February 2012
2 posts
1 tag
Feb 23rd
2 tags
Feb 20th
4 notes
December 2011
1 post
Dec 16th
October 2011
3 posts
Oct 10th
1 note
Oct 4th
1 note
Oct 1st
September 2011
1 post
Sep 29th
2 notes
August 2011
1 post
Aug 14th
2 notes
June 2011
0 posts
Jun 1st
2 notes
May 2011
3 posts
May 30th
1 note
May 23rd
May 1st
April 2011
1 post
Apr 1st
3 notes
March 2011
2 posts
dinner parties for japan
I haven’t been too active with this Tumblr, but I am going to start to post details about my fund raising efforts here. I will be hosting dinner parties to support the American Red Cross and its efforts to aid victims of the Japan earthquake. Dinners will be 2 or 3 courses. Guests will pay 20 dollars, which will go towards the relief fund. I will post photos to this blog as they happen! ...
Mar 28th
February 2011
1 post
Feb 28th
December 2010
4 posts
merry christmas
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had the chance to play with my kitchen toys back in NJ. It was really satisfying to be able to pull out all of my cards for my family this Christmas! I took my own photos, for once, and I’m damn proud of them.  The beginnings of a Sicilian bell pepper sauce Seared swordfish steak, cooked medium, with the bell pepper sauce and...
Dec 25th
Dec 22nd
17 notes
Dec 17th
sloppy seconds
Tom Colicchio’s Craftbar was the backdrop of two memories in the last few weeks that I hold dear. The first was an incredible birthday dinner with my parents, and it spurred me to take Eric when he stopped by on his way home. At the resta—enough of that. Chris’s tumblr has, understandably, not been updated in a while. But to let it become a neglected, smoldering infant in the...
Dec 3rd
October 2010
2 posts
Oct 17th
rise and shine
Breakfast for dinner is so satisfying after a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge on a rainy night.  Jocelyn and I put these together after rummaging through her fridge for random ingredients. It made me feel like I was cooking like an actual college student for once. Mini brie - tomato - spinach quiches They were wonderful. Here’s to rainy nights.
Oct 15th
too much to say
I remember almost every meal I make for good friends - it’s because I usually want to say something, to prove a point. Things like “great to see you again,” “I really like you, so I’m going to cook you my most complicated meal,” or “feel better. fat and calories melts all of your sorrows away.” I made three dishes today and packed them in plastic...
Oct 1st
September 2010
3 posts
One (delicious) Rainy Day
Rainy Day - Part I: Morimoto Gingerale. It’s a light and refreshing beverage. You can usually find it stored in green cans named after our friendly neighbors up North.  The milky liquid in the shot glass pictured below bears the same name, but it has nothing to do with the beverage I enjoyed(?) last Thursday.  Homemade Gingerale  One sip of this spicy concoction is enough to set your...
Sep 19th
2 notes
not just meals, per se
My room is an absolute mess right now - my desk drawers are left unnecessarily open, while washed and folded laundry, random papers, and a spilled bag of Hershey chocolates occupies a space of carpet next to my bed. It’s such a clear reflection of me, evidence of this addictive combination of progress, chaos, and sleep deprivation that defines my life as an NYU student.  I let the mess grow...
Sep 18th
August 2010
2 posts
Final exams
The past few meals that I’ve made have all been last chances - they were being prepared for people who I knew I wouldn’t have the chance to see very often in the future.  I tried my very hardest in the amount of time that I had to produce something delicious and memorable.  Here are the menus:  For Eric Huang and Amy Yang: Simply grilled chicken breast with cumin scented sweet...
Aug 16th
restaurant week - part two - megu midtown
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the energy to post in a while. All of you interns / full time employees know the feeling - you get home from a hard day of work, crash on your couch, and feel like doing nothing until it’s bed time.  However, there’s been a set of very pretty photos (as always, not taken by me) of amazing japanese food sitting in my photobucket account, and the...
Aug 5th
July 2010
7 posts
my first post without pictures of food
For the past few months, I haven’t been able to cook that well. Nothing that I’ve produced in my kitchen has been exciting, and I’ve been making a lot more careless mistakes than I used to.  I’ve started to notice that the quality of my cooking reflects how I’m feeling inside on a given day. When I’m confident that I’m doing the right things with the rest...
Jul 31st
restaurant week - part one - maze by gordon ramsay...
