Bacon-O-Meter

Number of strips: 5
Type/brand: unknown(1)/Friendly's(2)/niman ranch(2)
Consistency: All but the bacon from Friendly's were too well done for my personal taste.
Comments: Unknown bacon came from Cafe This Way in Bar Harbor, ME on May 27. The Friendly's bacon (May 29) came on my cheddar, mushroom, bacon burger and I couldn't really discern it from the rest off the food. Niman Ranch was today from the City Bakery.

Total count from April 26, 2006: 26.75

Another Misc. Memorial Day Weekend Eating Pt. 1

Our Memorial Day weekend adventure started off late Friday. DMR and I were picked up by Lethal Dose of Love and Oh God I Wish I Was Home Tonight, aka Bowles and Beth (not the same Beth as the CLC). A few hours into the trip, we made a stop at the BK - Burger King! Actually we went through the drive-thru because they were closed.

I grew up with a Burger King down the street from the apartment we lived in when we first moved to the 'burbs and so I consider myself a BK Kid. My mother likes to tell the story of how I used to eat like 3 Whoppers when I was like 4 years old. I know, gross. Also, once I lost a tooth eating a Whopper and totally swallowed it! The high school I wound up attending was across the street from that first apartment and we had open lunch, meaning we could totally hit up the BK durinfg the afternoon, or early evening like after band or theatre practice (Yes, nerd, I know it!). I don't have Burger King too often these days, in fact I can't even remember the last time I've had it, but I have fond memories. Does anyone else remember when they started serving family style meals in a basket? I'm talking fried chicken or shrimp, complete with cole slaw and a buttered roll.

But I digress. DMR and I had a little pasta and red sauce before hopping into the Volvo, but there's always room for BK. I got a Whopper Jr with cheese and extra pickles. I've always loved how you could get extra pickles. And I also got a small order of onion rings, something that is sorely lacking from the menu's of other fast food chains. They now offer something called Zesty Ring Sauce as an accompaniment. It was a really nice change of pace from ketchup, though I really which I hadn't taken a look at the list of ingredients. Dan inquired through the sqawk box if ther was a burger with bacon and barebeque sauce. His question was met with silence. So after 20 seconds or so, he asks again and the woman was all, yeah, I have that. Basically Dan got a custom burger. You can totally have it your way! He hates lettuce, tomato and onion on his burgers (yeah, I don't get it either) so it worked out perfectly as he was given a piece of meat between a bun with just strips of bacon and a slosh of sauce.

I'm sure this was not what you were expecting! There's more to write so stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 when we cover "The Harney" "Happy Ending Sundaes" and "The Ultimate Lobster Experience."

Misc. Memorial Day Weekend Eating

Not as much BBQ action as I would've liked, but still, a lot of good food was consumed.

Sunday Evening BBQ at Martin's (Nice C-Town, NYC)

I brought Robo, Sudmann, Sus and Newell with me. R,S and S all ate a lot, but Newell stopped by after getting an hour and twenty minute C-Town massage, so he was too spaced out to eat all of the barbecued deliciousness. He ended up having to get Chinese food after we left! Oh Newell. I, on the other hand, ate WAY too much. Around 8:30, I started asking myself, 'why is this happening to me?'. But then, only moments later, I would forget all about being too stuffed to go on living and scarf some more, nearly lethal doses of deliciousness. I'm pretty sure this is everything I ate, in order:

3 garlic shrimpies (prepared Portuguese style by Erica)
1 turkey dog (in a bun with Inglehoffer wasabi mustard)
2 sweet Italian sausages (sans bun)
1 cheeseburger (with more yummy wasabi mustard)
1 turkey dog (sans bun, but with that tasty, crack-like wasabi mustard)
ANOTHER turkey dog (same set-up as last time)
1/2 gigantic chicken breast (Prepared by Martin, grilled by Connecticut Eric. Martin used Steven Raichlen's All-Purpose Barbecue Rub, which was comprised of sea salt, brown sugar (interesting), sweet paprika, black pepper, garlic, onion and celery seed (more interesting still))
1 very large genetically engineered strawberry (brought by me, of course)

To drink I had two tumblers of sangria (red, plus I threw some juicy blackberries into my glass), 2 Coronas and a Harp.

Yet another amazing BBQ hosted by Martin. He is a true Grill Master. And his mom is funny and adorable to boot. Afterward, Robo and I headed over to Cram's for some late night poker with the aforementioned host, Michelle and Sean Murphy. I lost ten bucks!

Monday's Lunch and Dinner (with some drinks in between)

Met up with Papper, Sus, Commissioner Phil and Steph (sp?) at Max (B between 3rd and 4th, East Ville, NYC) for some outdoor lunch action. This is my favorite low-key Italian place in the City. And if you're with the right person, the garden can be very romantical as well. Also, no one at Max tries to push you out the door, so you can linger and drink lots of vino without being pestered, which is nice.

To start, we all shared the following:

Portobello Mushrooms - Grilled. Served with a nice balsamic reduction over a bed of arugula.
Bruschetta - I find bruschetta to be overrated in general. The bread usually ends up getting soggy. Also, the tomatoes are no good for my acid reflux. I was popping Zantac like CRAZY yesterday.

For my main, I ordered the rigatoni, Max's father's style, which included yummy meatballs and sausage. The pastas here are an AMAZING value. Delicious and filling too. Maybe too filling though. To drink we shared three or four pitchers of sangria (red). A great, lazy Sunday afternoon lunch that happened to occur on a Monday.

So we left Max and then stopped into a couple of East Village bars for some Memorial Day cocktails. Eventually, Sus and I got hungry again, so she, Newell (he met up with us after lunch) and I got take out from Mama's (East 3rd and B, East Ville, NYC) and headed over to Cram's house to eat and hang out. Per usual, I had the fried chicken and roasted potatoes (the roasted potatoes and mashies are both on heavy rotation). I'm still experiencing some buyer's remorse though. I had three bites of Sus' mashies and they absolutely made me lose my mind.

Much later, Cram, Sean Murphy and I went to karaoke at Pianos (Ludlow and Stanton, LES, NYC) and now I need a serious nap.

Last Night's Dinner: JAMBALAYA!

Jambalaya Night at Papper's (D between 2nd and 3rd, Loisaida, NYC) with aforementioned host, Newell and Sean Murphy.

Big Pappy's Jambalaya - Chock full of meaty goodness (chicken, ham and KIELBASA). Paps included some really nice, unexpected touches too. Like thin slices of white carrot. This is something I never would have thought of, but it soaked in the spices quite well. A great flavor medium. He also used sofrito to turn the heat factor up a notch. There was some other sort of spicy love going on in there, but understandably, he would not disclose to me what it was. We are, after all, competitors in the annual Super Bowl Chili Championship.
White Rice - Never touch the stuff, unless I am REALLY hungry.
French Fries - I requested these because I wanted starch, but not white rice.
Maduros (fried yellow plantains) - An inspired, spur-of-the-moment idea of Newell's. I liked throwing these into my bowl of jambalaya to really get some flava going.

To drink I had two Kronenbourg 1664's (when ordering this at a bar in France, one can simply say 'seize' for 'sixteen') and one Stella. Refreshing on an incredibly humid night in the Metrop.

Afterward we went to Winnie's (Bayard between Baxter and Mulberry) for some drinks and karaoke. We ran into a minor actor there named Matthew Goode. I've actually IMDBed him because he was in that Mandy Moore vehicle Chasing Liberty (the one where MARK HARMON plays the President of the United States of America!) and I thought he was cute. Not so cute in person though. He was in Match Point too. I haven't seen it - I've had my fill of ScarJo.

Another Last Night's Dinner: Lobster Night

Lobster Night at Chinatown: the Apartment (Division between Bowery and Market, C-Town, NYC) with Sudmann, Robo and Betten.

