Adventures of Last Week: Downtown Wednesday

This may be the last foodie adventure we have for a while because we have been going nuts as of late.

I'm sure Beetchie will thank us for not posting any more pictures for a good month or so.  That's how long we're giving ourselves for this self-imposed 'ban'.

Momma HOchie promised Frass an Easter black cake.  Why she would do such a thing is beyond me, and even more perplexing to MC, X, Beetchie and TD5.

She informs me it's due to the fact that Frass brings alcohol when he comes around (even though he hardly comes around).

In other words, I hope you lot are paying attention because apparently that is all it takes to get to Momma Ho's heart.

With a promised cake to deliver and a blog prize to give, we decided to meet with Frass for some good times downtown.

Adventures of Last Week: Midtown Tuesday

If Cafe Zaiya were not so far out from the job, I could see that place being frequented by The HOchieS more often that we should.

I guess that makes it a good thing it's not that close by after all.

Their soft serve Green Tea ice-cream is the best I've had since Kyoto, and their onigiri are pretty decent.

Last Tuesday, H1 and I decided to make a jaunt to see if we could muster up some dinner.

The problem with Cafe Zaiya being so distant from us is that they move products quickly.  Therefore, the lunch time crowd is privy to all the good stuff, and we...well.  We get whatever's left over if we happen upon there in the evening.

You can still get hot food which we have yet to try (Ah, Japanese curry...my downward spiral obsession), as well as pre-packaged 'hot' food.

Observations, Revelations and a Thank You

Observation (revisited):

How many years has it been since Apple first released the iPod?
 
Yesterday on the train, someone sitting two seats in front of me was blasting her Susan Boyle for me to hear.

I've been saying this for years but will say it again: Are people STILL killing their ears with those crappy ear buds Apple insist on packaging with their products?

It's not that woman's fault she's blasting way high.  Thanks to inferior sound quality, she needs to crank up the volume to hear anything!

Poor, poor people.

Oh and Apple? Thanks for ruining my daily experience by having to hear other people's music libraries.

Revelation I (revisited):

Yesterday, Beetchie was told that she has lots of patience.

I'm told that constantly by H1.

The reason I have determined, is our playing video games.

H1 is always amazed (and slightly disgusted) that I can try to 'win' something over and over again, no matter how many times I may need to restart.

But I ask of thee, who does not want to be ultimately rewarded for hours of hard work?

99 Tonberries - Beetchie and I are looking at you.

A thank you is in order: to video games, for giving us the super power of Patience.

Revelation II:

As much as I want to dislike Josh Homme, I cannot tell a lie.

The Them Crooked Vultures album is sounding pretty good so far.

I was trying to boycott that damned album because I am currently an angry elf at that man but Amazon allowed me to buy for $2.99.

I still don't like him for his bastardization of Arctic Monkeys and that is something I will never forgive him for.

But I cannot deny that the last QoTSA album Era Vulgaris, and now this Them Crooked Vultures album are both very good.  ::sigh:: 

Maybe...I can thank Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones for Them Crooked Vultures? And ignore Hommes' vocals?

Ugh! It's not working!

A Proper Thank You:

Yesterday, Alex said she had something for me.  Turns out she had a drawer full of goodies! Free cds! Wooooo!

I went wild and claimed some pretty good stuff including The Best of Sinatra, Blondie and some Miles Davis among others.

It was pretty damned cool that I got about 12 cds and now I will promptly take back the thank you and replace it with a "thank you".

Thanks for giving me more work, as if I needed more work.

I'm still trying to clean up my music folders here and now you've given me more to add!

Eck.

Currently listening to: "Bandoliers" by Them Crooked Vultures.  ...damn that Josh Homme.

Obsession(s) of the Week: 2/22/2010 - 3/26/2010

Okami 

 

Always two to five years later than most people, I am only now playing Okami. I am wondering if I should have gotten it for the PS2 vs. the Wii port. The Wii controls drive me nuts a bit but on the game: it is definitely deserving of all the praise it got (ahaha, praise...signs I've been playing it too much). The art and accompanying soundtrack are beautiful, the LofZ influence is strong but does not take away from a unique adventure that Okami musters up. Battling the big bad midway through the game did throw me for a loop but no matter, it only makes it that more sweet when you realise you're far from finished and your epic journey will continue.

