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I have just returned from the lovely city of New York where the booze is flowing and the friends are fine. I spent a few days in NYC for a job interview at the School of Visual Arts. While I was in town I did some amazing dining. I decided to document my experiences for all of you!
In case you were not aware I used to live in NYC for a semester in 2003. (4 years ago! MY GOD!) So every time I go back to the city I always end up going to a few of my favorite places to eat/hang out, as well as enjoy new places that have been found by others in my absence.
This trip was a real pleasure. Check it out:
I arrived at LaGuardia at 7:45AM on Thursday. I really hate traveling so early in the morning. I took a cab to Jacq’s place in Ridgewood and enjoyed a quick nap in her bed. It was really lovely.
Then I phoned Zachariah Durr and made plans to meet up with him at one of my FAVORITE NYC restaurants, the 7A. (7th St and Ave A in the East Village) My interview wasn’t until 3:00pm so we met up in the East Village at 1:00pm. I ordered scrambled eggs with veggie ham and mixed greens salad with their delicious carrot vinaigrette dressing. Zachariah had the Brioche French Toast with rum butter. Unfortunately I forgot to shoot my first meal! WHAT A DUMMY! Anyways, it made my stomach happy and I really felt like I had a lucky breakfast before my interview. Too bad our waiter sucked.
Then it was off to SVA on 21st between 2nd and 3rd Ave. My interview was like an hour and a half! I think it went pretty well. Think positive thoughts for me, kittens! After my interview and after Zachariah spent almost 2 hours hanging out with college photo kids, we went looking for shoes.
Unfortunately, we were both unsuccessful, but then really hungry. We ended up back in the East Village on St. Marks. We went to a place I had been once before called Cafe Orlin. It is on St. Marks at the corner of 2nd Ave. They have a patio area and a fairly large and diverse menu.
I had this amazing Hijiki Seaweed Tofu Salad! And mashed potatoes!
They fried the tofu and it looked like mozzarella sticks! There was also avocado, cucumbers, and ginger-sesame dressing. This salad was so good! Much better than the hijiki salad at Tommy’s. (go figure)
Then it was back to Ridgewood for party time. We went to a place called BarCade (a bar with tons of old school arcade games) and another place called the Alligator Lounge. This place was sweet. They give you a FREE pizza when you order a beer. I had heard about this before and always imagined a small, personal pan style pizza. HELL NO! These pizzas are big! Budget, but big.
We each got a pizza. This is so silly.
Doan enjoying Pizza.
Amanda and Chris enjoying Pizzas. Seriously, who doesn’t want free pizza??
After Pizzatime we went to Union Pool where we consumed many beers. I had some Yuengling. Nice. (see below)
The next day I was super hung over. I called Sandra Chi and told that bitch to take me to breakfast. Chris Duffy, Danny B, Sandra and I all headed back to the East Village for a fantastical dining experience called VESELKA. (E. 9th at the corner of 2nd Ave.) It is a Polish/Ukrainian restaurant I was known to frequent with Mike Kwiecinski back in the day. Pierogies, cakes, sandwiches, stuffed things, SO GOOD! This was the BEST idea of the day. Thank you, Sandra! Check out our delicious treats.
Sandra Chi ordering an espresso AND coffee after pounding a Starbucks double shot and Frappawhacko on the train over. Bitch is nuts!
My tomato rice soup with fresh dill.
Vegetarian Sampler with 2 onion pierogies, 2 potato pierogies, and meatless stuffed cabbage. YUM!
This pickle on Danny B’s plate looked super fake.
Chris Duffy ordered some BORSCHT. How beautiful does this look?
We were joined by LISA RAMSEY and then we hit up some galleries in Chelsea. Lisa took Sandra and I to a little Puerto Rican cafe called Cabo Rojo near W. 25th. It’s one of those super narrow diners with a few tables and a counter. Lisa got some fish soup and rice while Sandra opted for Chicken Noodle Soup. Everything was bright yellow and smelled really good.
