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Snacks at Ala Shanghai

March 31, 2013
Chinese, dumplings, frugal, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, soup
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My Dad was in town to say farewell to my sister before she left the state for a few months. We stopped at Ala Shanghai for snacks.

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Noodle soup, xiao long bao, and some other nibbles while we spent some time together. I drove my dad by some houses I liked in the Latham area, and I can’t decide how good/bad it is that I’m giving extra points to places for their proximity to Ala Shanghai.

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Uncle Lanny brought out some siu mai for us to try out. These are all-seafood. Scallops and shrimp. No pork or other meat. Dude, these were awesome – fresh and briny. I’m so getting these again.

Happy Happy, Sandor

March 21, 2013
beef, bloggers, buffet, Chinese, lamb, local, night life, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, Uncategorized, veggies
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DSCF5531Head to shining rainbow for their unlimited/all you can eat hot pot. $20 per person, and $10 per pot. Reason? :: celebrate Sandor’s birthday!

 

DSCF5532Shaved beef, lamb, shrimp on skewers (a bit mineral-y), endless plates of squid, fried tofu (freshly fried!), and fish cakes. Plus peanut, hoisin, and chili sauce in a container ta make your own sauces. It was a good night for gluttony. I think the last 30 minutes were just the rest of the a label watch Albany John and me stuff our faces with food. Squid squids ! So good!

 

And then finish the night off at Wolff’sDSCF5535

Chinese New Year – The Snake (Albany)

March 11, 2013
Chinese, dumplings, fried, local, pork, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood
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DSCF5490Albany John and I went to Ala Shanghai with Phairhead, SexyBeast, & another of our pals to celebrate Chinese New Year in Albany. Some tasty nibbles with jelly fish, and aster salad. DSCF5491 Spicy wontons in chili oil. Meaty, peanutty, and silky soft wonton skins. DSCF5493 A present from Uncle Lanny – an order of Xiao Long Bao. Gung hey fat choy, and xie xie!DSCF5494 We got an order of spicy fish fillets on the special Chinese New Year menu (now over). These were great, and I’d love to see it make an appearance on the regular menu. Hm, although you could also probably just ask for it and they’ll make it for you in the kitchen, too. The fish had no breading on it, and was crispy & moist without being the least bit greasy. Nice spicy kick infused in the fish flesh, with the chili peppers adding some extra burn (I could eat a few whole ones, and the mess of hot chili peppers Albany John ate didn’t make him sweat bullets at the table).
DSCF5495 Wuxi style spare ribs – a sweet and slightly tangy sauce over some tender pork ribs. DSCF5496 SOFT SHELL CRAB WITH EGG YOLK! I was looking forward to this dish for weeks. A platter of salty, briny happiness. The egg yolk in the batter makes this a great occasional treat. DSCF5498Some medlar jelly for dessert. Mmm.

Surrounding myself with some great friends was a nice way to gently wean myself away from my family after seeing them at Chinese New Year in Flushing, Queens.

Wine Bar & Bistro

March 1, 2013
beef, beverage, bloggers, dessert, fried, lamb, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood
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DSCF5248 My lovely friend Slivia gave me a gift certificate to The Wine Bar and Bistro, a place near and dear to her heart. It took me forever and a week to use it because I am really pretty about about using gift cards, and man, I really should get better at it, because it has been too long since I grabbed some food at the Wine Bar! I started out with a glass of bubbles. Life is worth celebrating, y’know?

Sil saved the makeout booth for Albany John and me. Super cozy, and pillows, even! A great (private) space for the introvert.
DSCF5249 Oh. My. Gosh. Bone marrow ($14). Get yourself some bone marrow at the Wine Bar.So savory and salty. So much umami. Albany John and I daintily started putting little knife-fuls of marrow onto toasted bread, but by the end we were practically licking the bones like wild dogs. Thank goodness for the privacy of the makeout booth.
I was really tempted to text a picture of this fatty, meaty beauty to a friend of mine on a low cholesterol diet, but thought better of it. You know who you are.

Restaurant-cured gravlox on the right topped with caviar and creme fraiche. Another amazing plate. Top just about anything with caviar and I’m a happy gal, especially when it’s cured salmon.

DSCF5251 Mains! Hanger steak with fried gnocchi on the left. Albany John was all about this dish. This also reminded me of the right way to cook steak rare. It was cooked as one piece, then cut into smaller pieces; instead of cooking several smaller pieces over the desired temperature.

The crispy lamb on the right had my heart at first bite. Lamb chops ous vide cooked to medium rare, then flash fried so the exterior got crispy. Oh. Yes. SO lamby and good.

