Lunch from La Rondine in Kew Gardens, NY

I went to a pizza place by my office for the first time.  I generally try not to be too unhealthy for lunch but this day was just feeling cheese.  I made myself feel better by getting a slice w/some broccoli, but it also had deep fried breaded chicken so probably cancelled it each other out.  Decent pizza for the slice and not too pricy.  Maybe should've just gotten cheese though for a base comparison.

Home-made pernil and semi-homemade biscuits

Dan and I made pernil Puert Rican/Filipino style.  We ate it with some hydroponic lettuce as well as Cheddar Bay cheese biscuits a la Red Lobster.  They sell it in a mix so I made it and added lots of cheddar cheese. A very rich meal but the lettuce lightened it up a bit.

Cheddar Bay biscuits

Delicious pernil and lettuce

Lunch at Shanghai Best in Jersey City, NJ

The 'rents and I went to Shanghai Best nearby.  It's attached to the Hot Pot place but they appear to be separate.  Everyone liked the meal more than Taste of North China.  The service was less warm and attentive but so much delicious authentic food.

Veggie Lo Mein

Fish Fillet with tomato sauce.  Delicious.  Kind of tasted like the pork chop I'm used to but with fish.  Nice and meaty fillets

Roast Pork and roast duck mixed plate.  Delicious and meaty. Not too salty

Salted Pork Fried Rice with bits of boy choy in it

Scallion Pancake with beef

Inside shot with beef.  Not sure why so blurry.  Maybe the steam

Dinner at Hamilton Pork in Jersey City, NJ

Dan, Dannys, Laura and I went to Hamilton Pork as several people were in the mood for barbecue.  We had to wait a little to be seated but definitely worth it as all the food is delicious.  We were all pleasantly surprised by how good the mac and cheese was in particular.  The meat is always amazing.  Such a wonderful addition to the JC food scene.

Kung Pow Wings

Side of potato salad

Nachos with brisket, burnt end beans, jalapeno, crema, guacamole and queso.  Much more manageable splitting among 4 than just Dan and me

3 meta sampler with brisket, pork ribs and lamb belly.  All delicious but my fav is the lamb belly

Mexican Street Corn

Divine mac and cheese

Breakfast from Vogue Cafe in Jersey City, NJ

A new French cafe opened up where Tommy Two Scoops used to be.  They have lots of freshly baked pastries and quiche, among other things.  The things we got were just okay and kind of expensive, especially thinking of their competitor Choco Pain.  The croissants were tasty but veryyy buttery, almost too much so.  I couldn't even eat the quiche lorraine because way too many onions.  Sad to say but probably won't be frequenting them again even though they're so close.

Croissant stuffed with hot dog and cheese

Croissant stuffed with ham and c

Quiche Lorraine 

Eclairs.  The vanilla one had some weird filling.  The chocolate was good but nothing out of this world

Brunch at City Diner in Jersey City, NJ

Dan and I were pretty hungry and couldn't wait too long so we went to City Diner for brunch.  If you ever order delivery it takes forever, but on the weekends can be in and out in 30-40 mins, which is incredible.  Always reliable and always hits  the spot.  This time Dan got too entrees haha.

Dan's first entree- two eggs sunny side up with taylor ham, home fries, and toast

Bananas and Cream French Toast

My Meat Lover's Plate - two eggs sunny side up, fresh ham, hickory smoked bacon, home fries, and toast

Dinner at Greene Hook in Jersey City, NJ

Dan and I went to Greene Hook after a failed attempt at going to a Midnight Food Market in JC.  The food was so delicious though we weren't upset that we weren't able to get into the market.  The food is always amazingly good though the service on weekends can sometimes just be okay.  All of our food was incredibly well prepared and good portions.  Always a solid meal.

Calamari appetizer.  Well fried.  No complaints

My pressed Short Rib with carrot puree, pomme anna, and demi glace.  So delicious

Short rib was to tender.  Meat fell apart with just my fork.  No knife needed

I think Dan got the NY Strip or some kind of steak  Delicious and nice sides of potato and asparagus

Lunch from Wasabi Sushi & Bento in NYC

My office is conveniently rather close to a Wasabi Sushi & Bento.  A Japanese fast food chain except for sushi and other rice meals.  Kind of crazy but the sushi seems pretty fresh.  It's delicious and cheap, and the hot food great as well, especially considering how much food you get for so little in downtown Manhattan.  On two separate occasions I got poke bowls and they were good.  Not as good as a poke restaurant but def not bad for under $10.  Fish was fresh and there were was plenty.  I liked the salmon bowl a little better because it comes with seaweed salad.  There's no modifying the bowl so what you see is what you get.  The tuna was tasty but the kani (crab salad) and cabbage made it a little dry oddly.  The only sauce they had was a soy sauce which isn't as moisturizing as one would think.

