Recipe: Notorious Chex Mix

This Chex Mix made its original appearance at Notorious BYG's baby shower in NJ. I've been tinkering with the recipe for weeks and I think I'm finally happy with it. It's definitely #yugagnonstyle, just like BYG.

Notorious Chex Mix

Ingredients:

• 3 C Corn Chex Cereal
• 4 C Crispix Cereal
• 2 C Wheat Chex Cereal
• 1.5 C Cheerios Cereal
• 1 C Peanuts
• 1 C Cashews
• 1 C Pretzel Pieces (unsalted if you can find it!)
• 2 T Sesame Seeds
• 2 T Seaweed Flakes (optional)
• 4 T Melted Butter
• 2 T Soy Sauce
• 2 t Sesame Oil
• 3 T Furikake Seasoning (Urashima's Furikake Teriyaki Bonito is my favorite)
• 3 T Brown Sugar

Pre-heat your oven to 250°F. In a large bowl mix the cereals, nuts, pretzels, sesame seeds and seaweed flakes. In a measuring cup, mix the melted butter with the soy sauce, sesame oil, furikake seasoning and brown sugar. Once the liquids and seasonings are thoroughly mixed, used one hand to drizzle the mixture into the bowl with the cereal and use the other clean hand to toss the mixture furiously (BYG would!) to ensure even coating. Once the two mixtures are combined - pour it onto a baking sheet and spread it into an even layer. Bake for 1 hour, giving it a stir every 15 minutes. Once cool, you can store it in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (but I'll bet it won't last that long!)

SanFran: Top 10

As we rode our bikes back from Sausalito, Joe proclaimed. "I can see why people live in San Francisco. It's nice here."

As with Seattle, we did a lot, and ate even more. Here's my SF 10.

I'll admit it's probably not worth the wait, but if you can grab a table at State Bird Provisions, I'd go for the experience. It's basically American Style Dim Sum, but I liked it (grab the chicken liver mousse!). The ice cream sandwich pictured above was on point.

Some of the best views of the Golden Gate Bridge are via a bike path on the way there! Would highly suggest renting a bike and riding over the bridge. You can take the ferry back from Sausalito (a town on the other side of the bridge), or if you're feeling energetic...ride back!

PPQ Dungeness Island - the salt and peppercorn crab is delicious. Add some garlic noodles and papaya salad and you have a mouthwatering meal.

This was at Jacuzzi Winery; I would highly suggest taking a wine tour in Sonoma! We used Valley Wine Tours and I really enjoyed it (they even provide a nice picnic lunch)! Be careful, as you continue to drink, you'll find the need to buy more and more wine (and in my case, join a wine club).

The Kouign Amann at b. patisserie was delicious! Great pastry shop!

La Tacqueria. I know, if a place sells tacos, it's a tacqueria, but you have to find LA Tacqueria. Delicious tacos, but very filling so don't order too many!

Street art in the Mission is awesome! We walked down Balmy St. and enjoyed all of the graffiti.

Liz knows I love donuts, so she took me to Dynamo Donuts! I had no idea, but if you google "Best Donuts in the US" it will usually show up on the list! Good looks little one.

Sightglass Coffee. The best coffee I had in SF.

Our meal at Saison, which will ultimately get its own blog post. It's probably hard to justify going back because of the price tag, but I did thoroughly enjoy my meal here (thanks Daddy!).

Overall, we had a great time sightseeing and eating our way through San Francisco. It's definitely a different pace (read: slower pace) on the West Coast and I can see how people must enjoy that. I wonder if when they come to NY, they think we're all just crazy. Since one of my best friends is going to move there and Liz will be there for another year, Joe and I have enough excuses to visit again.

As some quick notes of other places we hit up:

• Izakaya Kou: If you need to wait for State Bird, go across the street to Izakaya Kou and get some yakitori.
• Mr. Holmes Bakeshop: Had the infamous "cruffin", but if you've had a cronut, you've had a cruffin. Good, but nothing to write home about.
• Pier 39 to just look at the massive number of sea lions that hang out there
• Mazarine Coffee: Solid cup of coffee, but Sightglass was better (but Milstead in Seattle was the best!)
• Hogwash: Great place to get some sausages and beer. Pretty reasonably priced as well.
• Bi-Rite Creamery: I don't love ice cream in general, so I'm not a good judge, but my sister seems to think it's amazing.
• Hog Island Oyster Co: Oysters are fresh and it's nice to sit outside looking out to the water, but it's overpriced for what you get.

One last picture to close out the trip to SF and the whole reason Joe and I went to the West Coast:

Liz graduated from Berkley! Congrats Lil' One!

