New Life and Finances= New Food Choices

I spoke with a friend today about blogging. I realized that while I clearly do not blog enough. Duh. I do miss it. Hence, this post is my final attempt at procrastination before I must enter the wilds of writing my policy paper about hungry children in New York City.

You might ask yourself, "why is she writing a paper?" Well folks, I am now a full-time student. It is glorious. While my nights and weekends are now devoted to reading, paper writing, micro problems and statistics analysis, I have not been happier. I am spending more time in New York City than I have since I moved here. I love my classes, peers and professors and think that I made a wise life choice by leaving my job and joining the graduate student forces. It was time.

That said, another common question is "how are you paying for your life?" and the answer is "carefully." As I am not a financial genius by nature and have always had the mentality of "its just money," I have had to make some changes in my lifestyle. These changes include decreasing my trips for manicures, pedicures and other elastic goods (notice the micro concept in my writing- I guess I am learning something), fewer trips to sit down restaurants and an increase to coffee shops, food trucks and other inexpensive luxuries. A quick hot dog on the street is pretty incredible.

Coffee Rant: The other day, some friends and I decided to take a quick trip for some much needed coffee and stopped at a place that mentioned 75 cent coffee in the window. As I walked out with my $5 coffee 15 minutes later, I was perplexed. How did I spend so much? I learned a very valuable lesson: read the fine print. The 75 coffee was a early morning "happy hour" special that ended at 10 am. While my large iced vanilla latte was delicious, it didn't taste like $5.

If any readers are interested in purchasing a senseo or keurig coffee machine for my enjoyment, please let me know!

Hot and Rude

I spent the evening with two really good friends that I had not seen in awhile. We went to a local traditional Japanese restaurant called Butai with limited sushi choices and wonderful tapas style meat and fish selections. We were starving and immediately ordered soup and edamame. I tried to order a drink but our excessively rude waitress forgot I was at the table and walked away before I could order. Good thing I like water. After the miso soup arrived and burned the s@*t out of my mouth, I enjoyed some of the best edamame I have had. Perfectly cooked with the right amount of salt. The beans were almost buttery.

We then moved onto these delicious chicken meatballs on a skewer with a smokey soy sauce glaze. Delicious. Afterward, we had a few different overpriced tapas of filet mignon and dry chicken. We also indulged in some dried out grilled rice balls with soy sauce. I learned an important lesson this evening, don't grill rice. It just doesn't taste good.

The reality of this dinner is not about where you are or what you are eating (I know, I can't believe I just said that), but about the company you are enjoying. I loved being with my friends and it didn't matter I ate grilled rice. We had exciting and fun conversation and it was nice to be able to connect and be together.

After dinner, where we commented that we left still hungry, we went to 16 handles. 16 handles is a great frozen yogurt location (not as good as pinkberry) but a fun outing in NYC. You choose the size of your frozen yogurt bowl and pick and make the a bowl of frozen yogurt for yourself from any of the "16 handles" of fro yo. Get it. 16 handles. The topping bar is the best and while someone was trying to coerce me to get a bowl of just mochi to go, I stopped myself and ate some cookies and cream frozen yogurt with the original eurotart.

All in all a new restaurants (with some highs and lows), a fun dessert and the best company.

And I'm Back...

After much pushing, consoling and asking not so nicely, I have decided to start writing Miriam Bites the Big Apple again. After all what is a more simple pleasure than food. Dining, cooking, conversation, enjoying others company, kitchen ware, menus, restaurants, chefs, sous chefs, pastry chefs, Julia Child, wine, beer, more beer, cocktails and if you could not tell, the list will go on.

I am currently sitting on the couch watching the special features on the Julie and Julia DVD, waiting to create my version of a tomato & watermelon salad for a dinner party this evening and just realized that I am surrounded by cook books, food and wine magazine, all six seasons of top chef and multiple much better food blogs than my own and simply enjoying my afternoon of being a foodie. PS. I think I'm in love with Meryl Streep.

