Foodie Adventures with Nach: Days 4 and 5

Let it be known (again) that I have wayward math. Alright, not really but Nach's visit began Tuesday night and continued through Sunday afternoon. I combined Saturday and Sunday because Saturday was a bit of a strange day for food (and by that I mean I really don't have pictures…), while Sunday we said our goodbyes on the streets of Chinatown. It was my last attempt to rid myself of the hipster. And if you are to believe UI, I was successful. UI may be making claims that this current Nach floating around TAY is an imposter, since he, UI was not with Nach during his final hours and I pulled a switcheroo.

Foodie Adventures with Nach: Day 3

Nach came back safe and sound from his Thursday Philly trip, ready to go adventuring some more bright and early on Friday morning. At one point he was trying to suggest that perhaps we could start a little later in the day. Memories of the terrifyingly long day we had on Wednesday had him talking crazy when he uttered that suggestion, but that would mean fewer hours to eat. Weighing the pros and the cons, we set out early once more but it was not early enough…

Foodie Adventures with Nach: Day 2

At Aikage's suggestion, there is a change to the story formally known as "(Foodie) Adventures in How to Ignore a Hipster...".  However and despite the header image, this will not be a romantic comedy about canoedling, cup noodling, canoodling, or canned bread..ling(?).  I happened to take a  picture of some glorious art that day and this is all by chance.  None shall sully this thread! I'm looking at you, Aikage and Swan.  With that out of the way, I will be continuing the story on how Nach visited NYC and ate himself silly almost all of last week and at the start of this week.

Foodie Adventures with Nach: DAY 1

About this time last week, I was probably doing the same thing as I am now.  I was probably trying to write a blog post or at the very least, thinking of one.  The only difference being that, I was cursing under my breath thinking about how I had to leave the comfort of my house to go to dinner.  With a Hipster, no less.  That’s the real reason for the cursing… because you know, Dinner is always cool.  Hipsters… not so much!

SnackTAYku International: The First Thing You do in Trinidad

Welcome to the island of Trinidad in the West Indies.  It's here after a five hour red-eye flight from New York that upon leaving the airport doors, the heat might hit you something fierce.  If you're lucky, there's a trade wind blowing your way.  You may be met by the sun taking to the skies and giving life to the day.  Family and friends will greet you with all their love and genuine happiness melted into the warmest hugs and hellos you could find any where.  And after all that, your first stop is right across the street for breakfast from the cart selling "Doubles".

Foodie Adventures: Morso? Yes, Please!

It was great seeing a few of my friends last Friday night.  We took to the subway and headed to the Upper East Side for dinner, drinks, laughs and to celebrate missed birthdays at Morso.  On the recommendation of a friend's friend, we decided to try this place with empty stomachs and an open mind.  Unfortunately, Morso was not participating in NYC's Restaurant Week* (hell, I did not even realize that was on).

*I adore the concept of Restaurant Week.  I love that NYC Restaurants open their doors to people to afford to sample of what their establishment has to offer by tailoring a menu of some of their best selections for a three course prix fixe meal (usually).  Truly not all selections are great for Restaurant Week, and some can be really hit or miss but there are gems waiting to be discovered at any number of great places in NYC one may otherwise have not been able to try due to pricing restrictions.

SnackTAYku: At Lunch with Street Meats

Sometimes confusion sets in.  With the multitude of street meat carts, food trucks lining the streets, and restaurants all vying for your attention, it's easy to see why decisions become that much harder to make when it comes time to decide on what to eat for lunch.  To make matters worse, the rivalries between vendors result in utter chaos with territorial fights ensuing and vendors posing as other vendors.  It's a colourful business, getting lunch in Midtown.  How do you decide on which place to get good food for a fair price when everyone's just trying to addle your brain? After much consideration you may decide that lamb over rice from a Halal Food cart is the way to go.

Oodles- of Noodle+

As if we were not gluttons enough the evening before (hell, we still have to eat a meal the day after, right?), we made our way to White Plains on Saturday to try a new Noodle place that had been getting a lot of buzz.

Knockin' About on Rainy Mondays and Tuesdays, Part I

The last time Ren and J waltzed through town, it was more of a whirlwind than anything.

The HOchieS spent many a night and day time running about going to restaurants, and additionally we caught a play and walked through a Street Fair (which we actually did separately but...things were going on is my point!).

