British Puddings are AMAZING

First of all, my list of Britishisms has grown a bit so check out the new additions. One of them is one I've know of for awhile and that's "pudding" or "pudd" meaning dessert and in no way meaning the american pudding which is like a custard. Right, so one thing the brits do particularly well is their puddings, my god. I'm in chocolate heaven over here and only have to go as far as the market to get some impressively sweet and chocolately puddings. There's this brand called Gu (with the two dots over the u, whatever that's called) and they do fantastic puddings. There's one called a cheeky+saucy chocolate pot that's just pure dark chocolate mousse meant to be heated up and spread over something but yours truly is too much of a chocoholic to deal with warming it up. I plunge straight into it and look for more when the tiny pot is all gone.

Another recent discovery is this dark chocolate molten cake that takes 30 seconds in the microwave for it to be gooey, chocolately, sinful and absolutely delicious. Another pudding I'd never heard of was banoffee pie which is a mixture of banana and toffee and it's quite a delicious treat! I made one last night, take a look :-)



I LOVE the puddings here, definitely making me one happy (and unhealthy) chap. I've also started a Chocolate quest and mapped places out on google maps. Yes, I'm a chocolately geek!

Randomisms - Brockwell Park, a Wizard and a Ciabatta Bacon Sandwich

I just got back from a run in Brockwell park, which is only five minutes away. It's an absolutely gorgeous park with lots of wide open space and a cool cafe or pub at the top of the hill with tables to sit outside. I'll definitely be checking that out at some point!

As I was running, a couple of random things popped into my head that I wanted to capture somewhere and what better place than sending them to google to be stored forever? I can't think of any. A few weeks ago I was going to Argos, a catalogue store where you can pick things up as well, and as I was coming out there was a man dressed in a purple wizard's costume leaving a pub with a black cat perched on his shoulder. Very odd and I definitely chuckled at it, but not him directly of course. He probably would've cursed me if he'd seen me chuckling behind him!

Another thought that popped into my head was about the bread here. The grocery stores have excellent bread, and I've been to quite a few and they all keep a pretty good stock. They have fresh ciabatta, my favourite, and it makes an amaaaazing sandwich when mixed with the thick bacon they sell here (you could never find that in the states), some avocado, tomato and fresh mozarella cheese. Pop that into the oven and you have a nice, crispy but soft on the inside, ciabatta bacon sandwich with red pepper flakes over the top, of course. I'll have to give it a name as it's divine and I'm about to go enjoy one right now and I'm feeling a bit peckish (britishism).


Last thing was going to have carvery last weekend at a pub in Dulwich called the Crown and Greyhound. They serve a Sunday feast with pork, veggies, beef, potatoes and yorkshire puddings. Yum yum, it was a tasty way to spend a Sunday and pretty close to my flat as well. Served with a pint, it was a perfect Sunday afternoon meal!





Can you tell I'm hungry? Food has occupied my mind! Off to make my sandwich.

Oh! and I think I found the Yelp! equivalent over here which I am very excited about. It's just picking up speed but I can see it becoming just as popular as Yelp. It's called Qype, another weird name, but it has user reviews on things all over London, England and Europe! http://www.qype.co.uk.

Salt Lick Delivered!

4 Days to go!

Saturday afternoon was spent preparing loads of food at Andrew's place in Brooklyn. We had mashed potatoes, cole slaw, chips, fruit, collared greens, chocolate banana bread, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and sweet tea. These were all sides though that were centered around the online ordering and delivery of Salt Lick way down in Driftwood Texas. It was a brilliant way to end my final weekend in NY and the U.S. although with celebrating Steph's birthday as well (Happy Birthday Steph!). We all had a great time preparing, chatting, eating and eating more. I was sooooooo stuffed and completely in a food coma by the end of the food-a-thon and the salt lick meat (sausage, brisket and ribs) turned out really well! It was really tasty. Now for some pictures of the Meat Feast of 2008:



Yummy sides


SALT LICK!


Group Photo


Food Coma Jones


Gabe. Out. (that chair was so comfy!)



mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so good. I must say though that after that feast my stomach was not very happy with me and woke up me throughout the night to remind me of the amount of BBQ i consumed. Nasty indigestion but totally worth it. :-)

Packing Up

10 Days to go

This past weekend I knocked one more thing off my list and that was going to Zum Schneider's German biergarten in the East Village. I'd been wanting to go for some time and I finally went with steph and andrew and had an enormous and delicious beer in a proper 1L Munchen pint glass as well as some pretzel, prok shoulder and German bratwurst. Mmmmmm, yummy! Afterwards we went to BonChon for korean fried chicken and lychee soju (so good!) and then to Ginger Man for another pint. It was a fun night!

