Blue Ribbon is good for the soul

Nothing does good for the soul like sushi. Sushi will always be there for you; it doesn't make you gain weight, it is filling, and delicious.... bottom line: sushi is my best friend. I have always has an affinity for Japanese food. A few Japanese places make me feel like little 5 year old Nina again. The 5 year old Nina that craved food but especially Asian like no other.
There is the Japanese Restaurant in my town (Hanada Sushi), where they know what I am going to order before I order it which makes me feel special. Which sushi does (obsessive?i know, i know) and then there is Blue Ribbon in NYC. I haven't gotten to the point where they know what I'm going to order but we're getting there. Blue Ribbon is a foodies dream. The menu is complete with an amazing selection. While each bite contains a light, filling (but not fatty filling good filling), flavorful mouthful.

Miso Soup con Rice... Comfort at it's finest Veggie Tempura Pork DumplingSpicy Yellowtail

I live for this! Fresh Fresh Fresh Fresh, Delicious, Delicious, Delicious. It's the perfect meal!
This blog post is for my baby Claudia cause this was her Birthday din din. I hope my Baby Claud Claud feels soooo special

Blue Ribbon Sushi
308 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019
Subway: Columbus Circle

School Lunch

Chicken, corn, baby onions, peas over mashed potatoes and covered in southern gravy

When you think school lunch, you don't think what you see above. However, just like how PCS is no ordinary school, we don't have an ordinary lunch. Our culinary goddess, Deb whips up amazing meals every day at 7am with the help of Joseph. Side note, Joe and I share a pretty awesome secret handshake every time I grab my grub. Like how the kitchen is my favorite room in my house, the cafeteria is my favorite room in the school. Beside the fact that there is food, my possey is down there. Today started like every other day, I went down there during my 5th period free started talking to my sidekick, Genny about my deep affection for Anderson Cooper, when Deb came up to me and told me to try the lunch today. She made me a plate and I sat down and was ready to rumble. Everything went really well together. The dish was savory and sweet and had multiply textures to make a it a complete and great lunch. And, drum roll please........ it's healthy! Now, what else could you ask for?

Feasting in Baltimore

I remember each meal we ate in Baltimore vividly. As we drove into the city, I was ready and prepared to enjoy each and every bite and deal with the consequences later.

Heading south at 5 am, we arrived around 8, that combined equals tired. Therefore, our first stop: Daily Grind.When you enter, your eye fixates on the giant black board filled with menu items and cartoons. I grabbed a mango smoothie and a poppy seed bagel and headed outside. The Daily Grind is just one of those places that you go when you want to just sit and hang for a couple of hours. I sat next to the doggy door (a door where people that have their dogs can grab something on the go- I think it's pretty genius, no?), enjoyed my smoothie and bagel and blissed out for a little while. Pretty nice start, huh?

Fried Oysters

Next stop Obrycki's! Of course we had to eat crabs, we were in Maryland... My favorite place to eat crabs is Obrycki's because it's so fresh, the seasoning has the perfect spice, and well it's the first place I ever ate crab when you had to crack the shell; so many memories. Crabs, Crabs, Crabs!!!!!!
We started off with fried oysters because the last time we went my friend, Lily, had them and I felt like grabbing the plate and dashing. Therefore, this time, those puppies were mine! Once we finished, the crabs arrived: the battle has begun. We started with the hammer and got crackin' (which is a lot of work for the amount of meat you get but it sure is tasty!)! We then ordered another batch of fried oysters which topped off a amazingly satisfying lunch.
Black Bean Hummus and Guacamole, oh yea.....
I don't know if I'm the only person who does this but once I love a restaurant I have to keep going to it and eat the same thing every time. Talara happens to be one of my favorite restaurants in the world! When I'm in Baltimore, I have to eat there 24/7. This trip I ate there every night. It's a mix of South American and Japanese food and it is as awesome as it sounds. We started with the Black Bean Hummus and the Guacamole. Both were made fresh and both were made delicious. Side note, Black beans and hummus mix is now my new favorite combo.
Frozen Virgin Mango Mojito... ahhhhh (sometimes words can't express)
Cuban Roll... now that's what I call fusion
Then came the Latino sushi! i don't want to say that this is the reason I go to Baltimore, but it's up there. We inhaled the three different types of sushi that they serve. 1st, the Cuban sushi roll which has salmon, calaboaza, jicama, and avocado rolled inside and spicy tuna, sriracha mayo, ponzu sauce and malanga straws. It's savory and refreshing at the same time. Tuna Crudo