Best of all, we had a great time then spending quality moments with funny friends and jumped at the chance to do so again this past Monday and Tuesday.

Monday night we went to Del Frisco's Grille for dinner.  I've yet to go to the steakhouse itself but the Grille just opened not too long ago and with a more varied selection with cheaper meal options, we decided to check it out.

The End of Days, Part III: Back to the Bronx Zoo

We went back to the Bronx Zoo one weekend in September.

It's not that I found the animal asses to be fetching as per our last visit in May.  No, because if I did that would group me into that corner of the internet that no one should speak about or exist.

Lego Master Builders,the people who are just that more skilled than you and I (psst, that's why they call them M-a-s-t-e-r-s.  It's a true, sad story), designed and built set pieces for exhibition at the Zoo.

Scattered amongst some of the major displays, lego animals lurked.  With special passports, you could spot the wild lego beasts and stamp your way through the zoo grounds - proof that you survived a certain type of blockish massacre.

We found about 5 out of the 8.  Don't judge us! Having just visited the zoo some months ago, we did not need to wander the exhibit too much again but hit up some of the places we missed in May.  Yes, we probably should have at least tried to go find the Lego exhibits but there was callaloo, crab and a Frass waiting at home for us.

It was also decided that since Beetchie had not gone in some years save her last visit for an interview in which there was some snootiness involved on behalf of the staff, that perhaps since she was visiting for the weekend we could make a fun time of it.

The day started though, with a proper mini-Irish breakfast.  As it turns out, a mini-Irish breakfast is anything but mini.

At $5.00, it was a great deal.  And one can only imagine what a full Irish entails.

The End of Days, Part II: Chocolate and Tennis

I too can live a little high-brow...uh, on Aims' invitation.

This September 2nd, Aims' invited me to attend the evening session matches at Arthur Ashe stadium for the U.S. Open 2011.

It was the Friday before Labor Day and we both got out of work early for the long weekend.  With time to spare before our 6 p.m. admission tickets, we walked at leisure along 5th Avenue to catch the 7 to Queens from Grand Central Terminal.

The End of Days, Part I: Four Days of Whirlwind Fun in Midtown

Summer is almost at an end.

I know, I know.  ::boohiss::

Or in my case, "Woo! Hooray! Good show!"

Ahem.  I will collect myself now, I promise.

I am still writing to you via magical mysteries and all that as my computer is still down, but there was much that happened in the past few weeks to close out the Summer.  For the next few days, I will be writing about all our other adventures had but today it's all about our time spent with Rennie Friennie.

On Thursday, Andrea Bocelli performed at Central Park for a free concert.  It seems that everyone and their mother got tickets for that thing except for poor H1.

But all was not lost because at least Rennie, her husband J.J. and her Mom got tickets to go and out of that - a four day hectic trip to Manhattan.

It was four days of fun for us from a dinner to Connolly's with drinks and great company (we got to see A & J, and A's Momma too!) on Wednesday night, Ruth's Chris with yummy ribeye steaks and amaretto sours on Friday night, Billy Elliott The Musical with some good ol' 2006 HOchie's favourite Ponsgri, and a massive ass Street Fair with some Shake Shack on Sunday (the last bit was unfortunately not enjoyed by Rennie Friennie & Co. but there's always a next time!).

Phew!

I didn't even show you pictures yet!

For the first day of our adventures, we did not get to see the Kirby Ice-Cream truck.  Apparently, it was driving around the city giving free ice-cream bars and a chance to demo the new Kirby game for the DS, Kirby's Mass Attack.

I may not have gotten some ice-cream or see the glory of the bright pink truck with lots of Kirbys all over the sides but I did get a slap in the face.

As I was leaving the office on Wednesday, I did encounter someone's tossed away Kirby's Mass Attack bookmark.  What?! Stop throwing freebies away guys! Stop it! I would have appreciated it, you ungrateful bastards!

So it was a little bit junky but dispose of it properly, why don't you?

After catching up with friends with burgers and beer at Connolly's on 45th, H1, Luuiiiiissss and I walked to the parking garage.  It was a clear night in the city - perfect for a stroll through the bustling activity of NYC under all the bright lights.

A beautiful night ruined by some white pants.  Ugh.

