Summer Fun in Midtown: Part I

That's the most blatant lie I have ever written.  There is nothing fun about Summer!

I suppose there are some fun things that happen during those evil months though, that make you 'happy' to be working in Manhattan.

For instance, for three days the dark corridor restaurants of Rockefeller Center hosted $10 and under tasting lunches on the Plaza.

The thought of being out there with tourists and suits was almost too much to bear but what's more important? My anger or my need for a burger?

From past entries in this madhouse of a blog, it should be perfectly clear who the winner is.

So on Wednesday, the 21st of July, off we went with Alex to discover what goodness awaited.

With no line at Brasserie Rhulman, I went ahead and got a Kobe burger with everything, plus a mint lemonade.

Hooray for eating mushrooms 

and kicking them down 

in the Summer and Fall months.
Notice the potato chips on the side, too.

Yes, everything included onions.  

I was not about to be brave.  I removed them.
And yes, Frass.  I ate my lettuce and tomato.  I did.

You cannot really tell the high quality 

of the meat from the picture but it's wagyu.  

It's good stuff.  Really good.  

And do you see the size of that patty? It's not right.

Tart.  Refreshing? Yeah.  But tart.

I did feel as though it could have used a bit more salt but as I said, the quality was amazing and oh, it also came with blue cheese which is one of my favs.  The best part about this meal was what came after.  We discovered that if I were to have this meal at the actual restaurant, it would have cost me $23.00.  This burger, minus the fries (but replaced by chips) cost $9.00.  Good food for cheap is always welcome.  Of course, free and good is even better but I am thankful for the little things.

Alex and H1 went off to get Bill's Burger.  This place is supposed to be the 'rival' to Shake Shack.  I tasted a fail.  Shake Shack still rules.

 Check out the smoke.  That's Bill's smoke.

And this is Bill's Burger.

Looks harmless.  Tastes salt-less.

That Thursday, you know we had to go back for $1.00 Ben & Jerry's scoops of ice-cream, right? Yeah.  $1.00 a scoop.  Hooyeah.

The Ben & Jerry's Story will be in a separate Part II edition Bloggie Post, but be warned...there are offending images like this one:

 Surrounded by Suits!!!!!!!!

Currently listening to: "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.  Damned hippies.

Abomination of Coconut Water

What is this?!

This bastardization of coconut water needs to end.

Everyone knows the only thing coconut water should be mixed with is scotch.

The Good Doctor

Hello,

Nerd here, pleading with all to watch the latest season of Doctor Who.

It was brilliant from start to end.

Maybe it's my love of not so cute Brits talking but no, that would be somewhat of a lie.

As far as shows go, this one was one of the best and I am giddy with excitement to have witnessed the greatness for myself.

At the very least, TD5, it's you, me and The Doctor when next you are at the HOchieS' household.

Love,

Or 2.

Hated On

I hate it when Amazon does a significant price drop of a complete blu ray series and game I want and I can't buy because I just today swore I wouldn't buy anything for two months.

Well hopefully they will still be on sale by the time my Drop Day comes around, so I can take pity on myself and buy it for cheap.  Or maybe BooHead will take pity on me?

Psst, Boo Head - now's your chance to get Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (books 1 through 6 - though I'll settle from 1 from you), Ouran High School Host Club for the Complete Blu Ray Series for $28 down from $70 or Little King's Story for $19.72 for your Boobey.

If you needed me to spot you some mons, BH (because I know where you get your money from!), I could do that.

...wait.

In other news, I need to add a bunch of things to keep an eye on and remember:

Deathspank on the PSN
Rock Band: Spoon, Them Crooked Vultures, Phoenix and Flight of the Conchords
Last Story for the Wii
Okamiden - ultra collector's edition for the DS.  That may never come Stateside and it just gives me another reason to hate on the Japanese for hating on me.

P.S. What should I get Boo Head for his Birthday? He's 3 and a has now, but soon he will be 4.  No, no DS for you, BH.

They Should Thank Us

Despite the scary bit of yellow leaves and the panic from last week's debacle involving taking care of the garden, I am pleased to show you the harvest the parents got upon return.

The Head Honcho of the HOchie Tomatoes

If not for H1 and myself, the tomatoes would be ded.  D-E-D! Ded! Yet, I heard nothing but ridicule when they got home...

They're ungrateful!