Persona (PSP)

The music may be driving me nuts for the most part due to the repetitiveness. The controls might be frustrating with my constant banging into walls. But this the first in the series, makes you realise what potential it had leading to the greatness of the other installments. I do really enjoy negotiating with the demons. The dialouge's funny but character designs are not pleasant on the eye. No matter, I only just started and will continue because I'm waiting for something nasty to attack me and to see where the story leads. It's engaging thus far and will happily play to see how this progresses. 

Saturday Morning Shenanigans

The details of the Shenanigans last Saturday Morning have already been discussed on BooHead Hi Jinks. 

What we have not discussed is H1's missed calling.

H1 believes she could have specialized in the making of miniature food.

 Hm?

 For my fruit salad?

A strawberry!

Well done, H1.

Memorable Conversation of the Day:

H1: I missed my opportunity.  I like to make small food.
Or 2: Yeah.  I like to buy small food.
::a momentary pause::
BH: I like to cook small food.
H1: Hahaha.  Yeah, and Luuuuiiiissss would eat the small food!

Taking it Personal

Remember a few months ago, I created a Square Enix Avatar?

Did you click? Do you remember little Zarnyx the Squeenix Avatar: Avenger of Nothing with Trusty Purple Sword and Red Demon Eyes?

No?

Already turned off from reading if you are not Beetchie and Bughie J.?

That's rather rude of you.

Let me just dust that dirt of my shoulder and continue with my upcoming tirade.

Bwahaha.

The house is smug free, as the smug was promptly taken back to the store today for its suckage.

Bunji: No Love for a Shishtah

Can you believe that Bunji brought smug into my house?!

Yes, there's an iPad downstairs.

He bought it for Momma HOchie.

No, I'm not jealous.

Yes, I am revolted.

And yes, now I can only think of Plants Vs. Zombies and when I will be playing it.

But in my defense, yes...

I am always thinking of Zombie Scenarios and the Impending Zombie Apocalypse, and ways in which best to defend myself and H1 from certain Doom.

CLee?

Don't feel so smug.

I can easily get my Zombies fix for my PC, too.

From Saturday to Friday: Too Much Adventuring! Part III: Oysters and Ice-Cream

My streak of aptly naming my blog posts in this series by using two words beginning with the same letter is over.

Friday met The HOchieS & Alex with a plan.

We took nearly one week and one half to sort out the execution of the excursion, and ultimately decided that we would hit up the Oyster Bar at GCS at 2:30 p.m.

How I managed to not eat my hand by the time it was time for 'lunch' is beyond me.

Suddenly I recall feeling ill for a better part of the evening before and most of that day, forcing me to not want food.  Let me not also forget there may have been some dipsy doodles for lunch.  (Okay.  It's good to know I can account for my hand being here still.)

A walk to GCS' 42nd and Vanderbilt is no real easy task.  Sure it's easy when you don't have to go back to work, or rush to catch a train but there's also a secret entrance.

From Saturday to Friday: Too Much Adventuring! Part II: MoMa and Menchanko

Truth be told, I was the only one who got to see the Tim Burton Exhibit on the Saturday.  Boo-Head did not want to go in and really it was just too crowded to be enjoyed.

This time, H1's brain spurted out: Let's go to the MoMa on Thursday and then to Pommes Frites with Frass!

Her mouth was quick to follow.

My ears were within reach of brilliance and jumped all over her plan.

Plans changed somewhat as sadly, Frass could no longer meet us for our adventure.

We ended up going to the MoMa, and try as I might I could still not get a good picture of the entrance to the exhibit.

Then we ran through the new Picasso Exhibit, after which we decided to do dinner.

We opted instead to visit Menchanko-Tei on 55th.

We then decided it would be in our best interest to taunt Beetchie with photos of takoyaki and various other eats.

Really, I will say that H1 decided to do that.

She's a bit evil, that one.

I'm the evil one who will re-post the pictures here so that Beetchie may see them again.

From Saturday to Friday: Too Much Adventuring! Part I: Carts and Carousels

Last Saturday, I cornered myself by a good idea.

My brain spurted out: Let's go to dim sum and then to the MoMa!

My mouth was quick to follow.

H1's ears were within reach of brilliance and jumped all over my plan.

That was on the Tuesday of last week.

By the time Saturday came around, my will to move which always leaves me by Friday night was still in full effect come the next morning.

Unfortunately, H1's will to move and desire to eat dim sum was not.

So off to dim sum The HOchieS went.

