Donna and Frenchie

Last June, Mr. L and I met up with my mom’s girlfriends from Manila, Donna and Frenchie, who were both vacationing and travelling around the US and it just so happens New York was part of their itinerary. Their itinerary also included California, Boston and Vegas.

We weren’t sure where to take them for dinner because as you know there are just damn too many good restaurants to try in NY and since they are my mom’s girlfriends I wasn’t sure what type of cuisine they preferred. So I emailed them a bunch of restaurants and I also included the URL of their corporate websites so they can take a peek at the menu because we wanted to make sure that they both enjoyed their dining experience. Out of the long list I sent them, both Donna and Frenchie chose Tribeca Grill.

Mr. L then made the reservations for Tribeca Grill. Reservations in NY are very I repeat very very important and are an absolute must when dining in the city. You would never want to dine in a good restaurant in NY without a reservation because that diminishes your chances of dining at the restaurant of your choice.

I was really excited to see them because it always gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling whenever someone from home visits us. I think the last time I saw both of them was on the day of my church wedding in 2005 or maybe not lol I honestly don’t remember anymore. I was sure Mr. L would enjoy their company as well because both Frenchie and Donna have lived abroad and are well travelled so I’m sure we won’t run out of things to talk about and Mr. L won’t feel left out because I’m sure the topic of our conversation will be endless. I just wanted to make sure that everyone enjoyed that evening and there absolutely won’t be any dead air lol.

On the evening that we were meeting them, Mr. L and I both rushed to drive to the city because it was raining that day and we were quite sure that traffic would be worse due to the fact that it was a Friday evening and it was raining. As expected the traffic was indeed heavy that day. I kept calling Donna and Frenchie to give them an update that we were almost at their hotel and I also kept calling the restaurant asking them to hold our reservation because traffic was just too heavy.

Finally, we were already with Donna and Frenchie and we were already on our way to the restaurant.

When all four of us reached the restaurant we were happy that they truly held our reservation. So they seated us and we ordered a bottle of wine and appetizers and then the next thing I remember is we were already intoxicated---and we had our main course and dessert. I honestly don’t remember much because we were so deep in conversation about so many things ---- doing normal catch-ups about life in Manila, family and friends to almost anything under the sun. The dinner conversation was great and I was right Mr. L and Donna and Frenchie were a click. There wasn’t any dead air and the conversation just went on to the point that we closed the restaurant down lol. Imagine that?

As Mr. L asked for the check, we were both surprised to find out that Frenchie already paid for it? Both Mr. L and I were so embarrassed because we wanted to shoulder the check since they were both visiting us. How did she do that? Or better yet when did she pay for the check? Were we that deeply entranced with the dinner conversation that we missed it? So I was begging them to go for dessert or dinner the next night so we can pay for it but they declined they said that they already have plans and jokingly even said that one dinner is enough to be with us lol.

I was so embarrassed but very much delighted of this experience. We both expressed our sincere appreciation to them for meeting with us and for paying for the dinner. It was definitely nice to see them because they’ve been our family friends for so long. They both saw me growing up in my awkward and bratty stages to now being a married woman. So it was truly a wonderful and great experience to be re-acquainted with your mother’s girlfriends. Both Mr. L and I enjoyed that evening.

To Donna and Frenchie, we truly appreciate your visit and for treating us to dinner at Tribeca Grill. Hopefully, we can make it up to you when we visit Manila or on your next visit here. We look forward to hanging out with you…

Some photos of the meal we enjoyed...
Soup


Main course: Fish...

The Melting Pot

A couple of months ago, Mr. L and I celebrated our 4th Church Wedding Anniversary at The Melting Pot, Hoboken, NJ.

Yes, Mr. L and I celebrate a number of anniversaries in a year: our civil wedding anniversary, our church wedding anniversary and we also celebrate the year I moved here. As you are already aware of, I’ve recently written a little something about our civil wedding anniversary here since the date has just passed. Here you go to give you a little background,

http://pinaylombardi.blogspot.com/2009/09/happy-5th-civil-wedding-anniversary-mr.html

Again, Mr. L and I have yet to celebrate our civil wedding anniversary this year. As for celebrating the date that I moved here in New Jersey, I will talk about that soon. I guess when the date of the anniversary comes closer. (Note to self: must blog about why we celebrate the date that I moved here in NJ).

Okay, back to our wedding anniversary. 4 years ago, Mr. L and I were finally married in the church (in the Philippines). The exact date of our church wedding was the 29th of April. One of the happiest moments in our lives to be wed in the house of God… Here’s a photo that I wanted to share with you of this joyous moment in our life…This photo was taken during the reception of our wedding...

Four years later, Mr. L and I celebrated our church wedding anniversary by having dinner at the Melting Pot. Mr. L and I love trying new places and restaurants. As much as possible, we avoid going back to the same restaurants we’ve already tried. We also prefer independently owned restaurants rather than chain restaurants. As some of you may not be aware of the prices of the food being served at chain restaurants are actually quite expensive with poor quality and taste, whereas, more often than not you get to taste good quality food from independent restaurants. We want to always make sure that we always broaden our horizons by always trying something new.

