My One-Year Blogiversary!!

Wowee! I did it!! A year ago today, I posted my first blog entry! I wish I had a screen grab from that entry because the blog looks sooooo different now! I got rid of the lame black background (what was I thinking?), have an awesome new logo (thanks friend!) and I’m finally starting to catalogue the restaurants and recipes (props to Y-squared for his assistance).  Feeling kinda good about how far I’ve come :) 

I thought about making a celebratory meal to commemorate the occasion, but if you can’t tell by the infrequent posting these days, work is hectic again.  I considered an uber fancy restaurant outing but reservations were hard to come by on the evenings I wanted.  So instead, I write to thank all my readers! Those of you who stop by to check out a particular restaurant review or recipe and those of you who check in daily to see what I’ve been eating totally make each entry worth it. 

I also want to give a special shout out to My Guest Blogger who has helped pick up the slack each time my day job got in the way.

Thank you all for the e-mails and comments, keep ‘em coming! Stay tuned for even more improvements as year 2 gets underway!

Hungry yet?

Miss me?

I know my posting has been quite sporadic this past month.  I am sorry. I really do want to write a lot more often, but these days when I get home I hit the bed pretty quickly and in the morning I’m out.

Things are slowly returning to a manageable pace so my posting should be a little more frequent.  With a weekend of serious eating planned to celebrate my birthday this week, you can expect several posts showcasing the awesomeness.  For now I’m playing catch up so keep up!

In the meantime, if you want to know what I’m eating, you should check me out on foodspotting.   I’ve added the widget to my blog so you can get a peek at the things I’m eating but haven’t had a chance to blog about or isn’t blog worthy.  You can also follow me on twitter.  Of course the blog is still the best place to find me J

Hungry yet?

New Year, New Look

Happy New Year Readers 

I must admit I didn't think I'd make it this far. Like many other hobbies I thought I'd do this for a little while then drop it when something more interesting came along.  Food blogging started as a way to casually document for my friends the things I cooked and restaurants I explored.  Slowly it turned into more.  I've reviewed over 120 restaurants, answered reader questions about where to eat for a particular occasion and improved my foodography skills.  With that in mind, I decided to finally buy the url! So now you can just go to www.yourvicariousexperience.com (go ahead and change your bookmark) I'm still using the blogspot interface for now but who knows what other changes the year will hold! I'm excited for 2011 and the many dining adventures it holds.  Thanks for reading and I hope you'll continue to live your vicarious experience through my dining adventures.

Hungry yet?

Top Ten 2010 Recipe Experiences

As a follow up to yesterday’s list, I gathered some of my favorite recipes from this year.  This list was a bit harder to put together but I managed to select a few favorites.

1.     Delightful Sunday Brunch I cooked up a storm of a brunch for some friends with french toast, chocolate chip pancakes, raspberry scones, amazing apple crumble and so much more

2.     Puerto Rican Chicken in Green Sauce with Cilantro Rice the crock pot worked its magic as I tried to recreate my vacation eats

3.     Scallops and More I was frightened to fail at making scallops, but turned out I'm a pretty good chef (and they're easy to work with)

4.     Peruvian Roasted Chicken using mama bear's kitchen and a few ingredients I don't typically cook with, I made some magic

5.     Shrimp Dumplings and Noodle Stir Fry my only little version of Iron Chef - secret ingredient: shrimp!

6.     Pound Cake although my guests continued to call it cornbread, they knew that this sweet treat was definitely pound cake

7.     Stovetop Chicken Parm this post continues to garner hits, I guess people really do love the idea of easy chicken parm

8.     Margherita Pizza one of the more challenging dishes I made this year, but in the end turned out pretty well

9.     Super Snickerdoodles monster size cookies that were almost too easy to make

10. Spaghetti & Shrimp Arrabiata an Italian classic that I typically make with Lobster but worked out quite well with shrimp

Honorable mention: Best Brownies EVER! I used this recipe multiple times and it looks like readers continue to search for it, but it's a little more complicated than brownies should be.

