Thursday, March 31, 2011

Japantown

Robataya- bento
Rai Rai Ken- noodles?
Decibel- sake bar
Otafuku- snacks for take out
Cha-An- tea house
Since we are no longer going to Tokyo (Reactor 2 had a partial melt down), I am going to eat a week's worth of Japanese food.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

I don't understand what all the big fuss is about regarding Momofuku cookies. They are not that great and certainly not worth the price. I have to blame myself to get caught up in all the hype. Their cookies are really sweet and oily and not very creative. The corn cookie is good, but has a ton of sugar. Each cookie would be so much better if they'd just cut down the sugar. I would like to taste the cookie, not sugar.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

I want


From Prefall 2011 Chanel shoes

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

2011 is by far, by FAR better than 2010! See you in New York Fall 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Greg and I ate like King's this weekend.

We shared a slice on Saturday for lunch and a bowl of Chinese noodles from the Xi'an (western) area in China. It's been so long since Greg and I have had an authentic slice. We visited one of our college haunts in Hoboken, Giovanni's, where the owner commented on Greg's absence. It always feels good to be remember or recognized as a regular. We then headed over to St. Marks in Manhattan and shared a bowl of lamb noodles at a restaurant called Xi'an. The lamb was perfect, I love the peanutty heat that the soup had. For dinner, Greg and I had vietnamese sandwiches, which was so good, but not as good as before. The carrots were not pickled enough so the sandwiches were really missing the acid. As a late dinner snack, one of our friends gave us a mango to eat.

On Sunday, we had these great egg sandwiches on focaccia bread at a place called Saltie. I had a bowl of leek soup, which had too much chicken, but was very filling because of it. I wasn't hungry until 8 pm tonight. The baked goods and drinks were also very good...my fig muffin was very moist and the lassi (without mangos) was very interesting, but perhaps a little too perfumed. Greg wanted more coffee so we tried the Blue Bottle coffee, which was very flavorful. Greg got a shot of SG-120, which sounds more like an environmental summit than a shot of expresso. I got a latte, both were very flavorful and had a lot of body, but as I am not much of a coffee drinker, gave the rest to Greg. The ice-coffee looked beautiful. We then headed to Mast Brothers, which has the richest chocolate I have ever had- it was like 70% coco or something. We bought two bars-the house blend dark chocolate and Serrano dark chocolate, which is supposed to be perfect for a spicy hot chocolate. I could only eat a morsel of each because it was so strong. Because Greg had to used the restroom, we searched up and down Bedford for a CVS or Duane Reed. We found a Duane Reed, the fanciest one I have ever seen, and they had no bathroom. They did have this great Mango, apple, and orange juice from this farm and I drank that while Greg took a picture of the new growler system at the store- they have a stack of growlers for you to buy any local beer. Finally, the pharmacy across the street had a bathroom and we bought a bottle of shampoo and body wash so we wouldn't feel like assholes. After that, we headed back to Saltie to buy a lavender cookie for the road home, but stopped at Momofuku Milk instead and bought a dozen cookies for $20. By far the most expensive cookies I have ever bought and such an odd experience as well:

Me: "Can I buy half a dozen of cookies?"
Momofuku: "We only sell a dozen"
Me: "okay," hands over a $20 dollar bill
Momofuku: "We only take credit card"
Me: "really? How strange, oh I should have read the gigantic black board" (most places only take cash so it was weird that they only took credit card)



Monday, March 14, 2011

A quick review of fiction today will show that the critics are very keen on American writers from South America and Eastern Europe.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

When I look at pictures of Paris in May, I can smell spring.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Even though high school was depressing and miserable, there was this sense of something is going to happen, that things will change, greatness is waiting.
It's easy to say I don't like this, I want that. I want to do something else, live somewhere warmer, eat more fresh fruit, exercise more. It's so easy to sit here and want all of these different things, but it's so hard to do something about it. Can I get up tomorrow and go somewhere else? Yes, absolutely. But can I leave without any consequences? No. I have a lease until September. I'll have to return my moving bonus because I haven't worked for an entire year. I have no where to store the little furniture that I have procured in the last year. If it is this hard to get up and leave now, what will it be like 10 years from now? When I will be married, have a mortgage, and maybe a baby. My viewpoint, my thought process has changed so much from last year and the year before. I don't know if it's because of the weather, the general cold around this place, but I can't hope for things to change and I don't know what to do in the interim to change things. I know what I can do six months from now, but at this second...no.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Best Chinatown Fix

  • A-Wah

    5 Catherine Street, nr. E. Broadway 212-925-8308

    For what one imagines may have been considered a mistake the first time someone discovered it at the bottom of the pot, burnt rice sure has come a long way. Korean bibimbap enthusiasts go crazy for it, paella aficionados consider it the whole point of the endeavor, and fans of the Hong Kong comfort food known as bo zai fan (or “clay pot rice”) swear by the stuff. Chinatown bo zai fan specialist A-Wah offers seventeen variously topped versions (no. 61, with pungent Chinese sausage, minced pork patties, and savory shards of roast pork, is the way to go). The clay pots take a good fifteen minutes to cook, and arrive piping hot. If you’ve never been, your waiter will coach you in the proper technique for maximizing the dish’s superb contrasts of texture and flavor: Drizzle the thickish soy sauce over the top, stir, and tuck into the soft grains from the center while the crust forms on the pot’s perimeter. You won’t need any encouragement to start scraping the vessel and excavating the caramelized crispy bits as they take shape.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I wish for summer, the city, and freedom