First Row In

First Row In
Originally uploaded by Mike Dec.

Matt finally had a free weekend to tile the floor. I only did a fifth of the work as his assistant which consisted of drilling backerboard down, chipping away at dry thin set, helping sponge out grout, and a million trips up and down stairs to the yard where the wet saw was. Matt of course was 5x more tired from having to cut tiles the size of placemats. But it was also my first week at my new job so I was already exhausted from the week. Then I had hauling out the crap to the curb for bulk day. But the bathroom floor looks exactly how I wanted it, the cast iron sink is in (albeit nonfunctional) and still loads of work to do. Ahhh the things I get myself into.....

Beef tapa from Pandan

Beef tapa from Pandan
Originally uploaded by Mike Dec.

I've been going to Pandan in Bloomfield NJ for over a year now, dragging some of my friends to it as well. I had a Thanksgiving dinner one time with crispy pata from them instead of turkey (crispy pata=deep fried pork leg). So it was great to read the New York Times gave them favorable reviews.(Their advice: order anything with "grilled" or "pork" in the description.) And it is the FIRST Filipino restaurant to be reviewed by the Times, beating the culinary Cendrillon in So Ho. Not bad for a corner restaurant/former deli that can seat probably 20 at most.