Things you should not consume

I found some interesting foods this week.

Notice the red donut.

At a conference, they served me this.  It was a blood orange donut.  My other options were passion fruit and pomegranate.  It actually sounds cool in theory, but think about eating a blood orange.  Now think about eating a donut.  Do you really want a sour fruit as a donut flavor?  No, you don't.  Trust me.

What does this look like to you?

I like boba (bubble) tea.  Unfortunately, it can be hit or miss.  This one looked like Pepto-Bismol.  It also tasted like Pepto-Bismol.  The only reason it looks like I drank so much was because it was almost entirely ice.  Normally that would be bad, but when it tastes like something from the medicine cabinet, I guess it's good?  I'm sure the warm version tastes even worse.

What do you think this is?

It's a green sponge!

I was in K-town and went to a Korean bakery.  I figured the green sponge would be an interesting treat.  It turns out, it's sort of like angel food cake in texture, but tastes like green tea.  The problem is that angel food cake usually has some topping or sauce or something to make it less dry.  This spongy green donut cake did not.  Do not be tempted to buy it.  It is way less exciting than it looks.

Conveyer sushi!

 I was at the mall and saw this conveyer sushi place.  I think conveyer dining is fun to begin with, but this one had a happy hour special.  $1 per plate sushi!  I suppose I should have run away immediately, but it was just too tempting.

Rice stuffed in bean curd.

I should have run away.  The plates were tiny.  Most plates were vegetarian.  The ones that weren't had a single piece of thin, cooked shrimp on rice.  Everything tasted pretty old.  My stomach was not pleased by this adventure.

I managed to go to Asia and eat everything in sight for a month without getting sick, but I eat Asian in the US and have to worry.

Do not eat.

OK, this one was used previously, but it fits the post well.  This is something that should not be consumed.

Bibimbop.

I normally like bibimbop, so this is usually a picture of a good meal.  However, this one made me violently ill, so it makes the bad list.  I was excited because it was from one of the booths in the Korean food court, but this made me even more sick than the $1 sushi.

For every place that gets added to my food rotation, there are a number of places that should be closed down.  These were a few examples.

Dress for the cold

It's 10 degrees outside.  That's pretty cold when you have to walk everywhere.  However, I think there are some normal ways to fight the cold and some less normal ways.

Hooded dog coat?

I understand the sweater/coat for the dog.  But a hood?  This dog couldn't even walk straight because it's eyes were covered.

Russians?

I was at Macy's and these girls are wearing some sort of animal that died in the Soviet Union on their heads. They looked even more ridiculous from the front, but I wasn't brave enough to take the picture.

I guess I should be thankful they weren't wearing this.  It can always be worse I suppose.

What...is...this?

Fire Safety

Not good.

Essentially what this says is that in the event of a fire, everyone in my building will die.

Combustible?  That doesn't sound like a safe construction type.
No sprinklers, no fire alarms, no PA system.

I guess I am supposed to take comfort in the fact that we have a compactor chute?

Sights in the Heights

Yes, the title was supposed to rhyme.

I wanted to visit the Cloisters museum today so I headed uptown to Washington Heights.  It's still the roughest neighborhood in Manhattan, but that isn't saying a whole lot because Manhattan gets nicer and nicer with each passing month.  I've mentioned the gentrification of Harlem quite a bit since I live nearby and it looks like Washington Heights is getting the same treatment.  As rents continue to increase, it pushes people further and further from lower Manhattan and they displace the previous residents into even further out accommodations in the Bronx.

Anyway, I snapped a few pictures and it looks nice enough.  I'm sure I would want to move here, but I'm not worried about dodging bullets.

Old fancy building, but abandoned.

175th and Broadway.

Washington Heights does have tasty chicken though.  At 175th there is a restaurant with chickens spinning in the window.  I decided to eat one.

Delicious!

