Foodie & the Restaurants

OH (aka TM), one of my closest friends, and an utter foodie, just like me, loves trying new restaurants and frequenting the faves. You will usually find us together on our monthly jaunts to faves, as well as new spots off our respective Restaurant lists. She is also a restaurant blogger for the Urbanista website -- a site for "urbanistas" to find everything they are looking for in NY.
Anyhoo, OH & I were just discussing how we haven't really found any restaurants recently that we have fallen ABSOLUTELY head-over-heels in love with. I feel, gone are those days...which is really sad for me. I miss having a fave frequented restaurant. Hopefully, I'll find another one soon. (Keep your fingers crossed)

But I decided to give you my list of my ALL-TIME fave (and go-to) restaurants, in all my fave cities around the world:

New York:
Cafeteria (Chelsea)
Coffee Shop (Union square)
Nobu (Tribeca)
Le Bilboquet (UES)
Baraonda (UES)
Stanton Social (LES)
Mermaid Inn (LES)
Shake Shack (23rd Street)
Chennai Garden (Little India)
Tiffin Wallah (Little India)
Ginger's (Garment District)
New Yoshi (Hell's Kitchen)
Empanada Joe's (Midtown West)
Zen Palate (now closed)
NY's Delicious Pizza (Murray Hill)
Dojo (NYU area)
Atomic Wings (any location)
Best Wingers (Murray Hill)
Dukes aka Earl's (both locations)
*Honorable mention: Fishtail by David Burke, At Vermilion, Pranna

London:
Ping Pong (any location, but St. Christopher's Place is most frequented by yours truly)
Wagamama (any location, but Waterloo is most frequented by me)
Hakkasan
Yauatcha (sister restaurant of Hakkasan, Soho area)
Sylvio (across the street from the entrance to Selfridges' Dept Store on Duke Street)
Carluccio's (St. Christopher's Place location)
M&S Food Hall aka Simply Food (Marble Arch)
Selfridges' Food Hall (Oxford Street)
Suka (Sanderson Hotel)
Maroush (Hubby's fave - I haven't been)
Cinnamon Club (Westminster)
Royal China (Baker Street)
Crazy Bear

Mumbai:
Royal China (Sterling Cinema location, same group as of that in London)
Frangipani (Oberoi Hotel, Nariman Point)
Tibbs (Shivaji Park at Breach Candy, possibly the best food item on the planet!)
Swati Snacks (Tardeo)
Golden Dragon (Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba)
Indigo (Colaba)
Trishna (Fort location)
Moshes (Cuffe Parade)
Ling's Pavillion (Regal Cinema, Colaba)
Shamiana (Taj Mahal Hotel)
Citrus (Leela Kempinski Hotel)
Pan Asia (Grand Maratha Sheraton)
*Honorable mention: Hokey Pokey ice cream parlours (all locations)
**(note) You'll also find not too many Indian restaurants listed here. This is because when I am in Mumbai, my favorite Indian food is at the homes of my family and friends. The best Indian food you can get anywhere :)
***(note) Colaba is one of the areas my mother grew up in Mumbai, and also one of the main areas of the November 26th, 2008 terrorist attacks. :(

Las Vegas:
Social House (Treasure Island Hotel)
Red 8 (The Wynn Hotel)
In 'n Out Burger (Off the Strip)
Okada (The Wynn Hotel)
Noodles (Bellagio Hotel)
N9NE (The Palms Hotel)
Yellowtail (Bellagio Hotel)
Trevi - formerly known as Bertolini's (Caesar's Palace Forum Shops)
Wing Lei (The Wynn Hotel)

Paris:
Les Etoiles (Rue Princesa, St. Germain-des-pres) *i'm sorry, this site is in French
Colette (Rue St. Honore)
Hotel Costes outdoor restaurant
Mood (Champs Elysee)
Pizzeria Napolitaine Chez Bartolo (Rue Canettes, St. Germain-des-pres)

So what do you all think? Have any favorites you'd like me to try or visit again? Let me know!

New Lunch Spot!

*picture courtesy of NYMag.com*

So, the people of Hale & Hearty have come up with a new self-serve concept restaurant, located in the new NY Times building on the 41st street and 8th Avenue corner (620 Eighth Avenue). It's called Schnipper's Quality Kitchen, and every dish on the menu is under UNDER $10!! And the dishes look to be exactly what a girl who constantly craves comfort would eat: some standouts are:
Green Chili Cheeseburger
Sloppy Joe
Sweet Potato Fries w/ maple dipping sauce
Chicken Fingers
Asian Chicken Salad
Fish Tacos
(and although I am not a HUGE cheese fan):
Grilled Four Cheese Sandwich
Mac & Joe (Mac 'n Cheese with Sloppy Joe)

They also have numerous "healthier" options. I am hoping for this to be one of our new lunch spots during the work week! Check out Midtown Lunch's post!

