The Girl Who Ate Everything

Sorry for not updating in a while. Yes, I am THINKING OF YOU. No, not you...[points in the other direction]...you! Yes, you in the funny hat.

What have I been up to lately? Not a whole lot in the world of eating, hence the lack of updates. I spent the past two days going to concerts and I just bought a ticket (seriously, a minute ago) to another one tonight. Buying a ticket to go to a show by myself for an artist whose albums I don't even own to a venue I've never been to is highly abnormal for me, a lazy girl who needs a lot of convincing to even change out of her pajamas. If the show sucks, I'll turn into "Mega Grumpy Robyn." Pray for my well being.

At least the concert will be inside. Yesterday my body responded to being sun-raped at Pool Parties by constantly bathing itself in sweat. Layer after layer would soak into my clothes, evaporate into the Brooklyn air, lather, rinse, and repeat a few gazillion more times until I had successfully discharged more than a liter of water through my pores. My gawd, it's like magic! Who needs a urinary tract when you can just sweat all day? The only good thing about it was that I didn't have to pee and the extended exposure to the sun gave me a slight tan. (Luckily, I don't burn easily. Unless you throw fire on me. Please don't.)

When it gets to the point where I feel like my eyes are sweating, I can't say I have much desire to eat anything. However, before the show I thought I would get hungry, so I grabbed a quick snack.

New York Muffins

It should be no surprise that a place called New York Muffins would entice me. MUFFINS. HELLO. ONE OF THE BEST INVENTIONS EVER. Alright then.

muffin piles

I felt a little weird taking photos because the place was crowded and small, but they have more than muffins: other baked goods, sandwiches, juices, other liquids, etc. Of course, all I wanted was a muffin.

hello my pretty

Instead of trying something new, I went with my favorite flavor: banana nut. The texture threw me off a bit; it was a bit denser than I expected and one shoved in your mouth had the property of sticking to every tooth it came in contact with so that the only way you could get it down your throat was to wiggle your finger around and dislodged the muffin bits. You know what I mean, right? It had a high level of...toothpack. The good thing about this kind of texture is that the muffin doesn't messily crumble when you rip off chunks. Overall it wasn't bad, just not my favorite kind. I would've liked it better if it had more nuts in the batter and not just on top. After the 6-hour period that I was in possession of the muffin, I only managed to eat about half of it and gave the other half to John. I wouldn't have wanted to eat any baked good at that point, since I already felt...baked.

come to mama!

The only food being sold onsite that I desperately wanted to eat was ice cream. (There were also hot dogs and beer. These are not "Robyn"-foods.) While there were ice cream trucks outside the venue, a special Ben & Jerry's truck was on-hand for the concert. $3 for a small cup of sweet cream and cookie ice cream seemed like a lot to me (a few weeks earlier, Ice Cream Man had been giving out free ice cream, dammit), but I happily ate the melting creamy oreo cookie-laced scoop for a few minutes of relief from the heat.

And then I went back to feeling like I wanted to go home and sleep...I mean, after hosing myself down and scrubbing the crap out of my pores.

But I didn't. Because I had to stay until the final act.

Of Montreal!

If you don't like Of Montreal, then that sucks. Because you should! Because! I said so! Right! They wrote a song about pancakes, you know. That should be enough to win anyone over. Especially if you like pancakes. I know you do.

stylin'

And their lead singer is so stylin'.

more people

I could've taken more photos, but I didn't want to crouch on the ledge in front of the stage for too long. It's kind of tiring after a while...if you're as out of shape as I am. And uncomfortably wearing a skirt. I wish I had the drive to do concert photography, but methinks food is more of my thing. Unless it were my job, I'd feel like I were bothering people if I took excessive photos at concerts. I seem to have lost that feeling while taking photos at restaurants and other food related places. "No one breathe, I NEED THE PERFECT SHOT OF THIS SANDWICH."

