beXnlog

Happy Presents

A big food day update:

12:00PM) be's been making platanos (lightly fried, sliced ripe plantains) every morning for the past few days in an effort to use up our plantain bounty. We always eat them with refried beans and sometimes homemade tortillas, if be has the time to make them. This morning we ate our platanos with tamales d'elote (fresh corn tamales) from the Salvadorean restaurant next to the Elotitos shop. Speaking of those amazingly drug-like snacks, i finished off the lemon flavored batch in 2 days and now i'm twitching and scratching for more. Someone help me.

12:30PM) I've been sad and disappointed with our powdered horchata mix. We just can't seem to get the proportions of mix, water and sugar correct; each glass is too sweet, too powdery or just not right. Good note: the Bodum hand-held frother is an excellent mixing tool.

3:30PM) We took some nice pictures in Central Park with The Gates, bare trees and the winter sun.

4:30PM) The "White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art" exhibit at the International Center of Photography was very interesting but we left wanting to see more. It's such an important and necessary topic.

5:30PM) The Times Square McDonald's makes an interesting McVeggie Burger. They add sliced pickle and use BBQ sauce instead of ketchup. It reminded me of the McVeggie in Hawaii, but better since it was less saucy.

6:15PM) I give "Constantine" two thumbs down; be at least one thumb up. We sneaked in a bag of Kasugai Hot Wasabi Peas and totally stale "Squish" brand Swedish Fish. The peas were crunchy, tasty and made my scalp tingle (totally a happy present from the earth!); the fish almost pulled my fillings out. I'm all for stale candy corn and Swedish Fish, but today i learned there was a limit to edibility.

9:00PM) We met up with O and had drinks & snacks at Saint's Alp Tea House. be's really into the Lychee with Nata de Coco HOT, served with a slice of lemon. I chose the Mocha Coffee drink and i don't think i'll be sleeping until 5:00AM.

10:00PM) I've been craving ramen for weeks now. If anyone knows of a place that makes ramen with a vegetarian broth in New York, please do tell! I grew up on Top Ramen Oodles of Noodles Oriental Flavor, enjoyed it throughout college but now i'd like something more substantial and maybe with less sodium. I scoped the aisles of M2M on 3rd Ave and bought the 3 packages with meatless soup powder. The boys shared a block of raw salmon, which according to my estimates, was enough to make 12 pieces of sushi.

11:15PM) I tried the "Star Ruby Grapefruit" GuS (Grown-up Soda) flavor, purchased for $1.99 at M2M. It's really tasty and refreshing, but honestly i'd like it a tad sweeter. It would be yummy over ice in summertime.

12:20AM) Ramen taste-off, brand #1: Nong Shim's "Hot & Spicy Shin Ramyun" in the red package. The ramen noodles are a little thicker than i'd like, but the broth was very nice and hot. I didn't need to add as much of P's father's roasted, crushed chiles as usual. Perhaps this is my Oodles of Noodles background calling, but i wished it was a little saltier, too. Overall, it didn't satisfy my ramen craving.

3:05AM) I'm hungry again so goodnight!

posted by beXn @ 3:06 AM