fat of the land

so long summer

2009-10-01T20:53:00.004-04:00

neglect. yes, i am most certainly guilty of it. i may have a slew of excuses, but it pretty much boils down to the fact that i am now a full time student (with no income, might i poignantly add) and i way less frequently frequent the city that was the playground of our food excursions.

honestly, though, i seem to care much less about the food scene these days. i wonder.. what, about being a student, makes me crave the same exact foods i craved in undergrad. ugh, comfort food is like my new best.. frenemy. and what my poor brain doesn't seem to realize is that it's body isn't its youthful self any longer. good thing it's football season, for now. even right now i have on my desk a bag of half eaten banana chips, snack size nutter butters, a hostess cake and a yoohoo.

anyway, here's an ode to summer (from like two months ago): creme fraiche peace pie

yummy summer colors. summer's been fruitful but now it's pumpkin time!

this was so delicious that i made another whole pie a few hours later for james' mom. i sneak attacked the last slice without offering it to james.. he may have thrown a tiny fit about that. haha

this was my first time making creme fraiche from scratch. because, really, that stuff is darn hard to come by in the states.

not sure when, but i'll see you again :)

shopsins revisitation

2009-08-24T23:03:00.005-04:00

On an early morning when GF and i were driving into Jersey via the city, we decided to make an impromptu visit to the infamous Shopsins in the Essex Street Market. Why infamous? The owner/chef, Kenny Shopsin, is an ornery, eccentric old man with the mouth of a sailor. A turn off to some, but charming methinks. There are stories of people getting yelled at for ordering too slowly or being obnoxious by the man, but I haven't seen that as of yet, just alot of adoring customers.

These are the sliders. We ate at 9am, but good sliders do not conform to the boundaries of standard mealtime! Moist and fatty, topped in caramelized grilled onions and cheese, these sliders were fantastic. Served on the perfection that is potato rolls as well. Young dyan didn't like that the patties weren't seasoned, which of course can be offputting to some. I kind of like burgers that way though. Taste the pure meat flavor, you know?
This is the dish I ordered. Home fries, scrambled eggs, garlic toast, and spicy fried pork balls. What is a fried pork ball you ask? Well, friend, simply marinated shredded pork (couldn't identify the flavor, but it was vaguely reminiscent of buffalo wing sauce), coated in batter and fried. Moist and dense. Basically a meatball formed w/ roughly shredded pork. Everything else was standard, no better than what you'd get at a diner. I wasn't too big a fan of this dish. The porkballs were greasy and teh flavor just not very appetizing. It tasted like something I could make in my kitchen by just effing around a little and combining a few different basic sauces. It'd be pretty ok, I guess, but a disappointment compared to some other winning items that you can get here.

This is the delicious 'blisters on my sisters' . Chorizo, black beans, red beans, rice, fried eggs, coated in a melted cheddar cheese and sitting on a tortilla on teh bottom. Amazing. Tastes exactly like what it sounds like, but I mean how can you go wrong with that. I wish I could eat this all the time.

And there you have it. Eating at shopsins to me is a showcase of getting delicious foods with ingredients and in a manner that you could easily recreate at home. In that sense, I definitely gain an appreciation for what's going on here, eating while watching Kenny cook in a little booth that makes up a kitchen. Fantastic, you must go.

maine road trip (pt. 3)

2009-08-19T00:16:00.002-04:00

right about now, as hump day looms all too tall, i sigh. i miss maine. spending much of my week wading through masses of cranky people in the sweltering heat, with nothing but the grey of the concrete sidewalks to the grey of the city surrounding me to the grey of the humidity that envelops you ever so overbearingly, i wish nothing more than to take a deep breath of cool air that lets you know you're in mother nature approved stomping grounds. if only wishes could apparate this tired soul. hopefully, these posts are the next best thing..

kennebunkport is quintessentially maine. serving as a choice retreat of former presidents, you know this town will treat you well. sure, it's got its fair share of tourists, like us, but there are a good number of locals milling about as well. many of them seem to be retired city folk, walking hand in hand, cute as can be. the houses in the area left our mouths gaping, and we had never seen, or expected, so many damn european cars in this neck of the woods. it screams classy with a bit of ruggedness of the ll bean kind.

we caught an early dinner at mabel's lobster claw. yes, it was on my list. i'm telling you, search out the good eats first, and the sights and activities will surely follow. maine is particularly proud of two things: its lobster and its wild blueberries. hence, the bread selection presented were blueberry muffins and corn bread. nothing special, but it served well in taming our excitement as the couple next to us got their food and the mere smell, let alone sight of it, jumped our salivary glands. that may be the reason why we went ahead and committed the ubiquitous eyes-are-bigger-than-stomach crime.

starting with the fried clams, which have got to be the plumpest and sweetest fried clams i have ever tried. these are not the kind that leave you wondering if you just ate a thick, heavy fried piece of batter with the slightest of clam flavorings. these were huge and the creaminess of the flesh was altogether luxurious. the batter was light, of which i was a great fan since it didn't compete with the clam itself, but it did need to be a bit more seasoned.

lobster chowder was very decadent. huge chunks of succulent lobster floating in a sea of cream. it was deliciously opulent the first few bites, before its rise quickly turns into a fall when the richness starts to make you feign for something lighter. i wish it had a little more substance to it though, perhaps corn, or something to make it less one dimensional.

are you sick of lobster yet? i definitely wasn't, yet. and so came along the lobster savannah, a butterflied lobster stuffed with scallops, shrimp, mushrooms and a creamy sauce, and then baked off with melted cheese. kicking the lobster chowder's ass in decadence, it was dreamy.

just because it plays a supporting role doesn't mean the ingredients stuffed inside were going to be any less of showstoppers. the scallops were no laughing matter in how fresh and big they were and the shrimp, as well. the sauce is rich and heavy, which might be why the seafood needed to be so substantial, in order not to disappear under the sauce.

obviously obliterated the dish and emerged a lobster fan after all. although.. only a few minutes after we walked out of the place, i was laying on the blacktop of the parking lot clutching my stomach and rolling in pain as jo laughed at my ridiculous gluttony. oh, and then my car wouldn't start for some odd reason, that odd reason turning out to be that i had left it on reverse. a little too eager for the feasting of the lobster?? noob.

how peaceful is that view..

this little attention seeker of a vehicle was decked out in all sorts of plastic toys. it was pretty amazing, the assortment the owner has amassed. that little homer eating his donut on the back ledge, i dedicated to jumbo. he is a simpsons afficionado (only seasons 2-10, he always stresses).

mabel's lobster claw: 124 ocean ave, kennebunkport, me 04046

shake shack is still delicious

2009-08-16T22:15:00.006-04:00

Sure, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but really, I cannot stand by when people say, "meh, Shake Shack is just alright, I don't see what the big deal is." SS is one of, if not the, best burger in existence right now. In the NY area at least. Not to toot horn, but i've definitely eaten a lion's share of well regarded burgers out there. Like many, it's a 2ndary mission of mine to find the perfect burger. Because really, it's almost a perfect food. This is one of my passions!
digging into a delicious double stack. arnold palmer to wash it down.

Pros:
Rich meaty flavor
Juicy, excellent fat:meat ratio
Consistently cooked well
Not too thin, not too fat, excellent size for a fastfood style burger
Uses the world's greatest bun to house the patty and fixins, a Martin's potato roll
Fresh ingredients

Cons:
Too small??
Too juicy for people?
Don't like the sauce? I can understand that.

My partner in crime ordered the triple stack. This one's enough to fill just about anyone, 2 patties and a fried, cheese stuffed portobella cap. The cheese in the mushroom can be a little too rich, too greasy sometimes. Again, just stick w/ the shack burger, double shack burger. She found it typically great, but definitely unwieldy to eat. Especially for those with tiny little mouths like she's got!

This was also the first time I got the 'shackago dog', relish, onions, tomato, cucumber, hot pepper, pickles, dog on a poppy seed bun. Meh. unremarkable. All the different ingredients don't add up to anything greater, you just get alot of individual bites of specific ingredients.

Another must get every time: the frozen custard. Flavors change daily on a monthly cycle. This flavor happens to be peach bellini. Dense and creamy, always fantastic. She looooooooooves the custards.

Go to shake shack! Quit complaining and indulge in deliciousness!!!

maine road trip (pt. 2)

2009-08-13T01:09:00.003-04:00

i love duck and i love fat, and so, this one was an easy pick. with exposed brick walls and high bar stools all around that contribute to its lax atmosphere, duckfat is a cozy eatery with a simple yet intriguing enough menu. oh, and they're awful friendly.

a board running along the side with magnetic poetry was so cute! it was fun reading the little notes people had left.

the belgian fries are fried in duck fat, which don't add much flavor (which i thought it would) but they do add some decadence to the whole fare. i love that they were on the crispier side and well seasoned. i like em crispy and maybe even slightly burnt. the best part about ordering belgian fries, though, is the array of dipping sauces usually offered. we got the curry mayo and the thai chili mayo. omg, i want to bathe in mayo!! ok, no, that is gross but mayo is seriously creamy yummy fat that makes everything more delicious. jo didn't much care for the curry mayo, which i found to be really spot on, but she did love the thai chili, which was spicy. sauce makes things extra good and it just makes eating more fun; more interactive! sometimes i'll eat in order to eat sauce. one condiment i despise, though, is ketchup. yuck.

duckfat keeps it fairly simple in that the menu is mostly comprised of paninis, of both the sweet and savory type. i tried the homemade meatloaf panini, which is pressed with cheddar cheese, pickled red onions, and horseradish mayo. it was really really good. the meatloaf was moist and had lots of flavorful juices oozing out of it. i may have preferred a stronger cheese presence, but there's no complaining about a layer of melted cheese, whatever its kind. i'm not sure if duckfat plays a part in this sandwich, but it was really heavy. i had a hard time finishing it in between the fries and drinks. haha

jo opted for the corned beef tongue reuben and this is her kindly depicting her choice literally. haha

hers came with the usual swiss, cabbage and 1000 island. i tried some and it was really good, again, moist and oozing. i didn't really get the usual tongue texture i'm accustomed to, but that's probably due to the fact it's corned or that it's unrecognizably messy in between the other ingredients.

talk about decadence, THIS is pure luxe. their namesake milk shake is made with tahitian vanilla beans and local ice cream. it's so thick that it's impossible to drink through a straw at first, and the vanilla flavor is overwhelming initially, but you realize shortly thereafter that it's only because your taste buds are used to the imitation extract kind.

we really wanted to try the beignets, but we were way too full and so we had to pass. next time you venture up to these parts, you'll definitely want to give duckfat a try.

duckfat: 43 Middle Street, Portland, Maine 04101

Prime Meats is really really good

2009-08-10T23:43:00.005-04:00

Lack of posts weighs on my conscience, but you know how it goes, dog days of summer and all.

This past friday gf and I made the somewhat laborious trek over to Carroll Gardens in the BK for this relatively new restaurant, Prime Meats, owned by the same people who run Frankie's 457 Spuntino. They're actually only about 2 doors away from each other, and share the same kitchen.

Walking in, you know the place means business. Taking inspiration from oldschool 'meateries', Prime Meats is enveloped in warm, dim lighting and dark, worn wood.
Standing at the bar. The place is ultra narrow, so I guess it's excusable that they don't have any barstools. Otherwise, pretty obnoxious right? Bar with no stools? Perhaps it was the friendly mustachio'd man at the bar whom I shared a drink with, but the place definitely has a local grub feel to it, quite enjoyable!

I got the Old Fashioned, a great drink to get in any place thats serious about cocktails. Whiskey, simple syrup or a sugar cube, bitters and a lemon garnish all play integral roles. I think they used Pear bitters here, their unique twist to the classic. The bitters and sugar take away from the initial bite of the whiskey and give it a cocktail feel, followed by the smooth burn of the whiskey. mmmmmmmmmmm

She got the daily punch. I think the bartender said it was strawberries and a few different types of gin. That sounds kind of weird to me. It was sweet and 'punchy' nonetheless, delicious but a little light on the alcohol. Dont be fooled by the closeup, that cup is like the size of a thimble! If you want to pretend to be a giant, drink out of these tiny little cups and eat a little toast square with those little jams you get at hotels.

For appetizers we got the 'vesper brett', basically an assortment of meats and sausages, not so much a charcroute plate but I'm not so sure what else I'd describe it as.

I had a ridiculous headache during this meal, so I don't really remember everything that was on this plate. I'm such a bitch when it comes to headaches b/c I think I've only had like 7 in my entire life. The leftmost was a housemade bologna, which tasted just like Boar's Head. There was a salami and a ham as well, don't remember the 4th meat. That white mound towards the right is a farmer's sausage, which was truly delicious, and strange in that it had the texture of a pate, but the taste was totally in sausage land. Melikes. Next to it was a Hunter sausage which was also great. It also came with an awesomely tart and salty pickle, as well as pickled onions and mustard.

The entrees were awesomex20, especially given the price. I got the burger, which has been getting a ton of hype, and Dyan got the strip steak, 12 oz. of dry aged beef adorned w/ a ridiculously cheap pricetag. Amazing!

Hanger steak, a perfect medium rare, nicely seared on the outside w/ a good crust. The crust was a little too salty for my tastes, but a ton of people like it that way so I can't really speak against. It came w/ a side of chimichurri sauce, strange given the European menu, but hey, gladly will I accept such a delicious sauce. Texture and quality of the steak was not up to par with what you'd get at a prime steakhouse, but the flavor was meaty, minerally, and altogether delicious.

They also have a ribeye on the menu (for 2 ppl min) that you can order by the ounce (minimum of 34 oz I think). This is what we'll try on our next visit; there will definitely be one.

So Good!!! 8 oz yet not unwieldy, the patty was oozing with juices and had a heavy, meaty flavor. So damn good. I really tend to favor fastfood style, thin pattied burgers (shake shack) much more than these big 'gourmet' ones, but the Prime Meats burger really has me reconsidering things. Topped (optionally) with gruyere, I found that the cheese wasn't even necessary, the meat was really that flavorful.

I'd say the bun is a little dense, but you do need a pretty heavy duty bun to handle the amount of meat. Go get it now.
Serious eats has a really good shot of the
burger here:
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/08/prime-meats-burger-review-brooklyn-nyc.html

In short, get your asses over to Prime Meats. They don't take reservations so be prepared to wait a bit, or head over early and enjoy a cocktail or 2. It's got a nice outdoor garden seating area as well, if you're so inclined. We'll be back for sure.

