Post-Hurricane Irene Eating

Just when you thought all the hurricane nonsense was over...and by that, I mean it is, but I just stumbled upon some photos from the Monday after the hurricane when the weather was beautiful but the trains weren't running, so I was able to spend the day at home with my sister.

We were trying to make it a super productive day, so lunch was quick and easy - Velveeta, meet whole grain rotini. As a whole I really don't care for whole grain pasta - it has a different consistency that feels more grainy to me. But I'll eat it, and if there's nothing else, then...well then I really have no other choice, do I.

 

ew, looks so gross

better? I'm not so sure...

so gross and so enticing at the same time

 Some more time and effort was put into dinner, using fresh cucumber and tomatoes from our garden, as well as something found in the fridge. I'm not sure what it is in English, but I boiled it when I really should have baked it, so it came out as a blobby mess - but still good. The cucumber and tomatoes I mixed cold with some tofu and what I think they call the thousand year old preserved egg? Somehow, they do something to eggs where they turn black, and in my opinion, taste even more delicious than regular eggs. I know many people would beg to differ though, whether it's based on the actual appearance of the eggs or the unique taste. But hey, less competition for me! Also mixed in some avocado, and drizzled in sesame oil with a touch of hot chili oil. I also made some of my favorite corn soup.

 

The meal

 Oh, and did I mention that the weather was beautiful and we spent the morning out on the kayak in the Sound? Well, we did.

Late Night Panda Snack

I once told people that I was going on a panda diet, and I was surprised at the number of people who thought I was going to eat pandas - BLASPHEMOUS!!! What I really meant was that I was eating a lot of fibrous bamboo...like a panda would.

However, tonight, my stomach has been yelling at me to be fed, but my brain has been trying to tell me that it's too late at night to eat anything that is too solid, when I was given the idea of having a cup of ramen! Not the disgusting sodium laden (and yet still delicious somehow) ramen cup noodles in the white and orange Styrofoam containers that have a circle of neon yellow chemicals after you finish your soup. No, they now make mug sized portions that you can drink as a quick and light (but probably still very high on sodium) snack. Even better, they have little flakes of something...I haven't quite figured out what they are but they taste good...I think they're fish cakes? Anyway, they're shaped like pandas! They come in packs of 4, with 2 pandas and 2 shaped like puppies.

Sushi on the Train

Exactly one week ago, I got out later than I expected from class and I was starving (what else is new). I was debating what I should eat when I finally got out of class at 9:15 pm, and on my way to the train station passed by this small sushi take-out place that I've been to before and I had my eureka moment - SUSHI!

I got a combo of three rolls with a salad for $10.95 and the sushi is actually pretty good. I couldn't be more excited to eat it - I actually waited until after my transfer so that I could have an uninterrupted 40 minutes to eat instead of having to pack up halfway through. Believe you me, it was a tough wait, I was so antsy for those 20 minutes...I kept peeking into the bag, as if that would give me a taste of what deliciousness awaited me.

Finally, got on my second train, and unpacked my dinner train style...on my lap. Classy, I know...it's kind of how I roll (get it? roll? like...sushi roll?) And of course, since I was wearing a white tank top, and I have what my sophomore year roommates from college dubbed as the "Nita-Pull," I instantly dropped some of the orange salad dressing on myself. This was pre-Tide To Go, which happened the next morning after class and after spilling coffee all over my white long-sleeve shirt because I obviously had not learned my lesson to not wear white. But moving on - the sushi was delicious and the night ended well on a full stomach.

Happy Halloween

After pigging out all day on all things sweet at work, I figured now would be as good a time as any to finally add a new post! Sadly, this seems to be the trend in how all my latest posts start as school and work are kicking my butt. 

But enough of the sob story, moving on to better and more interesting (at least I think so) things.

While today is actually Halloween day, most revelers celebrate over the weekend as Halloween partying tends to hamper productivity in work or school the next day, and despite what the 99% occupying Wall Street are saying, most, or at least many people do still have work during the week. I've been debating what to do over the weekend and if I really wanted to make the trek all the way out to Brooklyn or not - I know, it's really not THAT far, but I'm really THAT lazy. 

Lucky for me, Mother Nature gave me the perfect excuse. While I was at work during Saturday day, it started to snow. Part of me is like, wtf Mother Nature, really? Snow before Halloween? And the other part of me is celebrating, because it made for an excellent excuse to not make the trek to...anywhere outside in the cold - even though I had back-up costumes that were pretty warm, considering Halloween has become an excuse for girls to...not really wear clothes. 