Any recipes you can’t wait to try? Let me know in the comments!  Happy New Year! I can't wait to share new recipes next year :-)

Hungry yet?

Top Ten 2010 Restaurant Experiences

In the spirit of end of year top 10 lists, I decided to make 2 top 10 lists.  Today's list features the Top 10 restaurant dining experiences either by page hit or personal preference.  Click around and let me know which of these you'll be trying in 2011!

1.     Lima Peruvian Restaurant I ate an entire red snapper! If that's not worth checking out, I don't know what is 

2.     Max Restaurant my first press dinner and I was fortunate enough that it was at such a wonderful Italian restaurant with incredible food

3.     Spice Market tasting menu at one of my favorite restaurants. A dining extravaganza to celebrate Mr. J on the precipice of 30.

4.     Aguaviva another Puerto Rican favorite with the BEST ceviche I've ever eaten and amazing lobster mofongo

5.     Ping Pong Dim Sum my guest blogger did a wonderful job photographing and writing about one of the most talked about restaurants in DC

6.     Zengo NYC my first time using BlackboardEats but definitely not my last time dining at this Richard Sandoval restaurant. Tacos are to die for!

7.     Foreign Cinema got a hook up at a classic San Francisco restaurant. If only I knew the manager everywhere I ate!

8.     Pipa: tapas y mas there's something about tapas that makes eating fun for everyone

9.     Pure Thai Shophouse my newest Thai favorite. I've been back more times than I care to admit

10. Baba Louie's Possibly the best pizza I had this year. Yup it was worth the wait.

Honorable mention: If not for our terrible terrible experience waiting for a table, Bobby Flay Steak would definitely have been in the top 10.

So which of these restaurants are you trying out soon?  Stay tuned for tomorrow's list of top 10 recipes!

Hungry yet?

Out of Office

If you've been reading lately, you probably noticed  my delayed and irregular posting the last couple of weeks.  Partly work related but also life related.  Thankfully, I'm on vacation this week. FIN-A-LLY!

I do not plan to post this week, but stranger things have happened.  The lovely Ms. S has agreed to step in as a guest blogger for the week.  She has only promised one recipe post but I'm hoping she'll surprise me (and you) with a few more posts.

I expect to eat lots of delicious meals this week and look forward to sharing with you when I return.

In the mean time, click around to find a restaurant, or try a recipe.

Hungry yet?

YourOwnExperience

Check out these great events!

Friday October 15, 2010 – Sunday October 17, 2010

Bacon-Palooza

Friday 6pm – 10pm; Saturday 2pm – 11pm; Sunday 12pm – 4pm

SoHo Gallery for Digital Art, 138 Sullivan St.

$25 - $65 in advance

While I don’t eat bacon, doesn’t mean I won’t let you know about this event.  A three day extravaganza centered around bacon.  There’s a movie, comedian and even a musical.  There are also tons of bacon centered treats including: Balsamic Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops, Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Chipotle BBQ Sauce, Bacon & Sweet Potato Hash, Sweet Chicken wrapped in Bacon, BLT Croustade with Baconaise.  Enjoy!

Saturday October 16, 2010

Red Hook Harvest Festival

10am – 5pm

Red Hook Community Farm, Columbia and Sigourney Street

Celebrate the arrival of fall with cooking demonstrations, live music and great food from restaurant partners, such as the Good Fork, iCi, Rice, Kevin’s and others.

Saturday October 16, 2010

Grub Street Food Festival

10am – 6pm

Hester Street Fair, Corner of Hester and Essex

Over 40 of New York’s finest foodies will be participating in this awesome food festival.  My favorite, Pies n Thighs will be there along with Pako Taco, Il Buco, Melt Bakery and many many more!

Sunday October 17, 2010

Pickle Day!

11am-4:30pm

Broome Street between Essex and Ludlow

Free!