Bonus:
We also got a smaller portion of the Gruyere cheese Spaetzle, kind of like a german Mac n Cheese. Creamy and delicious, if you order the steak, I'd def. recommend this as a side.
Bonus 2:
We ordered too much food, definitely. I guess that just means there's alot on the menu to try though, right?/ butt Here's the house baked bread plate that you can order. Comes w/ apricot preserves and a generous pat of butter. The bread comes very thinly sliced, and is quite dense.

Prime Meats
465 Court St
www.frankspm.com

maine road trip (pt.1)

2009-08-05T13:38:00.001-04:00

road trip!!!!! nothing better than hitting the road to get away for a long weekend and maine was the perfect destination for jo and i. there are a bunch of towns along the main road that all have their own great array of food, shopping, scenery and a general laid back friendliness about the people. i guess maine's not your typical summer getaway, but it definitely has a lot to offer.

you could probably say that one of my favorite parts about traveling comes even before i'm actually en route. my favorite part is the anticipation that builds as i scour all resources to come up with an itinerary. not to say i always stick to it, because the great thing about traveling is the room to be spontaneous and go off course to discover something yet untold, however it's always good to be prepared, just in case you get stuck in a rut or if only to familiarize yourself with the destination. i could get paid to do this kinda stuff. i lurv it.

of course, the first list i compile is a list of good eats. this list was drawn up after meticulously combing through blogs and boards, even before we had made hotel reservations. a friend commented that "at least you'll be full, even if it means you'll be sleeping in your car" so true. we have our priorities straight. oh, and jo's coworkers thought i was a little crazy when they saw my list. iiii think the list is beautiful. hehe

our first meal in maine was at barnacle billy's in perkins cove. no doubt about it, we were going to try their lobster roll.

the only other time i had a lobster roll was... i can't recall; that's how long it's been. and i'm not the hugest fan of lobster, but people have convinced me that it's because i just haven't had really good lobster. i mean, i enjoy it in stuff, but never really thought it's rubbery texture dipped in butter when it's steamed was all the rage. but this lobster roll? this was lobster schooling me. chunks, and i mean big juicy yet firm chunks, of meat that hadn't been tampered with much. minimal mayo and celery and just enough seasoning to bring out the natural flavors. the bun's important too, and in this case, it was sort of like a thick slice of a loaf, toasted and molded into a convenient little boat.

look at the chunks of lobster! you kind of have to savor it though, cuz lobster rolls are pretty darn small. lucky me, i'm a slow eater.

the scenery is gorgeous. loads of boats suiting up for a sunset sail.

the cluster of shops where i found....

chocolate covered gummy bears! i've heard loads about it but never was able to locate any. ooo they were so yummy.. and i don't even like gummy bears much! except the orange ones. be my gummy bear partner! meaning eat all the colors i don't like hehe

barnacle billy's: 50-70 Perkins Cove Rd, Ogunquit, ME 03907

be right back

2009-08-03T13:34:00.003-04:00

apologies for the lack of posts recently. jumbo's still in vegas for a bachelor party (last time we spoke he was neither wed to some hooker named jade nor tangling with tyson's tiger*, so i think we're ok for now) and i just got back from a roadtrip to maine. definitely lots to update with and will do so shortly.

i'm still stuffed and my friend and i have officially placed lobster on our temporarily-do-not-eat list. too much of a great thing... can make you roll around the parking lot ground moaning in pain. maybe it's time my appetite knows some bounds.

see you soon!

*hangover (which, btw, was an entertaining movie for sure but not the hilarity i was expecting)

the real deal

2009-07-21T00:17:00.002-04:00

awhile back, i expressed my outrage at how it's become acceptable to charge upward into $7 for a vietnamese sandwich, also known as banh mi's. it was at num pang where i had a tiny sandwich scantily "stuffed" with ingredients that were surely of quality but, as a whole, defeated the whole idea of a banh mi for me, which is cheap and delicious. unfortunately, the tastiness was greatly overshadowed by my distaste at the "gentrification" of the sandwich.

and so i longed for the day when i'd be reunited with the banh mi that i'd come to love during my brief residency in the city a couple of years back in the les. i promised a doubtful james that this true banh mi was a whole foot long, stuffed abundantly, delicious, and dirt cheap to boot. but unfortunately, they've always run out of sandwiches by the time i get out of work and the guy there always tells me to call ahead.. but the thought to call ahead for a sandwich never really crosses my mind. this is where my friend jo came to the rescue! friday, we undertook a huge shopping expedition and she was doll enough to pick up a banh mi from banh mi saigon bakery for me, since she works right near it.

she got me the banh mi pork, spicy. can you please look at the abundance of ingredients present in this sandwich?? plenty of roasted pork (the sweetness develops into something rich as you chew), pate, pickled carrots, daikon, onions and cucumbers add a fresh crunch, cilantro and jalepenos, for the unmistakable flavors they each bring... all assembled in a baguette type bread slathered with some mayo mixture. this is, definitely, a party in your mouth. and for just $3.75 (it used to be even cheaper!), it definitely beats a $5 footlong from subway anyday. i wish it was closer to my workplace. i could eat this everyday.

oh btw, this sandwich shop is located in the back of a jewelry store, so don't get confused.

in the midst of shopping, we decided to take a break at forty carrots in bloomies since jo had never tried their frozen yogurt before. she got the original with honey, blueberries and sprinkles. she thought it was "dericious". the honey WAS very tasty with it. personally, i'm not too much a fan of forty carrots because, despite being froyo, it's really too heavy for me. it almost has the richness and consistency of a frozen custard, which i love, but if they're going to call it frozen yogurt... something about that irks me. i have never seen so many elderly women enjoying their mountains of froyo ever so slowly.

banh mi saigon bakery: 138 mott st, new york, ny 10013

forty carrots (bloomingdale's): 1000 3rd ave, new york, ny 10022

archive digging

2009-07-17T10:31:00.005-04:00

there might be quite a few of these "archive digging" posts coming up since we seem to have run low on new material. hope they're just as entertaining! :)

around april, i met up with my hunter girls for dinner at spunto. the six of us used to dorm together sophomore year... those were some of the best times. i just got an overwhelming wave of nostalgia and hallucinated i was back in our suite... mmm. hehe

started with the arugula & bocconcini salad and endive & walnut salad. both used fresh ingredients and were seasoned well but i mean, they're starter salads, what more could you really say about them. i favored the endive salad a little more since it had a lot more "stuff" going on.

yay for meat and so we have here the meat lover's pie with pepperoni, andouille sausage, and sweet italian sausage. what's impressive is that all these ingredients sit atop a razor thin crust and yet, the crust somehow holds. it's not soggy nor does it sag under the weight of all the heavy sauce, cheese and additionals. like i previously mentioned in past entries, i'm not too ocd about my crust, but i'm definitely starting to appreciate when a crust can hold its own. especially when it so agreeingly accompanies my focus, the toppings.

omg, the big pineapple pie is freaking delicious. wow. definitely not your average hawaiian pie. the flavors of the pineapple and bacon were so present and the fresh basil really helped to enhance all the flavors. once again, bacon ftw. must try ordering pineapple and bacon topping, instead of ham, next time.

the shroomtown is one of spunto's classics and is generously topped with portobello, shitake, button mushrooms and white truffle oil. again, the use of fresh ingredients is really what makes this pizza parlor stand out from many others. the earthiness of the mushrooms is delicious, and they're still so juicy and have a bite to them.

look how thin the crust is!

and then some desserts, which weren't exceptional, but they served their purpose to rounding out a very nice meal. we had the chocolate brownie a la mode, rum raisin and tahitian vanilla ice cream, and bread pudding with bourbon sauce.

sorry it took months to finally post you girls! but here you are :)

spunto: 65 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014

I HAVE A TREMENDOUS CRAVING

2009-07-16T23:22:00.003-04:00

MAYBE THE MOST DELICIOUS OF THEM ALL??
and isn't it funny that pizza hut can possess a distinct craving all on its own? is it that far gone from the standard ny style pizza? yes. oily, puffy, crusts, generic mozzarella. mmmmm. i moved literally .5 miles away and suddenly i'm no longer in the pizza hut delivery zone. there cannot be a worse fate in life.

small update

2009-07-14T01:02:00.002-04:00

wtf is that? little crabs? the one on the right = o____o

Why yes. Yes they are. I recall seeing them on a random blog a while ago, and to my great delight, happened upon them the other day in the local (korean) grocery!

terrific packaging, neat 'look' to this, and small bite size crabs all lead to a food fun factor only maybe rivaled by dunkaroos or gummy vitamins.

How do they taste? Not particularly great. Quick googling tells me these are a snack eaten in japan, mainly while drinking. I guess like beer nuts or pretzels to us. But miniscule crabs. Taste very similar to dried squid, if you've ever had, and leave a gritty sandy feeling in your mouth. Nice crunch though.

and there you have it. little ass crabs.

all the way to new haven for pizza?

2009-07-09T01:59:00.003-04:00

Why yes, of course! A few days ago the gf and I took a relatively short drive up the I-95 to New Haven, home of a few famous pizzerias, including Frank Pepe's, which we were lucky enough to experience. Fantastic pizza, I must say. Previously not being a huge fan of these old world style, coal oven pizzas like at Lombardis or Grimaldis, I didn't have my hopes up.
No missing this place. Apparently they've been using the same oven this entire time, since 1925 as you can see. The place was packed on a Monday afternoon at 2pm. This says quite a great deal in itself.

We ordered 2 pies. (they come in small medium large, 1 medium or 2 smalls is definitely enough to sate 2 with a standard appetite. of course we ordered 2 mediums, which is kind of like ordering 2 regular large pies at any standard NY pizza place)

Anyways, this is the original w/ mozzarella. If you order w/out, it's just sauce and some parmesan. The irregular oblong shape really helps to give this a gourmet, homemade feel. Nice blistering on the cheese and crust.
Looks amazing, doesn't it? It tasted amazing too. The sauce was super fresh and cut through the cheese and coal charred crust. The parmesan mixed in w/ the mozz was a welcome addition, as it added the right amount of saltiness.

The crust was chewy and salty, overall great. My only gripe would be that, and as with all coal oven pizzas, there are some parts that are just unedible, overly charred and burnt.
Frank Pepe's is really known for their white clam pie. DEFINITELY did not disappoint. You can order any of these pies with all the standard toppings one is accustomed to, but this was about the clam and the garlic, nothing more nothing less. The group a table over ordered the same pie with bacon as well, which I'm sure is delicious, but we couldn't order that on the first go around!

Amazing. Fresh fresh chunks of clam in a garlicky, somewhat creamy white 'sauce' that is not very prevalent on the finished pie, but lends flavor nonetheless. There are some roasted garlic chunks spread throughout as well.
You don't love food if you're not salivating at this pic.
Washed down w/ some refreshing root beer. These pies are on the greasy side, so some carbonation is certainly needed. If you ever find yourself in Connecticut or New Haven, definitely check it out. And get a pie to go post meal. You won't regret it.

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
157 Wooster Street
New Haven, CT

it's alive!

2009-06-25T00:53:00.000-04:00

driving back and forth between ny and nj has become somewhat "normal" for me since our family moved to the garden state.. way central state. amongst the many things i miss from my home state is the food. not that jersey doesn't have great food, because it does. if one can wade through the zillions of chain restaurants (i swear within a 10 mile radius of me, you can find just about any one), you can come across something that's a pure, original, and homegrown, although i haven't been around long enough to really become attached to any foods here. when a craving hits me, it's always with a forlorn sigh because the source to satisfy is about an hour or so away.

for my parents' wedding anniversary this past week we went for sushi.. in queens. while it's not uncommon for us to drive the distance for a meal, add in friday mid-afternoon traffic, and we had ourselves a nice long 2 hour drive over. i know. the food better be freaking worth it, right? well, it is. this is about the only place my parents will go for their sashimi fix because it's really the freshest you can get. add in the fact that it's sushi + korean, and you get more side dishes than you've ever seen. plus, my dad goes so often that whatever additionals we wanted were just thrown in. niiiiice. below is just one portion of the huge spread; lobster, octopus, platter with sashimi of all sorts, and a lot of funky sea urchin type things that my mom particularly loves.

but the real reason i'm excitedly posting this meal is because of the surprise dish we were given... live, squirming octopus!! i've always heard about how delicious it is to eat fresh live squid with hot red chili paste on the shores of korea, but unfortunately have never got to try. until now! surprisingly, it wasn't as suction-y in my mouth as i had thought it would be. the octopus did cling a little, but i made a point to chew vigorously once i threw it in. the texture was completely addictive. this dish really have much flavor on its own, which caught me by surprise since i have a pretty traumatic experience when it comes to cooked octopus tasting like rubber. it has to do with big batches of huge octopus + ketchup + my mom's iron will to make me eat a batch every night to make my eyes better. hey, maybe that's why i hate ketchup. anyway, live squid/octopus is definitely something you want to give a shot.

excuse the incessant poking. i only thought to film a few minutes after they brought this to the table so my brother was trying to show that they were indeed alive still.

pado sushi: 17153 46th ave, flushing, ny 11358

calexico is awesome(ico)!!

2009-06-22T23:18:00.002-04:00

hi dudes, long time! dyan definitely picked up the slack during my little hiatus. pure laziness, friends. but that's summer for you.

anyways, recently we went to the delicious Calexico cart in Soho, winner of this past year's Vendy Awards, basically the oscars for delicious street foods in and around the city. Must go to next years event, all the nominated carts show up and it's an explosion of street food glory. There are 2 carts in soho, one on Wooster and Prince, the other on Broadway at Broome. I think they're both pretty much the same, owned and operated by the same dudes.

I had my doubts at first. How good could this cart be, run by a bunch of hipster looking dudes, with a huge crowd of young faux 19 year old hipster kids waiting?
We place our orders and loiter around for the rather longish wait. Note my intense unhappiness here, despite wearing what is the most comfortable shirt of all time here (it really is i swear)

Food cooking. Hopes rising, rising...

Good lord, this is fantastic! Here's the carne asada burrito. Grilled Hanger steak, black beans, rice, pico de gallo, cheese, and avocado cream. I'm very appreciative of the cut of meet they chose, hanger steak is a personal fave (though nothing tops King Ribeye). Appreciatively large as well. Enough to fill a well apportioned man such as myself!
Little dyan got the chipotle pork burrito. Even better! Amazing! Top 3 lifetime burrito, Calexico cart huzzah! Pulled pork marinated in a chipotle sauce, rice, beans, onions, and guaca. Soft chewy tortilla that held up to the heft and moisture was a notable plus. Good amount of meat, rather than secondary ingredients, and extremely tender and well marinated. Just very very good. Go get it!

