In other news, Happy Fathers' Day AND Birthday, Daddy!
Showing posts with label ny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ny. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Where's the pork in pork and beans?
I found two cans of this stuff in my pantry today, was intrigued so i opened one and was about to put some in my stew. It was only beans.
Why then, is it called pork and beans?
Shouldn't it be called beans- good as part of pork and beans?
Perhaps this is from the point of view of a beguiled non-American, where the notion of having no pork in a can of pork and beans is common knowledge.
I looked at the can and found that pork is indeed in the ingredients- 6th or 7th down the line. Where IS it? I could not see a smidgon of meat in the can- it was only congealed sauce and beans- a parade of addictive sugar and salt.
Up until now for my time so far in the states I have not had a single canned Campbell's product, mac and cheese or maccas, kfc or taco bell; it is not that I look down upon it; it is not snobbery- I simply feel like if I begin to eat like that it would slowly become a complacent addiction- one that I simply cannot get into.
I concede that Popeye's is my vice; it is my monthly guilty pleasure.
All I'm saying is if the labelling on some of the foods here were a little more explicit it could make life for somebody like me who is easily persuaded by labels and pretty fonts to make foolish culinary decisions that I will later regret.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Or What You Will
The wait for the tickets to see Twelfth Night in Central park yesterday was most definitely worth it.
Twelfth Night on the twelfth night!
It was very enjoyable and the players were all rollicking. Special kudos to bumbling Sir Andrew, played by Hamish Linklater, who had the crowd it fits of laughter with his awkward composure.
very fortunate for the beautiful weather. Summer is here!
Twelfth Night on the twelfth night!
It was very enjoyable and the players were all rollicking. Special kudos to bumbling Sir Andrew, played by Hamish Linklater, who had the crowd it fits of laughter with his awkward composure.
very fortunate for the beautiful weather. Summer is here!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
My not so secret Secret Garden
You know how when you stumble across an object or a place or a youtube video so completely awesome some way or another that you almost get dizzy from the rush of adrenalin, become nauseously happy and giggle inside?
When that happens with me I proceed to try and store it in the particular file in my mind and then try to not share it with anyone because it is so awesome that I attempt to greedily horde it for as long as I can.
Of course that is not what eventuates usually, as I'm always bursting to tell anyone who would listen anything.
The disappointment comes here. In my gush of excitement at having told the captured victim of my extraordinary discovery, I usually expect equal awe with the person I'm sharing it with, proceeded with gratitude for my generosity to share. That doesn't happen either, because the response I usually get would be do you live under a rock?, and I, once again, would find that I'm not so alternative nor special in taste afterall, but that simply the society has made me feel like I am.
The following items are some which fall into that category for me:
What I am trying to get to is that there is one particular thing that I feel will end up in that list above but certainly hope won't. That is, the random garden on Bowery 265.
A few weeks ago I took one of my aimless ambles around Soho, because to me that area is chocfull of surprises and disappointments alike, and I love that about them. For example, what happened to What Goes around comes around? And who is The Rhodes, who were playing under the trees in Washington Square Park? I was due to meet Marie for a mini end-of-the-semester pubcrawl on One-on/&-one so I took a turn down Bleecker and lo and behold, discovered and adequately flavourful green curry, so I continued to walk down to find a nice little park to sit down and eat. Before I even got there though, I stumbled across this:
That is probably one of this most unpretentious welcome signs I have seen around the area. It is gorgeous! I sat down at exactly the same time where there was not a soul in the garden bar perhaps the critters and the birds- just me and a piece of manhattan that resembled nothing like it- a little chunk of an oasis.
I have been brought up to know how to share though, so here it is. I had Elvis Costello's She in my head as I was sitting there, because it felt like exactly the place Julia and Hugh would have sat in the very, very end of Notting Hill.
When that happens with me I proceed to try and store it in the particular file in my mind and then try to not share it with anyone because it is so awesome that I attempt to greedily horde it for as long as I can.
Of course that is not what eventuates usually, as I'm always bursting to tell anyone who would listen anything.