I remember when Mr. L and I just started dating he was so afraid to try so many things particularly trying new dishes and food which was quite the opposite of how adventurous I am when it comes to dining. His excuse was that he was allergic to this and that. Yeah right?!! I introduced Mr. L to eating sushi, Japanese rolls, oysters and whole lot of other food particularly seafood and Asian cuisine and we soon discovered that he wasn’t allergic to anything! I guess his fear of trying new things comes from his upbringing.

I grew up in a household that love to eat and quite daring in trying different cuisines. Oh, not to the extent that we eat dogs, cats, snakes or rabbits, etc. Growing up in the Philippines particularly in Manila has also greatly influenced my palette. Although, the Philippines is a third world country, we have different cuisines that are available worldwide within our reach and not too pocket heavy as it is here in NY.

So we ventured to The Melting Pot which is a fondue (and hotpot) restaurant. It was our first time to try this restaurant. The food was very scrumptious! My favorites were the cheese fondue, the salad and the chocolate fondue. I definitely have to buy a fondue pot so I can recreate this experience at home lol. Quite honestly, I was a tad bit disappointed with Mr. L that evening because he mistakenly thought that lobsters were included in our main course. Grrr! But nevertheless, our dining experience was still wonderful despite of that mishap. The service was excellent. They also seated us in a private area that was intimately tucked in ---that was definitely a plus because I can take all the photos that I want. The server also guided us throughout to make sure we enjoyed our dining experience that night. The best part was the maitre d’ of the restaurant greeted us a "happy anniversary" which caught us by surprise I guess we told the server and the server told him. Although, this is a chain restaurant it is quite deliciously exceptional from other chain restaurants. This was definitely a wonderful way to spend your anniversary!

The Melting Pot Menu...

Preparing the cheese fondue...

Trying out the cheese fondue...

Salad

Preparing the main course...

Adding concoctions to the main course...

dessert...

chocolate fondue...

Here's their website: http://www.meltingpot.com

Kohr's at the Boardwalk

I am so upset with  myself for not taking a picture of the orange cream frozen custard and fresh fruit orangeade that I had at Kohr's (manufacturers of frozen custard). How disappointing? I guess my mind was totally somewhere else lol. I guess I was so focused on consumming my frozen custard and gulping my orangeade that I didn't get to take a picture of both of them. How sad that I don't have any pictures to show you.

The only photo that I have is a photo of their stand at the Boardwalk, Seaside Heights NJ. Here you go:


So anyway I really loved their orange cream frozen custard it reminded of the taste of Magnolia's twin popsies so I felt reminiscent of my days in kindergarten, grade school and of the birthdays we had and attended because they would always serve Magnolia's twin popsies lol.

I also enjoyed my fresh fruit orangeade very much so that I was looking for the recipe when I got home so I could make one myself lol. It was very refreshing and you can taste that it's made out of freshly squeezed orange juice. Oh well, better luck next time.

Here's their website:
http://www.kohrstheoriginal.com/

3 Brothers Pizza at the Boardwalk

Last Saturday, Mr. L and I with the Cabreras, Dan and Frankie went to the Boardwalk at Seaside Heights, NJ to celebrate our last hurrah for the summer. We had so much fun and took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, I'm going to probably post some of the pictures that I took some time next month because I am already about to run out of space from my free Flickr account for this month.

Here are pictures that we took of the dinner that we had at 3 Brothers Pizza...


Mr. L ordered a pepperoni pizza:


I ordered a chicken parmigiana pizza:


The slices of their pizza are really humongous...check out our plate. Mr. L didn't even get to eat his second slice. Ha, that's what you get from eating with your eyes...


Right before we headed home, Mr. L bought an Italian sausage sandwich:


Here's their website:
http://www.threebrotherspizza.com/about_us.html

4th of July Cupcakes

I'm sorry to be sounding like a broken record...but yet again...here is another long overdue photo that I took of the cupcakes that we brought to the Cabreras' 4th of July bbq this year.

Isn't it cutie cute-cute? Don't get fooled they're actually cupcakes. We bought them from a local Italian bakery from our neighborhood. They are just tooo cute for words lol :) I just couldn't resist them lol we had t get them.

Celebrating 4th of July at Dim Sum Dynasty

These are super long over due photos from my phone of what we ate to celebrate 4th of July this year. We are so "nationalistic" most especially my husband who really is an American (unlike me I was recently a naturalized American citizen) that we are celebrating 4th of July the second time around eating asian cuisine. This year we had Cantonese Cuisine at our favorite intimate restaurant Dim Sum Dynasty at Ridgewood, NJ. Last year, we had Japanese food in the city. How bad, no? Oh well, I woke up that day lol we just woke up that day craving Chinese food. How sad! How patriotic?

