Ed’s Lobster Bar

I was craving for lobster so I decided to try Ed’s Lobster Bar. It was a good 10 minute walk from my Chinatown Clinic job.

It looked very small and narrow from the outside but once  you inside you can see that there are actually more tables toward the back.

Once I was inside, I was seated at the brightly lit bar. It was still early and there was plenty of seats. They had the dinner menu written on the blackboard behind the bar. They also had a very extensive drink menu.

I heard the Lobster Roll ($27) was a popular dish at the restaurant and decided to give it a try. It came with fries and Ed’s pickles as a side dish. The roll was a typical hot dog roll, but it was small in size compare to the amount of lobster meat they stuff inside. The roll was toasted and buttered giving it a nice crisp taste. The lobster meat was too cold, as if they stored it in ice all day and not freshly taken out of a lobster. It was also very creamy and tasty.  Ed’s pickles were alright, not to sour. I can just eat it by itself without drinking water. The fries were good like any typical fries. They were not to salty, thick and chewy. They were so good that I cleaned the plate completely. It was a semi-fulfilling dinner. If only the lobster meat was warm or hot. I would have loved it.

Their bathroom was only one stall and had a very old fashion appearance with wooden posters of seafood on it’s wall. Even the cabinet looks old fashion with it’s rundown tan color. It was a pretty clean restroom. Good sanitation.

Overall it was a pretty fulfilling dinner. I will come back again on a Monday or Thursday for it’s daily special. Monday is All You Can Eat Mussel for only $15! Thursday is 1 1/2 lb lobster for $28. It seem like a pretty good deal. Rate: 7/10

Ed’s Lobster Bar
222 Lafayette Street
NY, NY 10012
212.343.3236

Craving for Doughnut Again

This morning I was up especially early and I wanted to try a Carrot Cake Doughnut from Doughnut Plant but they did not have any yet so I settled for my favorite, Creme Brulee (had 2 of them) and a large cup of Chai tea.

This is the all famous creme brulee, I’ve been talking about. It’s really small, it just look big in the picture. hehe. =D Yummy!

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand Street (on Essex Street)
New York, NY 10002
212-505-3700

DeNova European Spa

Recently I’ve been getting into buying Groupon. They email you daily deals and some of them are not bad. One of them was for for a 30-minute lemon-chiffon or chocolate-truffle body scrub treatment at DeNova European Spa. It cost $30 when it was worth $60.

I had an appointment at 6pm and I got there right on time. Pardon the darkness, the sun disappears very early these days. The place doesn’t look very appealing with it being on the 2nd floor and it’s dirty sign but since I already brought a groupon, I figure I’ll give it a try. There was no elevator but good thing it was only the 2nd floor and it is good exercise.

They greet me very quickly and I told them I had an appointment at 6pm. They immediately ask for my groupon. I find that to be very unusual and rude. Aren’t they suppose to serve me first before asking for the groupon (payment)?  I took a seat at the very EMPTY couch. I was very surprise that it was empty because every time I called to make an appointment/reschedule they had distant dates as if they were booked up to the rim. They immediately informed me where the restroom was. I took a look around and notice they had media articles behind the counter and some products on the wall.

Through the hallway on the other end is the manicure and pedicure station. The bathroom was located right before entering the room of station. It looked like an alright spa place but I think the staff was not very attentive. I sat that for a few minutes unattended. They didn’t even offer me anything to drink.

The rooms were nicely decorated with candles and flowers. I liked the room setting and decoration. The bed was not very comfortable and the sheets were very rough and thin. I was getting cold. After getting undress, it took the salon technician a good 10 to 15 minute before coming in.

The salon technician gave me a chocolate sugar exfoliation first from feet upward to the back and arms and then a chocolate truffle massage in the same manner. There was no full body treatment because the salon technician did not touch my shoulder at all. She did massage my legs and feet and it felt really good but not my back or shoulder. It was quite a disappointment. I know it was only 30 minute but she could have spread out the time more efficiently and evenly to cover the other parts of my body.

Another problem was I can barely smell the chocolate truffle scent the entire time she was using it. It was until I was dressing back up that I notice the so-call-chocolate-truffles were white and I had to put it right under my nose in order for me to smell it. Sucky product.

I only gave her a $5 tip because it was not what I expected. The only thing I liked was the leg and feet massage and the decoration (including the bathroom) and atmosphere. They good have done a better job. DeNova European Spa could use some improvement. If it improve in service I will reconsider and give it another chance. Rate: 2/10

Yummy – Doughnut Plant

After dropping my brother off at the bus stop to go back to Philly I had a craving for doughnut so I went to DOUGHNUT PLANT.

Look at that line! It was only 3:30ish. It is best to go early in the morning, there is no line. Doughnut Plant has a very small but friendly storefront. It carries a variety of yeast and cake doughnut, some are seasonal and some are everyday flavors.

Right behind the storefront is their donut factory. All of their doughnut are made right here. *Sniffs the air* A smell of freshly baked doughnuts coming right out of the oven!