Gabe at Zum's


The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and packing. I've decided to give up on the prospect of hiring a shipping company to move my things and just throw away or give away a lot of it. The rest I've managed to pack into two 20x20x20 boxes which will be going on the plane with me as extra baggage. It's a LOT cheaper that hiring a ruddy moving company to take my stuff across seas as their base estimate was somewhere around $2000. Yeah...that's not going to happen. So I spent most of the day Sunday finding things to pack away only leaving the bare minimum to pack into my two remaining suitcases, one of which is being shipped to me as I needed a bigger bag. Right, well I feel pretty good about my packing status, definitely one thing ticked off my list.

Now if I could just apparate, grab my work permit and apparate back...

*CRACK*

GSEEC Super Day!

This weekend certainly brought the adventurous spirit out of me. Friday was the exception, I worked a bit late due to a deployment and then relaxed the rest of the night sending a few pings here and there.

Saturday came and Steph, Andrew and I met up for an early lunch at Dumpling House in the lower east side. It was a basically a tiny counter with people cooking dumplings and other dim sum behind the counter. It is known for it's extremely cheap but tasty food. I ordered more than I could eat but it only set me back $4.

Afterwards, we headed over to Il Laboratio del Gelato feed one of my many addictions. It was a good early afternoon snack. I ordered a scoop of chocolate and another of macademia, both were very good. However, I still prefer Grom and will need to go back soon. Haven't tasted that rich, dark chocolate in awhile! Steph and Andrew wanted to get a few famous doughnuts from Doughnut Planet down the street so we walked a bit further and ordered two very tasty rounds. I only had a bite since I was still savouring my gelato.

Finally onto our main event, the Science Center. It was a beautiful, crisp day and we were all excited about walking. We strolled over to the WTC to catch the path train which is a good 30 minute walk. We caught the path to Jersey and then the light rail to Liberty park where the Science Museum is located. We arrived just in time for the IMAX on Mummies to begin. We were quite impressed with the dome IMAX but not the film. It didn't have enough adventure or exploring in it. There was too much focus on the people, drama and acting which is not what you expect from an IMAX movie at the science center.

We continued on, stuck around for a cool experiment with liquid nitrogen (awesome stuff!) and explored the museum for a few hours. They had some interesting stuff and we enjoyed our visit but it wasn't exactly what we were expecting. There wasn't enough hands-on, cool stuff like what I was used to from the San Diego science center so we left with a little disappointment. However, that was soon forgotten once the Soju arrived.

We took the transit back to manhattan and were debating whether to get some food or separate and rest up for the party later. After initial discussions, we decided to head into Korea Town for some korean fried chicken at Bon Chon. The fried chicken was very good and we all enjoyed it however it was the lychee Soju that stole the show. It was a lychee infused liquor that tasted incredible and had us all feeling it's effect shortly thereafter.

Following "dinner" Andrew and I were thirsty for a drink and what better place to go than an old favorite of mine, the Ginger Man. I ordered up a boddingtons and black and tan to quench my cravings while other friends met us at the pub. There were two aussie's that were friend's of andrew's friend James, visiting NY on a trip around the world. They were seven months into their adventure, 22 countries down and only a few more to go. AMAZING! I was incredible intrigued with their travels and stories. Wow, that would be a towtally awesome trip. So jealous and impressed!

Dinner was had at the famous Chipotle Mexican Grill (i ordered guac and chips since i don't really favor the burritos) but afterwards we made our way to Fat Cat, which is a lounge in the west village. This was quite a unique lounge as it had chess boards, scrabble boards, ping pong tables and foos ball tables all around! Hahaha, what a nerdy place, we all felt so at home. he he. Anyways, we found a seat in the back and played a game of scrabble and foos ball over a couple of PBR's. One thing lead to another and it was already 3am! Time to skedaddle.

Today I had an amazingly perfect lazy sunday thanks to a few good friends of mine including my jim jams and early grey and a few very special other ones. :-) Thanks guys, it's EXACTLY what I needed today!!!

Californian Visitors

Michelle's family is in town this weekend and we're showing them around the city. the last time (and first time) they came to NY, it rained the entire time they were here so they didn't get to see any of the sights, only what was visible through a rainy window.

