I love traveling, it’s an outlet that helps further my understanding of life by seeing the world’s awestruck sites and experiencing new culture, food, and people. To continue this journey we just booked tickets to Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, and Eastern Europe. We’ll get to live a little bit of the Scandinavian life, post along the Adriatic and see the history and culture chic of Berlin. Pumped!

Last year we visited Barcelona and saw the mesmerizing constructions of Antoni Guadi. Our first stop was the larger than life gothic influenced church, La Sagrada Familia. It’s so amazing that one man can have so much power and creativity. Barcelona life was great with its sites, café con leches, parcs, and siestas. 

Shake Shack stacks on stacks

The order window

It’s a long way to the front but you get to have a beer while waiting

Bistro lights 

Shake Shack stack - cheeseburger with a fried portobello stuffed with cheese

When someone visits New York City, you can be about 95% sure that they will be snapping a Shake Shack burger picture for their Facebook and Instagram feeds. And yes, I am a part of that population.

The Shake Shack at Madison Square Park is the true NYC experience. You wait in a long line on a hot muggy day with fashionable people. You get to drink beer in a park with bistro lighting. Then you get to dine on a juicy burger that you’ve built up an appetite for while waiting in line. Shake Shack definitely lives up to the hype and one day I will be back here experiencing it all over again.

Neighborhood life in Chelsea

Flatiron 

Obligatory tourist pic

SoHo life

Shopping in SoHo

The crowd in SoHo

Still SoHo shopping… @ Unis

Steven Alan 

Bowery

Like Dubai?

In Flatiron

Stylish line at the Shake Shack @ Madison Square 

When planning my trip to Europe I had the option to layover in Atlanta or New York.  It’s no contest.  New York is the most active and fastest city in America.  The sight seeing here is endless.  On this trip I had only 10 hours, so I used the time wisely to visit Chelsea, Flatiron, and Soho.  The highlights of the sight seeing were the Chelsea Market, the High Line, the Flatiron building, the retail in Soho, and all the food spots we dined at.  I love you New York despite your heat and humidity.  Hope to see you soon!

Coffee drink of choice 

High Line Park Zoo

The concrete jungle is home to many parks….Central Park, Bryant Park, Park Ave, and such.  On this past trip, I had a chance to check out the newest of them all, the High Line.  The High Line is an uber urban green park built on a rail line and known as one of NYC’s highlights.  During the stroll you’ll experience the creativity of the architects, see the mix of NYC’s classic and modern structures, and discover the many creative subtleties planted throughout the park.  I can’t wait to come here again. 

Rolling with the homie Kevin Chou as we backpacked through the urban jungle

Highly anticipated pork belly buns

Duck wontons “Shut it down”

Spicy pork sausage and rice cakes

Infamous duck with rice

I have literally been waiting years to go to New York and walk into the Momofuku institution.  As with any other Asian food enthusiast, I copped the book, follow the twitter, and read the articles.  The anticipation to go here felt like waiting until Christmas to receive a Super Nintendo.  Lo and behold, this past summer I finally got my wish.  

The Momofuku of choice was the Ssam bar since they offered the most variety.  Right when you walk in, you can feel the New York urban cool.  The decor has a modern feel as it’s decked out in wood panel and a few John McEnroe posters.  The staff is hip and the crowd is a pleaser.  

For our order, there is no doubt we got the pork belly buns and duck with rice.  We  supplemented these staples with duck wontons and spicy sausage with rice cake.  The outcome was true happiness.

Subway station (urban living)

Chelsea Market

All brick hallway

Outside dining at Amy’s bread… yet still inside

Quiche

World famous cheddar cheese bread

Hipster coffee at Ninth Street Espresso

I like to travel too

For the first leg of our trip my fiancee and I embarked into New York City.  The last time I was in NYC was 2007 and quite a bit has changed since.  Yet a spot that still remains popular (and faves) is the Chelsea Market (aka home of Food Network).  

The first place in the market we hit up Amy’s bread.  Since it was early breakfast time baked goods were the best idea!  At Amy’s we got the cheddar cheese biscuits as they are the most popular item and the quiche (it’s hard for me to pass up quiche).  I also had a morning glory (not pictured).  All the goodies were solid choices…. To cap it off we had some pretty good hipster coffee at Ninth Street Espresso.  

