Study this photo...

Yes, If you are wondering why Blake is in a produce section at a grocery store with food in front of him, you have correctly identified the photo. I had told Blake that we need to find some good, hole-in-the-wall Mexican food near our apartment. He has succeeded with flying colors. He asked around at work to see what the favorites are, and came across this place. It is inside of a "El Rancho" grocery store. We had some really yummy tacos and burritos. Blake's Spanish
skills came handy as all of the signs were in Spanish. We decided on some food, 4 kinds of fresh salsa that I couldn't read what they were, but we decided that one of them had to have cinnamon in it. Neither of us cared for that one, but we did like the others, 2 of which were
green, and also a more traditional pico style. Also, the meal wouldn't have been complete without some good Mexican soda. Love it.
After we ate, we needed to pick up a few grocery items. I enjoyed the produce section where the jalapenos were $.67 per pound, cilantro was 3 bunches for $1, and limes were 25 for $1. Score. I sure did get some stuff to make salsa.
The story doesn't end here though... When we got in the check out line, there was this case of pop ice things in fun flavors. Blake got "rice pudding" and I got coconut. The guy in line behind us got the same one as Blake, so Blake asked him if it was good. The guys said yes, and then said, "by the way, what are you doing here?" haha, I had already noted that we were the only white people in the store, but I wasn't expecting for someone to point that out. I was too busy laughing to answer, but Blake said, "we're here for the food" pointing to where we'd gotten the tacos. The guy agreed that they were good, and we went about our checkout business.
I plan to go back soon. Maybe I'll tan first though.

One Tasty Taqueria

I haven't blogged much lately about food. It isn't that there isn't good food here... in fact we've enjoyed it a lot. One of our favorites is In-n-Out Burger. We ate it from time to time when we lived in Phoenix. I've also been cooking some... now that I have a real kitchen. that isn't the point of this post, though. The point of this post is to share the experience we had tonight. We went to a place called Garcia's Taqueria. It is a hole-in-the-wall for sure... no question there, but it is authentic mexican food... like so authentic that we were the only people of our ethnicity in the whole place. It is my favorite when I find a place like that.
Blake ordered a "Super Burrito" with Carne al Pastor (we think it was beef and pork). When they said Super, they really meant SUPER. It put every burrito we've ever ordered anywhere to shame size wise. Blake only ate 1/2 of it. I ordered a quesadilla with chile verde pork (spicy pork with green sauce). When the lady asked if I wanted the small or large, I said... "Large, I guess." since that was all I was ordering... and it was only $4 at that. I was surprised when it arrived and the tortilla was 18" in diameter. Wow, I may have eaten 1/3 of it. Needless to say, we have A LOT left over.
We also had a sweet treat from my past... Manzana. It is a yummy apple soda that I had when i was on a mission trip in Mexico during high school. I don't know that Blake had ever had it, so I insisted that he give it a try. His review... "It was alright." If you know Blake, that could either means he loves it or hates it. Who knows. I still don't.
Ok, so all this to say, we really enjoyed Garcia's Taqueria. It was good, cheap, and fast, but you know you aren't in TX when it doesn't have air conditioning in the restaurant. Most days it wouldn't be needed, but we are having a "heat wave", so that made it a little interesting.
Note to self: if it is warm outside, wait till sunset to go. As we were leaving, I think it had cooled of 15 degrees.

Pinkberry... yum!

I'm sure we're one of the last people to discover this, but wow!  There is a Pinkberry semi close to our apartment.  Every time we walk by, the line is WAY out the door, and down the street.  Now, I like ice-cream (Pinkberry is frozen yogurt really), but I'm not willing to wait 1/2 hr or more to get it.  Finally, this time when we walked by, the line wasn't out the door, so we decided to stop in and give it a try.   Wow... can I say YUMMY!  We ordered the green-tea frozen yogurt with kiwi, raspberries, and blackberries.  Even better... it is low cal and fat free!  Crazy!  Anyway, you might give it a shot if you can find one near you.  Here's their website... www.pinkberry.com 

Make that another check.

I'll add another experience to check off my "to-do" list. I have to thank Blake for this one. Here's the story...
If you live in NYC or have ever been here, you may have noticed as you walk around the city, a wonderful aroma coming from little food stands. I'm not talking about hot dogs or pretzels... I'm talking about what Blake calls "street meat" and what the signs at the food stands call "Halal food". It is usually some sort of gyro, meat that is on a stick with heaters behind it that they cut off, or lamb. I can still say that I'm not brave enough for any of that stuff, but I did get something that I LOVED. I had simple Chicken, vegetables and rice. Sounds boring... right? Well, it was one of the best tasting things I've ever eaten and if you are not careful, it will kick you in the face/stomach. Let me explain... Ordering food in NYC can be an experience in itself. You are expected to know exactly what you want and how you want it when you get to the front of the line. I, having never had "street meat", had no idea how to order it. Here's where Blake came to the rescue. He confidently stepped up to the guy in the stand and said... "I'll have the Chicken and Rice... with lots of "Red" and a little "White"... oh, and can you add some vegetables to that?" Next, the guy looked at me... and I simply said... "Ummm... I'll have the same thing..." Even though I had no idea what this "Red" and "White" was. After we ordered, we stepped back out of the way and I asked what I had just gotten myself into. He told me the "red" was some sort of super hot sauce and the "white" was what he called a buffer so that the red sauce doesn't kill you. I said... "Great Blake, I always wanted food that is only identified by color and not what actually is in it." I still have no idea what exactly I ate, only that it was YUMMY.
While we were waiting he gave me a few "street meat" tips for future ordering. He said...

