back from the black hole...and on being a student....

i'm baaaaack. from what i call the black hole.

i saw a friend a few weeks ago at a holiday party, and he said to me "dude, the last post on your blog was about cape cod." yikes!! that was when the weather was warm and i was still getting a salary...



i'm having mental angst about giving a novel on why i have been outta commission, because this is not a blog about my life. but i guess i owe some sort of explanation for my long absence. the short of it is that i left my job (as an engineer, i guess i need to come up with a new blog name. but once an engineer, always an engineer??? we'll go with that for now...) and became a full time student. my program didn't start until september, but the summer was all the prepping for this big change. basically i went into this black hole and just came out of it...and now a have a month off, where i can start my rants again. i wonder if i will fall off the face of the earth again once january 19th comes around???

so what food blogging inspirations could i possibly have from being a student?? a few...

i guess the misconception of being student indicates a diet of eating greasy foods, a lot of caffeine, and ramen noodles (oh and a little something i like to call beer....)

quite the contrary. actually, i don't know what the deal is, but everyone eats pretty "healthy" (term used loosely of course. the next thing you know, the healthy eating police - whoever that may be- is going to be commenting on this post "hey, that's full of sugar" and blah blah blah....). i don't know, maybe it's because it's a master's program and people are more mature about eating (doubtful...). maybe because everyone is OBSESSED with eating healthy? and there is a potentially new eating disorder that are for people who are obsessed with eating healthy? whatever the case may be, i am seeing a new trend in student eating that i definitely didn't see in my undergraduate days.

(nerd alert) okay. so i made a spreadsheet that compares the commonly seen foods during my undergraduate studies, with the foods i am seeing in my program now. and since i spent time actually putting one together, of course i can't freaking figure out how to paste a spreadsheet without it coming out distorted, i have to manually place it in. fml.

then= chicken fingers
now= falafel pita sandwiches
i didn’t even know what falafel was in college

then= ice cream
now= greek yogurt
please refer to my blog post obsession with overseas yogurt

then= chips
now= nature's valley granola bars
it's weird. it’s the nature's valley specific bars. everyone eats them. its like a cult. and it's ALWAYS the oats and honey kind. you know them- they have a green and yellow package, and they come with two. i guess it’s the best bang for your buck since you get two.

then= don't even know what the equivalent would be
now= polly-o string cheese (or whatever brand name people are buying these days. perhaps store brand due to the recession? whatever it's all the same)
everyone loves these things! including me. i get the costco size. and its weird, everyone eats them REALLY slow….





then=soda
now=water....in cute little environmental friendly watter bottles
and if you're not drinking them in an environmental friendly bottle, people look at you like you just committed a mortal sin.
on another note. this girl in undergrad used to drink a 1 liter coke like it was a 16 oz. bottle during our 8am class. we all need our fix, but that is just creepy.


then= fruit snacks
now= real fruit
can you imagine? real fruit? bananas are the best sellers. especially since they are 3 for a dollar at the fruit cart.

then=coffee
now=coffee
who are am i kidding? it's an essential for students. i will say that people are drinking them in less quanities. i used drink coffee 4+ times a day. i'm down to 1. starbucks and dunkin donuts are still the frontfunners...


i don't know what it is, but i am also really frugal about spending, including food. i remember just throwing money around at restaurants and bars like i had it (como se dice large debt?), but now, i think twice about even buying a coffee ("that's worth a half an hour of babysitting!!!") it's probably because i once had a salary, and yes, i will be cliche, learned the value of a dollar.

here are a few tips i've learned over the course of my first semester:

tip #1: bring (not buy) food everyday
well being that i am usually on campus anywhere from 8-12 hours during the day, that pretty much spans the three meals. i wish i could pretend that i cook all the stuff that i bring, but really it's mama dukes. so really this tip should read "move back home and bring your mom's leftovers for the next days meals"

tip #2: when you have to buy, go to the 9,000 carts that are lined up on the streets
ok ok. sometimes you just have to buy right? well the best bang for you buck is those street carts. well, pretending you don't know of any health related repercussions associated with eating at the carts and you are golden! the fruit stand is the best- 3 bananas for a dollar (and some other quick deals). getting fruit at the stand is perfect because you just buy what you need and you don't need to worry about it going bad. breakfast sandwiches are key too. under $3.00 and delicious. don't buy the bagels though...they are TERRIBLE. might as well splurge the extra $2.00 and get the legit stuff. oh, and of course the falafel cart.

tip #3: get old = lose your tolerance = don't need 18 beers to get your drunk
ha! that's the biggest money saver for me these days! unless i go to a fancy pants bar that charges you $18 for a cocktail. not going back to that place again.

tip #4: hang out with your friends that you used to buy dinner for when they were a struggling student and they will return the favor
my dear friend is on the same campus as i am but working as a doctor. while she was in medical school we would always say "XXXX you're a student! you're not paying!" give and you shall receive my friends, and my very generous doctor friend has and i am very thankful for it!

now after you just heard that my penny pinching days are here to stay...you might all think that this is the end of my restaurant blogging. not to worry! i still have plenty of saved up topics from past visits. plus, don't forget my partner in crime (james) is not in school, so he shouldn't have to suffer (well, maybe his wallet might. let's just say the days of going dutch are temporarily suspended).


