New York Food Essentials

Because this blog has such a strong thematic tie to delicious food products, I find it necessary to report on the food aspects of our trip to New York City before anything else can be reported. Below is the list of restaurants/bakeries/dessert shops we visited in our short trip:

1. Shake Shack

2. Rice to Riches

3. Joya Thai (round 1)

4. Blue Marble Ice Cream5. Big Nick's Whole Wheat Pizza (pictured Parmesan cheese)6. Levain Bakery

7. Yogurtland

8. Grey Dog Sandwiches

9. Magnolia Bakery (Upper West Side Location)

10. Maoz Vegetarian

11. Tasti-D-Lite type knock off

12. Taqueria La Fonda

13. Joya (round 2)14. Brooklyn Flea Market baker

15. Brother's Burger King

There obviously were a million other places I would have liked to fit in there. The following list are some more notable ones. Possible excuses for not going are tight budget, wrong location, and lack of time:

Blue Ribbon Bakery, The Burger Joint, Peasant, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Country Kebab Inn, Doma (my first date with Caitlin), Pampano, Nobu, and the dumpling place. I guess we'll just have to keep coming back. What would you have suggested we hit?

Future posts will detail NY activities.

Skin and Bones

This is Little. I have not seen Little since Thanksgiving, but was able to spend the weekend in New York City with he and Stephen. When we opened the door to the good ol' apartment, both Caitlin and I stopped in our tracks when we saw how much weight Little had lost. He is down about 20+ pounds and is workin' it. I guess he got tired of the chunks and has been using the Wii Fit and dieting to make dreams happen.

I have many pictures to come from NYC...but I have my first class of the term in a few minutes (database marketing analytics - you know you are jealous), so the NY posts are going to have to wait until tomorrow. Don't expect Caitlin and I to be skinny though...we ate like pigs the entire weekend.

Apple Of My Eye

We'z in New York City people, and you can fully expect rad photos of people you love to appear here when the weekend is over. Enjoy your weekend.

It has been six months since we have walked the goodness that is NY, and we shall be enjoying all the classic locations as well as some new ones. Expect to see our faces at Joya, Big Nick's, Rice to Riches, and Burger King (don't judge).

The New St. Patty's Day

Who are these crazy fools below? You probably recognize Caitlin and I. The others are as such: Patrick in back right corner, his dad and mom across the table, and Alex in the front left. Patrick and Alex are both students in my program at Northwestern. You may remember Patrick from our Lost post a few weeks back. Since we are on spring break, we finally decided to party. Patrick's parents were in town, so we decided to up the ante on the festivities by making home made Asian dumplings!

A family that makes dumplings together, stays together. Trust me, this was a very wholesome activity.Pork balls and beef balls. We also had shrimp balls, but they are not pictured.Caitlin was the master at doing the fan fold which we had designated for the beef dumplings.Patrick's cat, Sterling, (separated by commas because he has two cats) was all depressed because we wouldn't let his kitty paws get involved. He watched angrily from the sidelines. Patrick's mom was the master of the dumpling boiling, as seen pictured above. While she had to admit that a few of our dumplings had not been sealed appropriately (flowing meet balls in water), the majority turned out fantastique!Look how much fun they're having! Please note that diet orange soda was the popular drink of the evening and the Griffiths family strongly suggests you give it a chance (particularly Diet Sunkist).Seriously, they turned out awesome. I fully enjoyed every morsel. I think pork was my favorite. Then we hit Guitar Hero World Tour with fierceness. Patrick was able to beat a few songs on Expert with the drums. The parentals did what parentals do best when they watch their adult children act so serious over video games. They laughed. Hard.Yeah, we performed Parabola by tool. I would venture to say that that song might be one of the least performed songs on the set, but probably my favorite song. There's a good chance Alex's laughter is one of mockery at me, not enjoyment. I can't verify that.

This Test Overbites

My sister Michelle has been in dental hygiene school for the past two years and is about to graduate in May. She has done really awesome in school. I had no idea how intense it was to be a dental hygienist - those people do some serious schooling and training. Today Michelle has an 8 hour written exam and I'm sure she feels like the picture below:

Good luck Michelle! You shall destroy that test...

Spicy Saturday

Saturday was our second closest glimpse of freedom from the winter. I am not exactly sure how warm it was, but it was enough for Caitlin and I to get on our bikes and ride a few miles down to Central where we could walk around and enjoy the weather.Central has massive amounts of cuteness within a 3 block radius - some of that cuteness involved us.Caitlin poses in front of the Spice House where we spent much of our time trying spices and imagining delicious foods that could be cooked with each one.Caitlin was really excited about anise seeds, but I wasn't....at least until she explained that anise is not pronounced "anus".
Seriously, hundreds and hundreds of traditional and original spice concoctions. We tried at least 20-30 different spices before deciding on Sweet Maple Ginger and Bridgeport. Both will rock our meats and veggies.

Then we walked around until we ended up at Great Harvest Bread and bought some scones and a white chocolate blueberry crumble. Both were consumed in the park until we fell asleep for about a 1/2 hour in the grass. I think I am going to enjoy the spring here.

GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!

