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.

The Game of Thrones Exhibition Thing They Dragged Me To For My Camera.

Say what you will about New York City - that people in Midtown are a rude bunch or that our pigeons are fat - but there's one thing that cannot be said and that's that NYC is dull.

Truly, on any given day you can be walking around and stumble upon a street fair as we did last year.  Or you could run into Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth (as our co-workers did) on a Thorsday, no less.

With some money, you can probably enjoy the city in a whole different way but since I don't really have too much of that to be flailing about, I partake in the good, wholesome less costly things.  The kind of things that are free and for me.

And by "free", I mean standing in line for 2 plus hours is a small price of admission to pay while you wait to get into Westeros.

Spell "Free": T-w-o H-o-u-r W-a-i-t

I'm not one to complain about a line really, especially when you have such fun friends to stand in line with (as I did with Alex, Active Goat and Ces).  It truly was fun but there's only so much fun you can have to distract you from the cold April afternoon as the hours wore on.

I think the cold that crept into our blood made us a little bit on edge because near the end of our 2 hour waiting expedition, I'm pretty sure everyone in my group was challenged to duels.  Maybe it was the atmosphere of what lay ahead at the GOT exhibition but Monokuro Boo piggy mittens and gloves came off and everyone got a slap to the face.

Side Note: Duel Tickets going on sale soon - Date to be Announced

When we finally got in doors, the theme music to Game of Thrones was blasting loud all over that dark exhibit room as people chattered happily away about anything and everything Stark, Lannister, Dire Wolves, and Tyrion bitch-slapping Joffrey.

There was much "oo'ing" and "aa'ing" going on for the various set pieces used in Seasons 1 and 2, and there were some new pieces on display too (or so the exhibition page said).

What's this? Toys? Ooooooo.

Aaaahhhhh

These were behind some glass unfortunately, because our feet sure were cold...and those things sure could have come in handy.

Beautiful fan art.

More things to warm the body.  Curse the security eyeballing us.

Won't keep us warm but sekshi? Yes.  Yes, it would.

You don't say...

So, I guess *SPOILER alert* for anyone who has not seen the show and wishes to.  There are things ahead that you may want to avert your eyes from coming up...

like say, maybe this lovely thing right here...

Or this precious beast.

This was one of the most interesting things in the exhibition.

I mean, really.  Fantastic, yeah?

Perhaps the best part of it all, was the fact that a replica of the Throne was there in all its glory.  Better yet, willing participants could sit on the Throne and have their picture taken.

Those were some fabulous pictures we took but how come everyone was smiling when they got on the Throne? Rule with an iron fist!

Seriously.  Iron.  Fist.

I just don't know what's wrong with fools.

We had a great time and even though I have not yet watched the series and/or read the books, I will still forgive them for dragging me with them for the sake of using me for my camera.  But joke's on them because I ended up getting shitty pictures.  Ha!

Currently: feeling really sleepy.

Kimbra and Her Magical Frock in Limbo

It's true.

Kimbra has more than half a song in spite of what many of you clowns may believe.

Not only does she have more than half a song (as featured on Goyte's one-"hit" wonder song that was all the rage this year), but her album is 50 times better than that of the aforementioned Goyte.

It's an album that's actually 50 times better than most but I'll leave the gushing for the end of year review.

Thus, even threatening me with housing her concert at Webster Hall could not deter me.  Webster Hall's not that awful and it certainly is no Terminal 5 which I would have more than likely passed up.

But with TD5, Active Goat T., Alex and H1 in tow, I'm incredibly happy that TD5 and I did not pass up the opportunity to see the fantastic Kimbra.

We began the evening at Kenkas (sorry B.!) and ate a bunch of our favourites but nothing spectacularly strange as with past ventures being that Beetchie was not with me.  I don't think that gives me an excuse for going there without her and I won't tell her that the food was really good that night.

Especially our awesome fries which is fast becoming the only place to eat fries.

After a satisfying meal (and some trauma to the Active Goat's fragile, young mind of the aesthetics on display at Kenkas), we traipsed on over to Webster Hall for the best $20 concert I've ever attended.  In fact, I knew the evening could be nothing but awesome considering that's the cheapest I've ever paid for a concert.

That alone is amazing in itself.

Ushered upstairs, we were met with the sounds of opener The Step Kids.

We've seen some pretty horrendous openers in our time but The Step Kids should not be lumped with the lowest of the low.  They were more middle ground, I suppose.  Musically, they sounded pretty good but they were a bit too much funk and too much on a 70's vibe for my taste.  I mean, what business did these white boys from Connecticut have being so psychedelic, funk?!  It was funny save the forced falsetto of one of the vocalists ever so often.  That was done too much and everything just sort of blended into one song.

They did have an awesome little stage show though with the lights... 

...which you cannot really tell from this picture.  You can be assured that it was cool though.

After exiting stage right, and then brushing past us in the crowd (yeah, the drummer with some girl squeezed his way past us after their set was over), we had a little bit of wait while Kimbra's roadies set up her stage.  It was the point when her second microphone stand was set up complete with her boo boo tambourine that TD5, H1 and I lost it.