stay tuned

cape cod

people who know me know that i am a big fan of the new england area. i went to college in boston (holla at the terriers) and pretty much my obsession stemmed from there. i spend a decent amount of time there, since james is originally from massachusetts, and we typically try to spend long weekends in different parts of new england (most recently this past new year's in manchester vermont- see blog post i can't believe it's maple butter )

we spent memorial day weekend with some friends in cape cod, staying a little cottage in south yarmouth. while most of our meals were spent doing the great american past time of barbecuing, we did venture out to sample some of the local fare. i decided to blog about one particular place, as it definitely made a mark on our visit- in more ways than one.

as with any place that we go visit, the first thing james and i do is scope out some places to eat for breakfast. while doing his search, james found a place right down the block from where we were staying called the the pancake man. the name itself sold me.

it was the first restaurant we ate at when we arrived and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. its one of those places where you have foodie ADD- the menu was so extensive that you had no idea what to order. we were a group of four, and what did we do? we ordered everything, like we were a group of ten. james and i particularly like traveling with other people for the mere fact that we can order all the things that we want to sample.

what was on our menu?

peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes & blueberry pancakes

breakfast nachos (believe me, this picture doesn't do its justice. it should've been called breakfast nachos mountain)

breakfast quesadilla

and this is even missing two of our dishes (mexican omelette and sausage, bacon and eggs).

i almost contemplating calling this blog "holy breakfast nachos" because literally the monstrosity of this dish was unbelievable. and because of its enormity, it was the joke of the whole weekend, about how we would go back and make our friend go eat the breakfast nachos.

besides the level of gluttony this place made us undergo, the food WAS actually really great. the thing that really got me was the peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes. un-buh-leave-uh-bull. i even went out on the limb to say it was the best pancakes i ever had (dare i say even better than IHOP, and that place is my boy!).

i almost wanted to go back there just for those pancakes. but sometimes, over portioning can be a negative thing, as we didn't want to see any sort of breakfast joint till the end of our trip.

simply put, portions were NOT a problem at this place. and we wonder why there is an ongoing obesity problem in the united states...

sin city foodie (and poopie) awards

we went las vegas for a long weekend, particularly for the pacquiao vs. hatton fight. i haven't been to sin city in probably 10 years, so going in my late 20s means something different this time around. actually, i really had no big expectations because i don't gamble, and in general all that glitz and glam isn't really my thing. and because of the over-commercialization of vegas (at least in my mind) i didn't expect too much out of the culinary options that we would have.

and after all that hatin, i bet you wouldn't expect me to say that this trip ended up being one of the best mini vacas i have been on. besides the awesomeness of the fight (and everyone who's anyone knows the outcome of it) and cirque de solei- beatles' love (random), a big contribution to the kick a$$ time was the eats!!

okay okay. so i took out las vegas travel books from the library, specifically to scope out the eating scene. so a lied a little bit, i knew we had some good culinary options after reading the books. my favorite quote was "because who doesn't love that uniquely american obsession- unlimited gorging for one set price?" como se dice gluttony? yeah, i don't want to say that 6 of the 8 meals we ate in vegas was at a buffet- but it was. let it be known that we never did more than 2 meals a day. and we walked a lot. yeah, i was on vacation, but i didn't want the airlines to charge me for an extra seat on the way home.

besides the buffets- vegas was also big in the TV celebrity chef gigs. we definitely bought into that dog and pony show. but it was all worth it....

i decided to do "sin city foodie awards" instead of rambling like i normally do (or actually, that i just did) to outline the culinary highlights of the trip.

• best breakfast bacon - MGM Grand Buffet (the crispier the better, and it was the crispiest)


• honorable mention for attempting cultural culinary masterpieces- Mandalay Bay Beach (for serving lumpia (filipino egg rolls), sho pao (steamed buns), and san miguel beer for the pacquiao after party)


• the golden "begining to end" award- the spring tasting menu at craftsteak (from the bread, 3 course meal, and the sommelier wine pairings, a fantastic way to kick off the pacquiao fight night)


• good no matter what coast you are on award- China Grill (we've eaten there in nyc also, and just as good)


• lived up to the hype award- champagne brunch at Paris las vegas at none other but the buffet (what else)


• worth all of it's fancy-ness- ethel m's chocolate (any factory that gives out free samples, or makes a piece of chocolate that has pb&j is a winner in my book)

now if you do the math, that's only really 4 restuarants mentioned (mandalay bay beach doesn't count as a meal), out of the 8 meals i said we had. and now the "sin city poopie awards"

• me, james, and mrs. f- for eating at the MGM Grand Buffet for 3 breakfasts. we had our reasons. and our reasons were poopie.


• disappointing, even though it was named as a "buffet best bet"- Belllagio buffet


• the over abundance of margaritas and other frozen drinks in yards or some other life sized container (all that ish is food coloring, sugar, water for a premium price)


• not enough good, cheap, quick bite places (i.e. because we were eating at all those damn buffets, it would've been nice to have one of those places for the 2nd meal)

this wasn't my first visit, it won't be last. eat, drink, and be merry.

i'm baaaaaack

i bet a lot of people will ask me what was the first thing you ate now that lent is over.

in past years, i have been breaking the fast on easter sunday. but i was in MA yesterday for a birthday party and there was little non-meat choices for me to choose from. james' mom, who i consider to be the be all tell all of the catholic rules, and conveniently also gave up meat for lent, told me that i could eat meat on holy saturday because at that point, jesus already rose from the dead (think the story of the marys finding the stone of his tomb moved). without getting into the technicalities of catholicism, i broke down and ate meat yesterday. i had mental angst about it so next year i will go back to breaking the fast on easter sunday.

