Vogue Knitting Live

On Saturday, January 19, I went to my first yarn and knitting expo.  Yes, that's right, I'm officially one of those people.  You know those people?  Those people who carry their knitting everywhere they go - subways, classrooms, bus stops, movie theaters.  Someone a lot like Corie, one of my student workers.  She's the little crafter in my crew; her hands are always going at something. But if being like Corie is like being one of those people, then I'm okay with it because she's pretty much one of the coolest people I know.  But I digress...

We went to the Vogue Knitting Live Expo at the Marriot Marquis in Time's Square.  There were two floors of what every happy hooker could ever dream about - yarn, glorious yarn!  Yarn of every color and worst and length and type and... and... and it was amazing!!!  The unfortunate thing about all of this amazing glorious yarn, was the prices.  This is not your Red Heart discount yarn from Michael's.  This is home spun yarn from Swiss Alpacas sheered on a full moon and spun by blind nuns during a winter solstice.  This was some good sh*&!  Corie and I quickly realized that we were not these people... we are, as Corie put so eloquently, the white trash of knitters and crocheters.

Crocheted food - such a cute idea for toys.

With our yarn buying dreams squashed, we managed to pick up the pieces of our crafting lives and still enjoy ourselves.  They had cool demonstrations of this crazy new knitting and crotcheting with needles and hooks bigger than my arm. It reminded me of something that you would find in a children's museum or play house, but it was legit!  People were actually making afghans with these huge tools.  I decided that next year I would invest and learn how to do it, because I was pretty obsessed with it by the end of the day.

There was a cute little fashion show... some of the pieces were terrifying, but overall, they had some cute stuff.  Although the knitted pantaloons are still giving me nightmares.  They had book signings, people making yarn, and loads of classes.  They had little beginners areas where people would teach you how to knit, crotchet, and all sorts of cool crafting techniques.  We really enjoyed just walking around drooling over everything.  However we didn't leave empty handed, Corie bought the most gorgeous purple chunky sparkly yarn (from Lion Brand, where we could afford to shop... and will continue to) and I got a custom cross stitch iPhone case that will be the shiz when I sit down to do it.

To console our dashed yarn dreams, we headed across the street to get some Junior's Cheesecake.  Corie's cherry cheesecake and my carrot cake cheesecake did just the trick, we were satisfied with dreaming big and using cheap yarn.

Los Perros Locos!

Yay!!  Los Perros Locos finally opened!!!  I've been walking past this place for weeks now and drooling with anticipation.  A Colombian Hot Dog place three blocks from me??  Does it get any better??  What is a Colombian Hot Dog you ask??  That's an excellent question and you're about to find out!

The decor is fun and festive and it's set up like an indoor hot dog stand, on the "streets" of Colombia, which is cute.  The staff was friendly and helpful.  They were also knowledgeable about the menu and that was a good thing considering all the interesting concoctions on there.  The service was really... really slow, but it was their first day and we might have been their first customers, so I'll forgive them that today.  I mean, they didn't even have change yet.

The hot dogs were awesome though!  The prices weren't too bad, about $6 - 7 for a specialty dog and they are large and filling.  The dogs themselves are juicy and flavorful and they toast the buns, which I really appreciate.   We ordered the...

Pablo Escabar - hot dog with pineapple salsa, apple chipotle slaw, potato chips, Kewpie mayo, and perico (yeah, I don't know what that is either).  This dog was hands down my favorite.  The sweetness of the salsa, cool of the slaw, crunch of the chips and salty of the dog were excellent!  I do which the slaw had a bit more chipotle kick to it though, it was definitely tame.

Chimi-Churi-Chori - grilled chorizo dog with grilled provoleta, chimichurri sauce,  aioli, and crushed potato chips.  The grilled chorizo was really wonderful and had well balanced flavors.  The rest was just okay.  It wasn't really spicy, as I had been told, and it was missing something... like that pineapple salsa.  The provoleta didn't add anything the dog at all, but the chimichurri was very good.