DSCF5254On to dessert: Creme brulee! A lightly warmed brulee with delicate sugar shell. Love – wasn’t too rich or creamy. I paired it with a dessert wine for some extra indulgence. And a little tester of chocolate chip meringue on the right.

Dinner total for all of the above dishes + 2 glasses of wine + 1 beer (the beer selection is small, but quality & very well priced) was just a bit over $100. Something like $109 before tip, perhaps.

I hope that bone marrow never leaves the menu. That’s one of my top favorite foods I’ve put in my mout for 2013 so far.

Sushi Tei

February 28, 2013
frugal, Japanese, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, soup, sushi
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DSCF5321 Went out to Sushi Tei in Guilderland with Albany John and a friend one chilly evening. Albany John was craving sushi & suggested Sushi X, but I was not feeling a buffet, so I suggested the more relaxed and cozy Sushi Tei.

DSCF5320 Some rolls – a philly, a spicy tuna, a salmon skin, and a regular tuna roll. Yum. DSCF5319 And SOoOOUUuuuPPP, delicious soup! I love the soups at Sushi Tei – so flavorful, rich, clean, and simple all at once. I got tempura soba ($12.50). Albany John got a few rolls and a mini udon ($5.50) in the background. DSCF5318 We also got a few apps – Tako yaki above ($6.50). It’s dough balls baked, filled with octopus, and topped with bonito flakes. I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of bonito flakes on their own (or perhaps only in very small quantities), which is kind of odd because I normally love all things intensely fishy. But overall I enjoyed the salty/savory octopus balls. Heh. Octopus balls.

DSCF5315I forget what this was called, but it was so good! They were cucumber & mango wrapped in raw salmon and in a sweet/tart soy sauce. I didn’t think I’d like them, what with the mango (coz I don’t really like to combine fruit + savory things) but it was younger mango so it was firm and wasn’t too sweet. The only problem I had with it is that there were only 4 to split between the three of us. I could have eaten about a dozen of these on my own!

I love the service at Sushi Tei – it’s like going over to your best friend’s house. Everyone is casual, nice, and serves at a relaxed pace.

Our total was something like $46 before tip.

 

Ala Shanghai to go

February 20, 2013
Chinese, local, pork, recommendations, restaurant, review, soup
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DSCF5246 Nothing like some spicy mapo dofu and pork, tofu, and capsella soup from Ala Shanghai, especially on these bitterly cold nights we’ve been having lately. Dinner for two for less than $20. The map dofu was especially spicy, which was a nice surprise since in the past I’ve thought Ala’s mapo dofu had lots of flavor, but not a ton of kick.
And that pork, tofu, and capsella soup stays insanely hot for the entire drive home. Yum. The mild to tame the heat.

The Confectionery

February 15, 2013
bar, local, night life, recommendations, review
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DSCF5283 The Charles F. Lucas Confectionery is one of my favorite new additions to downtown Troy. I’ve been there a few times already. Go for a platter of their charcuterie. The 3 choices for $12 worked well as a hearty snack for Albany John and me. You can choose between cheeses and charcuteries, but we went with a meaty trio.
Hot smoked duck breast on the upper left corner, boar pate in the center, and duck salami on the right. The boar really hit a high note with my taste buds: can’t wait to order it again. Good texture to the salami, too. I’d probably skip the smoked duck breast in the future. It was fine, but since I’ve started smoking my own meats at home I make things way smokier than other places tend to.

The kalamata olive tapenade is next on my hit list.

DSCF5281The bread was nice – from Placid Baker. This is such a cute date night place, and even when it’s busy they are so nice about seating you and trying to find you a place to stay.

I love the idea of wine from a tap. I got a glass of red, which was drinkable and tasty enough, but didn’t really make me want to order the same one again. Maybe I will try a white next time.

Service was great – our waitress kept refilling water frequently, was pleasant, and knew when to come over just enough.

DSCF5256Here’s a picture from another (more casual) time when we grabbed a table to stand at. I really like that they don’t push you to drink at the Confectionery. Albany John and I were getting over colds when we went here and went for hot beverages instead of wine. No pouting from our waitress or anything.

Oh my gosh, the lattes ($4). So good. So nutty and sweet. No sugar needed, although they have a variety of caloric and non-caloric sweeteners available. The herbal teas are $3, and pretty generous as well. A pot is a bit larger than a mug. The African Nectar soothed my sore throat.

Desserts are from Sweet Sue’s just down the road on River Street. I like the truffles and the macaroons (only $1.50!), but the whoopie pie is a bit dry/crumbly and the filling is a chocolate buttercream. I think your best bet is for anything that generally stays moist and doesn’t risk drying out. I’ve had some of Sue’s other baked cake-goods and they’re normally really moist. But cakes can dry out after a few hours, and if you’re here, it’s generally later at night past when a bakery would be open.