even though i DID eat meat yesterday (insignificant and not even worth mentioning), the true hurrah was today at easter sunday dinner. following suit, my parents also gave up meat, so this was a big thing for them as well. if you want to talk about meat sweats, our easter dinner was a true carnivore style meal. we had buffalo wings (at my request, no matter how random my mom still made them), spiral glazed ham, aaaaaand fillet mignon. pretty much covered all bases, except for veal, but you know how i feel about veal. maybe you don't, but that's not something i go out of my way to eat.

needless to say- it was bad a$$ people!!!!! kudos to mama Z on that one.

i'll leave it at that. and hopefully my triglyceride count will go down since it's been a carb fest for 40 days.

burn, then return- part I

most people run to stay fit and lose weight. i run so i can justify the eating to keep my food blog up and running. pun intended.

actually, that's a lie. i am an inconsistent runner, and am definitely

in taking more than i am burning (aka "burn then return" for those sharpies who couldn't figure that out). however, when i DO run, the post-race meal is so much more worthwhile, and i definitely chose it wisely.

almost all races start between the hours of 7AM-10AM (and if you do half marathons or marathons specifically, they start at some ungodly hour like 5AM). and when you finish, you are (luckily for me) just in time for breakfast or brunch.

i ALWAYS go to a restaurant post race (or get take out). it's just not the same if you eat a piece of toast, or wait for someone to cook you something fantastic. como se dice instant gratification?

since this post race eating thing has been a norm for me, i decided to solicit some other runner friends from college (who like me, like eating more than running) to start an "eating club" if you will, specifically to go to a bunch of breakfast/brunch joints around the city for me to blog about, after some races we will all be participating in central park.

the first one took place just last weekend and we went to ej's luncheonette. since this was the first post race eating club outing, i wanted to chose a place i had been to before to ensure that there would be no let downs. i went to ej's a year ago after a half marathon. when i was searching for the address, i was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was an ej's on the upper east side (the one i went to last year was on the west side). this was perfect for us since we were already on the upper east, and there was no need to cross town.

i guess i am not the only runner who frequents ej's, because 90% of the people were from the race. same thing happened last year when we went to ej's after the half marathon. so you don't have to just take my word for it, there are other numbers that can vouch.

STILL non meat-eating, its always hard to eat at breakfast joints because i love breakfast meats. but luckily this place offers a plethora of things that can more than make up for not eating meat. i went with crunchy french toast as a "starter" and a mushroom and cheddar egg white omelet. the potatoes and challah bread that come with were great. portions are big, and i didn't get to finish the come with carbs.

james went for the classic american breakfast (don't know if it's actually called that, but if it did have a name, it would be called that): eggs, potatoes, bacon, and toast. my runner foodie friend robby had the classic southern comfort meal (again, i am making up that name) with eggs, grits, biscuit, gravy, and maybe potatoes? the grits and biscuit stood out in my memory, the other stuff was just ancillary foods. both seemed pleased, as the both had clean plates.

if you are looking for a great breakfast, it's a sure thing, post race or not, no mater what side of the park you are on...

fishy fishy fishy

hmmm. i just realized something. i've been barking about being a fake vegetarian for lent, and i have been eating an ish load of fish. hmmm.

well if we go by phoebe from friends' thoughts on being a vegetarian: "nothing with a face", then i am pretty sure i am breaking the rules, as fishes (i know that is improper use of the plural form of fish but i don't care) do indeed have faces. i am sure that other legit vegetarians will agree that i am breaking the rules.

why didn't anyone call me out on this????

so on fridays, catholics are supposed to give up meat (but "they" say that fish is okay). i guess that's why in my head, i was thinking vegetarian because i was going by the "catholic" rules of giving up meat. that's why all of a sudden, you see all the fast food people plugging their fish sandwich options and even adding it to their .99 or dollar, whatever, menus..."for a limited time only" aka until april 11th when lent ends.

but really, this whole me calling myself a vegetarian was my bad. all i should've said was "i gave up meat" and not "i am a short term vegetarian" due to my increased intake of seafood.

while we are on the topic, i went to negril in the west village this past weekend for dinner. everyone else was chowing down on mango bbq baby back ribs ("smothered in tropical fruit sauce, served with homemade corn bread"), brown stew chicken, and bacon wrapped jerk pork ("medium spiced, pan-seared tenderloin wrapped in bacon strips served with maple whipped sweet potatoes"), i enjoyed the left over corn bread from the ribs, and the ackee & saltfish ("jamaica’s national dish served with boiled banana, yam, dumpling and sweet plantains"). i have to say that i normally don't go out of my way to eat seafood, but this lenten season has forced me to broaden my horizons. i would've definitely not have ordered the ackee & saltfish on a normal day (being that something like mango ribs and bacon wrapped pork is on the menu), but it was actually very tasty and i didn't feel so bad after all for missing out on the other stuff.

but i think i will be making a trip back to negril after lent, because who could really pass up mango ribs and bacon wrapped pork? a person who gave up meat (NOT a short term "vegetarian") for lent.

what did i expect???

i had dinner with my fellow foodie (and friend) allie last thursday. besides wanting to catch up and listen to her college stories to vicariously live through her, i particularly like going out to dinner with her because she is always up for eating any type of food. initially we planned on going for indian, which is very vegetarian friendly. but at the last minute, i changed my mind and decided that i wanted to go to a vegetarian specific restaurant.

