Last week, I learned that one of my favorite restaurants in Newtown, Asia Pacific, has closed.  I had gone there to eat dinner with my family only to find scaffolding inside and a sign out front reading “Fusion 2.0, coming soon”.  Now, not only did I feel this restaurant had some of the best sushi to offer in Fairfield County, but I also felt that they served some of the best Asian fusion around.  It was the very first place that I ordered a three course meal because I couldn’t decide what to get! Their kani salad was always presented beautifully in a large, Asian bowl, while their pan fried dumplings, as well as the sauce they came with, were to die for.  I had had the Teriyaki chicken once, and that too was delicious.  The sauce was light and sweet, and the chicken and vegetables blended together perfectly. However, my favorite dish there had to be the butterfly sushi roll.  It was a California style roll, topped with some sort of battered fish and filled to the brim with avocado, eel, tuna, and cucumbers.  It was topped with some sort of eel sauce, as well as a spicy mustard based sauce, and the contradicting flavors always turned out wonderful.  The presentation was astonishing too, since their sushi chef never presented it the same way.  Sometimes he drew a giant butterfly on the plate out of eel sauce, and sometimes he arranged the rolls in a circle with eel sauce hearts around the outside. It was honestly never the same, and it amazed me every time!  It’s a shame they’ve gone out of business, and I’ll definitely miss their food.  Hopefully Fusion 2.0 will be able to either meet or beat my expectations!

 Frankie B

With summer coming up on us so soon, I am looking forward to all of the fresh summer foods I will be eating all season. Obviously, summer is the time when families crack out the BBQ and grill up some tasty, savory meats. For example every Fourth of July, our family invites over a group of friends, neighbors, and family and enjoy the classic summer meal of hotdogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, potato salad, etc. All of it is just so delicious!

As soon as I taste certain foods, memories just flow back to me from summers past. Every summer, I spend at least a week at my grandparents’ house on Long Island. My grandparents have a boat, so everyday we go down to the water or the beach to spend the day and relax. At the club where the boats are kept, there is a cute little, very family-style restaurant where we always eat. Every time I go to the club, I am sure to order any kind of fish. Just being close to the beach and the boat puts me in the mood for seafood. And no one prepares the crispy fish with a light lemony sauce better than this club.

Another thing my family and I love to eat is grilled vegetables such as peppers and onions, shrimp, even pineapple, put onto wooden skewers. When we sit out on the deck, with the sun setting, a breeze breaking up the day’s heat, and ice cold drinks in hand, eating these fresh summer foods make me feel so relaxed and refreshed. It really is the best time of the year!

Colleen F.  

Occasionally when my family feels up to it we have pizza night. My mom buys the fresh dough from the store and we wait around and talk while it gets to room temperature and then stretch it little by little. My dad gets really into it when he starts trying to flip it around in the air like they do in pizza restaurants. He is pretty good but when I try it is never successful. We spread the dough across the tray and then stick it in the over. The pizza can be round, square, or any other form depending on whose making it. The cool thing about pizza is that you can pretty much put anything on it and it will taste good. When my mom is the only parent home, we usually make our pizza with lots of vegetables, such as spinach, mushrooms, peppers, and of course cheese and sauce. On the other hand, when my dad is home, the pizza is filled with different types of meats. He likes to add little pieces of sausage or bacon and sometimes chicken. Making pizza is also a good way to get rid of the leftovers because we can put anything that’s in the refrigerator on top and it seems to go well with the pizza. Everyone likes pizza and it is a fun and easy activity to do for dinner. I also feel like it is not as greasy or big as the ones you buy at the store. Although, I am not a huge fan of take-out pizza, my favorite in Newtown has got to be Franco’s pizza Bruschetta. It has no tomato sauce but it topped with stringy, cheese, grilled chicken, fresh tomatoes, onions and basil. I strongly suggest it.

Another fun thing that we tend to do in the summer with pizza is at our friend’s house. They have a nice outdoor patio with a brick oven on it. They fire it up when we’re eating dinner outside and it takes no time at all to make a pizza. It tastes so good like that. Sometimes they let everyone make a pizza for themselves with all different topping of their preference. I honestly think that I will invest in a brick oven like theirs when I am older and have my own house because it is so fun and a crowd pleaser. -LJ