Did You Say Chinese?

One of unique dishes at a Chinese restaurant in China town. I learned this place from my ex coworker. This crab dish is always good.

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Burger and Fries

I don't eat burgers so often but when I do, I go all the way - no skimming. Extra bacon and the fries were awesome... No dinner tonight though.

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Oshiruko

My friend visiting from Japan helped me cook anko from the scratch. It came out really good, maybe because of the beans or the pot I used.

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Hot Chocolate

Finally I had a chance to come to the city bakery for their famous hot chocolate. It was like liquid chocolate... 1,000 calories just added to my body...

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Lunch at Essa

It's been a while since last time. Sun dried tomato and lax spreads. Don't go to the counter but to the bagel window to get fresh ones.

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Showing The City

We have a friend visiting from Japan this week. It is nice to show my city to our friend. Very interesting clouds.

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Last picture at the airport. How appropriate to have a cup of cappuccino.

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Last Meal Four

My second past for the night. Tomato sauce with Bacon. I think this is a traditional Roman dish as well.

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Last Map Three

Only meat dish we had. I think it is veal. They have nice marinara sauce.

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Last Meal Two

You have to have this in Rome. Carbonara.

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Last Meal One

Another great find. As usual started with vegetable antipastos.

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Day Trip to Tivoli Two

This place is famous for the garden with many fountains. It was one time used for pope's daughter's summer house. Just perfect.

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Day Trip to Tivoli One

As both have been here in Rome before we decided to go outside of Rome. It was a wonderful decision we made. Subway and local bus brought us to this wonderful town. Look at the view. We saw many olive trees on the hills.

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Dinner Three

This is the restaurant for the night. You can see we are in Rome.

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Dinner Two

Second dish was heavier side, meat and cream sauce. Perfect al dente. Having dinner hearing Italian was adding authenticity.

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Dinner One

We found this traditional restaurant. Lack of vegetables these days so we started with vegetable dishes. Both were very yummy.

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Colosseum

We had a nice long walk from the hotel to see many sights and this was towards the end of it. I like the contrast with blue sky.

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Best Pizza Yet

We find a pizza place today by accident. Typical Italian pizza meaning they measure it by weight. Eggplant this time. We might come back as it was sooooo good.

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X'mas Decoration in Fendi Way

One of the interesting decorated buildings in the city so far we found.

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Our Room in Rome

Very interesting hotel we are staying this time. In the old building but they have completely renovated. They have very tall ceiling with pink stripe wall paper.

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Rome Day One

5 minutes walk from the hotel led us to the Spanish steps. The sky was really blue and the contrast with soil colored building.

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Pasta in Rome

First meal in Rome. Easy a bit over hour flight from Vienna. Warmer but still winter weather. What's next.

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Austrian Cuisine

Finally a sit down dinner at a neighborhood type restaurant we accidental found yesterday. Traditional dishes. A pretty place with minimal tourists, which was really nice.

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Opera Night

As it is the birth place to so many musicians, we decided to do to the best opera house in Vienna. A beautiful building with a lot of history. Not a great seat but enough to enjoy the atmosphere.

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The View from the Cafe

I can sit here all day long if I can have coffee, cake and this view. Fantastic!

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Coffee Break

After walking around the city, another round of coffee and of course chocolate cake was necessary. This time, another famous and classic cafe we accidental found. I liked this place better than the one yesterday.

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St. Stephen

Five minutes from the hotel, the heart of the city, St. Stephen. Inside was stunning as outsude.

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Coffee Break at Demel

At one of the famous coffee place in Vienna. With traditional chocolate cake. Very established building with nice decor to match.

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Different Type of Cheese Toast

I think I have heard about it, but did not know it is an Austria thing. Anyway, there was a stand selling unique cheese toast. They have heating systems directly melting cheeses. Once it is nicely browned, they scrap the surface and top on the toast. They have us a sample, so we did not buy a full serving.

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View from the Palace

While waiting for the entey, we climed up the hill for the famous view. It was well worth to do so as we can see the palace and the city at once. COLD here.

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Breakfast in Vienna

We started the day with semi-healthy breakfast at the hotel. This is one of the rewards staying so many nights at hotels to have a status giving me a feel that I am treated like a king. Nice top floor room facing a park in vienna.

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At AMS Airport

Off to Vienna and Rome for a week. I am very excited...

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Snack Number Five

I know it is over the top, but I don't eat this every week. And I chose ketchup instead while everyone was of course with mayo. Double fried so really crunchy.

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Snack Number Four

Another pop up shop had this. I could not resist to pass. Oh my god, it was good.