Spicy Spicy Mango Perros - hot dog with spicy mango mojo, melted mozzarella, and spicy Doritos. This was awesome.  Sweet, spicy, a little Doritos cheesy... it was a great combination.  My friend, Alice, who I was with, kept talking about it with her mouth full, so you know it had to be good.

Mazzzzzorca - which they claim is "the best grilled Mexican corn you have ever had."  Um... yeah, not so much.  I would disagree whole heatedly.  First of all, it wasn't grilled.  It was boiled, soggy... and over cooked.  I would even go out on a limb and say this was either frozen corn reheated or corn made the night before; it definitely wasn't fresh.  The spices didn't stand out to me either.  It was very underwhelming and way over priced at $4.  I'll be heading to Cafe Habana for my Mexican Corn... those Cubans know how to do Mexican Corn right!

Overall, I will definitely be back, as I'd like to try some of the other fun hot dogs on their menu - like the El Perro Perdido - hot dog in a deep dried french toast bun, strawberry ancho jam, smoked ham and melted swiss!  I'm sure they'll have worked out all the little kinks by the time I return.  This place will be great for late night munchies!!

Breakfast at Berkli Parc: The Day We Became Famous

I had promised my staff member, Nicole (no relation), that we would have a breakfast date this week.  She was positive that I was purposefully planning to do fun things with other staff members while she was busy.  I explained to her that this was because I secretly hate her, but she wasn't buying that.  So during our Friday morning meeting, we braved the bone chilling cold and ran over to Berkli Parc to grab some breakfast.

When we walked in, there were two women having a conversation/interview - love advice of some sort - and being filmed.  At first we were quiet and hesitant, waiting for them to politely ask us to leave or at least to be quiet.  Since neither of those things happened within the first 20 seconds that we were there, we went on with our loud and ridiculous conversation.

Their menu was intriguing!  They had all sorts of new and exciting coffee drinks that we had never heard of... The California Latte, Dirty Chai Latte, Strawberry Fields Latte, and so on.  The only problem was that none of these exciting drinks had any explanations as to what went into them.  This caused a chain reaction of numerous questions and side bars between Nicole and I about our feelings and thoughts on these drinks.

While we waited for our coffee, chai, and breakfast sandwiches, I had a lovely conversation with the restaurant's owner.  He too is a native Californian in fact, we're both originally from Sacramento. This is not something I usually tell people... that I was born in Sacto (and if you've ever been there, you'll know why - sorry Sacto peeps, I still love you).  However, we bonded..  He even honored a fictitious discount that Google Offers was spreading around about them.

Nicole got a Chai Latte, hold the Dirty (which we found out meant a shot of espresso and not an olive as I had initially suspected).  I got the Californian Latte (had to represent), that orange zest, cloves, and cinnamon, I believe.  It was zesty and lovely, and I appreciated the foam art.  Our sandwiches (or half sandwiches that were pretending to be whole sandwiches) were Bacon, Egg, and Sprout on Whole Grain.  Despite it really only being a half sandwich for $6, it was really tasty.  The egg was perfectly over easy and had a nice bit of runniness to it (or nature's gravy, as I like to call it) that pulled the entire sandwich together.  The earthiness of the sprouts was very clean and fresh - and nothing like baby trees, as I explained to Nicole.

Nicole's big break!

But really the highlight of the breakfast outing was that Nicole and I became famous.  Yes, that's right, we are now reality TV stars.  As we were waiting for the light to change outside the coffee shop, we heard a man yelling "Ladies, hey girls!" at us. Naturally, being New Yorkers, we assumed it was a crack head and completely ignored him.  To our surprise, it was actually one of the film crew from the coffee shop wanting us to sign a release for the show that we were just staring in.  It's a new "reality" TV show (although, we have serious doubts about how realistic it is) on MTV called "Girl, Get Your Mind Right."  I declined to be shown, since my agent wasn't there to broker this agreement, so my face will be blurred out.  However, Nicole will be staring in a full role.  We will be credited as the Two Annoyingly Loud Girls That Won't Shut Up.  So tune in to MTV in May and see our big premiere at breakfast.