Tuna poke bowl with masago, edamame, kani salad, cabbage, and rice.  Not that many ingredients but plenty of food

Tuna bowl all mixed up

Salmon poke bowl with masago, edamame, seaweed salad, and rice

Dinner from Teppan Bar & Grill in Jersey City, NJ

We ordered some sushi and chicken katsu from Teppan.  Wanted something a little different than our usual three roll selection so got two different rolls, one with eel and shrimp tempura and the other with spicy tuna.  Both were excellent and very filling.  Also got an order of chicken katsu which was tasty, though nothing outstanding.

JC roll I think (shrimp tempura inside topped with eel, avocado, and eel sauce.  No wasabi tobiko).   I think on the right was Double Crunch Spicy (spicy yellow tail avocado topped with spicy tuna, spicy mayo and tempura flake).  I could be wrong about these though haha

Chicken Katsu plater

Dessert from Epicerie Boulud in NYC

Daniel Boulud has a cafe in the World Trade Center now, which I literally pass everyday.  I picked up some pastries for the next day's breakfast.  They were good but not as good as Dominique Ansel or Choc o Pain.

Tiramisu was nice.  Lots of coffee flavor

I forget what this is called but a rum /vanilla /custard cake

Outside a tad too caramelized for me.  Tasty though.  We also got a nutella croissant which I apparently failed to photograph.  Way too rich.  Like ooey gooey couldn't eat too much because it stuck to the roof of your mouth. . Normal chocolate would be preferable 

Dinner at Ivan Ramen in NYC

Karem and I went to Ivan Ramen because we were both in the mood for ramen but not for waiting on a long line.  Ivan Ramen is one of the few place I know where you can actually make a reservation.  The place is small and they wouldn't seat me until she got there, which was kind of annoying.  But the food was delicious and made up for it.  I would definitely come back again if I'm in the mood for ramen.

Steamed Pork Buns with tobanjan-chili glaze, spicy pickles, scallions

Karem got the Triple Pork Triple Garlic Mazeman (very little broth) - tonkotsu broth, pork belly broth, and whole wheat noodles

Miso Tonkatsu Tsukemen - the miso broth

Soy glazed pork belly, whole wheat noodles, and katsuobushi

My food all mixed up

Dinner from John's Pizzeria in Jersey City, NJ

We ordered from John's because Dan was in the mood for good pizza but we didn't want to leave the apartment to go to either Razza or Porta.  John's is always solid and they have other delicious options as well, without making you feel bad dropping $20 in a huge pizza.  They have individual sizes which I like.  We ordered things we've had before but everything was tasty and was exactly what we wanted.

Spinach Ravioli with vodka sauce - excellent sauce and delicious filling in the pasta

Spinach Pizza Roll with mozz and I always add grilled chicken.  Like a calzone but better ratio of filling to dough.  Always incredible

Shrimp Fra Diavolo Pizza - slight kick and a good amount of shrimp

Home-made Meatloaf

Dan decided to make meatloaf because we both always talk about how we make excellent meat loaf.  We've said we'd do a meatloaf-off but we never have.  His style is very different than mine, as his is basically a giant meatball in marinara sauce.  Delicious but Italian-style.  Mine is more traditional with ketchup and brown sugar but stuffed with goodness.  One day we'll do meatloaf-off if we have some volunteer eaters.

Very juicy

Dinner from ShopHouse Kitchen in Washington, DC

I picked up dinner from ShopHouse Kitchen, which is a Southeast Asian fast casual joint like Chipotle.  Apparently on certain days a bowl is free if you are a DC resident, which I am not but I had a lot of time so I didn't mind waiting in line.  The food was delicious and tasted filling but light and healthy.  Wish we had this in NYC!

Grilled Chicken Satay Bowl with brown rice, charred corn, peanut sauce, green papaya slaw and crispy garlic

Could seriously eat this every day

Lunch at A Baked Joint in Washington, DC

Of all the meals I had in DC this trip, I think lunch at A Baked Joint (and subsequent pastries) was my favorite.  The place was spacious and had lots of room to eat.  All the food was delicious and freshly baked there.  Even my cookie eaten hours later and biscuit eaten the next day were incredible.  If I lived in DC I'd probably go there weekly and weigh an obscene amount of weight.

Pernil sandwich - roasted pernil, sweet plantains, aji-li-mojili sauce (orange-y) on a bolillo roll that they baked.  The bread ad a perfect crunch to softness ratio and I loved that there were plantains on the sandwich.  Meat was great too and surprising since it's primary a bakery

My Monster Cookie that I ate on the train later and then nearly cried because of how good it was, and the fact that I only bought one

Purchased some biscuits that have meat and cheese baked INTO them.  We ate them the next day with fried egg and it was incredible

Probably would've been mind blowing in person when it was fresh out of the oven