Isn’t NYC Smart or What?

Please allow me at least one straightforwardly geeky entry. I was just amazed at how smart and sneaky the NY MTA was. For months now, we’ve heard about the MTA raising subway and bus fares for those who buy unlimited passes (daily, weekly and monthly). There was some resistance from the public, naturally. But it was, I suppose, generally accepted as inevitable since the fare hikes weren’t really outrageous anyway. There was no objection from those who buy pay-per-ride subway passes, in particular, since the rides will remain at $2 a pop. Oh, but that’s where the MTA was particularly crafty.

In the past, for a purchase of a minimum of $10 worth of subway rides, one gets 20 percent free (i.e., for $10 which is 5 rides, you get a free ride). These pay-per-ride cards came in $4, $10, and $20 denominations. With the changes, we are surprised to find that they now came in $7 and $15 denominations. This was hardly the surprise, however. Now, for the $7 Metrocard, you get only half a ride free. That is, the $7 card comes with $1.05 free, which is less than 20 percent. What I find so smart about this move is that to the eyes of the regular Joe, there was no fare hike—it remained $2 per ride. So, no objections. But to those who used to buy the $10 card, for instance, it would not be hard to discover that they’re now getting less in terms of free rides. And we thought we wouldn’t be affected. Sneaky, really sneaky.

Boston Highlight: Dinner at Blue Ginger

Weeks before our trip to Boston, roomie and I made sure that we made reservations for Chef Ming Tsai's restaurant, Blue Ginger. I think it was about 3 weeks before the actual trip that we called in for dinner reservations and the only time we got was at 6:15PM. Can you imagine?

So the restaurant is in Wellesley, a suburb of Massachusetts which is 30 minutes away by commuter train from Boston. Saturday was very wet. And I mean very wet. When roomie and I got off the train, the it was PUH-OU-RING. I immediately regreted not wearing the boots I got from Filene's as our jeans and shoes got so disgustingly soaked. Anyway, so the only train we could get to make the reservation was at 4:15 or something. Of course, we get there around 5PM and since the restaurant doesn't open until 530, we had to find something to do. What to do in a suburb where all shops and cafes are closed by 5PM in the rain? Get wet.

Thirty minutes felt like forever, but finally we could go to Blue Ginger. They gave us a table immediately. It was a great surprise that the restaurant was very welcoming and unpretentious that I didn't really feel so out of place even if I probably looked like crap at that point. It had a very casual yet elegant feel to it.

After what roomie and I went through, we were willing to go all out on the food. For starters we had the foie gras and shitake mushroom shumai in sauternes-shallot broth and beef and salmon carpaccio topped with avocado and hikama (singkamas). The appetizers, we found, were pretty but had very subtle tastes. I thought I was up for disappointment and even told roomie that I wasn't so impressed with the appetizers. This was probably because I was expecting to be blown away after the tempest that we had to go through to get to the restaurant. We thought we were up for a meal with watered down Asian flavors so as not to shock certain demographics too much. Ehem-ehem.

Naturally, we had great expectations for our entrees. Roomie ordered lamb chops with curry sauce and I went for the lobster tail flavored with South Asian spices (I think, and I should have paid more attention to the menu) with lemon-grass rice. The generosity of the portions already shocked our eyes (Too bad I didn't take great pictures of these.). It even pleased our palates more to discover that no spice was spared to flavor our entrees. The subtlety in our appetizers merely gave way to a shindig of flavors in the lamb and the lobster.

And, of course, we had to have dessert. Roomie had coconut doughnuts (they're really macaroons) with a side of lime sorbet and a drizzle of pineapple curd (I think, check roomie's blog for a better description of this) and I had the trio of tea-scented sorbets. Roomie's dessert seemed to have a lot going on with it, but they surprisingly come together perfectly. And mine with the citrus sorbets suffused in tea was just a perfectly light ending to the richness of the entrees.

As if the meal was not good enough already, an unexpected treat was meeting Chef Ming Tsai in the flesh. We thought that there would be no way that he'd be there. Luckily enough for us, maybe, it was a busy Saturday so I suppose he made sure he'd be there. Roomie catches a glimpse of him during starters and I begged our server to have him meet us. He said we'd be put on the guest list and they'll see if he'll have time. I don't trust these lists and so I gave up on the idea. But between our entree and dessert, a familiar voice booms over our table, "Hi, I'm Ming." I was floored. I was so starstruck that I couldn't speak. We had a little chat about chicken relleno which his Filipino friend made and I proudly interject that we also do that with fish. He was incredibly down to earth and that made it a little easier to chat.

For those who are not aware, my brother and I are HUGE fans of Chef Tsai. We would watch his shows and salivate over what he makes. Bobby Flay vs. Ming Tsai on Iron Chef? I called Ming Tsai (of course!). He is in a different league when it comes to food preparation. You just have to respect these artists whose canvass is found in the kitchen. By far, this is one of the highlights of my stay here in the U.S. And I'm not kidding. Yup, chef stalker am I.