The Bronx Zoo: More Pictures, and More Jerks...Oh My! (Part II)

I do not know what's worse, the fact that I said there was a Part I and now have to force myself to post a Part II to this blog post, or the fact that I am too lazy to go remove "Part I" from the other title and leave you with nothing.

It's too late now, I already started writing...::sigh::

Really I only have a few more pictures to share and some captions to read.  Without further nonsensical ramblings -

The Bronx Zoo: With Lions, Tigers and Davids...Oh My...Glob? What? (Part I)

I'll explain!

There's so much wrong with that blog title and I'll tell you why...soon-ish.

First, I would like to say that going to the Bronx Zoo for opening time is the best.  I'm sure it's even better going during the week but we do what we can, when we can.

Some of the animals are fairly active and not lazing about in that hot ass midday sun or napping after lunch, and the Zoo grounds were just an entirely different experience for me.

Which also leads me to mention that Membership is also hella' awesome (do people still say 'hella'', by the way?).  Pesky lines are mostly eradicated and 10% at the gift shop is 10% at the gift shop.  Hey man, it's better than 0%.  Why go to a gift shop though with all things tourist trap? I'll tell you why...soon-ish.

For once, in the few times I have been to the zoo, I enjoyed myself.  I enjoyed walking around at ease, the cool air and the lack of wild animals people crowding me like the plague.  It was no surprise then that when we were still jaunting around there at around 3 p.m., annoyance took over when the zoo became packed with some rude jerks.

However, let us not think on the negative but instead focus on the thousand plus pictures I took whilst there.

Well, I wouldn't want to torture neither you nor myself with thousands of pictures but here's a sneak peek at the adventure the HOchieS enjoyed on Saturday morning (click the pictures to enlarge):

This Saturday Morning felt like Toco, with more waterfalls.

At The NY Botanical Gardens: The Orchid Show! (a.k.a "Trini Bush")

Today, The HOchieS ventured to the Boogie-Down Bronx to visit the NY Botanical Gardens' The Orchid Show on Broadway.

I do not remember if I have ever been to the Gardens.  Really! Not sure at all... and that's...weird.  But there's much to do in our fair state and I've done not even 1/4 of it all.

Anyway, with membership passes, we packed up and got there at about 10:45 a.m.

It was a cool day, the Gardens open at 10 a.m. on Sundays and it was already crowded.  This is just a mental note to ourselves that people flock to the Gardens regardless of whether we think we're beating them to it on 'early' on a Sunday morning.  Don't you people sleep in some? No? I sure could have slept some more this morning.

Well, whatever it was, it was crowded (and still no cool kids at the exhibit! No one had a 3DS to do Streetpass with me.  Psh.) but manageable, and rather lovely.

Except of course, these things may be exotic to some but to us HOchieS, the Orchid Show and some of many of the greenery we saw are so commonplace and plentiful in Trinidad that we were not as 'wowed' as we probably could have been.  We lived there for so long, and had so many of these particular plants and trees along with fruit trees in our backyard that, well... meh.  Yeah, meh.

It was certainly beautiful and the Botanical Gardens designers, and staff did a wonderful job of the Exhibit but yeah, meh.  I know, we are awful.

And yet, I still managed to take 400 pictures there.

With that said, here are some pictures of flowers for all to enjoy!

(All pictures were taken by H1 and/or myself.  While I will spare you the 400+, this post is coming up bazoobs.  And by that, I mean there are still a lot of them to see):

Silly me, these aren't flowers!

Oooooo

Adventures in Restaurant Week, Part 2: It's "Brasserie", and not that Other Thing

Faux pas, numéro un: The restaurant's name is "Brasserie", not "Brassiere".

I'm sure there was so much wrong about my above statement that H1 will have a field day with me when she reads it.  I am intent on proving either one of two things: that I am obsessed with undergarments or that I have no qualms showing just how much I almost failed French.

The point is, when inviting your frenemies for a night out to a French Restaurant for Restaurant Week, make sure you do invite them for the right thing.

Adventures in Restaurant Week, Part 1: I Can Haz Sushi Again

I am apologizing in advance for the way that Internet Culture has affected me some because I am now quoting lolcats.  It's shameful, I know.

The point though is that after a three and a half year self-inflicted hiatus from the world of sushi, I can finally eat it again.