And there you have it. Calexico cart, in the words of Homer, 7 thumbs up!

hearty italian fare

2009-06-18T12:16:00.001-04:00

so, we went to this new italian restaurant and the food was delicious, service was attentive, atmosphere was homey.. what a killer find! it was called...

casa de james! haha corny. i'm so lucky to have a guy who loves cooking and is hecka awesome at it. he's always throwing stuff together to make something delicious. definitely one of the reasons i knew he'd be a good fit for me; always keep this belly full.

above, he made some sort of meat/sausage sauce with ricotta and mozz. it was a chunky and hearty sauce and one of those where you can definitely taste the work that was put into it. the sweetness of the ricotta and the gooey saltiness of the mozz melting between the spaghetti topped it off. too bad we couldn't find the wine opener.

james would like you to please note the extra attention paid to presentation. hahah it's not always his forte but i'd say he did a pretty good job here. highly amusing.

veloce pizzeria

2009-06-11T14:06:00.005-04:00

although, if i could only choose one, i'd probably consider myself more of a beer gal, i do still love my wine and i'm ever hoping and trying to expand the little knowledge i have of its kind. so when a friend invited me to join in her man's, who just happens to be a sommelier, opening of a wine bar, i was all for it. as an added bonus, the bar serves up sicilian pies, which just happens to be one of my favorite kinds.

the place is unmistakeably a pizzeria, what with its red checkered tablecloths, but also reminds you that wine is a key player as well.. reflected heavily in the decor.

for starters, the frittura di herbette was an assortment of battered and fried sage, basil, parsley and onions. for once, the herbs served as the star instead of a garnish, and i definitely would deem it a success. the batter was light and crisp and when bitten, both the pungent smell and flavors hit you. they're quite addictive to pick at.

the margherita was standard, with it's tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil.. which is a good thing. the crust was a slightly chewy and its presence more apparent than other sicilians i've had before. let me explain and also, let me mention that i'm not quite sure what a "real" sicilian slice should taste like. the only one's i've had are at the local pizzerias, where sicilians are usually a piece of thick fluffy dough topped heavily with some sort of topping. crust is hardly apparent. my teeth just sink in from top to bottom of thick, fluffy dough. which i love and have come to associate with "sicilian" slices. so veloce's pizza took me slightly by surprise, but maybe it's the way it's supposed to be. there wasn't as much dough in between the crust and toppings.

mushrooms are definitely one of my favorite vegetables but to my bewilderment, i've recently been discovering that a lot of people actually loathe the pretty little things. what the... but... they're so good. sigh. there are many things i cannot fathom. funghi pie, with its sauteed oyster mushrooms, mozz and thyme was really so good. the fact that they used oyster mushrooms made a huge difference as it's a much earthier and meatier mushroom, so it in no way got lost amongst all the other ingredients. the shrooms were tender and yet still upheld their bite. i totally wanted to fight over the last slice.

sausage just goes well on pizza. i liked the salsiccia with sausage, garlic, ragu and mozz. the flavors were all there, except i wasn't too keen on how the crust got a soggy towards the center where all the juices had collected. it made for a weird crust and dough separation and the toppings kind of slid around.

it's fun that the kitchen is wide open to the restaurant so you can peep in, although i'm not sure if the chef would appreciate you in his domain. but you can definitely enjoy the graffiti adorning the walls, including that lady in the back door with newspaper strategically taped.. somewhere.

lots of wine (four bottles... i think) was enjoyed with our slices. it was nice not having to worry about choosing the wrong wine as they were brought to us by a guy who obviously knew his reds from whites, and so forth. me, i'm just lost.

but then i cracked and had to do it. i know the wine is flowing and plentiful right now, but can i get some beer, please? i think my friend agreed... look at how she's grabbing for them with the quickness. haha

ps: thanks to the folks at serious eats for featuring us on our public fare review!

veloce pizzeria: 103 1st ave, new york, ny 10003

public fare

2009-06-09T00:14:00.007-04:00

when you venture up to the great lawn in central park, you usually do so under promising skies of blue.. or else, what's the point? well, despite the 50% chance of rain today, we went because when danny meyer makes a venture of his own, you follow suit. public fare at the delacorte theater had it's soft opening today and thanks again to my buddy lisa, we got to sample the goods! public fare opened on the premise of being a concession stand with simple yet well prepared food that can easily be enjoyed outdoors.

the blt was delicious. made up of benton's hickory smoked bacon, tomatoes, bibb lettuce, black pepper mayo on tom cat sourdough.. it was, perhaps, the best i've ever had of its kind. and i don't even like half of the ingredients that usually go into a blt in my sandwiches! haha i usually shy away from tomatoes because of its sogginess and lettuce, never think it adds much. but this blt was perfection!!

i think james moaned when he ate this one. surprising, since it doesn't even have meat in it. roasted tomato, zucchini, riccota on toasted sullivan street stecca. it was truly divine. it tasted so fresh and the flavors were so clean. totally going to try and recreate this one.

sugar snap peas, asparagus, arugula with pecorino, lemon and mint looked and tasted like spring. perfect accompaniment.

the organic chicken salad with green beans, radish and arugula on tom cat white was disappointing, namely because of the bread. the bread had the texture of cardboard and there was way too much of it compared to the fillings. overall, it was a dry and bland.

root beer floats are always a hit.

clockwise, starting with the whoopie pie, which was so fluffy and yummy; the banana chocolate chew did not win us over, mostly because it somehow tasted like a oatmeal raisin cookie and we are not fans of raisins at all; the pb&j cookie was pretty tasty with its jelly filling and sandy peanut butter outside; the marshmallow toffee chocolate cookie was my favorite.. so delicious with lots of interesting things going on in it without being overwhelmingly sweet.

gelato from il laboratorio del gelato in espresso and strawberry. the flavors were concentrated enough with the espresso being rightly bitter and the strawberry tasted of fresh fruit, but the gelato lacked somewhere in the texture category. texture of gelato is kind of a big deal, at least i think so.

a great selection of wine to be had..

of course i obliged many times over. it all sits soothingly yet uneasily in my system right now.. is it really only monday still? -_-

it's great that the public fare is located right near the great lawn so that not only can you enjoy its offerrings if you're lucky enough to score tickets to shakespeare in the park, but all their goods are perfect for picnics on the lawn.. which is exactly what we decided to do since the weather was holding up nicely. we laid out on the grass and watched softball while continuing to feast on organic strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar.. oh mannn get ready to eat all your fruit this summer this way. mouth watering.

the perfect summer night. unexpectedly. this is why i love this city.

public fare: central park west, new york, ny 10024

summer eatin

2009-06-01T00:26:00.003-04:00

finally back in action! just got the internet in my new place, much much more content to follow, we promise.

this past weekend, young dyan and i came across, amazingly, this small seaside seafood shack on our way to the beach, akin to the type you'd find somewhere in New England, or Maine. You know the type, right on the water, small little take out stand with some outdoor benches and wooden tables. Fresh seafood caught locally from their 3 boats. Really, a treat from an area sorely lacking in this type of fare.

Me and my purse about to order.

Fried clam strips. Admittedly, most of the fried clam strips I've eaten in my life have come from white castle (not that I'm knocking that, it's freaking delicious you should all go get some). The difference here is that you can absolutely taste the freshness, creamy and slightly chewy to the bite. The batter was pleasantly sweet and didn't taste like old oil.

Fried tilapia sandwich. Flaky and moist, crispy and lightly battered. Squeeze some lemon wedges onto that puppy and slather it with the tartar, and what you have is something that literally makes you feel like you're eating summer. Shake on the old bay too. Never ignore the old bay with your sea food.

This is one of my favorite pictures, despite the slight blurriness. Still not even close to mastering this new camera we have. Soft shell crab leg, Dipped in tartar, then dipped in old bay. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BITES OF ANYTHING YOU COULD EVER ASK FOR!!!!!!!!!!!

Soft shell crabs. I'm actually getting hungry looking at these pics. Mouth salivating slightly. Suddenly this pear I'm currently eating looks like a big pile of doodoo in my hand. The important thing here is that the batter is only lightly covering the crab and not at all overbearing; it really lets the sweetness and "seafoody" flavor of the crab shine through. Don't be crazy, eat the entire thing, it's all delicious.

Tall, refreshing sam adams to wash it all down. look at that super happy expression. geez.

Pt. Lookout Clam Bar
98 Bayside Drive, Pt. Lookout

ps: crabbing season is coming up. very very excited to catch us some crabs, somewhat excited to try some creative new crab recipes. Follow up blogs, of course, will follow.

testing, testing

2009-05-24T23:58:00.001-04:00

profuse apologies for the lack of posts recently.. but here i am to make it up to you with pictures courtesy of the new camera. finally! still so much to learn but if this if how beautiful pics will look even with my initial zero technical knowledge, i'm pumped.

my fave thing to order at ihop is the stuffed french toast. look how prettily it sits there. it might be sugar overload for most, but paired with some sausage links, it's just right for me.

look how all the little blueberries glisten.

macarons from macarOn cafe. sorry to say i don't remember every flavor, but the noteworthy ones were the pear brandy, almond, and lychee/rose.. even though james hated that one because of the overpowering rose/flower flavoring, which i didn't mind so much. aren't the colors nice? the visual appeal of macarons really does half the work.

okay, this image i threw in here even though it doesn't exactly speak volumes about the new toy's abilities because it's one of my favorite chinese desserts. it's a mystery because i can hardly ever find a place that sells it, let alone ppl that know of it. most of my chinese friends have no idea what i'm talking about when i describe it as taro tapioca pudding. so imagine my delight when i found that harvest buffet in great neck still has it! my friend's mom used to make it for me and was supposed to teach me how to but we never got around to it... must do so! it's usually served warm. it's so delicious.

one of the best complimentary breads/butter offered at a chain restaurant are the sweet buns and whipped cinnamon butter at texas roadhouse. during undergrad we used to purposely ask for extra near the end of our meal so we could pack them to go. hey, leftovers are essential for broke but hungry students.

i finally got to have my prime rib at texas!!! this is monumental because the last 3 times i attempted to get this, i had failed. it's weird because i don't ever order prime rib anywhere else, not really because texas' is superior, but because it never appeals to me on the menu. but somehow, i've developed a fondness for the prime rib here. it's so juicy and tender. texas chili is awesome too.

that was a darn great ribeye.

hot subs at bg's... i wonder how many i've eaten during those four years. definitely enough to pack on freshman 20 or so the first year. above is the great western, which houses roast beef, cheddar on garlic bread with all the add on's you can think of. for me that means bacon, lots of olives, pickles, onion, honey mustard and some lettuce.

if at this point you're wondering how i'm magically reminiscing about undergrad eatings with new pics, it's because we paid a visit to the alma mater with friends for graduation weekend. jumbo and i mostly went to eat, not going to lie about that one. haha

delicious wingdings from kennedy's!!! i really wish i didn't have to drive 3 hours to get me some. omg, it kicks chicken and rice's ass in the late night awesomely greasy foods category.

and this hot sauce makes it even better. one of my favorites hot sauces.. i wish i had saved the extra packets :(

honey mustard chicken pizza from nirchi's. so good and cheap and loaded. spinach pizza was okay. the guys ate about a few handfuls more but pics are a bit too shabby.

still my favorite boba! i'm sad i couldn't recall my regular favorite. damnit! anyway, taro is always good too. taro with pudding and a little tapioca.

ihop: 1586 northern blvd, manhasset, ny 11030

macarOn cafe: 161 west 36th st, new york, ny 10018

harvest buffet: 14 northern blvd, great neck, ny 11021

texas roadhouse: 4399 vestal pkwy e, vestal, ny 13850

bg's pizzeria and grill: 1101 bunn hill rd, vestal, ny 13850

kennedy fried chicken: 159 main st, binghamton, ny 13905

nirchi's pizza: 3916 vestal pkwy e, vestal, ny 13850

k&k's the old teahouse: 1101 bunn hill rd, vestal, ny 13850

phew... that was a lot of linking.

sun? warmth? thank God!

2009-05-11T17:20:00.000-04:00

in new york, when beautiful weather finally decides to free us from the bitter winter binds, we all generally have two thoughts: a) descend upon any greenery in the city, usually central park b) um, is it wrong to enjoy a midday brewski outdoors? mm that sort of weather is to be relished because weather here is crazy and following such an amazing week of sunshine is a week like last, where it's wet and dreary. gahd, so typical, ny.

have you ever gone row boating in central park?? if not, have you ever laughed at others rowing and thought to yourself 'man, that's cheesy'? i have -_- but upon insistence, we decided to give it a go and... hey, it's actually really fun!!

him: pumping it like a pro. me: spinning us in circles like a noob.

haha these turtles were funny and super ungraceful. they kept falling off the rocks and sliding into the water.

treats from black hound bakery to be had on the boat. on left is some black and white cake... might be flourless? i don't remember, but it was super creamy and buttery. delicious. on right is the pear almond cake which was composed of layers of almond cake alternating with cream and poached pears, topped off with buttercream and honey toasted almonds. both were super decadent.

fyi, above are still pics from old camera -_-

black hound bakery: 170 2nd Ave # B, New York, NY 10003

prune and the long awaited bone marrow

2009-05-04T17:15:00.004-04:00

the boy took me to prune for an early birthday dinner. i've been wanting to go for a long time now but never seemed to actually trouble myself with a visit. maybe it was the assurance that it would be there long after other establishments have come and gone. anthony bourdain claimed it was a popular place for chefs to go after their shifts. a place where chefs entrust their appetites? sure, i'm there. as a matter of fact, the table next to us (and by next to us i mean literally 2 inches from us... this restaurant is teeny tiny) housed two chefs? cooks? they definitely worked in a kitchen somewhere. but most importantly, we finally got to try bone marrow!!! oh, and snails.

this dish is freaking delicious. it's just how i imagined it would be and probably how you'd imagine it would taste too. roasted marrow bones with sea salt and toast is extremely rich but so good that i could eat about three orders of this, i think. the parsley salad helped cut through the richness. james was a little sad that i somehow got the best one, since it provided endless gloppy goodness whilst his yielded a little less. hey, it's my day!

the artichoke with snail and terragon butter was my brave attempt at snails but alas, none needed. the snails came out without their shells and certainly without their little tentacles, frankly they didn't look disgusting at all and didn't really have a unique flavor to boot. i did very much like the artichokes though. they were buttery and tender.

since we were full off of eating all day we shared an entree. the poussin with spring vegetables, parsley dumplings and liver stuffing was disappointing. poussin is basically a baby chicken. it was just a very dull dish. better luck next time.

in the end, bone marrow saved the day! there were a couple of other dishes i wanted to try and also brunch is supposed to be great, so another visit it definitely warranted. the space is really enchanting, though tiny.

i am way behind on my postings. material from weeks, even months, ago are just sitting in folders but then all this new stuff comes along and, well, they'll probably never see the light of day. ohz wellz. maybe some particularly bleak eating days will call for it. as for now, forward and on! also, exciting news: i got a dslr! the nikon d60, to be exact. it is awesome. the pictures above are definitely pre-dslr... shame to have taken such poor pictures of such lovely food. hopefully postings from here on in will showcase much more vivid images (minus the aforementioned backed up material. sorries!). i gave it a test run photographing some food this past weekend and it truly makes everything look 10x more delicious. exciting!

prune: 54 E 1st St, New York, NY 10003

streetcart lunching from the david chang/momofuku crew

2009-04-30T00:56:00.006-04:00

3 universally awesome things:
1) street cart food
2) free food
3) dave chang/momofuku

Now put all 3 together! So about a month ago, Dyan won this contest running on nbc.com to win a free lunch cooked by David Chang and his crew on some streetcart grills. You might've seen some of the flyers posted up around town the past few weeks. Needless to say, a pretty exciting moment for 2 foodlovers like us. You can check out some pics of the event here, held for something like 150-200 ppl, or just scroll down.

