My Trip To Baltimore

A few weeks ago, my awesome anthropologist friend presented her master's thesis at a conference in Baltimore. I would never do it, but she's way cooler than I am. The conference was at the Sheraton City Center, and that's where we stayed. Of course, being in an unfamiliar city, I would have to find interesting food. My friend is vegan, which makes it even more interesting. Before I arrived, my friend was unaware of nearby restaurants catering to her needs. So I pull out my iPhone (sorry, not trying to be pretentious) and find a vegan restaurant in about a minute. It's called The Land of Kush. Since I have no idea what that means, I had trouble remembering the name and kept calling it Land of Tush. My friend called it Land of "Koosh". It's about a mile from City Center, and we walked all the way there and back. And I was wearing heels. Yeah, ouch.

Curry chick-un with rice and beans. Yes, fake chicken. It tasted so good, but the texture of the chicken was so.... mushy. I couldn't take it. It made me lose my appetite. I really wanted to finish it, but I have a thing about textures. It was too much. I need tofu to be firmer.

My friend had fake bbq ribs with yams. Real bbq, fake ribs. Her yams were fantastic, but I didn't try the "ribs". I was afraid it would have weird texture.

Breakfast the next morning was at Peace & A Cup of Joe. They have tofu scramble, which I didn't even know existed.

It looks harmless enough when it's inside bread. I'm still a little creeped out, though. I think I actually need to see the tofu getting scrambled to be okay with this.

I forget what this was called, something with "hash" in the name. I think it's potatoes with vegetables? It was good. I remember that much. This place has good lattes, too.

Vegans eat sushi? Okay. I like sushi.

I think this is Geisha Sushi Bar. Eel and avocado. I wonder if I'll ever go to a sushi restaurant and not get eel. Probably not. Should I feel badly because they're going extinct?

Vegetable tempura. Yay. Take something healthy and deep-fry it beyond recognition. That's my kind of appetizer.

Dumplings, of course. It's not a sushi dinner without dumplings. Not to me, at least.

Breakfast near the harbor at Miss Shirley's Cafe. This seemed to be a pretty popular spot. You can add crab to almost everything. I guess crab is special in Maryland?

Breakfast cocktails. Crab cakes and fried pickles/ okra for breakfast. Nice.

 

Okay, how many different types of Eggs Benedict do you need? Also, market price? If I don't know the price, I'm not buying.

I had Eggs Benedict with pulled pork and collard greens. It was so weird having that for breakfast. Once I got over having dinner foods at 8 AM, I really enjoyed it.

My vegan friend's fruit plate and hash brown. And her hands playing with her phone.

I also had my first ever mimosa. This place makes VERY strong drinks. Being drunk at 8 AM is so not okay. Never again. It didn't even taste good. Why would anyone want to drink a mimosa?

Surprise, we went back to Peace & A Cup of Joe for lunch after meeting up with a friend from Fairfax.

 Something like a BLT with clam chowder. They ran out of all the other soups. I'm not really a clam chowder person, but this one was okay.

Roast beef? I'm just guessing because they don't have their menu online right now and I don't remember what my friends ordered. I wish I could see the menu because all the sandwiches have cool regional names like The Edgar Allan Poe.

 Oh yeah, I remember this one. It's peanut butter and jelly. I always think it's so funny when people order than in restaurants, like ordering cereal. It just amuses me. I don't know why.

For dinner, I took my friend to this tourist trap near the hotel: B&O Brasserie. Every time we walked past, we mentioned how it looked like they were advertising body odor. According to Yelp, this place has some awesome duck fat fries. According to the employees, they've never heard of such a thing. I was so disappointed.

The butter you get with the bread is so AMAZING. Seriously, I wanted to eat it with a spoon. It was fantastic. I almost stole it, except we didn't have any bread in the hotel room for me to put it on. Instead, I put at much as possible on my bread.

 Tofu scallops. So I guess that means tofu made into scallop shapes and pan-seared?

Lobster gnocchi with pesto.

Alright, where's the rest of our food? When the server put our plates down, we both stared. After a minute I said "THAT'S IT?!" I can't believe these ridiculous portions for over $20 each. These people are crazy. I guess I should have expected this from a tourist trap.

Sorbet for my friend.