Yesterday we took a tour of the fed, showed them around downtown (I took a 1/2 day) and went to Carmine's for tasty Italian food later in the evening. My chocolate personality took control and desperately wanted that MASSIVE ice cream sundae that we had on my birthday...remember? (I just realised that I DID NOT upload the picture of the titanic dessert from Carmine's. That has to change)

Flashback: The Titanic on my birthday 2007


The point I was getting to...we couldn't handle that massive dessert so I asked if there was anything smaller. Our waiter said they had a Tugboat which is have the size of the Titanic but the same delicious goodness. Perfecto! :-)

So our lovely californian visitors have come at a very chilly time in NY, it currently feels like 23 degrees and it's December 1st! Niiiiiice! he he. AND tomorrow it's supposed to....yep....SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! I'm so excited! I love the snow!

A few photos from last night:







And from a few days ago when I cooked those towtally tasty chocolate chip cookies:

Thanksgiving Photos

We cooked all day, and stuffed ourselves in 15 minutes of gluttony. We really enjoyed the turkey, gravy, stuffing, mash, peas, biscuits and Pinot Noir (gabe only) and of course pumpkin pie. However, we both agreed it just wasn't the same without all the people to socialise with. We were reminiscing of times with family and friends and wishing we could be part of a big Thanksgiving gathering. All the food and dessert helped those longings fade as a wave of laziness swept over the both of us.

Pictures from today:













I hope everyone had a brilliant Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving to All! We've just finished watching the parade on the telly, the pumpkin bread has been made (and is missing a slice) and the turkey is in the oven. Mmmmmmm!

It is unusually warm today, 61 degrees which is perfect for the parade. Tomorrow it's supposed to drop to 39!! Cold cold cold!

Autumn Rain and Mexican Food in Queens

This morning I awoke to rain sprinkling down outside. It was about time to have a lazy, rainy day so I was very excited! I went out to quickly pick up milk and bacon and returned to make pancakes. Towards the afternoon, the rain let up so I went out with my camera to try and capture the essence of a fall rain. There wasn't much color, I was about the orangiest thing in the park but I still took a few decent shots.










So on to my adventure tonight. We went to this Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Coatzingo out in queens and it was authentic to say the least. We were just a TAD out of our element when walking in there but that's part of the adventure. We sat down and most of the waitresses only spoke Spanish. My brain had a rather large twinge trying to remember the 3 years of Spanish I took in college. I haven't kept up with it at all so I only know phrases here and there. I ordered an horchata (cinnamon, nutmeg, rice milk drink) a tamale and enchiladas. They were sooooooo good, that place was a gem! After dinner, we went across to the scorpion bar and ordered a few cervezas and soaked in the local scene... all in all a great night out.

I am now leaving queens with my belly full and a very content smile on my face.

Last Day of Red Hook Ball Fields, Ikea, Runing in the Park

We've had a busy weekend here with renting a zipcar to go to Ikea, hitting up the red hook ball fields and making an effort to workout. The weather has been in the low 70's for a few days now which isn't the crisp-fall weather that I would expect towards the end of October but it's still nice. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 76 though! I'm waiting for my below 60 weather to return, it's about that time i think. Also, we went for a walk yesterday in the park and was surprised that the trees aren't turning yet. There were a few colors here and there but it's nothing compared to last year. Take a look back to October 22nd last year and the pictures I took in the park: http://www.gabefender.com/2006/10/autumn-all-around.html

With colder weather in the distant future, we needed to find a place for Michelle to put all of her winter clothes. We decided to rent a zipcar on Saturday morning and hit up Ikea for a dresser. We definitely found out that going at 9am (when it opens) on a Saturday is the best possible time since nobody was there! We picked up a rather large dresser and a bookshelf for me and called it a successful trip.

Today we couldn't resist going to the Red Hook ball fields since it was the last day of the season and possibly for good. The city has not decided if it will renew the permit for latino's to come out and cook delicious food each weekend during the summer and fall. It has been getting a lot of press lately so I'm thinking the permit will get renewed but that's only my hope.

An article on the ball fields from the gothamist:
http://gothamist.com/2007/10/20/last_weekend_of.php

Whether the food stalls will return next year is uncertain. The Dept. of Health was closely monitoring the vendors for a time this summer and any very expensive recommendations or a steady stream of fines could put them out of business in short order.