Sunday Cupcaking Sunday

So as I promised last week, I baked and baked and baked this weekend. The two pics to the right are the Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Buttercream frosting (recipe taken from the latest issue of Martha Stewart's Living magazine). Since our get-together was in honor of the wedding of a close family friend, I decided to pull out the gel cake writers and throw a congrats on the cupcakes. Pic #2 (to the right) also has 6 cupcakes in which I added some mint extract and green food coloring to the leftover cupcake batter and frosting -- to make MINT chocolate chip cupcakes (Hubby's fave flavor -- but only if it's green :D). They have been placed in my Cupcake Courier which is the BEST way to transport your cupcakes. I'll be honest--was not a fan of the Wilton cupcake carrier. My cupcakes went flying all over the place. In the Cupcake Courier, each cupcake depression is deep enough to keep the cupcakes in place (unless of course you tip the whole thing upside down...which I don't recommend).

The cupcakes below are the Sexy Low-Fat Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Skinny Confectioners' Icing from the book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This was for my RaakStaar who is Vegan, and is also traveling to the sunny shores of Puerto Rico this weekend for a wedding. I still wanted her to be able to indulge in some sweet cupcakey goodness. These were a HUGE hit. My sister (who only loves foods that are "meant" to be fatty TO BE FATTY, but then craves salads. This I don't get, but my mom wishes I could be more like her in that respect :D) -- anyhoo, my sister LOVED these cupcakes, and even took some home (where my mother finished them off, and even complemented my increased skills in the baking area -- Woohoo validation!!)

OMG...LMNOP...

The following is part of my conversation today with my colleague (yes, the very same "NO MORE SMALL BOXES" colleague. Let's call her Krazeekin, or Krazee for short...keep reading below to find out why).

Krazee: You know, I had a dream the other night.
Me: Oh yeh? *not even a faint sound of enthusiasm in my voice*
Krazee: Yes. I dreamt that Michelle Obama was wearing a white one-shouldered dress. And last night at the ball, she did!
Me: Holy Shit, Kreskin! You need to quit the business and go on a publicity tour! *VERY sarcastic tone in my voice*
Krazee: Who's Kreskin? How come I don't know who Kreskin is?
*our conversation goes back and forth about who Kreskin is...*
Krazee: You'll see...next time I have a dream, I'll write it down so you believe me.
Me: Okay, MLK.

Go Martha! Go Martha!

*courtesy of Martha Stewart Living*

So I'm not a great fan of Martha Stewart's, but sometimes, she comes up with some great ideas. Her home line at KMart is actually quite lovely. AND the February 2009 issue of her Living Magazine...*one sole tear of sheer happiness rolls down my cheek*...it's just....exquisite. Why, you ask? Because the cover story is all about...CUPCAKES!!!

So I know everyone (all 4 of you) voted equally for either a Strawberry ShortCupCake or the Baileys Irish Cream Cupcake, but i think I may have to try out Martha's Boston Cream Cupcake first. I mean, look at it. The custardy vanilla cream splicing the cake, and the ooey-gooey chocolate ganache oozing off the top. This CANNOT be made healthy, I'm sure. But it looks so damn amazing! *I actually want to hug the screen right now, it looks so good!!* There are plenty of other recipes in the issue that I want to try as well. And on top of ALL of this Cupcake-aganza (yes there's more), today's episode of The Martha Stewart Show is, again, ALL ABOUT CUPCAKES!!! The girls over at Cupcakes Take the Cake were there, of course! (You can spot them out in the audience in the preview of the episode on Martha's site).

I'll also be making Vegan cupcakes this weekend, as we're having a get-together with some friends, one of whom (my dear RaakStar) is vegan, and who tends to get left out of the yummy goodness sometimes.

I'll let you know how they all turn out!

Mo' Yos!

I created this picture of one of my nephews. He LOVES his (cheeri)yos!
We'll call him Yos from now onwards.

Try making one yourself at Obamicon.Me

Congrats President & First Lady Obama!

