Juicy Cube

Yelp Review
674 Lexington Ave
(b/t 56th and 55th St.)
New York, NY 10022

Milk Tea with Boba:

• Taste: nice tea flavor, but a bit too sweet
• Boba: hard with a floral sweet taste
• Price: $3.54 for 16 oz regular size

Juicy Cube is a nice little store in midtown that sells fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, and bubble tea. 

Their bubble was okay. The milk tea was good, just a little sweet for my liking. The worst part was that the bubbles were hard in the middle. They also had a very floral almost perfumey taste. Additionally, the prices for their drinks were fairly reasonable.

I would definitely go back to Juicy Cube to try their other juices, but I would be hesitant to get anything with their boba. 

3 out of  5 Bubbles

Cooking with Boba Panda: Homemade Ravioli

Ingredients:

• Pasta dough:
• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp olive oil
• Filling:
• 1/3 cup onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Italian sausages, removed from casings
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
• 6-8 basil leaves, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• Sauce:
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 14 oz. can tomatoes, crushed
• salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

Ravioli:

1. Place 1 1/3 cup flour on a clean dry surface. Form a well in the flour and crack the eggs into it. Add the other ingredients into the flour well. Use a fork to whisk the eggs and other ingredients. This will slowly incorporate the flour and begin to form the dough.  
2. When the ingredients begin to come together, use your hands to form a ball of dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Let the ball of dough rest covered for 30 minutes-1 hour. (while the dough rests, you can make the ravioli filling)
   
   
   
   
3. Cut the rested dough into two equal pieces, roll each into a ball. Flour your work area and rolling pin. Begin to roll out the dough, slowly stretching it out. Continue rolling until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick and oblong in shape. Repeat with other dough ball. 
   
   
   
   
4. Begin to place large teaspoons of filling onto one side of each sheet of dough. Space each spoonful our according to how big you want your ravioli. Use some water to wet the area of the pasta sheet around the filling. Fold over the other side of the pasta sheet to cover the filling. Press down on the dough around the filling to remove any air pockets and seal the ravioli. 
   
5. Cut out each individual ravioli piece. Crimp edges of ravioli with a fork to ensure a tight seal. Put the pieces on a rack and allow to dry for 1 1/2 -2 hours. (while the dough rests, you can make the sauce)
   
6. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Drop ravioli into water. They cook much faster than dried pasta. Take them out when they begin to rise to the surface. The pasta should be al dente.
7. Cover ravioli with pasta sauce and enjoy!
   

Sausage & Ricotta Filling:

 (you can make any type of filling you prefer)

1. Saute onion in some olive oil over medium heat until they start to get tender and translucent. Add garlic and sausage. Once sausage is fully cooked and browned, transfer to a bowl.
   
   
   
   
2. Combine ricotta, parmiggiano, and basil with sausage mixture in bowl. Add salt a pepper to taste. Set aside and use when pasta sheets are ready to be filled. 

Mushroom Pasta sauce:

(you can make any type of sauce you prefer)

I usually have batches of homemade marinara in the freezer. I just sauteed some mushrooms and added these to my heated sauce. But to make the sauce from the beginning, follow these steps:

1. Saute onion in some olive oil over medium heat until they start to get tender and translucent. Add garlic, mushrooms, red pepper flakes, basil, and oregano. Add some salt and pepper.
2. Once the mushrooms are soft, add the can of tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Simmer for about 30 mins. Serve with ravioli.

Cooking with Boba Panda: Lamb Osso Buco

Ingredients:

olive oil
2 lbs lamb osso buco
salt and pepper
1/2 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp  fresh thyme, chopped
2 fresh sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 cup white wine
1 can beef broth
1 package (12 oz.) baby bella mushrooms, sliced


1. use paper towels to pat dry lamb osso buco pieces and season both sides with salt and pepper. Over medium high heat, coat the bottom of a dutch oven or large pot with olive oil. Sear both sides of osso buco, then remove.

2. lower heat to medium. In same pot, saute onions for a few minutes. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf. Saute until garlic is fragrant and onions are translucent.

3. add tomato paste and white wine, be sure to scrape up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 1-2 mins.

