Lioness in Japan

We drove from New York to Washington DC last weekend as we were slated to fly out of DC for Tokyo on Tuesday morning. The train tickets were more expensive than renting a car so we chose to go on a mini road trip.

Before you scratch your head, might I add that we had to meet Derek’s mum and her partner in Connecticut because they were there visiting family, so it really made more sense to drive, especially with a few suitcases in tow.

We drove through a total of five states: New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia before we pulled into DC.

Anyway, we wanted to drive by The Sopranos and The Wire locations since we are huge fans but we didn’t have time despite debating how to fit them in. Alas, we decided it was more meaningful to take a photo of the building that Beauty Box is incorporated in. Please don’t be too impressed because this is a company that helps other companies to be headquartered in Delaware, so we get a business address without needing to rent space.

It felt good to “put a face to the name”.

“I’m so glad you started eating fish!” exclaimed one of my girlfriends. I was very amused. And I got reacquainted with raw oysters after a three-year hiatus and was a little apprehensive. But they were so fresh and chilled nicely that the reunion was a pleasant surprise than a rude slimy shock. I’m now an oyster fan again. We were at popular seafood restaurant, Mary’s Fish Camp, in the West Village.

The crawfish balls were okay. I realized that many appetizers in NYC restaurants are deep-fried and I don’t really like so much oil in my food, to be honest.

But I have to eat my words because these fried green tomatoes were excellent. The crispy batter was paper thin and the green tomatoes still slightly crunchy and tart.

This was my first time trying conch which is something like geo duck, according to my foodie friends. It was a lovely spicy tomato chowder which I lapped up happily.

I was a bit disappointed with the fish tacos, though delicious in their own right, I’d imagined the fish to be done ceviche-style since this was primarily a raw seafood bar. Not that I’m any expert on Mexican fish tacos at all, mind you.

Alas, the main dish that dazzled — the lobster roll. Oh-so-sinful and covered in a rich creamy sauce and accompanied by extremely skinny fries which were a mix of crispiness and sogginess, just the way I like it. Apparently, lobster is incredibly affordable in NYC since it is purchased locally from Maine sellers. I did notice the prices for lobster dishes were very reasonable compared to other countries’ and I did sneak in a few lobster dishes throughout this trip.

The other highlight of the meal was spotting Liv Tyler just one table away from us, but like seasoned New Yorkers, my friends didn’t make a big deal out of it and whispered the fact to me between bites of this delicious meal. She looked really amazing — petite and small to my surprise because she always looks so tall and voluptuous on screen…

I love my peanut butter and I’m also very fussy about what brand I eat. I only ever consume Peanut Butter & Co. because it has no dairy and is made with organic ingredients. Their flavour combinations are out-of-this world: White Chocolate Wonderful, Dark Chocolate Dreams – hello, amazing?!

So as I was strolling around the West Village, I spotted this cafe – OMG!!!! Unfortunately, it was your typical cafe with lots of peanut butter involved. The shakes had dairy ice-cream, unlike their peanut butter, and their baked goods were conventional rather than vegan. But I suppose it was premature of me to assume that they were a vegan company because they certainly don’t blast that message if you look at their website.

But I did buy a large bottle of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl for just a mere six bucks. Just one small bottle of their chunky peanut butter from Amazon Japan costs USD10.

What are the crazy things do you stock up on as an expat?

The shopping in New York is so friggin’ amazing. Everything is cheaper here and the variety is considerable. There is something for everyone in this town. I took some non-food photos to prove I do think about other things other than my stomach…

I bought five Butter London nail polishes and a whole host of other beauty products that have no no real place in this blog. I binged on Essie, Maybelline, L’Oreal, MAC, Benefit, Too Faced, etc. Sephora was my favourite haunt. I also took a day trip to Woodburry Commons, a huge outlet mall in New Jersey, 90 minutes from New York by bus. The kangaroo also shopped and shopped with me. Yeah, that’s a past-time we share — going to outlet malls.

“Why would you buy anything at full retail price after this?” wondered the kangaroo. He spotted Timberland stuff for USD40 and below and lamented he paid over SGD200 for a shirt and pants in Singapore to look decent for a game of golf with my dad.

What I realized about old New York apartments is that while they are quaint, their toilets may not capture the same fuzzy feelings.

I found myself embroiled in a stuck toilet situation one late morning. Laugh at me if you will but I have been blessed with living in places where toilets run very efficiently, almost like obedient sentient beings that never take a break. So being faced with this delicate situation was something I was unprepared for.

“The toilet is stuck! What do I do?” “A plunger? I have to plunge the toilet? Can we get a plumber?” I SMSed the kangaroo furiously.

I was given very detailed instructions on how to cover the toilet hole with the plunger and plunge with all my might till the paper or whatever was clogging the loo comes out. Ew.

Apparently, the kangaroo typed all this out on his iPhone while he was negotiating a deal on how his brand of software could possibly change the face of advertising in the television industry.

Both very important and urgent matters indeed.

This was the first restaurant we went to in New York after touching down two weeks ago. Our hotel was near Chinatown and we needed to kill two hours before we could check in (we could only go to our sublet the day after), so the concierge recommended Grand Harmony for good dim sum.

