Robo Zuckerdog
I tried to get a closer pic looking straight at him but he... came at me.
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Finding Sully
For my latest run I headed over to the Hudson, ran up through various parks and docks, then ran back through Central Park. Along the way I remembered that Sully landed his plane right in that river so I stopped to imagine how wild it must have been seeing a plane descend right along that route into the water.
The plane touched down opposite 50th street, so just beyond that thing sticking out into the river.
Lots of other beautiful attractions along the run and not just the FLY LADIES running in the hot NYC summer morning. Check out these lovely flowers. I must have a shirt in that shade of blue!
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Colbert is Still There
The sign at least. What will replace this iconic facade on the Ed Sullivan theater?
Memorable NYC Experience #8: I got free tix a few years back so I got to see a show live and I was even in one of the audience shots! I also got free fix for Seth Meyers on the same trip. SNL... no luck :(
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Operation Mincemeat
Got a last minute ticket from the box office (my first time actually getting tickets at a show instead of in advance!). Loved every moment and almost cried (almost -- I'm a REAL MAN so I never actually cry except for the one time I left one cut of my expensive Iberico pork out of the freezer for multiple days without knowing it so I had to toss it). The constant role switching for the cast of five is alone worth the admission!
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NYC Chicken Run
This has become a tradition for me: the first run on my NYC trip leads to fried chicken. This time I ran from my midtown hotel, through Central Park, around the Jackie O reservoir, then down to Charles Pan Fried Chicken on 72nd.
The lady at Charles Pan was great and she was apparently training her sons in the business. But the chicken was... dry. This is my second dry fried chicken experience in NYC (Amy Ruth's was the first). I gotta stop asking for breast meat just to test restaurants.
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Anub
Even the baristas in NYC and at #1 favorite NYC work coffee shop and coffee shop name pun Ground Central can't hear the P in my name. I will allow it though because the fly barista was sporting a "Let's Kiss all the Time and Disco Occasionally" shirt.
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Fried Rice with Chorizo, Corn, and Shishitos
I for some reason had a chorizo sausage, a pack of shishito peppers, and a single corn. Just what I needed for a fried rice recipe which I saw on JKLA's Patreon feed.
Basic fried rice rules apply here -- get some of the flavorful fat out of the chorizo, quickly fry the corn, the shishito and the green onion, get the rice coated in smoking hot oil, mix everything together, add some optional soy sauce, salt, msg and sesame oil, enjoy! The super sweet corn is actually the best part!
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Strawberry Short Chiffon Cake
I finally made a chiffon cake that didn't suck! Thanks Sheldo for showing me the way!
Nice and spongy and it rose up real nice in the 3 inch pan and stuck to the pan just enough to hang upside down for a few hours and come right out after I squeezed it from the sides a bit.
I changed up Sheldo's Strawberry Shortcake Cake idea a bit with a marscarpone chantilly (instead of his yogurt whipped cream) and I macerated my inside strawberries, and I dusted some freeze dried strawberries, and I took some hideous pics.
Next up: I need to work on a smoother chantilly (which is apparently just a douchey way of saying "whipped cream") and I need to learn how to take less sucky food pics.
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Sichuan Restaurant Mapo Doufu
W2 Kitchen's latest deep dive was this alternative method for making Mapo Doufu. The big difference from the Mapo Doufu's I've made in the past appears to be the complete lack of liquid and the inclusion of fermented black beans. But I took the opportunity to use my new doubanjiang from SXET, which is apparently way superior to the Lee Kum Kee version I've been using.
I didn't exactly follow the W2 recipe. I used pork instead of beef and a whole lot of it at that. Also I did put in about 1/4 cup of chicken broth at the end because it looked a little too dry (maybe I should have used more oil!). With all that this is my new favorite Mapo Doufu recipe! But there are a billion more I have to try, including JKLA's and Chinese Cooking Demystified's. Those will be next but I'll definitely stick with the SXET doubanjiang no matter what recipe I make.
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Giants V Cubs
During the Will Clark and Rick Reuschel days I was such a Giants fan that I actually listened to games on the radio. Now I hadn't even heard of this Jung Hoo Lee dude when I attended my first game today at Oracle/AT&T/SBC/PacBell Park in three years.
Fond childhood memory #37: going with my (probably reluctant) dad to Candlestick to watch the Giants play the Reds. My first and only live baseball game when I was into the sport. We left a bit early because the Giants were ahead and I tuned in to KNBR 680 on the way home to hear the Reds rally but ultimately lose. That's how I remember it anyway.