While I Still Have Power...

Posting from Long Island, the last few days have been weird. Not hard, just weird. I've slept far too much, and eaten mainly fried chicken and cheese fries. I guess maybe I should point out that a few days ago we were in the midst of a hurricane, but it didn't really feel like a hurricane - it was just really windy - until all the lights went out and I started to cry like the spoiled 21st century child I am as my last bits of phone battery dribbled away.

Just for the record, I didn't actually cry, but I did when I realized I'd forgotten to bring a book and the only book my aunt and uncle had was some Chelsea Handler crap, and it was not good (hence the crap).

I'm dying to get back in the city, mainly because I miss fried rice. Times like these really make you appreciate the tuesday evening you spent at the KuKu Canteen, eating kimchi fried rice, and then they make your mouth water, especially when the book you're reading mentions chocolate far too often. School is cancelled till the end of the week - like some weird fantasy the weather has granted me a week long vacation - but how can I enjoy this time off if I can't stream ROMANTIC COMEDIES.

Also it's Halloween, not that anyone here really cares.

HAIKU TO MY CURRENT STATE OF MIND

Didn't sleep last night
Have a glass of so-so wine
momofuku soon


P.S ^ that's why I'm not a poet.

No Reservations, No more

I saw this on Bon Appetit's website and hesitated before posting it. It looks like I'm mourning Anthony Bourdain, but he's not dead and he's not dying. It's just that his show has finally (after a long ass time - like 10 years!) come to end. I know, shows end everyday - well maybe not everyday - and it really isn't that big of a deal especially since I haven't even seen all of the episodes, it just feels like there is this big gaping hole in television without Anthony Bourdain. Hope someone fills it soon. Anyways I recommend reading this, I really enjoyed it. And you get to see an old picture of him! Anthony Bourdain on Bon Appetit

People Actually Read Me (I think/hope)

I said I write a food blog and my new roommate knew of it, even though we've never met before, and even though we aren't Facebook friends.

Thanks for the pressure world! Now that I know people are actually out there, actually enjoying (does this assume to much?) what I have to say about food, I feel this weird obligation to keep writing posts and when I ignore it, it actually kind of stresses me out.

I have a new - old - kitchen now. No more touch screen microwaves or dishwashers, but as long as we keep the counters clean the cleaning service (yes I have a cleaning service) will take care of the mess.

I get a paycheck on Friday and my aunt is coming into town this weekend. Trying to think of somewhere yummy to take her that isn't 7eleven and isn't two bros. Maybe Max Brenners? We'll see! More to come.

p.s. sorry for lack of photos

p.s.s my blogs anniversary is in a few days!!!

So, I'm the Worst

I broke my new (Jewish) years resolution already, but the last couple weeks have been extremely tight. Im having flashbacks to my hungry days in Brooklyn constantly but haven't yet resorted to eating slurpees.

It's too cold for slurpees now anyways. Summer stopped by to say goodbye a couple weeks ago and like a second cousin or that aunt you aren't actually related to, I imagine we won't be hearing from him for many months to a year.

I also haven't been cooking as much which is just breaking my heart. I learned that I can't expect eating in to be cheap if I feed fifteen people nightly. So when I do start making money again, I'll be sure to cook delicious food for myself and myself only. The rest of the world can just be jealous.

On another note (a mostly unrelated to food note), I saw Lena Dunham this past Sunday. She was participating in an panel hosted by the New Yorker festival. It was all amazing but my favorite part had to be the free apple cider donut holes. Even better when I walked up to the snack table I asked the server how many I could have and he said, "As many as you want." THAT'S CLASSY

I promise promise promise to post more about food soon!

When Your Feet are Covered in Butter

Tonight I made brown sugar pound cupcakes - a martha stewart recipe - to drown out the anxiety that my theoretical employer is causing me. I was told I work there but do I actually ever work there? No.

It was a good thing I was in the mood for homemade whipped cream because my sad attempt at making a browned butter frosting resulted in a spill which now has me sitting on my couch avoiding doing my homework because my feet are all buttery and and I can't really concentrate when they feel like this.

Will I clean them?

Probably not.

P.S. I used the whipped cream as frosting.

