Cancun

We met up with my friend for dinner. Haven't seen her since secondary school days. The criteria for our dinner was that it had to accommodate 3 babies (well, a 4 year old, a 1.5 year old and a 7 month old) plus 4 adults, of which one is a vegetarian. So I began my search on yelp for Mexican / Southwestern food around midtown west. Here's where we landed up...

Cancun

937 Eighth Ave (between 55th & 56th)

We were ushered to the back of the restaurant into a partial booth location so Nimisha's (my friend) two girls could sit in the booth. I brought Long Shane's portable baby chair so I just strapped him to one of those adult chairs. But yes this restaurant does have a baby chair available for their customers.

While waiting for Zhicheng to arrive, we started off with some Guacamole, Salsa and chips. The salsa was terrible and watery, but the guacamole was one of the best I've tried. 

So I ordered a Chicken Mole for my mains. This dish is really nice. The sauce on the chicken was something different and I haven't tried this version of sauce in any Mexican restaurant. 

Chicken Mole

Zhicheng ordered a Chirizo casserole. This dish was a hit too. Our friend ordered the vegetarian casserole and he said it was really good too.

Chorizo Casserole

Overall, I like the food in the restaurant. But what we had pretty bad service. They forgot to bring Z's water until the end of the meal and we were ignored a fair bit.

Here's what I would rate this place...

Food : 4.5/5

Price : 4/5

Service: 1.5/5

And there was a mandatory 18% gratuity. For this crap service, I would have tipped a max of 10%.

Would I return? 

No. There are other Mexican restaurants that serves food as good with better dining experience.

Ellen Stardust

Ellen Stardust diner is just closeby to where we live. The queue at that diner is always so long. So it was one place we said we had to visit whilst we were in NYC. So this weekend, we took baby to the diner.

With Mr Frowns...

So what makes this diner so special? It's one of the most entertaining diners I've stepped into. The waiting staff sing!! Yes.. Sing... not croak! And they sing songs of all types... from Abba, to Disney songs, to oldies, to pop music. We sat there for quite a while just listening to them sing (and some dance too).

Singing Staff

As for the food... we had Samy's Pork Chops and Mac & Cheese. Both dishes were very nicely prepared. The pork chop sides were really yum... gnocchi and vegetables. I'm not a fan of gnocchi, but this one was prepared so well to complement the pork chop. Mac & Cheese.... well, it's hard to go wrong with M&C. I wouldn't say it's the best (well, they all taste the same to me).... but the texture is very nice. Not too cheesy and not too watery. 

But be warned... cost of food is a little higher than most diners.... Average dish price is approximately $16-18. I guess the price factored in the entertainment too!

Food 4/5

Price 4/5

Atmosphere & Entertainment 5/5

Would I return? Definitely!

Halal Guys

Hogg

Everyone raves about the halal guys... so i had to try this to see whether they live up to the hype. Since the queue today was not as long as it usually is... I decided to join in the queue. (They are usually on 53rd and 6th Ave) I still waited for a good 20 mins though!

I typically order the lamb over rice. And just so I'm comparing apples to apples, I ordered the lamb over rice too.

 

The verdict.... the portions was really huge. The lamb was cooked to perfection... not burnt like some of the other lamb over rice I've had in the past. Also, the chilli sauce they had was a little different from the other stores. This one was spicy hot and very very nice.

Would I queue so long for this? Well... not really. If it were a 5 mins wait... maybe. But definitely will not queue past 10 mins. There are other stores that does their lamb over rice equally well (with exception of the extra spicy chilli sauce).

 $6 Lamb over Rice from the Halal Guys

NYC: Sony Wonder Technology Lab

Since the weather was fairly nice today, we walked out and stumbled upon the Sony Wonder Technology Lab. I was at Starbucks getting a cuppa coffee and this lady told me I should take Shane to the Sony Lab which was just around the corner. So this Lab is on Madison Avenue, between 55th and 56th Street.

So wa la! Here we are!