What I did instead was, as soon as I got home from work, change out of my work clothes and into leggings and a comfy sweater, don my fluffy robe, and settle down on the couch with my laptop and some movies. It's a wonder that I even got up for anything, but, my stomach rules all, and I did end up getting up a few times for food. What sort of food you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you:

First things first - Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate w/ mini marshmallows. I mean, c'mon, it's the first snow of the season! Hot Chocolate is a must. Pair with the hot chocolate was a bag of Sea Salt Baked Lentil Chips - makes me feel like I'm being healthy because they're so light and because the bag is telling me that they're good for me...and oh so delicious! I ate the entire bag...and it was no "mini" bag either. Next, I found some curry ramen into which I added an egg that was cooked just right - not too fully cooked, but cooked enough that the yolk was thick when I broke the egg. Mixed in perfectly with the rest of the soup and noodles. What's a meal without dessert? Next came some tea with some Strawberry Rhubarb pie from Briermere Farms (it's like my family's mecca - we make at least 1 or 2 trips out there every year...once in the spring, once in the fall). However, 2 movies and an episode of How I Met Your Mother plus buffer time (they were online), is quite a long period of time, and near the end, my sweet tooth was acting up again. So, being that it was Halloween weekend, I nabbed the candy basket and proceeded to dig in. 

I haven't figured out yet whether it's a good or bad thing that I don't have any picture evidence of what transpired that night. When my family came home and looked over the scene in disbelief, my only explanation was, "I celebrated Halloween by myself...this had to happen."

And now today, with my giant spider earrings, I'm at it again (though in a much smaller scale) with bagels, munchkins (I stopped myself from going after actual donuts), and this pile of candy and a mini cupcake.

My work stash

Happy Halloween!

E&E Grill House

A few months ago, I received an email from Tasting Table featuring E&E Grill House and classy looking steak and potatoes along with grilled bacon caught my eye. So I took the opportunity to take my mama out to an early birthday lunch (before our dinner at Bryant & Cooper).

I tried to get the side of Twice Baked Potato, but unfortunately, it's only on the dinner menu - the server was nice enough to ask the chef though. I can't complain about the cottage fries that came with the hanger steak though, they were like little rounds of fried potatoes lightly salted w/ sea salt - mmmmmmmmmm, love me some potatoes! The grilled bacon appetizer that we went with instead was also a good choice. But then again, when does one go wrong with bacon? And the poached egg on top of the grilled asparagus was just fahncy. Will have to go another time to try the dinner w/ side of twice baked potato!

Grilled Bacon!

Grilled Asparagus w/ Poached Egg

Grilled Asparagus w/...broken poached egg

Pretty Silverware

Cottage Fries

Hanger Steak

Wordle

Ok, so this isn't a post directly related to food, but it is related to this blog in general.

Came across this neat app, Wordle, that takes words from blogs and various sites - or just words in general (i.e. the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody), and creates an image from them.

Here's what happened when I entered the URL for this blog:

Pretty nifty!

Berliner Weiße

So the start of school kind of put a delay on my food posts, though it didn't put any hold on the food consumption. However, I figured I would take a "fresh start" and go back to a post based on where it all started - Berlin! Though I enjoy beer, I cannot call myself a beer aficionado at any level - so when people ask me how the beer is in Berlin, I try to divert their attention away from my lack of beer knowledge with one of two examples.

1) Wheat Beer + Sprite (it's really quite nice - will probably post about it at some point).
2) Green Beer - aka, Berliner Weiße (pronounced Weisser)

After a day at the zoo, we went out with my cousin, his flat-mate and some of their friends for dinner. It's funny, after American steak in Berlin, dinner this night was at a Spanish tapas restaurant with sangria :)

love me some potatoes! oh, and everything else that's been fried on that plate :)

mmmm, anything drizzled in balsamic vinegar is delish - esp carbs + steak!

Food?

The group @ dinner

After dinner, we wandered around for a bit, looking for a bar to hang out at - the thing with not knowing the area, or the people you're with all that well, is that unless someone already has a pre-planned agenda of where to go, groups tend to wander for quite a bit before someone steps it up and picks somewhere to park it and have a drink. However, 'twas all in good fun, albeit a bit chilly. On the way, I also saw what legal prostitutes look like, and even some doing their thang, GASP!

Anywho, we finally decide on a bar, and looking at the beer menu is like information overload, even when most of it is English. Luckily, Steffi asks me if I've tried Berliner Weiße, which helps me make my decision. They told me the taste was indescribable, and when I actually tried it, it reminded me of the flavors of an Asian plum juice...but green...flavored with Waldmeister (pronounced Valdmeister). It was pretty delicious, and I ended up wrapping 2 bottles I bought from a store before I left and bringing them back to the States with me.

Berliner Weiße

And just because, I thought I'd throw in some fun zoo pics from earlier in the day because who doesn't love animals?!

Germans are very helpful and will direct you as far as the LA zoo

honey bear!

Creepy Orangutan

heeeeppo!

CHOMP!

 He got sleepy watching the sleepy polar bear

 Entering Africa...

Camel Face

PANDA!!!!!