Bouchon Bakery

Yes, I know that couple of weeks ago, I said that I hate Thomas Keller because his Bouchon Bakery in New York City closes so early and doesn't open on Sunday and that I would not go and visit his Bouchon Bakery. Nonetheless, my friend insisted that I go with him this past weekend, so even though I did, it was not by my own willingness, but instead, it is through peer pressure. (Living in denial ...........)

Anyway, there is a wait for the section of the bakery that you can seat down, but wasn't too long, about 15 - 20 minutes. We were there around 3pm on Saturday afternoon. I ordered a seafood salad, which, to my surprise, has a lot of seafood and very little salad, but hey, I am not complaining about that, I actually like it like that. However, what I would complain about is that it costs $18, and it is something that I really could make at home, since the "salad" portion is really just a piece of lettuce, and the seafood portion is not difficult either. The food does taste pretty good though and the dressing for the salad is this orange vinegarette, light and tangy. I think would be nice as a summer picnic companion. My good buddy Kevin ordered a duck confit sandwich. It was alright, good but nothing to write home about, except for the bread, which I have to say is one of the better (if not one of the top) bread on a sandwich I have ever tasted. Dessert was a little disappointing, as the Millie Feuille was too rich and creamy without something to counterbalance the taste, and leaving me a little sick afterwards after eating the whole piece. The seasonal tart (I think it was apple with cinnamon) smelled absolutely wonderful, but the taste does not live up to the aroma, the whole tart was not harmonious enough as the mousse of the tart taste like one thing while the fruit portion of the tart taste like another, and if you combine them together, it does not work, and you are better off eating both part separately but even doing so, you still felt something is missing.

One interesting thing to note though, is that most of the items in the seat-down area of the bakery is available at the take out area (there is some seperation between the two area, so people wont be comparing prices, haha), and there is about a 30% markup if for the same food in the seat down area and you have to add tips on top of that, so . . . . . . . .

Charlene's Birthday Party

Charlene had her birthday party last Saturday, it was pretty fun. She seemed to enjoy herself, and if she reads this blog one of these days, maybe she can leave a comment to confirm that yes, she did have fun. Hahahaha. It was at this place called Gstaad, on 26th Street between 6th and 5th Avenue, where they have a private ski lodge cabin looking kind of room, which you can reserve without having to get a bottle, a very relaxed and cool place. Check out some pictures below:

Trader Joe's Wines

Trader Joe's just opened in New York. Have never been there before, but heard many wonderful things from many different people, including my sister and my mom. Also, I know our dog Bonbu's favorite treat, this chicken strip thing, comes from Trader Joe's. Had the chance to go by the other day, and it was pretty cool, got lots of very cheap groceries, but at the same time, perhaps not somewhere I would shop often. I like to buy, in terms of groceries, good quality ingredients that I can cook with, such as fresh fish, duck breast, steak and etc. Trader Joe's has all those, but at the same time, the quality of their fish, that's say, is not comparable to places like Wild Edibles or Whole Food, even thought it is very cheap though. On the other hand, Trader Joe's has lots of snacks, which I don't like as much, but my sister seems too.

In addition to just the regular store, they also have a wine shop. My sister told me about their TWO BUCK CHUCK, which in her words, are MIGHTY GOOD. I stop by there quickly, and didn't see the so called TWO BUCK CHUCK, which according to my sister, is not always $2 in every city, as it is like $4 in DC, but $2 in LA. So I decided to pick up sevearl bottles (3 to be exact). Had the chance to taste 2 bottles, the Trader Joe's Coastal Merlot 2004 and Honey Moon Viognier 2005 California, and the verdict is: they are MIGHTY GOOD, for the price that is, and if you are ever in need of some cheap wines for a party, this is it.

Trader Joe's Coastal Merlot 2004 is a very easy drinking wine and costs only $4.99. The wine tasted soft, round and jammy. There are a lot of berry fruits in the wine. A little sweet when first entered into the mouth, and a little spice at the finish as well, which lasted like, oh, 2 seconds. The wine is not complex, but a simple straight forward quaffing wine.