Before eyes roll signifying a questioning of my sanity, I have a perfectly logical and smug explanation for my misgivings.

Friday Fun: The Lengths One Will Go To For...

The length this HOchie would go to for limited edition two week run of doughnuts is a seventeen minute walk as part of a forty-five minute excursion.

I do stuff for doughnuts!

For the past week and a half, Top Chef - Just Desserts, Chef Zac Young has been churning out Pop Up doughnuts at Zócalo in Grand Central Terminal (click his Wikipedia article which I have referenced here! He did quite well on that show).

The options for the two week run were listed with choices of doughnuts filled with raspberry, spiced chocolate, and cajeta.  Also included in the line up were cinnamon sugar doughnuts and two surprise treats which were to change on a daily basis.

For two days straight, H1 and I attempted to make our way to Grand Central to taste what a lot of people were talking about.

However, each day brought another failure as it turns out, the doughnuts were already slated to be sold at a terribly inconvenient time during the day from 12 p.m to 6 p.m.  As if this was not hard enough for us as getting to Grand C. is a trek all its own from our office (do-able but at the cost of an entire lunch hour), we got word that the doughnuts were selling out by 4 p.m every day.

Finally on Friday, Alex and I decided it would never get done unless we just went for the glory! So we hustled to Grand C. and made incredible time! It's surprising what one can do when on a mission...

Would I be lucky enough? Would Friday be the day I was fated to eat doughnuts?

Yes.  Yes, I was.  Friday's doughnut selection, all ordered.  Twice.

Chef Zac Young, hard at work filling the doughnuts.

A wunnerful sight.

 Many people I know or read about were excited about the spiced chocolate doughnut.  Not being a huge fan of chocolate, I was less than thrilled.  But heck, you never know until you try and it wasn't just chocolate, it was spiced.  I had some faint interest.

Alex bit into her doughnut and there was an incident.  It was the kind of incident were liquid chocolate went flying all over H1's office and came dangerously close to destroying precious work documents.

This was Alex's unexpected disaster.  Messy.  Veerrrry messy.

I had my bit and there may have been a chocolate mouth going on which I will never admit to, less Beetchie feels revolted.

As I expected, I was underwhelmed by said doughnut.  The taste was not bad on the chocolate but it was not fabulous either.  The other problem I had with it was that it overwhelmed the actual doughnut.  I could not taste the doughnut and there was not a good balance.

Later on we had the regular cinnamon sugar, lime and blueberry passion fruit doughnuts.  Those were all very good, actually.  Well...I could see the appeal of the lime for people who like lemon or lime flavoured things.  It tasted much like a key lime pie filling and was very creamy.

A doughnut made for Luuuuuiiiiissssss.  He loves all things lemon or lime.

Hello beautiful blueberry passion fruit wonder.  It looks like you tainted Miss Cinnamon Sugar.  That's okay with me

H1 and I enjoyed the blueberry passion fruit on account of its tartness.  It was rather yummy, actually.

And then, there was the cajeta.

When I got wind of these doughnuts, that was the one doughnut I absolutely had to try.  If you mention 'goat's milk caramel' to me, then I will most definitely be intrigued being a fan of things caramel, flan or custard based.

The cajeta doughnut did not disappoint.  The trip out of our way to Grand Central was worth it after biting into that wonderfully flavoured deliciousness.  It was unique, creamy, sweet but not overly so and also brought out the actual taste of the doughnut which I am happy to report was a good doughnut.

If I could go back for you, I would, Cajeta.

If I could go back for you and eat you hot and fresh right there, so you pool caramel upon impact with my mouth (like you sort of did here), I would, Cajeta.

So, I'll probably never have one of those awesome cajeta doughnuts again but I am happy that I got to try its goodness.

And even if the doughnuts turned out to be a fail (thankfully not for the most part save the spiced chocolate, because I would have been less than pleased that I trekked for nothing), Alex was at least smart enough to buy the ever so awesome shrimp po'boy at The Oyster Bar.

Hey, we were right there.  And why not?

It was damned good too.  That shrimp is amazing but the other bread we had in the past was better.  Still, yum.

Currently listening to: "Lynne - A Targeted Redhead" by Masazaku Sugimori, from the Ghost Trick Original Soundtrack.