Last evening Sudmann got the idea in his head that it would be really good for us (emotionally, physically, possibly even spiritually) to go see a midnight (technically 11:59) showing of X-Men: The Last Stand. I suggested that we have a nice family dinner beforehand. I further suggested that this family dinner feature everybody's favorite bottom-feeder: the LOBSTER! So I called up Robo to feel him out on the idea. Not only was he game, but he was also smack dab in the middle of lobsterville (there are always lots of places to procure tasty, live lobsters on Centre around Grand and Hester). As it turned out though, due to the latish hour, Robo ended up having to get the lobsters on Grand and Forsythe. So, here's what we ate at Lobster Night:

Bok Choy - Sauteed in olive oil with garlic. (prepared by Robo)
Pan Fried Potatoes - Cooked in a wok with lots of olive oil and liberal (very) dashes of black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder. Some salt too, but not quite as much. (prepared by me, the CLC)
4 Glorious Lobsters - I sprinkled some kosher salt into the water while it was boiling. Once the water came to a hard boil, Robo and Sudmann placed the lobbies into the pot. Sad, but mainly YUM.
Accompaniments - Lots of delicious drawn butter and lemon wedges. (also prepared by Robo)

To drink we had some Brooklyn Pennant Ales and a bottle of J. Lohr Arroyo Seco Chardonnay (2004). Vino was courtesy of Betten - thanks! Both complimented the lobster quite nicely.

After the obvious gluttony that ensued, we were all really amped to check out some Phoenix rising action. Man, Class 5 mutants really scare the living daylights out of me. They're just so powerful......

Last Night's Dinner: La Villa / Aunt Suzie's

Last night's dinner was another Aunt Villa combo take-out dinner. We've stopped ordering in from La Villa, because in addition to their outrageous prices on certain items ($11 house salad anyone?), they also charge $1.50 or $2 for delivery. Coupling that with a tip for the delivery guy (like he sees any of that delivery fee,) makes for quite a large surcharge on an already expensive bill. But one can't deny that their pizzas and pastas are fantastic and better than Aunt Suzie's a few storefronts north. So what we've been doing lately is getting a house salad from Aunt Suzie's and then an entree from La Villa. Both Dan and I love the house salad, which is built upon a bed of chopped romaine and shredded red cabbage. On top you have a lovely three-bean mix (red, white and garbanzo), a couple of carrot coins, a tomato wedge or two, a duo of cubed provolone and kalamata olives and a slice of salami cut in half. On the side is a house-made italian dressing, with bits of shallot and flecks of parmensan. We also both love the house salad frm La Villa, but it's totally overwhelming if you just want a nice side of greens to accompany your meal. One day I'll go into detail about it, but not today!

At La Villa, I picked up a lasagna bolognese order that Dan had called in. Honestly, I don't think I ever tried lasagna until I started reading Garfield comic books. And once I tried it, I became obsessed. If I could, I would bathe myself in it as Garfield often did. It's still one of my favorite foods. When I was a wee 'un my mom and I would often get it from a pizza joint called Jerry's. She didn't drive in those days, so we'd walk over, usually after school. We would go there often, usually sitting at the counter, sometimes eating lasagna, sometimes eating drippy slices and sipping fountain soda. The original Jerry's burned down some time ago (I want to say 20 years ago), but they rebuilt and Linda and I were able to continue to get the lasagna and a chef's salad. We could have gotten lasagna from Aunt Suzie's, but they only offer a cheese or vegetable and I for one was definitely in a meat sauce mood. The best part about La Villa though is the house-baked focaccia bread. It makes the meal for us. They make two kinds - one with an herb mixture on top, the other with thinly slices red onion (or maybe shallots, I've never really thought about it). We always make sure to get an order with our take-out meal.

Tonight's Dinner

Momofuku (1st Avenue between 10th and 11th, East Ville, NYC) with Youthlarge. Y to the L has already posted about this place, so I won't go into too much detail. I'd link you, but I'm still not really sure how. Maybe I'll try to learn how tomorrow.......

1 order of steamed buns with chicken - Outside is all fluffy deliciousness, inside is all crispy and crunchy (cucumber slices) goodness. On my next visit, I may decide to just eat different types of steamed buns and bypass the noodles altogether. These were the highlight of the meal for me.

Momofuku Ramen (Berkshire pork combo with poached egg) - This gigantic noodle soup was pretty tasty, but they had the air conditioning up way too high, so Youthlarge's and my noodles were practically frozen just a couple bites in! The different bits of shredded pork were glorious though, as was the poached egg.

To drink I had a Hitachino Nest Weizen. Being a total Germanophile, I sort of had my doubts about a Japanese Heffe-Weisse, but this one was ok. It certainly was no Franziskaner though.

While the food at Momofuku was delicious, my stomach still felt really funny afterward. YL and I strolled down to the Magician (Rivington and Essex, LES, NYC) for a couple of Bushmills and sodas. These helped to settle my stomach immensely. Thanks YL!

Bacon-O-Meter

Number of strips: 3.25
Type/brand: Peter Luger brand/unknown
Consistency: thick and char-rific, could have used 10 more seconds to further cook the fat in the center/cold but toothsome
Location: Peter Luger Steakhouse / Tom's Restaurant, Brooklyn, NYC
Comments: I decided that the bacon I ate at Peter Luger over the weekend counts as 3 strips. It's arbitrary yes, but you had your chance to speak. The .25 strips came this morning at Tom's. I ate a little piece of Dr. Abby's bacon. I had the beef salami and eggs.

Total count from April 26, 2006: 21.75

Misc. Eating from Sunday

First of all, mazel tov to Youthlarge for making it through such an epic day of eating and only ejecting mere bits of creamed spinach from her little body! If I had been in her shoes, everywhere I went would have magically transformed into a vomitorium!

Post-AIDS Walk Brunch
Schiller's Liquor Bar (Rivington and Norfolk, LES, NYC) with Lauren, Adrienne, Cram and Mike W. As far as Keith McNally joints go, this is one of my least favorites. Balthazar and Pravda are excellent if you're feeling especially solvent, while Lucky Strike consistently churns out reliable, well-priced fare. Schiller's and Pastis however, remind me of your annoying second cousins who go to Surrey for a week and a half and then suddenly have annoying affectations and fake British accents upon returning stateside. Yes - annoying. I also got into a little bit of trouble at brunch. I noticed a little pair of baby hands on the booth behind me and I was like 'oh, a baby'. The Filipina mother shifted a bit so I could see the little tyke and I was shocked to discover that he was not only incredibly oversized, but he was WHITE as well! I swear, I'm not being mean, but the kid attached to those little baby hands looked like a 13 year old manchild! And with the biggest head I ever did see. Like, I'm talking Easter Island type proportions. So I said to myself, 'that's not what I expected you to look like, baby'. However, much to my dismay, it has since come to my attention that I did not in fact say it to myself, but rather out loud, directly to the mother and 'baby'. WTF is the matter with me? Sometimes I seriously question whether or not I should be allowed to go outside. Anyway, here's what I ate:

1 overpriced Bloody - 10 bucks for one stupid bloody at BRUNCH time. Man, get the lube out!
Steak & Eggs - Perfectly medium rare (correct doneness is something you can always rely on, even in the shittiest of Frenchie brasserie type places), scrambled eggs were nice and fluffy (I usually get over easy with my S&E, but made a last minute switch to scrambled for no apparent reason) and the homefries were perfectly seasoned. The tastiness of the S&E partially made up for the anal rape that was the overpriced bloody.

I'm sorry that ended up being so scatelogical. I won't let it happen again.

Newell's Birthday Dinner
We went to Perbacco (East 4th between and A and B, East Ville, NYC) to celebrate Newell's 30th birthday. It's so weird though, Newell turned 30 last year too. Hmmmmm, I wonder... Anyway, the people in attendance were Nate, Jen Anderson, Sus, Paul Sullivan, someone named Stephanie or Lisa, Aaron Olivo, Newell, Ted and Barb. Betten and Robo (usually referred to as Mike W.) showed up later just for drinks. I thought this place was ok for the most part, but not worth going back to. My entree happened to be quite good, but Sus' gnocchi was really undercooked and practically inedible. We shared a bunch of appetizers (see below), some of which were rather yummy (RY), others were just whatever (W).

Appetizers
Fried rice balls stuffed with mixed Italian cheese and herbs - RY - best app we ordered.
Flash fried calamari with a side of tartar (nicht marinara, odd) - W
Little meatballs cooked in fresh tomato and basil sauce - RY
Fried large green olives stuffed with a blend of minced meat - Totally RY
Crabmeat rolled in tuna carpaccio - RY, but also sort of W
Lamb skewers - W

Entree
Organic chicken breast with sage and Parma prosciutto (succulent), potato croquette (mezza mezza) and a salad with carrot, arugula and apple (So delicious. The dressing was just a perfectly simple olive oil and subtle salt concoction. Surprisingly, the salad made a kick ass combo-bite with the chicken. I have always enjoyed mixing temperatures and textures in food though. That's why I love Vietnamese so much.)

