Writings and Travels of Lina Em
After visiting Italy (mostly the north), I was very excited to find a class that offered focaccia making as part of the recipe. And the most exciting thing was that the class was next door to my work. Rustico Cooking is a small cooking class but over 30 people showed up for the class.
Upon arriving, they gave us tastings of gruyere crostini and frittata. Very yummy. There were 2 long tables to prepare us for the upcoming dinner.
Continue reading “Cooking Class: Italian Riviera”
I know I should be worrying about my weight and waist size but I can’t give up food. I just have to work out twice as hard so that I can try out all these awesome food eateries! It’s New York, a place where I can have Thai food for breakfast and pancakes for dinner.
These are listed in no particular order but just look at all the yummy food!
Continue reading “13 Places to Eat 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”
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”
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”
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”
If you’re ever adventurous and have the energy and time, New York City offers the chance to go away to a different city for the day with very cheap fares. You can go as far north as Boston or as far south as DC. Even go on a cruise to the marshlands of Far Rockaway. Or as west as the Great Lakes. Of course, it’s a long day starting with an early morning and late night.
Continue reading “DC Cherry Blossom 2012”
Winter has been tamed, weather-wise, in New York City. If anything, spring arrived earlier than normal. So it was a great idea to take a getaway trip for the night outside the rushing city life.
Continue reading “Oheka Castle Getaway”
It’s been awhile since I’ve made plans to go out and explore the city. Mostly, it had been dreary, cold, and a stressful start to the year. Mother nature worked out on my side as fog and rain dissipated to warmth and sun. I walked through Soho to find a beautiful public artwork on the ground. At first, my friend thought it was a circuit board but turns out, it was a subway map.
Continue reading “Tour of Sweet Eateries in the Village”
This weekend has been one of those weekend I wish I could take away all the bad things and keep only the good things. There are times where you wonder, what is a life? What happens after life? Will I see you again? Will I see her again? Will they remember me? Am I really just a grain in time? These are questions no one has really brought back from the grave (though some claim to but one is always/must be skeptical).
Despite the heartbreaking news of a dear friend, life does move on. In your mind and heart, you carry a memory of them. And you know they are surrounded by loved ones until the end, so there’s a sense of ease and acceptance.
Sadly, the news coincided with my pizza making class that I had booked a month ago (Groupon). I went with a heavy heart, unhappy, tired, and emotionally drained out. But the thing was, it turned out to be a good distraction. I enjoyed it more than I expected.
Slice is a local pizzeria that uses local and organic ingredients and boasts locally crafted ales and beers. Their Pizza 101 class is located in their Greenwich Village location. It’s a small little place that probably only seats 20 people and 4 bar seats. Cute and cozy, there was a constant stream of people coming and going despite it being the Superbowl night.
Class started promptly at 3. My friend and I ordered a ginger lemonade, which was a good start. Not fizzy at all and entirely homemade.
So what was the pizza we made? It was a honey whole wheat 10 inch personal.
Ingredients:
- 2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup white bleached flour
- Garlic salt
- Kosher salt
- Honey
- Olive oil
- Yeast
- 1 cup warm water (more, if too dry)
The flour was already prepped so we just made an indent to pour the dry ingredients (salt). Toss it around and then add the fresh yeast. You really have to work the yeast to break it up so it doesn’t clump and cause weird rising in the dough.
Here, the teacher poured in 1 cup of warm water. We really worked the dough. At one point, I ended up standing up to knead. Why exercise when one can do some arm workouts just working pizza dough?
After kneading it until the wrinkles are gone, we rolled in into one big ball, divided it into two and cleaned the wrinkled with some water. Pour some olive oil to keep the dough soft. One was put away so we could take home. The other was put on top of a stove (do not put on hot service) so that the dough rises in half an hour. Otherwise, room temperature rise takes about 2 hours.
In the meantime, we were served with complimentary merlot wine Widow’s Walk and Asian Cabbage salad with peanut sauce. I’m allergic to most nuts so they kindly gave me hummus and pita. I was starving at this point, having been unable to eat from depression (I’m one of those people who don’t eat when I am sad), so I ordered their Flight of Pizza, which is 4 small slices of their different pizzas.
As I was finishing up, the dough came out. We were told, kitty paw the dough from center out. After which we put on a rack. We added the marinara sauce (recipe is a secret) and tossed some part skim mozzarella cheese (this is the first time I will say, more cheese would have been great) (also, I didn’t know that cheese before sauce is called a Chicago style). Then a tray of toppings were passed around: barbecue chicken, chicken sausage crumble, kalamata olives, red peppers, button mushrooms, and eggplants.
When that was put away, we were served with another glass of wine! Pumphouse red wine. Considering I’m a lightweight, at this point, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to drink anymore.
The pizza cooked for 8 minutes and voila! Honey whole wheat pizza with red peppers, olives, and eggplants!
PS, they served a third glass of wine for free.
PPS, My friend made a mini pizza. The teacher named it Darrell. He was quickly munched up.