The disappointment comes here. In my gush of excitement at having told the captured victim of my extraordinary discovery, I usually expect equal awe with the person I'm sharing it with, proceeded with gratitude for my generosity to share. That doesn't happen either, because the response I usually get would be do you live under a rock?, and I, once again, would find that I'm not so alternative nor special in taste afterall, but that simply the society has made me feel like I am.
The following items are some which fall into that category for me:
- How I Met Your Mother
- Chicken and Rice
- Music by Metric
- The West Wing
- Popeye's Chicken
- Melissa's Mini Cupcakes (or are they muffins?)
What I am trying to get to is that there is one particular thing that I feel will end up in that list above but certainly hope won't. That is, the random garden on Bowery 265.
A few weeks ago I took one of my aimless ambles around Soho, because to me that area is chocfull of surprises and disappointments alike, and I love that about them. For example, what happened to What Goes around comes around? And who is The Rhodes, who were playing under the trees in Washington Square Park? I was due to meet Marie for a mini end-of-the-semester pubcrawl on One-on/&-one so I took a turn down Bleecker and lo and behold, discovered and adequately flavourful green curry, so I continued to walk down to find a nice little park to sit down and eat. Before I even got there though, I stumbled across this:
That is probably one of this most unpretentious welcome signs I have seen around the area. It is gorgeous! I sat down at exactly the same time where there was not a soul in the garden bar perhaps the critters and the birds- just me and a piece of manhattan that resembled nothing like it- a little chunk of an oasis.
I have been brought up to know how to share though, so here it is. I had Elvis Costello's She in my head as I was sitting there, because it felt like exactly the place Julia and Hugh would have sat in the very, very end of Notting Hill.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Broadway Crew
Before colour theory class yesterday (which, thanks to Joy, I discovered wewillattack.com and Sebastien Tellier) popped down broadway to check out two new spawn-of-chainstores- Topshop and J.Crew, with the Mens-only store being an infantile day-old.
With J.Crew Men's, I was unsurprisedly pleased; the store was predicatably (albeit pleasantly) decorated, but nothing that shouted J.Crew, but substitutedly, straight up Preppy Americana. The difference with J.Crew is the much friendlier price point; English silk ties made in U.S. started from around $59. The suit room in the back felt like a mini J.Press, but they might have to think about watching out unaware gentlemen tripping over the rugs.
I have always admired Mackintosh as a company and the Macs (green and blue check, khaki with a pop of an orange lining) that J.Crew has commissioned is definitely a great rainy day contender. They have Free&Easy as well! I see this publication is gathering quite a cult gathering- understandably, the Japanese are dapper down to the bone, to every minute detail.
Then I ventured over to Topshop right next door (J.Crew seemed so indiscreet in demeanor by contrast). I'd avoided the grand opening because I just knew I would not be worth the lining up and the jostleing. And I was right- Topshop NYC was Meh. I'd suffered Topshop attack when I was in London- every morning on my way to work walking past Regent/Oxford I'd never understood why people would line up to enter one of the most overrated brands in the U.K. in the freezing cold (here's looking at you, Abercrombie). Their London flagship is a clusterfcuk of nail salon, denim bar, shoe store, candy store and every taste under the sun clothing coterie- where products, which used to be great in quality (I still love a suiting material-dress that i'd bought in Topshop Tokyo 3 years ago) have now have slipped into the calibre of H&M; yet retained its unjustifyable pricepoint! Their repoirtoire has been pretty much replicated here.
Perhaps Kate Moss is the very personification of Topshop- massively popular, relatively expensive in its market, omnipresent, but you don't exactly know why. The New York store brought no surprises. I guess perhaps that's exactly what New York wanted/needed- I suppose any girl/boy who has never been into a Topshop would be thoroughly impressed by how the store is able to offer a product that they had not known they'd wanted, until they saw it. I do love their accessories (rings, in particular), but gosh is it just me or is it so much more expensive here?
With J.Crew Men's, I was unsurprisedly pleased; the store was predicatably (albeit pleasantly) decorated, but nothing that shouted J.Crew, but substitutedly, straight up Preppy Americana. The difference with J.Crew is the much friendlier price point; English silk ties made in U.S. started from around $59. The suit room in the back felt like a mini J.Press, but they might have to think about watching out unaware gentlemen tripping over the rugs.