Taste of the Nation NYC Recap

When Joe and I got married, he asked me to pick a charity to support, and I chose Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood hunger. They host an annual event in NYC (and across America)  called Taste of the Nation, where chefs from the city come together and prepare small plates for a good cause. Supporting Share Our Strength whilst eating delicious food? Yes, please!

Side Note: If you're interested in learning more about the charity: Share Our Strength

This is the second year I've attended this event, and since Joe had training in Boston, Mom stepped in to be my date! We had a great time, running around, stuffing our face, sipping cocktails, and meeting chef celebrities. To the extent I can, I plan to go back to this event every year, it's awesome.

Not quite all of our bites, but a photo trail of our night:

TOTN with my adorable mother.

East coast, beast coast oysters.

Whipped camembert and mushroom toast. 

Some sort of flatbread with guacamole, corn and tomatoes.

Housemade ricotta from County Restaurant. So simple, but so good.

One of our many tacos. Tacos de Barbacoa.

Seafood salad in the cutest little bamboo style plate.

Grasshopper cake. Mom insisted on trying it.

Pork belly confit with lentils.

Brisket slider with spicy vegetable pickles from Hill Country.

Gulf shrimp salad with fire and ice dressing.

Chicken Liang from Jeepney with cassava and soy bean chips.

Hamachi crudo. More please!

Chicken Shawarma.

I can't for the life of me remember what this was. Just that it was smoky and delicious.

Sandwiches from Untamed Sandwiches.

Candied bacon from The Smith. Delicious! Mom said it tasted Chinese...

Bangers and mash. I learned from this event, I don't like bangers and mash.

A ravioli filled with something creamy and delicious and possibly an egg yolk.

Someone's interpretation of a bahn mi. At this point, i was just forcing food into my mouth.

Gnocchi. Mom never had restaurant gnocchi before. Now she knows I make it correctly, she just doesn't like the texture.

Ice cream macarons!

Cheesecake with rhubarb and crumble.

Cracker jack style ice cream. For someone who doesn't really enjoy ice cream, this was quite good.

Somehow we made our way around another floor of food. Peking duck wonton.

Caviar! Mom had a field day with this despite being stuffed.

Potato chip with pork or beef (I can't remember), but I do remember enjoying it.

Spring onion custard. This was amazing. Despite being 150% full, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cured salmon. When I asked the chef if he cured it, he replied "Do you think I'd walk in here with someone else's salmon?"

Mussel mousse!

Overall a great night with amazing company and an awesome cause.

Review: Mu Ramen

Mu Ramen
12-09 Jackson Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101(917) 868-8903

Two things to start:

1. I'm obsessed with this place. I love the food, the ambience, and the owners just seem like really nice people.
2. It's cute when people come and ask what the wait time is for a table. Unless you're lining up for the opening or you don't mind going to a bar nearby for a drink, make a reservation at 3p.m., otherwise you're always looking at an hour wait...if not two.

Joe and I have been several times and over the visits have tried most of their menu (sometimes they have specials and we haven't tried those, yet). The menu isn't long: 1-2 snacks, 3-4 appetizers, and 3-4 ramens at any given time. The food is good, and it's consistently good. I haven't had a bad experience, yet. Some might argue it's expensive (2-3 apps, 2 ramens, a drink will run you about $100-$120 with tax/tip), but I've never regretted spending my money here.

Appetizers:

UnI (a.k.a Uni Sundae!) - Hokkaido and Santa Barbara uni on top of spicy tuna, roe, and sushi rice. Don't mix it or you'll pop the eggs!

"Okonomiyaki" - smoked trout, tobiko and shaved bonito on a scallion pancake with syrup. Joe's absolute favorite. 

Tebasaki Gyoza - foie and brioche stuffed chicken wing. People rave about this, but it's probably my least favorite appetizer. It's good, just a little rich.

MUssels! Sauteed mussels with a spicy dipping sauce. Very refreshing and super flavorful.

I'm not sure they do this anymore, but when you were done with the mussels, they brought over a chorizo arancini and broke it up in the mussel broth. You let it stand for a minute and it becomes an amazing porridge.

Ramens:

Mu Ramen - beef based broth with brisket, pickles, menna, cabbage, and scallions. A very unique flavor.

Tonkotsu 2.0 - my absolute favorite. Broth is flavorful, but not heavy. Pork jowl is fatty. Noodles have the perfect texture.

Spicy Miso - good, but pretty rich. I like the thicker noodles that miso ramen comes with, but my loyalty lies with the Tonkotsu 2.0.

Like I said, I'm obsessed. I mean, I'm willing to call this place 100 times over the course of 15 minutes to get a reservation, and...it's worth it every time. If you've said to yourself, "Oh, I've been meaning to make it out to Queens" - I just gave you the ultimate reason to finally make that trip.