Sushisamba on Park

So, continuing an unnaturally diverse series of posts about food, tonight for dinner I went to Sushisamba on Park Ave. after our quarterly meeting at the office. (And, no, I didn't take foodbloggy pictures. I was with a bunch of editors! So not appropriate!) It was okay. Not amazing. I've heard that the West Village location is better; the thing about restaurants in the Madison Square Park/Flatiron area is that they're in a very business-heavy part of town, and any one of those upscale places for dinner or a happy hour will have a cramped, thank-goodness-the-workday's-over vibe. Kind of like any of those same restaurants for lunch will have a guys-in-suits-talking-money vibe.

Beyond that, the experience was pretty good. I ordered two dishes: yellowtail ceviche (with ginger, garlic, and soy) and a seared beef maki roll with palm, pineapple, and scallion. The former was quite delicious; the latter was only so-so and not particularly memorable, but not terrible. For dessert I had mochi ice cream...green tea, passionfruit, and lychee. Kind of typical Asian-restaurant fare, nothing like what you'd find at a dessert bar or anything, but whatever. It was good!

Food-blogging is not my strength. Food-eating is. But aside from the goings-on at the office, food was kind of the highlight. Oh, and Lost. Tonight's episode had some of the prettiest sights to look at out of all three seasons, but I had some trouble figuring out exactly what the point of it all was. And not in the island-mindfuck sense, but in the "who's writing this script?" sense.

Coffee Evolved?

OK, so, today was momentous because our new coffee maker was delivered way earlier than we'd expected. K. and I opted for free shipping on Amazon, and expected it would take a week or what-have-you, but in the end it took two days. So that was nice. We'd been looking to upgrade our coffee maker from the cheap KitchenAid one that K. had inherited from her sister, and we chose a Melitta MEMB1B Mill & Brew, which was affordable but way nicer than what we were currently working with. This one not only has a mill built in and doesn't require paper filters, but it also has a timer--something our old one didn't. We haven't tried it out yet, but I think it's safe to say that we're both actually looking forward to waking up tomorrow. Let's just hope I don't screw up the timer...

Anyway, that's about it. Lunch today was at a perennial favorite midday spot for when I'm in the Madison Square Park area, Dos Caminos on Park Ave. between 26th and 27th Streets. Naturally, the three of us at our table pretty much inhaled a double order of chips and guacamole. I almost ordered the Cubaña quesadilla (pork, ham, and chihuahua cheese), which I'd had last time and liked quite a bit, but instead I opted for the skirt steak salad with roasted mushrooms and beets. Not the most Mexican item on the menu, but hey, it still tasted good.

Best thing about having Monday off work: Only two work days until a new episode of Lost is on!

Today in food news...

I apologize for not taking photos of this afternoon's culinary experimentation, but I couldn't possibly compare in food-porny goodness to Vanilla Garlic. VG's blogger posted the recipe for chipotle cinnamon chocolate cupcakes a month ago and I decided I absolutely had to try it. I owe baked goods to one of my co-workers who helped me out in a pinch last month when I needed access to a camcorder, and so I decided to make a bunch for the office. They were extremely easy to make, except for the part where I had to dig chipotle pepper puree out of the bottom of the blender. My roommates K. and M. seemed to like them; K. was especially effusive about the wonders of spicy chocolate. So I suppose it was a success.

The other novel component to the cupcakes was the fact that I used Silicups, or rather the Crate & Barrel equivalent (cheaper than the ones from Williams-Sonoma that Outblush featured). These are basically reusable silicone muffin cups that allow you to 1) cook without a cupcake tray, and 2) not use disposable paper muffin holders that get messy. The catch is cleaning them in between batches, which takes a while. I recommend getting twice as many as you think you need, so that you can alternate.

Then, post-baking, I headed to a networking event at Mixx Lounge, where I was able to hang out with a few people I know and peruse the menu of sketchily-named signature drinks. I settled for the "Fruity Biznitch," which is a concoction of vodka, peach schnapps, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice. Tasty, though very weak -- but I suppose anybody going for something with peach schnapps and pineapple juice isn't exactly looking for a dirty martini.