While waiting in the PATH station to get to Hoboken, I attempted to wipe off excess sweat with some extra Ben & Jerry's napkins. The result was me holding a sweat-laden napkin and the formation of friction-induced dirt bits on my skin. Oh. Lordy. When I got home all I could think of was, "I'm the human form of stench covered in a layer of sweat and grime." [shudders]

ice creaaaam

After Saturday's Mew concert (they opened for Bloc Party, but I didn't stay for the whole thing), I wandered around Hoboken while waiting for the train back home. Although the sun wasn't out, the air was still filled with stagnant humidity. You know, the best kind of humidity. For making people suicidal. I only had a vague idea of what was in the area, but no map to guide me. Thankfully my food senses (or dumb luck, more like) led me to The Ice Hut, a fat-free Italian ice and ice cream vendor.

gimme!

I couldn't have asked for a better dinner. A combination of mango Italian ice and vanilla ice cream in a medium size cup only ran $2.75. While it was refreshing in such weather, you can already see from the photo the effects of the heat waves invading every bit of airspace. The poor ice cream was already starting to break down just seconds after it had been squodged out of the ice cream machine. Since the ice cream melted more quickly than the Italian ice, I hurriedly tried to shovel the "mango ice floating in ice cream soup" before getting sticky soup all over my hands. I think the mango ice on its own would taste too "sharp" (in coldness and flavor), but is much better when mixed with the creamy and less strongly flavored ice cream. I just wish it hadn't melted so quickly.

a pretty wall

On Friday I went to Italian sandwich shop Alidoro with John for lunch. Although I went there once before and enjoyed it, my impetus for going last week was because of Mike's recommendation (and it was his rec that got me there the first time).

meal spillage

I ordered the special "Materazzi" sandwich (all sandwiches are given names) filled with uber-thin silky soft slices of Gran Biscotto, arugula, and some hot chili stuff smooshed between chewy sfilatino bread for about $11. If the price surprised you, the sandwich lasted me two meals, so it's definitely worth it. Hell, it's worth it even if it only lasts one meal. Mike describes the sandwich better than I could. All I can say is that I don't generally like ham, but this was damn tasty. My horribly description is that it doesn't taste like regular ham at all, or as Mike said, very little of the saltiness and grease I would object to.

John's sandwich

John ordered the "Victoria", consisting of smoked mozzerella, artichokes, sweet peppers and arugula between soft tramezzino bread. Although it would've been better if I had eaten it right away, the sandwich was still great after I finally got to eat it when I arrived at home 5 hours after the sandwich was made. More places should make sandwiches with smoked mozzerella. It's like regular mozzerella, but...ye know, smoked. I'd rather not explain what smokey flavor tastes like.

waffle robots!

Yes, we are finally reaching the end of this entry. Waffle style. I went to the small waffle and crepe shop Mon Repas with CJ, JD, and Diana before they tootled off to a Mew concert (I couldn't go because of the age restriction, god dammit). They make Belgian/Brussels waffles (rectangular) and Liege waffles (not rectangular, kinda oval or free-form).

waffle with nutella, bananas, and coconut

I couldn't decide so I somehow settled on a Brussels waffle with nutella, banana slices and and coconut shavings. Pretty good. I mean, how could that not be good? Nutella is usually a mark of tastiness. Maybe I would've liked it more if I had been hungrier.

waffle with ice cream

Diana's waffle was a bit overdone, meaning it was uber-crispy. She didn't finish it since she likes soft waffles more (as do I), but you may like your waffles "well done". :)

liege waffle

CJ ordered a simple liege waffle with syrup and was most vocal about the waffles tastiness in our whole group. He said somethign like, "Robyn, this is the best waffle I've ever had. ARE THEY ALL LIKE THIS? ANSWER MEEE!!!" Judging from this description of waffles, it probably was the best thing:

The Liege waffle is golden-yellow, more dense in texture and has a burned sugar coating on the outside giving it a lightly sweet flavor.

Stupidly I didn't force ask CJ if I could try any of his waffle. Ye know what that means; I'll have to go back and try it.

location, location, location

New York Muffins
198 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

The Ice Hut
201 Washington St
Hoboken, NJ 07030

Alidoro
105 Sullivan St
New York, NY 10012

Mon Repas
50 W 8th St
New York, NY 10011