We headed to the "secret location" emailed to us that morning (Corner of Lafayette and Houston) all prepared to chow down.
Scene when we arrived. To top it off, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, the first truly nice day of the year.
The menu handed out to us. You could choose one of these options, or the "dealer's choice", one of 3 mystery platters doled out by these guys. These options turned out to be lobster and grits w/ ham chips and scallions (when the hell would you ever get lobster on a streetcart!), a duck pate type of thing served in a mason jar with a poached egg I believe, and the last was a lamb dish w/ yogurt sauce, beets and veggie that I wasn't sure of. (not too big of a vegetable guy, why bother unless I can't poo). Unfortunately, we arrived at the scene about midway through and by then the lobster and duck were all out. Damnit. Of course the lobster and duck would go first!
Dyan got the lamb dish. Incredibly tender and moist, w/ soft flavorful fat laced throughout. It was a pretty sizable chunk too, a nice surprise given that all these dishes were served out of cardboard boxes sort of like the type you get at wholefoods. Dyan primarily ate most of this, so i'll let her describe the flavor profile.
Unwillingly, I ordered the chicken. Wtf, order chicken when there's a pork option you say? Here me out, asshole! The pork choice included a roast pork bun just like the type you can get at ssam bar. But that was the ONLY pork in that whole platter. The main entree was "rice cakes" in mirin and chili paste, aka ddukbokki to you koreans. A staple in korean cuisine, and something we've both definitely eaten about 1000x. It didn't particularly look like any special version of it, either. Most ppl who ordered it around us honestly didn't seem to be enjoying theirs very much to boot.

But honestly, who can complain about chicken wings. And they gave me around a dozen wings or so, definitely nothing to sneeze at. The wings were smoked and flavored in mirin, garlic, chilis, and what tasted like sesame oil. This is a very specific disappointment, but it tasted just like the chicken my mom made for me at home growing up. It's delicious in a subdued kind of way, but I was expecting something beyond a quasi korean lunch.

Here's the chicken bun it also came with. Cooked kind of like peking duck, complete w/ the scallions and hoisin sauce in the pancake. Crispy and flavorful. My favorite part of the meal. The platter also came w/ some rice fries, just filler IMO.
Dudes at work.
us w/ the dude behind the empire. surprised at how large of a man he was!
Meal topped off w/ some ultra smooth "original donut" flavored softserve sprinkled w/ cinnamon sugar. This can currently be found in milk bar, along w/ some other donut flavored soft serves. I'd recommend trying this if you're in the area. It's startling how spot on they get some of the flavors.

PS: Saw this on seriouseats.com today (one of our favorite websites). The third picture, bottom right w/ the lady in the orange shirt, that is 1000% my arm reaching for a chocolate behind her, hahaha. I remember this orange shirted lady and a woman taking a picture. :P

day at the brooklyn flea

2009-04-21T00:05:00.006-04:00

this past Saturday young dyan and I took a nice little trip into the BK to check out the flea market. What with the gorgeous weather and the first Saturday of the year they had it outside, a nicer day could not have been had. Our mission held multiple objectives:
She was looking for random pretty trinkets and accessories on the cheap
I was looking for random interesting pieces I could decorate my new apartment with
And of course, the delicious food offerings from local small vendors, especially the Mexican ones!

But first, we started the day with a nice little breakfast at Sweet Melissa's Patisserie
Cute little shop. On the left is a little pick up and go counter for coffee/assorted goodies, and on the right a full on restaurant complete w/ back garden patio (which wasn't opening until a few hours after we had gotten there)
on a side note: I found an awesome walking stick/cane/pimp stick on the side of the street right next to the cafe, I like to think it made me look more hipsterish when I carried it around the market but really it was just good for my limp. great find.
I got me self a caramel banana cream pie. Not particularly great, but I appreciated the fact that it wasn't too sweet, and that the whipped cream had a nice density to it that most lack. Could've used some more banana flavor in it, or even some banana slices like in other pies of the type.

Dyan got herself a chocolate almond croissant and a honey chestnut madeleine. She enjoyed the croissant much more than I, it just wasn't flaky and buttery enough. It was in between stages of biscuit and croissant, but the flavor was right on.

Madeleine? More like BADaleine!! ha!! Alot harder/crispier than most, and not nearly as buttery as what you'd expect from one. But on a beautiful morning like this past saturday, who's complaining.

Dyan LOVES making maps and little informational packets for us when we go on these little trips. I don't understand for the life of me how she has so much fun making these things in preparation. You figure it out because I can't.

Generic image of the flea. A lot of the types of things you'd expect, from small local food vendors (pickles, local cheeses, little baked goods) to the vintage clothing/accessory/furniture stalls. Place all these things in hipster central and you have a pretty damn amusing day of people watching on top of perusing all the cool little tchotckes. That's pocahontas in front of us. Disney alive!!
This woulda looked swell in my new pad, but it was enormous and kind of unrealistically expensive.

Same with these mirrors, but we're convinced we can find cheaper elsewhere. Sneaky gnomes always popping into pictures, little bastard.

Las muchachas preparing Pupusas, grilled cornmeal cakes stuffed w/ goodies like cheese, jalapenos, pork, chicken, etc.
Here they are again, swimming in sour cream and a spicy salsa along w/ pickled onion and jalapenos. I was really excited to try these, as this stall had by far the longest food line and the fact that many a food blog rave about the authenticity of this dish and the fact that you can't really find it anywhere else in the city. You can have them for yourself at the red hook ballfields in the summer. Not overly flavorful, a little softer and mushier than I expected as well. Being griddled like that, you'd expect a nice crisp outside and soft innards, but it was really kind of just like a pancake, or flattened tamale. Maybe it's just because I hate tamales though. You're basically just eating cornmeal w/ stuff mixed in. meh.

The stall right next to the pupusas was the taco/huarache stall. Again, definitely authentic, SUPER DELICIOUS. I was raving about these all day. We had to go back for seconds they were so good. We got the pork belly both times, covered in guac, sour cream, lettuce tomato, pico de gallo, cheese and hot sauce. They fried their own tortillas on teh spot too. I don't eat very many tacos, but it's not a stretch for me to call these the best ones I've ever had.

I wish we had a better picture, but this is a huarache. Basically the same as the taco above but also coated with a layer of refried beans (not the gross kind you get at taco bell) along the tortilla. This was also pork; they had chicken, steak, and smoked sausage as well, but the pork was too damn good. Can't tell by the picture, but this thing is ENORMOUS and just really really tasty. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in trying.

Next to the taco stall were a few ladies selling some homemade mexican drinks. This is horchata. Not particularly sure what went into it exactly, but tasted like milk, cinnamon, sugar, and something else. Almost tasted like liquid rice pudding, as the GF put it. Very refreshing. They also had a tamarind drink (which is gross) and an appealing watermelon drink that we didn't get. Maybe next time. Everyone else seemed to be drinking it. But who can resist teh call of the horchata.

All in all, a nice day to spend out in the sun. Right near by is the brooklyn botanical garden that we were meaning to go to but didn't, and prospect park, where you can see many a hipster rolling and frolicking and getting surprisingly intense about playing pick up baseball and soccer. (i got woken up by my damn nap like 40 times by these a-holes being ultra competitive and yelling at each other)

Flea market is every saturday at Bishop Mclaughlin High School courtyard, barring weather.

Did anyone else immediately think of the dreaded planet of the apes when you see these things?

Sweet Melissa's Patisserie:

276 Court St Brooklyn, NY 11231

Brooklyn Flea Market:
http://www.brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/
Related:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/55983/

america's favorite pastimes (pt. 2)

2009-04-16T01:18:00.003-04:00

ok, i failed to mention in part 1 that we actually did have eating companions. this probably due to the fact that they ate like fairly normal folks while jumbotron and i did about 75% of the damage. anyways, we have a friend that works for the very people who are responsible for the food revolution occuring at citi field. her name is lisa. if you love food as much as we do, it's nice to know people like lisa. hooks it up, yo! my tummy greatly appreciates it. her and i recently won the iron chef competition at our church! (more on that later). needless to say, our friendship would fail if we didn't have food.. jay kay. but wait, no. it's true. think about it.. so would a lot of different relationships. food really is one of the great binding wonders of life. sorry. i like tangents. now back to the actual food...

so the girl struts her stuff and gains us entry to the delta sky360 club. supposedly this area, which houses a bar/lounge, "market", and restaurant, is only accessible to people with tickets on the premium field level. but yea, the food in part 1 was acquired from the market portion of this club.

above we tried all their signature cocktails. the orange one in the foreground is the tomat'ini, which was everyone's least favorite. it's comprised of fresh heirloom tomato puree, vodka, cherry tomato and basil. it tasted similar to a bloody mary but lighter; still quite salty however. going clockwise, the red is the strawberry rhubarb jam which had strawberry juice, rhubarb syrup, vodka, lemon juice, and mint. this one was delicious. i'm always curious to get anything that has rhubarb in it, but i'm still unsure as to what the actual flavor contribution is. next was the thyme lemonade, which was my favorite. i.. do not remember what was in it but it was damn good. it tasted like lemonade.. with thyme. sorry, i fail -_- oo and then the green one was the cucumber cooler. james hate hate hates cucumber (which i don't get because it doesn't really have a flavor to me) but even he slightly liked this drink. maybe? it was super refreshing.

it's a pretty classy looking bar and there's comfy lounge chairs surrounding. it's easy to forget you're at a sporting event.

a glimpse at the seasonal menu. nothing too crazy here. maybe they should change that. or maybe it plays into the whole comforting familiar foods thing but upscale. shrug.

the sullivan street bread had lisa excited reminiscing her former employer, but unfortunately the bread was a little off. i love it when butter is not at room temperature. i like to feel the bite.. it's almost like eating ice cream :p

pouring of the chilled sweet pea soup. nothing much to say about it really. it was good enough but a bit one dimensional in flavor. they do give you a hell of a lot of it though.

J: It comes in a vessel that after pouring they leave on the table for you to finish. It was enough to fill up 3 full bowls, I kid you not. That's alot of damn pea soup. Fresh tasting, and the creme fraiche had a nice density to it, only wish they gave a little more.

we all jumped to order the crab cakes but sadly it fell short of our expectations. finding good crab cakes is really quite a feat. don't you think? it's super rare to find one that's just like "whoa! sweet and juicy lumps of fresh crab meat exploding in my mouf!" i think i've only had that sensation twice.

J: Unmemorable, the meat was too shredded and indistinct within the patty, and it lacked that nice crabby, seafoody flavor. Disappointing! And so small!

you've seen this dish already in the previous post but since we liked it, we got it again. oh, but bonus! we found out what the mystery orange sauce was; red chili aioli.

the spicy chicken wings were standard.

the understanding was that the four of us would all try to order something different so that we could have a taste of everything. i got the roasted loin of pork with sauteed broccoli rabe and grain mustard sauce. i'd say pork is my choice meat. i loooove it. but i'm always hesitant to order it at restaurants for a reason that this place played right into. the meat was still rare at the center, which, although unacceptable, is better than it being overdone. the areas that were cooked were juicy and the dish overall was good.

J: The waiter said the pork had been slowcooked for 8 hours or so, yet it was still tough to a certain extent. I wasn't a huge fan of this one, but then again no one is as big a pork fan as Dyan.

of course everyone fights to get the steak. due to the limited selection james and christina both got the steak. it was described as grilled smoked steak. it tasted kind of like propane and the quality of meat was just bad. you know a dish is bad when james can only eat like two bites of it, especially when it's meat. that was super disappointing. i hope they upgrade that dish.

If you know me you'd know that I'll eat just about anything you put in front of me and find something good to say about it. This steak though, was honestly the worst steak I've ever had served to me in any restaurant. Poor quality of meat, very thin and cooked medium well when I had ordered rare. There was alot of unedible gristly fat in it as well, and maybe it was the fact that the cooking equipment is new in the kitchen, but the propane/gas flavor was really overwhelming. I really couldn't eat it.
lisa got the wild striped bass. i think she liked it. from what i sampled, it seemed pretty good.

dessert! give us one of each! the ricotta cheesecake was great. it was light and not that sweet, which i think the rest of my party appreciated.

key lime pie is always one of those things i forget if i've ever tried even though i've been to key west, so i must've sampled it then. anyway, let's just say this was my first time trying it and.. i loved it! deliciously tart and creamy and lemon-limey. i think i could have eaten a whole pie. makes me want to explore the realm more.

