O, Korean food. You sweet, spicy, and delicious bastard you. 

Two weeks ago, three of my best friends came to visit me in NYC as we squeezed in a tiny room that could barely fit my bed, dresser, and my desk. We basically slept on top of each other (we're REALLY good friends). OKAY. That's not the point of the story. The point is is that we went to a restaurant called Boka one night while trying to find places to drink in St. Marks.

For those who don't know what St. Mark's is: it's basically a cultural street in East Village, where you can basically go in any restaurant and have a delicious meal or awesome drinks. If you don't think your food is adventurous enough, you can also get a piercing or get inked in the many tattoo/piercing parlors in the neighboring buildings to get your pants wet from too much adventure.

Okay, back to the story. So walking around St. Mark's, we saw many appealing restaurants from the outside, but the lines were much too long. Remember, it was a Saturday night and everyone was already drunk at this point and people are trying to satisfy their drunk munchies. Then we stumbled upon Boka. I have to be honest, from the outside, it looked a bit sketchy. But once inside, it was actually large and comfortable (except for waiting room, which could only fit two parties at a time without being in the way of the people coming in and out of the restaurant. Seriously the waiting room was smaller than a Starbucks bathroom). The atmosphere offers a fusion of the modern Asian and your local hipster.

Crab and Avocado - $5.60                                  Salmon, Tuna - $5.85

We opened with Boka Rice Balls. I ordered the Salmon, Avocado Rice Ball and Josh ordered the  Crab and Avocado Rice Ball. This dish was pretty good. The rice was sweet and there was enough inside the ball to balance the rice to meat ratio. The rice balls reminded me of the lunches I'd buy from my Korean friends back in high school. O, don't you just love when you order appetizers with a side of childhood memories? No? Okay. Nevermind. Let's move on.

Combo Large (10 wings & 5 drumsticks) - $19.95

Look, let's be real together for once. I'm a simple man. I like TV, video games, and chicken wings. Okay, maybe Boka couldn't offer TV or video games, but it did a damn good job with the chicken wings. With two signature flavors of "soy garlic" and "spicy" (Yeah, it's just called spicy), the chicken wings were by far the best thing I've had here. Boka is also known for their wings/drumstick dish. I wish I had enough chicken wings in NYC to state that this is the best chicken wings around, but unfortunately I haven't. However, I would confidently say that this is the best chicken wings I've had in NYC so far. There's your statement right there.

The wings were crispy, as if it was triple battered. The flavors were both amazing and true to their name (holy moly the spicy one). I do prefer the spicy one though, since it was also sweet, adding an interesting twist to the chicken wing. I think the drumsticks were delicious as well, but I preferred eating wings because you lose a lot of the crispiness through having the bigger chicken with less skin.

Watermelon Soju - $29

But you know what they say, "you can't have wings without a drink". I don't know who exactly said that, I think it was Galileo or Martha Stuart or something, but I've heard it before. Maybe it was Rachel Ray or something, ANYWHO, we got drinks. 

OooooOooooohhhhh yessssss. Look at that beautiful thing known as the Watermelon Soju. Okay granted the alcohol to watermelon juice ratio favored alcohol, it wasn't too bad. One $30 watermelon holds up to 4 glasses, but if the drink isn't good, the watermelon holds up to 4 disappointing glasses. Yes, I said it, I didn't enjoy the watermelon soju. I'm no soju connoisseur, nor am I one for alcohol, but I didn't enjoy the taste of a bottle of soju mixed with New York's tasteless watermelons. I admit, I enjoyed the presentation and pouring the drink from the watermelon, but I don't think it deserves its title as a signature drink. I wouldn't have ordered this if it didn't come in a watermelon. I won't be ordering this the next time I come back.

On the bright side, at least we were able to get good instagram photos out of this disappointing $30 drink!

Happy Belated Father's Day!

For Father's Day brunch, we went to Pier 7, a restaurant and bar on Lonsdale Quay's Shipyard and Pier area.

The outside was modern looking and slick. Its location is really nice. It is right in front of the water, so the view was amazing. 

As nice as its location was, the menu was disappointingly small. It was somewhat pricey as well.

I got a Classic Caesar. It tasted pretty good. A great way to start the morning!