not knowing many vegetarians to suggest a restaurant, i consulted the time out new york 2009 eating and drinking guide that james got me. broken down by neighborhood and food genre, i came across blossom in the vegetarian/organic restaurant section. besides the fact that it won the best vegetarian restaurant award last year at the eat out awards, i guess what really sold me was time out new york saying, "the mock meats actually taste pretty good". it's no big secret that i am dying not eating meat during lent, so i thought this was a good place to take the edge off.

we ordered these crostini bread things as an appetizer, which came with 3 different types of toppings: hummus, tomatoes and onions (a bruchetta basically), and some green thing that could have been either really fine spinach, or pesto. whatever the case may be, it was very good, so no complaints on the unknown.

allie ordered the sweet potato gnocchi, that came with a very light creamy sauce (again, no idea what the sauce was but it didn't matter because it was good), and broccoli rabe.

i got the soy bacon cheeseburger. i guess because i had such high hopes for the faux-meat tasting like real meat, i was a little disappointed. but helloooo? what did i expect? it's not real meat!

the funny thing is, after i looked back at the time out new york review, the last sentence of the review said, "carnivores may feel compelled to eat the real thing elsewhere, but vegetarians have indeed found a great new date place".

i couldn't agree more. i guess because i am not a die hard vegetarian (or maybe i should say a real one), i wasn't so convinced on the faux-meat ordeal. however, everything else was really great (including the restaurant space and the super nice waitstaff) so yes, i could see how this place was voted best vegetarian restaurant last year. but for now, i'll just wait out the 27 more days to eat the real thing, instead of trying to take the edge off with the fake stuff.

meat eating vegetarian

i foresee that the next couple of posts will be about my short term adventures in vegetarianism. yes, its day 14 of my non-meat eating quest as part of my fasting sacrifice for lent.

so people count the traditional 40 days of lent in different ways, but for catholics such as myself, lent starts on ash wednesday, ends on holy saturday (the day before easter sunday), and you don't count the sundays in between. those sundays could be the potential loop hole, the break from the fast if you will, but hey, this ish is supposed to be hard, and so what good would using the loop hole be?

this is my 5th year doing the vegetarian thing for lent, and this year it seems particularly hard. i guess the rude awakening came this past weekend during my 2nd trip to florida for vaca in less than two months (como se dice florida junkie?). we went to port st. lucie first, to catch a mets spring training game. i am sure everyone is aware of the baseball game eating pastime, and here are just some of the foods i missed out on due to this fast:

• hot dogs (obv!)
• premio italian sausages (a mets signature item)
• chicken fingers (could've ate the french fries that comes with, but it just wouldn't be the same)
• because they were playing team italy, there was a vendor selling a plethora of italian meat sandwiches. (i wouldn't have gotten it anyway, because that's weird to eat italian sandwiches from florida, but it's just the principle of not being able to)
• pulled pork sandwich (that's a first that i've seen at a baseball stadium)
• beef taco in a mets helmet (i don't want to say i shed a tear about that one, but i did)

on to disney...the thing about disney is that i was just there in january, eating the same food (and actually the same restaurants because we loved it so much), so i actually DID know what i was missing. the veggie eating experience was two fold. when we were at the parks for lunch, it was all fast food type stuff, so my selection was limited. but we did eat at "real" restaurants for dinner, so there was actually vegetarian friendly, and quite delicious (highlights include life changing smokey portabella soup, potato chive pot stickers, and a nice cod dish).

i think the biggest hit that i took while in disney was when we went to the character breakfast at the polynesian. the restaurant was called ohana.."ohana means family". it was an "all you care to eat" (as opposed to the all you can eat, which i think was a plug to mitigate gluttony), where the food (scrambled eggs, biscuits, breakfast potatoes, sausage, bacon, and mickey waffles) was brought out to you on a huge skillet. james and i had went there on our january visit, so i knew what to expect. aka i knew to expect that i would not be having bacon or sausage, but rather an abundance of scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, and mickey waffles. in hindsight it doesn't seem that bad, but everyone knows breakfast is not complete without the meat! i think i just accidentally started an engineering a connoisseur slogan...

the obession with overseas yogurt

did anyone notice that all of a sudden everyone became obsessed with yogurt from other countries?

it really started with a greek yogurt specific obsession. i first heard about it from my sister, who i think is a pretty good role model for healthy eating. she's not an over the top fanatic, maintains a healthy body weight and exercises regularly, and eats organic when possible. to me, she is a pretty reliable source for me personally. except the time when she and i were trying to get in shape and lose weight for her wedding, and i found myself eating myoplex protein bars around the clock. gross, i could never eat one of those ever again and can still taste the chocolate peanut butter bars in my mouth.

there is a huge joke with my sister eating greek yogurt, specifically fage (pronounced fah yee, even though i still continue to fah gee) . during her pregnancy, she didn't want to eat ice cream with pickles, white castle hamburgers (like my own mom did during her pregnancy with me, which might explain something about my eating habits), or really any outlandish cravings. all she wanted was this greek yogurt fage.

pregnant sister + fage =

8 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long baby (and the obsession of my life, my niece isabel)

okay, okay. this wasn't just a plug do say how freaking AWESOME my niece is (who is now 6 months old)- but to just prove a point of what eating an excessive amount of greek yogurt can do.