We first had to take a ticket (which was free, but yes still have to get a ticket) which stated what time you could enter. I guess it's designed this way so the center doesn't get over crowded since it's the school holidays season and there are loads of summer camp kids. We had to wait about 45 minutes before we could enter as there were 2 groups of school camp kids before us. Anyhow, I had my starbucks coffee, while I fed Shane has lunch dessert.

Alas... 3:30pm! We entered the Sony Tech Lab and I must say it's pretty scientific and cool!! Spent a whole long 1.5 hour there. So many cool stuff... and very educational. Of course I learnt a lot more than Shane did, but I guess there's no harm exposing him to early learning. Hopefully he's absorbing something...

As we walked in... we first had to go to the log in station. Using an access card that was given to us, we could enter our name and create our digital profile so that whenever we scanned at another location, we were 'remembered'. Our first stop was the Internet Map where they showed all the internet traffic and connection paths to the rest of the world. Then we saw how electronic devices like phones and cameras work. There was also a section on how information can be scanned, captured and transmitted from point A to B.

Walking down the ramp (yes they are super baby friendly), there was a display on communication technology.

Nanotechnology was also part of the stations where the computer demonstrates an equivalence of a tiny matter.

There was this display on Virtual Surgery which was super interesting. It has this control stick that lets you try to practice "open heart surgery" using the haptic technology. Super cool. (ya I'm like a kid too).

The stick where we could try our hand at haptic technology

Next was this Robotic display that showed how robots work and you could also program the robot to interact with other robots based on different types of sensors.

Check out those robots!!

The Animation section had quite a few displays, as well as animations and how they are created...The studio station allows you to create your own animation and runs you through your new creation.

There were a few dance motion video capture (like those in the dance dance revolution arcade game) sections that I quickly skipped through because I just can't do them with a baby strapped to me. We also skipped the production studio (where you could read the "news" and it shows how they are produced on TV) as well as the High Definition Theatre, We also had to give the music mixer a miss because we just missed the timing, and Shane was getting a little edgy by then. We will however be back again to check that out! Next time, we'll take the Papa along with us so we can do more stuff.

Our final stop was a movie maker... This was the movie trailer we put together.... Shane selected some of those (but I'm sure he randomly picked them).

The last stop before we left... there were a few consoles of the new PS4. Well, it's not my thing, and I guess the baby hasn't figured out what PS4 is... so we just skipped that whole section!

And we stopped for a free blue moon on the way out... 

We will most certainly head back one of these days to complete our tour of the missing sections. This place is brilliant.

Old Traditional Polish Cuisine Food Truck

Today I had absolutely no intention in buying lunch off a food truck. But I walked past this one on the way back from Wholefoods, and the menu looked quite interesting. So I stopped by (at 55th & Broadway) and ordered some food from the Old Traditional Polish Cuisine Foodtruck. They are usually at different locations throughout the day, so it's best to check their website for where they are (polishtrucknyc.com).

The menu is not extensive (which is what I like, so I can make my mind up in a minute). There's just about 6 items.

I had the Lite Combo which consisted of a grilled kielbasy (the sausage), 4 potato/cheese pierogi (the ravioli looking thing), a pickle and a bread. I must say I really like the potato pierogi. Didn't taste like potato, but whatever it was, it was really really yummy. The sausage was a tad salty, but goes very well with the bread together with some mustard on the side, and sauce (which I think is oil) on the base of the box that tasted fairly yummy too. I give this dish a 4/5 just because the pierogi was 5stars. However for $10... I think it's a tad too expensive. I would pay about $8-9 for it. A double digit pricing just doesn't feel right for food off a food truck. Would I go back for it? Probably only if I had a huge cravings for the pierogi.

Other stuff on the menu:

Summer Swimming Class

The first thing we did when we moved into NYC for the summer was to sign Shane up for swimming classes. Since weekend classes were already full, the only class left was either Monday or Thursday mornings. So mommy has got to take Shane for a swim all by herself.