 

Strawberry shortcake for me. The desserts were great. It's a shame when your desserts are more filling than your entrees. The desserts were even reasonably priced.

One thing I really like was the exposed cooking area. We could see the chefs and the fires and all the magic happening. I didn't like seeing them flirting with each other with their tongues out and being completely unprofessional. I think if a restaurant wants to be a certain caliber, they should hire people who will help them get to that level instead of bringing their image down. I don't know if having servers in skimpy black dresses helps the image or not. I guess some people like that.

Of all the restaurants I visited, I really recommend Miss Shirley's Cafe and Peace & A Cup of Joe. At the Cafe, we heard this lady say she didn't like her pancakes, and she was a real jerk about it. They brought her new food within a few minutes. With a smile. I would have given her a death glare. When my friend lost an envelope full of money, the nice people at Peace, etc. kept it for her. Good food, nice people.

Derek Visits NYC

My friend Derek lives in Saratoga Springs, NY (near Albany), and sometimes I convince him to come all the way to NYC to hang out with me. I wish I could post pictures of him, but he always hides from the camera. I'll just post pictures of food instead.

Derek usually arrives in NYC around lunchtime, and I try to find interesting places for us to eat. After all, what's the point of going to NYC and then eating at McDonald's or Five Guys or something. I was really craving something Spanish. I don't mean some American interpretation like Taco Bell or Chipotle. I mean something like Dominican or South American. With my trusty Yelp app, I was able to find a Peruvian restaurant not too far from Times Square where we met up.

It's called Pio Pio and it's at 604 10th Ave. I've been to a place called Pio Pio in DC where the food was cheap and it was really loud and you had to order your food at the counter. This place was totally different from that. They both specialize in rotisserie chicken, but the NYC version has a more extensive menu, including some $30 entrees. However, we lucked out with a $10 lunch special and an outdoor table.

Okay, let me just say this plate is awesome. I wanted to steal it. On the fantastic plate, we have a quarter chicken with salad and a side dish. I chose maduros, of course, also known as fried (sweet) plantains. I love them. I eat them at every available opportunity. The salad is awesome because it comes with avocado, but I almost ordered extra avocado, anyway. I love avocado. I think Derek had rice and beans as his side, but he kept stealing my maduros. I didn't mind because I can't eat this much food. Oh, I forgot to mention the lunch special comes with a soda. Awesome! I hate those places that charge you a ridiculous amount for a cup of ice with a little bit of soda in it.

For dinner, we went to Heartland Brewery (5th Ave & 34th St).  I figured it's probably just an overpriced tourist trap, but I wanted to try it, anyway.

Butternut squash ravioli? I think? Only a tiny amount, though. Totally not worth the money. There was way too much nasty nut garnish all over it. Actually, I feel like there was more garnish than actually ravioli. Yep, definitely a trap.

Derek had lentil soup. He said it was ok. I'm glad I caught his arm in this picture, because otherwise it would seem like he doesn't exist. There's nothing wrong with going to restaurants alone, but I don't do it. I usually need someone to eat half of my food. USUALLY, but not in this case. We were still hungry afterwards, so we went across the street to McDonald's.

Of course, no trip to visit me is complete without a trip to Pinkberry (58th & Columbus).

Derek's is the baby one in the middle. Apparently they gave him the wrong size. We stopped at the K-town Pinkberry (32nd & 5th) so he could get another. I think mine is the prettiest with the Cap'n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles. Next time, we're going to Max Brenner.

Homemade Microdermabrasion Scrub

It's so hard to find a good microdermabrasion scrub that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount. I found a great one by St. Ives once, but it has since been discontinued. My skin looked so good while I was using it. I've been researching treatments for acne and dark spots, and sugar and salt scrubs seem to be a good alternative. Lucky for me, the recipe is pretty simple.

Combine one cup of sugar, half a cup extra virgin olive oil and one teaspoon of lemon juice.

Add several drops of essential oils, such as lavender or citrus. Add one tablespoon of baking soda, which will soften the skin.

I'm using tea tree oil for the essential oil. I couldn't find anything pretty like lavender or citrus. I found coconut, but I don't know about coconut oil being beneficial to the skin.

I added the vanilla and cinnamon mainly in an attempt to improve the smells. It still smells pretty weird. Not bad, though.