Classis Caesar - $8

For a starter, we ordered a Crispy Calamari. One word: terrible. Thee first thing my whole family agreed on was that it was way too salty. It was as if they had old calamari in the kitchen, re-seasoned it, re-fried it, and served it to us.

Really, it was THAT bad. At least that's what we thought.

Crispy Calamari - $12

I ordered the Ahi Tuna Club. It's seared rare ahi tuna, bacon, ranch, and fries. It wasn't too bad, but it was in the bland side. Drenching it with ketchup really boosted the taste though. I wasn't very impressed.

The fries weren't too bad. They were actually pretty good. Some were soggy (the good kind of soggy) and some were quite crispy. No complaints there! Maybe just a tad bit more salt.

Ahi Tuna Club - $16

My mom, my sister, and my uncle ordered the Pier7 Burger. It had aged cheddar, crispy bacon, garlic aioli with fries. I didn't really try it, but it didn't seem to impress my family's taste buds. It was quite basic and having it as the restaurant's "signature dish" was disappointing.

Pier7 Burger - $16

 Giving this restaurant another chance, we tried their Pan Fried Dungeness Crab Cake. Served with garlic aioli, this dish was actually pretty good. The crisp edges of the cake complimented the creamy sauce it was served with.

Pan Fried Dungeness Crab Cake - $15

Overall, I wasn't to impressed. In fact, I was extremely disappointed with everything about this restaurant. With its location, I had high hopes and expectations about the place. The food wasn't great, the service was slow (extremely slow), and we even found hair in my step dad's food that we had to turn it away. If it wasn't so expensive, I would've been a bit more lenient, but the fact that this could be classified as somewhat a formal restaurant, it was a huge disappointment. 

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

-George Herbert

ADVENTURE!

Today was awesome! I climbed the Chief in Squamish with my two friend's, Ryan and Jeremy. We literally hiked for 3.5 hours just to climb up 700+ miles of mountain. 

Throughout the entire hike, the trail would change from being a nice, flat trail to open areas and rocky climbs.

There were even epic points of the trail where holding on to a chain was necessary to aid you up the side of huge rock faces.

After an hour and a half of climbing, we finally made it to the top of the Second Peak, which was 655m tall! It's amazing to think that it only took 1.5hrs to climb the mountain from the very bottom to the top!

Due to Ryan's kindness and generosity, I was able to enjoy this amazing Vietnamese Sub. It was a little cold, but after a hike like that, ANYTHING would've tasted amazing. Not to say that the sandwich on it's own would be an delicious dish. It was enough to hit the spot for us to move on to the next peak.

On the way to the Third Peak, we saw a group of people, I'm not to sure what the actual name of the activity is, but swinging. Think of it like bungee jumping but in a swimming motion. It was really intense.

This was the view from the Third Peak. It was not as great as the Second Peak, but it was still breath taking.

and... here my friend Ryan being artsy.

Overall, that was an awesome hike and a delicious sandwich. Hopefully this will be a weekly or every 2 weeks kind of event.

"Stop and look"

-Anonymous

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL!

This sandwich wasn't anything special. Just a plain old sandwich with whole wheat toast, chicken mixed some mayonnaise and onions, and lettuce. It was quick and easy to make. Nothing too fancy!

But the best part about eating this sandwich was being able to enjoy it outside in the calm and sunny weather. The weather in Vancouver has been amazing recently: hot and sunny in the day and warm and breezy in the night. Just awesome!

Just to add for an update to my life:

1) My buddy Juan and I are organizing a cabaret for charity around August 9! It should be hilarious and entertaining.

2) I now work for American Eagle Outfitters in Park Royal. Hooray job!

That's basically the main things going on in my life. Until next time foodies!

"Sandwiches are wonderful. You don't need a spoon or a plate!"

-Paul Lynde

Continuing the bar hopping from the other day with my friend Ryan, I had forgotten that I wasn't in New York anymore and was reminded of how early restaurant close in Vancouver.

We walked for about 45 minutes around downtown Vancouver to look ANY open restaurant. We were desperate! It was a miracle when we found Guu's Kobachi.

735 Denman Street, Vancouver

When I saw the menu, it reminded me of Guu's menu and unique Japanese-styled food. It came as a surprise that with further research that this place was actually a branch of Guu! Everything they had on their menu was so unique and looked delicious.

