June Stuff that Wasn't California or Camping
I kicked June off with a victory of maturity by not bringing this portrait I saw in the curbside trash home with me. Sure, when I look at this picture of that picture I feel a little bummed that I don't have it, but also proud that I've progressed beyond bringing trash from on the street into my home.
One of my first noteworthy meals of June: Mission Cantina with Viviana for fish tacos, General Tso's chicken, and super-garlicky pea shoots.
Then we dipped into Morgenstern's for the first night of Kanye West Week 2. Viviana had the awesome chocolate and peanut butter "You Left Your Fridge Open" ice cream sandwich. I had the cute coconut ice cream with ash cookies Panda cone.
The next day I had lunch at this place Soho Tiffin Junction in the Village to check out their chicken tikka masala burger...this picture doesn't show it, but it features a patty of chicken tikka masala held together by meat glue (don't worry, that's a technical name) and it's actually real nice.
There was a Monday night where a bunch of church friends traveled out to Union City (so quick and easy!) to check out Mariano's ice cream shop. It was great! And then we walked over to the river to have a look at Manhattan and the spot where Alexander Hamilton got shot.
And then there was this other day where I went out to Sunset Park to eat tacos with Leanna. No pictures of tacos, though. Sometimes I forget!
There was this one Saturday where I went to Bushwick to meet up with Chaunte and Jeff at this barbecue place called Arrogant Swine. The space was great, the walk over was interesting, the food was ok. Favorite dishes on that platter were the garlic cheese bread and one of the cole slaws. The meats? Fine.
During some of my less-exciting times last month I would play video games. Last of Us was awesome, just like everyone said it was. Loved visiting Salt Lake and seeing the animals escaped from Hogle Zoo.
Here's some at-home cooking from the month, featuring further attempts to perfect tacos of cauliflower, broccoli, and steak. And also roast vegetable salad.
Right before I went to LA I met up with Jeff to try out the hot chicken at this new place Carla's Southern Kitchen ("Carla" being some TV food celebrity). The flavor was there, I liked how oily it was, but the heat was weak...I got the absolute spiciest chicken they had and I'd say it was a Prince's medium. Also: This drumstick and little cup of potato salad? $7. Sheesh.
I think it was that same day that I finally checked out Nishi, the new (7 or 9 months old?) Momofuku in Chelsea with Bryndee. Thumbs up on the scallops in tiger's milk, chickpea sauce pasta, and clams and noodles...very meh on the spicy beef dish. Potatoes were good, too bad they came out at the very end of the meal, pound cake was fine.
Here's some miscellaneous walking around pictures
When I got back from LA I met up with Julie, who published me in her music 'zine and was in town from LA, at Roberta's. The only picture I got of Julie was her hand, but look at that green tomato salad!
Another night I went and saw some chamber orchestra play a whole lot of Beethoven, but what I'll never forget about that night was watching the woman in front of me dredge her sushi through a dozen packet's worth of ketchup and mayonnaise.
A few nights later I went down to Madison Square Garden to see the Stone Roses. I'm glad Ticketmaster sends reminders because I had bought the ticket so long ago. I think I'm a Stone Roses fan, or at least I respect them for making one of rock n rolls A++/10 out of 10 perfect records, but the stadium was packed with people, all 5 to 10 years older then me, that LOVED the Stone Roses. Merch lines were gigantic, like, probably bigger than at a Katy Perry or Taylor Swift show and 60% of the audience wore their new Stone Roses t-shirts/sweatshirts/soccer jerseys they had just bought. My seat was down on the floor, a fluke of good clicking, and my favorite part of the show was when a security guard put this drunk who had been falling onto me and my neighbors and causing all sorts of nonsense throughout the show in a headlock and punched his lights out.
One afternoon a van crashed into a tree on my sidewalk going the wrong way on a one way street and somehow missed all the parked cars and people.
Ok, thank you for scrolling down so far...here's our Grand Finale, heading down to the Brooklyn Bridge Shake Shack to meet up with the Clarks and meet young Silas. And try the white cheddar bacon burger. That, too.