I have always admired Mackintosh as a company and the Macs (green and blue check, khaki with a pop of an orange lining) that J.Crew has commissioned is definitely a great rainy day contender. They have Free&Easy as well! I see this publication is gathering quite a cult gathering- understandably, the Japanese are dapper down to the bone, to every minute detail.
Then I ventured over to Topshop right next door (J.Crew seemed so indiscreet in demeanor by contrast). I'd avoided the grand opening because I just knew I would not be worth the lining up and the jostleing. And I was right- Topshop NYC was Meh. I'd suffered Topshop attack when I was in London- every morning on my way to work walking past Regent/Oxford I'd never understood why people would line up to enter one of the most overrated brands in the U.K. in the freezing cold (here's looking at you, Abercrombie). Their London flagship is a clusterfcuk of nail salon, denim bar, shoe store, candy store and every taste under the sun clothing coterie- where products, which used to be great in quality (I still love a suiting material-dress that i'd bought in Topshop Tokyo 3 years ago) have now have slipped into the calibre of H&M; yet retained its unjustifyable pricepoint! Their repoirtoire has been pretty much replicated here.
Perhaps Kate Moss is the very personification of Topshop- massively popular, relatively expensive in its market, omnipresent, but you don't exactly know why. The New York store brought no surprises. I guess perhaps that's exactly what New York wanted/needed- I suppose any girl/boy who has never been into a Topshop would be thoroughly impressed by how the store is able to offer a product that they had not known they'd wanted, until they saw it. I do love their accessories (rings, in particular), but gosh is it just me or is it so much more expensive here?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Out with the New, In with the Old
The eclectic Olde good gallery truck is parked next to anthropologie on certain mondays, and the cartoon lion is always sitting there, comically roaring at 5th Ave. It makes me laugh. Who pays attention? How many inwards smiles does this thing get? I'm betting quite a few.
All things worn, chic and pre-loved have never quite been out of favour, but have never been mainstream, either. It seems though that now this trend of recycling and sharing has become something more accepted and experimented with. I still have the Monk mentality that i can't really quite own something that was once owned and used by someone else (that philosophy probably applies to boys too); I'm taking baby steps with 2nd hand books. Right now I'm reading the most gorgeous book printed in 1902 by Thornstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class, which I'd found in the $3 pile in Argosy books right around the corner of work, on 116 e59 st.
I still miss you Daunt Books dearly!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mannequins, Models, Muses and the Met
For a week now the Bergdorf windows have been lavishingly decorated to pimp the Model as Muse exhibition at the Tisch Galleries at the Met. Just scrumptious! Cannot wait until my semester is over so I can check it out myself. A shame that Alaia won't be featured, because I think he's a designer whose aesthetics are very much intertwined with models which serve as muses!
image courtesy of nytimes
Friday, May 8, 2009
The Allergy Dent
So on exactly 8pm last night i hunkered down with a pot of my earl grey to beginning my studying for an online exam. Which was exactly when my phone sounded and my friend marie called. She had cut off her finger.
off to my first American ER adventure we went!
boy was it deja vu! when i was in london i was at a jazz festival event at the cafe in foyles on charing cross road with blair when i'd suddenly felt oddly faint- so i excused myself for the bathroom. before i was even at the counter to ask i was blacked out on the floor! so they'd taken me to ER- the closest one being UCL- when i'd adamantly said no because I knew the only thing they'd tell me was that i was anaemic and i needed to drink water- which was exactly what happend- but after 3 hours of waiting at putting up with drunk attention seeking bums!
no offense bums. just drunk attention seeking bums who like to hang out in the ER.
but marie's finger was quite something!
in perspective of course it was absolutely nothing, i'm glad she's okay, her finger was like a dali painting. i don't know if it was just me. but it reminded me of something like this:
really, it was just the angle it was obscured at that looked completely like marie's almost-amputated finger. was fascinating!
