Unrelated Content

on the scale of Coen Bros. movies I can be bothered to watch it falls as such:

1. Big Lebowski
2. O Brother
3. this movie
4. Fargo
5. Hudsucker
6. Raising Arizona
7. Big Lebowski again

So really, overall a worthwhile moviegoing experience.  I was really taken with Josh Brolin’s performance, as I had never really been interested in seeing him do anything prior to this.   Although it looks like he was in the Goonies and I just forgot.  Oil well.

Tommy Lee Jones is also awesome in this, but he’s Tommy Lee Jones.  The real star of the movie is Texas, which is rightfully portrayed as the most backwards and creepy place on the planet (possible exception: Hampden, Baltimore).

My highest recommendation to see, especially with a date.  It’s a romantic kind of movie.

one of my favorite indian restaurants on curry row (aka 6th street between 1st and 2nd avenues in the east village) is taj mahal, an unassuming storefront surrounded by other indian eateries. what makes this place so great? well, for starters, it’s cheap. many years ago, i took my sister there for dinner, and a two course meal, including mango lassis for each of us, came to 15$ total (not including tip). now that is a fantastic deal.

granted, i’ve been avoiding indian food ever since the time i overdosed on curry and went to the gym the next day and found myself sweating out cumin while on the elliptical trainer. sniffing, i thought, “it smells like dinner…oh god, that’s me!” i’ve never been one to want to smell like food, with the exception of vanilla or mango.

but the fiery burn of curry lures me in every time, and wednesday night was no exception. i met my dinner companion, an unabashed vegan, and we settled in to a lovely dinner of vegetable samosas and ghee-free curries. i went with my “usual,” the aloo gobi matar, potatoes, peas and caulifower. he had some kind of chickpea and spinach dish that i didn’t bother trying since i knew that i’d be flatulent enough after this meal.

service was attentive, the food was edible, tasty and fresh, and the price? 19$ for the both of us before tip. i felt generous saying, “i’ll get this” but really, it was no big deal. we left sated, bloated and burping up cardamom before heading home on the subway.

how do you like your meat cooked? rare? medium rare? medium? medium well? well? incinerated?

obviously this doesn’t pertain to chicken or pork since we don’t want to risk salmonella poisoning but i’m referring to duck, beef, veal, lamb and any other delicious bloody brown cut of flesh that carmelizes so nicely in the pan.

last night i had a fantastic rib-eye steak at roebling tea room that was served charred on the outside, medium rare on the inside (i’d asked for it to be still mooing, but alas), stippled with delicious streaks of fat and topped with a slab of herbed butter.

i do believe my heart is about to burst today.

visit me in the ICU!

Please enjoy this serious discussion of a popular comic book artists’ work

and as always, sorry I’m not smart enough to come up with original things to write about

last night, while i was literally “vegging” out on my couch, i thought it best to supplement my evening with a vegan pizza. now i know many people would beg to differ - “there can’t be a such thing as vegan pizza if there’s no cheese on that thing!” but let’s not quibble over semantics. you have dough, you have tomato sauce, you have vegetables, you have soy cheese, then it’s a fucking pizza, OK?

high recommendations came from Alice on BCO so i opted to order from vinnie’s on bedford and n.9th, renowned for their vegan friendly menu. i’d ordered a non-vegan caprese pie many months ago from there with my friend tim, and it was phenomenal. this vegan pizza (ladened with artichokes, peppers, broccoli, spinach, olives and eggplant and “follow your heart” mozzarella cheese) was fantastic. generally i’m not a crust-eater (yes, that sounds gross) and leave the ends for my companion or boyfriend to eat, but this pizza was so delicious that i couldn’t stop myself. i finished the whole darn thing.

A+, thanks, vinnie’s. i love you guys. keep delicious food coming my way.

how the heck have i been sleeping on this fantastic eatery/bar just a mere two blocks from my apartment? i walk by it nearly every day and wonder, “should i eat here?” all the reviews i’ve heard from friends were in the realm of “great food, shitty service” which i let deter me. well fuck off, was i ever wrong!

lesley and i met up and had an impromptu and absolutely delightful dinner at the bar. i loved that my chamomile tea was served in a giant beer stein, and the leaves were loose, but tightly bundled into a cheesecloth sack that floated at the top of the hot water like a body bag. we shared a meat/cheese plate that was drizzled with honey and accompanied by some unknown sweet candied substance that really enhanced the salty sting of the meat and the pistachio-tinged flavor of the cheese.

i was starving and the special of the grilled lamb tenderloin seemed like a fine foil. served with heirloom turnips and beets, deep fried chickpeas and sauteed greens, it had a peppery bite. a bit heavy on the salt but nicely seasoned, though i was left craving something sweet, which is unusual as i am not a fan of sugar.

but sugar we had by finishing with a perfect serving of pot du creme.

“how are you not 300 pounds?” lesley wondered as we destroyed the chocolate dessert with our spoons. “i’m getting there,” i replied.

if you’re looking for a romantic, dimly lit restaurant for modern american cuisine or merely a place to have a spot of tea or a draught of beer with friends, this is your place!

i think i’ve found the place to celebrate my 32nd birthday. hello roebling tea room!

on a blustery winter evening, i met up with three friends for a fantastic dinner at fada, located on driggs and n.8th in williamsburg. it lay dormant for me for many of the years that i’d resided in the area until one day, i ventured in with my then-boyfriend to discover a moderately priced french bistro serving delicious rustic fare.

tonight we started with escargot, which needed some salt, but were otherwise luscious and garlicky. the boys had soup, one french onion, the other the broccoli special of the day. they declared them “very good,” which was indicated further by their polishing off their spoons with their tongues. smartly, i’d ordered a hot and crisp order of frites, which were quickly dispatched with mayo or ketchup down our hungry mouths.

my entree was the duck cassoulet special, and it was rich, hearty and soothing on a cold night. i pierced plump chunks of sausage, forked tender morsels of duck into my face and thought, “this is the stuff that rejuvenates the heart and soul.” what could better cheer and bolster a wind-battered body than something as comforting as a classic french stew of white beans and meat? rhetorical question: nothing.

at home, i am now drifting off to bed in a haze of happy dreams, languishing in my food-induced stupor, and smiling faintly.

suicide averted for at least another year
wish I was kidding (about the suicide, not the game…the game will be made of win)

you may be wondering where i’ve been. mayhaps not! languishing in a food coma, i would hope, but alas, no, it has been a bleak, bleak world for yours truly as my untrustworthy friends have been flaking on me for dining plans. how atrocious! i had made reservations at les halles (park avenue outpost only) but alas, my friend was unable to meet up so i had to cancel. my stomach growled in protest, but i sated it with a bowl of soup eaten out of a can.

now taking applications for a dining companion! you must be adventurous, willing to try anything (except maybe durian or balut) and enjoy my charming conversation.  sign up here and i promise not to mock you in future reviews.  unless, of course, you eat a durian.

double cheeseburger + deep fried portabello mushroom stuffed with meunster + lettuce + tomato + pickle + diet coke = ???

first one to correctly predict the remainder of my day wins dinner with me!

edited to add: it’s nearly 5pm and i have yet to have a food coma. i’m wondering if the diet coke i ingested at record speed to flush down the triple burger feat may have something to do with that, though. (i’m not much for caffeine)

oh, and guess whose aunt flo just arrived in town!!!