DELICIOUS!

i forget what the pastry part was exactly. i think it was a blondie? not sure. but the compote was strawberries and rhubarb, and obviously there's vanilla ice cream up top. it was alright. not really as special as it looks.

you can never go wrong with a brownie a la mode. i think i ate at least one of these a week during undergrad at the denny's right outside of our campus. whether it's at citi or at humble denny's, it's always the ultimate comfort.

so, i guess that concludes this visit. i hope you guys enjoyed our pretty extreme one day food ad-ven-chaa. baseball season has only just begun, so there are many many many long months ahead (as i count until the start of nfl) which only means many more visits to the ballpark. oh, in case you were wondering, i am a mets fan! haha jumbo made sure of that. i just get antsy thinking about how long the season is compared to football. but yea, there's still a lot of food that hasn't been eaten in this ballpark.. i'm excited to go back!!

america's favorite pastimes (pt. 1)

2009-04-15T00:44:00.006-04:00

the plural in pastimes connotes baseball and food, of course. and nowhere is this more gloriously celebrated than at the new home of the mets: citi field. gone are the neon lights, the echoing tower of blue walls, and the mets colored seats (sad). in its place is a pretty classy looking ballpark that celebrates baseball along with so much more, which makes it that much greater. jumbo will tell you more about it if he so chooses, but all i know is that it's meant to be ballpark more than a stadium (which is what shea was) and that the expansive and upgraded food selection will be my prime drawing factor and might possibly reignite, what was, a feigning interest in the sport after my discovering football. now time to focus on the food! we kind of outdid ourselves...

let's start with classic ballpark fare: italian sausages. back in the shea days, it was pretty much a given that james would get the sausage and peppers sandwich at every game, so it was no surprise this was the first thing he ordered. he approves. he says the sausages had crisp casings that snapped to the bite, but some were a little undercooked inside. it would have been more convenient and ballparky had they actually been offered in a bun instead of having a random slice of toast on the side.

one of my favorites was the shrimp roll. i was pleasantly surprised to find the roll stuffed pretty full with good sized shrimp. it was succulent and delicious and gone in about 3 bites.. my first bite, and then jumbo's monster bite that obliterates 2/3 of the roll and then i sigh and take the last bite. story of my life! -_-

more shrimp! there seems to be an abundance of seafood around the ballpark this time around. here we have fried shrimp and i apologize, but that's about all i can identify in this dish. i have no idea what the greens were, though they were also fried and delicious, and that bright orange sauce was a mystery to us all. again, these shrimp were meaty and fresh. nothing ever fails when it's fried. the strange orange sauce didn't add much to the dish, but i'm never one to turn down a sauce. yum!

before we continued on our artery clogging binge, we paused to consume something fresh: cobb salad. no skimping here. there were lots of all the necessary ingredients. i was a little turned off by the chicken because of its rubbery look and texture, but other than that, it was good. i'm just not sure who else would actually order a salad at a ballpark.

fresh pizza! you can actually watch them making the pies. the individual sizes are pretty big, or maybe it appeared that way after having eaten as much as we had thus far? the margherita with basil was... odd. it was super duper salty for some reason. we weren't sure if it was the sauce or the cheese but it was just no good.

the mushroom, sausage and mozzarella pie was much better. actually, it was pretty delicious and not at all salty. i'm not too picky about the crust, but i can see someone picking that apart and saying how it's not thin or crispy enough. me? i'll devour it just fine.

super highlight of this eating venture was the burger! droooool. ok, above it may look like your standard burger, but oh.. OH, it's SO much better. it's not the shack burger, which is of course also available in the ballpark if you're willing to wait in line a few innings (thank goodness for one of the greatest features of citifield: the open concourse level with clear views of the field), but this burger can definitely stand on its own. it was juicy and perfectly cooked. unfortunately, i only got to sample about 1/5 of it. yes, i calculated. especially when something is that good, jumbo needs to learn to share!

the ham, swiss and roasted asparagus panini with salt and vinegar potato chips were underwhelming. none of the flavors really came through and there was almost too much meat in the sandwich.

cookies! the chocolate chip cookie was yummy. do you see the huge pieces of chocolate throughout?! they're not quite chocolate chunks because they weren't hard and they seemed to be swirled into the batter which resulted in an unexpectedly delicious cookie at a ballpark. on the right is the "regular" cookie. no joke, that's what the man said when we asked what kind it was. haha he really had no idea. after taking a risk and ordering this plain cookie, a bite revealed it was a snickerdoodle.

cupcakes, yay. cupcakes with mets sprinkles and a baseball bat, double yay. doesn't rank on the best cupcake list but i'm just happy they offer cupcakes at a sports venue. plus, they're fun! the brownie was pretty standard too.

at this point, you're either proud of us or disgusted. hehe. whichever it may be, i hope all this is getting you super hyped to visit citi field. oh, and there's more... hence the part 1... i yam sorry if you're disgusted... we promise we enjoy every bite and hopefully that makes it better? part 2 to come shortly!

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Things that don't look like they taste good but do

2009-04-12T23:03:00.004-04:00

Yup, title says it all. Apologies all around for the lack of content recently, but we have some really neat things to share very soon. That being said, here we go!

1) chicken feet
Most people stay away from consuming the feet of any animal, let alone one with feet that look like this raw:
That's freaking sick. look at those nails, that wrinkly skin that strangely looks like it could belong on a geriatric. But clip the filthy nails off, add some delicious batter and you have something quite noteworthy to nibble on. You're eating pure skin and cartilage , and if you can get over the fact that it's a foot, quite tasty. And addictive to eat for the process, kind of like chewing and spitting out sunflower seeds. Bite off one of the toes, suck off the skin/cartilage and spit out the bone fragments. What if someone made bagged chicken feet that you could eat during a round of golf or a baseball game? I think I'd choose that over the sunflowers.

2)meatball
GF and I went to a dimsum place a little while back, and scrolling through the flickr pool, I noticed how unappetizing a few of these dishes looked, hence the direction of this post. Not to knock on the food, because it wasn't bad, not great, but pretty decent. It just looked terrible. Think about meatballs for a second (hah). A concept a 4 year old should've come up with, but now long established as a delicious protein rich treat flavored from the spices and other random oddities mixed in. Look at this one. It looks like it has some kind of gelatinous agent added, more scraps/odd ingredients than actual meat. Why are they pinkish/gray? No meat I know is that color. Regardless, moist and juicy, salty and rich. But something I'd never order If I didn't know about the virtues of meatballs.

3) alligator legs

Okay I've never actually eaten this, nor would I know how you cook it or what kind of dish even exists that calls for it. Alligator stew? I think they made that on top chef recently. Do you just hack off the meat and grill it? We stumbled across this just randomly perusing a market in chinatown. It only sells for 3.99/lb!!

I'll get one of 2 of these guys and prepare them over the summer, probably at a barbecue. The curiosity is driving me. Maybe they taste as bad as they look, who knows, but I'll squeeze it into the theme of this post for now.

4) curry
Who took a diarrhea doodoo in my bowl? It's ok though. I love me some curry!

oh, martha

2009-04-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

when i stepped into martha's country bakery, i was overwhelmed with something along the lines of envy. the newest joint to open on the block, martha's targets just about everybody.. from weary lirr commuters to the yuppies crawling the bar scene to the soccer moms to the lovey dovey couples. it's a sweet little place. i want one!

the endless selection of baked goods. the cafe station in the back is a sweet touch and there's plenty of booths and tables to the left.

jumbo chose the blueberry tart out of the many tempting fruit tarts they offer. i'm not usually too much a fan of pies and tarts but i definitely see it's visual appeal. they look so rustic and fresh.. with an open heart i was willing to give it a chance. sadly, this little tartlette fell short. the blueberry filling was coyingly sweet and gooey tasting when i expected the dark mass to contain more whole blueberries that would explode with every bite.

just as i ordered a red velvet cupcake, the last one was grabbed up for another customer. sad. so i perused the cupcake case for the next best choice. i was a little hesistant to even get one when i read on their board that their cupcakes were topped with fondant icing. ehhh i am not a fan of fondant. why anyone would use it outside of cake decorating, is a mystery to me. you can taste the sugar granuals and it's a harder consistency then say, buttercream.

nonetheless, i settled on a pistachio cupcake. it was just okay. i would have liked the pistachio flavor to be a little more present and i felt the cake was a little dry. not to mention, it was a bit on the smaller side.

to fill the red velvet cupcake void, we ordered the red velvet cheesecake. the cake was moist and the cheesecake creamy.. i guess there isn't much more you can ask for out of this product. or CAN i? i don't mind a creamy cheesecake, but i think it would've faired better had the cheesecake been a little more dense and if not that then at least the cream cheese frosting to have a stronger presense up top.

just to make it interesting, i got an egg cream since their menu said they actually incorporate a raw egg in it.. iiinteresting. honestly, i don't know what the egg is supposed to do because i didn't taste it at all. maybe it makes the drink slightly thicker or frothier? in the end it sort of just tasted like carbonated chocolate milk/soda.

ah, i'm being a hater. wait, no! i actually really wanted to like martha's because this is exactly the sort of place the area needed: a cozy bakery with ample seating that stayed open til late. despite the unimpressive first visit, i'll most probably be coming again because really, i only tried a tiny fraction of their offerrings. besides, a successful business venture is often based not on its products, but more so on its location, handy hours and atmosphere... all of which martha's is prime. and who knows? maybe one of those visits i'll find a dessert worth raving about.

martha's country bakery: 41-06 bell blvd, bayside, ny 11316

hot ass curry

2009-03-30T22:46:00.007-04:00

So finally, after weeks of delay a group of us loped on over to brick lane curry house, home of a dish with an unrivaled level of spiciness.
description from the restaurant website:

What is P'hall? An excruciatingly hot curry, more pain and sweat than flavor. For our customers who do this on a dare, we will require you to state a verbal disclaimer not holding us liable for any physical or emotional damage after eating this curry.

I feel like anyone who really considers themselves an aficionado of spice seem to have a certain level of masochism attached. How much of the spicy can I take? When will it hurt enough to make me want to stop? Oh man but the pain feels soo gooood. If you can relate, by all means take the challenge. Plus you get a certificate of achievement and a free beer if you finish!!!!!!!!
Here's floozy with some precautionary measures. We all took a shot of the pepto beforehand. Tums and Imodium just in case!
They gave us a small tasting bowl of the Phaal to sample before any of us ordered it. How nice of them to give us a precursor, and a chance to back out.
Let me just say beforehand, it tastes pretty horrible. Dish could best be described as ash/smokey flavor, with a hint of curry. That's pretty much it. You can't taste anything but the heat, and unfortunately for me, I couldn't taste anyone else's appetizing looking dishes with my taste buds melting off. Everyone had the good judgment to back off and order a sensibly appetizing dish. But the siren call of putting down a bowl of this stuff was too sexy to resist for me. At 20 bucks for a bowl w/ a meat ( i got lamb) it's essentially completely not worth it. 20 bucks for a bowl of undelicious. But who can put a price on personal achievement, right?

Anyways, here are some dishes that everyone else ordered. Unfortunately, I'm in a horrible position to have anything to say about what else was ordered, as I couldn't taste anything beyond fire in my mouth. So uh, they tasted like..curry. Blogger fail.
What a feast! Kudos to dyan for taking all the pics

Back to the challenge. Slowly but surely, I made my way through the dish. I think it helped that after a while I couldn't really taste anything, but just felt the heat singing my mouth, esophagus, and stomach as it moved through me innards. No pics during the process, but basically I was a hot sweaty mess. Hair falling down from the moisture sopping my brow and scalp, eyes glazing over. A little while after the meal was over I even developed some hives on my face that didn't go away until the next morning.

recommended strategy: let dish cool down first, then just start shovelling in as fast as you can. You won't get very far, but it's not something to let sit in your mouth to explore all the 'flavors'. Avoid rice, as this seems to just intensity everything. Something I realized only too late was that you should eat all the meat first, b/c at the end when it hurts to move your mouth, the last thing you want to do is chew large hunks of meat and spread the spiciness all through your mouth over and over again.

Success! Well worth it!

Yogurt/milk based items help fend off the flames, order the mango lassi, kind of like a delicoius yogurt smoothie.
3 rounds of red mango afterward also helped.

Overall, place is kinda pricey for what seemed to be pretty standard Indian fare. I'd say it's worth it only if you share a kindred passion for eating spicy ass stuff.

PS: You will suffer on the toilet the next day. Very much so.

Brick Lane Curry House

306 E 6th St, New York, NY 10003

banh mi, cambodian?

2009-03-22T22:45:00.010-04:00

what's the big deal with banh mi? why so popular now? i feel like this is something that could be on www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com any day now. some form of meat filling, carrots, cilantro, and other veggies on a baguette. Maybe i'm wrong, but it always just seemed like a quick bite, an afterthought for cheap satisfying eats when in chinatown.

that being said, friday night dyan and i slowly walked (damn leg brace) over to num pang, a cambodian banh mi joint that opened this weekend. a place just for banh mi? is that really enough?

Here's the catfish sandwich I ordered:

The catfish was marinated in a sweet soy sauce glaze, and was actually pretty tasty. Moist, lightly grilled and tender, just enough for the sauce to caramelize on the fish. A decent amount of meat for the size of the sandwich (leaning on the small side). On all the sandwiches were sliced cucumber, cilantro, carrots, and a chipotle mayo.

Here's the honey glazed grliled burdoc pork one. Moist and a little sweet, but not as flavorful as the catfish. It came in big chunks spread evenly on the bread. I'll admit the cilantro cucumber carrot trifecta are a great secondary flavor for these banh mi, but ultimately, it's just a sandwich. nothing remarkable. i really can't think of anything noteworthy to say. so again, what's the big deal? one additional note, the bread is pretty delicious. crispy and soft, hearty enough to support the innards.
Blood orange lemonade. Way too sweet, almost tasted like it was from concentrate. I get excited anytime I see anything blood orange on the menu, but ultimately, it just tastes like a regular orange. I dunno what i'm expecting, but the fact that it's called blood orange and looks like this makes me feel like it should be something way more than it is. look at that! blood! flesh!! juicy!!

we went to see I love you, man after. Ever go see a comedy in a packed theater where everyone laughs at every joke? does that make the movie seem alot funnier than it really is? Definitely an entertaining and funny movie, I just can't tell HOW funny being in that setting. We snuck in some oreos, m&m's, and nutter butters and a coconut popsicle that dyan ate. all delicious except for the nutter butter. who the heck likes nutter butters except for my gf?!?!!

in a short span of time, i developed an aversion to num pang. are they kidding me? ok, as james noted, the catfish was definitely tastily moist and the bread was fresh, but when the sandwich is merely the length of my palm and definitely at the pricier end for a bahn mi.. i'm rooting against the place. not to mention, they don't put nearly enough main meat and/or other ingredients within the sandwich so that really, it becomes an experience of how fluffy and yet crusty the bread is. hello! banh mi should be an explosion of fresh flavors in one's mouth. i've had banh mi a few times down in chinatown at nearly double the size (definitely might have even been a foot long) and for under $5, where as num pang will run you about $7. if they used exceedingly fresh and superior ingredients, num pang might even have a case, but no. they fall short. you obviously know who this place is geared towards. damnit, get this num pang out of here, i'm in extreme craving for the REAL deal! -d

Num Pang
21 E. 12th St., New York, NY 10003

i haz corned beef!

