I "heart" food.

This next post is dedicated specifically to my food-related discoveries in the past month and a half.

Freda's Caribbean & Soul Cuisine

New York has an abundance of food, both really bad food, and really good food.  (Thank you, Yelp, for assisting with these distinctions, as I don't have an unlimited budget to take many chances.)  There are also many traditional dishes as well as experimenters who succeed and fall flat on their faces. (Chorizo ice cream, anyone?  Oddfellows in Williamsburg or the Lower East Side is the place to go.)

Food has also provided me with opportunities to catch up with old friends and to make new ones.

A couple weeks ago, Eduardo and I met with my good friend and former roommate Rena, and her husband Mario, at Isabella's on Columbus.  They told us a cute story about one of their first dates, where they went to have dinner and Rena established very early on that even though they were sharing a plate of food, exactly half of it was her portion.  Eduardo and I aren't great at sharing things like one ice cream cone, so we had a laugh at the relationship challenges of sharing tasty delights - perfect timing as our shared dessert arrived, a dark chocolate "bag" of fresh raspberry mousse, seasonal berries, and whipped cream.  Yum.

Val & Lena

Last week, I hung out with my friend Lena and her friend Val, who I now consider a friend of mine as well. Lena and I have been friends for many years, and Val and I actually went to law school together, but didn't know each other at the time.  Lena is in NY on an oncology fellowship, while Val was just passing through on her way to Europe.  

We had dinner at The Rabbithole and then made our way to Momofuku Milk Bar, where we overindulged a bit on the cereal milk soft serve (I want to shake the hand of the genius who came up with that flavor), a compost cookie (my personal fave), a marshmallow cornflake cookie, crack pie, and b'day truffles.  Val and I met up again and had Israeli food at Azuri Cafe in Hell's Kitchen.  It was a tiny, no-frills place, but the food was dang good (we both got the small falafel plates).

Totto Ramen

Last night Eduardo and I tried Ki Sushi in the Boerum Hill neighborhood.  The TNT Lover and Fashion rolls were delicious and I'm happy to say it's our new go-to sushi restaurant when we get a hankering.  It has been challenging to find my favorite Asian cuisines (Thai, Vietnamese, Korean) for prices and authenticity comparable to those in SF, but we're getting there.  Luckily, Hell's Kitchen, which is a short walk from where we live, has a number of good Thai options, and two of my favorite ramen places, Totto Ramen and Terakawa Ramen.

Perhaps because SF does not have a large Caribbean population, I've particularly enjoyed the Caribbean and soul food options here.  We've hit up Freda's, south of the Columbia U. campus.  The jerk shrimp plate was ginormous but spicy and delicious.  I tried the homemade sorrel, but it was a bit too sweet for me. At Amy Ruth's in Harlem, Eduardo cleaned up his "Reggie Harris" plate of honey fried chicken, mac n cheese, and potato salad, while I, loyal to my alma mater, ordered the "President Barack Obama" with smothered chicken, mac n cheese, and collard greens.  

This is also the best time of year for frozen treats, and I do say "treats" because they are relatively pricey.  My theory is that these businesses have to make their money now before they close shop for the winter.  Our first encounter was after a Cuban dinner near Columbus Circle.  We stopped by Grom Gelato, a chain with unique flavors like "Torta Siciliana".  I haven't bothered to research the difference between ice cream and custard, but after an exploratory walk in the upper west side neighborhood, we stopped by Rita's for vanilla custard with mango Italian ice. Refreshing!  We've been to Van Leeuwen in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn twice now, trying the pistachio, dark chocolate hazelnut, earl grey, and salted caramel flavors.  My favorite gelato so far, however, is L'Albero dei Gelati in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  The nicest surprise has been the "Dominican ices" in Spanish Harlem. Eduardo and I were on our way to the Target and spied this nice man and his cart, so we stopped for a $1 treat.  The fine texture of the ice reminded me of the Japanese guri guri I grew up with in Honolulu.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm not losing any weight here, even though I regularly walk until my feet are ready to fall off.  Some may say that cupcakes are passe, but I love me a good cupcake.  Yesterday, Eduardo and I stopped by some incubator stores (reminded me of the stores in Hong Kong, Thailand, and other parts of Asia) in Brooklyn and shared a tasty tres leches cupcake.  Another good cupcake find was Molly's in the West Village, as the red velvet cupcake (a good standard for comparison) and creme brulee cupcake (very nice hard caramel top with an injection of smooth cream inside vanilla cake) were moist, just sweet enough, and tasty.  I do give a frowny face to a place in SoHo called "Rice to Riches", where we tried "Be My Banana Coconut".  It's a unique concept; rice pudding in all flavors with the option for toppings.  Maybe I just don't like rice pudding enough. I also found some of the decorations offensive, although they were meant to be hip and funny.