Who knew???!!!

* Thanks to Annie Maxwell for spreading the knowledge!!

From our visit to California in December '07:

* They've ditched us in NYC for a year while they do their sabbatical year at Stanford.

There's the little squirt:

And now here's the massive guy thanks to a tactic we've also employed in other parts of the world!

Never mess with the Japanese and food!!

“Japanese food was created here, and only Japanese know it,” Mr. Kadowaki said in an interview. “How can a bunch of foreigners show up and tell us what is good or bad?”

We had a wonderful night in LA with the Sekoff family. We watched Zach perform at the Roxy as part of the original School of Rock then we were treated to some of the freshest, most delicious sushi I have ever eaten at the serenely minimal restaurant Nishimura. I highly recommend this place and hanging out with my new BFFs the Sekoffs!

See how far you can get in answering vocab questions while helping the hungry!*

* Warning: These may send you into GRE verbal flashbacks.

Thanks to my Mother in Law for the tip!

Tokyo is truly home to the yummiest food on the entire planet - and not just Japanese food but every other type of food as well - AND from cheap to fancy and everything in between, you can't go wrong!! There are several reasons why this is the case - read ahead!

A national passion speaks volumes about a country’s collective psyche. Consider the English love of soccer, India’s of cricket, Australia’s mania for just about any sport, and Italy’s and France’s worship of food, wine and fashion.

More than one third of Japanese commercial television is devoted to food-related themes, from wacky eating competitions to earnest cooking programmes. On a per-capita basis, inner Tokyo (population 8.5m) boasts the highest concentration of eateries among the world’s major cities – just under 200,000, according to the Tokyo government, compared with about 20,000 restaurants for Paris and 23,000 for New York City. Japan now draws more Michelin-starred chefs than any country apart from France. Continue reading...

With fellow Top Chef enthusiasts Kenny and Katherine (the group photo was simply too special to share) we tried out Top Chef Season One winner Harold Dieterle's restaurant in the West Village called Perilla. From the moment we sat down Katherine and I hounded our waitress, asking about Harold and if he was cooking in the kitchen that night and in fact he was! Just knowing that hot Harry was cooking for us and having such engaging conversation (Katherine couldn't get enough of my forensic psychology classes) took my mind off the food a bit but I remember it was good! Also, the restaurant's ambiance is nicely unpretentious and the music isn't so loud so you can actually enjoy conversation! Here's what we ate:

If this is making your mouth water just looking at the pics, imagine what it was like placed in front of me! So delicious and beautiful.

Thanks to Amy Wood (pictured on the right, Nectar on the left), we enjoyed a delicious feast at the always great Blue Ribbon Sushi! Thanks again Amy!

Answer: A gift from a scallop!

A few notes:

1) Thank god for Jonah who is skilled at and loves to cook because it means you can still throw a dinner party even when you selfishly but necessarily opt out because of midterms.

2) My one regret: I forgot to photograph the chanteurelle mushroom crostinis, garlic tomato salad and cucumber-mint-feta salad he made and the strawberry shortcake I love from Ceci Cela bakery!

3) It's obvious from these photos that Sparky is a wonderful dinner party presence!

4) Don't know what to cook for a dinner party? Themes can be helpful and fun! Ours was an outdoor, summer Parisian dinner. Raw seafood, meat and cheese. All pure, fresh yummy food.

5) Michael Jackson's Thriller creeped into our dinner party.

6) We had a Pinot Noir taste test and we all agreed that Cameron's mom's Bernardus Pinot Noir was the winner!

7) It is great fun to bring together friends who've never met who you think would get along.

8) Thanks to Shani and Fenkel for taking some mighty special photos - they are mixed in below!

* En route to eating adventure in Queens!

The food was delicious and I'm counting the days until we go back to the strangely named Jackson Diner! Plus, they were so baby friendly it was not only sweet but effective!

* Thanks to Andy for the Jackson Diner suggestion and to Mark & Tam for driving!!

I love getting down to this little guy in a head of lettuce. I always set him on the counter to hang out a while and check out his surroundings while I admire his cuteness and introduce him to whoever is around...imagine my delight upon finding that Wee Tiny have given him his deserved tribute!

* Kyoto.

P.S. I have yet to encounter a shaved ice vendor who isn't visibly a little peeved at my request for extra strawberry syrup.

* Kyoto.

* On the Yurikamome.

* Soba in Kyoto, udon in Tokyo

* Thanks again to David Fenkel and Shani Ankori for a fun night!

Yay for JP!!

* At an izakaya called Hokkaido in Shibuya.

