afterwords, it only has 60 calories!