Oh, and wouldn't you know? It rained for at least 3 days when the parents got back.  But noooo, when H1 and I had to take care of the garden, it was over 100 degrees for 4 days and rained not a drop!

Do You Remember?

Do you remember when zoomers were round?

The Fourth of July

It was 14 days ago that H1 made a confession to me.  She is a fan of the 4th of July.  She likes that Americans really get into their Independence Day with the very many barbecues, hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, fireworks and a time for relaxing and catching up with friends and family.

This year, The HOchieS enjoyed some sparklers and 4th of July fun-time fireworks which I am late in sharing.

Sparklers remind me 

of the awesomeness of Divali.

Don't worry, the plant is okay.

I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday.  It's the last we'll have until Labour Day.  It's times like these I wish we were living the goo'd life like some Trinis.

Obsession(s) of the Week(s): 5/25/2010 - 6/29/2010

Super Mario Galaxy 2

There's a story about a girl who has low video game self-esteem. This girl does not call herself a gamer. While she has had more than 10 years worth of experience, she still lacks the confidence to call herself that. This girl had a video game folly. In 2007, she collected all 120 stars from SMG and called herself proud. It was a feat never before accomplished in a Mario game. 3 years later, she found out that SMG was considered "easy". And didn't she feel stupid. Not one to be knocked over, she bought SMG2 and is currently at her 103rd Star. It's been a tough journey through the beautiful and incredibly clever level designs with her best companion Luigi (and Mario to a lesser extent. She doesn't fancy him) with a booming orchestral soundtrack and a whole lot of wall jumps, long jumps and back flips.

Kingdom Hearts 358 1/2 Days

It's been a while since I've played a game in this series. By a while I mean not since the first one was released. I had to read up the story to fill in some gaps but I am still mostly confused. It's a complex story to be sure (Thanks Squeenix) but I'm enjoying this DS adventure. I think I like Roxas more than I recall of my like for Sora. Sora was a bit of an ass, really. I enjoy the level up, magic and weapon building schematic. It's like building a puzzle which is a game in of itself, frankly. The story's kinda cute but as per usual, I could do without anything Disney related. Nightmare Before Christmas is not Disney, damn it! Only in theory!

Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo Press Conference at E3 2010 was yesterday. I was giddy and reeling from excitement. That...doesn't usually happen to me but now I feel mighty sorry for myself looking at all things 3DS and the game list. Nintendo hates me but loves my money!

As If We Needed To Go...

Though, did they honestly think they could open up a Shake Shack in Midtown and not expect The HOchieS and Co. to turn up for lunch?

Finally, a Shake Shack that is near the job but near enough to be frequented often and thank goodness.

I really did not want to have to do a self-imposed ban had the latest Shack been close.

I've had a number of burgers in my life time and maybe not as many as I'd like to think but enough to know that unless burgers are home-made, I cannot get a great one from an establishment.

There are places I have yet to eat a burger from and will in the future, but I can say that Shake Shack lives up to the hype.

Even at my third outing, I still looked sadly at my empty wrapper when it was all done.  What makes a shack burger good? It's seasoned!

I'm not one for a burger tasting like beef.  It is something I have learned to be okay with but I am used to Momma Hochie seasoning her burgers and was spoiled for years.

Other than the burger, I went there for a reason.  The Jelly Donut Concrete called "Jelly's Last Donut".  It's wrong, oh so wrong what with the Donut Plant Jelly donut mixed into custard and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

It was far too sweet but you know? I kinda liked it at some parts - the parts that didn't have too much jelly involved.  I would never have it again (or crave it again), though.  I've been there, done that and I think my body will thank me for that.

This was not how I wanted my first Donut Plant donut to be but I will fix that at some point in the near future.  In fact, Beetchie and I are already planning an excursion for creme brulee donuts.

Having already talked about Shake Shack in the past, we know the food is good but what about the location? The space? The crowd?

I hate it.

Times Square, as Aims so rightly pointed out, has become Tourist Central.  I love my city.  I hate my city at Christmas and New Year's Time - it's usually bustling with so many people that it's hard to move, or breath without cursing.  It's definitely hard to be in any sort of giving, cheery spirit at Christmas while working in Midtown.

I know I have spoken about this before but why people feel the need to see a dead tree with lights on it at Roc. Centre is something The HOchieS will never understand.

Christmas time in Midtown usually means I am a scrooge.