Anyway, the truffles are snacking orbs for $1 each. I liked the white chocolate and lavender. And for real, the macaroon was coconutty and light without being too chewy or as dense as a paperweight.

Now where do I buy chalkboard plates? Those things are adorable!

 

 

CLA: Conjugated Linoleic Acid (aka, my fatty pills)

January 23, 2013
confessions, Fitness, health, recommendations
2 Comments

CLA

Conjugated Linoleic Acid is one of the few mainstay supplements in my diet. I affectionately call it my fatty pill, partially because it is all oil, and partially because it helps reduce fat.

I stumbled upon this supplement last year when I was researching something that might help me shed some pesky belly fat and tone up a bit more at the gym. I didn’t want to take anything with caffeine in it, so that eliminated a lot of options. I also wanted something simple that didn’t have 9,000 ingredients on the label.
Enter: CLA

There are mixed reviews and studies out on CLA and its benefits for weight loss and muscle growth. I have personally had a positive experience with it, specifically this brand:  Nature’s Way CLA 1300 mg softgel.
I get them from Amazon because the subscribe-and-save price is great, and I don’t have to actually go to a store and buy anything (or forget to buy anything). One bottle will last me about a month.

The CLA comes from safflower seed oil, which contains about 70-80% CLA. Since all 1300 mg is the safflower oil and not the CLA, the CLA from each pill is approximately 1000 mg. Many CLA bottles will list the mg of oil in them, and frustratingly, not the actual CLA mg content. This is important, because CLA only becomes effective at certain amounts, but from what I’ve read, it seems that for CLA to be effective, a person needs to take at least 3,000 mg per day (So, MRM brand might not be a bad pill to try either, when looking at the CLA per pill and cost per pill, I’ve just been using the Nature’s Way brand for a while and like my results on it. Hmm, maybe I will try this MRM brand, now…). At any rate, you can find studies for and against CLA, like pretty much any supplement out there.

I’ve been taking these steadily since about May/June of 2012. Albany John started taking them some time in the fall after we started noticing my results, and wow, his body really took to using CLA. He has a real mesomorph body type, though, and tends to react very quickly to exercise, diet changes, and supplements like this. Sadly, my body type leans more toward that of an endomorph and it takes me quite a while to see even minor changes in my body. Oh, and Albany John tends to take all of them at once instead of spacing them out during the day, and that hasn’t affected his progress. So I’m not so sure how much timing comes in to play with these supplements as opposed to, say, caffeine.

Ladies, CLA may have mixed results for you, so here are my experiences with CLA (in no particular order):

  • Take it for a month before you expect to see results. This isn’t a fast-acting supplement, but it helps curb appetite a bit and my muscles seem a bit more defined after using it. That said, if you forget a day or are too sick to take any supplements for a day or two during a month, that won’t set you back.  Just don’t take less than 3 g/day and don’t take them only a few times per week.
  • My first month or two I took 4 g of CLA per day (4 pills, usually 2 with/after lunch & 2 with/after dinner), but now I have cut down to 3 g of CLA per day (usually 1 with lunch & 2 after dinner).
  • My belly fat has been reduced a bit, and the definition in my muscles seems a bit clearer. I mainly started taking CLA after getting definition in my arms and legs, yet being frustrated with not being able to change the belly fat despite much gym-going and diet-changing. I still have some lower abdominal fat, but I’ve got a bit of definition up top, which I’m pretty happy with and wasn’t something I had really even considered within my realm of possibility before this. Now I want to see how much more I can define my abs.
  • CLA has helped me lose weight and belly fat. I want to stress that it is a supplement that has helped, but certainly has not been the sole cause of my weight/size loss. Diet and exercise to play a huge role in this, but it certainly helped me move from a plateau.
  • Do not take it at the same time you take echinacea/goldenseal. Oh my gosh, this will give you such horrible, burning burps.

Any way, I hope this may help you in your quest for looking and feeling great in the new year, and giving you a bit more insight on this supplement and my experiences with it. Other than the horrible burps I get when I take it at the same time as echinacea/goldenseal I have experience no negative effects when taking this supplement.

Have you tried any supplements that have made a difference in your life? Raspberry ketones? Green tea extract? African mango? I think whey protein has also helped my body, so that might be another later post.

Evelyn’s Cafe at EMPAC Expanding Hours

January 19, 2013
local, PSA, recommendations, restaurant
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EMPAC‘s Evelyn’s Cafe will be expanding hours to serve lunch every weekday from 11 am – 2 pm this coming Tuesday, January 22nd.
I can’t wait – previously they only served lunch on Thursdays. It’s always nice to have another lunch option in Troy.

