Kennedy Space Center

We did not do much of the touristy stuff while we were in Orlando, the boys wanted to wait till their gfs are visiting them then they will visit all the theme parks. We did visit the Kennedy Space Center, unlike my hubby, these 2 boys are as bored of space as I am. Hah.

Dim Sum Haven

The place for good and affordable Dim Sum!

Golden Lotus

8365 S John Young Pkwy

Orlando, FL 32819

(407) 352-3832

Happy and Full we are!

The Yummmmiest Key Lime Pie

No doubt about it, the best Key Lime Pie I had eaten in Florida is in Mrs Mac @ Key Largo. Key limes are actually the same type of lime we get in Singapore, the small and super sour ones. Key limes get their name in association with Florida Key why explains why key lime pie is a must-try dessert when you are down here.

Mrs Mac's Kitchen

99336 Overseas Hwy

Key Largo, FL 33037

(305) 451-3722

I am so craving for it...

Partying in Miami~

The Mansion
1235 Washington Ave, Miami Beach
Majority of the crowd were spring-breakers from NY, they were like "We are on Spring Break! Are you?" I was thinking in my head "Yeah, like 7 yrs ago?" We had a great time all in all, remember to give Mansion@Miami if you are into the clubbing scene.

Miami Heats vs New Orleans Hornets

Our 1st NBA game at Miami, the atmopshere was electrifying! Basketball is such a thrilling game hah our game ended in a draw and it went into overtime with the Hornets winning. It was awesome, basically I got hooked. In fact we just came back from 1st playoff (3rd match) between New Orleans Hornets vs Denver Nuggets, that is a story for another day~

Meanwhile I saw Miami Heat's gnome and it reminded me of Jo!

Welcome to Miami~

Finally! The most famous beach in USA -South Beach of Miami

I love the street scene much more than the beach, there is 1 whole row of cafes facing the ocean, people-watching, just chilling out. Awwww what a life!

Japanese feast in Miami

Hiro's Yakko San

17040-46 West Dixie Highway, North Miami Beach, FL 33160

Tel 305.947.0064 Sun-Thu 6pm-2am, Fri-Sat 6pm-3am

The single one food item which made my trip worth it~ it cost 1 USD for 1 takoyaki whosh but it taste so good after so long although not as puffy as those sold by the small Tako-Pachi stalls found near many foodcourts back at home. Do not be put off by the little sign they hang out "Japanese Tapas", without a doubt, the is one of the best meal throughout the trip. Kinda of too excited and greedy, we only took picture of the appeitizers and ate the main courses in record time before we could say "snap".

Nascar

Ignorant me, always thought racing tracks are as flat as it can be. It is an amazing 30 degrees slant, whooosh~

I love their wings, they are famous for their burgers it seem but I ordered a sandwich because I know I can never finish a whole burger by myself. I thought I am the biggest wing fanatic, it turned out ZW is even a bigger wings-lover than me.
Daytona Brickyard
747 International Speedway BlvdDaytona Beach, Florida 32114
(386) 253-2270


Daytona 500 Experience
Highly recommended for car enthusiasts.

Daytona Beach

My picture did not do any justice to Daytona Beach, it was already evening time when we reached and hencewise the lack of beach-goers on the beach. We went around the busy Ocean Walked on foot and found a little excellent cafe- Hog Heaven for BBQ porkribs and buffalo wings. I definitely prefer their wings to their pulled pork.

Hog Heaven

37 N Atlantic AveDaytona Beach, FL 32118
(386) 257-1212

To the South it is!