Doughnuts and more

I have been eating A LOT lately. I'm missing the days when I was starving in Brooklyn - sort of - because now I'm just starting to feel like a fattie. Sure I haven't been spending as much on eating out with access to my kitchen, but this same kitchen is allowing to me to eat 3 square meals a day (and on most days, many many more.)
I try to keep the meals I cook healthy, since I'm eating so much, but it gets pretty exhausting. Some days I wake up and just want to stuff my face and not have to work for it.

For example: Yesterday morning, my roommate and I were woken up by our stomachs, which weren't growling but rather yelling at us. The small part of me that's frugal was chiming, "make pancakes" but the hungry and lazy part of me - my stomach - was shouting "BUY DONUTS," which is what we ended up doing.

We walked down 23rd street past the creepy Chelsea Hotel where Nancy Spungeon, was... um...you know... by Sid Vicious, and onto 7th Ave where Doughnut Plant was waiting to change our lives (FOR REAL). Though new to us, Doughnut Plant has been around and innovating the Doughnut eating experience since 1994. You may think it's hard to get the doughnut wrong but that doesn't stop Dunkin Donuts from doing it every day. After awhile I'm just really sick of buying a dry, crusty, glazed donut or a jelly donut with strangely stale jelly.

With all this in mind I went into Doughnut Plant tentatively. The doughnuts were and are a little pricey-$2.75 to $3.75 for all doughnuts on their menu - and I wasn't in the mood to be let down. We ordered Dough-seeds to start. When we opened our bags and looked inside we were a little disappointed with the size of our food - not much bigger than a donut hole. This was going to have to be impressive. They were amazing. I took a bite and my knees went weak. My dough-seed was flavored orange blossom and my roommates raspberry. We'd bought them to split but when I was about to ask her if she wanted a bite, I realized I had none left to share. Filled with a light frothy cream it implodes in your mouth so gently and blissfully you're left wondering what exactly happened to you. This wasn't enough, so we ordered two regular sized doughnuts and went home feeling pregnant.

Of course that didn't stop us from stopping at Mcdonalds where we picked up fries and were almost charged for a refill on BBQ sauce. It's only a matter of time before I send in my application to the biggest loser.

P.S

HAPPY JEWISH NEW YEAR. I may not be jewish but that doesn't mean I wont take up an opportunity to try (and probably fail) to make a new years resolution. If I don't fail though you will start to see weekly posts from me, so GET EXCITED!

My One Exception

Ice cream is my one exception. Even when I'm sticking to my budget - buying only the absolute bare necessities - ice cream sneaks its way in and makes me a little bit happier... and a little bit fatter.
Today I stopped at Van Leewun's Ice Cream Truck (a wonderfully cute little counterpart to their equally cute main store http://www.vanleeuwenicecream.com/) after an interview that I hope went well at one of my favorite stores that starts with an A and ends with a pologie ( and no it's not apologie). I bought earl grey tea flavored ice cream and then walked home from Union Square because, I LIVE IN MANHATTAN AGAIN AND I CAN DO THAT.
This is my apartment:

AND THIS is my KITCHEN:


Needless to say, I'm obsessed with both of them/never leave my apartment/have become a hermit. In actuality though I've been cooking up the wazoo, and between the two film girls living here and the two theater girls living here the constant influx of gay men puts us practically on the same level as Ina Garten ( well maybe not quite, but we're getting there).

This weekend I'm going to a food fair - should be interesting for more reasons than one
(AKA I HAVE A DATE)

Yum Mum (again)

So yesterday I stopped by Yum Mum on St. Marks after work again, thinking maybe I'd try something other than their coveted pork belly. When I walked in the two women working the counter recognized me as "the very enthusiastic pork belly girl" and asked me if I was there to order the "emperor" again. Not knowing what this mysterious "emperor" was, I came to discover that this is their very appropriate nickname for the pork belly over rice dish. I ended up getting the street style noodles with minced pork belly which was a nice switch up and great with the chili sauce. Can't rave enough about this place.