A street festival dedicated to celebrating the pickle!  I’m a big fan of pickles and this event in its tenth year offers free pickle samples from around the world. Enjoy!

YourOwnExperience

It’s a beautiful weekend in New York so go out and enjoy these great events!

October 7 – 10, 2010

Food & Wine Festival

Various times

The annual celebration of all things delicious.  Hosted by Food Network, Food & Wine and Travel & Leisure.  Proceeds from some of the events benefit the Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength. There will be numerous tv chefs, NYC chefs, dinners, demos and cocktail parties. The events take place primarily in the Meatpacking District and Brooklyn's Dumbo.

October 9 – 11, 2010

Back to Weekends featuring Celebrity Chefs

Various Times

New York Botanical Garden

Join several celebrity chefs including Lidia Bastianich and Bill Telepan for a weekend of cooking demonstrations, samplings and book signings featuring goodies form the garden.

October 12 – November 6, 2010  - Manhattan

November 8 – 19, 2010 - Queens

FREE FOOD!

Various locations

Malaysia Kitchen for the World is at it again.  This time they are hosting a Malaysian Kitchen Food Truck that will be giving out FREE samples of Malaysian dishes from various restaurants around the city.  Check out their website for more info on where the truck is so you can get your sampling of goodies!

Epicurious Entertains NYC - Lunch Break @ Soho Mansion

My love for food is no secret.  My desire to attend food events is also pretty public considering my weekly food news post.  While I want to go to almost all the events I list, it wasn't until yesterday that the stars aligned and I was actually able to make it.  I signed up to attend the Epicurious Lunch Break at Soho Mansion.  While I've had a pretty hectic week at work and I wasn't sure I would make it, I figured it would be better to buy the ticket and miss out than for the tickets to sell out.  As soon as I got the chance, I darted out of the office and arrived at the Soho Mansion about 20 minutes later.

I walked in and was immediately thrilled that there was no line.  I went up to the third floor and was excited at the scene.  The desserts were the closest table, but I resisted the urge and instead explored. 

Much to my dismay, the vast majority of offerings were beef or pork.  Obviously I was not able to indulge in these delightfully looking treats, but that doesn’t mean that I would leave you without images of them.

Club Style Panino with bacon, smoked turkey, tomato and cheese

Pork Tacos

Mini Hot Dog with Kimchi from Asia Dog

There was also a vegetarian display from Mimi’s Hummus.  I had every intention of trying it out but never quite got around to it.

Didn't catch the name of this interesting dish

More from Mimi's Hummus

After circling the tables and seeing all that beef and pork I was THRILLED to see Pies n Thighs.  I’ve read about this restaurant before and could see myself taking trips to Williamsburg just to get a small taste. 

They served their chicken on a biscuit in miniature form.  It was amazing! A splash of hot sauce and some other white sauce was in there too.  I definitely ate at least 5 of them.  

After feeling like I had a solid amount of food in me, I decided to tackle the dessert tables.

The displays were great and while I wasn’t able to eat every thing I saw, I did sample the mini red velvet cupcake, chocolate chip cookie, cinnamon graham cookie, pumpkin whoopee pie and pumpkin whoopee pie.  All the desserts were remarkable and I was so sad to leave. 

I waddled my way back to the office and could barely think about food for the next couple of ours.  I was thrilled that I could escape from the office even if I was only able to eat fabulous treats from Pies n Thighs and the magnificent desserts from One Girl Cookies and Baked by Melissa.  There are still other events going on this weekend, including a taste of the dishes you can expect at Red Rooster by Marcus Samuelsson.

Hungry yet?

YourOwnExperience

Lots of great food events coming up this week.