Here's what we had:

Treasure Platter for 2: 2 honey ribs, 2 money bags, 2 crab claws & 2 satay chicken.


Dim Sum Club for 2:


Yang Chow Fried Rice:


Mr. L's Orange Chicken (I think?):


My Jumbo Shrimp with Spicy Sauce:


Oh my, all I can say is Food...Glorious Food!

Indigo Smoke

A couple of weeks ago, the Cabreras invited us to have dinner at Indigo Smoke in Montclair, NJ. It's actually a fast food but the place was designed tastefully that you wouldn't even think that the place is actually a fast food. You only realize this because you actually have to order your food from a cashier and wait for them to call you to get your food. The place is very quiet (except for the kids that were running like crazy that evening lol) and they were playing easy-listening/jazz music. The decor of the restaurant is very home-y and comfy. I can definitely say it's not your usual fast food place. The only thing that was lacking in this restaurant was a live band playing lol :) Also, the place is BYOB so that's definitely a big plus that you can bring your own beer (for this occassion hubby and I had San Mig light beer) or  a bottle of wine.

The food was very affordable and yummy!

For appetizers, we ordered honey blossom bbq which was my favorite because it kinda tasted like Pinoy style bbq (sweet!):


We also had bbq wings:


Our side dishes were: mac and cheese (which was really good considering I'm not a fan of mac and cheese theirs was really good); corn on the cob and bbq baked beans (which was also very good better than Hunt's Pork and Beans lol):


And of course the finale was the Baby Back Ribs which was very moist and flavorful:


This is definitely a good find. Thanks Jeff for inviting us to Indigo Smoke :)

Website: http://www.indigosmoke.com/homepage.php

Pinkberry

Finally! Finally! Finally! After 50 million years, I have tried Pinkberry's yogurt! Hay I never thought this day would come. Lol, being that I live in NJ where there's no Pinkberry around and when I worked in the city it was Winter/Spring time I never really had the chance to try Pinkberry lol. But don't worry we tried Red Mango naman in the past lol so needless to say I'm not that ignorant lol.

My hubby and I were going to check out some museums in the city today but as luck would have it we:
1) Waited so looooooooooooooong for our bus to arrive!
2) When we reached the city, the bus had to go arooooooooooooooooound the world just to get to Port Authority.
Again, they wasted our precious time (tick-tock, tick-tock)
3) My hubby was sick and needed to use the bathroom at Port Authority.
4) Because of so much time that had passed we couldn't visit the Tenement anymore since it was pass 4pm (which was the last hour to tour the Tenement) and so we decided to go to Bryant Park.
5) As we were walking towards Bryant Part, I asked my hubby to take a picture of me and of course since we were born lucky in this lifetime we didn't have the SIM card inside the camera.

Ay-ya-yay!

So we finally decided to just go home na lang since my hubby was sick and we couldn't take photos anymore. I asked my hubby if we could at least try Pinkberry before we go home...before the Summer ends...and at last I finally did...

I tried small Pinkberry Original with Mochi Balls and Strawberry:

It was good. But I think Red Mango's yogurt is creamier. But nevertheless, I have finaaaaallllly tried eating a Pinkberry yogurt!

Thanks Mr. L, it kinda made the day worthwhile lol :)

Website: http://www.pinkberry.com/

Greek Delights

After returning from the city from an early morning interview last Wednesday, my hubby and I were both craving either Indian or Mediterranean food for an early lunch. We wanted something local and of course inexpensive. So we decided to drive by Montclair, NJ. Unfortunately, the Indian restaurant that we wanted to try was still closed and we were really hungry and couldn't wait for it to open at 12 noon. And then we saw Greek Delights.

I believe it just recently opened its doors to the public. I like the restaurant--- it's very spacious, clean and the service was exquisite. If you also sit towards the front of the restaurant you could ask them to open the huge windows of the restaurant to let some fresh air in.

We orderered the Greek Appetizer Sampler:


I ordered some Keftedes (Greek Meatballs):


My hubby ordered a Gyro:


Since we didn't finish our appetizer and my meatballs we have asked them to wrap our food in take out boxes and we asked if we could have an extra order of pita bread which we surprisingly got free of charge. Isn't that amazing? All in all, I love this place :)

Website: http://greekdelightsnj.com/

Yoshinoya

After Mr. L and I visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum I was craving for some inexpensive Japanese food. I was always intrigued to try Yoshinoya whenever I would pass W42nd St. I was kinda imagining that it would be similar to Tokyo Tokyo Restaurant in Manila, Philippines. It wasn't but it was ok.

Yoshinoya is right across Madame Tussaud's Wax Musem on W42nd Street so all we had to do was cross the street.
 

Mr. L and I both had the Beef and Chicken Combo which cost about $8 bucks per plate. It was good. It's very suitable for the Pinoy "Panlasa" or "Taste" especially the chicken--- the skin was crispy and the sauce was sweet.


All in all it was not bad at all.

Website: http://yoshinoyaamerica.com/