NYC does ITALY

It's been almost two weeks since I landed in Dusseldorf, Germany for a layover and here I am today sitting in my bed - in my hotel room that smells like fish - typing away at my little blog that I have neglected so absentmindedly over the past few months, just as I would if I were in New York. Has nothing changed? No! Everything has changed! My feet have touched ancient soil, and, frankly, I will never be the same. I spent my afternoon wandering Roman Ruins barefoot. Everyone else had shoes on and everyone else was looking at me and my bare feet enviously ( or skeptically, who's to say really?). Of course when I thought Italy, what initially crossed my mind was not these haphazardly maintained decadent towers and arches, or the aching cobblestone streets, or the rain that I thought I had left behind in  New York; it was the food and the food only that I fantasized about in the weeks proceeding my adventure ( that, and maybe a man or two).

Unfortunately my journey began in a food lover's nightmare. Venice may promise gondola rides and the relaxation of reverberating sea tides, but it does not promise food. Most restaurants my grandma and I ate at served undercooked pasta, fish, and risotto to us, with one exception; we called it the Flying Fish, so its actual name evades me, but it was a restaurant a couple blocks from our hotel. More chic than the surrounding tourists traps, we were served a sumptuous bowl of scallop mushroom risotto; risotto cooked to perfection - each pearly little grain of rice finding a home in the crevices of my mouth. Unfortunately it was followed by a liver dish, which I don't have much of a taste for yet - working on it though! Though it was pricey, what isn't in Venice? I'll research that restaurant some more to provide actual details.

Human nature took us south down towards Florence, golden and buried in the Tuscan region it is - as I have grown up my whole life hearing - the "birthplace of the renaissance". Which makes it all the worse that we didn't get around to seeing Michelangelo's David. But as I have firm intentions on returning there, this doesn't worry me. SPOILER ALERT: Florence was by far my favorite Italian city. Not just because of several Lizzie McGuire-esque adventures I happened to have, but because of the general splendor of the city and its fabulous food. Not wanting a repeat of Venice, I did a little research on Florentine restaurants. We found most of our good eats around the Santa Croce Piazza. Our first expenditure was a little place called Ristorante Boccadama ( http://boccadama.com/ ), and not only was it our first eat in Florence it was our first truly good eat in all of Italy. Just so you know, a clue to which Italian restaurants will serve true Italian food is the bread; if you get stale bread or crackers, RUN. Anything less than moist, crunchy bread, promises pasta you could have made better. At Boccadama we ate under a canopy in the warmth of dusk watching and shooing as pigeons landed near our table on the piazza. I was sipping my white house wine (another tip: when in Italy order the house wine- not only is it generally cheaper it's also usually pretty good) when the waiter came by with one of my favorite meals of the trip.Roasted chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce. It was so good we had to go back for a second serving.

After Florence we headed to Rome. Rome reminded me so much of New York, I'd almost given up on it when lo and behold the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the ruins took me by surprise. I'd almost completely forgotten they existed which made this trip all the more exciting. It was in Rome as well where I was reminded that Italy is the home of truly great gelatto... well maybe not all of Italy but certainly the Old Bridge Gelateria ( http://gelateriaoldbridge.com/en/). I'd been spoiled by Amorino, and was disappointed with most of the gelatto I had while in Italy, but this stuff blew even Amorino out of the water. Sure they don't turn your gelatto into a flower but why bother when everyone is stuffing it down their throats too quickly to notice anyways. It was so smooth and creamy I might as well have been eating butter, but much sweeter and much much colder. The only downside to this place, is there's a line out the door - but if you're sociable you'll make friends through your shared anticipation of glomming on such a perfect creamy and cold treat for any hot Italian day.

p.s. not in Italy anymore! France blog to come!

Doing Boston

I'm passing through Rhode Island by train looking up stuff to do, but its really hard to read while running on two to three hours of decent sleep. I, ignorantly, thought, "oh I'll just sleep on the train," forgetting how difficult it always was to sleep on the train the last two years of high school. So I'm gonna do boston like a jackass; hopefully find my way to the Liberty Trail and successfully navigate their flawed subway system. My aunt always says-at least once every time I see her- New York was built by mathematicians and Boston was built by drunks. We'll see if my exhausted conditions coincide with the confusing structure of the city, or if they prove to be hopelessly combative. This should be interesting - more later.

