I ate New York

I think the only reason I go to New York nowadays is to.. eat. Cynthia and I went to NYC yesterday and went to places mentioned in The Girl Who Ate Everything. Originally, I really wanted to try a macaron so that's how this whole thing started. I guess we were both so engrossed at the thought of eating in general we forgot. Damn. Anyway, we started our day by going to Kinokuniya Bookstore on some avenue in the city (I have no sense of direction at all) It was really big and nice and Japanesey. The second floor had a cafe called Cafe Zaiya and they sell Japanese pastries, desserts, and a $5 lunch. I got a salmon onigiri while Cynthia got a green tea pudding I believe? I didn't taste it but she had this look of ecstacy on her face the entire time she was eating it. My onigiri, on the hand, left a lot to be desired. It needed soy sauce.. or mayo. Everything tastes better with mayo!

CUSTARD!

Salmon Onigiri. Obviously.

Insides. Looks a tad dry, no?

Yeah, maybe I'm just a food snob but it needed something else to add some moisture and flavor. The other elements, such as the rice, were very good. The texture of the rice is very important and it was spot on - just chewy enough but still firm to differentiate between each rice grain.

Hiroko's Place. Kawaii ne. It's very homey

Hiroko's Place is a hole in the wall but it's a very comfortable hole in the wall. It looks like somebody's home with an abundance of tables and chairs. It's not in the picture, but there is a couch and a few more tables. There's also a bookshelf full of manga!

Cynthia sensually sipping h2o.

Cynthia's Neapolitan (?) Spaghetti. Notice the hotdogs!

So I think a dish is considered Asian when there are sausages in it. I don't know why Asian people put it in but who cares, it's damn good. I didn't taste this dish but it seemed pretty good since the plate was clean after haha

My Hamberg Rice. Mmmmmmmmmm

Oh hamberg steak and rice. No, I didn't forget the -er in hamberg. It's actually called that. It's a popular dish in japan and korea. It's comfort food.. I mean look at it! A big wad of meat, fried egg, a canelle of egg salad, and to insure that we get our daily vegetal intake, a small side salad. The steak had a tomato ragu on top, which was very different than the way I normally eat it but I actually prefer this more. The fried egg was eggtastic and the egg salad added a creamy and rich element to the dish. Twas a delicious dish.

I'm always thinking of the starving kids in Africa.
CRISPY SWEET CREAMY PUFF OF MY DREAMS

I NEVER HAD A BEARD PAPA CREAM PUFF BEFORE. According to Cynthia, I have not lived. So she took me to a store and we both bought a strawberry and a vanilla (original). I ate the strawberry first and hot damn it was good. The puff was crispy and the cool, strawberry filling had that Asian strawberry flavor (Go buy a strawberry pocky and just suck on one). I wish the puff had just come out of the oven so I could experience a warm puff with the cool filling.. oh well, it was still awesome. A++!

This is the original one (Vanilla)

I ate the other one when I got home and this time it was the original vanilla flavor. I still prefer the strawberry actually but it was still very good.. although it was.. mushier. :( boo.

apple..cider..DONUT!

This was our last stop before going back to Jersey. I got this in the Union Square Green Market. OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST DONUT I HAVE EVER HAD. It's nothing l ike a dunkin donut's donut.. It's substantial. It's more cakey/dense, which I really enjoy. I guess the only bad thing is that there wasn't that much of an apple cider flavor. However, that may be for the fact that I ate a donut in literally 14 seconds and thinking to myself, "OMFG THIS IS FUCKING GOOD. I WANT TO EAT YOUR BABIES." (babies = apple cider munchkins? omg, get in ma belly)

Anyway, it was a great day with amazing weather. Next time, WE WILL EAT MACARONS. Yes. Also, I also went back to Kinokuniya to steal a pin and I also got a green tea roll cake. I was a bit skeptical at first b/c all the roll cakes I have are always kind of dry and crumbly but oh man, this one was so moist and dense in the best possible way. Not too sweet and a slight bitterness at the back of your throat from the green tea. We also met up with Jason at Red mango. The only other time I had red mango was in korea and thing is, i've never had froyo before so that was DAMN GOOD. After eating froyo at different places, red mango is actually really heavy - almost regular ice cream consistency. However, it tasted so good! It had that intense yogurt taste.. you know, that kind of sour yogurt taste?

I think I get too excited about food.




HA. Nahh.

Eats!

Sorry I didn't post anything for a while - last week was disgustingly busy but I did manage to cook a few, really simple dishes to satisfy my work ridden soul.

In no particular order, here's stuff I consume during my days of rendering, sequence board making, mind mapping, user group mood board making days at RISD. uh...I'm not bitter in any form whatsoever..

In order to prevent myself from dieing due to malnutrition, I eat BERRIES. Lots of berries. I usually have blueberries, strawberries, and bananas in a bowl with a very small pinch of salt, sprinkle of sugar and/or drizzle of honey, and a healthy glug of balsamic vinegar. Yup, vinegar. I then let it macerate in the fridge until all of the delicious juices from the berries come out and scream to be eaten. It's an amazing mixture sweet and tart.. you guys gotta try it. This is on the same comfort level of chocolate cake, ice cream, and unicorn tears.



I had pork. I had miso. I had veges. MISO SOUP! It was surprisingly light with a delicate saltiness from the miso, considering how hard I tried to render what fat was on the pork because pork fat makes life here at RISD that much more bearable. The pork was fairly tender - I think it would've melted in your mouth if I had let it simmer longer but I'm impatient. :( I think my impatience is going to be the death of me someday. SIGH.



Simple food is usually the best food. I mean how much more simpler can you get? Mysteryious Luncheon ham-meat product, eggs, scallions, and white carb matter pan fried to golden brown awesomeness. The runny yolk is like icing on a cake.. but in this case it's an undeveloped baby chicken basically. Let us stick with the icing comparison.. I added ketchup and some sriracha to cut the salt and add some oomph. It was a good, not good for me, breakfast.



Ah, the star of this post. KALBI. The meat of kings. Look how it glistens in the light of my Macbook. You probably can't tell, but there is kimchi, fermented cabbage of the gods, and brown rice. If you don't know, kalbi is a Korean dish of slices of beef marinated in soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, etc. It's usually eaten during special occasions becuase the cut of meat is expensive. My special occasion? I slept the average 8 hours the night before. It's special to me.

Today, mochi was made.

I know you love red bean filled mochi. How can you not? It's sweet, soft, and sticky (although, if you fail at chewing, you might choke and die). Alex and Karen made some today to sell for Karen's 'Alternative Spring Break' to New Orleans to help build houses for Katrina victims. Good good cause. Go buy some kthxbye.

Its name is Mono, which means thing in Japanese.

So Karen's failed attempt at wrapping mochi around red bean paste turned out to be a success because THING was created. Since THING doesn't sound so great, we turned to the power of Asian-ness and named it Mono, which conveniently means thing in Japanese. lawl.

i can has mochis??

Mono is slowly but surely climbing the mochi, which looked like a rock. I ate Mono after that. Just kidding. I'm not that cruel. I actually don't know what happened to Mono.

Alex expertly squishing mochi to wrap around red bean paste.

The finished MOCHI. What a beautiful sight, no?