I tried to encourage to name the dent in which she will inherit from this accident after me but we found a better title: at the waiting room the was a young, street-dressed drunk bum who was making ooooooh awwwww owwwww sounds in pain, sneezes and agony and when the wardens would come he would make a wail about how his poor allergy caused him a blocked nose. he was a hoot. a menacing one at that, but still a hoot. so we have decided to commemorate him by naming marie's scar after the allergy.
off to my first American ER adventure we went!
boy was it deja vu! when i was in london i was at a jazz festival event at the cafe in foyles on charing cross road with blair when i'd suddenly felt oddly faint- so i excused myself for the bathroom. before i was even at the counter to ask i was blacked out on the floor! so they'd taken me to ER- the closest one being UCL- when i'd adamantly said no because I knew the only thing they'd tell me was that i was anaemic and i needed to drink water- which was exactly what happend- but after 3 hours of waiting at putting up with drunk attention seeking bums!
no offense bums. just drunk attention seeking bums who like to hang out in the ER.
but marie's finger was quite something!
in perspective of course it was absolutely nothing, i'm glad she's okay, her finger was like a dali painting. i don't know if it was just me. but it reminded me of something like this:
really, it was just the angle it was obscured at that looked completely like marie's almost-amputated finger. was fascinating!
I tried to encourage to name the dent in which she will inherit from this accident after me but we found a better title: at the waiting room the was a young, street-dressed drunk bum who was making ooooooh awwwww owwwww sounds in pain, sneezes and agony and when the wardens would come he would make a wail about how his poor allergy caused him a blocked nose. he was a hoot. a menacing one at that, but still a hoot. so we have decided to commemorate him by naming marie's scar after the allergy.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
To be Raucous
My ramen craving was sated today when I discovered Kenka, an izakaya that (to my knowledge) literally means screaming, shouting and being raucous.
image courtesy of nymag
The food was raucously divine!
I had ramen straight out and the 'world's cheapest draught beer'; lo and behold, my favourite, kirin! Why I had never stepped foot into this place before beats me, because it is right down my alley. The little straw chairs were quaint too, I want one. But I cannot see how a larger man can possibly be comfortable huddled over one; I suppose that is part of the charm.
Eating at an izakaya almost always reminds me of the scene in Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away' where Chihiro's parents eat at a bar, become addicted and promptly transform into pigs.It is a grotesque caricature of our modern day consumerist habits but an accurate one. All things in moderation are generally better eh? Easy to say, but oh so difficult to do.
Case in point: after an okay anmitsu I did end up with a triple chocolate cupcake at Chikalicious... this wednesday has ended in excess!
image courtesy of nymag
The food was raucously divine!
I had ramen straight out and the 'world's cheapest draught beer'; lo and behold, my favourite, kirin! Why I had never stepped foot into this place before beats me, because it is right down my alley. The little straw chairs were quaint too, I want one. But I cannot see how a larger man can possibly be comfortable huddled over one; I suppose that is part of the charm.
Eating at an izakaya almost always reminds me of the scene in Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away' where Chihiro's parents eat at a bar, become addicted and promptly transform into pigs.It is a grotesque caricature of our modern day consumerist habits but an accurate one. All things in moderation are generally better eh? Easy to say, but oh so difficult to do.
Case in point: after an okay anmitsu I did end up with a triple chocolate cupcake at Chikalicious... this wednesday has ended in excess!
To Market To Market
walking through the Union square wednesday farmers' market always reminds me of the saturday marylebone farmer's market in london! it was especially so today where the weather was dreary and there was a slight drizzle.
the lilacs were out in full bloom; just irresistable. it's time to get all popeye too and i've stocked up on my spinach. and apples, apples, apples!
so then i came across this curious thing called fiddleheads. what are they you ask? i can gladly tell you since i picked up a factsheet from the info stand! 'Fiddlehead ferns are new-growth fronds (Fronds?) usually of the ostrich ferm. The name 'fiddlehead' refers to any unfurled fern, not to a specific variety, because of their resemblance to the scroll of a violin.'
it tastes like asparagus with artichoke, should be cooked before eaten and may be bitter or stir some gastric trouble if you don't!
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