Porchetta and the Greatest Thing Your Eyes Will Ever Eat

A couple weeks ago, my roommate and I went out and had an odd number of experiences jumbled into one eccentric friday evening. We nearly successfully recreated this evening several nights ago. We started our night drinking in the comfort of our dorm while simultaneously karoaking very loudly - I'm sure to our floor mates dismay- the Beatles, Queen, and probably a little Selena Gomez (can't really remember). We left in time to just barely catch happy hour, and then we stumbled around the east village until this "little piggy" caught our eyes(cue drum roll for my perfect pun) 

Porchetta (http://www.porchettanyc.com/). Small, sweet, and hidden in the most obvious place - New York City. Duh. Though we were reluctant to spend ten dollars on a sandwich from a place we'd never heard of, especially while kind of intoxicated, we took a leap of faith - to be trite - and bought what turned out to to be a moist, soft, and delicious representation of pork. I, for one, am not particularly good at preparing pork -it usually turns out tough- or finding good pork recipes so I tend to try to avoid the fiend entirely. This, however, was most definitely an exception. Stuffed between two crunchy and well toasted slices of bread, the decadent roast pork was seasoned with what I detected as fennel - another thing I'm not so fond of - but not overwhelmingly so. Enough that although we weren't entirely surprised by the taste, we were intrigued and given an incentive to continue eating. I will undoubtedly be finding myself back there sometime soon.

The next restaurant was certainly different. We came across it during our original adventure so I won't pretend like it was some magical portal we discovered for the first time the other night; but it certainly is a magical portal. Quoting the restaurant Panna II(http://www.panna2.com/) it is where "chili pepper lights meets christmas lights." This quote is an understatement. Walking into that restaurant is like operating on a piñata. As you sit at your table you almost forget that you're eating. You become mesmerized by what looks like fireworks at very close proximity. The lights are not meant to deflect from their food. Their food could stand alone - its good Indian food, not amazing and not revolutionary - but their food is not why a line of people stand in thirty degree weather waiting for a seat for an undetermined amount of time and its not why it can't help but fill up to capacity every weekend. The picture can only convey so much and honestly I think its only a matter of time before New York City recognizes this spectacle as a national monument. If you don't plan on going to any restaurant besides Applebees - if you can even find one - during your stay in New York, at least make it down to to this hot spot in the frigid east village.

Well I think I've done enough rambling for tonight. Tomorrow I'll be picnicking in central park. More to come.

To Eat Ice Cream, or to Not Eat Ice Cream, Can That Count as a Question?

Internal struggle. Should I head over to Sundaes and Cones in the pouring rain or walk up to a dining hall and eat a salad. The choice is obvious, or is it?

I'm already feeling kind of guilty, for a number of reasons:

1.It's been a long time since I've posted anything and I'm sure everyone is dying to/dreading to hear from me again.

2.I never eat vegetables anymore(but can you blame me? dining hall vegetables usually consist of seventy percent oil, thirty percent vegetables)

3. I ate a pound of pad thai... again.

It was Valentine's Day, and I am happy to say that I have the greatest Valentine a girl could wish for. MYSELF. I'm kidding of course, so to douse any lonely regrettable feelings I had, I indulged and ate a pound of pad thai from suzy's in what felt like ten seconds, but I'm sure was much shorter. So now I'm feeling guilty. I haven't worked out in two weeks and my fat and I are throwing ourselves a lovely little pity parade, I only wish you could be there for it.

Valentines Day actually wasn't that bad. I ran by CVS first thing in the morning and bought two boxes of Spongebob Valentines, most inscribed with the following, "Will you be my matey?" I then proceeded to give them to the kids at the elementary school I tutor at, who in return gave me a piece of brownie that tasted like playdoh. I ate it nonetheless. When I got back to campus I snuck soup into one of my classes and afterwards took portraits of my friend for another class. She looked quite stunning really, I would post a picture but she wasn't dressed as food... Anyways when I finally got home I opened the V-Day Care Package my mom sent me only to find, that it was filled with CANDY AND WINE. Best mom ever? I think yes. I'm sorry I don't have any particularly exquisite cuisines to talk about, but as soon as my budget increases I promise there will be more posts. I'm back baby and fatter than ever.

p.s. I got a new camera!