The Girl Who Ate Everything

Oh, menupages, how I love thee. While searching for pancakes in the Central Village/Noho area I came across a place called PressToast. Anything with the word “toast” in it must be good. Right? I mean, figuring it applies to the heating of slices of risen flour products and not …something else. I found out that it was right by school yet I had never noticed it before because I’ve rarely walked down MacDougal Street.

So that’s where I set off for at 11 AM when the sun was shining and not hidden behind a blanket of grey clouds that has now made everything look like the crap. I broke out OK Computer on my iPod, an album I haven’t listened to in ages. It’s fun to dig out those old albums every once in a while.

PressToast

PressToast is a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but a large hole! There’s a clear plastic door that separates the seating/stool area from the street but I just wanted to pick up something and eat in the park. There was one young woman there pressing the toasty sandwiches. Even though I looked up pancakes on menupages, they didn’t have any pancake choice on their menu. Grr! But they had some sweet choices and you know me; sugar comes before all else. I got a honey and banana toast for $3 (the fruit is $0.50 extra) because I figured the one with Nutella would be a tad too indulgent (maybe next time). Handing me a bag with the foil-wrapped oblong pressed toasty sammich, the woman told me to eat it while it was still hot.

toast innards

Well yeah, wheat with a gooey honey banana center would never last long in the world of Robyn. I don’t know how to describe the bread besides that it’s not regular toast—it’s BETTER! Yeah. Because I said so. It was soft and crispy and while I would’ve loved more filling, it was a good amount and didn’t goosh out. I should probably get my own toasting machine and make them myself but that would put me on red-alert risk for eating about five pressed sammiches a day with honey inside (for those who don’t know me, I am capable of eating a jar of honey in a few days; that stuff does not last long). It was a very satisfying snack. Their choices that have cheese and meat are probably more filling so I’ll try one of those next time (the avocado sounds yummy).

When I went to my last writing class, a girl had brought in a bag of Chips Ahoy cookies! AHH dammit! I ate four. They were small, I swear! Four of them equated to one of those giant cookies I’ve become accustomed to eating every day so I figured, eh. I’m sure the ingredients in a Chips Ahoy cookie are crap, but I didn’t look at the label; ignorance has saved my conscious. I was surprised by how good the cookies were in texture; they were moist, chewy, soft, and not crumbly. The package’s selling point seemed to be the chewiness so maybe they were worse before? I wouldn’t know, I never eat them.

banana walnut muffin

After class I went to the Union Square greenmarket to peruse the wheat-based products. One of my favorite vendors is only there on Monday but they sell delicious focaccias, breads, and muffins. I didn’t want a focaccia so I got a muffin and a sourdough roll. Their muffins are awesome and qualify as my favorites (trust me; I’ve tried quite a few!) since they’re super soft and moist (and they cost $1.50). I tried the banana walnut today but I had their chocolate muffin before and it was really good (lots of CHOCOLATE). The sourdough roll didn’t have a strong sourdough taste but it was still good and it was only $1. Mm, filling.

strawberry and kiwi sorbet

I went to the student center after that to get some studying done but when I got there I found out they were giving away free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream! AH! FREE ICE CREAM! I couldn’t resist; I tried three flavors. It’s free and there were lots of sprinkles and peanut toppings. And they wanted us to take it! THEY BEGGED US! …okay, they didn’t beg us but one girl was really pushing her peanut butter cup ice cream. The last flavor to go was strawberry kiwi sorbet. It wasn’t bad but I prefer ice cream over sorbet.

After another class I’m back in the student center wondering if I really need to eat anything else today. My stomach says no. I have to admit that I’m very un-hungry at the moment (gee, I wonder why) and I’ve gotten close to my $10 food quota for the day (I forgot to mention that I bought a $2 mango on a stick before going to the greenmarket…I love mango on a stick). But it’s only 6 PM so the day is still semi-young. That’s disturbing.