Taqueria: My Mexican Home Away From Home

¡Ay, caramba!  I miss Mexican food.  Since leaving Southern California 14 years ago, I have yet to find good Mexican food on the East Coast.  When I go back to visit my friends in Cali, the first thing we do upon leaving the airport is hit up a good taqueria - and I really do mean the first thing... hugs, baggage, tacos.  There are a couple of decent places in New York City, but they're not home to me.  But then I found Taqueria LES and I was home for the first time in a long time.

Jessie, my LES Gastronomic Adventure partner in crime, and I decided to grab lunch from Taqueria Lower East Side for ourselves and another coworker, Adam.  The ambiance of the place is exactly what you want from a good hole in the wall Mexican dive.  It was clean, tacky, and a Mexican flag and piñata hung from the ceiling.  Even though it was 30 degrees outside, it started to feel like sunny California to me.

Our bartender/waitress took our order and gave us some great suggestions off the menu as everything (and I do mean everything) looked delicious.  We decided on an assortment of tacos and tostadas and a couple Jarritos as well.  Jarritos is really the only soda I enjoy and will indulge in from time to time.  There's something about a tamarind or mango soda made with real sugar that'll get you going!  While we waited, we drooled over the other patrons' tortas and decided we would be back to get one soon.  

I got fish tacos and a carnitas tostada.  First, the fish tacos... Fish tacos are my litmus test of a good Mexican place.  These fish tacos were fresh, crisp, lightly fried and not over cooked.  They were topped with tangy salsa verde, cool crema mexicana, and crunchy cabbage.  These tacos were legit and I was in love.  I almost forgot to take a picture because I was having a love affair with them and got caught up.  

Adam and I concurred that the carnitas tostadas were a delight.  The carnitas were tender, juicy, and just the right combination of salty and spicy.  They melted in your mouth.  Jessie's bistec taco was also a hit.  Hands down, we decided that this was our new Mexican home away from home.  Now if I could just get all of my Cali friends to move here, I'd have no reason to ever go back to Cali - well except for the sunsets. 

Cocoron Soba: A Bowl Full of Hugs

Soba Tea at Cocoron Soba

 It was cold and slushy in New York City last night and cooking dinner was not on the agenda.  But then again, going back out in the wet wasn't necessarily appealing either.  But I needed comfort food.  A big bowl of pipping hot soup.  I needed Cocoron Soba and to start checking off places from my LES Gastronomic Adventure.  A text went out into the world, and my lovely student employee, Jessie, replied and dinner was a go!

Cocoron Soba is a tiny, Japanese noodle joint that probably can't fit more than a dozen people, if that.  The kitchen is open and you can watch the three men behind the counter work their noodle slinging magic flawlessly.  Jessie was a Cocoron veteran so I let her do the ordering for me (a rarity  trust me).  We started out with a piping hot cup of toasty, nutty Soba Tea that never seemed to be empty.  They even give you a little basket full of soba to steep as they refill.  This began to help us melt off the slush from the day.

The perfect bite of silken tofu!

We started out with the Homemade Silken Tofu that came with a accouterments of bonito flakes, scallions, fresh ginger, and nori.  Jessie explained that you pile a little bit of everything on the tofu and then hit it with some soy sauce.  I will be honest, a hunk of tofu is not something that I would ever order from a menu.  However, I am remedying that from now on.  This was amazing.  The tofu was silky, creamy, cool, and smooth - it was the best tofu I've ever eaten.  It was a perfect vehicle for the smoky bonito, crisp scallions, salty soy sauce and nori, and refreshing ginger.  I think I could eat this every day (and I may just go back tomorrow).

We also had a plate of the Potato, Pork and Okara Croquettes.  They were pipping hot pillows of fried yumminess.  We have no idea what the sauce was, but it was damn tasty.

