How Things Change (Yet Do Not): New Misadventures in St. Mark's

I call it eating a three course meal out of order, but wouldn't necessarily call it eating three meals.

On Tuesday last, Beetchie and I met up for some food, toys and fun times whilst she was in NYC on Spring Break.

It just so happened that Tuesday was Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's.  Beetchie being an ice-cream fiend, and I most always one to partake of Free Cone Day, headed after work to enjoy Chocolate Therapy cones.

Misadventure No. 1: My messy piggyh mouth.


I'm not sure what it is aboot Chocolate Therapy but I always manage to attain a chocolate mouth.  The chocolate mouth is one that rings chocolate ice-cream all around my mouth and is fairly embarrassing.  I have never seen this anomaly myself but from the laughs garnered from Alex and H1, I gather it is quite the spectacle.

Beetchie is less kind when it comes to dirt and dirt around the mouth.

As I told her, had I known my mouth was messy, I would have wiped it sooner!

Next we went 'around the corner' from our usual hang out in St. Mark's to her new find: a Takoyaki stand.

If it looks shady, it must be alright.

As she said, the things you find just around the corner.  It's as if there's a whole other world!

It was okay times, you know, those takoyaki.  They were not as good as we remembered from Tokyo but at least they were freshly made, complete with waste disposal outside the establishment to throw our empty paper container in after.  Why, it was almost like being in Japan.  Almost.

Misadventure No. 2: A Takoyaki Choke.

Sometimes I have to remember that not only does Beetchie have a mouth of steel but she is a wide-mouthed frog as well.  While it is easy for her to pop a giant takoyaki into her mouth, I am one to have more difficulties.

So, to prove a point and my stupidity, I almost choked once.  Then again the second time.

Misadventure No. 3: Falling Underwear.

While crossing the street, somewhere between Gamestop and Foot Locker, we both discovered that we were having 'underwear' issues.

I'm sure most of us have this: that one pair of underwear that just won't stay on your ass/assback.  It's the type you make sure to wear at home.  Or should wear at home.  Really you should probably throw it away but there's still wear in that underwear, so you cannot bring yourself to do it.  Then comes the day you mistakenly wear it to work or while on a trip amongst people and you think to yourself, "why?"

After dessert and the appetizer, we went on to our other appetizer/main course.  Kenka as per usual, had a line.  The day was dreary and drizzly, so Beetchie suggested Bonchon instead.


Now, I thought of everyone and the promises made to go to have Korean fried chicken together.  I thought and still went without the group.  If you are looking for someone to blame, please leave a scathing comment to Beetchie.  I was coerced.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Maybe though, I was trying it to make sure it was worth it? Yes.  That is my new story that I am sticking to.  Indeed.

The skin really is like nothing else I have ever eaten.  Being double-fried will do that to some chicken skin though.  It was thin and ever so crunchy.  The spicy sauce was good but the soy garlic sauce was a bit too sweet for my liking.  The one complaint I had was that the chicken itself was not seasoned.  The entire point of the chicken (I've gathered) is to eat with the skin because that's where the flavour is but it was sort of disappointing.

My verdict is that a trip is required to go down there as it would be worth the experience at least once.

The other thing I had to try from the menu was the bacon.

 You are reading that right: Korean 3 layer bacon.

Sadly it was not as exciting as I had hoped.  Do not ask what I thought would be presented but it wasn't this.  Still, this was really flavourful but not bacon-tasting.

Surprisingly, there are no misadventures to report from the bonchon trip.

There are though, a plethora to report from our trip to Toy Tokyo.

Misadventure No. 4: The entire experience at Toy Tokyo...for the millionth time.

A trip to Toy Tokyo always ends in disaster for me.  It always involves my walking out of there with some sort of toy I did not care to get.  Such is the luck I have, that I know I have spoken multiple times about in the past.

The tradition Beetchie and I have is to spend $5 - $10 dollars on a mystery toy or toys.  Out of a lot of 16 possible choices, I always get the one I don't want.  It's also the one Beetchie may will upon me because she is evil.

Remember a couple of years ago, I got the smoking watermelon from that smoking toy collection?

 Remember him now?

Well from this chart of new characters, guess which I got?

Figured it out yet?

The stinking worm, Finnegan.  Psh!

For those interested, Beetchie got the ever-so-cool Smoking Gouda.

Then we went for the Zipper Pull Ninja series.

Before I show you what I got, let us discuss what Beetchie and BooHead got.  Beetchie picked herself up a "Cookie Ninja".  It's a mini-ninja with happy eyes and cookie crumbs on his chest.

I picked one for my BH and got him the bad-assed "Lava Ninja".  You probably cannot get more bad-assed than a Ninja who deals in the Fire Arts.

Now let us talk about yours truly.

Instead of something awesome like Zombie Ninja, Businessman Ninja or Ninja Calculator...I got the thing most vile.

A wha' now? A peaceful wha'? Is that even possible?! A Zen Ninja?! How does that...even remotely make any kind of sense?! 

You are seeing what I do, right? I got a GDDH Ninja.  A HIPPIE NINJA.

I know.  I do not know why I bother either sometimes.

Now for the distressing news.

Things are changing in St. Mark's.  I regret to inform all that we will no longer be eating Beard Papa's.

I thought I was single-handedly keeping that store in business but as it turns out, a lot can happen in an 8 month absence.

I am sad that I will not be able to feast upon a pumpkin custard, royal milk tea or green tea cream puff any longer.  I had better chances at eating those things at St. Mark's than I do at Cafe Zaiya.

Next, we saw the Jasmart store front closed up.  Beetchie said it was undergoing renovations and I hope that is true because it looked awful desolate to me.

Finally, as much as I complain about the Toy Tokyo horrors, I rather enjoy the trips Beetchie and I make there.  As I said, it is a tradition we started over 5 years ago and I've acquire little nonsense toys here and there.   It's funny and just one of our things we bond over.

Imagine our surprise when after milling about picking out toys near the front counter, we turned the corner to find that the entire centre area of the shelves and cramped spaces for all the higher quality toys was gutted.  It was an empty space full of bins with junky things looking as though they were on clearance.

It was a shock I did not need.

I am not surprised by it as I honestly do not know how expensive Toy Tokyo managed to stay afloat for as long as it did especially with the recession.

However, it still hurts knowing that the last damned thing I possibly get out of that place is a freaking peaceful ninja.

Currently listening to: "Mad Carnival" by Bunji Garlin.  Hmm.  This is all H1's mix on my player at the moment.