Mini-Adventures in St. Marks

I still believe that Beetchie is the one who brings us disasters at St. Marks.

Wednesday night's adventures at St. Marks with Alex did not bring disaster, really, but it did bring one hell of an annoyance - an annoyance who was allergic to mushrooms.

Things were going fairly well - I bypassed a dumpling on a stick for 89 cents place that I want Beetchie and I try, the boaguette place were not serving shakes much to my dismay as I really want a damned Ovaltine Milk Shake (H1, please provide upon return, and thanks), and my shady (soon-to-be-revealed) buisness was taken care of.

With no H1, Beetchie can have peace of mind that no takoyaki was inhaled without her.

With no H1, H1 can have peace of mind that no Ippudo was slurped down without her.

With Alex in tow, we did however, end up at what's becoming a new St. Marks' go-to-spot: Boka.

Korean Fried Chicken - still good even at my 4th outing.  I need to try different chicken places though.

Dumplings.  Not pork, sadly but not bad ...for chicken.  Yummy, crispy skin.  I am recognizing a trend at this place!

Drinky-drinks: Sunrise in front, Angelixir in the back.

The Korean fried chicken is always just so crispy and their drinks are pretty decent.  Though Boka guys, where was our chicken bone bucket? Alex wanted to know why she had to put her bones on the plate all shameful like.  And then it happened...

This girl at the table next to us, at the start of meal, was a freakin' annoyance.  She was fake, and liked to talk too much to show her "superiority" to her meek friend.  It was a painful interaction I wished to not be a part of.  And then it got worse.

Said girl was allergic to mushrooms.  While I sympathize with her having just this weekend had an awful experience with Momma HOchie's own allergic reaction to an unknown entity, this girl's indignant, obnoxious and "me.  me.  me", whiny, belligerent and sense of entitlement attitude made for an even more awful experience.

She was right.  If she asked for no mushrooms, then mushrooms should never have been brought.  What she was wrong about was the non-stop bitching to her friend.  She said the same thing over, and over, and over again.  She was worried that she would have to go to the hospital and that her allergies would kick in after 30 minutes.  She then expected to not pay for her meal but had no problems taking some of it home.  Like I said, she was right to have concerns but it was the way she went about the whole thing that was ridiculous.

I was about to turn around to the staff to tell them that I didn't want to pay for my meal either because this bitch ruined my dinner experience.

After eating, Alex and I left in disgust but thankfully, there was the dessert truck to make things seem better.  That is, until I got there and had the following conversation:

Me: I want the bread pudding please.
Sweet Asian guy I love ( I remember him from last time!): Vanilla anglaise or bacon?
Me: Excuse me?
Sweet Asian guy I love: They're both very good, but the bacon is the one that won the Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
Me: ::thinking - I dislike Bobby Flay.  That is not a good selling point for me.  You just HAD to go there, right?::: Bacon makes everything taste better, so bacon, please.
Asian guy I used to love: Sure!

Luckily for them their desserts are pretty good but if I have to hear about Bobby Flay one.  more.  time...

I should have taken a better picture... meh.

Brioche donuts with nutella

Don't mind the pinchy claws, just the nutella.

chocolate bread pudding with bacon anglaise

  Momma HOchie liked the bacon but I surprisingly did not.  Bacon is still magical. 

Blue Skies and Red Apples

The sunny, warm weather mixed in with the frosty nights has been confusing for me.

I was all ready to pick apples last weekend, ready for mud, ready for a chill in the air, and ready for some Autumn leaves!

What we found instead was a closed off Orchard, blue skies, a dry ground and children running amuck.  It was still a fairly pleasant day though even without the apple cider donuts.

No dogs are allowed in the van.

Animals are not allowed in the Orchard, or in the Pumpkins.  Get out of the pumpkins, animals! Really, please do.

Possibly the scariest apples I have ever laid eyes on.

Think Death Note, not Twilight.  H1 insists.

Poor ded apples.

I am having a druid Smurf episode nightmare flashback.

Happy little flowers by a Happy little apple.

Does anybody see any Fall foliage? No? That's 'causei t's a myth!

No foliage, but there is a tractor!

The Pumpkins claim the orange leaves are to the right of me.

Clearly though, pumpkins are a tad special.  Orange pumpkins are not orange leaves.