Last Saturday was a very special day in Chicago. Its a day when the whole city spend a day paying homage to my favorite color, green. And man do they pay respect! (Okay, there are rumors that there is a religious aspect to this holiday, but I don't believe it. Its the same as saying there is a religious aspect to Mardi Gras). Caitlin went downtown with some peeps early to see the actual dying of the river. I had some scouting to do that morning, but would join them later.I think everyone was expecting a huge barge to die the river green...but no, it was this little guy.The little boat was up to the task though and the green started quick.When I said the whole city, I meant the whole city. This town loves Saint Patrick's Day with a fierceness. And the river turns green. Real green. The first time I saw it, I couldn't help but go back to Secret of the Ooze. It was like someone urinated green hi-lighter into the water. I have to say, it is pretty awesome and lasts for hours.Caitlin, Heather, and Jenna - three young ladies and a microphone. Okay, no microphone.Oh - and last but not least - my boy DAVIS!!! You da man little guy! Puttin' up with three chicks all morning until Chris and I could come rescue you. One important part of the celebration is freak watching. While these guys are no where near the extremes, they were the approachable ones.Then the city headed over to the parade. This is the part where I showed up. I'll be honest, I didn't even go over to the parade (20 feet away from where I was). I kind of hate parades that don't throw out candy, plus everyone said this one was lame. So instead, we walked around and found a place to eat.I got to see the river for myself.The Tribune building downtown has a piece of Idaho on it - from Craters of the Moon! We had to represent.

As we were eating lunch, I was telling Jenna about how we used to live in Mesa, AZ. We were making connections when I told her that I hung out with a guy named Parker. She screamed, "SHUT UP!" and slammed the glass of water she had in her hand on the table. It shattered - in her hand. Apparently they dated for a summer...must have been quite the relationship.

Gino's Feast

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Caitlin is on a mission to try all the deep dish pizza places she can here in Chicago to do her own comparison. We are all tired of hearing one person say that Giordano's is the best deep dish and then hearing the next person say Carmens is the best deep dish. So we need to just find out for ourselves. With that drive, we forced Scott and Ellen to meet us downtown for some serious pizza action at Gino's East.Scott and I had both had Gino's East before, but Ellen and Caitlin had not. Would they love it, or turn their noses? After some serious deliberation regarding toppings, we finally agreed upon a half vegetable, half meat lovers pizza.While we took in the goodness, Caitlin and i snapped the classic requisite photos. Everyone agreed that the pizza was wildly delicious. Both Caitlin and I agreed that we like Giordano's a little bit better. While the corn crust at Gino's is very good and the cheese is probably the best of the two, Gino's was very saucy and sometimes overly so. Plus, you can't deny the garlicky goodness that is Giordano's crust. Next on our list is Carmen's. Any other suggestions?

It was awesome to see Scott and Ellen after months of no visual. We all agree that while the distance is not that great, both parties can be crazy busy. We decided we need to step it up a notch and make friendship happen. OH, and I have decided Ellen needs a permanent live in nanny to help her, preferably one who will work for free. Any takers? Give the woman a break!

As Caitlin and I walked back to the El train, we walked past the ridiculously huge McDonalds downtown. When we saw that they were selling Shamrockin' Shakes for St. Patrick's Day, I couldn't help but join the crowds and point in amazement.

A proud owner of a Shamrockin' Shake.It was shamrockalicious. Please note that Caitlin was also a partaker in this shake. Thank you McDonalds.

PowerPoint Has Become Mainstream

So I had to post this slide (below) from a PowerPoint presentation in one of my classes. First, let me say that I hate that PowerPoint is used in a classroom setting. It detracts in many ways, one being that many of the professors use it as a substitute for figuring out ways to effectively teach. I remember the good old days at BYU, high school, etc. when teachers actually taught the material using strong language and speaking skills. I guess PowerPoint can have its pluses, but on the average I believe it is used incorrectly in a classroom setting.

But that isn't the point. So, this slide is from one of the worst taught classes I have ever had in my life (this includes down to elementary school). I am studying for a ridiculous final right now and this is an example of the 700 hundred slides we have to read. Just look at the graphic and the notes and try and make a connection. Just try.

There, don't you feel edumacated.

Net Future Happiness

So I'm sick again. AGAIN. Not to mention, it is finals week and I am killing myself with finals, papers, and the like. Let's just say I am not having a lot of fun. I'm just happy that I am going to squeeze in a night with the Henneman's at Gino's East tonight. That will be a glowing light in an otherwise dark weekend.

But, to be honest, I have a lot to look forward to. Let's list them:

1) The Presets concert in April. I love the Presets, particularly their most recent album. I can only imagine that this concert will require much booty shaking and fun. Australian + Techno = fantastic.

2) Mates of State concert in April: Another great concert that should be enjoyed by both Caitlin and I to the fullest. Also, Donjamin and Lizjamin are coming.

3) Brothers: Caitlin and I are going to New York in a few weeks during spring break. We need to get back to our roots and to the preciousness. It just has to happen. We've been denying it for too long. I can't wait.

4) Finally - I got an internship for the summer and am really excited about it. Considering 90% of my fellow students have yet to find one, this is a huge load off my shoulders.

Yeah, I got some stuffs to look forward to.