Sansai Soba

Jessie recommend the Sansai Soba soup - soba noodles in a bonito broth with bamboo shoots, flowering fern (like fiddlehead ferns), woodear mushrooms, deep fried tempura batter, and kitsune (deep fried tofu).  Our waiter recommended a poached egg to top it off, and I can never say no to a poached egg!  This may have been the most perfect soup I've ever had.  It was a little smoky, salty, earthy, chewy, crunchy, and basically a bowl full of hugs.  The nicely poached egg slid on top of the soup and made this the best meal I've had in ages.  Jessie and I twirled our soba noodles on our chopsticks (Jessie was a pro, I have some work to do) and slurped our soup from our medieval sized wooden spoon.  Neither of us spoke for ages as we just moaned and groaned in soupy soba pleasure!

We finished our soup and discussed our dessert options as two fellow Ludlowdians (a term used to refer to residents of our building, the Ludlow) sat down next to us to have their own dinner.  We gushed over the amazing meal that we had just devoured and then eyeballed what they were ordering for next time - and there will be many next times.

Mochi Ice Cream and Coconut Milk Dessert

Even though we were stuffed, dessert was happening.  Jessie recommend the Mochi Ice Cream with ground roasted soybeans, again not something I would ever order, but it was fantastic.  The Mochi was soft and pillowy with just the right amount of chew and adding a delightful texture to the ice cream.  We also ordered the Coconut Milk dessert with frozen fruits and tapioca.  It was cool and refreshing with happy little pearls of tapioca.

Jessie and I found happiness and warmth in a bowl of noodles and it was one of the best meals I've ever had.  Of course, the good company had a lot to do with it too!

New Year's Resolutions 2013

New Years is just another excuse for me to do something I love; make new lists.  I actually enjoy writing lists of goals of myself, from To Do lists, To Buy Lists, Grocery Lists, Meeting Agenda Lists, Packing Lists ... the lists go on and on.  There is nothing more satisfying in ticking things off my list.  I just makes me happy.  

New Year's Resolutions have become some of my favorite listing.  Besides the usual "be healthy" goals (which are on my private list and not this one), it really is an opportunity for me to evaluate what I'd like to improve upon this coming year.  I got into the habit the last couple of years of writing reasons for my resolutions so that I can easily remind myself of why I want to do these things for myself.  

At the end of the year I enjoy reading through my resolutions and seeing how far I've come.  I may not accomplish all of them, but I do tend to do most of them and that's pretty darn good!  So I thought I'd share mine this year and we'll see how it comes out in 12 months time.

1. Go to at least two MeetUps a month 

I really love MeetUp.com.  It's a great way to get out, meet new people, have new experiences, and fun!  I currently belong to a ton of Meetup groups for crotchet, playing cards, cooking, book clubs, going to movies, even a Maltese Dog Meetup.  The problem is, I don't go as much as should.  I get lazy and "busy" and don't go to as many as I'd like to.  So this year I'd like to try to go to at least two a month, if not more.

• I'll make new friends 
• I'll do things I enjoy doing 
• I'll get out of the house 
• I'll have fun 

2. Start Graduate School 

I am a Grad School drop out - yes, it's true.  I can't say I regret not finishing my Graduate degree, except for once a month when I make my student loan payment.  Well, after a lot of years of "finding" myself, I have found a program that I'm excited about.  If all goes well, I will begin this summer and graduate in 2 years.

• It'll expand my mind 
• It'll keep me busy (I like being busy)
• I need to do it to move up and on in my career 
• It'll open doors to me

3. Cook fish once a week 

Ok, this may seem like an odd one, but I rarely cook fish for myself because it's terrifying.  I can make about 3 fish dishes and that's it.  I've always wanted to be better at it because I find myself ordering fish all the time at restaurants.  This little resolution has made it onto a few years of resolution lists.  Maybe 2013 will be it's year!  I do have two great fish mongers just a block away, and one of them is pretty darn cute and flirty, so that's motivating.

• I've always wanted to learn to cook fish 
• It's a healthy protein 
• I'll feel accomplished 
• I enjoy cooking 

4. Enjoy my hobbies more (Take a couple cooking classes, Crochet & Sewing projects, reading) 

This is one of those things that I start out strong on now and then, and then I get busy or distracted and I won't touch a project for months (and sometimes years).  I really enjoy my hobbies and I want to make more time for them.  This year I'm building them into my schedule (yeah, I know, it's pathetic).