First signs of spring?

Know what's cool? The fact that I woke up at 6:48 this morning (my alarm goes off at 7) and saw light coming through my window. And when I stumbled into the kitchen to make some coffee, there were birds singing. I'm so ready for warmer weather.

On a completely unrelated note, if this turns into the overblown post-Anna Nicole story of the season, and the evening news is filled with stories about the scandals and dangers of joining the Mile High Club, I might just have to go renounce my American citizenship. I can totally see it coming...

Out and about: end of January, early February...

• As I said earlier, Death & Co. in the East Village is a really impressive bar. The place keeps attendance restricted so that it doesn't get packed, which might seem snobby, but in truth, it really just makes it a much more pleasant place to enjoy a drink. I went over with three friends (including Cliff, who was visiting from DC) and they told us they'd send us a text message when they had a table opening. So we went a few blocks north to Sushi Lounge on St. Mark's for their $3 sake-tinis (and I had red bean ice cream) and then were back at Death & Co. within 20 minutes.
  
  I also said in my brief post about Death & Co. that this was the first time I'd ordered an overpriced drink and really thought it was worth it. The bartenders are very skilled, and when you take a look at the list of signature cocktails, you think "Okay, this is something I couldn't make on my own." (Unless you happen to be a highly skilled bartender yourself.) Plus, I spent my senior year of college slaving over the history of the early 1930s, so the ambiance of this bar really resonated with me. The music and décor were perfect, and the pinstripe-clad bartenders were a nice touch, too. Highly recommended.
  
  
• A few weeks ago, a friend of mine from college had a birthday party at Prey, which my nerdy self refers to semi-affectionately as "the mashup bar." The place is clearly trying to toe the line between a chic lounge and a warm, old-school bar, but ends up rather dichotomous because there's basically a "bar" section and various "lounge" sections sprinkled throughout. Personally, I think The Plumm does a much better job of putting together an atmosphere that's both trendy and vintage-cozy (hello, wood paneling!) but unfortunately, the crowd there kind of sucks. Or at least it did when I checked it out last summer.
  
  
• I was one of several reporters covering the Windows Vista launch for our company, and I think it's kind of funny how Microsoft sure knows how to throw a party (bellinis and sea bass at Cipriani? a performance by Angels & Airwaves?) but has had quite a few issues getting a decent operating system off the ground. I have a copy of Vista, but I'm legitimately afraid to install it because I'm scared it might sabotage my hard drive since I've heard so many horror stories. Kind of funny...
  
  
• I'm kind of a blonde now. Dark blonde, really.
  

Believe the hype.

Believe the hype. Death & Co. is awesome. Pretend your pockets are deeper than they are, plunk down $12 for a Company Buck, and imagine that it's 1935. This was one of the few times in my life that I felt an overpriced cocktail was worth the price.

I'm going to post a recap of the superficial goings-about-town this week tomorrow, most likely. So I'll have more to say then.

Number one in the hood, g.

In case you haven't heard already, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" has terrorized Boston. I mean, seriously. How stupid are we? One of those LED guys was planted up on a building on Lafayette Street in NoHo a few weeks ago (because before it's anywhere else, it's in New York City) and I never doubted for a second that it was some kind of silly advertisement.

I think the sad part is that this is, in a sense, a blow to creativity. If the American people has grown so paranoid that anything out-of-the-ordinary is seen as a threat, it's a sad day indeed for street art, public performance, and unusual marketing campaigns like this one. I hope that something as utterly silly as mistaking an "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" character for a terrorist-planted bomb will make us realize that this whole "fear" thing has gone way, way, way, way, way too far. But knowing how things work here, it won't.

But perhaps the last laugh will be coming from the right side. Anybody want to bet that "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" ratings will be soaring after this?

P.S.: The Daily Kos thread about the incident is actually very funny.