But before we ordered food, we started with Sake. We spent so much at Raglan's Bistro that we felt kinda cheap so we bought the cheapest sake.

We had Gekkeikan sake served hot. Usually for sake, its served either cold or hot. It wasn't bad, it went down actually pretty well.

Gekkeikan - $5

For tapas, we decided on Black Calamari. It's basically calamari marinated with squid ink. It was pleasantly tasty! The dip it had was also an ink based sauce. It was sweet with a little hint of tomato. Yum!

This item was actually on their Friday special menu. So make sure you're there on a Friday to try this awesome dish!

Black Calamari - $8.20

 The final thing we ordered was the Beef Curry Poutine. It was slow stewed beef tendon curry with french fries and cheese melt. Since we were in a rush, we had to inhale these bad boys. It was served in one of those sizzling bowls. The great part about this was the curry seasoning. Apparently poutine was the theme of the night.

Beef Curry Poutine - $7.80

Overall, I had a great experience in Kobachi! The food was delicious and cheap (only spent about $21), the employees were very welcoming, and the atmosphere was fun. I would definitely come back here, next time with my family! A place like this is definitely a place my family would enjoy.

"It is the man who drinks the first bottle of saké; then the second bottle drinks the first, and finally it is the saké that drinks the man."

-Japanese Proverb

Hello Foodies! I am finally back in Vancouver for the rest of the summer.

For my first homemade meal, my mother decided to do Korean food. From scratch, she made a Korean dish called Bibimbap. It had egg, seaweed, sweet meat, kimchi, rice, and other ingredients that I do not remember (oops, I should've payed attention!).

It was really good. Before you serve it, you mix it while it is still hot in the bowl. It becomes some sort of fried-rice-like dish. It was amazing. I haven't had homemade asian food in FOREVER!

The second meat dish my mother made was called Jaeyukbokeum (according to my Korean friend). It's a really interesting burst of spicy and sweet. The meat is really thin so it melted in your mouth. It was amazing!

At the end of the day, there is nothing better than a Mother's cooking. After eating cafeteria food and take out all month, it feels good to get back in the groove of eating homemade food.

"I have come to the conclusion that just as the Japanese live to work, Asians live to eat."

-Anastacia Oaikhena

This weekend, after finally getting my Starbucks Goldcard, I wanted to splurge in Starbucks.

I bought a Chicken BLT Salad Sandwich. 

Finding it in the cold sandwiches area, I didn't expect to taste anything special. I was actually surprised of how decent this actually tasted. It was really stuffed and filling. I would actually go back to have another sandwich. It's not to kill for, but it's actually pretty good.

I also grabbed a Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino.

This flavor of frappuccino was the best flavor I've ever had (except for a custom frapp a friend made me in Vancouver). This was really sweet and extremely caramel-y! The best part was the crunchy topping.

I'm not one to get frappuccinos in Starbucks, but never have I regret the decision to buy one!

"I've always thought legal addictions are a great way to create a business. Starbucks is a wonderful example."

-Nolan Bushnell

Yesterday afternoon, my Freshman BFA Acting class went on a pot luck in Central Park.

It was beautiful yesterday! It was hot and sunny.

Funny enough, this is the first time I've really hung out in Central Park. To think that having lived here for a good school year, I'd actually hang out in the famous Central Park more often than none.

I mean, look how beautiful it was! I'm still amazed.

After walking around for a good half hour, we found a great area to set up our picnic.

We set up our blankets and enjoyed the sun.

Then came the food! Kim brought empanadas from Empanada Mama, which were absolutely delicious! She got 10 chicken empanadas, 5 pernils (which were like shredded pork), and 5 cheese. Cassidy brough chips and starburst. Randi brought fancy sparkling juices and chips & guac/hummus. Emma brought popcorn. Josh made pasta with pesto sauce. Kendall bought adorable mini cupcakes. Finally, I made homemade Oreo Truffles.

Kendall's cupcakes were really good and fun to eat. It's bite-size cuteness made it pretty to look at.

These were my homemade Oreo truffles. The recipe is a secret as of now. Maybe I'll make a post about its recipe. Yum yum!

Unfortunately, the sun came in and out. Damn clouds!

After 3.5 hours of munching and talking, this mess was born.