Finished product. I wish I had gotten some food coloring so it can be pretty. Oh well. It's probably best to keep it as natural as possible.

Here is a great site listing the benefits of sugar scrubs. I chose sugar over salt because sugar produces glycolic acid, which is a common treatment for acne scars. Yes, I'm still fighting them. You might think they don't show up because I'm brown, but they do. I chose tea tree oil because it's supposed to kill bacteria on the skin and treat acne as well as benzoyl peroxide but without the side effects. Unfortunately, it's also supposed to work more slowly. I'm still using benzoyl peroxide, so I guess I'll have the benefits of both. I hope I will.

After using the scrub, I'm thinking it would be better to go for an oil-free version next time. My skin is oily enough on its own, and it felt really oily after I rinsed my face. I hardly scrubbed at all, and it was almost painful. This will definitely take some getting used to. I know this can be used on the whole body, so I'm betting it'll work wonders for my feet and my itchy legs. They could use some scrubbing.

Dallas BBQ

My mother enjoys having dinner at Dallas BBQ, and I let her convince me to go with her and a friend. To the one in downtown Brooklyn.

My mom and her friend decided to share this monstrosity. It's three different drinks: margarita, appletini and something else, I think. Then there was an extra shot of something on top. I thought they were crazy for drinking that thing.

Veggie burger! Black bean veggie burger, to be exact, with salsa and shredded cheese. And it turns out I really like the fries in this place. They're even good when you microwave them the next day. McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's can't say that.

My mom and her friend told the waiter they were ready to order food and then sat there looking at the menu like "umm...." So annoying. The place was so packed that we had to wait 45 minutes to get in, and they think he has time to stand there and wait for them. Just call him back when you're ready. Geez.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is cool. It's shrimp, steak AND chicken. I think the third thing is chicken. If I had a bigger capacity for food in my stomach, I might have ordered this.

My mom's catfish. I hate catfish. And cole slaw. Gross.

I thought the food was great, but the atmosphere.... It was just really ghetto. I won't get started on the half-naked girls because I wouldn't be able to stop. I guess cold weather isn't reason enough to cover yourself, or Dallas BBQ is a club. I've heard some of their other locations have a dress code, but not this one. Everyone was so loud. There was hardly a moment without some customer flipping out on one of the employees. Kids were running amok and throwing things and their parents just watched. ALSO this place doesn't have dessert. I was so mad, but it's ok because we went to Red Mango afterwards.

Kunjip

Kunjip is the same place where I had dinner on my birthday. It's on that Koreatown block on 32nd St between 5th and 6th Aves.We were lucky enough not to wait in a line going out the door. That happens a lot with this place.

They brought us some weird egg thing, still cooking, of course. We didn't order it, but maybe they're just giving this to everyone now. I don't remember it from past visits. Not my favorite egg dish, but it wasn't bad.

Some sort of bone soup. My friend was having some wild urge to suck bones. I don't know why. And that's practically all she ate, the little bit of meat from the bones. And I was supposed to eat everything else.

Rice and vegetables and spicy pork. REALLY spicy pork. Ok, maybe it was just my wussiness coming out. It was good, though. Spicy pork is always a win.

This tofu soup came with my rice bowl, but I didn't really like it. My friend really like the radishes (on the left), so we had to ask for more.

Of course I also ordered dumplings and my friend ordered that rice cake/ fish cake thing that she never finishes. Everything was mostly fine except for the random 15-minute stretch when no server came near our section. Maybe someone farted. I don't know. Also, the Mexican busboys kept coming out and staring at me. I really hate that, and I don't know what their deal is. It happens everywhere I go. I must be some sort of magnet. I just don't understand why they have to be so creepy.

Tumulty's Pub

Tumulty's is one of the many restaurants on New Brunswick's main street. One night, my friend and I were looking for a place to have a drink, but they had already closed. So we decided to try again.

This is their version of potato skins. Ok, Tumulty's, this is called potato wedges. It's different. At least they tasted good.

Calamari. I haven't had it in years, since that time I got food poisoning. I didn't get sick this time, so I guess it was ok. A little harder to chew than I remember, though. I don't know anything about the preparation or if that can be controlled.

Buffalo wings. They were ok. We decided we're definitely going to Buffalo Wild Wings next time.

