2007 Village Voice Winner-Best of NY-CHINATOWN ICE CREAM FACTORY!!

CICF is proud to announce that the Village Voice has chosen us as their winner for the Best of NYC!! Usually sorting through the mail is pain because usually it's just a bunch of bills that are piling up along with catalogs and junk mail. I was pleasantly surprised to see we have won another award.

It is important for us because:

(A) We believe that our ice cream is the best =)

(B) We believe it is important for Chinese owned businesses like ours to be nominated and actually win mainstream awards. Too often are we classified as only being in a category that is labeled under an ethnic food category .

I shared the news with Jacky who is not only a loyal CICF customer, but also writes for Sing Tao Daily. He published a story in the Chinese newspaper that was later read by some people at Sinovision which also aired us on television the day after.

We are so lucky to have the support of so many of our customers!

Halloween In Chinatown

This morning, I watched a whole trail of Chinese kids in their costumes walk across the Bowery to their elementary school. I felt like I didn't even need to venture to the village to see the wide array of superheroes and super scary characters.

It's so cute to see all the little kids (and the not so little kids) in their Halloween best. In NYC's Chinatown, kids can't go hopping house to house; ringing doorbells to trick or treat. Instead, ghouls, witches, Carebears and all come into the local shops screaming "trick or treat?" Shop merchants happily give candy or pennies.

Wishing everyone a very safe and Happy Halloween!

CW11

Although I don't watch TV much, I do however need to watch the news to see what's going on in the city. Funny enough, CW 11 chose me to be part of their new CW 11 commercial. (I probably have a teeny-tiny part.) Oh well...my few seconds of fame.

My favorite segment is Truly Julie. I'm a fan of Julie's because she is as wonderful on camera as off. I've run into her at not for profit events, supporting the Asian American community. It's definitely important to support our fellow active members of the community.

MOCA - The Chinatown Film Project

The Museum of the Chinese in the Americas (MOCA) is collecting clips of the different Chinatown's across the world for it's film project.

You don't have to be a professional film maker to enter. They are collecting things in all formats; from camera phone videos to Super 8mm films.

The goal of this project is to collect clips that show the diversity of the Chinatown all over the world.

For more information visit http://www.uttube.com/user/MOCANYC

A Changing Pell Street

The old signs that once hung over the businesses of Pell street are slowly disappearing...

New restaurants are moving onto Pell. It saddened me to see that MayMay's gates are now closed. Mei Sun which is also a business that has lasted decades also appears to be under renovations.

Delight Restaurant now gleams in the place where Danny's Ng's Restaurant stood for many years. My favorite dish at Danny's restaurant was the lobster with the burnt cheese (something not very typical and not on the menu). It was their kinda off the menu secret dish that they offered.

Pell and Doyers streets were once the heart of Chinatown when it was first established. My father used to tell me stories about how when he was growing up, Chinatown was two blocks long.

The last of the the old standing businesses are dying off and it feels as a chapter in our history is now ending.

Sigh....