It's tough managing a baby all by yourself at the pool especially when you've got to get him changed, change yourself, hop into the pool, then shower him after, and shower yourself after, and get both of us changed and walk back home. Well... I guess after a couple of sessions, I figured the best way of doing things. Today was our 4th class.

So we had one make up class cos the teacher didn't show up one on the second week due to a miscommunication over the Fourth of July weekend. Long story. Anyhow, that week, Shane was sick, so we were prepared to skip one session as well. So because of that screw up, we scored a weekend make up class (though with a different teacher). Since it was the weekend class, Zhi Cheng (the papa) did join us and we finally have videos and photos of what we do at class. 

Note: I felt that this class is not very representative of what we normally do because it's a different instructor. She plays and sings a lot more than our usual Thursday instructor. We do more swimming with the other teacher, but well... it's good enough!

Group Hello

Baby Shane and his favourite Duckie

Here are some videos of our singing and playing in the pool....

Weekend Eatings : week 4

As usual, most weekends are spent eating out. This week we tried out two places: Cabana Restaurant & Mason Jar.

Cabana
1022 3rd Ave, NY

This is a place we found on yelp while we were walking on the east side. We planned to have brunch at Radicchio but they were shut due to a power outage. Anyhow, Cabana had great reviews on yelp, so we headed there for some Cuban food. 

We came in with a stroller and someone ushered us to a corner booth seating (for 4) where we could fit our stroller. They quickly brought out the baby chair for Shane. Later, another guy came up to is and said in a not very nice tone that he will need to take part of the table for 2 away as there were going to be other customers... Umm like the restaurant was not full, had plenty of seating, and it's already 1pm. Was he expecting a tour group? If so, then I'm at the wrong place. Anyhow, my experience was ruined. The food was average (so average that I am not bothering to post pictures of them). I would say 3/5 for the pulled pork sandwich, and 3.5/5 for some meat pastry, rice and beans. Needless to say, we did not tip very much as the overall experience was average.

Mason Jar
43 East 30th St, NY
We came across this restaurant purely because there was a deal on restaurant.com and it was also part of Z's corporate perks. $15 voucher for $2.40. Not a bad deal right? It was only about a mile walk from where we live, so that was pretty convenient. Now, before I purchase vouchers, I normally look up if the restaurant is baby friendly. If I can't find any information on that, I normally would look at pictures of the restaurant to determine if there was space for a stroller or a baby chair. So yup! This place is definitely baby friendly. It's got plenty of room for parking a stroller, and they do have baby chairs.

So I had a Fried Chicken and Waffles and Z had the Mason Jar Eggs (which was like Eggs Benedict with Pulled Pork). I've tried a few places that serves fried chicken and waffles... this one was not bad, but it's not the best that I've had. The batter was too mild for the over powering maple syrup. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this dish... I'm not sure why this trend has not yet caught on in Singapore... It should! So yummy! I give it 4/5... for this $12 dish.

Z's pulled pork eggs was yummy too... BUT!!! the pork was not piping hot, and would be nicer if it were... Eggs were nicely poached, and potatoes perfectly roasted. I would say 4/5.... (would have scored higher if the pulled pork was piping hot). Dish also part of the $12 brunch menu.

We also had a side of tater tots with cheese and bacon... Totally not worth the $9.



Z was carrying the sleeping baby before we walked into the restaurant, and he continued to sleep even after the food arrived. So we had to eat over him... and this was how it was done.

Weekend @ the American Museum of Natural History

We made a trek up to 81st street to the American natural history museum.

We were quite excited as we had just seen the Night at the Museum show.

Entry into the building was a pain with little or no signs that directed people with wheel... Anyhow, we found the entry at the back of the museum. No queue! And with courtesy of the corporate membership (ie free entry), we saved ourselves a few bucks.

Best exhibits was the Planetary Earth and the Human Origins. We spent quite a fair bit of time in that area just  reading up and watching all the video.

Snapped a few shots around the museum, and there the dinosaur (from the movie) was right in the middle of the museum.