After sorting out the bill for like 20 minutes with the assistance of my trusty calculator watch, most of us headed back to Chinatown: the Apartment for drinks.

Last Night's Dinner: Shea Stadium

I have a weakness for subs. Last night at Shea, even though I wasn't super hungry, I couldn't resist getting a turkey and mozz sub from the Mama's of Corona stand. They serve two heros - the aforementioned turkey and mozz and also an Italian sub. I love that it comes with a small container of vinegared red peppers and marinated mushrooms. The turkey and mozz also comes with some brown gravy. One day I'll have to hit up the actual store (which is really called Leo's Latticini) before heading to Shea. One day. Hooray for Mama's!

And somehow I managed to keep it all down

I did way too much eating this weekend, particularly on Saturday when I was faced with the predicament of a birthday lunch for my mom at Peter Luger's and then a Schnack-catered wedding in the evening. It was the first time at Peter Luger's for both Dan and I so while we didn't want to stuff our faces to the point of food coma, we did want to take advantage of a delicious lunch opportunity. We were both sated and under control until dessert, when Dan became a chocolate fiend.

To begin with, we had their world famous off-menu bacon: half inch slabs of pork belly glistening with fat and crusted with char.

How does that affect the Bacon-O-Meter? Clearly, it was one piece, but the equivalent of at least 4-5 strips. It was superb, although I probably wouldn't have minded a couple extra seconds in the broiler for my piece. The edges were cooked to my liking, but some of the streaks of fat in the middle were a little undercooked. My mother cut little pieces of bacon and slices of onion roll to make mini bacon sarnis for herself and little Ashlyn. I'm glad to see my little niece is already enjoying porcine perfection, but where was mine, Linda? We also shared a couple orders of shrimp cocktail, making sure to add extra horseradish to the cocktail sauce we were dipping the plumpers into. Two orders of "steak for two" were shared amongst the 6 adults and 2 little ones. For sides we got creamed spinach, German potatos (hash browns) and french fries. I think the little Buddha mostly ate cheerios and a cherry tomato. Maybe a piece of muffin as well. Ashlyn was content with french fries and some creamed spinach. She knew what awaited her - dessert! She also told me that not only was she the peanut, but that the little Buddha was the peanut as well!

While I immensely enjoyed the steak, the sides were really the stars of the meal for me. The steak didn't really knock me off my feet like I was expecting it to. The creamed spinach was so tasty and so rich. I had to eat tiny little bites as to not overwhem myself. I don't know what the french fries were fried in, but it made for an unbelieveably perfect fry - crisp on the outside, warm and soft on the inside. Dan took a liking to the super crispy ones that crunched like potato chips.

For dessert, we had a Holy Cow hot fudge sundae with birthday candle. Chocolate coins were tossed onto the table and the birthday song was sung. I abstained from dessert, save for a few bites of chocolate and whipped cream (or I guess schlag they might call it here). I had a roast pig to save room for!

So about two and a half hours later, I was nibbling on some pate (I thought it was smoked pork of some sort) and goat cheese and downing a Pacifico prior at the wedding of Alex and Anne. The consuming really didn't let up for another 5 or 6 hours. The pre-ceremony snacks consisted of the aforementioned slab of pate and plate of assorted cheeses with crackers. There was also a big bowl of shrimp cocktail but I skipped, having already eaten 2 pieces of shrimp with lunch. Trays of mini-schnack burgers and potato-codcakes were passed around, but I didn't get Schnacktified until post-ceremony, when I got Schancktified twice! I also got to try the elusive fries with pork gravy. The gravy was a little cold but I really didn't care because it was so savory and magical. This was my second time at a Schnack-catered event and what I want to know is where these fries with pork gravy were at the first one!

At this point, I had had a couple Pacificos and a margarita - recipe for disaster! During dinner, I switched to club soda and I think that was one of the smartest things I've ever done, because it really saved me from visiting Ralph. Dinner was served buffet style, with the following presented:

• macaroni and cheese
• french fries with more pork gravy (this time all warm and silky from the chafing dish)
• poached salmon with chipotle sauce
• garlic greens (this was probably my favorite side, aside from pork gravy)
• asparagus spears
• bbq chicken (this was my favorite protein)
• roast pork
• salad
• spicy cole slaw (yowza, you ain't kidding!)
• parker house rolls

Am I missing anything? After dinner, shots of Makers appeared (thanks Erik and Dani!), glasses of beer milkshakes, the vanilla ones of which were transformed into boilermaker shakes (thanks Hot Tub!). How in the world did I make it through the night? Also served for dessert were sundaes (make your own, from which I abstained) and wedding cake, which was super fantastico. It was chocolate with what I think was mocha frosting. There were pieces of crushed peppermint patties either in the cake batter or the chocolate ganache between layers.

Ok, you made it down this far so you deserve the truth. On the way to Commonwealth after the wedding, we were stopped at at a red light right at our corner. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me up as I was fading, so I hopped out of the cab and hobbled to our door. When I was brushing my teeth and tongue, I gagged a little and a tiny bit of creamed spinach was freed. It was not from drinking at all though, but I wanted to come clean.

Last Night's Dinner - Forget about the salad, just eat my meat! (thanks Cram)

Chris Cram's house (Suffolk between Rivington and Delancey, LES, NYC) with the aforementioned host, Michelle, Luciano, Sean Murphy and Chris Barnett.

We decided to order in from Soy (Suffolk between Rivington and Delancey, LES, NYC) and have a nice family dinner with some lovely 2 Live Crew playing in the background (you ain't nothing but a hoochie mama!). Soy was pretty yummy and I would definitely order from there again. In fact, I sort of want to again today. According to their take-out menu, they specialize in Japanese home cooking. Here's what I ate:

1 potato and beef croquette - Very nice; not at all greasy.
1 order of Everything Burger - Pan fried patties of beef, pork, chicken and tofu, served with side vegetables. Three little burgers - cute AND delicious.

Nothing brings a family together like a little misogyny and some Japanese home cooking!

Two Nights Ago's Dinner (and Drinks): Zaytoons and The Zombie Hut

I started writing this yesterday, but then never finished. So keep that in mind as you read.

Despite the downpour yesterday, we somehow got in our softball game. Things were looking good as we entered the 7th inning tied 6-6, but then we gave up 5 runs to the Zombie Hut team and lost the game 11-5. Afterwards, we went to drink at the Zombie Hut, which is a funny little bar on Smith Street, modeled after the likes of Trader Vic's and other Polynesian watering holes. I only had 2 drinks and a shot, but I somehow managed to get super drunk and wake up this morning hungover! What the hey hey hey? I got a frozen zombie which is a rum-based fruity drink that could be a cousin to a frozen margarita. It was super sweet and came with a sugared rim. For my next drink, I did it Mai Tai style. So delicious! And then both teams got a round of shots from the bar and that really took me over the top. I picked up dinner from Zaytoons a couple doors down to bring home. Got a shawarma platter with hummus and a falafel sandwich to share with DMR. Way too much food! As the night progressed I kept getting drunker even though I had stopped drinking. I don't know what was going on.

Now I've run out of steam and have nothing more to say.

Today's Lunch

Snack Taverna (Bedford and Morton, West Village, NYC) with Lauren.

Hold on to your hats everyone, because I think today's lunch may have been the very best lunch I've had thus far in 2006! I'm dead serious. Here's what I ate:

1 glass of Karyda - Naoussa, Xynomavro, 2001 (red) - Perfect compliment to my lunch, which I will delineate shortly. Like, right now.
Avgolemono Soup - Traditional Greek chicken soup w/ lemon, egg and orzo. I've had this soup at a number of different places, but I have to say, Snack Taverna's was the best. It was even better than the Avgolemono at Pylos (East 7th between A and 1st, East Ville, NYC), and I seriously adore that place. The balance between the lemony goodness and the chicken stock and was truly glorious. The harmonious union of tangy and savory. Perfection.
Seared Lamb Salad - A perfectly cooked (v. tender) lamb kebob served over watercress with roasted peppers, FINGERLING potatoes (I heart these), red onions and shredded Kefalotyri cheese. If you've ever met me, you know that I am a real meat and potatoes kind of girl. You also know that I'm a big fan of the cheese. Also, I'm not so into the 'greens' in a salad, so the fact that this salad just had crispy pieces of fresh watercress in it instead of pesky bits of lettuce made this the best 'salad' ever!

