Great Prices, Even BETTER Food

I had been dying to go to Hudson Clearwater for months, and finally made it there last week. Tucked away in an unassuming building on Husdon and Morton, HC is hard to find, but well worth the search. All I had to do was ask a couple people nearby, and they showed me the hidden door on the side of the street. The ambiance was comfortable and warm. The service was awesome, and the FOOD was incredible. Again, I'm no foodie, but the Skirt steak was tender and delish. Not to mention: only $19!!! One of my favorite dishes was the Summer Vegetable Pot Pie. It was light and airy, yet savory and filling. Who knew such a combination existed? I would have liked to try one of every cocktail they had on the menu, but I limited myself to the Hudson Mule. YUM. Hudson Clearwater is the perfect place to have a nice intimate dinner with a date or a few friends. I HIGHLY recommend.

447 Hudson St.
NY, NY 10014
http://hudsonclearwater.com/menu.pdf

BANANA ketchup!

I'm not sure if this stuff is totally commonplace around these parts and I'm just out of the loop, but I made a recent discovery when I spent last week in St. Lucia. This somehow blew my mind: Banana Ketchup! Apparently it's very popular in the Caribbean as well as the Philippines! It is definitely much sweeter, and therefore tastes better in smaller doses. (I'm one of those people that douses their french fries with tomato ketchup.) I am pretty darn pleased to add this bad boy to my condiment repertoire!

sunday eye candy

shigeru mizuki's anatomical drawings of yokai (japanese folklore monsters)


xx
mukai

Exclusive to NYC Residents!

Nars has the New Yew York City set, which contains three eyeshadow shades (with NY inspired names), a nailpolish, and blush. This set is valued at a hundred bucks, but can be purchased for $75! The deep gray nailpolish (appropriately named SoHo) looks amazing. I NEED this!!! There is a limited supply, so I will be getting on this immediately!

Oh, and Narscosmetics.com says that it's only for NYC residents... but i wonder if it really is....

First Annual NYC Cocktail Week

Restaurant week is my favorite week, even though it's more than a week and it comes twice a year. Now I have another awesome week to add to that list... Cocktail week! From June 15-29, participating cocktail bars will offer 2 full sized cocktails + an appetizer for $20.11. Proceeds from Cocktail Week also go toward City Harvest's fight against hunger and the Museum of the American Cocktail (that's a thing? Okay).

Participating bars include Rye, Employees Only and Tuesdee Boozedee favorite Death & Co.

Check out the full list and details here!

here and there

I'm at Bonnaroo now and will DEFINITELY post a full update soon but in the meantime, I'm itching to show you my Berlin photos! So I'm updating from the cool AC of the tour production trailer, while I have a little time to kill. I took so many photos... I'll start with Teufelsberg (devil's mountain), a post ww2 mountain made of rubble, built on top of a nazi military college. On top of Teufelsberg is an abandoned listening station. Adventure!

my darling friend anita^

even more to come....
xx
mukai

Souvlaki GR is now a restaurant!

What rock have I been hiding under?! My favorite food truck is now a restaurant, which opened in April of this year! Winners of the 2010 Vendy Award for "Best Rookie Truck", Souvlaki GR's food is simple, authentic Greek "fast food". Although the furthest thing from Arby's it is quite fast, and of course, it is, (you guessed it): food. It is a great place to grab a bite on the run, not to mention it is very gentle on the wallet. Anytime I spot it parked in Soho, it is my go-to. I am ALWAYS in the mood for a souvlaki! My favorite is the  pork souvlaki ($4.50) , or chicken and pork stix ($2.00). Now I am really picky about my tzatziki sauce, (not that I have had it straight from Greece or anything!) and theirs is one of the best I've had. Their pita is always fresh and warm, and their meats are spiced perfectly. The cool part is that the owners always drive the truck, cook and serve you the food! With it's growing popularity, this part may not last for long, but either way, they are very nice and pleasant folks.  Whether you check out the truck parked on Spring St. on the weekends, or stop by the new LES restaurant, this is a place everyone should try.

http://www.souvlakigr.com/default.html
116 Stanton St.
New York, New York 10002

prague photos

We had less than one day to spend in prague... luckily, we ended up meeting a sweet (and cute) czech lawyer who offered to be our tour guide! No map needed.

Berlin photos next...

instagramming from europe!

carina and i have both been on the road lately (in separate places) and i've been instagramming the crap out of my travels... i go through love / hate periods with the ever popular iPhone app, but it was pretty perfect for my gallivanting around germany and prague. check it out!

my friends hiking up teufelsberg

me, teufelsberg

us, drinking in prague

I also took some 250 pictures on my canon ... I'll be sure to post a few once I get the chance to upload!

xx mukai 

Greetings From Toronto!

Some fun pics from downtown Toronto. Spent the afternoon on Kensington (Amazing thrift stores, great place to people watch, eat and drink!)

Tuesdee Boozedee: Death + Co.

Death + Co. is a discreet bar in the East Village with a laid back vibe and quite an impressive drink menu. Half the fun of coming here is choosing what kind of cocktail to have! Their menu took me about ten minutes to look over, but I had a great time doing it. It even features quotes from the likes of Hunter S. Thompson, Earnest Hemingway and Mae West.
http://www.deathandcompany.com/lounge/currentmenu.pdf
We finally decided on the Prima China and the Double Barrel Julep. They were grrrrreat choices. All I can say is that these bartenders REALLY know what they're doing.