Back from a 1 week roadtrip, this is a picture taken at Key Largo's John Pennekamp State Park where we went snorkelling. The water visibility is the best I have ever been, but the corals are maybe 1 or 2 inch below surface so it was not possible to hover above the reefs which I was accustomed to. Instead it was more like watching national geographic underwater, we were viewing from the peripheral of the reefs. Nonetheless, great waters and beautiful reefs, saw 5 barracudas which scared the hell out of ZW who came really close to one, they swam really slowly though. We also saw a shark when we board the boat, only caught a glimpse of its dorsal and caudal fins but enough to get me all excited. The boys were saying "it is only the fins" but I was telling them "how often we get to see a shark in the wild even if we can only see the fins haha we only get to see shark's fin on the banquet table."
Key Largo is the most southern town we accomplished in this roadtrip, it takes another 2.5 hrs to reach Key West, the southernmost point in the continental USA.

Barracuda
http://www.divemagazine.co.uk/news/images/Barracuda2006SRogerson1.jpg

Mardi Gras @ New Orleans

Wikipedia has deemed Mardi Gras in New Orleans as one of the most important carnival celebration in the world. The parades in New Orleans are organized by Carnival krewes. Krewe float riders toss throws to the crowds; the most common throws are strings, usually made of plastic colorful beads, doubloons (aluminium or wooden dollar-sized coins usually impressed with a krewe logo), decorated plastic throw cups, and small inexpensive toys (I got a giraffe soft toy!!).
Commercial videotapes catering to voyeurs had helped to encourage a tradition of baring breasts in exchange for beads and trinkets. While standards of what is considered "indecent exposure" might be relaxed during Mardi Gras, and women showing their breasts is documented since 1889, when the Times-Democrat decried the “degree of immodesty exhibited by nearly all female masqueraders seen on the streets,” the practice was mostly limited to tourists in the upper Bourbon Street area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Mardi_Gras

We also visited Acme Oyster House after watching Man vs Food in which he has to eat 180 oysters in 1 hour. No, none of us have the guts to do that! But we did enjoy their food very much! The raw oysters were fresh and succulent, the char-grilled oysters were drizzled with cheese, their cajun food were also the best we had eaten so far!
We managed to catch 2 parades and spent the night partying in Bourbon street! A crazy weekend~
There will be more entries following, next week is Pensacola's Mardi Gras Parade. Cant wait!

NYC's skyline~

Some of my most beautiful pics of NYC's skyline

From the Top of the Rocks (Rockefellar Plaza)

The view of Manhattan from Brooklyn

I am still updating on my NYC's holiday trip. Amazing!

Absolutely our favourite- Babbo Ristorante

Also situated in Greenwich Village, I present to you our fave restaurant of the whole trip-Babbo Ristorante. It is opened by Mario Batali who is my favourite American Iron Chef. If there is one TV channel I will suffer withdrawal symptoms from not watching when I go home, it is Food Network.

Mint Love Letters with Spicy Lamb Sausage

Linguine with Clams, Pancetta and Hot Chiles

Cheese for dessert, I probably had eaten more cheese in my 6 months in America than my last 2 years back in Singapore.

We had Q for 1 hrs 30 mins to get a table at Babbo to celebrate our anniversary. Their policy do not allow you to wait elsewhere, you have to be physically in the restaurant to be on the waiting list. My advice is to make a phone reservation, they open their reservation 30 days before your desired date.

We casually mentioned it was our anniversary that very day, look how sweet the staff are!

Babbo Ristorante
110 Waverly Place

+1 212 777 0303

I love Greenwich~

We were staying in Greenwich Village, admist the historic residential buildings. It is very quaint, loved it! Especially the location, we are a stop from Chinatown, a few stops from downtown and most importantly we are steps away from many wonderful restaurants!

One of my favourite- Cafe Bruxelles 111 Greenwich Ave New York, NY 10014

I am so carving for their pommes frites (fries) and mussels! I loved their friendly staff as well, only complaint from Kenny was that their beer was pricey.

Some random shots...

Some random shots around the bustling streets around Times Square and theatre district. It is so full of life, noise and buzz (and tourists).