The Honey Moon Viognier 2005 California is slightly more expensive, at $5.99. It does not really taste like Viognier to me, or at least not the usual Condrieu (the appellation in Rhone region in France). It is not as aromatic as the Condrieu and displayed a slightly different note as well. There is note of honeysuckle, lime and herb, which kind of remind me of a Sauvignon Blanc. The wine tastes like a intermix of honey and lime, with a touch of grassiness, which felt on my palate more like Sauvignon Blanc. Nonetheless, it is a aromatic, somewhat sweet wine that if you serve it at a party, it would be enjoyable. Still, I prefer the Merlot slightly better.

And also, I think I am going to start rating wine on my blog now, hahaha, but I wont use the 100 point scale, since that involves too many points in between, all 100 of them, and that is way too complicated for me. Instead, I would rate them like how we are all rated in school: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F. So for the Honey Moon, C+, and for the Merlot, B-, both are not great, but not bad either, given the low price.

Accent

Charlene raised a good point the other day, something that I have also thought about before, and was also raised by my sister before. Why is there discrimination by Americans as to a person's accents? What I mean is, why do we judge people who speak English with an accent differently depending on where they are from?

It is often the case that, if you are Asian, or Middle Eastern, African or Mexican, just to name a few for example, that when they speak English with an accent, they are judged as not knowing how to speak English correctly, or even worse, not very smart and highly looked upon? However, if you are say, European (Western Europe mostly), and you start speaking English with an accent, whether it is a French accent, or Spanish accent or an Italian accent, you are not viewed in the same light as an Asian person speaking English with an accent? Often times, the Europeans will be looked at as an exotic foreigner who is speaking English in this sexy accent, while say a Chinese person speaking with an accent will be considered to be someone who doesn't know how to speak English, or as stupid immigrants. Why is there no such thing as a sexy Chinese accent when speaking English? Or, say for example, Mexicans as compared to Spaniards. If they are both speaking English with an accent, do you think they will be judged the same? I think not.

I am not quite sure how to understand this phenomenon. I think it might just be something deeply rooted in our culture. For example, I am sure many people have the experience of reaching customer support of banks or cable companies and the people who are on the other side of the conversation are located not in the US, but in India, and speaks English with an Indian accent. Do we not often find that annoying? Do we not often think to ourselves why can't they find someone who speaks English? Do we not often look down on them? These kind of thinking will even come from people who themselves speaks English with a foreign accent.

Perhaps it is society that puts a mental image into our head when we hear a certain kind of accent. I am sure, when you hear someone from down South with a Southern English accent, a certain image pops into your head, so is with someone speaking English with a Middle Eastern accent, or someone speaking English with an Asian accent. All different accents produce different images.

I heard someone mentioning that where she works, there are many foreigners with PhD degrees, or are Doctors or with other advanced professional degrees, obviously all very smart and educated people. However, they often speak with an accent, and when they do, when they cannot speak English fluently and have to often pause with the occasional "uhhhh" or "mmmmm" or some stuttering while they think of the next thing to say, the listeners often discount the speakers abilities and the contents of what is been said. Sure, the same thing can be said as a fluent English speaker who has trouble speaking or presenting his idea clearly, but the problem is even more profound for someone speaking with an accent. Some people might claim that they don’t think like that, they don’t judge people differently because of their accent, but is that really true? Do you really not judge when talking to the person over the phone with an Indian accent, or the taxi driver that speaks with a Middle Eastern accent?

Shake Shack - Shack Burger

Shack Burger is open again, yeah..................... =) I like the burgers from shack burger, it usually tastes pretty good. They are located in Madison Park (I think that is the name of the park), in open space. They have a special shack sauce that I thought makes the burger that much juicier and that much more yummy. However, the one problem that I had with the place is (1) quality is not consistent from day to day, (2) extreme long line and (3) expensive.

I think there is a reason why not as many people like shack burger as much as I do, beside the reason that they just don't like hamburgers. Quality control is really an issue with this place. On one day, the burger tastes like the best burger in the world, but the next day, the burger would taste like it was soaked in soy sauce, way too salty. I took my sister there a couple of times, and both times, the burger there was just average, better than McDonalds, but not as good as In & Out (for those of you who don't know In & Out, it is an awesome California burger chain, really really good). Some other times, however, the burger can blew all its competitions away. I really don't understand this whole lack of consistency and quality control issue, what is up with that?