2009-03-20T00:54:00.001-04:00

growing up, my parents used to own a kosher deli, and so i have some unusual cravings for an asian american. i crave matzo balls in my chicken noodle soup when the weather gets cold. i appreciate a good pastrami piled high on rye (well, okay.. who doesn't?). on any given jewish holiday, i'll wonder if it's an appropriate time to fill my poppy hamantash cravings. my friends that date back that far will tell you that our deli had the best pickles ever. my parents used to pack me sandwiches from the deli and they were no puny affair; they'd be stacked high in meat and on funky breads, when, at the time, all i really wanted was a simple wonderbread pb&j. i couldn't even finish half my sandwich and i'd usually just throw it away. for some reason, it was so embarrassing at the time.. but now i get sad and embarrassed thinking back on it. also, i really crave and miss everything from our deli now.

so, i super went on a tangent there, but what i was getting at was this: come st. patrick's day, i salivate for corned beef and cabbage. i guess my mom does too, since every year on the holiday, she usually makes the stuff. but this year, sadly, she did not because my grandparents came to visit and therefore lots of korean food was made in its stead. i was really sad and i wasn't sure if i could trust just any ol' pub to make it the same. so the holiday was over and i was pretty much going to put it behind me, when.. jumbo presented me with a bag that weighed about a ton when we met up after work. "what?! you made me corned beef??? whaaat?"

yessuh! a big bucket full of everything i've been craving for days. a big bucket full of labor and lovin. overjoyed! so there, in the middle of the whole foods food court, i feasted. the meat was juicy and just fatty enough. the vegetables were done just right to the point where they still had their bite right before falling apart in mush. put some meat and then some leaves of cabbage on the fork and a smear of spicy mustard.. OH man, delicious. i'd say, there's a man who knows how to keep his gal pal happy. hehe.

happy 1st day of spring!

mental chaos in aisle 17

2009-03-18T00:57:00.001-04:00

now, i understand that tough times call for tough measures and surely large companies are feeling the pinch as well, but must they deprive the masses of a product that is so comforting and sought after in times of blue? i'm talking about ice cream. yes, it's serious! so, okay.. many (many more than i thought when i first read about it) companies have decided to decrease their carton sizes to compensate for rising costs of ingredients and such. i guess it's understandable. i guess. oh, and btw, the prices stay the same, if not higher (sale prices seem to have gone up). it totally stinks. the cartons going from 1.75 quarts to 1.5 quarts is certainly noticeable; it's significantly squashed to a squat mini-me. it kind of puts a damper on the whole excitement of browsing the aisle, at least it was the case the first time i encountered this phenomenon. sad. they're evil for making ice cream sad!

but hey, the brighter side to all this? companies are trying everything to distract you from flashier packaging to more exciting flavors!! ok, so then and there, in the frozen foods aisle, i forgave them for robbing me of those extra scoops. mmm so many flavors. you know when you open and shut the fridge door a million times and it gets all foggy because you can't decide? me! so i ended up choosing one new and one oldie:

what really made me upset was when i came home and opened the already defeciant product only to find a big, crescent, gaping hole in the ice cream. what the ef! they don't even have the decency to fill it to the brim?? that was almost infuriating, enough that i dug in right away thinking that it better at least taste awesome (thereby, no picture of fail). the samoa flavor was pretty good. the ice cream was "rich and creamy" but not dense. it was just sweet enough and i totally dug the caramel ice cream swirls. the only complaint i'd have is that the samoa cookie chunks were too big and so they interrupted their harmony with the ice cream. i haven't tried the peanut butter cup flavor yet, but i'm guessing it'll be pretty standard.

on a side note, meet my new favorite snack: prunes! i'm not embarrassed to state this because they are freaking delicious. before you judge me and before you think back on the prune juice you've probably tried and hated and therefore condemned, like i have in the past,.. you must try it this way. and of course they have that whole spiel of advantages concerning your health, as i'm sure most of you know. thanks jenn for introducing me!

mm red bean and green tea ice cream my brother brought home. no fail here whatsoever!

the mecca of beef

2009-03-16T22:17:00.010-04:00

Back again with another installment, sorry for keeping you all waiting! Last week my better half and I (where did that term originate from?) made a laborious trip down to Peter Luger in the BK for some tasty tasty porterhouse. This was my first time back to the joint since high school, and Dyan's first ever. Kind of shocking if you know us, right? So how was it?

Juicy, fatty, tender, perfectly seared outside, textbook medium rare on the inside. We ordered steak for three, which in the end might've been slightly too much. I was full out of my gourd by the end of the meal, but even still, the realization that you're filling up on quality meat is a fantastic, fat-soaked feeling. Strangely enough, Dyan didn't get full despite the food overload. We've come to realize she definitely has a higher succulent/fatty threshold than I do. Just another reason why I love.
intense, intense meaty flavor is all I could think as I took my first bites.
we also got the thick sliced house cured bacon as an appetizer. seriously delicious. not too salty, you could eat a few slabs of these guys before you get that 'guhhhh bacon overload' feeling.

creamed spinach was the only side we ordered. always a favorite, but i'll make special note here that Luger does a version that is much less 'creamy' than other steakhouses, but still retaining great texture. we are huge creamed spinach fans, as many definitely are.

so overall, quite good. not life changing, and "melt in your mouth" like so many describe it as, but a very satisfying meal. I'll be honest and say I don't think it's quite worth the $200 pricetag, especially nowadays. Dyan definitely agreed with this viewpoint as well. Is it a worthwhile experience if you've never been? I'd say yes. Everyone should experience a top notch steak at some point and know what it's like, to have a piece of meat hit your tongue and flood your tastebuds with meaty richness, to chew through a tender, tender piece of cow flesh bred and raised for your personal enjoyment.

ps: #1 steakhouse crown I'll still give to capital grille in midtown
pps: who the hell orders those iceberg wedge, or tomato & onion appetizers? could there be anything less appealing? who even thought of cutting a head of iceberg lettuce into quarters and dumping it onto a plate? what in teh world, how is this a traditional dish that merits consumption?

Peter Luger
178 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211

fat nation potluck

2009-03-09T00:23:00.001-04:00

this past weekend we had a potluck amongst a group of friends. somehow we became "fat nation" and we thought that given our love of food, instead of ordering in or going out like we always do, that for once we'd all try to create a dish. there was some grumbling over the stipulation of each dish having to be homemade, but i think we were all very pleasantly surprised at the outcome of it all.

"mmm baaacon" how can anything taste bad with thee on it? now the above is jumbo's meatloaf creation. not only is there bacon on the darn beaut, but folded into the meatloaf itself as well. below is the finished product..

he added cheese as well as fried onions to top it off. you see around the edges, how it glistens? that's the accumulation of bacon and cheese grease and a whole lot of grease coming from all directions. just looking at it makes me feel like it could earn a place on thisiswhyyourefat. but artery clogging aside, this was one of the moistest meatloaves i've ever eaten. it was flavorful and surprisingly didn't taste as greasy as it looks. yum.

above is my shepherd's pie. only when we were grocery shopping did we realize just how similar our dishes were going to be; hearty, fatty comfort food? hey, no complaints here nor there. my pie was made with ground beef.. i'm not sure if shepherd's pie always is. i mean, i feel like this is a pretty fail proof dish i can continue making in the future and now that i have the basics down, i can customize it to my liking. for example, i hate ketchup and the recipe calls for it so i put some in but i could definitely faintly taste it.. i really think it could do without.

okay, so i was really excited to post about this: pizza!! i've been wanting to try making it for awhile. i think part of where this desire stemmed from is the fact that whenever i order pizza at a restaurant, i feel like it's something i could more or less make (one of the many reasons i can hardly ever bring myself to order salads). and i'm not talking about the "american" pizza that you'd find at the neighborhood pizzeria. i'm talking about (i don't know if there's a specific name for this category of pizzas) the authentic italian type deal where there's not usually sauce but an array of super fresh ingredients. now of course the crust is the part most foodies out there seem crazed about, but in all honesty, i don't even enjoy thin crust. i like doughy pizza, which is why i think if ever i got to try authentic chicago deep dish pizza, i'd probably prefer it over new york style. i just remember having the most divine pizza in italy.. the pizzas are super simple but the ingredients are so fresh that it's just, ughhh delicious. i remember having this potato pizza in rome where i ate two squares and had to run back across the street from my hostel to get more because it was just that good. oh, and then there was this zucchini pizza which was crispy but juicy without being soggy and just also super memorable. mm but anyways, above on left is a caramelized onion and garlic pizza with mozzarella cheese and on right is broccoli rabe sauteed with garlic and sausage pizza with mozz cheese. doesn't the super rustic look add infinitely to its appeal? thanks to soosy for being a pal and rolling out the dough for me! so for the future, definitely need to know my cheeses better so i can pair the ingredients with the right kind, and also need to become closer friends with those herbs to kick flavors up a notch. but for my first attempt, i'd say it was a tasty success!

the spread. i don't even think this is a pic of all the food we had. mm getting hungry all over again just looking at it. so from top left corner and going clockwise we have: jeff's 20 garlic (originally supposed to be 40 cloves but he got lazy) lemon chicken, shepherd's pie, ko's donkatsu, mike's rotisserie chicken (cheater!); edwin's "homemade" wings; jenn's chicken fajitas, pizzas, james' meatloaf. see the lack of green or anything fresh? someone definitely needs to bring salad or something next time to cut through the heavy duty food.

uncomfortably and cripplingly full, but there's always room for sweets. susanna's scrumptious cake. she only said it like a hundred times that night, but i still think i'm going to get this wrong.. it was a chocolate cake with hazelnut brittle and whipped frosting with orange chocolate zest to garnish. did i get that right?! correct me if i didn't, sus. it was so delicious and i especially adored the frosting which was super airy. i think i ate at least a quarter of it by myself.

hahah i wonder if you can guess what this is just by looking at the picture. to round out our feast, eric appropriately made us fried candy bars. that's right! he battered up twix, reese's cups, snickers, 3 musketeers and then deep fried them suckers. the chocolate just oozes out when you bite into them and it was delicious, how could it not be? but it was a little much after eating everything above. the fried reese's were my favorite though.. the peanut butter oozing with the chocolate was awesome in my mouf.

a thoroughly full and happy jumbo. potlucks are awesome!

favorites

2009-03-03T22:32:00.004-05:00

Intermittenly, we'll write about a few of our favorite things, covering any realm of subject. You're so interested right? ......I'm not really sure what should be the inaugural subject, but in the periphery of my vision staring at me are two (2) nearly rotting oranges that I planned on eating maybe a month ago. Oranges keep well, but not that well. They must be super tart and acidic right now, much like my favorite drink!!!!!! sweet segway right?

MMm, delicious San Pellegrino Aranciata, basically Pellegrino with some orange concentrate in it, kind of like Orangina. But so much better than orangina. And you feel classy as hell drinking it!! Not too sweet, but deliciously citrusy and refreshing, goes great with a burger (another topic soon to be discussed). Also comes in a few other flavors, including Limonata, the lemony version. If Aranciata is a 12/10, Limonata is maybe an 8.5/10, qualifying for the delicious category, but not extra ultra delicious like its sister.

On the other end of the spectrum is this:
Chinotto flavor. From wiki: "a small bitter citrus fruit from the chinotto, or "myrtle-leaved" orange tree"
Tastes like hot ass. Actually, tastes like cool refreshing ass. The gf and I were perusing at Americana one day and came across this drink in the fridge case of the little snack shop there. I was SO PUMPED to see this, immediately had to buy and taste. How disappointing. Tastes completely like the bitters you put in alcohols, very herbal and medicine-y. Slightly licoricey, like a carbonated diluted jager. Who can drink that??? I guess some ppl, cuz Dyan disagreed and kind of liked it, saying the taste grows on you. Bastard step child of the San Pellegrino family.

as such, my favorite drink. So satisfying!! And one more point, the cans come w/ a little paper cover, so they're not dirty at all and you don't have to clean the dirt off the top of the drinking hole. Great people, over at San Pellegrino. So there you have it, my favorite drink.

off topic:
today, the 1.5 hours that are left, at least, is square root day. There are only 9 per century!!!!
3/3/09 Enjoy, celebrate by cutting some root vegetables into squares, ho ho ho.

if gluttony were a sin. wait a minute..

2009-03-02T22:04:00.009-05:00

obviously jumbo and i like to eat and when we do, it's usually in large quantities. often times we love quantity almost as much as quality. so, it can't be too much of a surprise that when we stopped in at carmines this week and we were asked by our server if we had ever been, we nodded and when they said "so you know about our family style dining and large portions" we waved them off. sure, sure we already knew all that; we'd been here numerous times before due to the bleak dining options available when we happened in the midtown area. what ended up happening is we ordered the ragu pasta (an array of meats including meatballs, pork, beef, sausage in a tomato sauce) and the chicken scallopini (chicken with prosciutto, mozzarella with sage butter and spinach with wine sauce.. juicy, tender, a bit salty after a few bites).. in short, enough food to happily satisfy about 4-5 people. but we were only 2. what the heck were we thinking? since i forgot to take pictures of the embarrassing affair, below is the result of our noobness: three containers chock full of our leftovers.

while we're on the topic, wait, i guess this is kind of the gist of this whole blog, but anyways.. while we're specifically here, let me regale the story of gluttony supreme. a few summers ago we were down in atlantic city and for some reason that night we were having the worst food luck. our hearts were set on some good dining but everywhere we went seemed to either be past last seating or closed. i know, ridiculous. so in our desperate hunger, we decided to just grab some wings at hooters. the idea of juicy wings washed down with cold beer hit the spot, especially if it meant no more walking. the wings came in increments. 10? psh, get out of here. 20? how hungry are you? well, how hungry are you? omg, i'm starrrrrving. me too. ok, we definitely need more. 50? werd, hit me up. so the wings come out. hehe heh... nervous laughter. is that what 50 wings really looks like! oh gahd.

some time later, we barely made a dent in the pile. def more wings uneaten compared to pile of bones accumulated and hooters wings are heavily breaded so it makes it that much more difficult to get through.. i felt so gross that i didn't even want to look, smell, taste another wing. but what to do with all this food leftover?! yes, gluttony is a sin.. but wasting food is also horrible. so despite jumbo's protests of not wanting to be in the vicinity of another wing, i got them to wrap up the massive leftovers and we hit the boardwalk. honestly, i didn't want the wings either, but i can't throw out a few dozen perfectly fine wings. so what did we plan on doing??

but of course! let's find a homeless person to give it away to. i've seen it done enough times in nyc that i know it'd be happily received and given the shady outskirts of a.c., we were positive the wings would be off our hands in no time. wrong! we walked and wandered along the boardwalk hoping to spot someone, but to no avail until finally we saw a lady but wait, what if she wasn't...? who knew giving away something could be this difficult! so freaking jumbo didn't even accompany me because he thought he'd scare them and my unassuming presence would fair better. so off i went to ask this person if she was "in need"? how do you do that without offending?? "um, i'm sorry to bother you but... are you by any chance.. hungry?" phew, it turned out okay until she tried to talk me into giving her money instead of the food. then i just left the food and kind of ran.

gluttony comes with many stories.

carmines: 200 w 44th st, new york, ny 10036

random eatings

2009-02-25T19:24:00.008-05:00

One cold night a few weeks back, the gf had wanted to try this falafel place that people seem to be raving about these days. "best in teh city!!" etc. But how good can a falafel be? If there's no meat in a savory dish (so no desserts), then you won't find a more staunch proponent of the fact that said dish can never be DELICIOUS without some kind of dead animal, it can only reach the level of "mm this is pretty good". Satisfy my bloodlust it will not.
So off to Taim we went, somewhere in the village, tucked away on a little side street.
This is the famed falafel. It tasted pretty much like you'd expect falafel to taste like, but a more quality version, admittedly. Light and crisp, not dry and crumbly or overly greasy like at many other places, with the other usual fixins inside, tahini, cabbage, etc. The annoying thing about falafels is the pita ALWAYS rips, and you wind up with sauce all over your freaking hands. No change there. Someone come up w/ a pita with some structural integrity and you will have my undying loyalty.
This is another pita sandwich they offer on the menu, the sabich. Same sauce + some spicy harissa if I recall correctly, but grilled eggplant and sliced egg in there instead of falafel. This one was pretty swell, close to the peak of goodness without involving real meat (sorry egg, not good enough). One drawback, it's really messy. You might say, it's sabich to eat. hahahahahaha!!!!!!