On November 4, 2009, I was a very happy kid. Some of my favorite people at NYU threw me a surprise birthday party, and we shared an incredibly rich chocolate cake, a carton of milk, and many laughs until 3am. I got back to my apartment at around 4am, and I found a cookbook by my favorite chef, Gordon Ramsay, waiting for me on my pillow - an amazing gift from my brother. I’ve admired Gordon...
Jul 30th
Not French.
In 2008, Jean-Georges - the highly acclaimed French chef - opened Matsugen, a soba-house-turned-haute-cuisine gem in the Financial District.  It showed up on nycgo.com as a choice for restaurant week, and it caught the attention of this loyal Jean-Georges fan (I consider my lunch at Nougatine on Central Park West my first life changing experience with food - more on that later).  Eric and I...
Jul 21st
(happily) fulfilling a request
mia: btw, i demand a blog post related to me and kaye at some point this summer FINE.  Life in the city can be challenging. Some things (angry taxi drivers, constantly flashing lights, crowded subway cars, early morning construction) don’t exactly lend themselves to a relaxing lifestyle.  There is one thing about living in new york city, though, that never fails to make me happy: old...
Jul 14th
the tail end of an awesome weekend
Sometimes, facebook can be such a great source of information. It’s how learn about LeBron James and Miami Heat or Paul the Octopus. A couple weeks ago, the famous lobster roll from Chelsea Market popped up three unique times on my feed - all three people described it with the word “epic.”  So, more or less, I waited for an excuse to go, and on a sleepy, blisteringly warm...
Jul 13th
Jul 6th
1 tag
speechless - dinner at a voce, columbus circle
On Friday, I sought to create a memorable experience for two people who have taken great efforts to take care of me during my stay here in New York, though from a distance. There was much to celebrate that evening - a birthday, two graduations, and an incredible year of video conversations, awkward hugs, and those other perks of close friendship - so I had a few criteria that I used to guided...
Jul 5th
1 note
June 2010
6 posts
All strung up on year (and a half) old debts
“I’ll cook for you!” Some of you who follow this blog have heard me say that to you in the past two years. If I have, I’m sorry. Chances are, I still haven’t gotten around to cooking for you. This post is about a dinner that I promised two very good friends, Gloria and Dorothea, before they went abroad to Shanghai for a semester - filet mignon. Sear-roasted...
Jun 27th
breaking the domestic barrier
“Chris, you’re so domestic.” A good friend once said that to me, long ago. We were driving over to Boonton to embark on an (epic) hike, and I was rambling about whatever culinary experiment I was playing with the night before. I’ll admit that my friend is right. I watch the food network religiously. I have two aprons in my closet (thanks Yan and Victor!). I have a growing...
Jun 20th
Oh well, I've always liked Luigi better.
Mario Batali, the chef who does wonders in Kitchen Stadium in his orange crocs. Joe Bastianich, the legendary restaurateur with 17 award winning establishments. Dave Pasternack, the “fish whisperer.” An elaborate, seven course meal at the award winning Esca, on 43rd street and 9th avenue.  A huge disappointment. I chose to wait two full months before writing about this experience -...
Jun 10th
fresh from the time warner building
When I go to Whole Foods (10 Columbus Circle, at the Time Warner Building), I’m pretty darn happy. Being surrounded by mountains of fresh, organic, and locally sourced ingredients turns me into a bit of a kid at a candy store. There couldn’t be a better place to get inspired and figure out what to make for dinner. I made the unfortunate mistake of bringing a friend to go ingredient...
Jun 6th
7 notes
8 tags
I can't believe it's butter
Butter is a wonderful thing. It’s the puff in puff pastry, the glossy finish to a port reduction, and the herb-infused baste that elevates the signature hickory-grilled new york strip at Gallagher’s Steak House. (If you didn’t know that restaurants do that, now you know the unfortunate truth. At Michael Mina’s, they even poach their steaks in butter after giving them a...
Jun 4th
humble beginnings
I’m a foodie - someone devoted to  “refined sensuous enjoyment of good food and drink,” and I do foodie things - trying out new recipes in my apartment, hitting up nyc’s best restaurants with my closest friends, manning the grill at rooftop barbeques, and setting my microwave (or myself) on fire for the sake of a good flambe. I’m not really surprised I turned out...
Jun 1st