New Foods!

It's not often these days that I find a dish I haven't eaten before.  Apparently there are a finite number of dishes that humans can eat.  So, I'm pretty excited when I find something new.

First up is a cemita.

Similar to a Mexican torta.

Pork, avocado, lettuce, tomato, beans, chipotle pepper relish, mayo.

I can't say that this dish was entirely new since it's basically a sandwich, but it's not a sandwich you can find just anywhere, so it counts.  Also, it was called cemita on the menu.

Dish number two is a little more exciting.

Foul hummus.

No, I didn't write that the hummus was foul.  Foul is actually fava beans, garlic, lemon juice, and parsley.  So the outside of the dish is hummus, while the inside is foul.  The green stuff is a hot pepper sauce.

I got it from a Jordanian restaurant pretty close to the apartment.  They make some great stuff that you don't normally find at all Middle Eastern places.

Dish number three is even more exciting!

Poori!

As you can probably guess from the samosas, we went for Indian before a show.  I've had poori before, but never like this!  I had to deflate it before I could eat it.  Then it's more like the regular poori you order, but I think it should always be served this way for the presentation.

Erin is excited about Phantom!

Phantom of the Opera @ the Majestic Theatre!

The tickets were a belated wedding gift.  Better late than never because these were great seats!  If anyone else feels like giving us tickets, we're very open to going.  :)

Edit:  Bonus entry!

OK, this food isn't new at all.  I used to eat it all the time.  It is however new to NYC for me.  I haven't had much luck with Cajun food since leaving DFW.

1/2 oyster po' boy and 1/2 shrimp po' boy with seafood gumbo and sweet potato fries.

Sadly, it wasn't that great.  The ingredients were all there, but the resulting product just wasn't the same as down south.  I suppose I'll add it to my list of foods to only eat down south, such as BBQ, Tex-Mex, and Southern/Soul food.

Subway Outfits

I am admittedly not hip.  I wear things until they wear out and have little fashion sense.  Maybe that explains why I don't wear things like this?

You bought these with hole?  Or did you make them?

This person was making weird kissing noises on the train which made me look up.  That's when I saw the pants.  Keep in mind that it's 30 degrees out.  I don't get it.

Then again, I don't get this either.

Where's the cane?

Red velvet coat, red leather shoes, fuzzy black hat.  I don't think I could pull off any part of his outfit.

Family Visit

Mom and Jacob came down for Spring Break, so I gave them a three day walking tour of the city.  I didn't take too many photos since most of it was routine for me, but I have my usual interesting ones to share.  First is the toy store.

Can we build a Lego version of her?

Playing the piano with his feet.

FAO Schwartz is always a fun stop for visitors.  The piano is available for the low price of $250,000.

The last night we ate at Carmine's.

Take note of Erin's plate versus the size of the center platter.

Note the size of my hand and the spoon.

The platter could have fed eight people.  I knew the restaurant served family-style.  They didn't specify that your family should either have stomach expansion surgery or 10 members.

The waitress said desserts feed four people.

A whole pie of tiramisu!

What normal person eats a quarter slice of a 12 inch pie as a serving?!  Although, Erin did manage to devour the leftovers pretty quickly.

I have been eating the leftovers a little at a time each day.

Pay no attention to the creepy look being given to me.

Oh good.  He fell asleep.

The subway is full of interesting characters.  We met quite a few over the course of three days.

Walking the dog.

Note that the dog on the right has about one foot of leash, forcing it to constantly strain away from the chair to avoid being run over by the wheel.  However, this means the dog gets dragged instead.  Please note that this is not a proper way to walk your dog.

Another Photo Batch

As usual, I have a random assortment of strange or funny things I have encountered in the past few days.

What have we here?

Oh, it's an entrepreneur!

I didn't even know this was a real job.  Apparently each one is worth 5 cents.  That means she has quite a bit of cash on her!

Would he drive off a cliff if everyone else did?

The ad has been so effective, that I never see children.

In other news, ice is cold!  Who knew?

Really?

There is so much wrong with this product.  I thought spices were good for you?  Everyone says chilies are.  "Talk a walk on the Mild side"?  Has anyone said that...ever?  "BBQ without the animals!"  So in other words, not BBQ at all?  Also, it's gluten free, like everything these days.  Oh, and of course, part of the proceeds go to health education in Africa.  That's pretty much a requirement to sell any product that no one actually wants to buy.  Finally, herbal BBQ?  What is herbal BBQ?  BBQ'd plants?  Please stop making this.

Finally, a true gem.

Only in New York.

Hello Kitty Goes to Jail!  The next title in the anime series.

So hilarious.  This is even more absurd than the Times Square woman wearing a bikini in the snowstorm offering pictures with tourists for tips.

Spring Break!

Now that Spring Break has officially started, let's celebrate with St. Patrick's Day!  Off to Times Square!

Isn't Spring great?

Erin looks thrilled about it being Spring.

So do these people.

Flowers blooming, clear sunny skies...

For some reason, Erin didn't want to enjoy the nice Spring weather, so we walked home.

Columbia looks so nice in Springtime.

Is she smiling because we're close to home?

Ceiling Update

So after a week of various contractors coming in and out, we can no longer see the floor of the upstairs apartment.  On the downside, we both expect a recurrence in the not too distant future.  They created a patch and screwed it into the rotted wood that collapsed in the first place.  They didn't even replace the broken pieces of wood.

