coffee and a snack in the west village

i stopped and had a cup of mud coffee, which was rich and flavorful, but not as thick as i would have anticipated from a tag-line like "mud." and then this little jewel at 'snice cafe.

a gigantic chocolate peanut butter creme sandwich cookie. oh, joy! although the cookie may have been a day past its prime, it resembled a huge homemade oreo cookie that harbored a hint of peanut butter. it's slight staleness complemented the afternoon coffee quite well, as i sat outside on a dilapidated bench at a small corner park perched off of 8th avenue in greenwich village. a nice humble-bumblers mid-afternoon snack for this sugar fiend. mud coffee: 8.0/10; choc. pb sandwich cookie: 7.4/10 (fresh would certainly earn somewhere in the mid-eight range).

crap lunch at zen palate in union square

this dish, called "rose petals," was described as "soy crepes with wolfberry seeds and vegetables in sweet rice ginger sauce, with taro spring rolls and brown & red rice."

soy crepes, i thought, giddyup! then they brought me this dissapointing dish...

the soy crepes were nothing more than unflavored yuba skins that appeared to have been boiled in water, then pan-fried in oil and placed atop a spare portion of steamed veg, set aside a scoop of mixed, gluey rice. now it was the lunch hour and they sat me near the door that wafted in cold air every few seconds as someone entered or left, not a big deal, but i wore my coat for the entire meal. this didn't piss me off as much as the inane banter that the two hostesses at the desk were swatting back and forth. at one point they were digging in their drawers and showing eachother what underwear they wore today. eff this place.

shall i continue the rant further? so i ordered a hot green tea, right. this is a modestly-upscale asian place, right? the waiter brought out a ceramic cup filled with hot water and a green tea bag resting on the saucer. call me a bitch-snob, but double-eff off. $1.75 for a tea bag and it isn't even made tea-bag proper (pour the hot h2o over the teabag). ugh.

the ginger sauce was basically a tangy corn syrup thinned out, but the taro spring rolls were contrastingly good to the rest of this meal. it could have been what i ordered, but i'd have to say i'll never give zen palate in union square another glance. keep walking. rating: 4.2/10.

two of three, and three of three

here we are with the post buffalo wing treat at the vegan bakery, babycakes. i picked up a ginger cookie that was quite good, but i could have made at home, and this chocolate iced chocolate cupcake top.
now, let me tell you something. they did something magical with this frosting that i have yet to place exactly how it was created. it was a thick, fudgey dollop of cocoa goodness that maintained a rich integrity with not too much tooth decaying sugar to falsely confuse the taste buds. it was pure blissful chocolate atop a light, fluffy and fresh cupcake top. vegan baking can be a bit oily at times, but this was anything but. i give it babycakes a 9.5/10 for these decadent treats.

onto one of my usual manhattan haunts, teany.co-owned by musician moby, the real thing to get on the menu is the vegan cheesecake. again, an otherworldly dessert creation in the big apple. this thing has the flavor so right-on, its almost scary. the texture is consistent and moist and sticks to your fork in only the way that cheesecake can. i ordered a teanychino on the side to help wash down the 4-berry slice. teany offers a chill environment that on a wednesday night, i was able to sit back and relish in a bite of my cake every few minutes while leafing through a strange magazine about appalacia.

after this 9.2/10 second helping of dessert, i decided to walk from the lower east side back up to my hotel in midtown. the walk took a hair over three hours and i got back to the hotel at 11:50pm, listened to some music and crashed. walking a city, in my opinion, is the only way to get to know it.

red bamboo in greenwich village

one evening last week, i ventured out to a fine vegan-veg establishment in greenwich village, red bamboo. this was actually stop number one of three restaurants to round out my meal that night. you are gazing into this appetizer course of the meal.

this it a boston milkshake. the body is butter pecan soy cream shake, and the boston part of the milkshake is a scoop of soy cream on top of the shake. in this case, i chose pistachio. the waiter who took my order asked me wryly, "feeling a little nutty?" "without question," i riposted.

