Anchalee Pagsanjan: lifestyle

9/01/2016

Finding the Best $1 Dumplings in NYC

7/28/2016

Poke 'n Beach

After a long week of being in San Jose and working on GLAM, I was finally back home for Father's Day weekend. My boyfriend, Jonathan, came down to visit for two days. Here's what we did:

After watching Now You See Me 2 and shopping, we decided to experiment a little and make poke bowls! Poke is a Hawaiian dish composed of rise, spices, soy sauce, sesame seeds, seaweed, and raw fish. This dish has become extremely popular in the mainland - starting in California and making its way over to the east coast. Poke is very easy to make and super customizable.

If you never had sushi or raw fish before, you might want to take it easy. Start with one little piece of raw salmon or tuna and see how you feel from there.

As for us, we are big sushi/sashimi fans. Eating raw fish is no biggie. Our bowls consisted of salmon, tuna, sesame seeds, soy sauce, garlic, onion, and seaweed. This was my first time having and making poke. Verdict: I would totally eat this forever! It is so good and easy to make. It is also pretty refreshing. It was like I was in the tropical weather of Hawaii.

We decided to go to the beach the next day. Even though we started the day a little late, we still found a lot of things to do on the beach. The bright side is that we didn't have to pay to enter the beach! We chilled on the beach and practiced some basic acroyoga moves. Then we went mini golfing at this pirate-themed course. I realized that day that I sucked at mini golf.

For dinner, we ate at Shore Fresh Seafood. For appetizer, we ordered their fresh calamari. As for the main course, Jonathan and I usually never get the same dish because we like to taste different items on the menu. However, the Fisherman's Stew was something we both couldn't resist. He got his regular and I got mine Fra Diablo (spicy). It was absolutely amazing. When they say fresh, they mean it. Their scallops were the best I have ever tasted. Juicy, tender, cooked to perfection. I definitely recommend going to this restaurant and getting Fisherman's Stew.

As for dessert, we went to Strollo's Lighthouse. Strollo's is a famous Italian ice place at Belmar beach. We were surprised when we saw a branch at Point Pleasant. Since this is Jonathan's favorite place, we had to go. As per usual, their ices and custards were perfect.

2/09/2016

Hustling at Hustle Summit

1/18/2016

New Year's FoodVenture

By Jonathan Cato

We decided that we were going to visit the city on New Years Day and have a foodventure.

Our first stop, 2 Bros’ Pizza. For only $3, you can have two regular slices and a can of soda or water. I feel like they’re gonna end up being a part of our NYC date routine, especially with a deal like that? You can’t go wrong. While having our “one-slice” appetizer, we were thinking about what our next stop was going to be and we thought of the best idea for a cold day, Joe’s Shanghai! 

Joe’s Shanghai specializes in soup pork dumplings and that’s what you could typically catch people ordering. We sat down, and before even looking at the menu, we knew what we were there for. We meant business! “Three orders of the soup dumplings, please!”, I told the waiter and in less than 5 minutes, our dumplings arrived. I’d say that was pretty good service.

Next stop was Fried Dumpling. A small little “hole-in-the-wall” shop with barely any seating and an old Chinese woman yelling either on the phone or to someone else. I think we both expected our dumplings to be fresh out of the fryer, the type of food to burn your tongue with the first bite and to our surprise, the person taking our order proceeded to just hand us a styrofoam container that she had pulled out of some heating chamber. The crisp that we expected, wasn’t there at all. We had some pretty flimsy dumplings, but we couldn’t complain. They were only $1 though.

We went to Mei Lai Wah Bakery after, which is famous for their Roast Pork Buns. As we walked in, the first thing I noticed was a cramped front entrance filled with Tita’s and Lola’s stocking up on two or even three dozens of the roast pork bun. We ended up buying ourselves a dozen, and the rest I gave to my family. What I love about their siopao is the amount of pork they put inside and the dough they use. The pork was sweet and savory and the dough was warm and sweet. I couldn’t ask for a better bun!

On the same street, we found a small bubble tea shop, Bubbly Tea. We just shared a peach-green tea bubble tea, while we took a seat to relax. So far, I’d say we had a pretty good run. 