This morning, I enjoyed one of the better brunches I have had in NYC. I few friends and I went to Petite Abeille. This particular restaurant has a few locations throughout the city and I am fortunate enough that one of them is only 4 blocks from my apartment. I enjoyed a cocette (a warm baked egg dish with 2 perfectly cooked eggs on top of roasted tomatoes, bacon (yes, I still love it), goat cheese and covered in guyere cheese. I think if I believed in heaven, this would be there to welcome me for breakfast. The restaurant is known for its waffles and as one friend and waffle lover exclaimed, "this is the best waffle I have ever had," clearly the restaurant lived up to its reputation. The coffee was wonderful and I loved the great big mugs. I can't wait to go back and try the entire back page of the menu with what looks like over 100 Belgian beers.

I will report back later if the tomato/watermelon salad is a hit or a miss. I think I need a new camera also. Maybe for my birthday (Mom- if you are reading this, hint hint)...

Bon Appetite

***UPDATE***

The salad was a success. Highlights- the feta and watermelon. Lowlights- it got watery and not everyone likes tomatoes. A bit too much mint. All in all a successful dish that I would definitely do again. Maybe with basil next time.

So Busy and Mochi

I know I am terrible for not posting for nearly 2 months. So I realized I have never posted about what I do for a living: I coordinate a summer program for high school students who want to volunteer with their summers and I also work with high school students involved in a Jewish youth movement. I love what I do because I have the opportunity to give back to students who are shaped by many of the programs which helped to make me what I am today AND I love kids and really enjoy working with them. I also love my colleagues and also feel fortune to work with them every day. I also am very lucky to be able to work at a camp in the summer and teach about social justice and the importance of advocacy. 

So the real point I share all of this is because we are gearing up for a large convention and I have been working lots of hours and have not had much time to post. I know a lame excuse but it is what it is. Enough about my day job, which I feel blessed to have everyday but onto the food....

As many of you know, I have a deep love for dim sum. I go to an unbelievable authentic dim sum restaurant at least one Sunday a month with some friends. We indulge in roasted pork buns (yes I am Jewish but I love pork- shhhhh), shrimp dumplings, steamed pork buns, many many pots of tea and the BEST dessert I have ever had in my life which I recently found out was mochi. Mochi is a sweet japanese rice cake which is typically filled with coconut or red bean paste. 

My new favorite dessert is mochi ice cream. I know I spoke about my love for all things frozen yogurt earlier but this mochi ice cream takes the cake (no pun intended). Mochi ice cream (I buy Bubbie's brand) is basically a small ball with mochi on the outside and filled with different kinds of ice cream anywhere from green tea (my favorite), blueberry, pumpkin, lychee, or chocolate, just to name a few. It is really the best thing I have ever tasted. I can eat an entire box of 9 at a time however, due to the recession and the fact that I work in a non-profit I try to make a box last for a week because a box costs around $9 but it is SO worth it. Its like the best gummi bear/ice cream/rice cake treat you will EVER have. Trust me. I would love to hear comments about what you or your kids think of mochi. I have yet to try to make it because it is supposed to be torturous but hey- maybe one day when I become the next Cat Cora, I will give it a try.

I promise you this readers, my days of not posting are over...well they are over until the end of February when I will be around:) I hope to hear from readers as I am always interested on who pops by. Until next time...

It's Called A Mirror

My parents have always been into healthy eating and love to try new "diets." When you are still living at home- you eat whatever is in the house. The fridge/pantry in high school had the following: cabbage soup (from the cabbage soup diet), steak and eggs (Atkins), the Oprah tea (don't ask) and variations of vegetables, soy proteins and vitamins. It was echinacea hell in my house and my parents wondered why I bought the school lunch.

Now they are totally into Weight Watchers. I am all about it (the life plan idea not a diet) and I love the point system. For someone who can have obsessive behavior, its perfect. What I don't get is the name. We can all watch our weight- its called a mirror.

On another note, I have been eating great things over the past few weeks. I had two fabulous trips to Hundred Acres for dinner and for brunch. I loved both meals. I recommend their bloody Mary's and the burger is awesome. The people who own the restaurant are wonderful as well. I also cooked a lot while I was home in Baltimore for a few days. I'm pretty sure I invented a new way to make chicken. I could enter the Chicken Cook Off and win $100,000 but my luck I'll place last and end up in therapy for the rejection.