Sadly, it may be that I have to be scroogey all year round now.  Tourists invade the city every day of the year.

Obviously they're not all bad but they are annoying with the need to take up the street and standing in the middle of a sideWALK.

Shake Shack Midtown suffers from being in the middle of it all - the Theatre District.

Shake Shack also has always suffered from Hipsters.  NYC is not only being plagued by tourists but it is now also being plagued by Hipsters.  It's damned awful.

At least at the Shake Shack at Madison Square Park, I could ignore people.  I did not have to look at Hipsters.  They were out preaching to each other about how sand under their sandals and in between their toes was the best thing since the sun shining on their milkshakes.  Hipsters are a lot like that - they don't know that the sand is nasty in NYC.

At the Madison Park location, I could get a table with my friends and not have to hear or look upon anyone else.

The Midtown Location? There's a lot of fighting for tables.  There's music blasting over head that while good music, it becomes bad music because Hipsters have decided to take it as their own.

Then there was the bathroom.  There are a lot of places at which the bathroom is for paying customers only.  There is nothing wrong with that but Shake Shack has managed to take it to a whole other level.

You need your receipt to use the bathroom because at the bottom of every receipt is a four digit code.  You need the code to enter electronically to open the door.  There's also some sort of method to getting out of the bathroom.

That's right, the bathroom is a vault and you can get trapped.

So the things to remember:

1. We need to go at 3 p.m. to avoid any major crowd because that place was rough all week since the opening with a wait from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

2. Until I can find a way to lessen the Hipster population, we may just have to keep scowling at stupids.

3. Use the bathroom before you go, or plan to use it after.  Pray you do not have to go while there but...! If all else fails, go across the street to use McD's.

Fancy Schmancy

Eating at Financier Patissiere was a pretty good experience, however, eating as a French person would is not.

That's just blind speak and should not be taken seriously.  I do not have an educated outlook on the subject having never been to France or knowing someone who could tell me otherwise.  One should also consider that the only part of my French classes in the early 90s that I remembered was that Jean Paul, Pierre and the girl (what was her name again, H1?) were always getting into trouble but in this order: They went on holiday, ate ice-cream and were always getting into trouble.

Oh, and it may have rained on them too.

Moving on, let me tell you all a bit about lunch at Financier.

It was expensive.  The portions were small.  But the food was delicious.

Alex had a potato salad which was okay.  It needed a bit of salt but otherwise, I think I may have actually liked it.

 potato salad

She and I both had the truffle oil, whatever and whatever (it's been a while since I ate it - June 17th to be exact, so I've forgotten what was in it and refuse to look it up!) quiche.  Although I may not at this moment remember what was in it, I can say that I remember everything about the taste.

 I could eat quiche right now!

It was a brilliant quiche and all quiches that I may have had in the past or had after that, have failed in comparison.

I must also say that the salad was even good.  What is the world coming to?

 Salad.  Hmm, definitely could 

have used more quiche and less salad.  Heh.

H1 had some sort of sandwich that involved beef and mushrooms.  Maybe some truffle oil again? It was also a brilliant sandwich.

Aims had a salad which said was quite good.  All I know is that I have a strange love of boiled eggs these days and Aims was willing to share some of hers with me.

Next we ate desert.  I had a flan filled with pears.  It was not the traditional creamy type of flan I am used to, but I still liked it.  I did not go crazy over it, though.

Alex had some sort of flourless chocolate cake which she said was okay.  Aims went with a raspberry tart which was yummy and H1 had macarons.

 Pistachio and banana macarons.

We have discovered that of the macarons Financier has to offer, thus far the pistachio is the best.  BH will agree as he enjoys him one of those too.  He is awfully high class sometimes.

 It's very good.  He wants one this coming Monday.

I think I would very much like to go back and eat more quiche or try one of their hot press sandwiches.

Edit: Alright fine. I looked it up.  The quiche was a mushroom, gruyere and white truffle oil quiche.  And now, I am hungry.

The Toe in the Street

Beetchie was unfortunate enough to be in the presence of another explosion.

This time, a horrible accident took place in Queens while she was on her way home from work.

The explosion which was caused when two men carrying a fire extinguisher dropped, resulted in the loss of a finger and a toe on two separate individuals from shrapnel that flew from the extinguisher.

Beetchie, being a good Samaritan, went looking for the missing toe and found it.  Sadly, a car soon ran over it before it could be saved (not that the cops at the scene seemed hurried to save the toe...).