back to the point of this blog....

so fage can be somewhat considered the pioneer of the greek yogurt phase, but then all of these other alleged greek yogurts came out of the woodwork, like oikos, chobani, and greek gods. they all claim to be "the original greek yogurt"- but who is to decide that, really?

now it doesn't end there. so i started to notice that all these other random countries started jumping on the international yogurt bandwagon: neilson (somewhere in great britain), wallaby (australia), yeo valley (russia), and i've seen swiss, german, and sweedish.

i remember when yogurt selection was simple. then they went sugar free. then they went low carb. then they went organic. then they added "helps regulate your system". then they added probiotics. then they added foreign countries.

i don't know who is this alleged "they" i speak of, but whoever it is, it sure made this pretty simple food pretty complicated.

i'll have the chocolate with a side of bacon

one of my greatest friends came for a visit from the west coast and invited me for dinner at her sister's and soon to be brother in law's.


after dinner, my friend's sister said she had a surprise- something that her fiance didn't even know about, something for us to have before desert. i think she used some french word begining with the letter a, but i can't remember the word, and failed to find it when i tried to google search it. i think the definition of the word was some sort of food/meal before desert. if anyone knows what that word is- let me know because it's KILLING me.


anyway, she goes on to say that this is one of the many items that quickly sells out at whole foods. the suspense was killer, given this little factoid, and the build up from before.


it turns out that the surprise is mo's bacon bar, a chocolate bar with little bacon pieces. the back of the bar has the "inspiration" for creating this aggressive candy bar, and when you read it, it kinda makes sense:

"I began experimenting with bacon + chocolate at the tender age of 6, while eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in Aunt Jemima® syrup, as children often do. Beside my chocolate-laden cakes laid three strips of sizzlin' bacon, just barely touching a sweet pool of maple syrup. And then, the magic—just a bite of the bacon was too salty and I yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate and syrup, so I combined the two. In retrospect, perhaps this was a turning point; for on that plate something magical happened, the beginnings of a combination so ethereal and delicious that it would haunt my thoughts until I found the medium to express it—chocolate."


so having read that before taking a bite, i was like "oh, that makes sense", especially that i love both chocolate and bacon. actually, the irony is that before i came for dinner, the following email "conversation" took place between myself and my friend:
__________________________________
From: XXXX
To: raechel
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 3:24:05 PM
Subject: RE: friday din din


XXXX asked me to ask you if there is anything you can't eat. her words, "ask her if she is morally opposed to pork"
_________________________________
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:52:12 -0800
From: raechel
Subject: Re: friday din din
To: XXXX

does eating bacon on a regular basis answer her question? i am not morally opposed to anything...even when i was a jew as a semester long project in college...ha!
___________________________________

From: XXXX
To: raechel
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 4:55:00 PM
Subject: RE: friday din din

hahaha i remember that. not that she is gonna serve pork but she just wanted to be sure.

well it turns out, she DID serve pork (not as the main course), but in the form of a chocolate bar. while i am not sure that i would replace my favorite chocolate bars (twix, cookies and cream hershey bar, reese's peanut butter cup, milky ways) with mo's bacon bar, it's not as bad as it sounds. i think the problem was that i coudn't get the idea of bacon grease plus chocolate in my head, so it was a bit overwhelming. but like my dinner host said, it is one of the fasting selling items at whole foods- so maybe this mixing chocolate with random foods is the new trend!

pancakes anyone?

for all you foodies and do-gooders, mark next tuesday and head out to ihop for some free pancakes, and support a good cause while you are at it!

http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

holla at my cousin carmela who sent the info!

while we are at it, let's look at the different aliases that pancakes hold, by foodies and short order cooks alike (compliments of the website wordie)

silver dollars
flapjacks
hubcaps
platters
saturday morning specials
griddlebacks
panky-doos
berry patches
2-ds
chuck norris crêpes (if anyone has an explanation for this- do share)
flipjills
circles of life
butter gutters
phaistos disks (i don't even know what a phiastos is)
analogs (how very engineering friendly)
charlie browns (thought that was a type of line dance?)
saucer sections
anime eyes
row-your-boats
pratchetts
florida mountain range
uncle sam seen from above
portraits of the virgin mary
mickey mouses with ear reduction surgery
french toast (oooor someone mistakes the two as the same when the are NOT)

E to the M to the Panada

it's not your typical valentine's dinner, although james and i are one of the many people in america to recognize that the valentine's day is just another hallmark holiday. nevertheless, you've got to eat, right?

you might recall our fascination of empanadas from the post about ricardo steak house. i think i went as far as to quote james in saying, "wish i could sit in front of the tv eating these empanadas all day."

we were spending the day in the city and while walking cross town, we came across a place called empanada joe's on 6th avenue between 20th and 21st. at first, it looked like it was a chain place, including the decor and the menu style. i still wasn't sure until i checked out the website and saw that this was the only location in manhattan (i like it even more for this reason).

earlier that day, i was reading portions of this book, "eat this not that" and it was all about fast food joints and what you should be eating on their menu instead of another item. i contemplated buying it for 5 seconds, but then realized that spending $19.99 on the book is probably not worth it, being that i don't go to those places often enough for me to worry about it.

however, i bring the book up because empanada joe's, or m-joe's as they call it, made it a point to have posters (and on their website), comparing their empanadas to fast foods ("150 calories!" as compared to the 350 calories+ items that they compared it to).