Afterward, Lauren and I went for Chinatown style massages on Christopher Street. The perfect ending (not happy though) to the most delicious lunch of 2006 (thus far)!

Misc. Eating from Yesterday

Ubuntu Education Fund Office (32 Broadway, NYC)

My new employment status has afforded me more time to put toward my altruistic endeavors, so I've committed to volunteer in the Ubuntu office twice a week until I find a new job. Right now I'm auditing a bunch of their files. Oh, which reminds me, I'm walking in the AIDS Walk this Sunday in support of Ubuntu and would really like to raise at least $205 so I can break $1000 for the second year in a row. Here's a link (sort of) if you would like to donate to me:

http://aidswalknewyork2006.kintera.org/bethm

So, while I was there, Jake, Kym, Lara, Gabby (sp?) and I all ordered individual pizzas from the Amish Market (17 Battery Park Place, NYC). Mine had sausage on it. I really like the Amish Market chain. They are not that expensive for the quality AND they have delicious fresh roasted cold cuts. I like the herb roasted turkey.

Sequoia (Pier 17, South Street Seaport, NYC) - Ubuntu Pre-AIDS Walk Happy Hour

1 Frozen Lime Margarita - Holy acid reflux!
1 order of fried calamari - Shared with Sus. Too greasy and made our stomachs feel funny.
2 pints of Stella - Always hits the spot.

Great Neck (Great NY Noodletown, Bowery and Bayard, C-Town, NYC)

Ate at Great Neck AGAIN with Sus, Newell and Tim Bergstrom, who had just flown into NYC from Joburg, South Africa (sorry Newell, I know you hate the inclusion of the country next to the name of an unmistakable city - like, Berlin, Germany). Here's what we ate:

Roast Pork Wonton Noodle soup
Fried Duck Rolls
Three Jewels - Soy Sauce Chicken, Roast Pork, Roast Duck, served w/ yummy scalliony sauce
Beef w/ Chinese Broccoli over fried rice - The fried rice is an extra dollar, but it's worth it to me because I don't like regular rice.
Sauteed Baby Bok Choy
Soy Sauce Noodles w/ Marinated Pork - My first time eating this dish, despite several million visits to this establishment. I loved it.

Including a generous tip, the bill came out to be $50. That's $12.50 a head. WTF? How does the C-Man do it? I've lived in the C for close to four years now and I am still amazed by how inexpensive yet delicious it is. EVERY TIME.

Bacon-O-Meter 5/18/06

Number of strips: 2
Type/brand: Niman Ranch
Consistency: overcooked
Location: from the City Bakery
Comments: I knew I shouldn't have gotten these cause they looked like they had been sitting in the chafing dish whatchamacallit forever, but my bacon eyes totally got the better of me. Not tender at all.

Total count from April 26, 2006: 18.5

Last Night's Dinner

Yankee Stadium with Zach Attack 2006, Adam and Marta.

Yankees - 4
Rangers - 3

Gorgeous night at the Stadium. We had really great loge box seats right near Bernie, who was playing in right again. The only bad thing about the loge level is that there are no chicken fingers and french fries to be found anywhere! In order to procure some fried deliciousness, one has to haul ass all the way up to the tier level, or down to the field level. WTF? I mean, I guess the field level isn't THAT far, but the journey still seems like a big time waster. So, stranded in the middle of a chicken fingerless desert, here's what I ate:

2 hot dogs w/ ketchup
1 pint of Bud
A couple handfuls of Zach Attack 2006's Cracker Jacks
1 16 oz. bottle of Coors Light

Today's Lunch

Today for lunch I ordered an egg white omelette with turkey and Swiss from my local diner, Everest (Chatham Square, C-Town, NYC). Just before hanging up, I blurted out that I wanted a side of bacon. The guy taking my order, I believe it was Teddy, the owner, was like "what?" and I had to repeat that I wanted a side of bacon. I was sort of embarrassed about the exchange, but have since bounced back. I REALLY wanted the side of bacon in order to increase my combo-bite options. I made combo-bites galore! Some were bacon, turkey and Swiss omelette AND homefries all piled onto my fork, some were just the omelette mixed with crispy bacon bits and some were little bacon 'chips' used for scooping up homefry 'dip'. Combo-bites = Life.

En route to Everest I stopped at one of those classic C-Town places that is half deli, half dried shrimp and mushroom emporium. My roommate Sudmann and I simply call it 'Dried Shrimp'. So I ducked into Dried Shrimp to pick up some cigs and some sort of Asiany iced tea. I ended up getting the Iced Oolong Tea w/ no sugar. Not sure of the brand, but it was imported by Well Luck Co., Inc. of Jersey City, NJ. You might also be interested to know that it is a product of Taiwan. I got a pack of Parliament Lights as well AND I got carded. I am going to be THIRTY next month and I still get carded every second. The Chinese lady who carded me looked super stern and exactly like my ex-best friend Lissa Bollettino's mother. Except LB's mother was a whitey. Discovering cross-racial stunt doubles always makes me crack up. A lot.

Tonight's Dinner: Kenka

DMR and I were scheduled to meet at the Downing Street location of STA Travel to book our tickets to Asia. Their computers were down. Curses! So we walked over to the East Village location on 9th and 3rd Ave and afterwards, we Kenkafied it up!

Kenka is an izakaya on silly o' St. Mark's. I've been there many times before, but this was the first time for DMR. Basically you get to stuff your face and get drunk at a very inexpensive price. Tonight, DMR had an una-don - pieces of broiled eel over rice and I had a Taiwanese style ramen, which came with spicy minced pork and garlic or chive shoots. We also shared an order of pork shumai and an okonomiyaki. DMR had 2 glasses of Kirin on draft while I had one. He downed the first one like a man possessed. All this came out to $23.30 (with tax, but before tip)! Draft beers, (served in your standard issue pint glass) at Kenka are a fantastic deal at $1.50. Bottles are mysteriously 3x more expensive. We had one piece of okonomiyaki left and I was tempted to ring up the CLC to come on over because she loves to get Kenkafied too! DMR said it was his least favorite part of the meal, but when we're in Osaka, which is known for its okonomiyaki, I hope he'll be able to change his mind. The first time I had it was easily the tasiest - in Tokyo back in 1998 with my high school friend Hiromi. It was a cook your own type place and you got to order add-ons such as rice cakes, which we got and I highly recommend.

The food at Kenka is not extraordinary, just basic and good. And the prices, you can't argue. The atmosphere is rather unique as well - you might as well be in Japan. There's a wall of pachinko machines by the bathroom. There's a small patio you can see into, which I assume is for smokers. The speakers blare what sounds like propaganda music from decades past and the menus feature items like bull penis, fried frogs and Japanese porn drawings.

Along with our check you usually get a small dish of flavored sugar, which you can pour into the cotton candy machine for an airy treat on your way out. Unfortunately the machine broke sometime during our meal and there was no fairy floss for us. Oh and I think they got busted by the cops recently because they ID'ed me for the first time ever today.

Get Kenkafied, get Kenkafied!

What I'm Eating Right Now and A Breakfast Bust

Finishing off some crinkle cut fries from the Shake Shack. The cheeseburger is already gone and it was juicy and delicious. I meant to get a Shack Burger, but I forgot what it was called so I was a little surprised when I got my burger. My mistake.
Co-worker Johnny Lips picked up some shake shackens for me, most likely because he still feels guilty about the mean email prank he pulled. He sent around one of those "Every time you masterbate" images to the office wherein he forged my signature and also the entire email contents! He also signed off as "SJR" which should tip any and all to what a fake it was. Still people came up to me thinking I had sent it! Anyway, I still have some fries left and they are still crispy which is pretty remarkable considering our office is about 6 blocks from the Shack and also I'm a slow eater sometimes.

Also I want to tell everyone about NY City Bagels on 6th Avenue and 17th street. I got a plain bagel with veggie cream cheese this morning and it cost $2.75! WTF? At most it should cost $1.75. I was really appalled. I guess all the water leaking from the ceiling into buckets should have tipped me off to the fact that this place is bogus! That was some downpour this morning. I don't know if it's still raining since I am very far from a window.