At times, the wait can be over an hour due to limited space, but they take your cellphone # and call you when something opens up. A weekday (Tuesdee, perhaps?) is usually your best bet if you are the impatient type.

I did notice that they had Truffle Mac n Cheese, so I will most certainly be back there for dinner and drinks next time!

Death + Company
433 East Sixth St
New York, NY
http://www.deathandcompany.com/lounge/

15 min meal for the the BUSY and LAZY

If you are like me and don't have much time to cook, here is a meal that takes so little time, yet really satisfies. White rice, edamame, miso soup, and some gyoza. A COMPLETE meal with nothing left to desire! Even better, all the items can be bought at the Japanese market (I go to Sunrise Mart in East Village) for less than $15. Sure as hell isn't gourmet, or especially nutritious, but it gets the job done!

On a night that I do have a little extra time, I make rice (short grain Japanese rice in a rice cooker) then freeze the left overs so I can just pop it in the microwave for a future meal. I learned this little trick from my Japanese room mate in college. You simply scoop out a fist-sized amount of rice onto some plastic wrap while it's still hot, smoosh it together, wrap it up, and throw it in the freezer! (To heat up, just put frozen rice ball in the microwave for 2 min.) Makes life MUCH easier the next time you are looking to get your rice on.

The gyoza and edamame can be found in the frozen food section. (My favorite section, obviously. Fresh food is over rated... Just kidding!) I love getting frozen gyoza because A) making gyoza from scratch is a real pain in the ass and takes forever and B) it really doesn't taste like your typical frozen food as long as you pan fry it! (Definitely blows a TV dinner outta the water.) For the edamame, I always prefer making it in boiling water instead of microwaving it. Takes a few minutes longer, but tastes a million times better. The finishing touch? Has to be sprinkled with sea salt. (Not regular iodized salt.)

The miso soup can be made almost as easily from "scratch", but at this point I am pretty exhausted from an entire ten minutes of microwaving, pan frying and boiling, so I go for the individually packaged instant miso. True lazy girl style. The bags come with small packets of freeze dried tofu and wakame- or seaweed if you will, as well as idividual packets of miso paste. You throw both packets into a miso soup bowl, add hot water, and BAM.

My version of a garnish is umeboshi. (Pickled plum) It makes the rice a bit more interesting.

P.S. It probably took you longer to read this (and defintely took me longer to write it) than it did for me to make this entire meal AND eat it. :)


Bonus Pic:
Little Baby Tufo likes his dinner too!

Once de Mayo

Let's keep rollin' on this Cinco de Mayo tip for a little bit, shall we? I attended the Vice mag party at the Hudson Hotel and while I'm not completely sure what happened that night, I know there was free tequila and at some point there were luchadores. Pictures to follow. Wish you were there! And if you were, sorry I don't remember!

LOVE this Margarita

Since it's Cinco de Mayo, I thought I'd write about one of my favorite margaritas in NYC: the grapefruit and honey margarita at Back Forty. This casual but high quality restaurant is known for its simple food with a gourmet touch. Aside from the margarita, there are yucca fries, burgers and other delicious treats to graze on while sipping on a damn good drink .(Oh, and PS: the burger comes with rosemary fries. Uh... YUM!!) So back to the grapefruit and honey margarita: this thing is a force to be reckoned with.  The balance of tart and sweet is ever so perfect. It is so drinkable and refreshing, you will definitely want seconds.


Back Forty
190 Avenue B
New York, New York 10009
http://www.backfortynyc.com/

Soba-ya!

the perfect agedashi tofu

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this place before, seeing as it's my favorite japanese restaurant in NYC- and YES i am aware of what a gigantic claim that is. To me, this place is the epitome of comfort food. Some of the foods I crave from childhood aren't available in NYC's japanese food scene... Humble dishes like zaru soba and inari often get overlooked. This is a fantastic place and I always take my family here when they're in town-- it's reasonably priced and not as fussy as some of our other favorites like yakitori totto.

MUST EATS:
Bara chirashi
Agedashi tofu
Inari

BEST SOBAS: (udon is available too!)
Kamo namban (duck and green onion)
Sakuraebi kakiage (tiny shrimp & mitsuba leaf tempura)
Zaru soba (cold buckwheat noodle with nori)

just for funsies, here are some extra pictures:

bara chirashi

my amazing niece at soba-ya, already using chopsticks!!

and pouring beer. i love her. 

Soba-Ya

website

229 E 9th St
(between 2nd Ave & 3rd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

(212) 533-6966

xx
mukai

worst album covers

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Tuesdee Boozedee: Delicious Drink Idea!

Today was the hottest day of the year in NYC thus far! On this 80 degree day, all I could think about was a refreshing drink I had at a small okomiyaki restaurant called Gaja last week: grapefruit infused beer!  Of course, my laziness + schedule kept me from actually fulfilling my wish, but I will definitely be adding grapefruit and Sapporo to my next grocery list. The recipe is simple. Just cut up two grapefruits into a pitcher, then fill it with Sapporo beer! The combination is unexpected, but delish! This drink will be a perfect addition to a BBQ on a hot summer day!

Gaja 

2383 Lomita Blvd
Ste 102
Lomita, CA 90717

(310) 534-0153

www.gajamoc.com