Category Archives: Plateful

blogs dealing with food of course!

Tea Service at Cha-An

Posted in My New York, Plateful by

I went with my bookish friend, A, to Cha-An last week for dinner. They are located on the second floor and as of last week they only take cash.

They are rather small, and have a tea room in which they do 30 minutes Japanese Tea Ceremonies. Inside it’s very nice; the decor is very earthy and peaceful.

I decided to do the Afternoon Tea Set ($18) which came with two bagel sandwiches, scones with preserves and cream, an assortment of sweets and tea of your choice. The bagels were on the small side but were soft and yummy. I loved the salmon that came with the sandwich. I chose the genmaicha tea, which had a very earthy taste due to the rice that sits soaking in the tea. I loved it! I forgot the tea that A had, but I remembered that it was a fruity one and she liked it as well.

The bagels came in a little basket, but I was too hungry to remember to take a photo of it. I did remember to take a photo of the dessert though. It came with a green tea macaroon which was yummy. The scones were crunchy on the outside — due to some sugar-like crystals — but was soft on the inside.

The mochi dessert was A’s choice; all three were chocolate mochi and it was delicious!

The portions were small but filling, which was good. Usually tea services are so large that it’s difficult to finish it all; however, I was able to finish everything without issue. I’d definitely go here again; their lunch menu looks delicious.

Brunch at Alice’s Tea Cup

Posted in My New York, Plateful by

I’ve been a patron to all three Chapters of Alice’s Tea Cup and every time I go I usually get the tea service, as there are usually people in my party who have never had tea or been to Alice’s. So when my friends and I decided to go to Alice’s for brunch, I was excited. Ecstatic. Practically giddy with excitement, and I must say, Alice’s did not disappoint.

The brunch menu had a lot of choices, including the regular tea service; however, while I did want tea, I wanted something more breakfast-like and so I decided to go with French Toast. The toast was infused with apricot brandy and it also had fruit coulis, vanilla creme anglaise and a few berries alongside.

I have to say, this was the best french toast I’ve ever had! I want to go back just to have the french toast! It was amazing. Fabulous. Fantastic. Magnificent and such.

 

My companions had some egg dishes which they enjoyed. I heard the potatoes were delicious! As usual, Alice’s did not disappoint.

Stuff I’m Liking

Posted in Bookish, Fashionista, Gadgets, Plateful, Thoughts by

As Blog Every Day in April comes to an end – I can’t believe I actually did it – I wanted to wrap things up with a post about the things I’ve found myself liking during the month of April.

Stuff I’m Liking — BEDA Edition

Steampunk Jewelry. In particular, my new Golden Snitch with working clock necklace. I don’t know what it is about this sort of jewelry that appeals to me. Perhaps it’s because it looks delicate, while still being tough. Perhaps it’s that antique vibe that it gives off. I don’t know, I just like them.

I’ve also found out that one of my favourite jewelry makers has opened a new website with jewelry based on Holly Black’s Curse Breakers trilogy! I loved Vivian Hebel‘s Mortal Instruments shop, now I’m loving her Curse Breakers shop. I’m especially liking her White Cat pendant, I might be getting it in the near future. Though the Curse Breakers shop isn’t steampunk, I’m still loving her designs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that I have a new phone and that I LOVE IT! My HTC Thunderbolt is by far my favourite gadget this month! I have been finding new ways to make it work for me, from reading books to counting calories, this phone almost does it all.

I love the camera, it takes some really great shots! I also love the different Google apps that integrate seamlessly with the phone. If you’ve been living at the top of a mountain all alone, you might not know that I do almost everything with Google, so having a phone like this is a major advantage for me. My new favourite Google app? Why, that would have to be the Google Goggles. It’s a lot of fun to play with, I can’t wait to use it some more!

Twice. That’s the number of times I’ve been to Alice’s Tea Cup. Thrice. That’s the number of times I’ve had tea this month. Scones, tea, sandwiches and sweets. Those are a few of my favourite things all rolled up into the Tea Time Meal, how could I not like it!? I even got myself a bag of loose leaf so that I could make my own tea at home and yes, I do own one of those tea balls

Some great things happened at my book review blog this month. First I decided to do a Maureen Johnson themed week, since I follow her obsessively on twitter, and I was looking forward to the release of her Last Little Blue Envelope book. Also, she’s the creator of BEDA, so, I suppose that pretty much means that I think she’s cool.