Last Night's Dinner

Yankee Stadium with Tara (aka Mulligan '94)

Yankees - 2
Rangers - 4

I had fried chicken for lunch today, so I decided that I would skip my requisite chicken fingers with french fries at the Stadium, so instead ate the following:

1 Premio Italian Sausage
1 Bud Light
1/2 order of Chicken Fingers with french fries - Split with Tara; got the munchies at the top of the sixth and couldn't resist.
1/2 order of french fries - More munchies still.
1 Yuengling

There was a rain delay in the bottom of the eighth, so I got to see the grounds crew work their fannies off. I wonder how much those guys have to practice. Or how much money they make.......

Last Night's Snack Attack

My good friend Donovan's mother passed away yesterday, so a bunch of us went over to the Brazen Head (Atlantic between Court and basically Smith, Brooklyn) to spend time with him and to see how he was. We love you Vino; we'll see you when you get back.

After a few pints of Blue Point, I realized that I was STARVING. At that point, it was already after 1:00 AM, so I didn't have too many options. I ended up sharing a cab back to Manhattan with Sean Murphy and Chris Cram. Upon arrival in the C (that's Chinatown), I stumbled over to Great Neck (you should know what it's actually called and where it is by now) and ordered some Beef Chow Fun. When I got home, I decided that I needed to re-watch my favorite episode of Once and Again while I devoured my noodles. The Beef Chow Fun really hit the spot. I rarely get this dish nowadays because I've been so obsessed with the Roast Duck Lo Mai Fun, but I think I'm going to make amends and throw BCF back into the noodle mix.

Today's Lunch

Went to Don Pepe (844 McCarter Highway, Newark, NJ) with my mom, my sister and Mrs. McGinty to celebrate Mother's Day. We always invite McGinty to come with us because her son Michael always blows her off for his mother-in-law. His father (God bless him, one of the most amazing, larger than life people I've ever had the good fortune of meeting) is probably SO disappointed in him from Heaven, or wherever great people go when they die too soon.

OK - enough of that. The restaurant was this amazing Spanish place I've been wanting to go to for years. I'm happy to report that it did not disappoint. Here's what I ate:

Apps:
Fried Calamari - Perfect consistency. Not at all rubbery.
Clams Casino - Yummy toasted breadcrumbs, whole clams and BACON. I love you Clams Casino.

Dinner:
2 1/2 lb. Steamed Lobster - This is what gets me out of bed every morning.

Sides:
Perfectly crispy homemade potato chip type things (maybe cottage fries?), saffron rice and green beans

Drinks:
90,000,000 glasses of sangria (red)
1 Iced Tea
1 Corona

Perfection.

Misc. Eating from Yesterday

I won't say when, where or why, but here's what I ate yesterday:

7-15 M&Ms
2 peanuts
1 slice of pizza with sausage (perfection from Grimaldi's, hands down the best pizza in New York)
1 slice of pizza with black olives and mushrooms (also from Grimaldi's, but, um, no meat...)
9-13 Utz Carolina BBQ potato chips
1 order of french fries with oniony gravy
1 cheeseburger (great seasoning, made by Nate)
1 hot Italian sausage (sans bun)
1 sweet Italian sausage (avec bun)
1 hot dog (on a hamburger roll)
1 turkey sandwich on a roll with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise
too many beers

Today's Blech-fast

Our Sunday Times a few weeks ago was wrapped in a branded bag for Starbucks. It announced the arrival of two new drinks - some awful sounding Blackberry Green Tea Frappucino and a Green Tea Latte. Included with the paper was a coupon for a Green Tea Latte and I used it today en route to work from a doctor's appointment I was totally late for because I got off at the wrong stop.

Don't ever order this! It tastes like crap. Actually it tastes like honeydew melons, which is even weirder. The drink is an unnaturally mint green color and put me in an even worse mood than getting off at the wrong subway stop did.

Also, don't go to the Starbucks on Broadway and 17th Street. I waited like 10 minutes for my drink. Unbelieveable. What are all those barristas doing behind the counter? Oh wait, they were arguing with each other about whether the drink was supposed to have soy instead of skim milk.

Today's Lunch

Walker's (Varick and North Moore, NYC) with Lori, a former colleague. Walker's is one of my favorite places to eat in the City. Awesome brunch and a solid, relatively inexpensive dinner. It's also right across the street from the firehouse featured in Ghostbusters, which is nice. I had a cup of beef vegetable soup, followed by the chopped Cobb salad (with grilled chicken, bacon, bleu cheese, egg, tomato and cucumber). I don't actually like cucumbers, except the occasional slice in a glass of water, or tomatoes, so I said - no tomatoes or cucumbers, please.

Lori treated since I am newly unemployed. I had a feeling she would treat me, so en route to Walker's I stopped at Mei Lai Wah (Bayard between Mott and Elizabeth, C-Town, NYC) to pick up a dozen baked roast pork buns as preemptive reciprocation. She loves them and was very appreciative.

Last Night's Dinner

Yankee Stadium with Newell.

Yankees - 3
Red Sux - 5

I was waiting in line for the following when Matsui fractured his left wrist:

Chicken Fingers w/ french fries - Surprisingly fresh and tender. In fact, the best chicken fingers I've ever had at the Stadium. My only beef with them was that the packaging of the BBQ sauce they came with was really shoddy. The top of the container wouldn't tear off cleanly.
1 bottled water - The previous night's bender made me totally dehydrated, so I was trying to avoid the sauce, hence I skipped the normally requisite beer.

Last night Newell was a victim of sexism and was forced to check his rather small messenger bag, even though they were letting in women with much larger tote bags. One of whom I noticed was carrying a huge Red Sux tote! Anyway, during the top of the second, Newell went to get the following:

2 Hot Dogs - The hot dogs actually turned out to be chicken fingers w/ french fries. Apparently, the hot dogs were looking a little 'sorry'.
1 24 oz. Fosters - I love beer, so I ended up drinking about a third of it, despite my aforementioned attempts to avoid the sauce yesterday.
1 Lipton iced tea - For me.

Despite the loss and the Matsui injury, it was a great time. I won two bucks off of Newell on silly bets, Bernie looked great in right (aside from the one blip) and Bubba totally rocked it.

Last Night's Pu Pu Platter

The company I work for is comprised of two companies that merged about 3 months ago. Last night, there was a little cocktail party meet and greet at the CEO's beautiful loft space. I had many glasses of claret and many nibbles from the Pu Pu Platter spread, which was from Suzie's.

Consumed:
2 mini spare ribs (man, I forgot how delicious and unnaturally red these are!)
2 crab rangoons (the second one only cause my boss made me)
1 pan fried meat dumpling
1 steamed veggie dumpling
1 fried wonton
2 pieces general tso's chicken

I think that was it. Back in Brooklyn, I realized I was majorly tipsy and got a chicken salad sandwich on a plain bagel for dinner. I really didn't need it.

p.s. I really want to try the Pu Pu Platter they serve at Blue Ribbon! Who's with me?

Bacon-O-Meter

Number of strips: 2
Type/brand: Niman Ranch
Consistency: FATTY, what's going on guys?
Location: from the City Bakery
Comments: Again they were kind of fatty and skimpy on the meat. But it was a delicious accompaniment to my oatmeal with maple syrup.

Total count from April 26, 2006: 16.5

Last Night's Dinner

Went on a TOTAL rum bender. I seem to recollect a lot of Van Hagar being played. Listen. I know there are a lot of reactionaries out there who absolutely HATE Van Hagar, but WTF? I love Hot for Teacher just as much as the next guy, but Dreams seriously makes me want to get up out of my chair and punch the sky! Anyway, over the course of the bender I consumed the following:

Dinner - First Wave
On Monday night Sudmann brought home some succulent Niman Ranch beef prepared in a tomato relish for me. He works at a catering company, so has access to a lot of deliciousness. He also brought me a current issue of Gourmet magazine. Mid-bender, I remembered that the tasty beef was in the refrigerator, so I heated it up and ate it. I'm not exactly sure what cut it was, but I thought it tasted like sliced ribeye. Thank you Sudmann - you are an ANGEL.

Dinner - Second Wave
Got super hungry again around 1:30 AM. Fortunately, the aforementioned Angel was also hungry, so went to pick up some food for us at Great Neck (really Great NY Noodletown, Bowery and Bayard, C-Town, NYC). I called in the order. We got one Salt Baked Combo (shrimp, scallops, squid and flounder) and one order of Roast Duck Lo Mai Fun. Just what I needed.