that's all well and good, but when you get 3 empanada plus two sides meal that james and i each got (oh yeah, did i mention that we got 2 sweet dessert type empanadas?)- those calories sure do add up! i am not knocking their marketing scheme, being that people have the choice to eat one, or in our case, james and i chose to go the gluton route and eat 3 plus the dessert empanadas.

so the both of use got the same empanadas:

grande cheesesteak

rojo pulled pork

argentine beef

and shared the sweet empanadas:

cha cha chocolate and banana

big cinnamon apple

the sides aren't really worth mentioning, but they had pretty good sauces (bbq, chipotle mayo).

the other really clever part that i appreciated was that the empanadas were "labeled" on the corners, by having little initials baked into the dough part so you knew which one was which. i thought that was pretty cool. it was a pretty good bang for your buck (the 3 empanada + 2 sides + drink was $9.95, which made me a really cheap valentine's day date). however, next time around, i would probably skip the sides and the soda, and just get a truckload of empandas by the dozen or something.

while not as good as the angus empanadas at ricardo's, empanada joe's is definitely a repeat restaurant, and a good place if you just want a quick bite. a pleasant surprise in that part of manhattan (i have no idea what neighborhood that is considered) and i'm sure it'll do well for all those E to the M to the Panada lovers...

THE WORD ON THE STREET

i’ve decided to start a new feature on the blog…THE WORD ON THE STREET. pretty self explanatory, ask random questions to people related to food and post the responses. my inspiration for the questions will most likely be tied to an experience that i had myself.

this week’s question goes back to last friday when i was out celebrating a construction milestone for a job that i wasn’t even on. and drinking on that jobsite’s dime. nice. being that i can’t roll like i used to, the times that i do go out, i’m in it to win it. 4 martinis, 3 beers, and a jagerbomb later…okay wait, disclaimer. if you are a college student (or having some sort of quarterlife/midlife crisis), this doesn’t seem like this would equate for some impressive night of drinking, but for me nowadays, this was the real deal.

there is a whole other story of how i got home etc etc- but this is a food blog people! so it turns out that i stop at my old apartment and no body is home (including bandit). i tell you this to emphasize that i wasn’t in my own space (although i do call it my second home) and so i was eating food that wasn’t mine. so this week’s question:

What is the weirdest/most un common post-drinking food you have ever eaten?

for me, last friday it was left over pad thai with orville reddenbocker buttery garlic popcorn. all in one sitting. the evidence was on the floor the next day.

and the re-occurring theme for the people i polled was hot dogs:

“charred coneys (white hot-dogs, a central new york specialty) dipped in crab meat dip”

“open face cheese quesadilla made with a microwave hot dog and wrapped it together”

“caesar salad with hot dog meat”

"mac and cheese with cheese slices salt pepper hot sauce katsup hot dog pieces and ham mixed together in a pot and served with a side of wonder bread slices with butter"

some people apparently go to 5 star restaurants after they drink:

“talapia with citrus beur blanc sauce on a bed of jasmine scented cous cous. It was a crazy night!!”

"Breton Sound oysters & little neck clams on the half shell, along w/ steamed crawfish...the joys of Southern cooking"

runs in the family: a family member felt the need to give the whole background behind the selection (sound familiar???????):

“someone was boiling eggs after out drinking...and we all woke up the next day apparently the eggs exploded on the wall hahaha...so yeah boiled eggs”

como se dice “heart attack”?:

“the Fat Chicken Sub, which is footlong filled with chicken parm, french fries and mozzarella sticks. Oh baby, oh baby, oh baby, oh”

"primanti bros sandwich in pittburgh: bologna, cheese, french fries, coleslaw and tomatoes between two slices of Italian bread"

"I am not the drinker I used to be but from 1995-2000 I did alot of drinking. Most nights we finished at the dinner with a burger, chicken fingers, wings, cheese fries with gravy, or in the Sage dinner on queens blvd they had a thing called the big Texan and the godfather.Dunkin donuts was also a big thing. The roastbeef on crossant (spelled wrong) or the coffee role with butter."

heh?:

“betty crocker noodle bowls and chex mix”“plain bagel with wisp pride cheese spread”

“pita bread with chocolate milk syrup”

“grits with cheese, sugar, and fried liver”

the last hurrah

in two weeks and two days i will officially embark on my once a year, short term life as a vegetarian. while there are certain fasting, specifically meat-eating fasting, rules for catholics during lent, for the past 4 years, i have been giving up meat for the full 40 days. believe me, it is a challenge. while being very conscious that the time is approaching, i especially enjoyed a meal that james and i went to last week at ricardo steak house . it was a recommendation by a friend of james (and actually a follower of this blog- holla!!)

the restaurant location can be quite deceiving, as you wouldn't think that there are any particularly great steakhouses in spanish harlem, or SPAHA if you will (it's on 1st avenue between 110th and 111th). but this gem was certainly a place to celebrate an occasion (if you happen to be celebrating, like we were).

my friend allie (who is also a follower of this blog and definitely my foodie in crime) once told me that her father said that you could tell if i restaurant is good by their bread. makes sense, right? it starts the meal off. this bread was LIFE CHANGING- it was like a pizza hut breads tick times 100. i kind of feel guilty comparing the bread to an item at pizza hut, but i am sure you get the visual on it by this example.