I know it's a really old building.  I know the university isn't a professional landlord.  I get that the idea is minimize repairs and hope the building doesn't collapse.  Still, there is a difference between doing routine maintenance and performing major new capital investments.  This seems like a safety disaster just waiting to happen to a resident down the road.  (Or maybe us...)

All patched up.

One of those days...

So today I had one of those days.  You know, the kind that everyone has once in a while.  I know everyone has to deal with common maintenance issues around the house, so I'm not going to complain.

You know, when things like this happen.

What a mess.

Ah, shucks.

Everyone has to clean up a mess here and there, right?

Oh no, the cutting board has some debris.

The microwave too?

Odd, I don't remember doing any construction in the apartment.

A minor issue, I'm sure.

Oh wait, I found the problem.

The ceiling has collapsed.

That explains a lot.

Wait, you mean no one else wakes up to a thundering boom at 1:30am to find that the ceiling has caved in and the entire kitchen is covered in ancient building materials from 1910?  That's not normal?

Your friends don't call out because they were sitting in a chair directly below the hole?

My favorite memory of this is Erin's reaction from the hallway after she got out of bed.  "OH HOLY CRAP. THE CEILING IS GONE.  IT'S GONE."

Naturally, that got me out of bed.  After I viewed this for myself, I did what anyone would do.  I called maintenance.  My conversation went exactly like this:

Me: Hello.  I have an emergency.
Office Staff: It's 1:30 in the morning.  We open at 7am.
Me: Yes I know, that's why I said it's an emergency.
Office Staff: OK, what's wrong.
Me: The ceiling collapsed in my apartment.
Office Staff: Did you say the ceiling?
Me: Yes.  There used to be a ceiling.  Now there is a hole.
Office Staff: I don't understand.
Me: I know it sounds crazy.  The roof just fell in.
Office Staff: What building is this?  Where did the roof go?
Me: It went onto the floor.  (Gives address)
Office Staff: The roof is on the floor?
Me: YES!
Office Staff: You are a resident?
Me: YES!  (Of course I'm a resident!  What else would I be?!)
Office Staff: OK, I'll put in a maintenance request.
Me: WHAT?!  The ceiling just collapsed!  I need someone here now!!
Office Staff: You want someone to come and see it?
Me: YES!  THE CEILING IS GONE!  IT JUST FELL ON MY FRIEND!
Office Staff: OK, let me write this down.  What part of the ceiling?
Me: The kitchen ceiling!  Why does that matter?
Office Staff: I need to write this down so he knows which room to look in.
Me: My apartment is only 450 square feet!  The hole is pretty obvious.
Office Staff: OK, I'll see if I can get someone out there.
Me: Should I just call 911?
Office Staff: Are you hurt?
Me: No, but my apartment is literally falling apart.  Pieces of it are everywhere.
Office Staff: No, don't call 911.  I'll call the Super.
Me: Great, thanks.

The Super lives a few doors down from me, so he actually came pretty quick.

Me: Hey, thanks for coming.  The ceiling just fell apart while we were asleep.
Super: Wow, I'm really sorry about that.
Me: Yeah, what were the chances?
Super: Actually, this happened in [apartment 4 doors down from me] not too long ago.
Me: ...
Erin: This is not OK.  This is really not OK.

To his credit, the Super started cleaning up the mess right then and there.  He also explained what happened and let me know that there was a pretty good chance that we wouldn't die in our sleep from another section coming down.  Good to know.  I barely slept last night.  Wonder why.

Brandon (friend who was under the hole) didn't feel comfortable sleeping in the kitchen again, so he moved to our couch.  Anyone blame him?  He says this as he's covered in water and grey ceiling dust.

Now I'm probably breathing asbestos particles as I type this.  Sadly, this is the second time water has leaked and led to a hole in our ceiling.  Last time it was in the bathroom.  Speaking of the bathroom, it was flooded last night in an unrelated incident.  Awesome.  Now our downstairs neighbor can have their ceiling fall onto their heads too.

So, should I be concerned about this?  Or does everyone have their ceiling collapse without warning every once in a while?

Last Week's Photos

Here is a roundup of all the interesting things from the past week or so.

Breaking News: the sun makes metal hot.

Cereal milk is exactly what you think it is.  (Milk mixed with cornflakes.)

A panda walking around.  OK.  That's cool.

"Something" walking around.  OK.  That's scary.

Oh cool!  A roast beef sandwich with fancy sesame pancake bread!

Gross.  My sandwich was a lie.  This is not beef.  It's "beef" (parts).

Why would you buy this color?  -90% resale value.

Dude, you look like a clown in that outfit.

Please don't hurt me, Mr. Angry Clown.  I didn't mean it.

Whole Foods has joined the whole fish craze.  (haha, get it?)

I watched a homeless man scoop tiramisu into a cup and it eat.  Some of these guys are crafty.

Art

I went to an art show on Sunday.  I'm not really an art person, but I'm trying to understand it better.

The first thing I learned is that I don't dress correctly for an art show.

Proper art show attire.

I was featuring my never-dyed natural hair, which isn't the current style.

I also learned that childhood cereal was secretly killing me.

I think these are slightly modified.

Next, I found how out artists make a living.

This was selling for $12,000.

This was probably my favorite piece of art, but I wasn't able to afford it at the bargain price of $12,000.  I guess I'll just have to go home and make my own Medusa.

I just don't think I'm cut out for the art world.  Interestingly, Scope (the name of the show) is actually internationally famous and is a huge deal in the art world.  Maybe next year I can buy a costume and fit in.