Afternoon Tea at The Plaza Hotel

It seems like we are expecting another snow days here in NY. Well, it is more like sleet where I live. On a cold days like these, how about having elegant afternoon tea?

My husband and I went to have a nice afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. I always wanted to go have afternoon tea but never really had a chance. Afternoon tea seems quite expensive everywhere so we decided that if we are having afternoon tea, we might as well have it in a nice fancy hotel in Manhattan.

Here is the website for the Plaza Hotel in NYC. Click here to go to their website. (There will be sound, so be careful)

Afternoon tea is at a place called "The Palm Court". It is right at where you go in. It had a beautiful stained glass ceiling like this.

Don't you think this ceiling is gorgeous? It will be nice to have a court like this at home. (Well, you have to live in a mansion to have this kind of court in the house :-) )

The atmosphere was very much like elegant and everybody was enjoying their afternoon tea. Everyone dressed up quite nicely and looked very rich. I felt a bit out of place but I enjoyed this elegant atmosphere.

The afternoon tea set was something like this.

It has some finger sandwiches at the bottom and scones in the middle and some sweets on top.

In my opinion, sandwiches were too small. They were really good. I wanted eat in a bigger portion but I guess these mini sandwiches are what makes afternoon tea, an afternoon tea.

I would have preferred to have more sandwiches and less sweets.

But the best part was the scones. These scones were warm and flaky and the best scones I have ever eaten. (Well, I haven't eaten that many scones in my life but it was the best one so far!)
The scone comes with this clotted cream which I loved. I need to find out where I can get this clotted cream. Also, it came with some raspberry jam and lemon curd. Oh, it was so good! I would love to make this kind of scone at home.

Well, we really had a great time. This is something which we don't do in normal basis but I think it is great to have this kind of experience once in a while. It seems like the time moves slowly while you are enjoying afternoon tea. Since I always wanted to experience these kind of afternoon tea, I was very satisfied and happy!

On the way back to the car, we found this Belgium Waffle Truck which I have been trying to find since this summer. I love Belgium Waffle and I wanted to try this one for a while but we always missed the truck somehow. So even though I was pretty full from the afternoon tea, I had to get one and bring it home for later.

Here is the link for this Belgium Waffle Truck. Click here for their site.

I like those thick and heavy Belgium waffle called "liege waffle'. I bough one plain and took it home.

Next day, I heat up the waffle with the toaster and it was really delicious! I love them.

I was so happy to experience two of my food wishes on the list. It was a great weekend.

Escape from the snowy NY

I made California roll and tuna mayonnaise roll but they looked really bad (tasted good though) so I didn't even take pictures. So I don't have any picture of food today.

I have made those sushi rolls many times in the past but it has never been this bad looking. I am not sure why. I started to eat all the ugly ones while I am rolling them so by the time I was done and ready to eat, I was already full :-)

Anyway, NY had lots of snow again. I think we had enough snow for this season already.

I don't like cold weather so I miss warm California winter. Anyway, I would love to live somewhere warm in the future.

So, on a cold day like this, I look at some of the photos from the trip I took in 2008 and escape from the cold winter reality :-)

One of my favorite place on earth which I visited is Maldives. I went there for the first time about 13 years ago with my friend. I fell in love with this beautiful islands and went back in 2008 with my husband.

Here are some of the pictures from the trip we took in 2008. Enjoy the nice weather.

When I first went there, I couldn't believe the color of nature. It was too beautiful to be true. It almost seemed fake because it was so beautiful. I grew up in Tokyo so I had never seen such an beautiful nature before. When I left the island after one week of stay, I couldn't help but crying. I don't really know why I cried but it definitely gave such an impression which I can never forget.

Well, it will be a while for us to feel spring in NY but I can not wait to feel that nice warm spring smell in the air.

Until spring is here, take care everyone and keep warm!!! And No more snow please!!

Rachel Ray's Orange Balsamic Glazed Chicken

This is a recipe from Rachel Ray which I saw on Food Network the other day. It looks so easy that I had to try it. It is sauteed chicken thigh with orange marmalade and balsamic vinegar glaze.

For Rachel Ray's "Orange Balsamic Glazed Chicken" recipe, please click here to go to Food Network website. 


First, season the chicken and saute in a pan.

Flip them and cook more.

Meanwhile, mix orange marmalade (Since I didn't have orange marmalade in my fridge, I used apricot marmalade instead), balsamic vinegar (I used white balsamic vinegar instead of regular balsamic) and chicken stock in a bowl.

When chicken is cooked through, add the marmalade mixture and cook until the sauce thicken.

At the end, add chopped scallions.

That's it! I served with rice and salad.

It was so easy but very tasty. I like the sweet and tangy taste. I will definitely make this again. Maybe I will use orange marmalade next time. But apricot was good also!

For the detailed recipe, please visit Food Network's website, Rachel Ray's Orange Balsamic Glazed Chicken recipe. Click here to go to the recipe. 

Rachel Ray is famous for 30 minuets meal which you can make under 30 minuets. I have not tried many of her recipe but I think all of her recipes are great especially when you work all day and can't spend time to cook but you want to have a good meal at home. I would like to try her other recipes also :-)