It was a cultural experience. The carts were far and few in between, and when they came by, people would jump up from their seats to grab the precious plates of dim sum before the cart was gone.

Asking for the menu was a challenge as various wait staff had different jobs and you had to locate the right one who could bring the menu over. I was told never to tip above 15% for Chinese restaurants in this town because the service is so bad.

But you know, we had time to kill so we just chilled out and chatted wi the Chinese aunties who were at our table.

I was also surprised at the selection of dim sum because it wasn’t the ones I usually see, like har gao, siew mai, radish cakes, etc. E.g. the one pictured below is eggplant stuffed with fish paste. To me, that’s like yong tau fu in Singaore where all types of veggies and tofu are stuffed with fish paste.

The others we had were also similar in nature – tofu skin wrapped over fish paste and large fish paste dumplings with chives. Very strange dim sum…

It was quite delicious to our jet lagged taste buds…

The chilli sauce was just amaaaaazing. The right amount of spice in this blended elixir that enhanced every weird dish that came our way.

This prawn dumpling seems like a play on har gao – instead of being wrapped in dumpling skin, it was a ball of glutinous rice with a piece of shrimp stuffed inside. Not bad but really rich and filling.

I enjoyed the seafood noodle soup the most. It doesn’t look like much but the broth was absolutely tasty. I couldn’t finish it though as their “small” size was this big bowl for four people.

The aunties were so kind and offered to share their generous bowls of chicken feet soup but the kangaroo politely declined, to which they tittered among themselves in Cantonese and concluded chicken feet were too scary for a gwai lou.

The kangaroo doesn’t stay in a hotel when he’s in New York because his visits tend to be at least two weeks long so he prefers subletting a room. He gets to have access to a kitchen and to have a sense of comfort a home could only exude, as opposed to a hotel.

So the guy we are staying with comes from a rural area in Canada just north of Montana and his dad gave him all sorts of stuffed animals, the kind you hang on a wall, not hug to sleep. He also has this bear carpet which is pictured above. Very quirky, albeit a little creepy, this bear.

It still has its paws and nails which I accidentally stepped on the other day.

I also did some ab exercises near this creature and my head brushed its mouth ever so slightly. I didn’t feel like facing the bear while doing my stomach crunches and push ups…

I’ve been inhaling all manner of excellent food in New York and one memorable meal was at Dokebi Bar & Grill, a Korean joint in Williamsburg. We went there after the Vinyasa yoga session I mentioned in my previous post.

For only USD10, I got a medium sized salad, three veggie tacos (one tofu, the rest mushroom), and a full suite of banchans. The banchans were so fresh and flavorful that I could’ve eaten them with a bowl of rice and been so happy.

The spicy red sauce that comes with the meal truly made these tacos so delish and savory. I should try to replicate Korean veggie tacos at home…

I always feel so healthy when I come to New York because it’s just so easy. You can find organic produce everywhere and not just Whole Foods, and similarly, you can find all sorts of activities good for the body and soul, if you so choose.

I’ll admit, I went to a yoga class at Go Yoga because a friend is a regular there, so it was easy for me to just join in. It’s not like something I would seek out on my own but perhaps it is something to keep in mind if you are so inclined.

There is only so much sightseeing I can stomach before I get bored and being part of a slice of Williamsburg life is more fascinating to me than a wax museum, for instance.

And it was an eye opener that women outside of Japan are okay with wearing tights to a yoga class. In Tokyo, women wear shorts or a short skirt over tights or a very long top that covers the bum when doing exercise. I suspect it has to do with being shy about exposing one’s crotch area, although technically it is covered up but you know what I mean.

Needless to say, I was the only one wearing shorts over my tights. Ah, the trials and tribulations of being an expat – you are constantly muddled over what it the “norm” or not.

Such a mundane detail aside, Vinyasa Yoga was just what the doctor ordered for my stiff running legs and harried soul. This yoga centre has a casual friendliness that I warmed to naturally and the class was vigorous in the sense that the muscle work felt intense with its long periods of just holding one challenging pose after another.

Prior to the kangaroo’s unusual preference for vegan cupcakes, he also surprised me by ordering a green smoothie at brunch last Saturday. It had spinach, spirulina, ginger, apple, and avocado.

You see, he was feeling unwell and his glands were swollen so he decided to forgo booze and caffeine for a while and was even imbibing a potent antioxidant supplement that promised to help your immune system get through “seasonal illnesses”.

The kangaroo did sip on this cautiously but liked it in the end. There’s hope for mankind! I’d kind of given up influencing him with my passion for healthy food but he totally surprised me this trip.

Then we went onto inhale this plate of Eggs Florentine which is such a treat as I love this dish but had relegated this to once in a long while. do you know that Hollandaise sauce is pretty much made up of egg yolks and not much else? It takes six egg yolks to make one serving of Hollandaise sauce – yikes!

Anyway, I would recommend Cornerstone Cafe in the East Village for brunch I would head down around 8-9am because it gets crowded towards 10am.