Some smoke machines later, a dimming of the lights and the extended opener version of "Limbo" playing over the loud speakers that things got under way.

It was quite the thrilling little builder of anticipation...I know I was excited as it's one of my favourite tracks.

There were lots of purple lights and soon, Kimbra came dancing out and straight into "Limbo", and she was dressed in an outfit that many considered doing for Halloween.  I loved its weirdness and the blast of multiple colours that Kimbra came dolled up in.  Soon, H1 dubbed the giant purple thing draped over her shoulders as "The Magical Frock" and so it shall be remembered from this day forward.

Our time spent with Kimbra felt incredibly short even though she played just about every song from her album but I guess time flies when you're having fun, which is exactly what we did.  We danced, yelled, screamed, cheered and marveled at Kimbra's genuinely excited demeanour.  The girl was so happy, it was too cute for words.

Scary at times, too.

 To recap as we always do, here are the highlights and lowlamps -

The Lowlamps

1.  I was expecting hipsters.  Hipsters are lowlamps for sure but what I was not expecting was probably one of the rudest crowd I have ever encountered.  I don't know what the fans could be categorized as but they were not hipsters.  Hipsters, at the very least, are polite and tend to stand around not doing much.  The jerks at this concert were pushing their way to the front, cutting off a lot of us and standing way too close to us and others in an attempt to get up to the front.  These people exist at all concerts but it was particular horrendous this night.

2.  The Great Herding of Webster Hall.  Marketing or herding, it was awful.  After Kimbra was done, there was a herding situation of epic proportions that had us going down flights of stairs and into a section for "more live music", the bar area (in which we almost lost TD5 because he was very tempted to sit down and have one) and an eventual street escape.  It was ingenious and pure evil at the same time.

The Highlights

1.  Our girl, Kimbra! Her vocal range is nothing short of spectacular.  She sounded great live and even better than on disc (if even possible!) changing up songs just enough to be interesting and not jarring.  Her personality on stage was playful, joyous and again, she was just so darn cute.  I think it's safe to say that TD5, H1 and I can highly recommend seeing her live if anyone is afforded the opportunity.  I really do hope this girl is going to get a lot more exposure than she is being given.

2.  Webster Hall's Sound System.  Everything sounded so incredibly awesome which H1 rightly pointed out at some point during the evening.  It was clear, and fantabulous.

3.  Two Microphones? Kimbra's vocal prowess is so intense that the girl needs two microphones to sing with.  Two.  At the same time.  It's a spectacle.  I say vocal prowess, while others might say she's a wide-mouthed frog.  Same difference?

4.  That outfit.  The purple Magical Frock that completed the outfit was just dynamite.  It wouldn't be a Kimbra concert without some weirdness/artistic madness and insane hand gestures on her part.  At one point the Magical Frock got away from her shoulders which she mentioned too as "having never happened to her before...must be New York". 

1. 5.   "Settle Down".  Apparently, we weren't playing along.  By "we" I meant the fools in the crowd.  We were supposed to be singing along and we didn't (TD5, H1 and I did) but no.  Anyway, she restarted it and the entire performance was the best.
   
   
   The Kimbra at Webster Hall on October 19, 2012 Set List:
   
   
   1.  Limbo
   2.  Posse
   3.  Good Intent
   4.  Plain Gold Ring
   5.  Two Way Street
   6.  Marigold
   7.  Old Flame
   8.  Warrior
   9.  Something in the Way You Are
   10. Settle Down
   11. Cameo Lover
   12. Come Into My Head
   
   
   Encore:
   
   
   13. Withdraw
   14. Call Me
   As you can see from the set list, I got the better song.  Or rather, we had never heard that song before but it was quite the danceable fun song that I cannot wait to get on a follow up cd or something.   I managed to get the better song over H1's.  Heh.  I think I got choked for that at some point.
   
   In closing, (I don't know why my blog post just got messed up - unrelated but I cannot seem to fix it) it was a great night with lots of fun with friends and to Kimbra: Our hearts are already open.
   
   

   

Happy Birthday!

Dear Alex,

Happy Birthday, Friend!

May you never be drunk and disorderly on the phone with me again...even if it is on your birthday.  That was a rather interesting experience for me and one that H1 cleverly avoided...

Lots of love,

Us Two.

One Week, Two Chinatowns - Part II

Had the N train not decided to run like rubbish on Friday morning, the trip to Brooklyn would have not taken the extra half an hour longer than it did.

The extra half an hour really cut into our dim sum eating time! But, now we know it can easily be done and East Harbor Seafood Palace is within reach for future jaunts without having to drive to Brooklyn in a mini-van with which to both embarrass and kidnap Beetchie.

The entire day was hit with snafu after snafu.  Beetchie unfortunately got food poisoning, and could not partake in the dim sum feast.  We almost did not see her, actually.  We also forgot that Alex was not eating meat on Fridays during lent, and all the pork I ordered did not go to waste, but there could have been more and/or different types of pork on the table.