Being in a neighborhood filled with food, we decided to press on and turn the night into a kind of food tour. Next stop: batch bakery for some cupcakes.
Yes we ate 4 cupcakes. Disgusting, but we is who we is! If I recall correctly from the top (dyan help me if I'm wrong here) choc. cupcake w/ green tea frosting, caramel frosting carrot cupcake, bacon maple or bacon something cupcake, and lastly a banana cupcake. Another plus, there's an interesting filling inside each one, unique to each cupcake. Very friendly workers, a woman kept standing over us asking how we were enjoying ourselves while she ate a bowl of cereal.

Not done yet. On to blind tiger ale house for some wings and beer
MMMMMM MEAT FINALLY. Delicious. Not anything close to the normal buffalo sauce you'd get on hot wings, dudes are coated in a very peppery, fiery sauce tempered by the thick, meaty wings. I'd def. recommend these to anyone getting a random feening for wings, as we all do from time to time (right?). Some might say the sauce is a little overpowering, but again, the wings were pretty hefty, not the puny little things you get elsewhere, crucially important to a nice wing. A lot of great brews too, both bottled and on tap here. Good selection of IPA's from obscure microbreweries, IPA being the type of beer I am most fond of.

Thus ends our journey. Yes, we were grossed out at how much we ate. Satisfied though? Of course!

broseph, please.. let me correct you. it was choc. cupcake w/ green tea frosting, pear and some herb (?) cupcake, vanilla bean frosted banana cupcake with bacon bits, a salted caramel frosted carrot cupcake, and i cannot believe we ate four cupcakes in one sitting. why do we do that to ourselves. but if anyone would like to know, i'd have to disagree with many opinions to say that i didn't really like these cupcakes. the cake was super dense and cold, and although the flavors were interesting, i thought that they could use some editing as there was just too much going on in terms of flavors and textures. also, you forgot to mention the fries and saffron aioli at taim! although, i do suppose they didn't leave much of an impression. minus my hands reeking for hours after eating their sandwiches, i thought the falafels were definitely top notch. so quit the whining, meathead! those wings caused there to be a freakin fire in my mouth and i'd have appreciated a chunkier blue cheese to help quell the heat. mm fancy some more beer and wings? - d

Taim
222 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10014

Batch
150 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014

Blind Tiger Ale House

281 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014

omg, you are so beautiful

2009-02-23T10:54:00.004-05:00

finally broke my diet of yogurt + painkillers last night with a hearty meal from boston market (did you know you can add a whole extra chicken to the meal for just 1.99? wth. who would pass on such an offer?). but now i'm full of regret, because i'm definitely paying for overworking my sore jaw last night and at the same time i'm trying to pry myself off my new found affection for these magical pills.. so now i'm just miserable and back to eating yogurt and waiting to take the pill at a reasonable time so that just one might last me the whole day. currently: intense discipline being practiced.

slumdog!! JAI HO!! which i finally looked up and supposedly it means "may there be victory" and victory was certainly had.

image from gossipgirls.com

how freaking beautiful is natalie portman?!? vow. she carries herself with such poise and grace.. she can do no wrong in my book. i pumped my fist in excitement every time i caught sight of her pretty pink rodarte number and when she came out to present.. eek. hot damn, she is gorgeous.

oh, and i was disappointingly going to fold hopes of an aniston v. jolie showdown but i guess it happened.. kinda? how conscious of the jolie/pitt pair do you think aniston was while she presented mere feet from where they were sitting. it's ok, jennifer aniston was glowing and her boytoy never looked hotter. pitt is not aging well at all.

So long Conan

2009-02-20T00:55:00.004-05:00

Tonight, Friday the 20th, marks Conan's last 'Late Night' show. Not that he'll really be going away, he's taking over Leno's boring ass show sometime in June, but it seems pretty clear that alot of the goofiness and pure asinine humor that has gone on for all these years will fade away in favor of something a little more mainstream. But damnit, what about the masturbating bear, evil puppy, and staring contests! Unfortunate, in losing a show that I can remember watching since I was 10 years old or so. Amazing though, in how relevant the comedy has remained after all these years.

On that note, here are some of the greatest Conan moments:

Andy gets naked on the today show

FAGERSTROM!!!!!!

celebrating st patty's in chinatown

masturbating bear!

walker texas ranger lever

masturbating bear = genius

edit:
couldn't find the conan show attached to this, but:
"walker told me i have AIDS"

some sunshine

2009-02-19T01:43:00.001-05:00

the poor lemon garnishes, helps mask the mineral taste of water, and adds a little something to a recipe with its zest.. but just how often can one find it starring in its own show. well liz lemon, it was your day to shine. a few days ago, i thought a lemon tart would be just the thing to help brighten these cold and dreary winter days and when i came across this recipe, i definitely couldn't resist. the recipe was super simple and the idea of grinding up a whole lemon, skin and all, added to my curiosity.

i was definitely eager to get my hands on some meyer lemons, for that would've truly been unfamiliar territoy, but unfortunately i couldn't find any so a regular lemon had to do. boo, i need some quality marts to open near me stat! meyer lemons are sweeter and less tart, hence they're perfect for desserts and such (remember to cut back on the sugar if you use a meyer, or else you'll have a sugarbomb on your hands). sigh, but now back to the regular ol' lemon that i used. kidding, i was pretty content once the cheery yellow and fragrant lemony smell gave me a whif of summery days ahead.

yellow, yellow, all types of yellow.

what a beaute! i could've definitely let it bake a little longer to let the center set up more, but it was still bursting with lemony goodness. it is a little grittier in texture because of the use of the whole lemon and the sweetness was a tad much, even for me. in the recipe below, i cut back on the sugar a little. as delicious as this tart was, i think i'll attempt a recipe that calls for a smoother texture next time.

whole lemon tart
adapted from smitten kitchen from dorie greenspan

1 partially baked 9-inch tart shell (see sk's handy recipe great unshrinkable tart shell)
1 lemon
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

preheat the oven 325°F.

after rinsing and drying the lemon, slice thinly, and remove the seeds. place these slices in a food processor with the 1 cup of sugar and blend until the two are thoroughly mixed, creating a paste. make sure to blend at least 1 to 2 minutes to make sure the rind is pretty well ground. scrape the mixture into a bowl and gently whisk in the egg, extra yolk, cornstarch and melted butter (it is essential that the melted butter be cooled before adding, or else it'll create separation during the baking process). pour this mixture into the tart shell.

bake the tart for 20 minutes and then increase the temperature to 350°F and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the filling is bubbling and lightly browned all across the top. cool before serving.

i refridgerated my leftovers and the chill helped to even greater the brightness of the tart. yum!

curry anybody?

2009-02-16T22:38:00.007-05:00

Fancy yourself a spicy food enthusiast? Do you love it when your food is so spicy that your face runs with sweat and your eyes begin to puff up and tear? Consider this an invite then, spice aficionados, or anyone who happens upon this blog, to come and tackle the "Phaal curry challenge" at Brick Lane Curry house with Dyan and I, lovers of the curry and the spicy (me much more than her on teh spicy front though)

What is phaal? Described from teh website as "An excruciatingly hot curry, more pain and sweat than flavor. For our customers who do this on a dare, we will require you to state a verbal disclaimer not holding us liable for any physical or emotional damage after eating this curry."

And you get a free beer and certificate of achievement for finishing!! What an incentive!!

If you're down to significantly raise your chances of ulcer and feel the victorious sensation of asshole on fire the following day with us, feel free to leave a comment or email.

we're thinking sometime next week, dudes.

Brick Lane Curry House
306-308 East 6th Street, New York NY 10003
www.bricklanecurryhouse.com

the day when pink abounds

2009-02-13T08:49:00.001-05:00

what a silly little day. i swear to you that the "greener" side called and says it still finds the day kind of tacky. it's just how i've always felt about valentine's day. yet, my gahd, i look around and it causes so much unnecessary sighs of despair amongst some, while on the other end there's a whole lot of pda and obligatory candlelit dinners. it doesn't even matter if you have a mate or not, the day mocks us all. why can't we all just be each others valentines everyday? anyway, james and i don't want to be lured into the monochromatic froufrou affairs of this day and instead, we're going to celebrate by.. doing something awesome! no idea what that entails yet haha :)

(picture by wesley chan of wong fu)

wait, let's do a partial 180 (maybe 135?) here cuz i decided just now, whilst a nice sounding french lady serenades me, that i'll treat the day as something that i'm sure the originators intended for it to be before it became all commercialized; a day to appreciate love without the frills, complications and implications. to love the beauty and ugly of love. to just let it be a day to serve as a reminder to pause and appreciate. i'm sure that's what this frenchie is purring about, but for all i know, she may have been miserably cursing lost love. but hey, there's still love there. whoa, this song has dangerous powers.. i'm now thinking i'll wear pink tomorrow. man, i fail.

love, love.

nice things

2009-02-11T23:33:00.003-05:00

Here we have a few things I happen to find pretty neat right now. Sunglasses, socks and a golf driver. About as random a trio of object could get, but the common thread is they're all reworkings of something classic, via shape or color or texture or otherwise. I always find myself attracted to these types of items, an established identity with a new twist.

bright wayfarers! timeless shape, this time in a beautiful, rich red.

paul smith socks. i love wearing a staid suit and popping it with something unorthodox, still love the sock thing even though everyone and their mother is into it now too.
new cobra L5V driver. drool. keeps the classic driver shape (if you're into golf) while maxing out the MOI (again if you're into golf). hits like a freakin ton of bricks. i need this!

fat kids love cake

2009-02-09T11:39:00.003-05:00

enough is enough. this will be the last post concerning jimmy's bday festivities. i'm sure he's had a sufficient amount to last him another year. so without further ado, what's a bday without cake? in this case, enough cakes to satisfy any overgrown kid considering sweets to be the only food group necessary (me. not jumbo. for him it'd be meat). three, to be exact.

i know how much he loves carrot cake, so that was a definite. i've been using this recipe for a few years now (will try to type that up for you later when i get home) and it never fails to produce a deliciously moist cake. we both hate raisins, so none were to be seen here. instead, i toasted some pecans and threw them in the batch. the only thing is, as i get older i'm finding that i like my cakes to be a little less dense and more fluffy... oh gahd, i hope it's not a sign of aging and looming dentures. so yea, i'm now in the market for a new recipe to produce such or i'm thinking that next time i make this i'll tweak the recipe a bit.

the only thing i decided to change up this time was to make whipped cream cheese frosting instead of regular cream cheese frosting to help balance the denser cake with something light. success! i think that was one of the best frosting of it's kind that i've tasted. it was so airy and delicious that we totally forgot that it's still as fattening as ever. oh wells.

yummy. one of the few ways i'll actually enjoy carrots. raw carrots, die!

glop glop. more whipped products?! now you can see where all the weight was procured. above we have sweetened whipped cream diligently whipped up while trying not to splatter all over myself. created to be a part of..

icebox cake! this has long been one of our fave things to get at billy's and jumbo loooves it. it's pretty easy to dig into over and over again and the fact that it's really not that sweet and has an addicting creamy texture just adds to how great of a cake it is. i've always been intrigued by it; always wondering how they achieved getting the many layers of cake in between the cream.. i thought it was an elaborate process involving baking up crepe like layers of cake and stacking them. so imagine how daunting it must've been when jimmy mentioned in passing that he wanted this cake for his bday. omg so much labor! but then i did some digging and found that this wonderfully delicious cake actually.. requires zero baking! wahoo. it's actually made famous by nabisco chocolate wafers and the recipe is written right on the box. it just requires alternating layers of wafers and cream, and after it's allowed to sit in the fridge for a few hours, the wafers soak up the moisture from the cream to create cake like layers. according to many reviews i've read, making your own wafers is actually discouraged for it doesn't create quite the same effect. the only difficult part about this cake was finding these particular wafers. sure, they have it on amazon.com but you have to buy them in bulk and at about $6 a box, they ain't cheap. but after many unsuccessful grocery runs, i finally found them and stocked up on them anyway to use in the near future. so dericious! my only regret is not having taken a picture of a cross section of the slice before devouring it all. next time, for sure.

oh and the third cake was a football ice cream cake surprise by his roommates. this too was quickly eaten before it could even begin melting.

huge crabs and tender meat ha ha ha

2009-02-06T01:48:00.000-05:00

Young dyan and I really did eat an s-load this past weekend. What better way to celebrate a quarter century on earth when you're on crutches and can't do anything other than to cook up a big meal. And that we did.

Korean short rib stew (galbi jjim) and steamed dungeness crabs, and kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew/broth i guess?) that she makes a very particular way that's awesome.

We weren't planning on having the crabs, but jeff brought em home and thus, a feast was born. Feasts are great.

First things first, scrubbing the dirt and nastiness off these bad boys, and ripping off their assholes. If you've ever tugged one off of standard small blue crabs, its no big deal, just a quick snap and its off. But these dudes, you really had to tug to get them off. Not very fun but worth it.

Unfortunate angle, but the only way we could get em to fit in the pan. What a terrible way to die. Get your a-hole ripped off, and then steamed/boiled to death. Crabs handled it with great aplomb though. Good job.