All Shane wanted to do was to eat the dolphin

Just like George the Giant Tortise

PS: For babies, it's not super friendly. General toilets do not have changing station. We managed to find a family changing room. But there's only like one in the whole museum, with a really long queue. This was located on level 1, near human origins.

Manhattanhenge

Today, the sun will align almost perfectly with Manhattan's street grid as it sets in the west. New Yorkers call that the Manhattanhenge. 

We managed to take a photo of it at 72nd st while walking to Central Park for the philharmonic concert at the great lawn... But the iPhone camera is not great for capturing images of the sun.

He fell down & Puked!

First time for everything... including baby falling down the bed!

While I was home alone with little Shane, I left him on the bed surrounded by a wall of pillow as I had to use the bathroom. Just a short while later, i heard a loud thud. He had fallen through the little hole between the bed and the wall. The hole was not big enough for him to fall forward, so I guess he had rolled up the pillow and fell sideways into the hole. Even picking him up from that little hole was tough, so I can imagine how my poor boy felt falling off...

Later in the evening, he bit off a bit too much broccoli and vomited out all the food and milk he just ate. We were at Central Park when that happened. One moment he was happily chomping, the next moment, I turned around and there was vomit all over the stroller! Sian, so tough to wash!!

What a bad day today.

Still a happy baby at the end of the day though!

Gorilla Cheese

I really like eating food from the food trucks. So we saw this one on bizzare foods. Since they're always on the move, and they were at 46th & 6th Av, that was today's lunch!!

We ordered the  Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & the Pulled Pork Sandwich. $8 each, and a $3 tot. I give the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich a 7/10 and the Pulled Pork Sandwich a 9/10. The sandwich is very flavoursome... but who wouldn't love a grilled cheese & meat sandwich? I reckon I could do the exact same sandwich at home with an oven toaster and loads of oil/butter on the bread.

For pricing, and the size of the sandwich, I'd say 5/10. Too small size for such a huge cost. The $3 tots is totally not worth it. Tasted just like the frozen ones we get at the supermarket. I'm sure it's fresh potatoes.

The other tooth is out!

Shane's first two teeth both popped out on 1 May, and now 10 July, the third teeth has surfaced!! hoorah...

Another NYC Weekend (5-6 July)

This weekend that just past felt so very long... Last week was a short work week for Z and he came home fairly early on most days (yes 7-3:30pm is early). That gave him some time playing with Shane and helping out in bath time before baby went to sleep at about 8:30/9pm. Plus there was the fourth of July holiday, and another 2 days of holiday. Awesome.

We started both days almost at lunch time... The sleep in was just so refreshing.

Chelsea Grill

675 9th Ave, NY
Saturday, we had a long 2.5 hour brunch with the baby.... We bought a $29 deal voucher from pulsd.com for a brunch for 2. This included free flow of alcohol for Z, and i had my free flow of juices with a few sips of his mimosa. Food was not too bad... pretty big portions which kept us full till the next day. However we didn't feel that this was worth the money at all as burgers on the menu cost $6.50, and a main cost about $12. Anything above $13 for a main was to be charged over the $29 value.

The venue is not baby friendly at all. We were fortunate to have arrived just as they opened (at 11:30am). So we got the front table where we parked our stroller. Otherwise it was almost impossible to park a stroller, and they did not have baby chairs.

I had the Big Breakfast that had pancakes, 3 eggs, sausages, bacon and hash, and Z had the Everything Burger (turkey) with sweet potato fries and potato hash.
The Big Breakfast was really very average... no wait, it's below average because the sausage was burnt, and to bacon too. The pancakes were very nice though... So instead of a 2/5, I will give it a 3/5 thanks to the pancake. The burger meat (we selected the turkey option) was not all that nice. There are other really nice turkey burgers in NYC. The really nice bit was the potato hash and the sweet potato fries that we added as sides.

After the long brunch, we headed home to sleep (yes baby Shane needed to take his afternoon nap) and headed out to Central Park in the early evening.

