electronic family

Our group of six friends flew over 20,000 miles collectively to attend Electronic Family music festival, an EDM (electronic dance music) festival focused on the genre of trance. For all the effort put into getting here, the festival did not disappoint. The DJs were great, the crowd was gracious and respectful, and the weather was perfect. All in all it was a pretty good day. One thing I would like to point out, which my friends and I found immensely amusing, beer was cheaper than water at the festival. Cheers to that! 

amsterdam

So the whole reason for this eurotrip was for a music festival in Amsterdam. Friends from Los Angeles, Washington DC, and New York were flying into Amsterdam to meet our friend, Lydia, who was flying in from Belfast.

After arriving in Amsterdam, first things first, Belgium fries. I know... we are in the Netherlands, but this is the closest I'm getting so I was on the prowl for some deep fried pomme de terre goodness. Luckily for me, I always do some research beforehand and I went straight to Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx. Tuck away in the narrow streets of Amsterdam, around the corner from some touristy shopping, was a little window front shop that sold fries with a variety of sauces. That's it. You know these people mean business when fries are the only thing on the menu. They have a strong list of sauces to choose from, my friend and I split a large fries and we chose to mayo, curry, and samurai sauce which had subtle wasabi flavor topped with dices onions.

A pictures is worth a thousand words and needless to say we were very pleased. Especially after 11 hours of traveling. However, this was just to hold us over until the main event.

Since the members of our group were all flying into Amsterdam from different locations, we decided that dinner was the best time to meet. We had 9:30pm reservations at Kantjil en de Tijger. Evidently, Indonesian-Dutch food is a big thing in Amsterdam - mainly a special menu called rijsttafels. Rijsttafels translated means rice plate, it consists of a tasting of many entrees so that a person can sample a little bit of everything off the menu. Stop right there. You had me at 'everything.'

Let's just say everyone left the restaurant full and satisfied. We were all reasonable moderate eaters who did not stuff our faces until we felt like we were going to split. Let's say that though it may or may not be true. Thank you Amsterdam.

eurotrip 2014

I've traveled to Europe several times before and thought that this year would be the year I would head to either South America or Africa. However, my best childhood friend decided to do spend a summer of her law school career in Ireland. This would be her first time across the pond and I told myself I needed to be a part of this experience. So behold, another trip across the Atlantic. Since a group of our friends decided to meet and many of us had been to Ireland before we decided to converge at the music festival called Electronic Family in Amsterdam over the weekend of July 18th.

My thought process when it comes to vacation is, if you are going to take the time, money, and effort to get somewhere far away, always MAXIMIZE. which is how I decided on the following itinerary.

For anyone who isn't a whiz at geography, the cities goes as listed: New York --> Amsterdam --> Palma de Mallorca --> Ibiza --> London --> Reykjavik --> New York all in 11 days.

craving ramen

Sometimes a craving just hits you like a big yellow school bus. A couple weeks ago, ramen was my big yellow school bus. I couldn't get it out of my head and I knew the only cure was to find a big steaming bowl of Japan's famous soupy noodle delight. I rounded up a couple of my friends and we headed to Totto Ramen in Hell's Kitchen. The line is usually murder but luckily they opened their second location on 51st Street, an avenue away from their original location which is slightly bigger and not as crowded.

With my 5 friends, we were able to grab a table that comfortably fitted 6 people (and probably could've fit 8) and placed our orders. The waitress seemed attentive and carefully wrote down everyone's order and it was a great start to the meal. Unfortunately that is where things ended. Our waitress disappeared and other servers stepped in to wait our tables. All the orders came out incorrectly and there was a lot of miscommunication. My order of extra spicy miso ramen came out as a regular ramen, spicy sauce and miso were no where to be found. I asked the waitress about the mistake and she brought out side dishes of both the miso and the spicy sauce. However, the extra toppings that come with the miso ramen were also missing. I had to reach out to the staff again regarding the mistake. Eventually all the mistakes were remedied but as our first visit, it definitely left a bad impression which I'm sure contributed to my dissatisfaction with the meal on a whole.

As many New Yorkers know, Totto Ramen is one of the top ramen shops in NYC and after that substandard experience, I was unwilling to let that be my final impression of the restaurant. Four days later, I decided to go again. This time I ordered the extra spicy regular totto ramen (no miso). I found the miso a bit much, thickening my broth into a gloopy mess. I went old school original this time around. The service was on point and the original is the way to go (spicy is a no-brainer for me, the spicier the better - you'll see as this blog progresses). 

I also ordered the tuna avocado appetizer to start. The best part of that dish was definitely the yuzu dressing. The yuzu was mixed with fresh wasabi and just tart enough to balance out the rich creaminess of the avocado. Not the best tuna appetizer but definitely worth a try.

Thank goodness I gave Totto Ramen a second chance because it really is a nice bowl of ramen. Their broth is thick and complex and their noodles are the perfect kind of chewy. I can see why it is one of the best ramen joints in New York City. Unfortunate the first time didn't go smoothly but until I find myself in Japan, it's good to know I have a viable option near home.

greetings

Hello cyberspace. My name is Tiffany and welcome to my blog. I have the good fortune to work in an industry that so closely matches to my personal interests. Those interests are food, wine, spirits, travel, adventure, culture, and beyond. My take is that we all have a limited time to experience the bounty provided by this tiny dot in the sky. With so many wonderful things behind me, I'm sad I didn't start this sooner. But no matter, here we go. Moving forward! The chronicles of my adventures - geographically, gastronomically and everywhere in between.