We went backup to K-Town. We walked back and forth, browsing for menus outside each restaurant, which were mainly in Korean and featured prices that we’re a way bit too pricey for a small dinner. W3e finally decided on this “food court” type of dining called Food Gallery 32. It was pretty lively inside and there were several vendors ranging from bubble tea, ramen, rice bowls, and sushi. I decided to get a spicy pork rice bowl, while Anch got a salmon sashimi rice bowl. I liked their pork-to-rice ratio and the fact that it came with a fried egg and free soup! I took a look at Anch’s rice bowl and I felt bad for her, like she got ripped-off. They barely gave her any salmon, but I guess that’s expected with sushi-grade fish. It’s pretty pricey! We both agreed that our food was satisfactory and I’m sure this Food Gallery 32, won’t be first on our list of places to eat if we’re hungry, but if you need a quick bite and are in the area, it’s worth a shot to try it out! 

Any who, this concludes our food-venture. I hope you guys enjoy the video. Anch worked pretty hard to edit it!

1/07/2016

Finally.

By Jonathan Cato

Seven months in the making. The road leading to the 5th of January was bumpy and had curves just like the girl who I took along the ride with me. The curves were smooth, like hers, but still gave me a feeling of exhilaration with each turn of the wheel. We never ran out of gas. We never needed it. All we had was the driving force of our love, which takes us to that day. January 5th, 2016.

It was a beautiful, sunny, but surprisingly chilly day. Surprising, only because this winter was the only winter that we had a 70 degree Christmas here in the NY/NJ area. Anyways, I got dressed and later boarded a train to New Brunswick where I’d meet my passenger, my right hand, my soon to be girlfriend. As I sat in the train, many thoughts raced in my mind. “What kind of flowers should I buy? Do I smell good? I hope my outfit isn’t too bad. I’m pretty hungry.” I sat there, worrying about all the minor details, but I never lost sight of what truly mattered. We were turning onto a new road in our relationship.

“Next stop, New Brunswick!” The train conductor said, over the loudspeaker. I was finally back at school, which felt weird, being that I was on winter break. Anchalee, my girlfriend, was still on her way to the train station, so I decided to keep warm at our local Barnes and Nobles (I purchased a copy of Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance. Great book, haven’t finished, but definitely recommend reading it) So she arrived, and we headed for my apartment because she was supposed to have a meeting at noon with her supervisor that day. Originally, I wanted to bring her to Belmar Beach and ask her there, but due to time constraints, I wasn’t allowed to. I didn’t even have time to buy her flowers but I didn’t fret!I had to think quickly and I thought of a pretty good substitution.

We dropped a couple things off at my apartment, and I quickly got dressed into a somewhat better outfit for the occasion. I wanted to keep things a surprise, so I decided that I was going to blindfold her. The drive to the spot was relatively close to Rutgers, which was great because I wanted to spend the most time with her before returning home that night. After about 10 minutes of driving, we finally arrived at Rutgers Gardens, a place I had suggested to visit as a date during the summer before our Fall semester. I parked the car and looked at the map of the Garden’s grounds and I saw what I thought was gonna be a good spot to ask her, the bamboo forest. Still blindfolded, I helped Anchalee out the car and we walked towards the forest. From outside, it seemed pretty mysterious. I could barely tell what paths they had inside.

As we entered, I realized that it was a bit lackluster. It was shady, and all I could see was a small creek that had barely frozen over from the cold. I felt pretty bad, I didn’t think this place was worthy enough for her and the occasion. After walking a couple more feet into the forest, I found an opening. There was plenty of sunlight to keep us warm and a bench where I could sit her down. I began to record on my phone what was going to be a very special moment for the two of us. I took off her blindfold and to my surprise, she actually liked it!

Now, down to business. I got on one knee...just kidding! We’re not quite there yet! Anyways, armed with a silver Casio watch that she’d been wanting for quite some time now, I asked her to be my girlfriend. I have to give credit to her big, Aleyssi, who had given me the idea to do that. It was quite “punny”, I must say. “Finally, after seven months...it’s about TIME! (I brought out the watch when I said this) that I ask you to be my girlfriend.” It was great, she said yes, and I’ve never seen her crack a smile bigger than at that moment. She was mine, finally mine.