Last Night's Dinner

Last night was Big Eli and Klara's last night in NYC before heading back to Egypt by way of Canadia! So we had a big farewell dinner at Jeallado (East 4th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, NYC). In attendance were Nate, Eli, Leyla, Shehab, Sarah Douglas, A-Coop, Newell, Sus, Tom, Sean Murphy, Klara and Adrienne. About half of the group ordered some sort of bibimbob and the other half ordered sushi. I was in the latter half. Here's what I ate:

Sashimi Combo A - Tuna, yellowtail, salmon and white fish served with miso soup, sunomono app. and rice.
Lily Special Roll - Tuna and whitefish over some yummy real crabmeat filling.
Lisa Special Roll - Salmon, tuna and yellowtail over the same yummy real crabmeat filling.
Two bites of the beef from Adrienne's cold beef bibimbob - I would have had more bonus beef bites, but Adrienne ejected my chopsticks from her bibimbob bowl! I guess it IS sort of rude to go trolling around in other people's bibimbob looking solely for beef. Sorry A!

To drink - 1 small Kirin and half of Nate's large Sapporo.

Much love to Klara and Big Eli as they embark on their journey back to Cairo! Eat lots of lobsters and oysters for me in PEI. Mussels too.

Today's Lunch

My first day of freedom. Klara stopped by Chinatown: the Apartment to pick me up and then we walked over to V-Below, which is actually named Doyers Vietnamese Restaurant (Doyers between Bowery and Pell, Chinatown, NYC).

We both ate:
Fried Wontons - Airy and delicious. I like to call them Pillows from Heaven.

CLC ate:
Beef Dice w/ Onions over Fried Rice - This is a new favorite of mine at V-Below. The beef dice are super juicy. I also like that they are called 'dice'. Oh, and it's served over FRIED rice, which I love, as opposed to regular rice, which I find to be blah. AND it came with a yummy lemony black peppery sauce.

Klara ate:
Shrimp w/ String Beans in Spicy Black Bean Sauce - The spicy black bean sauce is a V-Below staple. Solid.

Afterward we walked around and ended up buying some more delicousnesses at Jacques Torres (Hudson and King, NYC). Definitely beats being a desk jockey.

Bacon-O-Meter

Number of strips: 2
Type/brand: Niman Ranch
Consistency: Thought they were tender enough, but maybe a bit too fatty.
Location: from the City Bakery
Comments: I totally forgot that I ate these 2 strips with my yogurt and fruit this morning.

Total count from April 26, 2006: 14.5

Last Night's Dinner

So, yesterday was my last day with my company. Even though I am glad that I don't have to work there anymore, I'm still a little upset that I got the old heave ho, so last night I definitely wanted to eat some fried chicken for dinner. At first I was thinking Mama's (East 3rd Street and B, NYC), an East Village bastion of solid comfort food deliciousness, but I was in the mood for someplace a little more sit-downy. My dining companion, Mike W., also noted that it might be too crowded. So we decided to go to Old Devil Moon (East 12th Street between A and B, closer to A, NYC). En route to dinner I said to him that we'd probably run into this girl Meredith whom he used to work with sometimes at Alt Coffee who is also a waitress at ODM. And sure enough, we did! She was our waitress and seemed pretty psyched to see us, and when I say 'us', I really mean to say Mike, though she was super friendly to me too. She brought some yummy cornbread with honey in the middle over to the table and we totally scarfed it. I was STARVING. We looked at the menu (they got new menus - really pretty handcrafted woodwork type front covers. each one is different and unique.) and decided to share the following:

Ribs with mac and cheese and slaw - The ribs were extremely tender and were practically falling off the bone. The mac and cheese was hearty and delicious and had some yummy breadcrumbs sprinkled on top. The slaw looked great, but it had a lot of red cabbage in it so I didn't eat it. I really like the way red cabbage tastes, but it totally repeats on me, so I always skip it.

Chicken Fried Chicken with mashies and slaw - Completely satisfying. A cure-all for whatever ails you, mentally or physically, unless of course your physical ailment is obesity or some type of heart condition, or actually lots of stuff comes to mind now, but I think you know what I'm saying. It was sublime. Absolutely smothered in creamy white country gravy..... Back to reality - skipped the slaw again.

To drink, we both had Wolaver's pale ale (organic from Vermont). Refreshing, but not as light as I expected.

Meredith was super sweet and comped us the beers. She also told us that she got into a little altercation with Henry Rollins recently at Cakeshop (Ludlow between Stanton and Rivington, NYC). Apparently he was in there with a camera crew and she yelled to him 'Sweetheart, get in the van!' and then he was irately like 'you trust fund baby hipster!' Ha! Oh surly Henry Rollins! I spent the next few minutes laughing and stretching my neck out to make it look more like Henry Rollins' neck. It sort of hurt though.

The Weekend in Review

The weather this weekend was beautiful. Too bad I felt so lousy. My allergies have been 100x worse than they have ever been and I have terrible allergies to begin with. But when it comes to eating, not even the pollen count is going to stand in my way. The weekend in review:

Saturday:
Morning snack: bacon
Brunch: Smoked salmon platter at Stone Park Cafe. I usually do not stray from the omelet, but the morning's bacon had me in the mood for a something a little crisper and lighter. My sesame bagel was accompanied with a small ramekin of cream cheese as well as a plate of 4-5 slices of salmon which was garnished with tiny cubes of what seemed to be preserved citrus fruit. Not quite sure what exactly. Next to the fish were little mounds of horseradish cream, capers, shredded egg whites, chopped egg yolk and diced red onion. I had delicious combo bite after combo bite.
Late Afternoon Snack: I came up empty with my Derby picks, but my belly came up full! Balgavy treated us to pies from Lenny's with his winnings. I had two slices. I also had one mint julep and a Miller High Life. The winds picked up and my allergies decided to punish me so I cut out early.
Late Dinner: At Maria's Mexican Bistro, my suffering continued. Coupled with Maria's insanely slow service, I thought I was going to pass out. I swear I thought I wasn't hungry, but I had 2 mini chicken quesadillas, one of DMR's cheese enchiladas, a piece of the CLC's sizzling steak in a stone pot, and some chips and guacamole.

Sunday
Baby-sat Princess the Chihuahua for most of the day. Off we went to a shower at Mary Larry's for bride-to-be Anne. Drank numerous Kir Royales and ate some tasty quiche, granola with yogurt and fruit, oven roasted potatoes, breakfast links and a prosciutto and provolone stuffed pepper. Princess kept eating Bonnie's cat food and wound up barfing on my lap. I will say it was a very tidy barf that cleaned up very well. Again had to cut out early due to my condition. Stopped by the Gate to extend birthday wishes and then passed out on the couch with Princess. Woke up a little later to give Princess back to her mom and then passed out some more. Woke up and it was dark and I was disoriented. DMR brought home dinner from the Chip Shop - a kid's chicken tikka masala for him and a kid's Shepherd's pie for me - which we ate while watching the Sopranos.

Last Night's Dinner

Dear Gentle Reader,

Yesterday I got sacked. That's right, the CLC is officially down in the dumps! Fortunately, I have a naturally sunny disposition, so I'm trying not to let it bother me too much. Now, the fact that I am unemployed is a bit of double edged sword in terms of this blog. The up side is that I'll have a lot more time to eat delicious food and document my dining adventures with more thoughtfulness and zeal. The down side is that I won't have as much money to assist in the procurement of said delicious food. What a rat fuck! Don't panic though; we'll figure something out.

Anyway, last night I ended up eating at La Nacional (West 14th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) with Nate, Heather, Vino, Klara and Big Eli. We just stumbled across this place after being shut out of a couple of Mexican restaurants in the immediate vicinity. Believe it or not, wanting to eat Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo is not an original idea, hence a completely fruitless venture. To be honest, I'm really glad it turned out that way. The food was delicious and super inexpensive, in fact, absurdly so. There were six of us, but everyone chipped in for me since I'm recently down and out, and it only came to $40 a head. So, I didn't take any notes because I was feeling a little blue, but I'm pretty sure this is what we ate:

Tapas
1) Tortilla - Egg and potato frittata type deliciousness. Excellent for making combo bites with.
2) Shrimp in a yummy garlicky sauce - Most of us ranked this as #1 tapas of the evening.
3) Mussels in a creamy sauce
4) Manchego and cured meats - Always a winner. Charcuterie RULES.
5) Fried Chorizo - Great combo bite with the tortilla.
6) Grilled Sardines - A total hit. Ditto on the combo bite action.
7) Toasted bread w/ goat cheese, roasted peppers and sardines (or anchovies? nobody's sure.)
8) Some other weird bread thing with olive oil and a tomato paste. I took a little bite and was like - eh, whatever.
9) Another cheese plate. All of the cheeses were quite nice, but I really can't tell you much about them.
10) Grilled octopus - Too salty, but everyone else seemed to think it was delicious. Wait, Heather didn't like it either.