We arrived around 1pm and went immediately to the blue tent where deliciously large huaraches (my favorite!) are cooked up on a hot grill. We decided to share one queso bistec huarache which was extremely filling by itself. Paired with a large watermelon juice, it's easily one of my favorite meals in New York. Afterwards, I stood in a rather long line for a pork and cheese pupusa and filled up the watermelon juice. On the way out, I couldn't resist getting some mexican sweet bread and a cantaloupe juice to go. It was a gluttonous day but I knew we were working out later so I didn't feel as bad.

After we finished assembling the dresser, we decided it was a good time to burn some of that huarache off. Michelle has been really enjoying her workout videos she ordered from netflix and I've been either working out downstairs or running in the park outside. Either way, it motivates both of us to get some cardio in. Today I opted for a run in the park before the sun went down and it was a good choice.

I headed out of the apartment around 5:30 and usually run up 95th street but today I felt like taking a new route so I ran up 94th which was surprisingly interesting. After walking to the park via 95th street so many times, it's weird how taking just the next street over is so different. I got to the park right as the sun was disappearing behind the west-side buildings. There was still enough light out for a good run though. Continuing on my decision to explore different avenues (literally) I ran uptown through the north meadow and saw a little bit more color in the trees. I was really feeling an energy surge so I continued across the park to the other side of the reservoir and then around the running path to the west side. All in all, I probably ran about 2.5 miles which is pretty good for me. As I was finishing up on the running track, something caught my eye. The light shining in from the west was bouncing off the windows on the east side. It was incredibly gorgeous and I had to stop and take it all in. The cool, dusk breeze hitting my face; the water slapping up against the side of the reservoir; the empire state buildings spire scraping rising up behind the GE building in midtown; the chrysler building lit up and shining; the columbus circle towers defining the beginning of the upper west side. I was standing in the middle of manhattan, looking south towards the concrete buildings that define this island and the park splitting the dense populating like the part in my hair. I was standing in the middle before all of this and it just hit me that I was in just a massive metropolis. It catches me by surprise sometimes, especially when I have my head down and tail up at work.

As I stood there in awe, the pink and blue streaks on the east side slowly dissapated, letting the darkness of the purple and navy flow in and finally transitioning to a darker sunset blue that defined the night.The sun still shone through the avenues from the west and the buildings on the east side looked like cardboard cutouts against a dark backdrop with tiny mirrors positioned to reflect the light of the sun back into the sky. It was a brilliant moment and one where I wish I could pull out a pen and paper, laptop or blackberry to record it right then and there. Instead, I hurried back to my apartment and jotted down some notes so I wouldn't forget. I know I didn't capture it's full essence but I hope this will help me remember that feeling.

Apple Crisp!

Mmmmm, tasty and really sweet apple crisp from golden delicious apples! I use Kathleen's recipe and it came out really good. It is loaded with sugar though, oh snap!

My San Diego Trip

I had such an amazing time at home in San Diego. It was really wonderful being with my whole family and spending lots of time with them. I felt especially connected to each of them this trip. My dad and I had some fun going to the movies, watching dogs surf and photographing them as well as working on computers at home. To see all my photos from the trip, check out the tag "summer07" on flickr.

My mom and I had some really special time together, whether it was as simple as going to the Trader Joe's to restock on fruit, Rico's to get some tasty burritos or a long walk from Torrey Pines all the way down to La Jolla shores. I had a great time in all of our adventures! You can view all of those pictures under the "la jolla" tag on flickr.

La Jolla Cove




Rock Formation


Torrey Pines Beach


My sister and I had some real quality time this trip and I am so fortunate to come home when she is around. It's not every day that the whole family is together. We had some real brother-sister time this trip that I truly treasured. We had many trips to the beach, an bottle cap collecting evening at Fidel's Mexican restaurant that was kind of a bust. But it turned into us making nachos, grabbing beers from the fridge and going to San Dieguito park at night to enjoy the clear, starry sky. We also had a brilliant beach day at the newly remodeled Fletcher cove beach. That day was such a perfect beach day with the sun beaming down on us and perfect body surfing waves. I had such an incredible time just hanging out in the water with her and being water buddies. Finally, to top it off, filming her river dance video was just too much fun. All must see this one!