• It makes me feel accomplished 
• I'm proud of what I do 
• It's fun 

5. Start a Foodies Book Club 

I belong to several book clubs that never seem to satisfy me for various reasons.  This was an idea that I had a few months ago.  I love to read and I love to cook - and I love to read about cooking.  There are so many amazing works of literature that involve food that I thought it would be cool to have a book club that not only read those books, but then got together and shared the food that was made in the book.  Kind of cool, right?  So I'd like to start this group up on MeetUp this year.  I'll probably start in either February or March.

• I'll make friends with my same hobbies 
• I'm a good leader 
• I enjoy entertaining
• I love reading and cooking

6. Donate my time at least once every 3 months 

I feel like I don't donate my time enough.  I do it now and then.  I administer a lot of charity work at my work, but I don't really give back as much as I should.  I figure I can find at least 4 days, if not more, a year that I can donate my time.

• It makes me feel accomplished 
• It makes me feel good because I gave back 
• It helps the community that I live in 

7. Explore my neighborhood more 

If you read my previous post, you know that I have a need to know my new neighborhood better before it becomes my old neighborhood and I don't know anything about it.  

• Have dinner/lunch at a new place weekly 
• I'll feel more like part of my neighborhood 
• It'll give me a sense of home 
• I'll have fun doing it.

Lower East Side Gastronomic Adventure!

I LOVE my neighborhood.  It is hands down, the coolest neighborhood in New York City these days.  It's where all the new and hip restaurants, bars, music venues, shops and galleries are these days.  And before it gets ruined by being over gentrified (which is happening very soon), I need to know it like the back of my hand!

I moved to the Lower East Side in Manhattan 6 months ago and I'm already in a rut.  And for no particular reason except that I got lazy on trying new places and I love my new haunts.  I swore I wouldn't do that again when I moved here and it's time to get on it.  One of my New Year's Resolutions was to get to know my neighborhood like the back of my hand.  So I went through and picked out restaurants that had a Yelp rating of 4 or more and started a list... a loooong list.  I have one year to visit 50 60 + places (and it will probably be more given there's a few places about to open up any day now).

I am hoping that my friends will want to join me this little LES (or Lower East Side for you non-New Yorkers) exploration, otherwise that's a lot of meals alone.  I know my staff will definitely be lunching with me, as we tend to do now and then.

This list is broken down by meal type.  I went through the menus to see if having lunch or brunch was a better deal (it usually is) but that there were still enough menu options to make it an interesting meal.  So I hope you'll follow me on my gastronomic adventure through the LES.  Feel free to click on the links and check out the restaurants for yourself.  Let me know if you have any recommendations.  I'll cross out the places as I go to them!

Coffee, Tea & Breakfast

Atlas Cafe

Berkli Parc

Cafe Grumpy
Dudley's

Home Espresso Bar

Konditori

Lost Weekend NYC
Roasting Plant

Press Tea

Brunch
Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya
Cafe Katja
Fatta Cuckoo
Family Recipe
Lobster Joint
Taverna Di Bacco
Freeman's Restaurant
Saro Bistro
Stanton Social
Tre
Zucco Le French Diner

Lunch
Banh Mi Saigon
Cheeky Sandwiches
Empanada Mama
Falai Panetteria
The Falafel Shop
Gaia Cafe
Landbrot Bakery & Bar
Links
Little Muenster
Los Perros Locos
MasalaWala
Mexicue
Panade Puffs and Pastries
Pause Cafe
Taqueria Lower East Side
Zest
Zoe Restaurant

Dinner

Alias Restaurant

Antibes Bistro

Apizz
Barrio Chino

Cata

Cocoron

DoDomPa

Georgia's Eastside BBQ

Ha-Chi

Jadis

Mission Chinese Food
Pearl and Ash

Pig and Khao

Rustic L.E.S.

Sorella
Todd's Mill
Tromba

Via Tribunali

WD-50
Yopparai

Yunnan Kitchen

Dessert

Bisous, Ciao

Cocoa Bar

il laboratorio del gelato

Prohibition Bakery

Stellina

Tache Chocolate
Tao Hong Bakery