Thank you, Elaine!

The last time I met Elaine Li, she was 12 and I was 16 and we went to Bukit Bintang Girls' School. However, the years were emphatically erased when we met up in New Jersey this week. She is now a flight attendant with Continental Airlines based out of Newark so when she noticed from my Facebook postings that I was in New York, she got in touch and offered to show me the city. When I heard that she's a local, having grown up in New York since she re-located from Malaysia, I jumped at the chance to get off the tourist track. That means seeing the other boroughs of New York, not just Manhattan. Needless to say, Elaine really knows her backyard and I'm grateful for her generosity.

Elaine & Aunty Jojo by the shores of New Jersey

First up - Flushing, Queens. I could hardly believe my eyes - it was like being transported into Hong Kong or Shanghai. There were Chinese everwhere! Orientals were pouring out from dim sum restaurants, bubble tea bistros and roast duck shops. Next, we headed to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It's an upmarket Japanese supermarket with authentic ingredients imported directly from Japan. That weekend, they had arranged a food fair with chefs flown in directly from Tokyo and Hokkaido. This meant long lines of hungry people were queuing for delicious hometown foods and Elaine and I jumped right in! Thanks to our lucky stars, we ended up with the last two bowls of Shinasoba Ramen and last two pieces of a dessert whose name escapes me. Yummy...

Elaine and her husband, Li takes Aunty Jojo to SEA - a hip bar restaurant in Brooklyn

Last Friday, we made our way to a hip bar/Thai restaurant in Brooklyn. This time we were accompanied by Li, Elaine's husband, who had flown from Atlanta to spend time with her. The Sea Restaurant is so cool, it could almost be a setting for Sex in the City. Walking into the bar, one is greeted with a bronze Buddha statue standing in a relection pool. The waiting area is littered with bubble chairs and swings!

And the mango mojitos were simply delicious. So was the deep fried calamari, tom yam gung, pad thai, green chicken curry, roast duck in red curry and fried fish in tamarind sauce. I really can't decide which was better - the food or the company. Elaine, Li and I had so much fun talking about our travels and all the funny stories that have happened to us. Craving ice cream, we made our back into Manhattan for dessert. We ended up in a frozen yogurt bar in Lower East Village called 18 Handles. You get to pick & mix your own flavours and toppings. Double yummy...

I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Elaine and Li for their wonderful hospitality and I look forward to returning the favour the next time they visit Singapore or Malaysia.