What I see around NYC

Hilarious.  A few guys from London decided to be funny and take photos with the "live" mannequin at this store in SoHo.

A Bad Happy Hour Experience at Bobo in the West Village!

I recently went to Bobo in the West Village for their Happy Hour Specials and was extremely unhappy with their service and the "after-math" of my visit. I would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience... so please comment...

My friends and I were wooed here by the $1 Happy Hour Oysters, but after my visit, I will not go again.

First I will say, they have a limited selection of happy hour drinks available -- from my recollection, the choices include Pilsner ~$5, Rose (terrible) and Red/White wine - ~$6-$7. The $1 oysters were a deal, however, I will say, it may or may not have led to my demise at the end of the night. But, I can't blame it just on the oysters because I did have a few other food items from their Happy Hour Menu...

We ordered the following from their menu ...

• 1.5 dozen oysters
• Tuna tartare on a chip
• Fried oysters
• Lobster risotto balls

After I walked out of that place, perhaps 1-2 hours afterwards, my stomach started feeling funny... and surprise, it wasn't only me. My friend and I started to have symptoms of a "churning stomach" ... and without saying it so directly, you can guess what would eventually follow. Though some people may argue that food poisoning occurs 8 or more hours after ingestion, according to the FDA, onset of food poisoning can occur within 1 to 6 hours (e.g. vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, etc). I will say, one of our friends walked away unscathed - so it could be a fluke (note: our friend didn't have the Pilsner, but had all the other foods). I will ignore commenting on the service because that is less important, in my opinion.

Unfortunately for us, what we expected to be a beautiful evening of Happy Hour Drinks and Appetizers at Bobo -- was less than beautiful.

Note: Perhaps, we had an off day (it happens), but all I have to say is "Buyer Beware". I can not comment on the rest of the food offered here, only the drinks and food that I had (i.e. Pilsner, $1 oysters, Tuna tartare on a chip, Fried Oyster, Lobster ball).

In fairness, please review Yelp.com for other people's reviews to gain a well-rounded review experience of Bobo. However, if you've had a similar experience here, please post.

Bobo
181 w. 10th Street
On the corner of 7th Avenue and 10th Street

Food Blogger thrown in jail and fined after a negative restaurant review!

Ms. Liu, a food blogger in Taiwan, was sent to jail after writing an unfavorable restaurant review... The owner of the restaurant sued her for defamation and the Court found Ms. Liu's criticism of the restaurant exceeded reasonable bounds.

The blogger, who has more than 60,000 hits on her website, was sentenced to 30 days in detention, two years of probation and fined NT$200k (US$6,917, resulting from the owner's loss of income) after writing that "the restaurant served food that was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a “bully” because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams."

For more info on this incident, refer to the Taipei Times.

Polaroid Masterpieces: Highlights from The WestLicht Collection in Austria -- Review from Flavorpill

Excerpt provided by Flavorpill - to view some of the photographs click here

"Back in March the Vienna-based WestLicht Museum of Photography purchased the International Polaroid Collection from the Swiss Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, saving it from being sold off piecemeal with the rest of the bankrupt company’s holdings. Made up of 4,400 photos by 800 international artists, including such well-known names as Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andy Warhol, this massive body of work was shot primarily in the ’70s and ’80s using special custom made cameras and film that was not available on the market — all provided by Polaroid’s founder, Edwin Herbert Land. Beginning today, 350 of the images will go up on display in Austria; click through to view a selection of highlights from the collection, including our absolute favorite — ANDY SNEEZING."
________________

Note: Some of you may recall ... nearly a year-ago I had written about a rare collection of Polaroids/Photograph's that were auctioned by Sotheby's... For more information on those images, click here for my past posts.

What I see around NYC ...

Delivery bikes around NYC get motorized! Hopefully this means you get your food faster!

P.s. you gotta love the plastic bags around the bar and seat ... Bike is outside of Saigon grill on university place.

Rooftop Films in New York

Movie is about finding love... And I found love on the rooftop...

What do you see? Post ur thought.

A doggy dog day!

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring.

Ok, that had nothing to do with my post! But - this dog's appearance says it all for today's on and off rain!

Imagine the dog saying...

"oh, the humidity! Don't even talk to me about a bad hair day" -- NYC dog in central park!

PHOTOGRAPHS - Steve McCurry, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Robert Frank, Sebastiao Salgado

Phillips de Pury & Company is auctioning approximately 260 photographs taken by a few well-known photographers. After stumbling upon this exhibit, I realized just "how well known" some of these photographers were. Irving Penn, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Robert Frank, Edward Weston, and Steve McCurry to name a handful of them. Upon seeing the photographs, you could quickly figure out why it was theirs -- it was because of their style, because of what they chose to photograph, and because some of them are iconic images.