"One Ha' Penny, Two Ha' Penny"

Hot Cross Buns

The days of Momma HOchie's waking at 4 a.m. on Good Friday to bake us up a fresh batch of hot cross buns were over even before we became recovering Catholics.  Rightly so, I may add.  That woman slaved enough for us when we were kids, and still does daily.

Tonight (Thursday night), she surprised me.

Even before I got into the house, I could smell something wonderful.  

I was greeted by those beauties and even though it's Holy Thursday today, it does not matter.

What matters is that Momma HO is funny and the best...even if I did have to hear her hateful, taunting rendition of "Hot Cross Buns" before work and periodically throughout the day.

I should have known she was up to something but I really did not expect all this.

"They're heavy," she says but I think they're just heavy on love.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Hare, Hare, Hare.

This is not an April's Fool's joke: we still want a great month! Good luck everyone.

Looking for a Name

A few weeks ago, The HOchieS took a poll to determine if the blog was racist.

I think we can all agree that it certainly appeared that way.

Then we took another poll to determine if the blog was amending its racist ways.

The results were somewhat mixed but I think we then determined the blog is quite the funny entity.  Scary...but funny.

In addition to the reasons above, there was a hidden agenda to all this business of the poll.

Our poll of 'word verification' entries was not just to confirm our suspicions about the motives of the Blog Entity (Yeah, the Blog gets its own identity now), but to come up with a nickname for X's baby on the way.

That just came out of nowhere, right?

X, allow this to serve as an explanation:

You brought this on yourself.

You refused our loving name of "Channa", so we felt the need to take matters into our own hands.

Here are the word verification entries you lot have given us:

From Beetchie: Wautkagn, Enchoote, Hoon, Relodo

From H1: Platho, Yedical, Moodou, Inalik, Flogglu

From Or2: Anick
From Frass: Dinglods

From X: Froppes, Tuncein, Bewooni, Patili, Amenifu

From Bughie J.: Welise, Reake, Miedsmst, Taterea, Ourmler

From MC: Supboo, Slisetese

Upon careful consideration which involved H1 choosing one of her liking, we went with...

::Drumroll::

Moodou.

This will be the nickname for the baby Formerly Known As Channa.

By the way, since we are in the buisness of choosing names for X's Moodou, now will be a good time to let you know that Beetchie has a suggestion for a real "M" centric name should you and MK still be looking for one.

Matisyahu.

Thanks for unwittingly participating all.

Luz,

The HOchieS.

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.

The Cockroach

Some four to five years ago, I became a victim of an Office Prank.

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished and I happened to be sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time when events unfolded (read: I was assigned to a desk so really had no choice in where I could be at the time).

The prank was not played on me but I became that victim who was falsely accused of orchestrating the dirty deed.

What a dirty deed it was: someone got wind that one of the attorney's (we'll call him 'Mg') was deathly afraid of cockroaches.  The next morning, lo and behold, a cockroach had mysteriously appeared on said attorney's chair.  It was almost as if he had crawled there to die...with a napkin in tow as his final resting place.

Right.

Being not particularly fearful of insects, alive or ded, I went into the attorney's office to remove the foul beast and trash it accordingly having tired of the screaming and antics.

The identity of The Mastermind to the Nefarious Cockroach Plot was never revealed but it was easiest at the time to scapegoat the one who so casually went in there and handled the roach with ease.

For the past four to five years, once in a while I will be 'reminded'/accused of setting up the trap and subsequently asked if I planned to place future roaches at various locations throughout the office.

I must note that there was one attorney in particular that swore that I did it.  I was convinced he was the culprit, so we have been tossing accusations back and forth.  Let us call him, 'Err'.

With Mg's final day with the firm on Friday, it was time to cook up a scheme.

As H1 said, "Let us say to Mg: You can finally say I really did give you a cockroach."

A farewell party with cupcakes, champagne and a toast to the memories was held on Wednesday afternoon.  H1 and I made sure we were in attendance but left the party early.

The mission was to deliver a cockroach of epic proportions, made from cardboard and a creative use of Google images to Mg's chair as a going away present.

H1 and I were rather proud of our project and I believe it was well-received upon discovery by Mg.  He found it amusing and laughed lots.

The best part of the whole situation though? We signed it, "We will miss you, even the cockroaches. - Err".

Supposedly, Spring is Here

You sure could not tell if you were traipsing about today in NYC. 

I think the chill in my bone is still lingering.

That said, we say "Toodle Pip!" to Winter as it is 'officially' over.