I ordered half a chicken with rice and beans.  I kid you not, my food arrived in 20 seconds.  I suppose that makes sense.  The chicken just has to be sliced in half, while the rice and beans are waiting to be scooped out.  Still, it's odd to have food arrive more quickly than at Taco Bell and be edible.

I never did make it to the Cloisters.  Today was the first day since I moved here that the weather was just brutal.  By Chicago standards, it was balmy at 25 degrees, but the wind and cloud cover was just too much. I'll have to wait for a sunny day or bring hand warmers with me.

Want a Meatball?

Erin planned 12 tasty dates for me this year.  Each month she has a new cuisine planned for us.

Up first was The Meatball Shop.  It counts as a cuisine since it was the only thing on the menu.

Front door.

Meatball Sliders!

Before you wonder how Erin ate here, yes they make vegetarian meatballs.  I know it's oxymoronic, but it's true.  She liked them in fact.

My sliders were the classic beef with tomato sauce, chicken with mushroom sauce, BBQ pork with BBQ sauce, and spicy pork with meat sauce.  I wouldn't get the chicken again, but I could make a regular meal of the spicy pork.

On a Sunday night at 8:15pm, the wait was 45 minutes for two.  On Friday and Saturday, it's two hours.  All for meatballs!

Fun date!

Is Walking Expensive?

So I walk a lot.  In fact, I walk pretty much everywhere all the time.  That tends to be the case when you don't have a car.

Other than my muscles, which have now adjusted to walking miles every day, my other casualties are my shoes.

My trusty Vans, still in service.

You can see my current casual shoes above.  I bought them in 2009 and you can see they're still in good shape overall.  No discoloration and even the logo inside is still visible.  I took good care of them and they show it.

Unfortunately, New York has decided it is time for something a bit more robust.

Say it isn't so!

I can now put my finger through the bottom, behind the insole.  Rocks come up through the bottom, which is bad.  Water comes up too, which is much worse.  Without rubber, that means I can't even walk over damp concrete.  That pretty much means the end of them.  Sad day.

Also sad is that my Rockport Business Lite Slip-ons, which have also served me well since 2009 met the same fate right before Las Vegas.  A few posts ago I mentioned buying some Allen Edmonds dress shoes for that very reason.  At least those can be resoled indefinitely.

It makes sense that if you walk more, you go through shoes more quickly.  On a non-school day, I probably put 20x-50x more distance than I did in Texas.  School days are lighter, at maybe 5x-10x more steps than Texas.  Still, that means I'll go through shoes 10x-20x faster!

My athletic shoes are the same ones I had at TCU, so apparently that means I don't work out nearly enough.  My shoes normally last 3+ years apparently, but that may be changing.  We'll see how long my new ECCO shoes last.

ECCO Bradley Slip-ons

I've always gone with Rockport, but the salesman at Harry's Shoes swore by ECCO and I know they have a good reputation.  Harry's is an old-time shoe store where the salesmen are just that, not high school kids or just bring you different sizes.  These guys knew all about the shoes.  My salesman could have been my grandfather, so I gather he had been at this a while.

They're much classier than Vans, but still casual enough to wear for everyday outings.  I'm getting old I guess.  They don't even make L.A. Lights in my size.

Mislabeled Food

I'm a huge fan of Asian foods of all sorts.  I also like really spicy food, although by American standards, not Thai standards.  Thai people are crazy.  In Thailand, I could handle the average heat served to me, but a few dishes nearly killed me.  However, I'm usually safe in the US.

Tonight I ordered "Spicy Chicken" off of Seamless.  (An online ordering service, like GrubHub.)  There was no description, but that's pretty common.

Here's what I was delivered.

OK, looks heavy on the peppers, but I can do this.

After a few bites, I wasn't as confident.  I decided to sort it.

Was this a joke?

So, as you can see above, the majority of the container was red chilies.  I like chilies, but more as a flavor enhancer or a garnish and not so much as the main ingredient.  I didn't even ask for extra spicy.  I think the chef was a sadist.  I can picture him laughing as the food goes out the door to the unsuspecting online victim.