The second thing I don't like about Shack Burger is that the line is amazingly long, which made me thought of a comment someone made to me in China, that people in New York just like to stand in line. You see all over New York city people standing in line for stuff, whether it is concert tickets, tickets to Broadway shows (the TKTS thing in Time Square, man, the line is scary), restaurants (like the Soup Nazi couple years ago, Shack Burger now, or brunch places like Norma's), clubs (always huge lines outside many clubs and lounges) among many other examples (even Trade Joe you have to stand in line, even though the line is short - 10 mins - but still, it is only a supermarket). Well, the line at Shake Shack can be as long as an hour, that is before you order, and perhaps another half an hour to wait for the food, so you can essentially take 2 hours for the whole meal, exciting stuff. I think some people actually stood in line during lunch . . . . lucky ones with too much time to kill. I used to go at odd hours, like 3 in the afternoon or early noon (like at 11:30am) to avoid the lines, but then that is when I was still in school, no longer such luxury. I guess I can always go when it is raining, but then I wouldn't be able to eat it there, as they offer no indoor seating.

Finally, I thought Shack Burger is getting more and more expensive every year. I think it was only about $3 something for a single shack (one beef patty) 2 years ago, and last year, it was around $4 and this year, it was close to $5. An order of large shack, a double shack and a single shack would set you back like $17 or so, and be mindful that this is not one of those burger place that offers HUGE BURGERS that you might have trouble taking a bite, but instead, it is regular sized (as in McDonald sized burger . . . I think sometimes a little smaller).

Even with all that complaint, I would still go, since (1) I like burgers, (2) there are no In & Out for me to go to here in NY and (3) too much time on my hand and it is not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the park. . . standing in line . . . in nice weathers.

Dog Park and Bonbu

A beautiful day this past Sunday, so I took my dog Bonbu to the Dog Park. I thought the existence of Dog Parks in the city is just ingenious, a place where dogs can go and play and meet other dogs and just hang out. I was especially excited to learn that there was actually one near where I live. Living in NYC, as my sister told me, our little Bonbu tends to be unhappy. There are less dogs to play with, and the dogs on the street just seem a lot meaner and much less friendlier than dogs in DC, perhaps it is the people in this city, who are just not as friendly as some other cities in the US and who seems to be busy all the time. However, Dog Park is a place where people tend to be a little friendlier, and the dogs can all play with each other.

I think Bonbu had a lot of fun yesterday, chasing after one particular dog. Not sure why Bonbu is not like the other dogs, go hang out with more people, but instead, after he found one dog, he seems to have developed tunnel vision and ignored all other dogs' existence. Bonbu likes to hump other dogs (or people, if the person is emitting enough raw sexual energy, hahaha), and through most of the time in the dog park, Bonbu just zoned in on that one dog and wanted to jump on him all the time. Unfortunately for Bonbu, the other dog's owner doesn’t appreciate that. Not sure what the big deal is? That is just what dogs do. Especially if the other dog is also a male dog, since if it was a female dog, perhaps yes, then maybe you are afraid the female dog will get pregnant if she is not fixed, or the idea of a male dog going after a female dog, could be an offending idea to some people. However, if it was just two little guys going at it, what is the harm? That is how dog plays. Sometime they are doing it for gratification, but most of the time, they are just doing it because they want to show their dominance. But alas, it was not meant to be for Bonbu, and in order not to offend the other dog owner, we had to have Bonbu sit on the park bench next to us until that dog left.

Poor Bonbu, after that dog left, we let Bonbu off the park bench, and he was looking all over for his little friend. He must have spent like the next 15 mins walking all over the dog park, jumping on benches, looking for his little friend, but it was not to be. Fortunately, another dog showed an interest in playing with Bonbu. Bonbu ignored the other dog at first, and continued to look for his original little friend, but to no avail. Eventually, Bobnu came around and started playing with his new friend, and the owner was cool about the fact that the two dogs playing style involve a little humping with each other, hahaha, it was funny really. Bonbu seems happy, playing with his friend, but then, when we got home, he was not all that thrilled to learn that it was bath time . . . .