Also, being super late led us to not having the luxury to relax, take pictures at leisure or do any such thing.  It turned out to be a really long day.

Spare rib tips were excellent here.

An Intermission

Taking a pause from MC Week to wish Alex a Happy Birthday!

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.

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. 

Happy Birthday!

Birthday wishes go out to Alex today!

Sorry we kinda forgot what day today was.  Heh.

Funny Yet Sad

Thursday was a good day - The HOchieS received presento-pyos from Bughie J.  Yummy Christmas breads and brownie greatness that I have not eaten in probably 2 years or so.  Someone's securing their place off the Grievance List, I see.  Heh.

Beetchie came to visit and we gave her her pyos (she's rockin' her special shirt)!

Then there was the debacle called Alex and Clownie.

This being the last bar night of 2009, we decided to have drinks together and wings on our own.  We now know that we do not have an oven at the work place but a warming tray that goes up to 180 degrees but that doesn't help us get crispy wings, now does it?!

With a bottle of champagne, microwaved wings and great company - we talked life and laughed lots.  It was a fun while with some of my favourite peoples but as we sat there around the table at the canteen, I could not help but hope our good times will last throughout next year and for many years to come.

Memorable Quotes of the Evening:

Beetchie: All the gifts were thoughtful, but this one is the most!

Happy 4th of July

We had a fun day with friends coming over to eat Momma HO's jerked chicken, jerked pork, saffron rice, melongene casserole and bbq chicken. Thanks to Alex's Mom for the black rice (with lots of bacon for me...mmmm).

There are no pictures of the greatness as Frass pointed out because you know we enjoy nothing more than torturing MC but unfortunately, we were too starvin' marvin' to take the camera for pics. I'm regretting it now but I can at least post pictures of the chocolate sheet cake that H1 and I baked again. These are ones of that first time but never posted:





Memorable Conversations of the Day:

H1: Frass, you want some raspberry smirnoff?
Frass: Yeah, but I hope it doesn't taste like ketrax.
Or 2 & H1: What's ketrax?
Frass: Worm medication. Allyuh never had to take that as chirren?
::crickets::
Or 2 & H1: Um, No.
Frass: Oh yeah? My sister and I were always on that.

Or 2: Just so you know, I like your daughter's watermelon pants.
Alex: Oh yeah? I was wondering if it was too stereotypical. I asked my sister...You think I should put her in this? You know, watermelons and black people?
Or 2: ::chuckle:: Don't worry, I think it's cool. Oh you know, we had watermelon in the fridge...
Alex: Why you gotta be all racial?!

Currently listening to: "Thank You Very Much" by Kaiser Chiefs

Shaking Our Way Down to the Shake Shack

It's been quite the while since the HOchieS have wanted to try the burgers at the Shake Shack located at Madison Square Park down on 23rd St.



Of course, we for some strange reason that involved us being "mizzled" believed the Shake Shack to be near Bryant Park.

Indeed, we're not sure why we thought that either...

Well anyway, thanks to H1's 2009 Plan of a Once a Month (Or Maybe x 2) Foodie Adventure (because honestly, we always say we're going to do stuff but then we don't and this city's too great to ignore), we're knocking things off our list and despite conflicting reviews, I found my burger at the Shake Shack to be pretty damned good.



Maybe!

Just maybe!

I forgave it for not having bacon.

Though, as we all know, bacon makes everything taste better...

So maybe not.

I had to have the double because with a burger lacking bacon, I had to become the piggyh in that equation to complete the meal:





(No H1, I'm NOT always a Piggyh!)

But you know, a double Shack Burger without bacon is just not enough and that's why a Shack Attack Shake made from chocolate custard and all manners of chocolately bullshart complete with chocolate bits is in order.



I maintain that I am no pi::oink::gghy!

Those Who Went Adventuring with the HOchieS:

Aims, Alex, and Frass. Oh, Frass...it was good to see you because sometimes I miss you. Sometimes. Don't forget to come up on Saturday for some Jerk Pork!

Memorable Conversation of Wednesday:

Text from Or 2 to Beetchie: Don't Hate me. I have a confession to make.

Text from Beetchie to Or 2: Whu't...

Call to Beetchie from Or 2: Well, you see...H1 made these plans that I was unaware of really and apparently she and I are going to Shake Shack on Thursday...

Return response from Beetchie to Or 2: Oh, whatevs. I'm in the line at Shake Shack right now. Ahahahahahaha.

Or 2: You Ass!!!!! Did you even THINK of me when you were doing this?!

Beetchie: Yeah, you were in the back of my mind but then I remembered that you documented photos of tape on my back.

Or 2 to H1: I'm going to wish her a tiny 'choke' on her shake shack burger but not until I have consumed my own.

We all know how Karma's a bitch.

Memorable Photos of Thursday:

Rain threatened our plans again but in that period of stoppage, Frass bought us the following to clean up the chairs -



And so Alex did.