Trip to Maine - Part 1/2

We usually go to a short/small vacation during the summer time - between July 4th and Labor day, and this year we chose Maine's Yorks beach as our destination. It is about 5 hours drive by going through New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine states, yes FIVE states.

On the way to this small town in ME, we stopped by at a seafood joint in MA (about 3 hours from NY). Fresh seafood's deep fries, which were good but a bit too much for lunch.

A video was taken when we were passing the bridge from NH to ME, 30 minutes to the destination.

This town was beautifully situated and there were many tourists like us enjoying the beach, shopping and dining - of course seafood. It was a bit cold (yes, cold in August) when we arrived, but you can still see the beautiful beach with many people enjoying it.

Through the shops and restaurants, there was a pretty garden where you can see boats at the dock behind it. Many people were enjoying their dinner outside despite a cool night.

Chicken Dinners

I don't follow recipes because I don't like to measure the ingredients and because I think I have a good "sense" of foods.

We got a few pounds of chicken breasts, so I roasted all after marinading them. First dinner was grilled chicken (picture attached), which was moist and tasty. Of course we could not finish all the chicken, so I had still more than one pound of grilled chicken left.

Saturday lunch was chicken salad with celery sandwich. We used raisin challah bread (egg bread), which was bit sweet and good with the salad I made.

Saturday dinner - we still had a few chicken breasts left, so I made the pasta with arugula and tomato in the lemon sauce with lemon zest. It was really good. Using zest was very new to me when I came to the states, but it gives more flavor than its juice.

I have a few TV chefs I like - Ina Garten who lives in Long Island New York. She is called as Bare Foot Contessa. She is smart, elegant and the food she cook is always easy to make but has class. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/barefoot-contessa/index.html)

p.s. We are on vacation to Maine from tomorrow, so I might not update this blog until we get back on Wednesday. I will give you the updates with pictures so stay tuned...

Weekend Starts Right NOW...

It is (was) Friday, and I was heading to north out of the city after seeing a dentist in the midtown. Subway system covers almost all the areas in the city, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx (but no subway in Staten Island), but if you go north out of the city, you need to take a train. The Grand Central Station is the starting point for all the destinations, except long distance ones.

It was Friday afternoon so many people after work (during summer many companies allow the employees to leave early or even off on Fridays) and people heading to their vacation destination were at the station.

I feel like I am going away when getting out from the city by a train even it is only 30 minutes ride and it makes me excited and relaxed at the same time. The view from the window changes dramatically only after 10 or 15 minutes...

Don't forget to check the video... I was passing the Bronx and the lady was collecting the tickets at the end.

Good Start

Typical morning routine - wake up around 7:30 without any alarm set, boil the water for coffee, and set the bread in the toaster...

Depending on the day or type of the bread I have, I have several combinations of topping - peanut butter and jelly, cream cheese and jelly, butter, butter and jelly, nutela (Hazel nut spread), butter and honey, and sometime I make grilled cheese sandwich.

This morning was the most typical combination, peanut butter and jelly more specifically raspberry jam. It is the most popular sandwich for kids in the U.S. but this combination was/is not seen in Japan maybe because we didn't/don't have peanut butter itself, except the one which is super sweet and not peanut butter but peanut spread. I learned this when I was in Japan from my English teacher, whose favorite was this combination more specifically grape jelly. Speaking of peanut butter, there are two types - smooth and chunky, and I like chunky over smooth for sure. This gives me an energy to get going for the day.

Midtown Manhattan

There are several sections in the city - SOHO, China Town, Upper East, Upper West and on and on. I call somewhere on 40s and 50s Midtown, even though they might have more specific names depending on where on 40s or 50s. On the way to the office I got these two pictures - Chrysler building standing in front of the Grand Central Station, and the 3rd avenue.

I had a party on the top floor in Chrysler building one time, which has been closed for public, and I was able to open the window there surprisingly by considering how tall that building is. It was one time the tallest building in NYC before the Empire State building was built.

3rd avenue consists of the mixture of commercial and residential buildings - famous ones include the lipstick building.

Midtown is totally different from Brooklyn Heights even though it is only 20 minutes by subway. Can you imagine to live in the area like this?

Tasting the Summer

On the way back from the gym, I stopped by at the farmers market this morning. I wanted to buy some vegetables and fruits for the week, and I ended up with more than I needed - donut peaches, cucumbers, tomatoes, and corn. I have to believe that the taste of majority of fruits in Japan is far better than that in the U.S., but this donut peach (I think it is available in Japan as well) is not too bad, even though you have to pay the premium - $4 per pound vs. $2.5 per pound.

Majority of the produce are more expensive than what you can buy at a grocery store, but they are so fresh and you can see the different in appearance and of course in taste.

Do you smell these fruity sweet peaches?

Final Product - Brisket

Here is the final product of brisket. This time with brown rice, but it could be mashed potato, noodle like pasta, or other grains.

The meat was tender and the vegetables absorbed all the juice, so they were VERY good. Worth to wait for a day to see this final product?