Themed week was a great success! First, I was able to see Maureen’s craziness in person when I attended the Zombies vs. Unicorns debate and so I posted that video to the blog and Maureen retweeted it! Also, I created a map showing all the places Ginny went during 13 Little Blue Envelopes which she loved and retweeted as well. So with the help of Maureen, my little book blog had 1,035 unique visitors during that week! That might not seem like a lot to all the popular bloggers out there, but to an obscure blog that’s just a pet project for a year, it’s golden.

As a person not quite into fashion, I still found this site to be so much fun that once I stumbled on to it I signed up!

Polyvore allows you to create layouts with different fashion styles as though you were doing a magazine spreads. It’s really fun just to play around in and think of different outfits and pieces that go together. You can even try to search for things you’ve recently purchased and find accessories for them. Definitely a time waster for me, but a fun one nonetheless.

Did you watch the Royal Wedding? Were you up at 4a.m. to do so? Well, hats off to you, I preferred to sleep in a bit and look at pictures/video clips later. It was a cute wedding, but for some reason, even though it was a public affair, I didn’t feel fascinated by it. They don’t care about me, just the revenue I give to them by supporting the wedding. It wasn’t amazing in any way, just a normal ceremony and service steeped in tradition. I suppose my mind wasn’t blown by anything that went on there, and I think the biggest reason for that was that it wasn’t a wedding for someone I know and love. People get married every day, so what’s the big deal here?

There is one aspect of the Royal Wedding that I did find interesting and that was the parade of hats! I’ve always loved hats. I wish they were back in style, I’d wear them everyday! But in lieu of hats, I love the fascinator! The one pictured there is from Dillards.com. I hope this is one style that begins to trend again.

So it’s been a long month, I’ve posted a total of 38 posts, at least one post every day so I deem this a success. I have successfully completed BEDA.

There were days where I struggled to figure out what write about and would browse my RSS feed for some inspiration. There were days where I had so much that I wanted to write but not enough time to do so. I doubt I’ll be able to keep this every day momentum up. However, it’s been fun. April has been better for it. So much so that I finally got the domain shanella.com! Woot!

Fare thee well and have a lovely May.

A Quick Ramen Fix

Posted in Plateful by

I like ramen. Even though it’s not something that I can make quickly and easily, I try to make the packet ones if I need a fix. The thing is, those never come close to the “real stuff”. However, I happened upon these three old polaroid photos, in an ancient looking (and smelling) cookbook, that spell out how to make a pretty nice tasting ramen that’s also super cheap. Aren’t you lucky? I’m sharing them with you!

Ok, I didn’t really find polaroids in an old book, I was just playing around with the FxCamera filters on my phone. I admit, it’s fun taking photos this way, I might be over doing it soon enough.

Back to the topic at hand though, adding an egg – and making sure you break it up before it coagulates – really adds another dimension to plain package ramen, and I’m a little hooked on it! Especially since I can’t get the REAL deal.

Alice’s Tea Cup: Chapter II

Posted in My New York, Plateful, Thoughts by

‘Take some more tea,’ the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
‘I’ve had nothing yet,’ Alice replied in an offended tone, ‘so I can’t take more.’
‘You mean you can’t take LESS,’ said the Hatter: ‘it’s very easy to take MORE than nothing.’

Do you love tea? Do you love whimsical? Are you a fan of Lewis Carroll? If you answered YES to any of those questions then Alice’s Tea Cup is for you!

I love their scones – buttermilk, ham & cheese … yum …

I love their teas – this time I had the Ginger Orange Peach … yum …

I love their almost famous mocha cake!

I love that some of the tables have antique sewing machine foot pedals as their base.

I love the butterfly wings on the walls.

Most importantly, I love going there with friends.

Have you ever been to Alice’s to discuss books? Give it a try, you might end up at a bookstore afterwards, purchasing $50 worth of books!