Cape May In Bites August 20, 2007

We spent a couple of days in Cape May. I’ve never been to the Jersey Shore before. Jersey often gets a bad rap for being an ugly state. I think that’s not fair to say. Esp. after seeing the Jersey Shore. Cape May is one pretty town. I know some other parts of Jersey can be pretty dreary BUT what city doesn’t have it’s depressing areas?

We stayed with some of my cousins and their kids in a condo they had rented near the beach. Being a block from the beach and a block away from Washington Square (where all the shops were) was great.

We got there late on Wednesday night and apparently all the restaurants pretty much stop serving food at 10 pm- well, all except Jackson Mountain- they go until 11:30 pm. Thank goodness.

The beach was nice and not too crowded. There was a $4 daily fee to go onto the beach. We didn’t pay on our second day there- hey, not our fault that the attendant stepped away from their post. The season pass seemed like the best deal – I think $25 or $28 for the season. Too bad we were only there for a couple of days.

We also rented bikes and rode from one side of town to the other side. Fun.

Across the street from the park was this amazing hot dog stand – Tommy’s Hot Dog’s – he had these hot dogs in bad dog size (larger than your usual frank) or lean sized (teenier than your usual frank). The toppings for the hot dogs were what made this frank stand out. (I am a hot dog connoisseur!) They had all the usual toppings plus more- like mashed potatoes, buffalo sauce, special bbq sauce, etc. that they also threw on or under the dog. Good stuff. The frozen cokes and other slushy drinks were quite a reprieve from the hot sun.

We also ate breakfast at Uncle Bill’s Pancake House. Good solid breakfast food. I never tried the Scrapple that was listed on the menu. I’m not sure what Scrapple is exactly- but the gist of it seemed to be some kind of canned meat similar to Spam. I like Spam (yes, I just admitted that- have you ever had it fried and with eggs) but I wasn’t ready to try Scrapple. Not when I had my choice of bacon or sausage. Uncle Bill’s Pancake House didn’t make wearing a bikini easy but it sure brightened up my mornings.

We had brunch at the Mad Batter which is supposed to be one of the best places for brunch and lunch. It delivered although our waitress was spacey and sucked. The omelettes and breakfast items were all tasty.

We had dinner at Pilot House one night. The service was good and it was one of the few places in town that took dinner reservations. The food isn’t anything to expound upon though.

We also ordered pizza one night from Tony’s Pizzeria. Tony’s Pizzeria won the Best Pizza award in Cape May. The buffalo chicken wings and steak pizza are worth trying.

I went to the Fudge Kitchen to buy some fudge for my office mates. Apparently the Fudge Kitchen has won awards for their fudge. At less than $10 bucks a pound the fudge was quite a deal. It came in some cool flavors. I purchased vanilla coconut, Rocky Road, chocolate peanut butter, and Cookies -n- Cream. But the best item to come out of the Fudge Kitchen is their $1 custard! Stores across the street were selling smaller custard cones for triple that amount.

I’m definitely going back to Cape May next year.

Arunee Thai August 8, 2007

We’re too lazy to cook tonight. So, we’re going to go eat at one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, Arunee Thai.

It’s a cozy restaurant with a nice waitstaff. Some of the standouts there are the pad thai, pineapple fried rice, chicken mussaman, the soft shell crab, and the satay appetizers.

Heh, the bf used to have a crush on one of the waitresses there. Eye candy.

37-68 79th St
Jackson Heights, NY 11372

(718) 205-5559

Nike Half-Marathon August 6, 2007

The bf and a friend ran in the Nike Half Marathon today. I dragged myself out of bed at 7 am to hopefully get a glimpse of them at the last cheering point. It was a weird experience. I’m not usually a sentimental person- but seeing the marathoners pass and hearing the sideline cheerers- made me a little teary eyed. I mean, it’s a huge feat – to run 13 miles?! All these people pushing their bodies to go, go, go!

I can’t do it. Well, not yet. I was inspired by all the runners today. And esp. by the beau. He’s crazy though- he only started training in the past three weeks. But he did awesome.

After that I took the marathoners out for a breakfast for champions at Elvie’s. Elvie’s serves Filipino fare. I had longanisa (yummy sausage), fruit salad (a fruit ambrosia), pancit (rice noodles) and pork sinagog (a vinegary soup). It was all pretty good. The pancit was a little flavorless but usually it’s pretty tasty. I could have probably flavored it up a bit with hot sauce but I was super lazy today. Reaching across the table to grab the hot sauce would have expended too much energy.

I was hoping to have some of their bbq’d chicken wings and lumpia shanghai (eggrolls!) but they weren’t ready yet.

I know why the bf is exhausted but why am I so tired? I must have sympathetic marathoner’s fatigue.

