Street Fairs in Astoria

Posted on August 15, 2023 by mlenoach

Summer wouldn’t be summer without a street fair happening somewhere. My family and I got to enjoy two in the past week.

Family Day at Randall’s Island Park

Posted on August 13, 2023 by mlenoach

My husband’s job had a family day at Randall’s Island Park this week. They had food, a DJ, bouncy houses, an area where anyone could ride a horse, boat rides, a rock climbing wall, and a gaming station. My daughter Maxine was all about the bouncy houses and the ice cream. We also enjoyed the boat ride, but it was quite a wait. Next year we need to do the boat ride first. Also, I want Maxine to ride one of the horses, and I want to try the rock climbing wall if they do it again.

Playing tourist in my own city

Posted on May 30, 2023 by mlenoach

In April, I had family from California visit. They explored NYC for many days, and I was able to spend some time with them and enjoy some sites I hadn’t been to before or hadn’t been to in a while.

I have been wanting to check out Little Island for a while now, so we went there first. It’s a great little park with lovely views.

From Little Island, we went straight to the High Line. I haven’t been in years! The High Line is a public park built on a freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan’s West Side. The park is from 14th Street to 34th Street and has impressive views and great artwork along the path.

The High Line goes directly into Hudson Yards. We enjoyed the mall there and some yummy food.

Overall, it was a great relaxing day, enjoying the city.

Proudest Moments of 2022

Posted on February 25, 2023 by mlenoach

I know March is approaching, but I haven’t genuinely parted ways with 2022 yet. On my quest to look back and build my goals for this year, I wanted to call out some of my proudest moments of last year.

My proudest food adventure last year was making these dumplings from scratch for Lunar New Year. What makes them even more special is that they are my redemption dumplings. I screwed up the first time but didn’t give up and made a kick-ass bunch.

My proudest date night with my husband was Sushi on Me. We had so much fun that night. The food was AMAZING, the restaurant had a cool speakeasy vibe, and we had free saki all night.

My proudest mom moment was Maxine’s first day of school. She didn’t start until December 1st because she was turning two that month, so it was a regular day for everyone else but her first. She wasn’t scared, and she went right in. I was a mess but so proud.

My proudest family moment was attending my cousin’s dance recital. My cousin Marcus (wearing the ‘Senior’ shirt) had a solo and was one of the only guys in this dance troupe. We were all so proud, yelling for him. He did a fantastic job. It was great to see him perform, but it was also great to see many of my family members.

My proudest moment with my parents was when I got them to go on a family vacation with me, and they went swimming and enjoyed themselves. My parents are not into activities, but I try to involve them in as many things as possible. It was great to see them let loose and enjoy themselves.

My proudest personal achievement last year was that I took the time to learn how to play Mah Jongg. I always wanted to play, and I was able to make it happen in the Fall.

My proudest professional moment was being asked to speak about my experience with the New York Junior League. I’ve volunteered with the organization for many years and built a lot of strong skill sets here. It was such an honor to talk to young professionals looking to join the organization.

Shawshankd Cocktail Experience

Posted on January 31, 2023 by mlenoach

Earlier this month, I celebrated my friend Adrienne’s birthday in true Adrienne style with an immersive adventure. This time we got ourselves locked up in jail for the Shawshankd cocktail experience. The show is inspired by the movie and was fun and laid back. Our group had a blast because we all embraced the role-playing aspect of the night. The strong drinks were a bonus.

Here are some pictures of the night.

Need to find my next adventure!

Taking a look back at 2022

Posted on January 1, 2023 by mlenoach

As the clock turns 12, I wanted to celebrate and look back at 2022.

I started the new year with a challenge, the January Pantry Challenge. The idea was to cook things I already had at home to save money. I ate a lot of soup and finally ate stuff in my freezer. Some of my favs were the shrimp stir fry, red beans, sausage and rice, and dumplings.

In February, I did some fun activities with my parents. We took part in a virtual chocolate tasting and a chocolate-making class.

In March, I did a bit of a staycation and enjoyed the TWA hotel at JFK. It was a lot of fun. It had a fantastic 60s vibe with great food and ambiance. One of the best features is that they remade one of the planes into a cocktail bar/lounge.