Poster of their press media and articles were hanging around the store. There was also a poster of the owner’s grandfather taking out a tray of freshly baked doughnut.

Their price menu was hanging on top of the casher. These donuts are not cheap but they really worth the price! I love their creme brulee and chai tea so far. The creme brulee is very small in size but pack great flavor in it. The custard of the creme brulee is slightly glazed with sugar and the creme inside is very light and fluffy. The chai tea was made at the start of the day and by 3:30ish that day it reach the bottom of the pot and it wasn’t as good but I still like it. It have a light chai flavor and alot of milk. Just the way I like it.

A rack of doughnuts and images of the flavors offered. The rack is running out of doughnuts. Doughnut Plant only make a certain amount of doughnut per day and once it was sold out that was it for the day.

These are the current popular flavors they have in store. I had try the Strawberry Jam Doughnut. It is a square shaped doughnut with strawberry jam on all four sides, where every bite you take you’ll get some strawberry jam. (Doughnut Plant is famous for their square doughnuts!) All the strawberry jam used are made from organic strawberries. It wasn’t too bad. Just slightly too sweet for me. Compare with other doughnuts I had from else where it really isn’t too sweet.

The gentleman with the baseball cap on is the owner, Mark Isreal. He came out to give us the bad news… They were running out of doughnut and it was only 4pm! All the customers that were still on line along with me can only purchase 1 doughnut! because they did not have enough for everyone to buy multiples. So for that day I only had a vanilla bean doughnut and my favorite, chai tea. Next time I will try the Carrot Cake Doughnut!

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand Street (on Essex Street)
New York, NY 10002
212-505-3700

Lust – Swarovski Crystal

I went to Swarovski Crystal today for a SCS members “Exclusive Event” for a showcase of the Annual Edition 2009 Gorillas. The display of Gorilla figurines were not very attractive and very expensive. The figurine is made with Black Diamond crystal and the eyes are made with Jet Black crystal. I think it would look alot pretty if it was the other way around, where the gorilla will be made out of Jet Black crystal and the eyes to be Black Diamond crystal.

Annual Edition 2009 Gorillas set = $475!!! Gorilla Cub only = $180!!!

Just the small Gorilla cub itself cost too much. It just wasn’t my style. But something else caught my eyes for the rest of the evening.

Heritage Necklace = $190

Heritage Ring = $150

Look how pretty the Heritage Necklace and Heritage Ring are!  “Inspired by a flower in full blossom, this ring shows your affinity to all things natural. The rhodium-plated ring made of Satin, Amethyst, Light Amethyst and Silver Shade crystals in a prong setting captures the attention of on-lookers as it plays with light in magical ways.” — photo and quote credit to Swarovski Crystal

I love the irregular shape and size of the crystals and the way it balance each other out. I love that the necklace used darker and bolder colors crystals to balance it out. The necklace cord is made out of silver-coloured satin giving it a more refined and fresher appearance instead of using a regular silver chain in the pendant version. If the Light Amethyst on the ring were a darker purple giving  it a bolder look it would have been perfect but it still look pretty the way it is.

– credit to http://likkylikey.blogspot.com/

Myolie Wu (胡杏兒) wore this necklace in “War of In-Laws II” (野蠻奶奶大戰戈師奶). Cherry Blossom Necklace = $330!

This Cherry Blossom Necklace is no longer seen in the Swarovski Crystal boutique anymore because it was discontinued but if it ever get back in store I will definitely want one even though it is very expensive. It’s very simple and elegant with the cherry blossom chain with randomly placed clear crystals and silver shaped cherry blossoms on it. I can only hope the Cherry Blossom Collection will be brought back!

LMFAO Party Rock Tour

Today, I finally got the time to go buy concert tickets for LMFAO’s Party Rock Tour with special guests, Shwayze, Paradiso Girls, DJ Space Cowboy (and other unlisted guests) but most important of all (to me that is) FAR EAST MOVEMENT! They are the main reason I’m going. I used to dislike hip-hop but since Magnetic North I kept an open mind with hip-hop. My current favorite song by FM is Fetish.

credit to www.beatjerkeez.com

The concert is going to be held on December 4th (Friday). Perfect for people who work 5 days a week and get the weekend off. Not so great for me because I work Saturdays and the concert starts at 10:30pm. It’s going to be a longggg night but it will be worth it! I will be waiting on line at hopefully 7pm and get to stand at a good spot. Wish me luck!

LMFAO Party Rock Tour
Friday, December 4th 10:30pm
Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
NEW YORK, NY 10003

Blink 182 & Fall Out Boy

I recent went to my first American Concert at MSG. It was to see Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy. It was very high in testosterone and excitment. lol. The best concert ever! Well at least the best concert I’ve been to as of now between American and Chinese concerts. The concert was 4 hrs. It started at 7pm and ended at 11pm including encores. The concert was alot of fun and full of curses, sex and fart jokes which made it hilarious.

I wish I brought a floor seat ticket but my seat weren’t bad. It was the first level above the ground. Though I was seating at the back of the first level, I was always standing near the front of the first level. The security guards didn’t care. The couple in front of me took this picture of me. I was all ready to rock ‘n’ roll!

