Author: samneang.sin@gmail.com

Posted on

13 Places to Visit in 2013

Because I’m saving money for a trip with my family to Cambodia, I know I won’t be traveling too far out of New York. But the good thing is, despite the city being small, there’s a lot of to do. Many of the tourist attractions I have gone through when I first moved to New York so now I’m going through as many hidden gems as possible.

These are places I’ve visited and want to return or brand new locations that I never thought to visit before. People helped gave me some ideas and direction so I’m excited to start out my adventure this year, rambling through New York.
Continue reading “13 Places to Visit in 2013”

Posted on

Steamed Egg

A lot of time, many of my recipes are halved or used very little egg. And I’m left with all this egg! I couldn’t possibly throw it away! So I normally save the egg to make steamed egg. I find it’s the poor people food because it’s mostly water.

My mom makes this all the time when she didn’t know what to make.

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • several pinches of salt (some people put a crap load but I like only a hint of salt)

Additional ingredients:
half a stalk of scallion
baby carrots (I always have baby carrots with me)

Steamed Egg

You can steam it on the stove in bake safe bowl over simmering water for 15 minutes or cover and put in microwave for 1.5 minutes high.
Steamed Egg

Posted on

Spicy Tuna Stuffed in Panko Crusted Squid

One of the things I love about tuna is that it can taste like meat if you cook it right. So when I originally tried this menu Spicy Tuna Stuffed Squid Tempura by Jennifer Yu of Use Real Butter (by the way, she has AWESOME photos on her website!), I thought, wow, it was amazing! It tasted just like dumpling fillings that my roommate always make using pork and chive. I recommend trying out the original recipe (fried and all!)

I’ve been on a healthy kick diet, refraining from fried and buttery food but I was just craving this dish!

So I thought, well, what if I used less flour with more panko and baked it! Tada!

So follow the instruction from Use Real Butter. I abstained by adding mayo because I absolutely hate it with a passion. And I didn’t realize I ran out of sriracha sauce, I used chili garlic sauce, and halved the recipe since I wasn’t paying attention when I bought the squid, thinking, wow, what a great price I got…it’s because they are tiny. But (!) since they are smaller, they were easier to cut and much softer to chew on.
Spicy Tuna Stuffed in Panko Crusted Squid

I rubbed the squid in egg, and 1/8 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of panko, and some cajun spice for a nice kick. I set it to bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
Spicy Tuna Stuffed in Panko Crusted Squid

Viola!
Spicy Tuna Stuffed in Panko Crusted Squid

If you’re wondering what to do with the egg, don’t throw it out! Use it again to make steamed eggs!
Steamed Egg

Posted on

General Grant Memorial + Riverside Park

Grant Memorial, Havana Cafe

Back in 2010, I took a couple of friends to a science lecture at Columbia University (Pupin Hall) where they offered astronomy viewing from their amazing telescopes on the roof top in upper Manhattan. That was my first encounter with an astrophysicist who was not only good looking but incredibly lean and built. Who knew nerds could be so hot? to this day, I think of that memory very fondly.
Continue reading “General Grant Memorial + Riverside Park”

Posted on

Exploring Red Hook

Abandoned Trolleys in Red Hook
Abandoned Trolleys in Red Hook

Before IKEA moved in and claimed Red Hook as a Swedish meatball landmark, Red Hook was an abandoned warehouse area much like most of the East River front walk from LIC, Greenpoint and down towards Brooklyn Navy Yard. When I first moved to the city, I never visited the area much but in the past five+ years, many of these abandoned waterfront were renovated with beautiful parks, walkways, warehouses converted into condominiums and/or art houses, and random restaurants popped up. It used to be an inconvenient place to travel to without a car but with increase population, the city added ferries and water taxis. Of course, with IKEA across the river, Manhattanites swarmed to IKEA in the droves.
Continue reading “Exploring Red Hook”

Posted on

Snug Harbor/Chinese Scholar’s Garden

Chinese Scholar's Garden in Staten Island
When I was in college, I worked as a computer lab assistant with my roommate and a few others. One of our bosses was this successful woman who was single and strong and brave. We thought to ourselves, will we be like that when we get to her age? It seems a lifetime ago. Through her, I heard about so many unique places locally. One of those places was Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden. To be exact, all she talked about was the Chinese Scholar’s Gardens. She showed us pictures and we were in awe that this was in New York.
Continue reading “Snug Harbor/Chinese Scholar’s Garden”