we started with angus empanadas. fyi 1) i am salivating just thinking about them 2) in reaction to his first bite of the empanadas stated, "i wish i could sit in front of the tv eating these empanadas all day.

needless to say, we will be returning to the restaurant, if only to eat those empanadas. and the bread.

james and i decided not to 1/2 and 1/2 it, being that we both wanted the same thing. we got what was called the "Ricardo Mixed Grill", which came with grilled PGA Skirt steak (whatever that golf reference means), chicken breast, pork and chorizo served with roasted potatoes and garlic spinach. i dont want to say that i ate all of the steak and chorizo, but i did. it was such a meat fest, but an excellent one at that. the portions were actually not 5 star size (anorexic model status), but not cheesecake factory or vinny testa's (holla at boston) size either. i did end up taking some of the meat home because i didn't want to subject myself to any meat sweats (which i knew about but never really thought about it out loud until my friend troy told me about it).

similar to the bread comment above, deserts are just as important as any other part of the meal, because that is what leaves the lasting impression of the place (a la tom colicchio in a recent episode of top chef). all i have to say is HOLY DESERT! damn son! usually james and i 1/2 and 1/2 that ish, but since i didn't over do it with the meat, i was feeling exceptionally adventurous and decided that i could do my own desert that night. little did i know that it was going to be a 3 course meal in itself! james got this chocolate ganache cake and i got fried plantains. the fried plantain actually looked like a potato croquet when it first came out, but it was actually pretty freaking awesome. it wasn't too sweet (and some plantains, like maduros, tend to be too sweet for me sometimes) and had this caramel sauce on the bottom. both of our deserts had a big cup of ice cream placed on the dinner sized plate, and a little cup of whipped cream also on the side. i actually took a picture of both of our deserts on my blackberry, but someone stole my USB cable at work so i can't download them, and everytime i try to email it, it times out. well, that will be a reason for you all to check it out yourselves since i didn't post any pictures for this one!

what made ricardo's especially stand out from other places is that the waitstaff was super nice, and the restaurant manager came by twice to see how we were doing and how the meal was (even plugged her business card for private events).

aaaaaaaand it was VERY recession friendly given that it was a steak house (and that we got drinks, appetizers, and desert for both of us). we definitely got the bang for our buck, and then some! i really loved this place that much, that i might need to go back there before my two weeks and two days are up!

now it's your turn. we went to this place on a recommendation- tell me if you loved it the same way we did! well i guess that goes for any other restaurant i write about, huh?????

!!!Foodie Feature!!!

It's that time again!!! Another !!!Foodie Feature!!! from our very own Jolly Green Giant...

Tailgate Wars

With the Super Bowl taking place this weekend I wanted to touch on one of the great joys of my life, tailgating. Tailgating has come to mean so much to me. It is an art, it is a sport and for many it is the stuff legends are made of.

I truly discovered what tailgating was about at a Dave Matthews Concert in the summer of 2001, but our story beings in the 80s. My first ever professional sports event was probably a soccer match in Colombia, but in the States it was for a baseball contest that pitted the Mets of New York versus the Expos of Montreal. I’m pretty sure my mom’s coworker offered me the ticket since she was taking her young son. I was very excited. We were going to take the bus to Main Street and then taking the 7 train to Shea Stadium. My mother being the kind lady she is, packed me a whole arepa and off I was to the game. I point to this event as my first experience in tailgating.

Now many tailgating- orthodox members will say that this does not qualify as “tailgating”. They believe that tailgating can only occur outside of said event. Well I’m here to offer my perspective on this rule. Yes, I came to love tailgating based on the events at that DMB concert at Giants Stadium. We drove in my dad’s Honda Odyssey Mini-van and set up shop in the parking lot. We were minors with a case of beer and I’d say roughly 300 cups. The beer quickly started disappearing and our friend that was bringing a few more cases was still far away. We quickly found that many other minors were drinking but had failed to bring cups. Or some others needed them to play beer pong. Well, guess who had lots of cups to barter away. In exchange we received alcohol and several other questionable items. I was in love. Tailgating would forever be my mistress.

Since then food has become an important process (not as important as alcohol). Hamburgers and hot dogs have evolved to chili and chicken wings. We’ve done the breakfast tailgate, pancakes, scrambled eggs and a Miller Lite. Chips and pretzels you say, well how about some pepperoni, cheese and crackers (check the bottom center). And once we even had a fruit platter (yes that was from Giants vs Cowboys last year). Games can be played, whether drinking ones, tossing the football or using your friend’s golf clubs to practice your putting game (yes that also happened).

So what do I consider tailgating? Any social gathering prior to going to an event, including stadium parking lots, hotel parking lots (took a cab to the concert), hotel rooms, bars (“Take the train to the game”) (and also outside of MSG), apartments (pre-gaming is a form of tailgating) and yes even little innocent me taking the bus with arepa in hand was tailgating. I have tons of respect for the guys with an RV that has satellite television and cook a turkey for the game, but us city folk cannot be discounted just because we prefer to drink at a bar that has happy hour specials (and the best buffalo chicken wrap) and then hop on the train. No, we should all be treated equally.