I am thankful that she is okay but very sorry that those poor people had to go through such trauma.

While I did not wish to tell such a gruesome tale on Beetchie's behalf here, I did want to mention that it has finally been confirmed - all those misadventures that she and I seem to run into when we're out together was Beetchie's fault.

I was just the innocent bystander who got caught up in the midst of her crazy energy!

If anyone needs a Bush Bath, it's Beetchie.

Yep, it was all her fault...

Do you remember the Bees?

The Heap of Hate at St. Marks?

The Day Kenka Defeated Us?

The Entire Trip to Japan?!?!?!

Tea for Three

Perhaps I was too full having consumed a bagel with cream cheese and lox, but Tea for Three was not as enjoyable as previous times.

My scone did not taste as beautiful as I recall.  It was light and fluffly but I think it may have been a tad sweeter the last time I ate.  Also, I must remember that my clotted cream needs to sit for a bit if we go for when the Tea Room opens.

Still, going for tea at our local place is good times.  I love the place with its mismatched tea cups.  I think all the frenemies need to experience it at least once! X? I would like you to hush.

                              You cannot really tell but that dark bit on the right is raspberry jam. 
                                        I wonder if they make it themselves? It is amazing.

Clotted cream, yum.  Raspberry Jam, yum.  Five finger?

Assorted Tea Sandwiches! Their gerkins and date bread are the best.

BH's Tea Sandwiches.  Next time, we won't get ths for him. 

He hates peanut butter and jelly. 

We probably should have inquired as to what

the tea sandwiches for kids entailed.  They still tasted really good though.

A tea pot!

The tea pot is full of cranberry juice! Huh?

Serving birds in a tea pot

Acceptable.

Is it Wrong?

Is it wrong that I am backing the Netherlands in the World Cup Final?

I think I was so mad at that stupid Oracle Paul the Octopus for the Germany loss (Yes, the octopus is to blame!) that I've decided to back those ugly orange uniforms, even though Spain's uniform is much better.

Nuts!

Things did not turn out quite the way I planned but I still find myself not at Roc. Center this morning.  That was a good decision on my part.  An estimated 20,000 people are currently in the streets for Lady Gaga this morning and I have no idea how they're managing.  Midtown must be insane!

H1 and I do hope that that one dude with the sign, cut up shirt and awesomely large hair got in okay... yeesh.

Not to be Trusted

In late September 2006, Momma and Papa HOchie went to visit a recently born A'Face.

I was tasked to pick the rest of the cucumbers from Papa's garden, and to give water if necessary to the plethora of plants.

The garden bore many vegetables that year, and in the week's time I was left in charge, no one enjoyed the sweet harvest it produced.

It was a rainy month, I recall and with darkness approaching faster as the day ended, I picked not a damned thing after I got home on evenings from work.

Then too, there were the slugs.  If there is one thing to be said of me, it's that I made some slugs very, very happy.

Now, this was a story I meant to post almost four years ago but got lost in my backlog of things to do.

I am bringing it up now because the Parent HOchieS have once again gone off somewhere and left me in charge of their garden of tomatoes, beans, peppers and spinach.

The Four Year Massacre has returned.

Well, within a few hours of being in charge, I already managed to turn the once beautiful green Garden into something not so green.

Looking okay so far, yeah?

Yeah, normal.

A nice green tomato.  The abnormality of that is not on me!

But that yellow beneath might be all me.  Heh.

Yep, yep.  Definitely my doing.

Have some bokeh to be easier on the eyes.

Really, I watered and have been watering.  I may have watered them at 11 a.m on Saturday which may explain the horrible yellowness going on but shouldn't talking to them lovingly be enough along with the water?! Psh.

I kinda want to blame the nasty hot weather we have been having and my nemesis the Sun.

Heck, at least there are no slugs this time (so sorry I cannot locate those pictures at the moment).

Ah yes, one more thing.  Do you think I should pick those beans now?  Something in my memory of my bean picking days tells me I should...

Currently listening to: "Blue" by Yoko Kanno featuring Mai Yamane, from The Cowboy Bebop Blue Original Soundtrack.  You know what sucks? The ability this song has to make me cry even though it's been 1999 since this series aired.  At least I can take comfort knowing I traumatized B. too. =)  Just have to work on H1...

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

What? It's July already?

Good luck to everyone!