Press Release & more deets below:

The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) and Hospitality Services at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announce the expansion of hours for Evelyn’s Café. Beginning Tuesday, January 22, the café will be open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11 AM–2 PM, in addition to supporting public events. The menu will be seasonal and will focus on locally sourced items.

“This expansion of café hours makes EMPAC an exceptional gathering space, providing opportunities for a meal with colleagues or a snack before or after a performance in the special atmosphere of the building. We hope to continue the expansion into the morning and evening hours in the future. And we are pleased that the daily offerings include “eating local,” a unique menu on campus,” said Johannes Goebel, director of EMPAC.

“We are committed to showcasing local and sustainable ingredients to create a seasonal contemporary menu for our guests,” said Elaine Reynolds, Hospitality Services marketing director.

Evelyn’s Café opened in 2008. The café will continue to be open one hour before all curated events as well as during intermissions and after most performances. Rensselaer’s student run and sustainability focused Terra Café will be serving lunch on Wednesdays.

Vectors of Research—Circles of Art

EMPAC—The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center—is where the arts, sciences, and technology interact with and influence each other by using the same facilities, technologies, and by breathing the same air.

Situated on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, EMPAC is dedicated to building bridges between our human senses, to modes of perception and experience, to creating meaning in a physical environment, and to the intangible world of digital technology.

Four discrete venues are designed with unique technical infrastructure to enable audiences to see, hear, and move in space in endlessly different ways. EMPAC hosts artists and researchers to create new work and presents events which ask audiences to join the quest for new perspectives.

Hospitality Services at Rensselaer is a passionate, dynamic, and fun-loving team striving to satisfy diverse tastes and appetites on the Rensselaer campus. With an emphasis on convenience and flexibility, Hospitality Services provides a variety of menu choices that reflect a commitment at Evelyn’s Café to local and sustainable offerings.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation’s oldest technological university. The school offers degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the social sciences and humanities. For over 30 years, the Institute has been a leader in interdisciplinary creative research, especially in the electronic arts. In addition to its MFA and PhD programs in electronic arts, Rensselaer offers bachelor degrees in electronic arts, and in electronic media, arts, and communication — one of the first undergraduate programs of its kind in the United States. The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and EMPAC are two major research platforms that Rensselaer established at the beginning of the 21st century.

Taiwan Noodle – Winter Steamed Rice Dishes!

November 30, 2012
Chicken, Chinese, dumplings, frugal, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, soup, veggies
4 Comments

 

Met up with one of my good ol’ Albany friends, her son, and her beau, Farmer Jon, for dinner at Taiwan Noodle recently. ‘Scuse the yellow-y and/or out of focus pictures. My white balance was slacking during this meal, and I don’t get to see my girly all that often so I was more focused on her.

We chose Taiwan Noodle because it was a good middle meeting point for us, and because they have seriously cheap eats. And we like to eat. Scallion pancakes to start!

 

Ground pork noodle soup for my friend & her kiddo.

 

Stuffed pork steamed buns. I think we also got some Xiao Long Baos as well.

I can’t not order the pork foot noodle soup. Or some iteration of pork trotter when I’m at Taiwan Noodle. So tender! Farmer Jon said he’s seen where pigs walk, and he’d rather not nibble on that, tyvm. Lol, love that Farmer Jon.

 

Oh, more snacks! Spicy chicken wings. These had a good amount of kick but weren’t overwhelming. It was a dry-spice heat, not saucy. Reminded me of togarashi spice like you can put on Japanese ramen soups.

And some wood ear & celery in the background. Albany John can’t get enough of these. I think he orders these every time we go to Taiwan Noodle. He likes how soft and tender they make them.

 

I am bummed this came out so yellow & blurry! Okay, so Taiwan Noodle now has steamed rice in bamboo baskets for the winter months.  They’re all $7.95, and they are GIGANTIC! Albany John got a pork & black bean steamer above. I don’t know why I was surprised by the size, since at $7.95 they are the most expensive dish on the menu, but seriously… it’s enormous. It’s an entire large bamboo steamer – like 9-10″ in diameter, and filled with rice and pork. They come with a dark soy sauce on the side.

Farmer Jon got chicken & lop cheong (chinese sausage). He wasn’t too crazy about the chicken having bones in it (it’s rustically chopped and hacked pieces of chicken on the bone), but thought the flavors weren’t too shabby at all.

One of the best things is that an extra lop cheong is just $1, so  you can add it to any of the steamed rice dishes. Yeesssssss.

 

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