ahi tuna sashimi style with sea salt, cracked black pepper, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and aged balsamic with a citrus arugula salad. Yes, it's delicious. Yes, it's refreshing. Yes, it's healthy. Momma and I each having a Jimmy Roll and a Cuban Rolldrum roll please! my favorite, the Jimmy roll
Sliced tempura fried sushi roll, topped with jumbo lump crab, harissa mayo, avocado, ginger, and cucumber. Tell me that's not amazing, I dare you!! You can't and trust me it's 10x more amazing than it sounds. It has something fried, it has spicy crab and it mixes different textures and tastes. I will say it: it's perfect and I will never get sick of it!
Woodberry Kitchen
...And we tried a new restaurant! I'm a creature of habit but you know what after Woodberry Kitchen, I might try something new more often. This place made me so happy but I don't think words can really express it, so lets dive right in...
Virgin Bloody Mary, spicy just the way i like them.
Tea time!... see that sugar, that ain't no splenda, that's the real stuffBreakfast Burger, Breakfast of ChampionsEggs Benedict
(on left) pumkin, vanilla, and malt ice cream...(on right) apple pie sundae, it's sinful :)
Now let's get to talking. By the pictures you can see this place is AMAZIN' but besides being delicious it has a great atmosphere. The best comparison i can make is Stone Barns in the Rockefelller Park; fresh food with a farm, down home feel. I started with a Virgin Bloody Mary which like spicy and not too heavy and tadaaa it was perfect! Next, it was time for the Breakfast Burger. A burger with an egg, cheddar, and english muffin. It was the best for the morning because it kept me satisfied the entire day and each bite was scrumptious. My mom had the eggs benedict which with every bite you took could tell how fresh each ingredients are. Now, it's time to get to the sweet part: dessert! I usually never order dessert because I'm always too full to get to that point. However, today, i made room for it. I love apple pie and I love sundaes so what could be wrong...NOTHING. Apples, pie crust, ice cream, and caramel. It was an explosion of flavor in each bite and i miss it everyday. Thinking about it now, I MISS BALTIMORE!

Katz makes me soo happy

There are some NY institutions that aren't worth any hype. I can happily tell you some are worth a woot woot, my loudest woot woot goes to Katz deli. I love Katz for some many reasons. Well first, and most importantly it's amazingly, fantasticly, out of this world yummy. In addition, I really like the atmosphere; Katz always has the "stuff your face" mood which happens to be my life moto: funny, huh? I have to say every time I've been there I have had an amazing time and it's consistently delicious.My smile was just as big on the inside

My friends and I made it a tradition to all go down to Katz as much as possible. We went a few times last year including my 16th birthday (does that prove to you, that it's actually amazing?). Yesterday, 4 of us ventured to the east village deli and there was no looking back. My friend Aaron and I grubbed on pastrami (his was on a wedge, mine was on rye) while Mathias and Claudia had philly cheese steak. Additionally, we all got a side of french fries and pickles. And since this is a food blog i guess I need to say the pastrami isn't dry and cooked perfectly while the steak is tender. Being the savory kinda gal I am this food obviously suits my liking. If you don't like salt because you don't wanna bloat i don't think this is the place for you but I also think you're a weirdo.

My food... Pastrami on rye, pickles, french fries, and a much needed
diet pepsi- is it bad I can actually taste the food as I'm typing this...
I have a problem I knowThese up close food shots are what I call "the money shots"
Philly Cheese steak... oh yea Do you see the giddy child like look on her face?
this should tell you to head downtown to Katz....
dear god, when did i turn into such a car salesman?

205 E Houston St
(between Avenue A & Essex St)
New York, NY 10002
Neighborhood: Lower East Side
subway: 2 Av (F) ,Delancey St (F) ,Essex St (J, M, Z)

shake shack

The title pretty much sums up what this post is about.... SHAKE SHACK!

everybody likes something from shake shack and if you say otherwise you are a straight up liar.Shack Stack
My mouth is watering!!!!!!! My favorite at shake shack is the shack stack. Let me lay it out for you, it's delicious. It's a mixture of their shroom burger and cheese burger but it's so much more. It's a cheeseburger with a mushroom covered in cheese and then fried. This is what i call the diet breaker. A diet breaker is something that no matter how much you try if you are presented with a certain food item, the diet is off for 30 mins.Shack Stack w/ fries
Though their burgers are delicious, their french fries could be better. Don't get me wrong, they are good but let's be honest there are better fries out there. So if you are on a diet and decide to cheat, I would just go with the burger and steal one or two fries from your shack mate.

Madison Square Park
Madison and 23rd St
Subway R &W 23rd st
or
Upper W. Side
Columbus and 77th
1,2,3 to 72nd st
http://www.shakeshack.com/

Dang, Room Service

Tuna Tartare

The strength of my food cravings I like to compare to a pregnant women need for pickles or ice cream and just like a pregnant lady, I end up with a baby in my stomach (food baby, that is). Today my most frequent craving arose; ASIAN. At first my friends and I were going to Chinatown. However, the later it was, the farther uptown the restaurants got. Filipino was next on our plate but we didn't make it that far since Manhattan traffic was moving a little slowly and i remembered room service was right by where we were. We quickly hoped out of the taxi and rushed inside. I have been to Room Service once and attempted to go another time. The first time the service was horrible, the attempt my mom and I got yelled at. The third time (today) was better but it's just one of those places; good food, bad service. 2 out of the 3 of us started with Tuna Tartare (above) and the other bad a curry popper (right bellow). It was all amazing, therefore, making up for the service (today instead of being rude, they just ignored us, which I would rather). Then we got what we went there for; Pad Thai.