PAELLA
Delicious. The rice was a perfect consistency. The mussels and clams were glorious. I was a camorones (shrimpy shrimp) hog. Even the chicken was great - nice and tender.

To Drink
Two pitchers of sangria (red)

Besos,

CLC

Bacon-O-Meter

Number of strips: 3
Type/brand: Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Center Cuts
Consistency: Not to toot my own horn, but they were cooked perfectly. Nicely browned throughout, a little crispy on the absolute edges and totally chewy throughout.
Location: the living room.
Comments: I cooked up the remainder of the Niman Ranch slab I had. There were 6 strips left, so Dan and I each had 3.

Total count from April 26, 2006: 12.5

Cinco De Mayo Snacks

We won another softball game! The team is now 2-1 and I believe it's the first time over .500 for the MF'ers. I was not named MVP again, sadly, but I'll get over it. Also, I wasn't all that impressive anyway.

Listmaker (that be my husband for those not in the know) and I hopped on the bus after the game in an attempt to get a quick drink at Moonshine, where the man formerly known as Rob Gordon was tri-hosting a BYOM grilling party. We wound up on a B77 joy ride and never made it to said bar. So instead, we stayed on and took it back to the Slope. I then went over to the house of the People's Cortney and SkippyBonitoJack, where they were hosting a Cinco De Mayo fiesta.

A few moments after I walked in, I got handed a yellow dixie cup of pomegranate
magaritas (part of my own contribution to the party was additional POM Wonderful juice because I had a feeling that would be in effect. btw have you tried their new line of iced teas? delicious!) Anyway, Cortney and Skippy, along with Margaret and Jim put together a fantastic spread. TPC made her famous Cortney brand dip (which is tomato based with a shock of tequila, ole!) and another sour cream based dip which had bits of jalepeno that made my mouth feel like burning. Skippy was marinating a flank steak all day and he used the finished product in a batch of quesadillas, which was accessorized by homemade chiptole mayo. Even the mayo part was homemade, holy moly Skippy Stewart!

Furthering the homemade goodness, Jim made chalupas. I was reminded of this story and relayed it to all in earshot. But apparently, I'm the only one who follows chalupa related incidents. Jim put together the masa dough, flattened it out using a tortilla press and then friend the discs in oil. For my chalupa, I added a schmear of refried beans, some Mexican shrimp/corn/black bean salad, a few shreds of lettuce and a handful of finely shredded cheese, which honestly first looked like a mound of rice or coconut. Margaret put together a couple of other dips, including some guacamole and queso, which was super hot when she put the bowl out but not hot enough to keep the queso eaters at bay for a few moments. She must have been spent after all that work, cause I saw her passed out on the couch as I was leaving. Haha.

Yesterday's Lunch

I had really bad allergies yesterday so I stayed home from work. For lunch, I ordered from Everest (Chatham Square, C-Town, NYC), the local diner. I couldn't decide if I was in breakfast mode and wanted eggs, or wanted to go straight to lunch and order the fried chicken platter. I ended up making a game time decision and going with the Twin Souvlaki Platter (two pork souvlaki skewers, served on a bed of french fries, Greek salad and a warm flat pita). I decided to go for this because I wanted to eat 'healthy'. I figured the heap of french fries I devoured would be balanced out by the goodness of the greens in the Greek salad. Unfortunately, my plan to be healthy never really got off the ground. I kept making myself little sandwiches with bits of pita wrapped around pieces of pork and feta and blowing off the non-feta components of the Greek salad entirely. After I finished all of the yummy parts of the salad (feta and the occasional red onion, which really aggravates my acid reflux by the way), I wrapped up the leftovers and put them in the refrigerator to save for later. It's funny how people can't just be honest with themselves. I'm NEVER going to eat that salad.

Another Tonight's Dinner (But Really Last Night's): Freeman's

I had a work dinner last night that didn't start til 9:30. Holy moly, I'm usually all tucked in by then. Ok, not really, but 9:30 is late for me. So I met up with the CLC and her posse at the Magician and downed pints of Brooklyn Pilsner. I shouldn't have had that 3rd one because I was super drunk by the time I stumbled west on Rivington to Freeman's. Along the way, I got the Mets score from my husband (3-1 at that point, who knew the drama that would come?), who was incredulous suprised that I hadn't asked for it when I had talked to him about 30 minutes prior. Also along the way, I got soaked because the jungle mist that made the streets of the LES glisten had turned into real rain. By the time I got to Freeman's, I was wet, still drunk and super hungry.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that our table for 20 was not ready at 9:30. Nor was it ready at 9:40. I think we got seated closer to 10, than 9:50. While I think the food at Freeman's can be pretty tasty at times, they really need to tighten up their service.

Because we were such a large group, we got served family style aside from our entrees (for which we got to pick from a choice of three). When we sat down, our party was greeted with plates of rustic bread and butter, as well as grapes and savory crackers. For our first course, we sampled hot artichoke dip with toasted baguette rounds along with a lovely spinach salad with chopped boiled egg, bacon and pine nuts. I really enjoyed the salad because usually uncooked spinach makes my teeth feel weird after a couple bites and I didn't get that reaction this time. Also, as you know I love bacon and I love the combo of chopped egg and bacon. And in my book pine nuts are always a winner. The hot artichoke dip was equally delicious and our crew did a great job of licking the ramekins clean. Anything that is baked til the top is golden brown and crusty is usually a sure bet. Not listed on the menu but served was a round of devils on horseback - sweet and gooey prunes wrapped in bacon. The prunes were stuffed with cheeses, but I was unable to discern the kind. Also, dear reader, does that half strip of bacon count in the Bacon-O-Meter? I say no, but am willing to listen to the masses on this one.

For our entrees, we had a choice of organic poached chicken, roasted trout or a smoked pork chop. I went with the latter and knew it was a sure bet because while dining here with Margo and the CLC about a month ago I was able to sample it. After placing our entree orders, the waitress took our menus away. I asked to keep mine for reference and was greeted with an odd look. Did the restaurant need to save its family style menu dated May 3, 2006, for another party of 20 that was going to be seated soon after us?

The chop arrived on a plate of coarse stone-ground grits and a small dish of chunky applesauce. The saltiness of the chops was balanced out by the unadulterated, pure flavor of the grits. However, I did not really appreciate my plate being taken away without being asked if I was finished. There was still a lot of food on my plate and granted, I was stuffed and she probably did me a favor, but I really felt that she should have asked me if I wanted my plate cleared. To accompany our entrees, there were shared plates of yukon mashed potatoes with truffle oil drizzled on top, as well as big chunks of roasted beets with ginger syrup. Loved the mash, but thought the beets could have benefited from being chopped a little smaller. Also I forgot to taste the ginger syrup.

When the dessert course came around, I was super stuffed, drunk and tired. Still I managed to try a nibble of all three: the pears poached in red wine with honey lavender ice cream, the hot chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and the Bananas Foster with rum butterscotch sauce. None were all that memorable.

Bottom line is that I'm a big stickler for service and friendly attitude. Their food is pretty good, but I think Freeman's has a big head.

Tonight's Dinner

Met up with Youthlarge, Zach Attack 2006, Nate, Heather, Adrienne, Big Eli, Patrick, Vino, Sus, Newell and Klara at the Magician (Rivington and Essex, NYC) for pre-dinner drinks. Had three Brooklyn Pilsners and 2 bites of Youthlarge's leftover scone from City Bakery. Afterward, we headed over to Lobster Night at the Essex sans Youthlarge and Patrick (YL had a work dinner at Freemans (I can't wait to hear all about it) and Patrick rode his bicycle off to where, I'm not sure).