September 24, 2010 and September 25, 2010

6PM

MoMA P.S. 1 22-25 Jackson Ave. Long Island City $50 - $80

New York v. San Francisco

The age old question of which city is the culinary giant.  Watch the heavyweights of New York and San Francisco battle it out while you taste the culinary delights.  Hurry up and get your tickets, they’re going fast.  Limited number of tickets will be available at the door.  http://www.legrandfooding.com/home.php

September 25, 2010

2010 Vendy Awards!

Governor’s Island 12PM – 5PM $85 - $100

New York’s annual competition for the title of Best Street Food Vendor.  Tickets are sold out but there will be food trucks on the island selling their specialties, including a few imports from Philly!  

September 25, 2010 – October 3

Cooking with Chocolate, Rosa Mexicano 9 East 18^th Street

Rosa Mexicano’s annual Festival de Chocolate Mexicano means it’s time for complimentary cooking demonstrations.  Call 212.397.0666, extension 27 for reservations.

September 25, 2010

The Heritage Party $100 per person

402 Graham Ave.  Brooklyn, NY 7PM – Midnight

All you can eat party with a tasting of meats, fish and many other dishes.  The Roberta’s chef will be working with farmers to develop the dishes.

September 25, 2010

Dumpling Festival, free admission $20 for four dumpling tastings

Sara D. Roosevelt Park on E. Houston

The 7^th annual festival will showcase dumplings from all over the world and a dumpling eating contest.  The record of 66 dumplings in 2 minutes still stands from 2008.

September 29 – October 3

Epicurious Entertains New York! SoHo Mansion

A series of events including tastings, book signings and demonstrations, including the Ultimate Lunch Break.  Can’t wait!

 Hungry yet?

YourOwnExperience

I’ve been getting a few requests and questions regarding a food news segment.  I will try to post weekly updates regarding events, restaurant openings, closings, and other pertinent food news so you can have YourOwnExperience!

Today – March 14, 2011

Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen Exhibit

MOMA

Don’t forget if you go between 4PM and 8PM on Fridays admission is free!

Sunday September 19, 2010

Taste the West Village

Noon to 4PM

The Yard at P.S. 41, Greenwich Avenue and Charles Street $30 - $85

An amazing event supporting P.S. 41’s green rooftop program.  Participating West Village restaurants include Choptank, One if by Land, Market Table and Cabrito.  Tickets will be sold on site but you can also buy them in advance.

Sunday September 19, 2010

Back to Basis Good Food Festival

Market 11AM – 4PM; dinner 6PM

Gansevoort Plaza, 42 Gansevoort St. tasting at market $20 - $75; dinner $125 - $175

This green food movement has really taken off!  The first annual festival by day, you can shop for traditional, localized, 100% traceable food from 30 family farmers and local top chefs. At night, farmers, chefs and a select group of ticket holders will come together for a seasonal, farm-to-table dinner to celebrate good food.  Get your tickets now.

Monday September 20, 2010 – Thursday September 30, 2010 (weekends excluded)

Queens Restaurant Week

Celebrate a culinary diverse borough during their restaurant week.

Tuesday September 21, 2010

Harvest in the Square

7:30PM – 9:00PM $125

Enter at 16th Street & Union Square West

Union Square Park, Manhattan

A fundraiser for Union Square Park featuring some of the hottest restaurants in the Union Square District including ABC Kitchen, BLT Prime, and Pipa.  You can also sample Hill Country Chicken, which just opened this week! Purchase tickets here and use code harvest for $20 off

Tuesday September 21, 2010

Cheese Tasting

7:30PM – 8:45PM $25

The Clerkenwell 49 Clinton St. between Rivington and Stanton Streets

Tasting of cheese from Spain and Portugal.  Joy of Cheese founder Martin Johnson will present four varieties from each country. (hat tip Time Out NY)

Tuesday September 21, 2010

The Cuisine of Queens and Beyond

6PM – 9PM $55 in advance, $65 at the door

Astoria World Manor, 25-22 Astoria Blvd at Crescent Street

This 9^th Annual Food and Wine event promises to be very entertaining.  There will be 50 vendors showcasing the diverse cuisine of Queens.  There’s also a five ingredient cook off between Rocco Sacramone (his restaurant was voted number 1 Italian in NYC by Zagat) and Andrea Beaman (Top Chef alum).