We caught Chicago which was awesome, it was beyond words. We decided to buy the tickets straight from the theatre instead of TKTS booth (the line was at least a solid 3 hours in the blistering cold), we Q for 1 hour before the theatre's box-office open, our orchestra tickets only cost us $31.50 for each person. Duper worthwhile!

A trip to NYC would be incomplete without a visit to the famous Magnolia Bakery! What's more we are staying in Greenwich Village in which the first Magnolia Bakery started its operation. But it is also the only 1 out of the 3 stores which has a half-hour line. I am a tad disappointed by the cupcakes but the banana pudding is to die-for! Kenny loved their cherries jamboree which is not-too-sweet, yummy. Just don't step out without trying their banana pudding!

Makan spree in NYC

These are some of the eating places which we visited and really enjoyed both the food and service.
SuraNYC
105 East 9th street N.Y., NY 10003(between 3rd and 4th ave)

A Michellin Guide Recommended HK style noodle restaurant in Manhattan
New York Noodle Town
28 BoweryNew York, NY 10002

Wooo, I love roasted duck! It is so hard to find duck on the menu over here.

From Sunshine Florida to Freezing NYC

Technically we flew into Newburgh and drove to Kingston because we planned on going skiiiiii-ing. Lousy me, fell sick like the moment we stepped out in the cold, maybe the temperature difference had got to me. Darn, my nose was so painful, I cant breathe hah so there goes the roll-around-the-snow plan.

The good thing that came out of it is SHOPPING!! We went to the Woodbury Outlet Mall which is huge, we spent 8 hours there and we didnt even go into every shop. There was a line outside every other shop but Coach's line has to beat everyone's elses. ~woohoo~ I love THAT outlet mall, got to be the best one I had been to!

Disney Adventure IV: MGM Studios

It is like walking into Hollywood, with Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd featuring old cinemas decor and little gift-shops.
Top fave would be definitely the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, there are many details to this ride which made it a truly scary ride. You are brought to different levels of the hotel in the hotel "elevator" to meet the ghosts, to get into the horror story and lastly the 13-storey fall into the twilight zone. Awesome!

There are many good shows- I love the Beauty and the Beast musical, ado not miss the Muppet Vision-3D. The Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show is also another must-see, special designed stunt cars, motorcyles and jet skis and their industry secrets as to how stunts are performed etc.

The perfect way to end the adventure would be the Fantasmic, the daily evening nightshow which promise to capture your attention with its fountain, fireworks, laser lights and of course Mickey and his friends.

Lastly it is time to bid farewell to Mickey and friends on the Disney Magical Express, a complimentary airport shuttle for all Disney Resort guests. Arhhh a truly magical Disney adventure!

Disney adventure part III: Epcot

We stayed at the cheapest Disney Value Resort- Pop Century Resort, the room is clean and spacious, there is no complaint from us at all.

I had friends who asked me about the difference between staying in Disney Resorts and outside resorts which are relatively cheaper. The important difference is Disney Resort guests are able to enjoy "Magic Hours" at all Disney themeparks. Everyday there will be a specific park which either opens 1 hour earlier or closes 3 hours later than the official opening/closing hours. Only Disney Resort's guests who showed their room card will be admitted to the rides, but bear in mind there will be no fast pass available at the magic hours, you will still need to Q for 45 mins to 1 hour. And also all the parks are so big, we are exhausted by the official closing hours, the only themepark which we made use of the magic hours is EPCOT (Every Person Come Out Tired).

Epcot is made up of 2 world, the Future World and World Showcase. World Showcase feature a lagoon in the middle of pavilions which showcase different cultures of 11 countries. I like the different restaurant in each showcase, for exmple,in UK there is fish and chip, we ate at the Biergarten with its own micro-brewery in Germany. The most memorable attraction in Epcot is the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, it feature fireworks, lasers and water fountain at the lagoon. Kenny's fave ride is the Test Track which model after a real car test drive through braking, climbing and tight turns.