Stroll through the old neighborhood

I grew up in Corona, Queens. On Saturday, armed with a new camera for testing, I headed over to to my old stomping grounds. Corona was traditionally an Italian neighborhood, where you can get Italian Ice from Lemon Ice King og Corona and stroll to Flushing Meadow Corona Park. Today it is a diverse neighborhood with a heavy Latin American population.

My first stop was Empanadas del Parque, my favorite emapanada joint. Empanadas are little fried dumplings with filling. It can be savory or sweet, wrapped in corn or white flour dough, or anything else for that matter. Empanadas del Parque has an organic whole grains version. I wish this place was around when I was growing up, but then again, I would have spent every penny I had on a little empanada. Here's a photo of some empanadas from Empanadas del Parque, served with their special cilantro, avocado, and garlic sauce, which I can never get enough of. My favorite is the shrimp in corn flour.



I also ordered one of their homemade icepops in rice pudding. Rich and creamy dessert on a stick!



Here's the Unisphere in all it's glory. Most of you will recognize it from Men In Black.



And Just before I left the park, I had some mangoes in hot sauce, lime juice and salt!

Indonesian

I've been craving chicken, and realized that though I'm not a vegetarian, I eat less meat than most. The other day I ventured over to Minangasli, an Indonesian restaurant in my neighborhood to try something new. I order the fried chicken with hot chili peppers which came with a side of artichokes (???), a hard boiled egg that looked like it had been fried (or something), and rice. The chicken was pretty tasty, spiced well, and though the sauce was a bit salty, it was nice and yummy. The sides were a bit disappointing. I would have been happier with better and fresher looking greens. That's why I'm happy to cook at home right? I thought the place was worth trying again some other day, when I feel like venturing out of my kitchen.

Following the Chinese food trail

My friend Teresa recently sent me this NYTimes article about finding Beijing in Flushing. Flushing is an area in Queens, New York that has long been a second Chinatown in NYC. This article highlighted a bunch of places I had never heard of and some food I was not familiar with. With my friend Liu in town, we ventured forth with our appetites.

There is a download-able map from the NYTimes article. We tried the Dan Dan noodles at Golden Mall (no.9) and their version of the wontons in hot sauce. Both really good and spicy (food is from Sichuan and the peppers they use are of the numbing variety). I really wanted to try no. 13 but Shi Hong Mall was closed for renovation so we headed back to Golden Mall. We picked no. 11 from the list and proceeded to order dumplings (10 for $2) and a bowl of vegetable handmade noodles. The texture of the dumpling skin and the noodles were perfect. The dumplings were perfectly juicy as well. (This is coming from someone who avoids dumplings for fear of having a bad one.) The stall across from no. 11 sold Xi'an lamb sandwiches with cumin and red onions. ($2.50 for one.) I really liked this as well (not too much meat, which was perfect for me, and lots of cumin.) For dessert we hit up no. 1 on the list, a huge bowl of red bean ice for $3.75 big enough for four people. It wasn't anything special but did quench my thirst and put a sweet taste in my mouth.


This is Liu eating his third dinner. I did not partake in this meal.


Red bean over shaved ice.

My greens!

Yesterday after work, my Mom and I went by the local church to pick up the season's first bounty from our CSA. There was a band playing and to my surprise, tons of kids! They were all enjoying themselves, dancing to the music.





A beautiful blooming tree outside the church.




We each had one of these delicious mini (less guilt) lemon cupcakes.



When we got home we made a Spring greens pesto with the arugula and spinach, along with some cashews, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, and cherry tomatoes that we had on hand.



It turned out superb. (Can I say that about my own cooking?)

My veggies are coming!

I'm super duper excited that my very first farmshare of veggies from farmspot is coming tomorrow! Greens all weekend. I have to start planning my salads out.

Sources of inspiration

This is the state I found my sister's car in on Friday morning whaen I went to move the car. It was parked across the street from my building, near a corner.



Needless to say, the whole day was spent with my sister filling out police forms and getting the car to a place for inspection and repair work. She was amazingly graceful about the whole incident. It totally drained me out. While standing around on the corner and waiting for the police to show up, I looked up toward our building and noticed that our 4th floor neighbors had window boxes in three of their windows. I had been meaning to get basil plants for the summer, so on Saturday, I went to home depot and got some planters and basil plants and potted them. My Home Depot was out of all of their window boxes so I ended up buying three ceramic ones and wired them to the window sill for safety.



I'm so glad I got these babies. Everytime I look out the window, I see a bit of green and smile.


I also got a nice aloe plant for my bedroom.

On a path to India

I've been on a path to India via Jackson Heights (and my stomach) ever since I started reading Malgudi Days. I've never craved Indian food this much before. Last night's adventure took place at Roti Boti Shaheen on 72nd St. and Broadway. I shared aloo palak, beef kabab, tandoori lamb, vegetable rice, nan, roti, rice pudding, and another piece of dessert. I loved the nan- fluffy, warm, and rather large for the $1 price tag. I would go back and try more of the vegetable dishes ($4 each) and maybe a curry dish with a healthy dose of nan. The meat dishes (around $8) weren't bad but not my thing. And since it's pretty close, I might just be returning soon.

Oh some Indian fragrances

Ever since I got my Unaccustomed Earth in the mail, along with Malgudi Days, I had been craving Indian food. No problem, I live in Queens, the most diverse place on earth. I had brunch on Sunday at the Jackson Diner, in Jackson Heights. It was lovely, especially the fresh dosa that my Mom queued up for. I have to say though, I still prefer my Karma Kafe in Hoboken.

A quick tip: leave your precious clothes at home when eating at the Jackson Diner. My cashmere sweater definitely reeked of onion and potatoes when I walked out.

One grilled fish

I went out to a Greek restaurant in Astoria by the name of Elias Corner last night with my sister and some friends. There is no menu so you have no idea how much you are spending, plus it's cash only. It started off fairly nice with two salads, grilled eggplant, fried eggplant, fried zucchini, calamari, tzatziki. We all ordered grilled Mediterranean striped bass. Our waitress gave hit or miss service every time she came to the table and finally when time to pay the check came, the money was handed to her, and she proceeded to count out the cash in front of us, then demanded a 20% tip. We had tipped around 15%. This is a first, maybe the last.

Rear Window

This morning, I watched Hitchcock's Rear Window for the first time. I loved the setup of the courtyard and the surrounding buildings. It was amusing when the film began and I find James Stewart playing a photographer. Well, I had a bit of real life window excitement just a bit ago when I heard several fire trucks outside. A building across the street from ours was on fire, I don't think anyone was hurt, the fire was put out within 5-10 minutes. There was a bunch of smoke shooting out of the windows and about seven firetrucks out there along with some onlookers. The house probably suffered from more water damage than smoke or fire. The windows are all smashed. I took some photos from my window.

Oh, I also think Grace Kelly is gorgeous and great in the movie.

JetBlue's Saarinen Project at Terminal 5 to reopen at JFK

Read about the renovation of the old TWA Terminal that will reopen in Spetember in the NYTimes.

A Pool in Queens- did someone hear my prayers?

I've been lamenting about the lack of pools in Queens for-like-ever. Now there is a brand new one! A super duper one opened up in Flushing Meadows Park last Friday. There's a write up in the NYTimes. There is just not enough parks and recreational space in Queens, and while Flushing Meadows is huge, it is quite over used. There isn't much free lawn space when you go there on the weekends. This is a huge step in the right direction, I have hope for my borough!

(Chester Higgins for the NYTimes)