There were other photographer's work that I did not immediately recognize, however, when you walk up to the description, you may chuckle as I did as I realized "aha, yes, of course!"... And they were equally as well-known and famous as the others ... it was the works of Henri Cartier Bresson, Richard Avedon, and Sebastiao Salgado. Other photographers who I am not familiar with their works include Desiree Dolron, Peter Lindberg, Elger Esser, among others are present.

A few photographs that I enjoyed viewing included:

• Sebastiao Salgado - Chinstrap Penguins , with an opening price of $12,000-$15,000. I saw some of his works during my photography walking tour where he photographed a group of workers along a hillside and made it look like an ant-farm. This picture of the elephants was no different, he had the same style and, in my opinion, witty sense of photographing everyday people/objects to make it humorous. Another interesting one was An Elephant Ghost World.

• Henri Cartier Bresson's - Brie, with an opening price of $8,000-$12,000. The photograph is of Alberto Giacometti working. I thought this photo was intriguing, particularly since I have seen Bresson's work at the MoMa, and while his pieces were at the MoMA, Giacommetti's scultpure work was downstairs. So this photo, at least to me, reminds me of that exhibit and made me chuckle because of how decades later both their work were exhibited in one location.
  

• Irving Penn - Miles Davis, with an opening price of $25,000 - $35,000. The photo is of a "hand" holding a trumpet, with a few fingers extended. This photo may not say anything at first viewing, however, after reading who the hand belongs to, you'll understand the significance of this photo because it is Miles Davis' hand.
  

• Lastly, I truly enjoyed seeing Steve McCurry's "Afghan Girl", with an opening price of $10,000-$15,000 (image is not signed). I enjoyed seeing this piece because he came to speak at the David Alan Harvey "At Home" Workshop and spoke about this one image among his many other photographs taken in Asia. Additionally, the Afghan Girl was the cover on the National Geographic Magazine in 1985 and the photograph has been republished in numerous books and posters. In 2003, National Geographic found the Afghan girl, and to her surprise, she didn't realize her face was made so popular. For more info on that story, click here and for more info about the photo used as cover for national geographic, click here.
  

With that being said, you will have to go and see it for yourself, and hopefully, you'll find some works that you may know and enjoy. The auction viewing will be made available until April 8th, with opening hours Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and on Sunday from 12 - 6 p.m. The auction for the photographs will be held on April 9th. There is an "opening reception" held today from 4-7 p.m. where cocktails and hor d' oeuvres will be served.

Enjoy!

Phillips de Pury & Company
450 Park Avenue (cross street is 57th Street)

Auction will be held April 9 with the first session at 11 am and the second session at 2 pm
Online viewing of items to be auctioned.

Vegetarian Week: Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus and Homemade Tomato Sauce

At the beginning of the challenge, I was fearful that all I would eat this week would be Lentil Soup, and if not lentil soup, then some variation of "vegetable" soup -- but that would be boring - wouldn't it? Yes... So as I was feeling a bit "behind the bars" with this vegetarian food challenge, I realized I can make pasta. :D (note my behind the bar photo to the left -- haha, had a little too many bars, whoops)

Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus and Tomato sauce. That's vegetarian (and healthy)!

I didn't follow a recipe, I just "winged" it. Figured this couldn't be too difficult to do.

6 -8 servings; takes approximate 1 hour (includes preparation time)

Ingredients:

1 lb Delallo Organic Whole Wheat Penne Rigate
1 bunch of asparagus cut into thirds
olive oil

Tomato Sauce (approximate measurements)
- 1 can (28 oz) Muir Glen Whole Plum Tomatoes, cut or tear apart the tomatoes (then why not get the diced tomatoes? I prefer the whole, but you can get the diced if you prefer)
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 1 to 1/4 cups of starchy water (e.g. pasta water; or use cornstarch)
- 2 teaspoons Basil
- 2 teaspoons Oregano
- Diced Garlic - 5-6 cloves
- Olive oil
- sugar (if you like your sauce sweeter)

Tools
- a sauce pan
- a sautee pan
- a straining ladle
- a strainer
- cutting board, knife, bowls

Boil a pot of water for both the pasta and the asparagus. Put some salt into the boiling water and add in the cut asparagus. Boil for 2-3 minutes (or until the water starts bubbling again - I like my asparagus slightly crunchy). Take the asparagus out of the boiling water with the straining ladle (e.g. leave the water in the pot) and put the vegetables in the side. Continue to boil the water, add the pasta and cook the pasta per the package instructions. When done, pour the pasta into a strainer and mix in a little bit of olive oil (to prevent the pasta from sticking to one another).

As you're waiting for the pasta to cook, heat your sautee pan and put some olive oil in the pan. When the pan is hot, throw in the garlic and let it sizzle until fragrant (but not browned), then add in the tomatoes and 1 to 1/2 cups of water (use the starchy pasta water if the pasta is done). Throw in the tomato paste, the basil, the oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Let the sauce cook for 10-15 minutes until you see the sauce sort of thicken to your consistency. Add sugar if you like your sauce to be slightly more al dente.