Curry Popper

Virgin Mango and Pomegranate Mojitos
Just makes a meal
Pad Thai

Okay Room Service Pad Thai, sure you're delicious, I will give you that and because of you god awful service I would love to say otherwise. However, last time I ate there the pad thai just had so much more flavor and spice making it different than any other. This time, It was like a lot of other Pad Thai that I have had (I only eat good pad thai though so don't doubt that Room Service isn't bringing it).
Oh Room Service if you got some good service you would get such a good score in my book but you're a lucky duck and your Tuna Tartare is amazing enough that I would put up with some ignoring.

Room Service 9th and 47th
Westside subway 1, to 50thst

serbian yummies

Cevapcici

Being 1/2 Serbian come with perks. However the greatest thing about being Serbian is the food! Where do you get Serbian food, you asked? Why my friends there is no other place than is Munchan in Astoria Queens (yes, most famous for the cuisine of our neighbors to the south). When you go in the smell just overwhelms you (in a good way, of course) and you hear " Hocu" or "zhelim." My personal favorite Serbian dish is Cevapcici (see above), it's a mix of pork, beef, and lamb... yea Serbs we combined 3 types of meats to make one awesome dish.
Waffles (dessert)

Waffles are my favorite dessert... it's just ahhhh, it's hmmm, IT'S JUSTTTTT SO GOOOODDDD.... usually i would be able to tell you what's in it but matters from place to place/ serbian mom to serbian mom so it's a secret.

Munchan Food Corp.
4309 Broadway
Astoria, NY 11103
Neighborhood: Astoria

(718) 278-8847

Nearest Transit: 46 St (E, M, R)

Steinway St (E, M, R)

YUMMY YUMMY!!!!

She is happier on the inside. Promise!

I'm very picky when it comes to Indian food because I feel a lot of places are killing what should be delicious. My favorite place is Mahal Palace. We always get greeted with a smile and a "nice to see you." I will admit I have a bad habit of ordering the same thing every time I go somewhere, therefore, I order a mango lassi, sag paneer, chicken masala, naan, and lamb chops. Every dish is cooked and seasoned perfectly. I promise, I would never send you to a place that stunk. Trust me, I know my food. Sag Paneer, Chicken Masala, Naan
Lamb Chops nomommomo

http://mughalpalace.com/

it's simple things in life

Yesterday, my friend and I went to a pop shop and got a sour string. We both haven't had them in such a long time because things like calories matter to us now. I miss the days when food didn't have consequences and I could eat all the sour strings I wanted cause they are mighty tasty.

Paella de Key Biscane

I don't even... I don't know what to say about el gran inka. I have been going Key Biscayne (MIAMI) ever since i can remember and we go to this restaurant every night. I get the paella every night sooooo it's good soooo go there

this blog may soon become one where the girl rambles about how much she loves food

Pizzeria de Nina

For as much as I love food, I can't really cook. However, the one thing I can cook is pizza. Sure, i'll give it to you, it's not the hardest thing in the world to make. However, a 7 year old boy told me I should be a pizza maker so there you go. Whenever I go to the real little italy, Arthur Ave, I pick up some stuff to make... i guess i can call it my famous pizza.

Why Hello there,
I realize that i have been slacking in the whole 'i have to actually write/ post on my blog' thing. As the 5 of you know that I went to Iceland (2 photos down). While I was there, I came across a piece of information that I found really interesting, Icelandic and Japanese people live the longest. I thought, "geez, that's pretty pimp" but the i wondered, "why?" As my brain pondered, my father exclaimed, "it's because they eat fish."
Now we have come to the point of the story.... eat more fish so you don't die

the greatest thing i have ever seen and my present background

iceland

Elizabeth Taylor in Persia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYKlzKL_FQ8

There is no other beauty that can compare to Elizabeth Taylor's.She will always be remembered as a great actress, icon, beauty, and overall she was a wonderful

lady. Her aids charity work helped so many people and her public displays of loyalty and class showed people how to act. Overall, she stayed true to herself until the end and that's something to admire.

in a world where some things are so dark a color scheme can really brighten a day

Everything you see I owe to spaghetti

California Sunset

I am and always will be a proud New Yorker/ East Coaster, but, i have to say California impressed me a lot. It was beautiful and I suggest everyone drive down route 1, one time in their life