Thanks for the 2 snow days we had, Winter and the somewhat warm days.  Though, when the days were cold, they were almost brutal.

"Toodle Pip" giant Snowman and "Toodle Pip" oddly coloured snow flakes.  We will see you again in about 9 months or so but for now, "Helloooooo" Spring!

The squirrels have already started bounding around the neighbourhood.  I watched them digging up the soil near the happy little crocuses that have already made an appearance through the dirt.

The leaves will come soon with the rain and the sun.  The lone red berry will have berry brethren and flowers for company too.  Fairly soon there will be a burst of green admist the blue sky.

More Midtown

There's only so much of Midtown to capture in our 12 minute walk but we're hoping to expand our expeditions this warm weather season.

For now, here's a little of our photo tour from two weeks ago.

The Super Hero ( or was it Super Villain?) Food Adventure in Midtown

You park your Frites n' Meat truck on 52nd and NOT expect The HOchieS & Co. to show up? (psst, H1...see how I did a shout out to you? '& co.'?)

We weren't the only ones flocking to this Hamburger Truck's debut in midtown a couple of weeks ago.

The journey with & Co i.e. Alex, was rather pleasant.

We walked.

We got a strange blonde cretin in our glamour shot.

We walked the walked in style.

We made it a point to point out our asses and laughed while doing it.

At the end of said journey was a bright yellow truck with a cow with a cape on it.  A Super Hero cow? Never heard of you, Cow! But if you claim your beef is super, then count me in.

The Colourful Characters of Midtown

The warm weather has been making a comeback here in glorious NYC (save the rainy days we had this week) and with it, the colourful characters of Midtown.

Take this soul for instance.

He set up his pinwheels in one of the flower stands outside of our building, all-decked out in a reflective safety coat, short-short neon shorts, a man purse and a ring of flowers around his head.

Then, he started to strut!

 Loved him.

I curse that my camera could not take a better picture before building security went outside to shoo him away, but I will strive to find him again one day for he was fabulous.

I'm not sure the building security guard found him very fabulous when the spitting upon began.

You just should not mess with someone trying to bring sunshine and Spring into your life.  I know better than to mess with H1 when she wears her Yellow Canary shirt and tries to force sunshine on me.

You may get spit upon.  That is the risk you will taking.

Go ahead and speak ill to the sun.  You may find yourself getting burned.

A Food Adventure at Home

At some point a week ago, H1 discovered a simple recipe for pizza dough.

Not only was the recipe simple but also quite the tasty thing.

With pizza dough readily available, the possibilities of ingredients are endless!!!

ENDLESS, I tell you!

Um, we went with bacon.

 Pacman?

Hey, bacon makes everything taste better.

I'd go so far as to say, they make your pictures look better too.

Oh yeah.

Okay, so H1 did put some caramelized onions and sweet peppers on her side.  Crazy, right?

 H1's side.  Not as cool!

I do have to say, however, that while I enjoyed the crust and our at home pizza, a part of me longs for the good old days.

The good old days in Trinidad when you made a ghetto pizza sandwich.

There's nothing like some white bread, ketchup, New Zealand cheddar and vienna sausages.

Huh, suddenly I cannot wait for the weekend to come around so I can revisit my childhood.

Currently listening to: "Philistine" by Nobuhiko Sagara featuring Nadia Gifford, from No More Heroes 2.  When is this blasted soundtrack coming out?! I have no right liking this song as much as I do...curse it's catchy tune!

Still Working

I'm still working on organizing the music files.  It's a lot of slow-going work sorting through over 100 gbs of the stuff.

I have to say though, searching for composers to some of Bughie J.'s and my treasured VG soundtracks is proving to be quite the interesting jaunt.

Today I stumbled upon a little who's who complete with pictures of many of the composers we have been listening to since 1997, and a little piece of me died.

Sometimes you just don't want to know what they look like.

But Yasunori Mitsuda? Bughie J. had it right when he said that that man's a heart-breaker.  Not only is he gOO'd-lOO'king but will break your heart with his sorrowful pieces.

Curse that man and his "People Seized with Life"!

Yes.

I am a video game and video game music nerd.

And I am only slightly ashamed.

Happy Birthday x 2

Happy Birthday Beetchie and CLee!

Good luck with all you do today and have a great one!

I'm late for work and therefore cannot provide backstabbing amusement here other than to wish you a good one.  There's no time to think!