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Snack Number Three

Usually Sunday is one of the quiet days, but it is different today as there are a lot of pop up shops in the city. While doing the laundry, yup I have to do, I smelled something good, and this is what I ended up with. Not sweet except powder sugar. I believe it is different from Belgium type.

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Snack Number TWO

After eating savory food, I always need sweets. There were a lot of shops at the Saturday market. This brownie got my eyes. Not too sweet and chewey the way I like it.

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Snack Number ONE

OK, I have huge weakness when it comes to sausage. Porky and so good. A lot of mustered for the kick. Hmmm heavenly.

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Cheese, Cheese and Cheese

No sunrise that Haarlem is famous for cheese as it is surrounded by all farms with cows all over.

It looks like swiss cheese but usually there are no holes. I have been eating these almost most every at the hotel for breakfast. I found that one of my nieces likes cheese, so this is for you.

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Happy Birthday

It has been an year since last time I posted this, but it's my sister's birthday. Happy birthday to you. You can be as much QUEEN as you like today. It's your day.

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Vietnamese Sandwich

Unseasonablly warm Sunday, so we decided to have lunch at the park. There is a Vietnamese sandwich store near by, so grabbed pork spicy one with some radish pickled. Yum..

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Airline Lounge

After flying so much, finally I have earned the status to use the airport lounge. This KLM at AMS is one of the biggest ones I have been.

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Sunday in Haarlem

Another weekend in Haarlem, as this was not the weekend going back home nor traveling to some other cities.
I had a car yesterday but did not use it - cold and cloudy day and I did not feel I drive to somewhere, so no car today. It was rainy when I woke up but by the time I was ready to go out, it started clearing out. There are a few museums in Haarlem and this is supposed to be the oldest museum in Europe. I did not go inside, as their exhibits are not my taste - older European (as I like after the impression period). On the way there, I stopped by the other one where I found perfect coffee cups at their gift shop. It was much cheaper price than this as he is from the Netherlands, I guess.

On the way to find a restaurant for lunch, there was a cool door hunger, instead of typical leaf stuff. I thought RED door is the best but black door like this with ORANGE ornament was really cool too.

My lunch was at a restaurant close to the center of the city. I was cold by walking around the city so I ordered hot chocolate to start. I usually don't drink sweet beverages but I was so tempted to try this time.

I asked English menu but as usual they did not have it. So I asked the person to describe all sandwiches. Spanish smoked ham, Netherlands cheeses, BLT, and something beef. So I ordered the beef one and this is what I got. I heard from my coworker about raw beef sandwich. Yes, I eat raw beef but never had in the sandwich. Interesting taste (not too bad). I could be better if it is not sandwich but meat plate with bread as side.

Snack for the Day

At a pop up stand I had this deep fried Apple pocket. Nice for the season.

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A dinner at room

You might think that I am eating good foods all the time, but during the trip I usually eat at room like this. Not luxurious but minimal.

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Early Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a little early thanksgiving dinner this year as I will be in Amsterdam next week. Chicken instead of turkey, but we had green beans and my famous cauliflower side. Yum yum.

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Weekend in Paris

It was like a dream...
I am talking about the trip to Paris.
I think I am fortunate to live in one of the best cities in the world, NYC, but Paris is at something different level.
I could not get enough of the tower. Wherever you are in Paris, you can see the tower from where you are. I was not crazy enough to go to the top, but I bet the view from the top is great.

I did not go inside of the museum (as it was so nice weather and I did not have that  much time), but the architecture itself is worth to go there. Look at the building. This itself is art. You can't see this level of architecture anywhere else, but Paris or maybe in Italy (Rome).

Another site I could not miss is this gate, of course. It is located at the end of the famous street. Not so many people were this side of the gate, while the other side was packed with tourists. It was so nice to be out.

I did not go crazy on the food but I wanted to try this bistro. This was only 11 euro and it was a huge piece. Good with toast and of course wine... Their breads were really nice too.

I heard something about the number of yogurt they have. Look how many variety they carry. It was a small grocery store, and this many variety. I wished I had more time in Paris to snack something.

Next to the grocery store, there was a butcher shop and there were something you won't see in US or Japan - feathered ducks. I am not sure why they still need to have feather... The guy at the store was smiling when I was taking this picture. I guess he knew it was unique in Paris (or France).

Of course, I could not pass the sweets. You can't get true European sweets in the Netherlands. It was over the top. So rich and creamy... I did not try everything, but I had a few pieces over 3 days stay in Paris.

To conclude the trip, this was the nice shot in my opinion. Perfect French baguette at the airport. I noticed that French baguette has very similar texture to bagel - crunchy outside and chewy inside.
I am surely coming back to Paris sometime very soon. I can feel it.