This is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. Unfortunately, their cupcakes didn’t look so cute. They looked like the ones at Giant Eagle, kinda. I opted for a small box of fairy cakes (tiny cupcakes) that were VERY cute. (Lisa, I accidentally left them at your place with my tights! ENJOY!) On another unfortunate note, they can’t punctuate to save their lives in there. I saw this sign and got really mad. It’s not a statement, it’s a QUESTION! Use a question mark for imperative sentences. AHH!
Later on that night I met up with Adam Carmichael in Greenpoint for dinner. We went to a place called ENID’S and I had the best meal of my trip. They had a few veggie options on their menu, but I opted for the one that would make for the best conversation with David later: THE FISH TACOS!!!! Oh man, they were so good. Fried catfish, slaw, corn tortillas, beans and rice, topped off with a strong margarita. Plus, the restaurant is SUPER CUTE (and so was our waiter). Enid’s is located at the corner of Manhattan and Driggs, across from Matchless. Go there.
MY FISH TACOS! Yummy!
Needless to say, NYC was a blast as usual. I got into a lot of trouble, enjoyed the companionship of faraway friends, and ate like a queen! CHEERS!
Yesterday I went to a culturally mind-blowing event in Hordville, Nebraska called FLODFEST. It’s an all day 3 day country music festival that takes place at Covenant Cedars Bible Camp with two stages, one called Prairie Island Stage and the other called Chuckwagon Stage. The bands were pretty good, a lot of them singing old Hank Williams songs or other old cowboy songs. Pretty sweet. The majority of people attending this festival were senior citizens, as you will see from some of these photos.
Who’s idea was it to go to this? It was Miriam, one of the writers in resident at the Art Farm, who saw a flyer for it at a coffee shop in Marquette. What a cultural experience this was!! I mostly documented the food we ate.
When we got there around 6, it was suppertime, and there was a break in the festival where everyone stopped to eat supper, potluck style. The spread was quite impressive!! Notice how many grandma-style sweets there are!! Awesome!!
Here is the nice lady that served me SLOPPY JOE. She also cooked ALL the ground beef you see before you! Let me tell you this sandwich was one of the softest heavenly biting experiences I’ve had in some time. White bun, slow cooked ground beef in spices and tomato sauce…. *sigh!
Here is more food. At least two different kinds of ambrosia salads, pastel puddings, cakes, spaghetti, potato salads, tuna macaronis, pickles salads, corn, potato chips, doritos, oh man!
To wash it all down was iced tea!!
It was hard not to grab a little of everything just to try, but I maintained self control and tried to compose a well-balanced meal. This is what my plate looked like:
Now, for a peaceful zen experience, please watch this video. There’s a sample of what the music sounded like at the festival with some video of a deer I saw on the farm earlier this week:
This year i thought for someone’s b-day that I would bake them a cake, as i dont do a whole lot of baking. Then Zena’s sepcial day loomed on the horizon, and I took full advantage of it. So did Paul, and Yaya! This is the cake I made.
this cake was made with,
two layers made from strawberry cake mix, 10oz of sprite, half a bok of strawberry jello mix, some oil and some eggs
the middle layer is topped with cream cheese frosting
and the outside is a mix of granulated sugar, powdered sugar, blue food coloring, vanilla extract, and about a cup of crisco.
top that off with everything erika has in the cupboard and youve got youself one tasty cake!
here is zena cutting the cake! Yeah!!!
Lisa stayed at our house a week or so ago and she made us some sandwiches that inspired a whole movement of sandwhich snacking and creating at our houses!
Here Lisa enjoys a sandwich that i made for her, it involves
goldennut wheat bread,peanutbutter,vanilla yogourt,and honey!
And here is the sandwich that started it all:
it involves, goldennut wheat bread, tofu fried in honey, dijon mustard, avacado, and alfalfa sprouts! As you can see I had to eat it before I could even take a picture of it, and my version was a paltry comparison to this sangweech’s grandure!
Here is Zena and Lisa Enjoying their Lisa-tacular sandwiches!
Thanks Lisa!
Yesterday I made this inflatable popcorn sculpture. Here is a video of me testing it out. It’s still a little saggy for my liking, but I’m working it out. This video quality is also sketchy.