What would be a better name for this dish?  Spicy chicken seems misleading.

Perhaps:
 - Flaming Chicken of the Volcano
 - Death by Chili
 - Bowl of Chilies (garnished with Chicken)
 - The Chinese Chili Challenge

Or maybe at least a warning that the dish is not actually meant to be consumed?  Maybe this was supposed to make the apartment smell nice?  Or it was a medicine for someone with chills?

I don't know.  Anyway, beware the "Spicy Chicken".

Return to New York

School doesn't start for another few weeks, so time to eat more of New York.

OK, I lied.  This was Vegas.  Steak Frites at Paris.

Jerk Shrimp, callaloo, plantains, and rice and peas

Rice and peas, curry potatos, plantains, mac and cheese, green beans

Roast pork mofongo (delivery)

Papaya salad (extra spicy of course)  This tasted just like Bangkok! 

Green curry.  Great deal at $8 for the salad and entree for lunch.

Vanilla egg cream, chocolate cannoli, fudge tart.  DiRobertis Pisticceria in  the East Village.

Chocolate cannoli and iced hazelnut cappuccino in Little Italy 

Hummus...with...toppings?  Fava beans, falafels, egg, spicy green stuff

Giant bowl of fruit!  OK, this one is homemade, but such a fun treat.   Thanks Erin!

Any dishes you haven't tried?  Come on up.  I have a couch and an air mattress.  I know most of you haven't had callaloo.

Wicked Spoon

The buffet as the Cosmopolitan is wonderful.  Yes, you will likely wonder how exactly I consumed all this food.

To start, shrimp cocktail, eggs benedict, sweet potatoes, and scallops.  Yes, I agree, that's weird.

Sushi, gnocchi, thai fried rice, garlic bread, korean short ribs, fried chicken basket.  Don't judge.

Braised lamb, beef, horseradish.

Who knows?

OK, that finishes day one.

Scallops, string beans, bloody animal...delicious!

Raspberry and blood orange gelato.  This was dessert, not sure why this appears in the wrong order.

Gnocchi, thai fried rice, dirty rice, prosciutto pizza, salmon and lentils

Calimari, mushroom risotto, braised lamb, pork and broccoli rabe

Not sure why all those pictures were out of order, but that's OK.

Now that you have judged me as a glutton, let's compare to Farrukh's first plate.

At least he has one vegetable.

I'm shocked he didn't die after eating that for breakfast.  The strange-looking items are bone marrow sections.  Pretty popular here.

Vegas!

OK, so Vegas has nothing to do with New York, but I am going to include it anyway.

Who is the handsome guy in the mirror?  Nice suit!

From the balcony.  Yes, a real 110 square foot open balcony.

Farrukh and the living room.

Shower through the glass.

Japanese soaking tub.

Minibar, microwave, sink, assorted coffee supplies

Bedroom

Great room.  I liked it better than the Bellagio actually.  I haven't stayed at the Wynn, but unless they want to give me some nice benefits, I think the Cosmopolitan will be my future hotel from now on.  As a Marriott Platinum member, I get a ton of perks including free buffets and the ability to skip the line.  Free room upgrades and VIP services just seal the deal.  Nice job Cosmo.

Ukrainian Food

What's everyone's favorite Ukrainian dish?

...

OK, can anyone name a Ukrainian dish?

...

OK, can anyone locate Ukraine on a map?

...

Never mind then.

I'll just show you my dinner.

Borscht, otherwise known at beetroot soup.

The menu said dill dressing.  It should have said DILL!! dressing.

Pierogies, kielbasa, stuffed cabbage thing with mushroom sauce

I now know my favorite Ukrainian restaurant, which has exactly zero competitors so far.  Still, I'd go back.  It was fun.  Everything was good, but I really enjoyed the borscht, which was unexpected.