Loved these until I found out they were Alligator Sausages. Then, all I could imagine was that I was taking a bite out of an alligator's side. Still pretty yummy - just more weighty of a bite/thought:

My favorite were these Jambalaya Won Tons - delicious sauce:

Seafood Gumbo:

Shrimp Po' Boy:

The cutest thing in the restaurant:

Chicken Po' Boy:

The End!

* NoNo Kitchen in Park Slope!

While in Japan last month my mom made the most delicious salad and then taught me how to make it. This was very exciting for me because I don't usually like salads but I realized that I actually do like salads as long as they are Japanese flavored salads! I made it for dinner the other night (I have a little ways to go to get it totally right) with a side of zaru soba and it was delicious and nutritious!!

Had a great get-together at Josies (aka Mark & Tams)...thanks again guys!!

* Jyangara Ramen in Harajuku/Meiji-Jingumae

* Thanks again to Nikon for their fantastically generous gift-loan of the D 80 - comes in especially hands at times like during teppanyaki dinner!

* At the grocery store down the street from our apt in Sakuragaoka.

* Thanks to Alex for a deliciously fun evening last week!

If he's titillated you, you can read more about him here.

Missing Jonah and our fun, colorful breakfasts together!

Two of my many banana designs I like to present to Jonah as part of breakfast party-time!

Look carefully:

Choose wisely:

* At the yummy Chevy's in Battery Park City.

* Read about the Bofinger and its interesting past and present via Frommers and The Observer!

* For more of the Huitrerie Regis dinner click here!

* At the highly recommended Huitrerie Regis restaurant!

* In the Marais.

* Eaten to Jonah's delight on our first night.

* L'Ambassade d'Auvergne via TimeOut Paris.

Our dining experience last night at Wd~50 was well, quite an experience. We went all out and indulged in the tasting menu although opted out of the wine pairing. Let's just say that towards the end of the evening we equated this type of food, molecular gastronomy, to new media art: An honorable exercise in innovation, some of it's delicious and awe-inspiring and some of it fails miserably. An absolutely worthwhile experience for the curious and adventurous - you are guaranteed a memorable time!

Here it is in chronological order with dishes listed as they appear on menu.

The hungry!

Nice earthy, textured placemats and wooden tables to off-set the less than natural food preparation:

A toast to the curious!

Hamachi, fried corn, lime pickle, grapefruit - delicious:

Shrimp and tarragon macaroons - these were divine and incredibly fun to eat (think cheese puffs):

Foie gras in the round - hated the watercress dollops but otherwise really interesting rice crispies version of foie gras that enabled me to enjoy foie gras - the cacao balls were an incredible pairing that worked magnificently:

"I'm now a yuppie. Not sure how I feel about that..."

Sweetbreads, cabbage-kaffir, water chestnuts - pretty good although I am not entirely comfortable with sweetbreads, the greatest euphemism of cuisine:

Beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses - the tongue resembled a cow tongue too much for me to enjoy it - otherwise the tomato molasses and fried mayo were good:

Miso soup, sesame "noodles":

Interactive food!

This Japanese-inspired dish was greatly appreciated, yummy and fun:

DIY noodles!

Surf clam, watermelon, garlic chive, fermented black bean - this was mediocre:

Lamb belly, black chickpea, cherried cucumber - the lamb belly which was basically bacon was very good but otherwise the dish was only alright:

Cameranda:

Argan oil horchata, cantaloupe, carob - was delicious:

Fried butterscotch pudding, mango taro, smoked macadamia - this was disgusting - the fried butterscotch tasted like hotdogs:

Soft chocolate, avocado, licorice, lime - was remarkable:

"Cool" black currant jelly - pretty cool:

The chef Wylie Dufresne himself:

The satiated foursome:

The minute I saw these and held these I was in love. It was as if I were transported to the forest where I joined my gnome friends for a feast on a large wooden table laden with goblets of wine, these utensils and whatever food gnomes eat. Jonah says "seems like we would need to listen to Bjork while we eat." Amen, JP, amen. I highly encourage everyone to fall in love with your very own, special flatware.

After Top of the Rock fun, we knew we wanted to eat Korean bbq but didn't know how to pick one restaurant in K-Town so we used our trusty sidekicks which yielded good reviews telling us to go to Kang Suh. Other than service that would have been appropriate had we asked them to please leave us alone, it was totally delicious. Highly recommended!

Sometimes you're so hungry and happy eating that you end up with only three photos that scream, "afterthought!":

I cooked this one night last week when Jonah was out and was so proud because it was beautiful and delicious so I took these photos to show him the moment he stepped in the door - and I did! - and he was proud too.