4. add the osso buco pieces back into pot and cover with beef broth. Simmer partially covered for 1 1/2 -2 hours or until the meat is fork tender and easily falls away from the bone. The sauce should be rich and thick.

5. saute mushrooms in a little olive oil until tender, and add to finished osso buco sauce. Taste the finished sauce and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve and enjoy.

Korean Express

807 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10065

I ventured into Korean Express where some friends wanted to get takeout. I noticed that they also offered bubble tea. I decided I might as well try their bubble tea, even though I have always been wary of bubble tea from places that do not specialize in it.

I got the Taro Milk Tea:

• Taste: overly sweet powdered taro flavor
• Boba: inconsistently hard or too soft
• Price: $4.25 plus tax

Sadly this was the worst bubble tea I have had in a long time. It is not worth the price and I couldn't even finish it. I only had about a fourth of it before I gave up. I would definitely stay clear of bubble tea from this restaurant.

1 out of 5 bubbles

Coffee & Tea Festival NYC

I had a great time at this festival. There were many exhibitors and demonstrations.

Tickets for the festival were $20 for one day, but I used a promo code and got mine for $10. 

Also the first 1,500 people each day received a free gift bag. Here's all the goodies I got.

Gift Bag Goodies

More free samples I picked up going to booths.

Some coffee and tea  purchases: a Puerto Rican coffee from Cafe Mami and a Kuritawase Sencha from Sara's Tea Caddie.

A great tea book written by the Camellia Sinensis Tea House.

Tea-Do Philly

132 N 10th St.

Philadelphia, PA 19107

On a recent trip to Philadelphia, I went to Tea-Do in their small Chinatown area. 

I ordered: Honey Jasmine Green Tea with Aloe

• Taste: light sweetness and a nice jasmine flavor
• Aloe: nice aloe pieces, but some were too big to fit in the straw
• Price: $3.50 for 16 oz. 

There is a nice dragon mural outside and there is quite a lot of seating inside. My drink was very good. It was refreshing and I liked the lightness of the aloe. I tried my friend's taro milk tea, but it was not that good. It was too watery. So the drinks here may be hit or miss. I'm also not sure how Tea-Do compares to other places in Philly.

3.5 out of 5 Bubbles

Cooking with Boba Panda: Seafood Stew

This is my version of a seafood stew or bouillabaisse  It isn't a traditional bouillabaisse, which calls for fennel and rouille, but it is still delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2-2.5 lbs of seafood, whatever you prefer
• olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• pinch of saffron
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cups tomato puree or fresh chopped tomatoes 
• 1 cup fish stock
• salt, pepper, and sugar to taste
• handfull of basil leaves
• lemon optional

I used shrimp, squid, and two types of fish. Clams, mussels, or even crab would be delicious.

prepared seafood

The ingredients

Tip: to save extra fresh herbs, you can chop them up and put individual servings in ice cube trays. Just add water, freeze, then store the cubes in a freezer bag. Then you can just throw the herb ice cube into whatever your cooking. You can see my thyme ice cube in the picture above.

Also you can use a store bought fish stock, but I made a simple shrimp stock using the heads and shells of my cleaned shrimp. I just added water and some seasonings.

cooking shrimp stock

1. add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a pot, saute the onion until almost translucent. Add garlic, bay leaf, thyme, and saffron. Saute until garlic in fragrant and season with salt and pepper.

sauteing garlic and onions

2. add white wine and cook until slightly reduced. Add tomato puree and simmer for 15 minutes. Add fish stock and season with salt and pepper. Add sugar if the tomatoes are too acidic, this also brings out the flavor of the tomato.

sauce coming together

3. begin adding the seafood, starting with the types that take longer to cook. I began with the fish. Cook with lid on until fish pieces are opaque and firm. Next, add shrimp. When they turn orange add the squid and cook for only a minute or two more.

Adding seafood

Everything is done

4. Tear up some basil leaves and garnish the stew. You can cut some lemon wedges if you like that too.

I would recommend serving the stew with some bread or even better some garlic croutons. You can make your own croutons by tossing bread chunks with crushed garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper then baking then until toasty. 

Garlic croutons

Enjoy!