Christmas in New York

Because I’m spending Christmas in LA, Simon and I “celebrated” Christmas on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Since we’re both kind of low on the funds, Simon and I decided to individually find 5 recipes and then share them during our celebration. Simon found five recipes for dips — like garlic paste, baba ganoush, chutneys. I LOOVED IT! I looove dips and snacky things :) He knows me so well. I found recipes I wanted to cook and eat, which was kind of selfish, but I’m sure will be delicious.

I also put together a Christmas “stocking” for Simon as a little surprise. I couldn’t find a stocking (they were all sold out or ugly at my local stores), so I bought socks instead and stuffed them with a few little things.

That night we cooked french fries (per my request), and since we were deep frying things and we had some bananas, I decided to make turon. Nothing too exciting, but very homely which definitely brought about a sense of Christmas. I can definitely say my first Christmas in New York was fun and filled with love.

Simon and I finally had the opportunity to visit the famous halal cart on 53rd & 6th. We’re very rarely out in that hood, but we went to go visit the Rockefeller Christmas tree and shop a little bit on 5th ave. ANYWAY, now I know what all the rave is about.

1. For $6.00 they give you hella food.
2. That food is hella good.

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Unlike most places, they didn’t drown their falafel in white sauce, which shows me that they don’t need the dressing to balance the dryness of the falafel. The falafel was really good, and could definitely stand on its own. AND their spicy sauce was actually SPICY, and not acidic/vinegary as other carts. Their rice was soft and well spiced. That cart definitely lived up to they hype — too bad its far though. But next time I’m around that hood, I’m definitely going to holler at that cart.

Weekly Date: Williamsburg & Union Square Edition

This week, for our Sunday date, Simon and I traveled to Williamsburg (think: Silverlake of the east). I can definitely see why its called a hipster town. Lots of vintage stores, small boutiques, and quaint eateries. We walked up and down Bedford street to find a shoe store so Simon could buy (rain) boots, but we only found one store, and there was nothing too exciting there. After our walk, we went to eat at Oasis (the real reason why we were in Williamsburg).

I’ve eaten their falafel sandwich before which I LOOVED, but I’m more a falafel plate girl, so I ordered a falafel plate ($6.00), and Simon ordered a falafel sandwich ($3.00!!!). Sadly, my plate did not come with rice, so I had to order rice on the side. Oh well. The plate came with everything else though: pickled cabbage, pickled onions, pickles, salad, and baba ganoush. Yuuuum!! This is by far my favorite falafel - just look at that perfect falafel consistency: soft on the inside which made for smooth and easy cutability, with a crisp layer on the outside. That rice on the side though, I don’t know how I feel about that. Simon says that, so far Oasis has the best falafel sandwiches and 53rd&6th has the best falafel plates. We have about two more places to check out, before we make any final decisions, but these places definitely set the bar high.

On our way home, we stopped by Union Square, to check out boots at DSW and Filene’s Basement. No luck there. There was a Christmas street fair in the square, so Simon and I checked out all the booths before heading over to Max Brenner for some hot chocolate drinks. Simon ordered a Toffee Hot Chocolate (hot chocolate w/ caramel toffee), and I ordered a Choco-pops (hot chocolate with dark chocolate crunchy wafer balls). The toffee hot chocolate was pretty good, but by the time we got to the bottom, it was SUPER SWEET because we didn’t stir in the toffee :/ I really liked my Choco-pops drink mainly because of the wafer balls. It was nice to be able to chew something. [shrug].

It was really rainy and dark by the time Simon and I got out on our date. It was a little tiring, but dates are always so fun. I’m glad we took the time to get out of the apartment even if the weather sucked.

Yesterday, Simon and I had dinner with a couple of his friends to celebrate the end of two days of testing. Simon was craving dosas so we ended up at Tiffin Wallah which was tasty. For appetizers, we ordered Chana Chaat (chilled chickpeas in a sweet, spicy tamarind, cilantro, yogurt sauce), something different from my usual order of pakoras. It was new and pretty good, but I think I’m biased because I really like yogurt. For my entree, I ordered eggplant! yuuuuum! I love eggplant — my only semi-complaint was that there were peas in it! I’m not a fan of peas and will avoid them if possible. Simon ordered the Rava Masala w/ Chili and Gunpowder (rava dosa with masala, hot green & gunpowder chilies), which was full of flavor. I like how the “gunpowder” spice was visible and not cooked into the dosa or masala. It just added an extra umph to the dish. I knew this place was going to be legit after I tasted that Mango Lassi. Not too thick and good balance of the mango and yogurt — in other words, it didn’t taste like a mango shake. I usually judge places by their Mango Lassi; other people have a red velvet standard, I have my mango lassi measuring stick.

I would really like to go back to this place. I liked the overall ambiance of the restaurant, the waiters were nice, the decor was pretty, the music was a little odd (disney&Celine), but overall just a good vibe. Good vibe+good food always gets my vote.