MM and Halloween!

Some mini-moments from the past week...

On a quest... to find buttons! I went to the Fashion district to find new buttons for my old interview suit. <$10 for these square beauties with a unique ornamentation. 

A very small glass of OJ or a large cup of coffee? Hmm....

My roommate's Halloween cupcake cat! He used Reese's cup for the ears, black licorice for the whiskers, sprinkles and lots of frosting!

Can never go wrong with double black choco cookies with white chips!

Happy Hallo-sandy!

Yikes how time flies! Sandy has come and gone. Not my first experience with apocalyptic NYC and its accompanying frenzy, but it definitely was scary! I spent the past 48 hours hiding inside and watching scary movies as the storm went by. Luckily, the part of NYC that I'm living in went by relatively unscathed from the Sandy-storm, but my lovely city and surrounding areas has been torn apart by this fury from Mother Nature. I will be back on a regular schedule of blogging soon, or soon to be blogging from the road as interview season starts!

In the meantime, here are some photos from the Food and Wine "Train and Trucks" event that I went to a few weeks ago. Some local NYC food trucks were featuring one item to sample from their trucks....I had everything from Big Gay Ice Cream sundaes to philly cheese steaks to brick-oven pizzas! Take a look!

"Bizzare Foods" host Andrew Zimmern's truck "AZ Canteen"

Mini sliders with carmelized onions, tomatoes on a pretzel bun from AZ Canteen

A beautiful fall day...waiting for food

Ice Cream sundaes!

Cheese Whiz or no?

NYC two week stay-cation

My two week NYC stay-cation has so far been excellent, including some several great mini-moments: see below.... 

Lotus Mooncake in celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival

A "ladies-who-lunch" luncheon at Northern Spy foods

Dylan's Candy Bar Halloween candy special!

Decorative wall decal I helped a friend put up

P.S. I blame my friend over at Pop Culture Scribe for getting me motivated and subsequently addicted to Breaking Bad. Thank you Netflix.

Gangnam style

I have taken a temporary hiatus from this blog in light of recent application madness. However, since I have nothing new to add to this world wide web I will re-share this excellent song and dance killing it on Youtube. Enjoy!

The Great American pasttime

 I apologize to my readership and fans (all two of you) for the lack of updates. Last week was a baseball kind of week....see below!

My first Yankees game! And my first NY Yankees hat! 

The Yankee Stadium was a lot smaller than I thought. It was LOUD though!

My koala getting behind the Bomber spirit too!

That weekend, I trek over to Randall's Island to do....what do you think???

Batting cages!

Cooking away-Yum!

I've been in a cooking mood recently. It all started with one visit to Socarrat Paella Bar. Socarrat is actually a specific kind of Spanish paella with rice that is cooked to a crisp on a large flat pan. The dishes can feed a small family of four, I think! Check it out:

A delicious paella of meats and veggies including chorizo, chicken,  and clams! 

An absolutely delectable squid inked black rice with shrimp, calamari, scallop and mussels.

What ended up happening after this was my search for fresh ingredients at the farmer's market to cook something equally as delicious. What I came up with was two baby aubergines (fancy word for eggplants) plus a lil' recipe from the trusty 'ole Food Network. Bobby Flay's creation:

Spicy Chicken, Eggplant, and Caramelized Onion Quesadilla, served with Mixed Tomato Relish

These monster quesdaillas are so easy to make and delicious with a side of colorful tomato salsa!

Empire State of Mind

A few blogs previously I depicted one of my favorite NYC landmarks which appeared on the cover of my favorite novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Take a guess?

This is none other than the Empire State Building! I was lucky enough to take a ride up to the top of this iconic Big Apple monument last weekend under the encouragement of some friends and an out-of-town visitor. Can you believe after four years of living in NYC I still have never gone?

The ride to the top consisted of many many iconic emblems of the building in this very gold and emblazoned Art Deco style. It had a very Industrial, Gilded-age feeling.

The top of the ESB was actually very peaceful and there was even the soothing sounds of a jazz saxophone the moment you get off the elevator.

My tips: skip the express lines and go late at night. Last ride is at 2 a.m. You'll get amazing views of the night skyline without the headache of tourist lines! Just don't forget to bring your camera!

87 floors later....expect your ears to pop!