The food wasn't anything special, but the service was a bigger issue. When we walked in, we stood there for at least three minutes while the employees talked and laughed while periodically glancing at us. Also, it got pretty busy, and it felt like they were rushing us out. That's never good. We didn't really feel obligated to leave since they didn't feel obligated to provide quality service. Just so you know, Harvest Moon Brewery across the street is much better.

Oven Pear Pancake

I have pretty frequent pancake cravings, but I'm not always in the mood to smoke up the whole house. We just happened to have some pears laying around, and I was afraid they would go bad if I didn't hurry and do something with them. That's when I found out you can make pancakes in the oven, and I managed to find a recipe that uses pears.

Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with vegetable cooking spray. Peel, core, and cut into eighths and arrange them in the pie plate.

I didn't have a pie plate, so I just used a square pan.

Combine 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, eggs, whole milk, vanilla, unsalted butter, and a pinch of salt in a blender. Pulse until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour over the pears.

Place in the oven and bake until springy to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven.

I didn't do the broiler thing. I just sprinkled the sugar on top and stuck it back in the oven for a little bit. It didn't brown. Oh well.

Ok, this is not pancake. This is custard. I was sorely disappointed. I do not like custard or pretty much anything with that type of texture. I was wondering why the recipe asked for so many eggs. Never again. NEVER AGAIN.

Sushi Palace

In case it wasn't obvious, I really like sushi. My friend from Rutgers introduced me to this place called Sushi Palace in Edison, NJ when we met for dinner and the university's opera performance. (I hate opera. I fell asleep. I only went because my friend played piano in the pit and my ticket was free.) Sushi Palace is a buffet, but not the kind where you go up to the counter and get your own food. It's the type where you fill out a form indicating the quantities of everything you want and then the chefs make it and bring it to you. Interesting.. The only problem is my friend has this bad habit of ordering way too much food. She says "I could eat all this myself!" and then she eats a tiny bit and says she full. And then she expects me to finish it all.

I don't remember if this was octopus or squid, but it was really good.. It wasn't overly chewy like you would expect.

I don't know what most of this stuff is. Sorry. I didn't order it. I ordered the eel/ avocado roll and the mackerel sashimi. For some reason, I really enjoy eating the white stringy stuff even though it tastes like nothing. I guess I'm just weird.

Shrimp tempura. Honestly, it made me nauseous because there was too much grease. I had to force it down when my friend decided to stop eating.

Right side: fish katsu. Left side: fish something else. Yum for both.

Right side: eggplant and sweet potato tempura. It turns out I don't really like eggplant. I picked one up thinking it was sweet potato, and I was SO disappointed. Then when I picked up the right one, I started grinning like an idiot because it tasted so good and my friend laughed at me for five minutes straight. Left side: gyoza/ dumplings. Always have to get them.

This place is awesome. If I lived closer, I'd go at least once a week. It's only $25 for the dinner buffet, and that includes ice cream. Unfortunately, fried ice cream costs extra, but we were too full for dessert and had to get to the opera.

New York Pao de Queijo

I once had a chicken salad sandwich with potato sticks at a random deli in Kearny, NJ, and I've been looking for that kind of thing ever since. I'd never had Brazilian food before Pao de Queijo, but I'm glad I stopped to read the menu when I walked by. Almost all of their sandwiches have potato sticks. (^_^)

I love paper menus that I can take home and add to my collection.

Very interesting combinations.

This is my veggie burger. It looks crazy, I know, but it might be the best one I've ever had. Maybe that's because the burger has corn on it as well as potato sticks. It was awesomeness. Seriously.

I decided to try one of these little desserts because they looked so yummy in the display case. The menu called it "Brigadeiro, Docinho de Milho, Beijinho, Bicho de pé"

I tried to break it in half because I didn't want to stick the whole thing in my mouth. Well, it wouldn't break. It was very, very sticky. It stuck to my teeth A LOT. It took me awhile to eat it, maybe 15 minutes, but I was just kind of nibbling and people-watching out the window. I'm a slow eater under the best of circumstances, anyway.

Besides the awesome food, I really appreciated the decor. That little window goes to the kitchen, so it's like your food is coming from Rio. 

I didn't know they had dark-skinned people in Brazil or that they carry food on their heads, but ok. Whatever. It's pretty.