Here's what I ate at Essex (Rivington and Essex, NYC, just across the way from the Magician):

3 Blue Point oysters
6 or so mussels w/ chorizo
Way more than my fair share of calamari served with yummy habanero sauce
1 1/4 lb. steamed lobster w/ roasted potatoes (sprinkled w/ Old Bay seasoning - YUM) and corn on the cob (I didn't want mine, so I gave it to Zach Attack 2006)
1 Stella

Fun, delicious and not too pricey. The bill came out to be $40 a head (there were 10 of us) with a generous tip. Wish I had been sitting closer to Klara though. Feeling tipsy and listening to the Pet Shop Boys right now, so I'm OUTTA here! Good night.

Last Night's Dinner (sorry so late!)

Last evening, three dear friends descended upon us New Yorkers, so we went for a gigantic feast at Great Neck (Bowery and Bayard, C-Town, NYC). Unfortunately, one of the friends, Klara, got a migraine on her flight from Cairo, so she missed last night's deliciousness, but she'll make up for that at dinner tonight!

People in attendance: Kieran (Ted's friend from CT), Brendan (Ted's other friend from CT), Ted (just back from living on a boat in the Bahamas for the last few months - lucky bastard.), Nate, Big Eli (just back from Cairo, husband of migraine ridden Klara), Sus, Newell and me, the CLC.

What we ate:

2 orders of duck rolls - Succulent pieces of duck, flowering chives and mushrooms rolled up into a crispy spring roll. Very close to fried perfection.
1 order of Three Jewels - Roast Duck, Roast BBQ Pork and Soy Sauce Chicken. Always delicious.
1 order of Salt Baked Shrimp - Similar to the aformentioned, a Great Neck staple - always delicious.
1 order of Singapore Mai Fun - Yellow curry repeats on me, so I always skip this one. EVERYONE else seems to really love it though.
1 order of Roast Duck Lo Mai Fun - This is the noodle dish I insist upon ordering every time because I cannot eat the Singaopre Mai Fun.
1 order of sauteed baby bok choy - Usually one of my favorites, but last night it seemed over-cooked and frankly, limp.
1 Sandy Pot Casserole w/ Oysters and BBQ Pork - Immense oysters. WHERE do they get them? Positively bursting with flavor. I love this dish and always get it when Ted is in town.
1 order of Chinese Flowering Chives w/ Sea Bass - Eh. I like this dish, but I don't LIKE LIKE it.
A second order of Three Jewels - After devouring the last of the oysters, we decided we were still sort of hungry and needed just a little more deliciousness before heading out.

Drinks wise, most of us had Tsing Tao. Always tasty and refreshing. Afterward, we went back to Chinatown: the Apartment, where we met up with Sudmann (my roommate), Betten and Mike W. Had some Yuenglings. I tasted a Nutty Bar (Sudmann's evil temptress) for the first time. I really liked it's wafery goodness. I should steer clear of Nutty Bars until the end of days. A great night - sharing delicious food with friends I love.

Today's Eatings Have Been A Bust

I still have 3/4 of a mixed berry scone left over from 10am.
I got a tomato cheddar soup and 1/2 ham and brie wrap combo for lunch today. But then i remembered I had a 2pm meeting so I had the soup during it. I had the wrap about an hour ago and it's given me the worst stomachache ever.

Tonight I have a work dinner at a place that I've been to once before and was not impressed with.

I hope tonight is not a bust. So far today, I'm definitely down in the eating dumps.

Another Tonight's Dinner (But Really Last Night's): Momofuku

I love noodles. They are my favorite food and most noodle dishes belong in my deliciousness hall of fame. So when Dan and I found ourselves in the East Village for dinner, which doesn't happen all that much, I proposed Momofuku, a noodle bar and much more on 1st Avenue between 10th and 11th streets. I've wanted to try Momofuku for a while, and the curiosity has been heightened by the recent articles in the Times dining section, where chef David Chang has been a guest columnist. The space is tiny, basically a kitchen and an H-shaped counter but we got there early enough that we weren't elbowed out.

We split a 22oz Orion - the beer of beers - as our beverage. To begin, we got an order of chicken steamed buns and I got a single Moonstone Oyster on the half shell with kimchi puree. The latter I got mainly as a novelty. The steamed buns were awesome. The buns, which looked like fluffy oversized oyster crackers, were split open and spread on both sides with a hoisin sauce (I probably could have used a bit less) and then thinly sliced cucumbers were fanned out. A sprinkle of finely chopped scallions were scattered about. The vegetables were topped with a shredded chicken mixture that had been heating up on the grill and developing a delicious golden brown crust. The combination was awesome.

For our mains, Dan got the Tsukemen - a bowl of chilled noodles, shredded Berkshire pork, poached egg, scallions, bright green spring peas, nori and cucumbers. Accompanying it was a bowl of salty shoyu broth into which you dip everything. I got the house ramen, which came with a poached egg, Berkshire pork combo (belly and a shredded delicious mass), scallions, those gorgeous green peas, nori and menma (pickled bamboo shoots). Momofuku makes the most gorgeous poached egg, perfectly shaped with this beautiful translucency to them. I poked the yolk of mine and swirled it around the broth to thicken it and to also further cook the yolk a bit.

The shredded Berkshire pork was amazing. When I first looked at the mass in my bowl, I expected it to be fatty and unsavory, which it wasn't at all. I gobbled up bite after bite.

Also, this doesn't happen often, but the bowl of noodles totally kicked my ass and I wound up sharing some of my pork belly and noodles with Dan cause I was stuffed! I ate most of his peas because for some reason, he hates them. I think like bleu cheese, if he gave them a chance, he'd change his mind.

By the time we left, the place was packed and there was a line outside as well. Annoying East Village wanker had to stand right by the door and when I was exiting, the door hit him and even though I apologized (totally unecessary - don't stand by doors), he gave me a dirty look. It would be a harbinger of East Village stupidity to come (check out the Bibimbop for the scoop).

Tonight's Dinner

Met up with Papper, Zach Attack 2006, Ian, Vino, Commissioner Phil and Adrienne at Slainte (Bowery between Houston and Bleecker) to take my Adult ADD to new, uncharted territories. I simultaneously watched the following games:

Yankees 3, Red Sux 7
Red Wings 3, Oilers 4

V. unhappy with both outcomes. At least for the you know who-nees there's always tomorrow. Wish I could say the same for the team from Motown.

While both of my teams were still on top, I scarfed the following:

Crispy buffalo wings - Not very spicy, but great fried chickeny texture. Blue cheese was super tasty, but really, isn't it always?
Irish Breakfast - Irish pork sausages, Irish bacon, black & white pudding (I don't really fancy this, so I said 'thanks, but no thanks'), two eggs (over easy) and french fries. I order this 100% of the time I eat at this establishment. It's just that good. Although, once Youthlarge and I both ordered this and got upset tummies afterward.

Beverages consumed - 2 Smithwick's Ales (buy one, get one pints from 5 to 8)

I really like this place. It's great for Sunday afternoon football brunch. Though, I did watch the 2004 returns there, so I have the one bad association. Saw too much red, got sick to my stomach and went home.

Who is the China-Latina Chowhound?

I think there has been some confusion, but I hope this clears things up a bit. I should have posted this earlier. My partner-in-food on the PSG, aka the China-Latina Chowhound, is none other than Beth! For anyone who's never met Beth, she is also a co-founder of The CLAP. Beth is a real go-getter who has invented such terms as "sports emotions" and "boot-n-rally." When not writing about food or having sports emotions, she can be found eating lobster, karaoking, loving dogs and attending African dance class.

Today's Lunch

Felt really uninspired after this weekend's deliciousness (MM's BBQ, Korean buffet to celebrate Linda's kwonsa status). Because it's now freezing in the office, I was craving soup, well actually a soup and sandwich combo. Went to the Food Depot and wasn't feeling any of the soup selections so I just wound up getting mongolian bbq. Don't get me wrong, I love the mbbq, but I have to be careful not have it so often that I get bored with it. I got my usual - some udon and lo mein noodles with beef slices, handfuls of celery, button mushrooms, shitake and portobellos, scallions, zuchinni, bok choy, onions and carrots. Condiments wise I like to add a couple shakes of black pepper, a drizzle of sesame oil, a heaping spoonful of garlic and a couple ladles of soy-scaillion sauce. Oh and a little touch of chili oil and chili sauce. I seriously think I wrote nearly the same entry last week. Sigh...