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.