Not familiar with eating crab? That green goop is the cooked innards/unknown organs, aka best tasting part of the crab, don't just throw it out!! Intense, intense seafood flavor, like getting punched in the mouth from Poseidon.

Why eat dungeness crabs? It's a pain in the ass to eat a bunch of blue crabs, picking at tiny bits of meat. But there's good sized hunks of meat in each leg and in the inside, truly a full meal, totally worth it. Wanna have a crab feast? We're always down. Note the glasses of orangina. Orangina #1.

Next on the agenda: galbi jjim, aka korean short rib stew. All credit to fat dyan for making this beautiful dish, her first time too. Slow cooked braised short rib, carrots, potatoes, onions, etc. All so tender and creamy. This is like the best picture but better camera needed.

Your life was not given up in vain, miscellaneous cow.

Fyan also made 2 cakes that night, but more on those later.

szechuan

2009-02-04T16:09:00.005-05:00

many meals were consumed this past week in honor of jumbo's bday. it was probably in the ballpark of 5lbs worth distributed around the midsection. it's always ideal to eat ethnic foods accompanied by a friend who knows the cuisine well, so we decided to take advantage of jeff to satiate chinese food cravings.. szechuan, to be precise. we figured we were in good hands when like only an hour before heading to dinner jeff decided to make himself a massive bowl of congee and then proceeded to set himself up a mini congee bar. seriously, the works.

from what i remember left to right were: sriracha hot sauce, dried pork flakes, soy sauce, fish paste, pickled cucumbers, roasted eel, sesame oil, thousand year old duck egg. that egg was pretty interesting. he wasn't sure what it was preserved in but i just wiki'd it and it said "mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice for several weeks to several months." it smells like tea. the whites of the egg look and have the texture of jelly but don't really have too much taste while the yolk is super creamy and delicious.

so since the bunch of us had no idea how to order, jeff ordered for us. above is lamb home style (i think?). it was a pretty good and standard soy sauce based meat dish. the pieces of meat were just the right size (i hate when meat comes in ity bity strips). there were hints of cilantro which wasn't overpowering but complemented the lamb well.

mm that's a pretty delicious looking photo. trying to make do with the old camera and shaky hands until the new investment! anyway, above is fresh fish with bean curd. it wasn't as spicy as it looks. the tofu was super soft and the fish they used, unbeknownst to us, was really soft and fell apart easily.. i wish they had used a slightly firmer fish to balance the textures, but oh well it was tasty. in general though, this dish as well as a lot of others were pretty oily. maybe less oil would have been ideal but i guess kind of inevitable since they use the chili oil to flavor.

lamb with chili looks like death. just look at all those chili flakes on top. it was spicy but just the right amount.

my first time having chinese jja jang myun (as opposed to the dish adopted by koreans). tasted very much like the version i'm used to but different in that the black bean flavor is more subtle in this dish. there's a lot more minced pork and less sauce. i really liked the texture of the noodles. they were softer and more doughy. in comparison, i prefer the korean one, but on it's own, this dish was a standout.

what i was craving! bean curd with spicy minced pork spooned over rice totally owns. the big chunks of tofu were really soft and kind of melted in your mouth. it was just too oily (you see it pooling around the edges of the dish?)

szechuan food is good, but in the end i thought that it didn't measure up to the visual appeal. like everytime the waitress brought a dish out we'd think "snap, that looks freaking delicious!" and it was tasty, but it wasn't like "wow!" you know? the super vibrant colors, namely the spiciness it portrays, doesn't really pack as much flavor.

spicy and tasty: 39-07 Prince St., Queens, NY 11354

motivational drinker

2009-02-04T09:58:00.002-05:00

given the state of this economy, even our favorite energy drinks would like to have a little motivational say in our lives. i guess it's all good.. but "shine on" is a little much. i'm thinking my palm will strategically be placed over the kitschy phrase as i chug. sigh.

what a beast

2009-02-03T18:32:00.004-05:00

Who can stop this guy? Faster than anyone on the field, better hands, physically dominating over the poor cornerbacks that have to cover him, it's not fair. what a freak. Also, no more best superbowl ever talk. Best 4th quarter ever maybe, but a ttl snoozefest for 3 quarters otherwise, minus that insane touchdown after interception (TAINT), as bill simmons would call it.

Had a very nice weekend relaxing, being pampered, eating some food i've been craving (pics soon), and spending time w/ the gf and friends. Maybe getting hurt wasn't the worst thing that could've happened to me. back soon w/ something more entertaining!

incapacitated

2009-01-28T13:40:00.003-05:00

Playing bball friday night, plant hard on my right foot. Slight slippage, stupid old sneakers, why have i not replaced them since freshman year of college, knee buckles backwards, loud CRACK (not a pop, everyone describes it as a pop when you tear something), and I'm down. I look down at my knee and notice 2 things:

1) a large valley where my knee cap should be, just a sunken in area of soft flesh
2) kneecap about 2 inches north and to the right, kind of like a flesh + bone compass indicator pointing northwest.

Friend victor comes and picks me up, and waits in the ER w/ me, earns +32 friendship pts in the process.

So what I have is a torn patella tendon, the thing that connects your kneecap to the rest of your knee and lets you bend it in the regular way you're all used to. dont take it for granted!!! Luckily, they were able to fit me into the schedule for surgery that very day within about 3 hours, so I was very fortunate I didn't have to wait a few days to get the procedure done.

It turned out very well, I guess the terrible part of it all is that I can't bend my knee for 6-8 weeks, they've put me in an immobilizing brace that won't let me if i tried. The pain is pretty minimal, its just a huge pain in the ass getting around, finding a place to prop my leg up everywhere I sit, etc.

I'm thankful i have a great support group of friends & fam around me, and dyan who's been great through all this, inc. dyan who's had to hear me be sad for myself and lament the end of my youth. it is though. this is the end of my youth! i'm about to turn 25 in a few days, why not tie in the symbolism of the age with a physical element that is just as significant to being young and healthy. sigh.

anyways, 4-6 months I should be back 99%. MAYBE STRONGER. I'M GOING TO REHAB THE SHIT OUT OF THIS LEG.

Guess what

2009-01-27T21:40:00.000-05:00

Guess what Katy Perry's cat is called???
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kitty purry. !!!!! brilliance/excellence, i don't know which word is more apt (apter) here.

HA HA HA HA HA

infamously shopsins

2009-01-26T16:38:00.001-05:00

eating at shopsins has been at the top of our list for awhile now but because of its inconvenient operating hours we haven’t been able to… until now! i’d read many claims that in order to be a true NYer you needed to befriend this establishment (ok, jumbo’s going to say something along the lines of “you’re no NYer, jersey” but more on that later). now usually we’d shy away from traps like this but as soon as we viewed a pdf of the menu, man were we hooked. it’s the most glorious menu ever. seriously! i was intensely hyperventilating the night before our visit from mental chaos in trying to narrow down my options.

so shopsins comes with many quirks and unspoken rules. the more common ones are that parties of more than four will be turned away and no cell phone usage is allowed. then there are the more formidable ones.. God forbid you order the same dish as someone else in your party (i hate when ppl do that too! yay kenny) or you peek at the dishes the table inches away from you is dining on and attempt to order the same thing. basically no conformity is tolerated, hence the mind boggling menu. and all this is dictated by the foul-mouthed kenny. a few more tidbits? the place is tiny. it might not be child friendly unless you don’t mind him/her being subject to a flurry of cuss words (i didn’t know ppl could curse like that that early in the day). prices are on the steeper side, but portions and taste will deliver. cash only.

so many words compared to one sad sad picture of the food. sad because all that glorious food made it into our tummies! heheh. i was actually really afraid to take pictures.. i don’t think i would’ve been okay had kenny yelled at me. in case you were wondering, the food was delicious and all the ingredients kenny manages to fit in every dish worked well. oh, and jumbo being the jumbo that he is, wanted to order slutty cakes after finishing our food. you so crajee. next time, my fat friend.

afterward, we walked around the market and came across.. whoa, chocolate covered bacon! i’d heard about it but never tasted it. we ogled at it until the lady kindly offered us some to try. who would’ve thunk.. the flavors meshed pretty great!

oh, and then after that we still had room to spare and so made our way over to the newest cupcake joint on the block.. butter lane. cute! well what else is new, they’re always cute. butter lane offers some interesting flavors and seeing as they only sell cupcakes, they better be good, right? mmmm i think my favorite bakery billy’s now has some competition! and it totally doesn’t hurt that they had pumpkin spice cupcakes (love pumpkin everything!) we agreed that the cake part was definitely superior than any other cupcake we’ve tried. the frosting wasn’t too sweet but delivered in flavor and the amount was just right. in other words, it was an equal coexistence of frosting to cake. my dream is to own one of these joints someday :)

funny incident: not long after we ordered, kenny’s son came in boasting how he had turned away a couple just then because 1) he didn’t like the look of them cuz they were white and just like how hitler himself hated the jews despite the jewish blood in him, he himself hated on his own kind. no joke, that's what he said 2) they apparently didn’t seem to know just who the shopsins were 3) they were taken aback by the psychedelic menu 4) he. just. didn’t. like. them. denied!

and that’s how the shopsins roll.

shopsins: essex street market (stall no. 16), 120 essex street, new york, ny 10002

butter lane: 123 e. 7th st, new york, ny 10009

must stop

2009-01-23T01:04:00.002-05:00

no, this ain't no line to no soup kitchen..

guy menacingly flexing his gloved hands? obviously braving the wait for other personal gains. ebay, for the weak.

this is the front and back of our place in line as my friend and i stood for hours on a frigid morning for.. the marc jacobs sample sale?? yes. shameful. the things we'd do for something so trivial. that line crawled slower than slow. i'm somewhat ashamed at how the ridiculous markdowns everywhere these days have put me in some serious potential debt. seems like everyday i'm being informed of another major deal i can't pass up. ack! recession. what recession? c'mon now. time to act more responsibly -_-

Dear God..

2009-01-23T00:21:00.002-05:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/22/estonia.troops/index.html

The war is lost!!!
What will we do without the military guile of Jaak Aaviksoo!?!?

how can this possibly be news? whoever's writing this at the AP must know, right?

fatty garlickey ramen and fatty salty desserts

2009-01-23T00:01:00.004-05:00

somewhere under this mound of pork, scallions, egg, and cabbage are noodles!

sawp. a little whiles back we went to minca ramen bar and the new (at the time) momo milk bar. this is the toroniku, or extra fatty pork ramen with "soft" cabbage in pork broth. Pork that can only be described as insanely "porky" in its flavor, enveloped in a rich layer of fat. holy shit man fat is so good. Let it sit in your broth for a while and soak up all that goodness.

why have the cabbage though? a good break in between your fat slabs, salty salty garlic broth and noodles, i suppose, but it doesn't soften at all or take in any of the flavor, just remains super crisp and bitter. why is this taking up precious space in my bowl when it could be used for other miracles of flavor like the other half to that soy sauce egg? where the heck did that go? the noodle consistency left a little to be desired, seemed to be extra "starchy" and leaving a residue in my mouf.

if this portly pig were a human you'd be eating the love handles or side boobs or something

Closeup of the deliriously fatty pork. Almost looks like a hot slice of swine cake, and def. just as soft. But if all this seems nauseating to you, opt for the regular ramen, where they give you not such fatty pieces of roast pork in your dish. You can even opt for the ramen w/ extra regular roast pork, which is what i got. That did the job quite nicely. Both options are pretty filling, for like 11-12 bucks each. The regular ramens are $9 i think.

It really is quite alot to take in at one sitting, Dyan and I just barely got through our bowls without hitting our threshold of eating slabs of almost pure blubber laced with a little bit of pig. Really warms you up on a cold day though.

After the pork/garlic injection, we strolled on over to the momofuku milk bar, which is directly connected to ssam bar, which, if you haven't been, you should def. go to. quite soon. maybe we'll go with you.
sorry for the bad pictures that are to follow, novice photographers are we.

terrible cake picture, terribly delicious cake

This is the banana cake. We also got the carrot cake, but I'm not gonna post that terrible picture. I'm not in possession of a very developed sweet tooth, but these were some manly desserts, if one could imagine. The first thing you notice is how DENSE they are, and secondly, how much salt they use in their recipes. Each slice feels like a brick of sugar/cream/egggs/salt. The banana had layers of banana cream, hazelnut brittle crunch, and fudge. Pretty damn tasty, if you're into it. The carrot cake was unremarkable, can't remember a thing aboot it.

Get the soft serve when you go. I hear they just changed the flavors this week, but when we went they had snickerdoodle, grapefruit (which tasted like pure fresh grapefruit flavor in creamy cold form. strange but delicious), and the salted caramel pistachio, shown above. very big flavors, you can def. taste every bit of what they describe to you.

Minca Ramen Factory
536 E. 5th St (nr. Ave A), New York, NY 10009

Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar
207 Second Ave (nr. 13th St), New York, NY 10003

(d)estiny: it is written

2009-01-22T09:40:00.002-05:00

rarely do i come out of the theaters singing the praises of the movie i just saw. then again, it’s kind of difficult to coax me into going to the theaters in the first place (not too much a fan of the setting but moreso because of the disappointment that follows what was supposed to be a great, if not decent, movie. happens way too much for my liking). but i promised jumbo and promises are meant to be kept.. sooner or later :) yay, so we finally saw it! and boy, am i grateful that we did. it made me feel so alive. we both wow’d all the way back home.

keep up with all facets of this film, throughout the heart wrenching storyline, and you will experience and understand what it means to be triumphant. to risk and possibly lose everything to gain the one thing that you know will complete you; that knowing alone completes you. man, that slumdog had nothing to his name, but he was crazily driven by one thing.. and that purpose of his? i’m so jealous of that zeal.

“i never forgot. not for one day. i knew i’d find you in the end. it’s our destiny” - jamal

tes test

2009-01-22T00:46:00.002-05:00

test tset test tsetse fly
just seeing how this newfangled thing works.

hehehehehehehe

HA HA HA HA HA

new to all this

2009-01-22T00:02:00.005-05:00

Howdy doo. This blog is gonna be written by me and Dyan (i’ve called her that maybe ten times in my life, even though we’ve been dating awhile). We’re an opinionated duo, and our passions are delicious eating, style, ridiculous asinine internet clips (me), and some other random stuff (her). see what it’s all about - james

pretty much what james said. we're a pair that's as different as different comes but with equally ambitious goals to experience everything curious out there. the blog will be focused around our main passions of food and style dotted with random musings. it'll be fun times, we promise :) - dyan