It was a completely packed. The floor seats and standing area were FULL of people. People were talking and making lots of noise. I love the feeling and atmosphere. I was up and dancing half the time.

When I first saw the FOB sign, my first thought was not Fall Out Boy it was Fresh Out of the Boat, known to Asians as Asians who just came to the USA. lol. Fall Out Boy were really great. They had a big bright FOB sign with a large bulldog-like image on a curtain as background. I like the FOB sign.

They changed the stage set to 6 circles to display animated images and feed live images of the artists on stage. I like that they change the stage setting a few times throughout the concert instead of keeping the same stage setup the whole time. Whenever they do change the set it took a good 20 minute. I actually didn’t mind the amount of time they spend changing the set because it’s very refreshing to see something different on stage. (P.S. It also gives me a chance to use the restroom with the long lines.)

While they were singing, “I Miss You” the circles on the stage display the words, I Miss You and animated images.

My favorite animated images was when it was raining and the water raised slowly from the bottom 3 circle displays to the top 3 and then a submarine character comes swimming it. It was majorly cute.

Travis Barker, the drummer showing his drumming power shirtless the whole time. I hope he doesn’t catches a cold.

One very surprising thing happen during the concert, it was when Blink-182’s bassist Mark Hoppus shaved Fall Out Boy’s bassist Pete Wentz’s head. I was not close enough to get a good shot of it but I saw it. Unbelievable. Can’t believe he did that.

After the concert it was late and I wasn’t sure what restaurants were still open so I decided to go to Woorijip for Korean food. It’s open 24 hrs and serve a variety of Korean food for a very reasonable and cheap price. It has a variety of porridge, rice, noodle, soup stew, tofu, kimchi, side dishes, rice roll, pancake, rice cake, snack and lunch box.

I only wanted a light dinner so I got spicy squid kimbap for $4.5o. It was a very simple delicious dinner.

Woorjip - They don’t a official website but they do have alot of reviews.
12 W 32nd St (between 5th Ave and Broadway)
New York, NY 10001
(212) 244-1115

Lunch – Hot Pot Leftovers

I had hot pot with Wendy, Alina and my sister on Halloween at my house. We brought King of Mushrooms, button mushroom (also known as table mushroom), golden needle mushroom (金針菇), cuttlefish ball, fried fish ball, iceberg lettuce,  romaine lettuce, chinese lettuce, 牛白葉, pork wonton, pork and shrimp wonton, egg, bean threads and fatty beef. I know it’s a long list of food but we try to buy a small amount of everything, but we still end up having alot of food left. We had two soup base, one half of the pot was satay and the other half korean kimchi. Our favorite (except for my sister’s) was the Korean kimchi base because we love spicy stuff. (As always, I forgot to take pictures before eating. So, no photos.)

Since we had alot of food left, I decide to have some of it for lunch. Instead of doing another hot pot with my sister today I made this:

It was rice vermicelli with pork and shrimp wonton, fried fish balls, iceberg lettuce and king of mushroom. The rice vermicelli with the leftover foods were very delicious, fulfilling and LARGE lunch. Yum.

Nail Color – Mango Madness

I just changed my nail colors for the holiday. Mango Madness is perfect for Halloween! It’s a nice orange-pink sparkled color. It is also part of the WetnWild Crystalic Collection. Pretty?

I’m planning to spend Halloween with my sister, Wendy and Alina at my house for hot pot. I know we going to get alot of vegetables and gum go (straw mushroom?). What else should I get?

Grandma’s Birthday Dinner

Sunday was my grandma’s lunar year birthday. My cousin-in-law (Ah Feng aka Steven) drove my cousin (Amy), Baby Samuel, Aunt, Uncle, and sister (Alice) into Philly to celebrate her birthday with a huge family dinner. It was a very good day. It rained cats and dogs the day before and now it’s all sunny and autumn-liked.

Look at how good the weather is! All those pretty colorful trees. Red, orange, yellow and green leaves. I didn’t really do much the whole time I was there just regular daily day things.

Dinner was extremely early at 6ish because we need time to drive back home later. We had two table of food to feed a total of 19 people. Look at that huge pile of crabs. We also had roasted pork, lettuce, pig tongue, chicken, cauliflower with fish balls, green bean with mix vegetable, lotus root, bean threads with dried shrimp and oriental mustard with mushroom (Not in image. It was still being prepared.) It was the same food on both tables. It was a very delicious and fulfilling home cooked meal!

After the delicious meal, we all sang a Happy Birthday song and we had a very beautiful Black Forest Sponge Cake with Chestnut filling. I’m not a huge fan of chestnut filling, prefer mix fruit instead but it was still very delicious. Love the fruits on top of it.

Look how happy she is! She’s happy that everyone can come be with her for her birthday.

Almost everyone who was there that day was in the picture. The only exception was Steven and I. We were both taking pictures. It was a very fulfilling dinner. Happy Birthday Grandma!