NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH CELEBRATION

Today, marked the end of National Ice Cream Month. CICF celebrated with the kids of The Chinese Planning Council (CPC). We closed off our section of the street, celebrated with live music, lion dances and of course ice cream.

I expected a small intimate group of about 2o kids who redesigned our sign, but closer to 50 came. Friends and community supporters also attended.

The Children's Museum of the Arts (CMA) was generous enough to donate free passes to their museum. Paul Seto; owner of Burger King also gave gift certificates for free burgers and toys.

It was so nice to see the community come together today!

Happy ice cream eating to all!

EXPRESSIONS OF ICE CREAM EATING

To end of National Ice Cream month, we unveiled Autumn Lin's collage. She designed this collage of Expressions of Ice Cream Eating.

Autumn is a local photographer and has roots in the Chinatown community. Come check out her work the next time you're here for a scoop!

AUTUMN LIN PHOTOGRAPHY

www.autumnlin.com

SKATEBOARDING IN CHINATOWN

I always wanted to skateboard but I'm a spaz. I've always lived vicariously watching the other cool kids skateboard. I have a fear of getting scabby knees!

The cool kids would be jealous now! I got to hang with Pro Skateboarder Mike Wright. Mike gave me the DL on skating C-Town.

There used to be two Chinatown Hubbas (Skating Areas). One is under the overpass that leads to South Street Seaport. The other one was at Seward Park but no longer exists due to their new construction. Skaters are bummed out about this.

BRA SHOP IN ELIZABETH CENTER

There are a lot of specialty boutiques in Chinatown. There is a nice bra shop on the ground floor of Elizabeth Center. Prices are quite affordable and the quality is very good.

Victoria's Secret is the big thing but sometimes I find them overpriced. At times, I also have had a hard time finding my size. This shop seems to fit more for the Asian physique which is nice. It kinda feels like the store was made just for you...

You can also buy cute panties to match! Fellow shopaholics should check it out!

ELIZABETH CENTER

ELIZABETH STREET (BTW BAYARD AND BOWERY)

NEW YORK, NY 10013

ELITE HK CORP

Victor owns Elite HK Corp in Confucuis Plaza. He's the definite go to guy in the community for plaques, stamps, and custom trophies. When looking at the samples, you can tell the man is very talented.

Mostly all the businesses that I know have their awards plaqued here. The non profits in the community also work with Victor.

Elite HK is also very generous and involved with the Chinatown Community. AWESOME!

ELITE HK CORP
5 BOWERY
NEW YORK, NY 10002
212-925-4968

OUR NEW SIGN!

The kids over at CPC designed our beautiful new sign! They are so creative!

FILMING FOR NBC

Today was a great day! A new sign, right in time for NBC shooting at CICF. This pretty little lady next to me does a summer series about where to go in NYC. Her focus this time was Chinatown. What an awesome idea!

Other locations that were also filmed for this are Yummy Noodles and Red Egg Restaurant. They are also some of my favorite places to eat!

I love the food in Chinatown!

BEST DUMPLING WINNERS

I was reading Time Out NY and they were rating NYC's best cheap eats.. Of course their needed to be a category for dumplings. Ummm Ummm....my favorite! Cheap and D E L I C I O U S!

Not to my surprise, 2 of the winners were located in Chinatown.

One winner is located right next door to me. New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe is famous for their soup dumplings. They come in pork, or a pork/crab mixture. Locals and tourists come near and far for these small pieces of heaven. One of my customers is having her wedding their and renting out the restaurant because she loves their dumplings that much.

The other location, I actually haven't tried. Prosperity Dumpling was the other winner. They are famous for their pan crisped pork and chive dumpling. They also come in all veggie which is made from minced mushrooms and greens. I'm planning on trying it out tomorrow.

I heart dumplings!

Prosperity Dumplings

46 Eldridge St between Canal and Hester Sts

(212-343-0683)

New Shanghai Deluxe

65 Bayard Street

New York, NY 10013

212-566-4884

THAI SON

I might have blogged about this place already but I don't care. I love this place! The food is amazing and the prices are so affordable.

The decor makes you feel like you've escaped Manhattan and landed in South East Asia.

I'm a big fan of their noodle dishes (Bun). The seafood is fresh and DELICIOUS! I also love their Thai coffee which is made with condensed milk. Also be sure to try this spring rolls or other appetizers.

Their ice cream is also amazing because the buy it from us!

THAI SON

89 BAXTER STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10013

212-732-2822

A GIRLS' OUTING

My friend Gloria rescued me from work. It's an ice cream scooping vortex once I get in. I was in need of some R & R.

She brought me to this walk up hair salon. The drill is to ask for the "shampoo & dry" to get a scalp massage. It was only $13! It included a shoulder and scalp massage. They worked on each of us for a good hour!

I pulled out the $20 and realized that is how much they really should be making but don't. I left the rest for tip and it still seemed like a good bargain at $20. (Gloria has not let me disclose the location of this place yet. It's her "secret spot" I'm working on getting permission to disclose!)

We walked out of the salon, feeling like super models with our freshly blown out and styled hair off to dinner...

Then we went to eat Chiu Chao food at the New Chiu Chao Restaurant. According to my Chiu Chao friends, this is one of the only 2 Chiu Chao restaurants in our Chinatown. Get the #1 on the menu. It's amazing! You get a huge bowl of noodles, in an amazing broth with different types of meats.

Gloria looks particularly beautiful after the hair salon! The picture is of her posing with her bowl of noodles!

THE NEW CHIU CHAO RESTAURANT

111 MOTT STREET

& the hair salon TBA

CO-NAMING CORTLAND ALLEY

Cortland Alley is a little street that runs perpendicular to Canal Street. It will be officially co-named Dr. Thomas Tam Way. This will be one of the only two streets in NYC that is named after an Asian person.

My buddy Anthony that works at The Asian American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI) gave me the scoop.

Thomas Tam was his late boss. Dr. Tam was an amazing APA Advocate. He was the first director of AAARI, the co founder of what is now the Charles B Wang Health Center, co founder of Asian Cinevision. The list goes on and on about how this man dedicated his life to the community.

The new street sign isn't officially up yet and I'll update you when it's on its way.
We give thanks to the Anthony, the Community Board and City Council for making this possible.

CELEBRATING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION OF FATHER NOBILETTI!

CICF KICKS DESIGNED BY SOLEFOOD

WWW.SOLEFOODNYC.COM

TOWN HALL BY THE ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS ALLIANCE

The Asian American Arts Alliance is holding a Town Hall at the Chen Dance Center. The purpose of their Town Hall is to look to bring together artists to collaborate on projects within the community. It's a great way to make connections. It's a cool idea.

Below is the how the lowdown:

(Written By Nico Daswani)

The format of the Town Hall is simple: the first hour is devoted to 2-minute announcements and the second hour is for networking. We have had more than 250 people join us since we started this series of gatherings, with announcements from artists looking for collaborators for their projects, presenters announcing their season, entrepreneurs presenting new arts-related initiatives, organizations like NYFA and LMCC announcing their grant programs and much more. The networking has been fantastic and we have many stories of new connections started at Town Hall.

The next Town Hall takes place on Tuesday, July 7 at 10am at Chen Dance Center in Chinatown (70 Mulberry St at Bayard). It’s a pot-luck, so please bring some food to share if possible. Here is more info about the event: http://aaartsalliance.org/townhall

HANGING WITH THE GIRLS AT HAPPY ENDING....We love the berry cosmopolitans! D*E*L*I*C*O*U*S!