As we all prepare our Super Bowl dishes, please remember there are a couple of guys that will be shot-gunning some beers in their hotel rooms and then walking over to the game. And at this time of the year, they should not be forgotten.

what's with the white spots?

so in the rare event that people (other than my family, friends, and foodies that i have met along the way) read this blog, i am trying to remain anonymous, along with anyone else that comes along for my food adventures. or maybe it's because i thought it was really funny putting those white dots over my face (and james')...when the odds are really low that people i don't know will follow this blog.

i can't believe it's maple butter!!!

james and i are not fans of the hype of new year, and wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the boroughs. we decided to spend the long weekend manchester, vermont. now when you think of vermont, some of you might associate it with skiing, maple syrup, tree huggers, crunchy granola, and sub zero temperatures in the winter. but what you might not know is that this green mountain state (and specifically the town of manchester) is quite the diamond in the rough for us foodies!

we were there for 3 nights and 4 days...aka 3 breakfasts, 3 dinners, and 2 in betweens (not a full blown lunch, but just a little something). but here are my top picks of the trip...

getting back on the steak bandwagon

we got to manchester pretty late on thursday night, so we decided to eat at one of the restaurants at the place we were staying at, The Equinox Resort and Spa. now if this was a travel blog, i would tell you how AWESOME this place was, but i can spend hours rambling about that, so i will just stick to the foodie stuff. just know that not only the places we ate at will be repeats, but so will the equinox. many times over. you get the picture, and i hope you'll experience it for yourself.

ANYWAY, so we were lucky that there were spots left for dinner at The Chop House since it was new year's eve . after our experience at steak frites (see last entry), i was trying to renew my faith in steak restaurants and all i can say is i have returned!

the meal started with a "compliments of the chef" amuse bouche. not gonna lie, the only reason why i know what an amuse bouche is, is because i started watching top chef last season (not going to write an entry about top chef because i am sure there are a ton of blogs about the show as it is). so amuse bouch is (a la wikipedia) is "a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre. Amuse-bouche are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons, but, when served, are according to the chef's selection alone", and we got an oyster shooter (very new englandy i might add). okay, so i am SO NOT a shell fish person, but i felt ungrateful if i didn't take it, so i did (for the record, james did not). and that was that. the rest of the meal was FANTASTIC...

• 1/2 and 1/2ed apps: The “Wedge”: Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes /Nueski Applewood Smoked Bacon /Vermont Blue Cheese & French Onion Soup / Vermont Gruyere Cheese


• main course (both of us): 8 0z. filet mignon (medium, even me!)


• steak sauces: bernaise, bordelaise, and chop house steak sauce (we splurged for a third)


• 1/2 and 1/2ed sides: mac and cheese, grilled asparagus, whipped garlic potato puree
  

the verdict: restored faith in steak, a little too expensive for it to be a repeat, but a memorable experience nonetheless (enough for it to be written about in the food blog...)

classic new england-y fare

what better way to toast vermont cuisine than going to a classic new england-y restaurant, Ye Old Tavern. the restaurant looked like someone's home, probably was someone's home at some point, and the food was, you guessed it, like delicious home cooking (i have martha washington as the cook in my head for some reason).

• the life changing part: MAPLE BUTTER. it sounds like such a simple concept ("why didn't i think of that??"), i probably couldn't replicate it, and could have eaten just the maple butter by the spoonful as my meal. bold statement, sounds gross, but it's soooooo good!
  
• problem with posting something a month later: we got one of the appetizer's that was a "special". all i remember is artichokes, bacon, and some awesome creamy cheese baked into it. and i can't remember what type it cheese it was, but the app was damn good!
  
• home cookin is good lookin: james got pork chops and i got new england scrod. good to the last drop.


• the final stretch: 1/2 and 1/2ed berry brulee and cranberry & apple crisp

the verdict: a winner from start to finish! a repeat? most definitely, and one of the many motivational factors to come back to manchester.

the breakfast showdown

vermont had a lot to live up to, since my palate is partial to breakfast cuisine. we kept on reading and hearing about this place, Up for Breakfast. note that there is no clickable link, as this place doesn't need a website to promote itself. the place is TINY and there is almost always a wait (as we did), but it's well worth the wait. there are more items on the menu then their are seats, and of course i had mental angst about what to order. the equinox resort driver that gave us a ride to the restaurant suggested a to get the "wild turkey hash": dark turkey meat hash with two poached eggs on top, doused in a lemon Hollandaise sauce. i was thinking that because i am obsessed with corned beef hash (which was also on the menu), i should like this. it was good, a little unexpectedly spicy, but it made the dish unique. even though james or i can't remember what james ordered, the place was overall good enough to say that i wanted to come back the next day to try something else.

THAT IS...until we met some other foodies at the resort jacuzzi, who recommended going to a place called the rooster cafe.

i heavily rely on people's recommendations (even if we don't know them), so we had to take the opportunity to try this place. i was pleasantly surprised that they had maple butter as well (YES!). actually, it was specifically for that day's special: maple swirl french toast. so of course we got an order of that strictly for the maple butter part of it (as a "side dish"- total glutton style). i got a daily special for my main meal, called the rt-11: 3 eggs with spicy sausage, "herbal" (very vermont-y) mushrooms, scallion, swiss (but i substituted for cheddar). james got the "all american": 2 eggs, bacon, and cheddar potatoes. note that the only reason why i remember this is because i wrote notes in my cell phone, knowing how bad my memory is. the place was excellente and we will definitely return their for breakfast, and even try out their lunch menu next visit.

the wrap up

• who knew that vermont had such kick a$$ food???


• we are definitely returning to manchester this summer (and future winters), both for the fun and the food


• no more posting to the food blog too far after the fact (it's what i like to call CRS = can't remember .... )