and feast upon this fine app of soy buffalo wings with blu-cheeze dipping sauce to cool the palate. the texture was as meaty as soy can be, but the heat of the spice could have been up a notch or four. the wings were basically some sort of yuba wrapped tightly around a bamboo stick serving as the shank. the interior was flavorful and very moist, i'm not sure how exactly they do it. the exterior was lightly seared in oil and then dunked whole-heartedly in the buffalo sauce. again, a bit too sweet and tangy, and not enough kick. nevertheless, a good experience in a nice joint with reasonable prices and a melow, date-place atmosphere.

final verdict, the boston milkshake earned a 8.7/10--perhaps due to my odd flavor selection; and the buffalo wings amassed a 9.0/10.

vegan roadshow

i spent most of last week in new york for work. i managed to hit the streets and wander into a good number of pre-mapped out vegan haunts. overall, i filled my craving for decadent delights with a soy-smacked smile upon my face.

over the next few posts, i will showcase the savory (and semi-savory) morsels with an attempt at an accurate review of each dish.

the burrito above was found around the corner from the office in a little joint called the burrito box. it was filled with grilled seitan, pinto beans, brown rice, pico, and lettuce tucked into a whole wheat shell. their hot sauce to ladel atop the handheld was medocre, not quite the burn that i seek. the girth of it had me nodding in awe and approval for the sub-six dollar price tag (nyc mind you).

the seitan was a nice treat. i prefer black beans to pinto, but the beans were subtly kissed with the right blend of seasoning. overall, i would give it a 8.3/10 points. if in the neighborhood, i'd frequent the place once every two weeks for lunch, but i wouldn't go too far out of my way for this one.

i own land

i purchased a bottle of laphroaig single malt scotch this evening in celebration of finishing the semester and the dawn of winter. one must warm one's self from the inside-out a time or two during the frigid months, no?

with the purchase of said bottle, comes the title and deed of one square foot of land on the island of islay, scotland.

now, it is a bit small to build a house upon, but other square-foot owners have ventured out and been married upon their plot; one other fellow made a small japanese garden upon his stake.

i'm just pleased that now i own a vacation spot.

reading

now that the semester has finished, i am in need of a good book to read. i'm looking for something fiction, funky (but not too funky--no irvine welsh), and thought provoking mixed with humor. any suggestions?

trans-law

coming full circle with this trans-fat ban post, new york has now approved the legislation. this is a milestone in protecting public health, in my opinion. transfats and their hydrogenated parents can eff off.

looking down

guess where. international? domestic? rural? hmmm... nope.

it's santa fe from the landsat satellite. truly fascinating. for a bit of click-around fun, check out this image gallery or this one.

fin de la semester

t-minus one week. by friday, i will have turned in the final draft of my graduate thesis. it is themed as a business proposal for a philanthropic foundation to adopt an initiative dedicated toward environmental projects, specifically within the urban landscape. it addresses air and water issues, environmental justice inequalities, recycling programs, trash incineration, and mass transit. i did not address smart growth for the project. if there were additional time, i would have spent some time on that topic as well.

i have to say that compiling the data and formulating a feasible method of implementing the programmatic work that would take a concerted stab at resolving the ills of a polluted metropolis was indeed most enjoyable. in september, it seemed like a daunting task. but after diving in, it became a methodical release of learned knowledge and devised strategy that began to fill the pages. i am quite content with the final product. i will reread it yet again and try to clean up any residual stubble that may remain.

global hiccup

thursday, november 30th, i found myself running at 7am wearing shorts and a tshirt and still sweating like a lil' piggy. the last day of november and it was seemingly sub-tropical. no need for a jacket recently. confusing, yet welcomed weather patterns. the doom of winterdom will soon lay its blanket of frigidity, that much is certain.

in a few cold months, this spell of warmth will be but another fading memory. in the words of flavor flav,"yeeeahhh, boooeeyyy. bring the noise!"