Elvie’s turo-turo
214 1st Ave, New York 10009
Btwn 12th & 13th St

Daily Soup, Tossed Salads, Snicker, and Snickers August 2, 2007

Lunch today was a big salad from Daily Soup. My coworkers kept commenting on how big the bowl was. That comment later morphed into “my, what big balls you have”. And that later launched a discussion about “brown eyes”. I don’t know- sometimes my team gets too much sugar into their systems.

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about- congratulations- you’re a better person than I am.)

Anyway, Daily Soup is fantastic. They toss salads. (Not a snicker, please.) You choose your own ingredients and they toss (cough) it for you.

I had a mixed green salad with endamame, cubes of tofu, cheddar cheese, and tomatoes – all coated with a roasted garlic dressing. The dressing’s base was olive oil – not creamy.

I wanted to get a cup of Italian Wedding Soup too BUT they were out of it. That’s my favorite soup from there. They were also the first place that I ever went to that sold Lion Bars. Lion Bars are possibly the best candy bars in the world. They’re like a cross between a Snicker’s bar and a Kit Kat I think. It’s possibly the best thing out of the UK besides scones + clotted cream and shepherd’s pie. Oh and maybe TopShop.

Btw, one day I will remember to take photos of things- although I’m more literal than visual.

Shake Shack and The Last Days Of Meat? July 31, 2007

I had dinner at Shake Shack tonight with some friends. We waited for half an hour on line to order. And then it was about another half hour before our food was ready? Worth it? You bet.

I skipped the cheeseburger tonight but ogled my friend’s. It looked juicy. He said it was and more. He said it was flavorful and cooked perfectly. We split a Chicago Dog. I’ve never had a Chicago Dog before. I enjoyed every bite of it. The hot peppers were a little too hot for me but the cucumber made up for it.

I also had my own Taxi Dog. That’s probably my favorite thing at the Shake Shack. The sweet onion sauce over sauerkraut were the perfect sweet & sour combination on my tongue. Parts of the hotdog tasted a teensy bit salty but that didn’t stop me from chowing the whole thing down.

I also had bites of my friend’s ’shroom burger- fried to a perfection with surprise cheesy goodness inside. I mean, I know the cheese is in there but every time I have it- it’s like a nice surprise- a party in my mouth. = )

The shake she had was quite tasty too.

I think this may be my last Shake Shack meal for awhile. I’m sorta of inspired to eat healthier. One of my friends looked amazing. She was fit and thin. She told me that she’s been detoxing and hasn’t had any meat for a couple of weeks now.

She eats a lot of tofu and seafood and salad instead. She said she may add on chicken at some point but doesn’t want to eat any other meat. She noticed that the past couple of weeks- not only does she look great but she feels great too.

Hmmm. I’m impressionable. I wanna be like Mike. I want to be fit, healthy and feel great. I ‘m naturally sort of thin. But definitely not fit. And these past few months of food splurging has definitely made my clothes tighter – but on the plus side- I have my boobs back! Yay. But I guess I’d rather be healthy.

Maybe I’ll give the tofu diet a gung ho try. Maybe at least during the work week? I don’t know… I heart food.

Hill Country BBQ NYC July 29, 2007

Hill Country Barbecue was delicious! We tried a little bit of almost everything there. Between the five of us- we shared pork spareribs, chicken, sausages (regular & jalepeno cheese), moist brisket, lean brisket, prime rib, and pork chops.

We also had sides! Skillet cornbread, mac & cheese, potato salad, baked beans, mashed sweet potatoes, and thick slices of white bread to help sop up the grease. The boyfriend and I shared a big mason jar of sweet tea that wasn’t really that sweet BUT it was quite refreshing.

We also tried sharing some Blue Bell icecream which some of my Texan friends have claimed is the best ice cream ever… well, it wasn’t quite the best icecream ever and at $4 a pop for like less than one scoop in a container- it was sort of a rip off BUT it was good.

So our favorite picks to eat at Hill Country are the moist brisket and the chicken. They were really tasty and juicy. The chicken is also really cheap! The mac & cheese, baked beans (ham or something baked in there too!), potato salad, and the skillet corn bread are all worth trying as well.

Unfortunately our eyes were bigger than our bellies so we had a bit of food leftover and our bill was crazy! But I think, had we eaten like normal people do and not like gluttons- our bill would have been quite affordable.

The set up of the restaurant is a little weird though. You have to get a card ticket to go inside to get food. The ticket is where they mark down everything you buy but you don’t pay to the very end.

There was a bit of a wait to get tickets yesterday because there was no seating. Luckily for us – our two prompt friends were already there!

Once you get in- you have to go to the different stations to get food. The meat station and the sides station are a bit too close to each other.

Sorry, I was so busy eating that I didn’t even take any photos. But you shouldn’t live vicariously through me anyway!

Hill Country
30 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010
nr. Broadway
212-255-454