Sunday was pretty much the same! Bliss.

Tantrums

Oh dear, little Shane has started developing tantrums. At 7 months, he would start throwing a fit (yes, the hands and legs go up in the air) if I took a toy away when he's not done playing with it. That includes shredded tissue and empty bottles. It's something that recently started because just 2 weeks ago, I would stop him from playing with some toys, and he would be perfectly fine with it.

So I was reading a few websites on how to deal with this issue... So the best one that so far worked for us so far was to prompt him that I was going to take it away (and not just yanking it away), and quickly distract him with something else like play peek-a-boo or blow bubbles at his tummy (ya he really loves that). Hopefully this method can last us till he grows up.

Baby's personality is shaping!

Happy 4th of July

Our first 4th of July in the USA... and we were greeted with rain rain and more rain. Partly due to the effects of Hurricane Arthur making its way up the Northeast coast. Nevertheless, we packed baby Shane up into the carrier and headed out to Coney Island for some Fourth of July fun.

Of course we had to stop for Nathan's famous Hot Dogs on Coney Island

The rain got heavier and heavier while we were walking on the boardwalk, so we called it a day after checking out Luna park. I'm sure we will return with baby Shane when he's old enough to play on those rides. It was a good decision too cos baby could take his nap before hearing out for dinner again... A long 2.5 hour nap which was really refreshing for him (and us too)!

Evening was spent at Times Square and K town where we had really good Korean food... Yum...

Review for Nathan's Famous
We had to have the Nathan's Famous hot dog just because it was from Coney Island, and because it's supposedly the best hotdog in NYC. Sadly, I found it a little disappointing. It was very average. For the price ($3.29+tax) of a chilli cheese dog, I got a bun and sausage that was fairly salty did not taste of any chilli at all. All their sausages are beef, so Z ended up getting a sandwich instead. That tasted a little better. However, they have an orange-ade that tasted quite nice. Unusual drink, and very refreshing. All in all, I give the whole joint a 2.5/5. Nothing impressive at all. Felt like it was a waste of money trying this out.

Week 1 in NYC

So we have just moved to NYC... Can't decide if I should be excited or not. I have always wanted to see what it was like living in NYC, but never imagined what it would have been like living in this super packed city with a baby.

What have we done in our first week? Well...

1. Central Park
The weather was perfect for an afternoon stroll to Central Park with Shane for his daily lunch/tea snack. Since I didn't have a baby chair yet, it was not quite possible to feed him at home on the jumperoo (which I make do some days). However, what gets to me is the number of touts and tourist I have to fight through on the way to the park. We normally land up at the playground, but it's definitely not baby friendly... perhaps fun with a kid that can run around, definitely not baby friendly. Plus, it's pretty dirty and strewn with lots of litter.. There's no way I would sit on the grass...

2. Swimming class
Signed up for swimming classes with Shane. The little boy cried almost through the whole class. Shane was pretty much fine for the first bit before all the other kids came. When he saw other babies, he started screaming, and nothing would soothe him until I took him away. Hmmm.. is this some form of stranger anxiety?

3. Walk about NYC
Since I couldn't be out for more than a few hours (because I haven't figured how to use the bath room with him in a carrier or a stroller big enough to fit into the tiny toilet, I cannot go too far and too long from home if I'm alone. So we made it about +/- 20 blocks from where we live.

4. Stay home and play
I would say we did quite a fair bit at home. For starters, I think Shane has grown quite a fair bit (developmentally). It was only this week he started rolling from one end of the bed to the other and back. It was like he knew where the bed ended and stopped and went the other direction. Also, he started having so much fun in his jumperoo. Previously, he would just jump in it, this time he started to really talk to the monkey, elephant and parrot on the jumperoo.... Each day, we also had a bit of a reading time, and sing along.

 

Mummy finally bought little Shane a portable baby chair with a Thomas the train play table!

Time for funny faces too...

 

Reading Time