For Easter this year, I decorated eggs and did a few egg hunts with Maxine and my family. It was fun to make the eggs with mom, and even better to see Maxine’s face while she was looking for eggs.

I don’t see my friends as often as I would like these days, but it’s always a blast when we do get to see each other. In May, we had brunch at Lucky Chengs and enjoyed a fun drag show.

In June, I was a panelist for a new membership event at the New York Junior League. I have been volunteering for the league for about eight years now and I was honored to be asked to speak.

Dad turned 80 in July! I wanted to throw him a huge party, but that is not my dad’s style. We had an amazing dinner at a Greek restaurant in Astoria instead.

We rented out a beautiful house in the Poconos in August and had a kickass family trip. The place was amazing; it had an indoor pool, a game room, and a movie theater. We also did some hiking and saw some beautiful waterfalls, and did some canoeing as well.

September was all about soaking up the last bit of beautiful weather and enjoying the parks and water sprinklers.

I turned 41 this year and spent my birthday with my family in Atlantic City. We stayed at Caesar’s Palace. I haven’t been to AC in years! I gambled with my parents, and Andrew won big at the roulette table. I ate excellent food and enjoyed the beach, as the weather was nice. Andrew and I even got to have a little date night on my birthday and explored AC at night.

I kicked off the holiday season by attending the New York Junior League’s Golden Tree event. It’s a holiday market where a percentage of the proceeds go to the league. The event also had a great auction where you could bid on various items, including holiday wreaths. I participated in the auction for the first time and won these two beauties.

Maxine turned two in December! Last year, we kept it simple and celebrated at a buffet so this year, I wanted to go all out. I rented a small venue and we had a bouncy house, face painter and balloon artist. Of course it had to be CoComelon themed.

2022, thanks for the memories!

Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2022 by mlenoach

Sushi on Me – Anniversary Dinner

Posted on July 13, 2022 by mlenoach

Last month, Andrew and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary at Sushi on Me. It’s a small place in Jackson Heights, Queens, with a cool speakeasy vibe. We enjoyed a 15-course omakase dinner with unlimited sake 😁.

When you arrive, they have you sit down at a table while they finish setting up, and then they move you over to the sushi bar. The bar only fits nine people, and they have four dine-in time slots (5 pm, 6:30 pm, 8 pm, and 9:30 pm).

We didn’t capture it all, but here are some pics of the food.

Overall, we had a fantastic experience. The staff and chefs were incredible, and all the sushi was fresh. The main highlight for me was watching them make the sushi right in front of me. Check it out if you can!!!

A Place At The Table- Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month

Posted on May 29, 2022 by mlenoach

As I mentioned in my last post, I was brainstorming ways to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I came across an Instagram post about “A Place at the Table.” Which is a curated box filled with treats from experienced home bakers and professional chefs honoring their Asian heritage. Of course, I had to support it!

As an additional bonus, a portion of the sales is donated to Heart of Dinner, a nonprofit combating food insecurity and isolation within NYC’s elderly Asian American community.

Check out the beautiful packaging.

Check out the desserts.

Of course my favorite was the Filipino focused one, which was a Mango, Coconut and Sago piece (I may or may not be biased 😉).

Here are the home bakers and chefs who participated (from top to bottom and left to right): Ying Ting Hu, Guadalupe Lucero, Andrew Cheng, Kimberly Camara, Ruth Li, Shirley Yu, Christine Yen, Joy Chu, Ayaka Ando, and Kelly Miao.

Glad I was able to participate in and support this initiative. The box was a bit pricey ($75, $82 with tax), but it was well worth it! I would love to see more collaborations like this in the future.

Trying out Hug Esan in Elmhurst Queens

Posted on May 14, 2022 by mlenoach

Two weeks ago, I attended my first ‘Eat Something New in Queens’ meet-up at Hug Esan, a Thai restaurant in Elmhurst.

I had such a great time. It was a date night/food adventure/reunion kind of night. An old friend from high school, small world, planned the event, and Andrew and I got to venture out, try new things, and meet new people.

Everything was amazing! Here is what we ate.