Thursday September 23, 2010

Benefit Pie Bake-Off

7PM – 10PM

The Diamond 43 Franklin Street

This bake off which is part of GreenPoint Open Studios, a week long celebration where artists open their studios to support the creative community.  It costs $10 to eat but free to enter your pie.  The grand prize winner receives dinner for two hosted by Brooklyn Edible Social Club.  

If you make it to any of these events or know of another food event you’d like to share, please comment and let us know!

Hungry yet?

Malaysian Night Market/Pad Thai

I was super excited to attend the Malaysian Night Market last night especially because Ms. R agreed to go with me.  When I arrived around 7:45, it was incredibly crowded.  I couldn't believe they would put such a fabulous event at such a terrible location.  There was barely enough space to see the names of the restaurants, let alone decide which stand you would get your food from.  I tried to take a few pictures of the crowd so you could see what was going on.

When Ms. R arrived a few minutes later, we decided that while this would be a wonderful dining experience, it would make much more sense to go to a restaurant, sit and enjoy our meal.  I guess we still had Asian cuisine in mind because we decided to go to Pad Thai.

We picked Pad Thai because of its lively atmosphere, cool decor and extensive menu.  With so many options on the menu it was hard to make a decision.  But as soon as I saw the dinner box, I knew what I would order.  The dinner box is only $13 and is served with the appetizer of the day, steamed rice, soup or salad and a choice of 2 entrées.  Perfect!

The appetizer of the day was a Thai dumpling stuffed with chicken and shrimp.  Crispy on the outside, moist and filled with deliciousness on the inside.

The tom yum soup was just right, tangy and spicy.

My chili salmon filet was cooked to perfection.  I was a little shocked to find it in a semi creamy curry sauce but the sauce tasted great and so did the salmon.

The basil chicken was good but not great.  It was a little bit salty and not as spicy as I would have liked. 

The servers were incredibly nice and very conversational.  We lounged at Pad Thai for quite some time after we finished our meal and no one tried to rush us out.  If I’m in the neighborhood again, I would definitely go back to Pad Thai though I’ll ask for a bit more spice in my chicken and a little less salt.

Hungry yet?

YourOwnExperience

I’ve been getting a few requests and questions regarding a food news segment.  I will try to post weekly updates regarding events, restaurant openings, closings, and other pertinent food news so you can have YourOwnExperience!

Saturday, September 11, 2010 1 – 4 pm

Chef Toni’s Farm to Table Awareness Event

63 West 92^nd street

Be sure to RSVP!

Sunday, September 12, 2010 12 to 3 p.m.

The Brooklyn Roots Experiment

Invisible Dog Gallery - 3rd Floor

51 Bergen St.

Brooklyn, NY 11201

New York's best home chefs will prepare dishes that best represent Brooklyn! This is Brooklyn cuisine at its best and locally sourced food/ ingredients with Brooklyn Roots will be highlighted and encouraged.  Tickets cost $25, attendees get to sample all the entries.  Past events have sold out so get your tickets today!

DEAL ALERT! Monday September 13, 2010 5PM to close.  Yerba Buena @ 1 Perry Street is having a First Anniversary party.

Complimentary small bites from 5 - 7 PM and $1 Yerba Buena Leblon Caipirinhas all night

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Malaysian Night Market 6:30pm to 10:00pm

Chelsea Triangle of the Meatpacking District on 14th St. and 9th Ave.

Besides delicious street food, the event will feature engaging Malaysian cultural dances on a dedicated stage. All food will be on sale for $4 to $8.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Taste of the Village 6 – 8pm $40

A delicious benefit for Washington Square Park.  Expect tastings from Alma 33, Sushi Samba 7, One If By Land and many many more.  Buy your tickets now!

If you make it to any of these events please do comment and let us know how it was!

Hungry yet?