If you are not going to eat all of this today, I would suggest plating your own plate of pasta, then add some asparagus and pour the sauce on top.

However, if this is for a party, you can mix the pasta, asparagus and sauce in your large serving bowl (or the sautee pan if you want to avoid cleaning another bowl).

And that's it... this is your pasta (well this is it if you individually plated the items on a plate)

Yippee! I made it through another successful day of Vegetarian Eating!

Vegetarian Week: Mixed Fruit Smoothies

Yum. Mixed Fruit Smoothies. Why didn't I think about making this before? Probably because I haven't had to "think" about what to cook, but with this Vegetarian Week challenge, I have pushed myself to be more creative with my meals. And, if you think about it ... a fruit smoothie is a good healthy treat that can substitute dessert (well, almost substitute it) ... and best of all, a fruit smoothie is perfectly suitable for my vegetarian week challenge!

Smoothies. Funny thing is -- I've had fruit smoothies before, but, I haven't made it before. But, don't fret, making a smoothie is SUPER EASY and you don't even need to call your friends at Jamba Juice for help.

So here I am, without a recipe and I decided to "wing" it. There is nothing like experimenting -- you can be pleasantly surprised, or ... not pleasantly surprised... But at the end of it all - you'll be glad you tried.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen Dole Mixed Berries (or any type of fruit that you like)*
1 cup apple juice (or coconut/orange juice)
3-4 cubes of ice

* If you have fresh fruit, that will work just the same -- however, just make sure you have more frozen ice cubes.

I would recommend placing the cubes in the blender first, then adding in the frozen berries and apple juice. Pulse the blender under the "ice crush" option a few times and your smoothie will reach a frothy consistency that suits you.

Use a spoon and taste the smoothie before placing it into a cup. The above may not be as sweet as you would like, so feel free to add sugar (liquid sugar if you have it) or more apple juice to make it sweeter.

If you want it to taste like jamba juice, add in "sherbet" ... or you can add yogurt ...

Since making my first smoothie -- I've tried all sorts of different fruits... Strawberries with pineapple made with orange juice and suspect I will make other smoothie varieties.

Have fun making your smoothies!

Vegetarian Week Challenge: Lentil Soup by Alton Brown

Lentil Soup by Susan Lee

Recipe: Alton Brown

As I previously blogged, I decided I would try Vegetarian Eating for one week. I started this past Saturday with my first vegetarian meal -- Lentil Soup. I found a recipe by Alton Brown on the food network and have included it below. The recipe is extremely easy to follow with the hardest part being the vegetable preparation. I chose this recipe because of Alton Brown. If you have seen his show, Good Eats, you'll know that Alton does a phenomenal job educating his viewers on the history of food. Since this Vegetarian Week challenge started after watching Food educational documentaries (Food Matters/Food Inc) and Oprah's show, I thought it would be form fitting to start the week with an educationally focused chef!

Below are my comments and notes indicated in blue.

• Cutting the vegetables in this recipe is probably the most time consuming part of this recipe. I started cutting the carrots by hand, and then realized it may be easier with a blender (I don't have a food processor). So I tried that and the carrots came out extremely fine (just be careful not to puree it). I tried the celery, but decided it was easier to just cut it into mini cubes. The onions? I attempted the blender with this, but shortly realized it would be better to just finely chop the onions.
  

• I made a few substitutions to this recipe since I used what was readily available at home. I didn't have vegetable broth at home, so I decided to substitute it with Knorr vegetable cubes. The flavors from soup were very nice.

• There are two types of lentils -- red and regular. I selected the regular lentil.

• The recipe says you can puree the soup once its done. I chose not to do this and to keep the lentils in its small-dish like form.
  

• Get ready for leftovers! The recipe said it will yield 6-8 servings, which I think is a bit conservative. I can easily say I had at least two tubs full of lentil soup, with more left in the pot. If you don't want to have lentil soup for a month, ask some friends to come over and enjoy the soup with you! Otherwise, you can freeze the soup and store it for a month or so.

Overall, I really enjoyed cooking and eating this soup. Though it took a while to get the ingredients together, the results were worthwhile. The soup is extremely filling, healthy and great-tasting. I'm happy this was a successful first meal in my week challenge. It shows promise for the rest of the week!

Go Vegetarian and take the week challenge with me!


Ingredients: (Makes 6-8 servings)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot (try a food processor)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
  
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  
• 1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
  
• 1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used a can of whole plum tomatoes)
  
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth (I substituted with Knorr Vegetable Cubes)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise (I substituted this with ground pepper)
  

Directions:
Place the olive oil into a large 6-quart Dutch oven (I used a pot) and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and sweat until the onions are translucent, approximately 6 to 7 minutes. Add the lentils, tomatoes, broth, coriander, cumin and grains of paradise and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency (I didn't puree, I left it as is). Serve immediately.