At the end of the day, this day was a successful gathering. This was the first time the class had gathered together and the company was perfect. I definitely look forward to more events like this!

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

-Marcel Proust

I have an addiction. It's called large popcorn with extra butter.

Before I say anything else, I wanted to try something new. This segment is called "Movie Munchies" where I not only share my movie time snack, but also my experience watching the said film.

Last night, my roommates and I went to see the midnight release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. As a honorary nerd and self-titled geek, I was more than excited to see the sequel to the first epic. I was interested to see how Jamie Foxx would pull off Electro and how Dane DeHaan would portray a different kind of Harry Osbon/Green Goblin. Without a doubt, I was extremely impressed with what I saw.

Hardcore Fanboying

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had put A LOT of things in one movie. My roommates and I agreed that there was a lot that was going on. We say this in a good way, unlike Toby Maguire's Spider-Man 3 where all hell broke loose and ruined the franchise. What I was most impressed about the movie is how close they are portraying the movie to the actual comic books. Some things, which I don't want to spoil, are so spot on.

But what is a great Summer movie without some movie munchies?

Popcorn is my spirit animal

I absolutely love popcorn. Sadly enough, this is my main movie motivator. I cannot sit in a dark theatre without a bag full of buttered popcorn. Even though this is the most expensive part about going to the movies, this is the most necessary.

Although I didn't get a picture of it, I bought a box of Buncha Crunch, which for you Canadian who don't know, is a crunch bar in little ball forms. Sort of like Nerds candy but in chocolate form. I learned from my friend, Kim, that the best way to have it is when you put it in your popcorn and mix the sweet and salty flavors together. It's simply delicious!

Overall, Spider-Man 2 is a must see. If you're a nerd of any kind, or if you just love a romantic action film that will emotionally touch you and have you on the edge of your seat at the same time, then this is the movie for you!

Well, that wraps movie munchies for today! If you guys have any films to recommend to me whether it's in theaters or just Netflix, leave a comment and let me know!

"The best reason to go to the movies is to be with other people. Eating the popcorn, being with other people you don't know."

-Peter Weller

I had intense craving for quiche today. I don't know why, but I just had to get one. With a little help from Yelp, I found the closest places to get quiche.

After watching Marymount Manhattan's production of Beaux Stratagem with my friend, Kim, we went to Le Pain Quotidien. 

1270 1st Ave, New York, NY, 10065

I honestly didn't expect this place to look as good as it did. I was just expecting a little French café.

This place was really vegan and organic friendly (which seems to be my trend for this week). It wasn't just a sit down restaurant, but a bakery and a shop for gluten-free and vegan foods.

Look at those tarts! They're adorable!

The atmosphere was really nice and comfortable. Everything had a wooden feel to it and was just very home-y. 

Coffee - $3.95

Even Kim's coffee was served in a fancy tea set.

Mint Lemonade - $3.95

I ordered a Mint Lemonade. This was really good! It was refreshing and perfect for the warm weather. This is really sour though compared the the other lemonades I've had. The mint had a great after taste that complimented the sour flavor of the lemonade.

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche - $12.95

Finally, I satisfied my craving. I ordered the Spinach and Mushroom Quiche. It was a little hard and crunchy on the outside, which is unusual for me, but the inside was incredibly cheesy and delicious! The cheese was gooey and the inside of the quiche was really well seasoned.

Kale Caesar Salad - $12.95

From Kim's end of the table, she ordered the Kale Caesar Salad. It had kale, bread (that wasn't croutons, but something more chewy), bold parmesan cheese, and light caesar. I don't really know what it tasted like, but Kim said it was really good.

We seriously looked like hipster vegans.

They also really had interesting Belgian spreads. I tried the White Chocolate Belgian Spread and it was sooooooo good! Imagine Nutella, but in white chocolate. It tasted like heaven.

Mini Chocolate Tarts - $1.75/ea

Finally, I couldn't leave this place without Mini Chocolate Tarts. These little dark chocolate treats was a sweet way to end this yummy meal.

Overall, this place is expensive, but delicious. Most of the food is organic and gluten-free. The main sell point for me is the place itself. This is a great place to bring a group of friends for brunch. There will definitely be something for everyone in this restaurant.

"Save the planet, buy organic"

-Nancy Phillips