My "Blue" Playlist

Fergie - "Losing My Ground"
Natasha Bedingfield - "I Bruise Easily"
Rihanna - "Rehab"
PCD - "I Hate This Part"
Oasis - "Champagne Supernova"
Craig Armstrong - "Dark Angel Theme"
Christophe Beck - "Buffy/Angel Theme"
Full Blown Rose - "Somebody Save Me"
The Sundays - "Wild Horses"
Neneh Cherry - "7 Seconds"
Groove Theory - "Tell Me"
Brian McKnight - "Anytime"
The Bravery - "Believe"
Placebo - "Running Up That Hill"
'N Sync - "Gone"
The Bangles - "Hazy Shade of Winter"
Robin Thicke - "Lost Without You"
Madonna - "Love Don't Live Here Anymore"
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
Morcheeba - Never an Easy Way
Santessa - "Phased"
Plumb - "Stranded"
Massive Attack - "Teardrop"
The Pierces - "Three Wishes"
Sade - "No Ordinary Love"
Usher - "How Do I Say"

--
Sent from my mobile device

Train of Thought for the Day

I want to take up dancing again (as you may have read in my "Hopelutions" post last week.)
More modern / hip-hop dance. I just don't know where to take a class, that's good, easy for beginners (let's face it, it's been so long since I last dance, I might as well be starting over again), and where I DON'T HAVE to buy a whole series/package. Plus I need a class that fits my schedule. So far all I've found is one school that has classes at 4:30-6pm and 7:30-9pm on Mondays, and 4:30-6pm on Saturdays. Either 7pm-8pm on Mondays or like 2pm-3pm on Sundays would be FABULOUS! Too bad I don't think they exist. (Yes, Li'l Miss Selena Gomez inspired me last night).

This leads me to want to try skiing again. Last time I skied I was 13. It was a ski lesson on the "mid" slope. The following week the snow melted, and that was that.

THIS leads me to another item on my list--Swimming. I need to be more on top of this as we have an indoor pool in our building, and Hubby is an excellent swimmer. Hopefully he will have enough patience to teach me.

Fairy Tales

*picture courtesy of Disney / ABC Family*

So yes, I am (secretly) one of those girls who still believes in Fairy Tales...although I'm probably one of the most cynical and jaded girls you've ever met (about myself and the general world & society). However I try to stay positive for everyone else in my life ;)

That's probably why I enjoy all these "modern" versions of our Ol' School fairy tales. I just sat and watched the Hillary Duff lead "A Cinderella Story" back-to-back with the Selena Gomez lead "Another Cinderella Story". (I've totes had the theme song stuck in my head all weekend.)

And yes, although I'm almost 30, Disney breakout star, Selena Gomez (age 16) is my new style icon. I wonder if I'd look silly with a striped wrist band on my forearm a la Justin Timberlake and a denim jacket over a grey hoodie sweatshirt, with a t-shirt underneath(???)

Thought I'd try and list all the different versions of some of my favorite "Fairy Tales". Any help would be much appreciated.

Cinderella:
Disney's Cinderella
Another Cinderella Story
A Cinderella Story
Ever After

Snow White:
Disney's Snow White
Sydney White

Sleeping Beauty:
Disney's Sleeping Beauty

Romeo & Juliet:
Ronnie & Julie
Romeo & Juliet
Baz Lurhman's Romeo & Juliet
A West Side Story

Sugar Brown's Train of Thoughts for the Day

So I was watching Regis & Kelly this am, and Jerry O'Connell (yes, the "fat kid" from Stand By Me) was guest hosting with Kelly. And he was talking about his new twin baby girls with wife, (and Ugly Betty's resident transexual) Rebecca Romijn. And it made me wonder...didn't she break up with sexy Uncle Jessie (aka John Stamos) because he wanted to start a family and she didn't? Then she remarried, starts a family, and Uncle Jessie is still looking for his "Becky"? That made me think of Jennifer Aniston, who was also jilted by her now ex-husband, Brad Pitt, for similar reasons (however in reverse). So what does everyone think about Jennifer Aniston & John Stamos getting together??? They're both Greek. He's probably a year or two older than she is. I think they'd make a DARLING couple!

Then I started thinking about my diet, and how there are all these different "weight-loss fads", and how there's a new nutritionist every week giving new information. Some say--5-6 small meals a day. Some say stay with the norm 3 full meals. Some say don't eat after 7. Some say don't eat carbs after 5. Some say it's okay to eat late, but only veggies and protein. It's got me all confused as to what woudl work for me. That lead me to remember when I was a wee sugar cube, and how my mom would structure my meals. A bowl of cereal with 2% milk and fruit before school (around 7-7:30am), lunch (usually at 12:30pm) consisting of a sandwich of some sort --balogna, ham, peanut butter / beverage (juice) / snack--chips, cookies, etc, a snack when I got back from school/after-school activities (either bagel bites, or mini waffles, or peanut butter sandwich, and so on, with a glass of milk), and dinner at 7:30pm consisting of whatever she made that day (usually Indian food). And I was a freakin' RAIL!! Granted there is a HUGE difference in metabolism between the ages of 15 and almost 30...but, I mean, there has to be something to that eating structure. I mean I was never starving. Nor do I remember ever really "craving" something. Cuz if I wanted something, I'd have it. And usually "my eyes were always bigger than my stomach", meaning I'd get my food, and it like half of it. Now I get my food, and want it doubled. I need physical help. :(