Nothing like a morning cup of joe


Yesterday was one of the most perfect days of my holiday. I spent most of the day at Torrey Pines beach with my mom and my sister and the weather couldn't have been better. The water was a nice 66 degrees but with the warm sun it was hard to feel the chill. The waves became much better as the tide rolled out and I spent the better half of our time there in the water. It was crystal clear, which doesn't happen often, and the waning sun scattered sparkles onto the water below. I decided to leave my surf board at home and just body surf with my mom and ahna. It was a good choice since the waves weren't big but they were perfect for swimming like a seal. I definitely got the hang of it in only a short time. I hadn't really done much body surfing in the past but it's a lot of fun and you only need your body! Easy! The trick is to tighten up your arms and legs and have your arms straight in front of you like you're diving. If the wave tries to push you from behind, tighten your abs to keep your body straight. If you catch a good wave, you can ride it all the way in which is something I've never done before while body surfing. It was awesome!

The view of the sparkling ocean was unforgettable and it was quite a spectacular way to spend my last day at home. I am going to miss the beach dearly as there are so many things I love about it! I have a theory that there is a difference between beach time and non-beach time. When you're at the beach, time just moves slower and you feel more relaxed. The water has a strange but wonderful effect of clearing your mind and body. Whenever I am in the water I forget everything else that is going on in my life and only focus on the moment I am in. When I get out of the water, all my worries, stress and outside thoughts are washed away with the waves. It is incredibly soothing and relaxing.



To top things off, we picked up Rico's for dinner. A big bean, rice, cheese and guacamole burrito assuaged my beach hunger. There's nothing like the hunger that one gets from being at the beach and playing in the water. I got four extra burritos to take back with me to New York. They just don't have this kind of quality out east. As I write this, the four companions are tucked securely in my backpack along with a small container of hot sauce. I can't wait to enjoy these with Michelle! I am also accompanied by 3 and 1/2 chocolate muffins from Costco which I am sure Michelle will help me eat :-)

Overall, my trip was incredibly restful, enjoyable, fun and full of family lovey. However, I can't help but think of the few things that I missed out on during this trip. I didn't get to satisfy my longing for chips from Fidel's. That can wait though. The big thing was not seeing Michael while I was at home. I called him numerous times but never received a response from him. I missed catching up with him especially since he mentioned in our last correspondence that a lot has been changing in his life. If you're reading this, Michael, call me so we can catch up! I miss you bro!

Before I left this morning, we had a big family breakfast which included yummy waffle's, tons of fruit and a nice breeze while we ate outside on the deck.


That's all for now, I am going to plug into my iPod and hope the flights will get me to Islip on time and in one piece. I am projected to get into Long Island at 10:30 then take a train to Penn Station arriving at 12:43. Hopefully I'll make it home by 1:15am but that's up to things I cannot control so I'll just hang out and hope it goes smoothly.

Aerial View of San Diego


And now to remember in pictures...

Moonlight beach view


Sub Palace Monster




The Fam


Speak with you all soon.
-Gabe

Summer Fruit Salad!

No description necessary...

Red Hook Ball Fields

All I need to say is HUARACHE! The watermelon juice was amazing as well...

Maracas and Yankee Stadium

It's been such a long and stressful week. I had so much work to do and I am so relieved it's the weekend. It's amazing that July 4th didn't even give me a tick of rest but I'm sure it would've been worse if I didn't have that day off in the middle of the week.

Anyways, Michelle and I met up with my sister and Paul for dinner on Thursday which was really nice (except for the weather). We tried to go to a really amazing Indian food place called the Kati Roll Company but it was packed, small and hot inside. So we gave up on that idea and went for Mexican. We tried a place in the west village that Michelle and I had heard of a few months ago called Maracas. It was a fun atmosphere although it felt more like a bar than a restaurant. The chips and salsa were excellent and they gave us another basket on the house (in small print at the bottom it says each additional basket is $3.50...sneaksies!). Michelle and I shared the La Bandera which consists of three different kinds of enchilada's with three different sauces. It was really tasty, although I didn't like the beef enchilada as much as the other two. Overall it was about an 8.5 on the Mexican food scale with the great burrito edging it out for first place.



Yesterday my co-worker, Engin, was asking if anybody wanted to go to the Yankee's game tonight and since they were playing the Angels (Michelle's favorite team) I grabbed em. We made our way up to the Bronx after I got off work and except for a little subway delay we made it fine. Our seats were out in the bleacher section in right field but they had a great view of the action and the tickets were only $20! It turned out to be a gorgeous night with a night breeze blowing through the stadium. We had a really fun time!

Today is finally going to be my second trip to the RED HOOK BALL FIELDS! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so incredible!