• Only order from places that have a long line all the time. According to Blake, the best place is somewhere down in Soho somewhere close to where his recording studio was.
  
• If you go to a place with "green" sauce... Only get a little bit of it. He said it is the hottest thing he has ever eaten (and that is from a Texan).
• If you do decide to go with said "green" sauce, get plenty of "white" to go with it so you don't regret it later.
• Ask for veggies. They add them for free and it makes the food much more exciting.

Give it a try... Tell me what you think! Better yet... call me and ask me to join you for "street meat" and we'll talk about how good it is while we are eating it.

Check that off my list.

I have this mental list of things I want to see/do in NYC.  Tonight, I got to check one of those things off.  Anyone ever heard of Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man?  Well, it is down close to where we were for Tom's concert, so we stopped in there on our way home.  Now, many of you know that Blake and I have been trying to eat healthy lately, well, tonight we blew that.  We had chocolate covered everything.  I felt like I was visiting Willy Wonka in the Chocolate factory.  Well, except there were no uumpa-loompas (however you spell that), and no Everlasting Gobstopers, and well, no burping bubble room, or gold egg laying goose.  Ok, so it wasn't like Willy Wonka's at all except that everything there was centered around CHOCOLATE.  They have a spiral bound book full of deserts ranging from gourmet hot chocolate to fondue, to chocolate pizza.  You name it and they have a chocolate covered version of it.  There is no way I could have picked just one thing, and Blake agreed, so we ordered a sampler platter.  Check out these photos.  YUM!  It came with a "banana-split" waffle, a little dollop of chocolate covered ice-cream, peanut butter fudge bar, a beaker (yes, I said beaker) of melted chocolate syrup to pour over the waffle, a shot glass with a surprise... it was melted chocolate, white chocolate chunks, and... POP ROCKS!  WOW!  On a separate plate, was some fondue which included strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows with a blue flame to toast them, and a bowl of hot melted chocolate with a candle underneath.  So, you get the idea... chocolate, chocolate, chocolate... and some more chocolate.  We felt like kids!  So, now that it is checked off the NYC to-do list.  We shouldn't go back... TOO MUCH SUGAR!   If you haven't been there... go... it is a fun, fun place.

Mmmmmmmmm...... Yummy!

Blake and I decided that we needed a dinner out, so we went to a Malaysian place a little ways away from our apartment. We ordered "Masak Lemak". For those of you who speak English only... like me... this is what the menu said, (thank you menupages.com) "Choice of Shrimp, beef or white meat chicken sauteed with green and red peppers, onions, carrots, dried red chilis and ginger in a spicy aromatic chili gravy." YUUUMMMMMY! It was spicy and delicious. Yay for fun places to eat in NYC.

a fun day of thanks

So, we stayed in NYC this year for Thanksgiving. Blake is working,
and the plane tickets were crazy expensive. It has been a nice day
though. I decided that there was no way I was even going to think of
cooking just for the 2 of us, and Blake worked all last night, so he
slept during the day today. So, I decided it would be best for us to
go out and eat after he got some sleep. We decided to go to ESPN zone
so Blake could watch the Cowboys beat the Jets. The food there is
pretty good and the atmosphere is relaxed. Blake had the Turkey
dinner and I had... Buffalo Chicken. If you know me... you aren't at
all surprised by that. It was fun! We stayed for the whole game and
surprisingly there were more Cowboy fans there than Jets... Well who
would like the Jets anyway, so I guess it isn't really all that
surprising. We sat in the screening room and watched the game on a
gigantic screen (see photo below).
I also thought this Bestbuy was interesting. We were just about to go
into the subway (see the 4,5,6?) and saw these nutty people. Who the
heck sits out side of a bestbuy all day and night for a cheap computer
or whatever? It isn't like they are free. You still have to pay for
them... By the way, this photo was taken at 3:15pm on Thanksgiving
day. The store doesn't open till tomorrow morning. Speaking of
craziness... if you look closely at the best buy photo, you will
notice that no one is wearing heavy coats. Remember... we are in
NYC. It is supposed to be cold and snowy. Today it was like 65
degrees. Now, earlier in the week, it was super cold, but today... it
was beautiful! Blake just wore a tshirt tonight and I just wore a
sweatshirt with my tshirt. Back in texas friends and family were
getting snow. Who knows....
The Charmin photo was taken in Times Square after leaving the ESPN
zone. They had it last year also. I'm determined to go in there this
year and photo document the whole experience... well, not all of it,
but just the interesting parts. I've heard that they have a bunch of
fancy toilet paper that you can choose from to use... gotta try
that... And just so you know, there was a line outside of it tonight
as well.
So, that's our day! A fun day in the city!

Follow up on carrots

So Blake decided to write up a whole post about carrots having, or not
having, juice. Guess what kind "lazy" juice he got yesterday... That
crazy kid. He really makes me laugh sometimes.

How does a root have a juice?

I saw a talking carrot today promoting a fruit juice, and thought,
aren't carrots usually pretty dry? I mean they aren't really a
fruit, they are just roots, and the job of a root is to send liquid
to the rest of the plant. It isn't like you sit around thinking,
"Man, what I wouldn't give for a nice juicy potato right now." If
the carrot is being used as a juice, to me, I would think that was
one of the lazier carrots. The ones who just sit around, show up for
work late, only do the minimum to keep the rest of the plant alive.
To me, couch potato carrots should not be role models. That's why I
only drink Coke Zero and Dr. Pepper.