Free Kobayashi

Drama in the competitive eating world.  W.T.F.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/04/kobayashi.hot.dog.arrest/index.html

Who eats this shit?

Well, apparently I do. I met L for dinner on Friday, and we were supposed to go to a Japanese restaurant in Mongkok. It was a really long wait, so we dropped into the restaurant next door where there were plenty of seats available. We quickly realized why.

The restaurant had a bathroom theme! We sat on toilets, our table was a sink, and our food came in dishes shaped like urinals, bathtubs, sinks and toilet bowls. It was gross, and that's just the food, not the decor!

I looked up the restaurant once I got back to my parents' place, and it's a whole chain of bathroom and shit themed restaurants all over Taiwan and Hong Kong that got its start selling chocolate soft serve in squat toilet shaped dishes. One of the founders got the idea while reading manga on the can. Go figure.

From Modern Toilet Restaurant

The wall was covered in urinals which were all shiny and sparkly just in time for the holidays.

From Modern Toilet Restaurant

The ceiling fixtures were fashioned like toilet plungers, and the lights are "poo" shaped. Oh, shit!

From Modern Toilet Restaurant

Our Japanese style hotpot dish came in a toilet bowl. It would have tasted fine if the broth wasn't just pure milk, which made all the veggies and meats taste like they were lactating. (Not that I would know.)

cheese mites : adding flavor through "action" on the cheese

MTR reports that he recently bought a wedge of Mimolette. Here is the excerpt from a wikipedia entry describing how mimolette is made:

"The greyish crust of aged Mimolette is the result of cheese mites intentionally introduced to add flavor by their action on the surface of the cheese."

And, here's an excerpt from a wikipedia entry on cheese mites:

"[Cheese mites] gain their name from the fact that in addition to grains, flour, cured meats and insect detritus, they are also known to favor cheese. The mites burrow tiny holes in the surface of the cheese and are sometimes intentionally introduced to flavor cheeses like Milbenkäse and aged Mimolette. Cheese that is infested with the mites can have a sweet, minty odor and will appear to be covered in a fine gray dust of the mites, their dander and excrement."

And, in case there was any doubt about how we ought to view cheese mites, wikipedia also says:

"Cheese mites are considered vermin in the food service industry. They are known to cause a mild form of dermatitis called baker's or grocer's itch and can inflame asthma and dust allergies."

Therefore, Mimolette = dander and excrement.

MTR reports that it was delicious!

Please, just roll me back home

I met a former coworker for lunch today at David Chang's Momofuku Ssam Bar.

I don't even want to talk about the food, because it was too good for me to put into words. Let me just say I love chefs that love pork and offal. I love restaurants that specifically state on the menu, "We do not serve vegetarian-friendly items."

My friend and I both had the prix fixe, where we ordered different items and shared everything. As a take-small-bites-and-taste-everything-at-least-once eater, I like eating with people who can share.

My faves: Pork Buns, Blondie Pie

Afterwards, my friend and I went next door to the Milk Bar where I checked out the Marshmallow Cookie (it was ok), the Chocolate Cake, and the Banana Cake. I've decided that I like my cakes and cookies better when they're slightly warm.

My new teapot

My new kettle. It's tens of dollars less expensive than my old one, it's easy to maintain, and it works. I tried it today, and it whistled. Afterwards, nothing melted.

I had my eye on the lovely Le Creuset Ogive but decided to bypass form and function for just mere function. I'm certain my water tastes the same either way, so I won't lose sleep over it.

With the additional store credit from the original pot and a 20% off coupon, I finally bought the Wusthof knives I've been coveting for quite some time. I'd give up a fancy kettle for a handy knives any time of day. :-)

My teapot just melted

How can a company make a teapot that has an attached whistle that's not heat resistant? All I have is a melted lump of plastic where the whistle used to be...

I'm taking my teapot back. It's the second time I've had to take my teapot back (the first time, the whistle didn't work) and get a replacement teapot. This time though, I'm taking it back and leaving it there.