To end this random blog post, I had two fabulous celebrity sightings in the past 3 days. On Sunday, I had the pleasure of shopping for low income public school children's Christmas presents and ran into Gail Simmons, of Food and Wine Magazine and Top Chef. She was purchasing Christmas gifts for children as well. She was such a mensch and spoke to us for a while (even before I asked "Are you on Top Chef?") and I'm excited to watch her bridal shower challenge tonight on the newest episode of the best show on television.

And last but not least, I saw Jerry Seinfeld perform at Gotham Comedy Club on Tuesday night. He stopped by as a "surprise guest" between other comedians acts and did a 20 minute set testing new comedy. I don't even know what he said and does it matter? No. I would have laughed if he just sat up there and didn't say a word. However, I do remember he had a few jokes about cookies (clearly I perked up from staring at him when he talked about food).

If I had A Million Dollars...

Lately, I have been very interested in cooking competitions. I have been researching them constantly and to my surprise learned there are big bucks (up to 1 million dollars) and amazing prizes (new kithens, fancy vacations) for those that win the gold ribbon making chicken or burgers or cooking with a Pillsbury product. I have been more intrigued and thinking about entering due to this economic crisis and my love of all things culinary.

Very few people have eaten any of my food creations but those that have can say, I think, that they wouldn't feed it to the dog. Others may say I get bored and walk away from the stove (which is not the case if I am the one cooking and not demoted to setting the table) and even others may not believe a Miriam Creation could possibly exist.

Last night, I was thinking about all of these recipes I have been dreaming up. Little do my parents know, but I will be making some dishes at their house during Thanksgiving. A few of which, may end up as an entry to a contest where I can win something. I don't have high expectations. I have never won anything or placed in a contest or guessed the right amount of jelly beans. The only thing I have ever caught is the chicken pox. But still...there is hope.

I will keep all of you posted on how they creations turn out but in the meantime, all I want for Hanukkah is a KitchenAid Mixer. How's that for subtle?

No Food Because of the Economic Crisis

So the economic crisis occuring in our country truly is affecting everyone. My apologizes for my lack of blogging. I haven't had writers block, in fact, I just do not having anything to write about because I haven't been eating out. Except for my Saturday night visit to Houston's which was fabulous. More on that later.

If you look back, most of what I have induldged in has been quite inexpensive, except when I talk about meals that I eat with my family, because that's free...for me anyway. So there you have it, all of my inexpensive meals have been written about and that's all I am eating. I saw my Bat Mitzvah money go down the drain last week. Thank you Ferris Baker Watts for sending me weekly updates with less and less money in them.

I really love computer games. Call me a geeky teenage boy or what have you. But I do. So while I was recovering from a terrible MSG reaction, I played a game called "Cooking Academy." The premise of the game is creating recipes from 4 different categories. Appetizers, lunch, dinner and desserts. There are exams and you get graded on your recipe. At least while I'm eating spaghettios, I can make steak on the computer.

More on games later, I just purchased "The Top Chef Game" and am looking forward to playing it. I will give a full review in a later post. Speaking of Top Chef, my Wednesday nights will become fun again this week as Season 5 of Top Chef premiers. I am looking forward to seeing all of the fun places they film, the dramatic challenges, bitchy contestants and bald judges. Its all so exciting!

The one restaurant I visited in the past few weeks or so was Houston's on Saturday night. We ordered the spinach and artichoke dip to start, which they are known for, and it is truly heavenly. Hot, cheesy, spinachy with salty tortilla chips. Amazing. Afterward, I had a veggie burger. It really doesn't sound at all appetizing or exciting however, this particular veggie burger is out of this world. It is made with rice and black beans with a honey bbq sauce. Again, doesn't sound exciting but trust me when I say it is filling, rich and has an intense flavor. We topped it off with a bottle of white Chilean wine which led me into the rest of the night of more wine, beer and a soco and lime shots. Sunday morning wasn't so pleasant but I'm glad Saturday night was!