This past summer has been one of the busiest travel time’s in my life. I was lucky enough to go to Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Turkey, NYC, Vancouver BC, SF, Vegas, and PDX. From these trips I have accumulated quite the collection of photos. Going forward I will be integrating the “FH Travel” stuff with the Seattle post to keep both photo sets moving.  Check out my my instagram for the iphone “FH Travel” pics.

Stein aka 1 Liter

It’s like this Err day Err day

Rolling with the homies

Pink deviled eggs

Spotted….beef tongue slider

Sausage with sauerkraut on a pretzel bun

Biergarten is absolutely my favorite drinking spot in San Francisco.  So favorite I went back to back days on my trip.  Beirgarten was considered my official social hub to meet up my SF homies.  

The scene is poppin with a sophisticated modern NYC outdoor vibe (surrounded by bistro lights).  The ambiance sets the mood to socialize and drink pilsner by the liter. The food here is pretty good too.  This place is a small plates kind of deal but not small on taste.  The Biergarten is an excellent warm up spot for SF diners and drinkers.  Also this place is the infamous location where I was featured on picsoffazntakingpicsoffood   courtey of the official Byron Ong. 

Thanks again Biergarten for hosting me.. I had an excellent time and will be back. 

Off the grid …. not Haightin

OG pink boxes

Pork belly baked bun - the best sandwich in San Francisco

Spicy chicken bun

Coca cola braised pork bun

Bao down when you come to San Francisco. IMO the Chairman Truck is the best food truck in the bay area. I’m a sucker for steamed buns and bigger one for baked…. It must be the hipsterness? Or strong desire for asian food? It’s both!

I must emphasize the pork belly baked bun was one hell of an experience….succulent pork belly with pickled daikon in a soft sweet baked bao bun that had made each bite of this sandwich perfect. I’m getting hungry writing this. The other baos were delicious too and packed with flavor. The food from the Chairman Truck was so good, I would consider leading an investment group to bring this truck to Seattle.

the waiting game with my fiancee Claire, HPT, and Migs

drip …..drip…. drip

If you are a coffee feen like me and in San Francisco, then Blue Bottle is your spot. The Ferry Building experience is pretty social, hip, and urban. The coffee is tasty, full body, and desirable.  Blue bottle is consistently a part of my waking up experience in San Francisco.  The downside is the line at the Ferry Building could be long.

Filet Mignon Pho

Oxtail Pho

Kind of looks like Tao

Vitamin Water + G2 Gatorade + Pho = Hangover remedy

Pho real though……and on top of that the choices are either Filet Mignon or Oxtail! After a day of drinking at the pool, hanging out at Thomas Keller’s kitchen, and doing bottle service…. How would I survive the morning and shake this hangover? I have to go find some pho. 

So the options are Zine downstairs with the fine filet mignon but with a filet mignon price tag, or cab it to Chinatown which could essentially be the same price of baller pho.  In Vegas, pool time is money so less time traveling the congested streets means more time drinking domestic beer and YOLOing at the pool. 

The pho at Zine is pretty legit. The broth is balanced and flavorful, the meat is sufficient, and the ingredients are of high quality.  The meal definitely hit the spot and suppressed hungover effect.  However my qualms were the $18 price tag and well done filet mignon. In all, do go to Zine if you want convenient good pho.  

Macarons Gift Set to my gf (Baller Cookies)

PBR and Macarons

Nice cakes that won’t survive the flight

Cookie sandwich with peanut butter

Pistachio Macaron for myself!

Turkey Cran Baguette for myself 

For the dood enthusiast or anyone that loves sweets… you cannot leave the Venetia without hitting up Bouchon Bakery. 1st we balled out at the bistro and then now comes the bakery….the Thomas Keller affair. These macarons were probably the best I’d ever had in my lifetime. Each cookie was the right sweet, flavor, and crunch. I took very small bites to prolong the experience and hoping it wouldn’t end. I could easily eat through the $20 worth. I also had the croissant, some cookie sandwich, and a turkey cran baguette. All choices were pretty good and made the experience great.

Also, bouchon bakery is probably the best spot to get coffee in the hotel. The ratio of girls to guys in line is 5 to 1. That’s pretty good odds for Vegas.