Word to the wise, don't buy a Chantal teapot.

Happy birthday, M!

M celebrates his 34th with a family brunch at X Restaurant and Bully Boy Bar. It was lovely to spend time with M and his family.

Brunch was amazing. I'm now a huge fan of Peter Xaviar Kelly, Iron Chef winner. I look forward to visiting his other restaurants.

M's birthday creme brulee.

Cooking Sundays

Since I've stopped generating income (I am starting to track how many different ways I can say unemployment without actually saying it), I've been eating at home a lot more. Well, actually pretty much all the time.

It's unusual coming from a person who used to only keep a carton of egg whites, a box of All Bran and some mixed greens in the fridge because she rarely ate at home. When I did eat or cook at home, it was just scrambled egg whites over mixed greens which I ate standing over the kitchen sink.

Now that I actually cook at home, I find myself getting sick of the same old same old. I've started planning my days and meals, keeping a mental grocery list, and getting creative with how to use leftovers.

Today, I made chocolate pudding -- dessert for the next three days. For lunch, I made a bacon, pear, egg white, grilled cheese sandwich. Pears, cheese and bacon sounded so good together, and I was pretty happy with the results. Ok, the egg whites were kind of random. But, I had to pretend to be healthy somehow!

Are you eating?

So it's been almost two months since I've been laid off, and I've been eating my way through Manhattan.

Dad calls to check in on me every week, and the most recent call went like this:

Me, "Hello?"

Dad, "What are you doing?  Are you eating?  I know it's hard when you're not working, but you need to stop eating, or you'll get fat."

Me, "I'm not eating." (I'm eating.)

Dad, "I can hear you eating.  Stop eating."

Loving my time in Bonaire

(The first picture is of me with Tonky Frans, one of the world's best freestyle windsurfers, and the second picture is of the week's ABK gang. For more pictures of my week in Bonaire, click here.)

I'm almost done with my week in Bonaire, and I'm sad to know that I have to go back to NYC soon! Compared to my week spent in Bonaire last year, I am having an infinitely more fun time this year.

I came to Bonaire last year with a bunch of male windsurfing buddies in their late thirties and up. I didn't realize what happens to men when they spend a week away from their wives and children -- all signs of domestication fade within the first day, and they revert back to the juvenile immaturity of their patheticly nerdy and pimply high school years. By day 2, I had heard the same pervy sex jokes a million times, but with different names and locations inserted (no pun intended). I had my own apartment and was content to do my own thing, so I was surprised to find certain members of the group got upset when they had to do things alone. They demanded that the group be their entourage at all times. The group, on the other hand, was surprised when I did not take well to being assigned the role of team secretary/mom/restaurant reservation maker/make sure everyone gets up and to the airport on time and chose to dine on my own some nights. By day 3, two of the men rooming together were not getting along. Their behavior had regressed to childish and passive agressive cattiness, and they tried to get other members of the group to pick sides in their little fight (which they never would acknowledge was a fight, because that would be too adult). I've heard men comment about female cattiness, but that must be because they've never gone on a windsurfing trip to Bonaire with a bunch of male windsurfers before!

After the drama of my week in Bonaire last year, I resolved that I would go to Bonaire alone this year. It's been fantastic! Many of the people I met while in Bonaire last year returned at the same time this year, so I already know a few familiar faces. I can walk into any restaurant and have dinner without worrying that I'll have offended someone, and I haven't heard a single unfunny pervy sex joke all week! Plus, it's been blissfully drama free without all the politicking backstabbing. I get enough of that at work, thank you very much.

So far this week, I've eaten at El Fagon Latino, Mona Lisa and Wil's Tropical Grill. Not too much has changed on the food front since last year. I still dislike Wahoo. My fave restaurant on the island is still Wil's (I'd gladly have dinner there every day while in Bonaire), although the Mona Lisa is pretty good. I had heard good things about El Fagon, but the food was a little too greasy for me.