I'm back?
So, I've decided perhaps it's time to post here again. It's been about a year I think? (Edit: I just checked, and it has literally been a year and an hour. CRAZY!!) I usually find myself re-inspired to post during the summer when it's quiet. Anyway...this has been a pretty uneventful summer as of late. Lots of travel toward the beginning, first Moscow-Paris-London and then the beach, but the last month or so has consisted primarily of lazing around the house and seeing lots of friends and theatre.
My past two weeks have been filled by watching all 113 episodes of my new TV obsession, the fabulous How I Met Your Mother (thanks Ponce!). After years of procrastination, I finally decided the time had come to watch all of it, and I love it so. It's laugh-out loud funny but it also has more dramatic moments...it really is like Friends for the current moment (much more talk of texting and blogs and the like).
This has also been the week of trying the two new fast-food pasta chains that have come to NYC, Hello Pasta (54th and Lex) and nooi (40th and Lex). After sampling both, I definitely prefer nooi, which, in my opinion provides a more appropriate amount of better food at a better price. Examples: at Hello Pasta, I got a small-sized container of slightly overcooked pasta with pesto sauce, and a bottle of water. The pesto was, I will say, the absolute best pesto sauce I've ever had. But the whole meal came to $11+ and didn't even come close to filling me up! Hello Pasta also distressed me a bit because they didn't have a whole lot of "mainstream" sauce options, which isn't ideal for a picky person like me! At nooi, on the other hand, I got a large size container of perfectly al dente pasta with vodka sauce (I chose the large this time because the small at Hello Pasta had been so...well...small, but I actually think a small at this place would have been enough). I was offered the chance to add chicken for $1.50 extra, and also given two mix-ins of my choice--these include herbs, veggies, and a few kinds of cheese. The pasta came in a combo with a drink (I chose water). The whole thing came to about $8, and the very friendly staff were even willing to refill my water bottle with tap water partway through the meal! I'm not saying I'll never go back to Hello Pasta--it's much more conveniently located and not bad by any means--but I definitely prefer the better value and freedom at nooi.
In other food news, I've engaged in two culinary experiments today. The first, earlier this afternoon, was a baking experiment with my frequent culinary partner in crime, Zoe D. We got together to cook as we so often do, and decided on the spur of the moment to make not ice cream, as originally planned, but soft pretzels instead. We found a pretty simple recipe online, and they were delicious! The process is pretty labor intensive (though not hard to follow), but the results were excellent. I'm definitely doing it again very, very soon. After I parted ways with Zoe, though, the ice cream maker was just begging to be used, as were the three pounds of borderline-overripe strawberries that had been sitting in the kitchen for a few days. I decided to throw together a quick sorbet. All was well until I, in a rush to leave the house in time to meet a friend for dinner, put the strawberry puree mixture in the ice cream maker when it was still fairly warm, instead of thoroughly chilled as all recipes dictate and as I well know is necessary. The result was a bizarre, insufficiently-aerated and fairly icy concoction, but it definitely tastes good. I might let it melt and run it through the machine again tomorrow.
Ooookay, that's it for these late-night ramblings. I should probably head to bed soon...busy busy day tomorrow!
My past two weeks have been filled by watching all 113 episodes of my new TV obsession, the fabulous How I Met Your Mother (thanks Ponce!). After years of procrastination, I finally decided the time had come to watch all of it, and I love it so. It's laugh-out loud funny but it also has more dramatic moments...it really is like Friends for the current moment (much more talk of texting and blogs and the like).
This has also been the week of trying the two new fast-food pasta chains that have come to NYC, Hello Pasta (54th and Lex) and nooi (40th and Lex). After sampling both, I definitely prefer nooi, which, in my opinion provides a more appropriate amount of better food at a better price. Examples: at Hello Pasta, I got a small-sized container of slightly overcooked pasta with pesto sauce, and a bottle of water. The pesto was, I will say, the absolute best pesto sauce I've ever had. But the whole meal came to $11+ and didn't even come close to filling me up! Hello Pasta also distressed me a bit because they didn't have a whole lot of "mainstream" sauce options, which isn't ideal for a picky person like me! At nooi, on the other hand, I got a large size container of perfectly al dente pasta with vodka sauce (I chose the large this time because the small at Hello Pasta had been so...well...small, but I actually think a small at this place would have been enough). I was offered the chance to add chicken for $1.50 extra, and also given two mix-ins of my choice--these include herbs, veggies, and a few kinds of cheese. The pasta came in a combo with a drink (I chose water). The whole thing came to about $8, and the very friendly staff were even willing to refill my water bottle with tap water partway through the meal! I'm not saying I'll never go back to Hello Pasta--it's much more conveniently located and not bad by any means--but I definitely prefer the better value and freedom at nooi.
In other food news, I've engaged in two culinary experiments today. The first, earlier this afternoon, was a baking experiment with my frequent culinary partner in crime, Zoe D. We got together to cook as we so often do, and decided on the spur of the moment to make not ice cream, as originally planned, but soft pretzels instead. We found a pretty simple recipe online, and they were delicious! The process is pretty labor intensive (though not hard to follow), but the results were excellent. I'm definitely doing it again very, very soon. After I parted ways with Zoe, though, the ice cream maker was just begging to be used, as were the three pounds of borderline-overripe strawberries that had been sitting in the kitchen for a few days. I decided to throw together a quick sorbet. All was well until I, in a rush to leave the house in time to meet a friend for dinner, put the strawberry puree mixture in the ice cream maker when it was still fairly warm, instead of thoroughly chilled as all recipes dictate and as I well know is necessary. The result was a bizarre, insufficiently-aerated and fairly icy concoction, but it definitely tastes good. I might let it melt and run it through the machine again tomorrow.
Ooookay, that's it for these late-night ramblings. I should probably head to bed soon...busy busy day tomorrow!