Coney Island and delicious food

I haven't been keeping up with my blogging recently, but I thought I would start again, beginning with two weekends ago. It started on a Friday night, when I was feeling hungry and decided to indulge my craving for Japadog. Part of the reason I had been wanting to try Japadog was the mention of the restaurant in Psych. I guess that marketing worked on me. Anyway, I hopped on the subway and headed to East Village for the most unique hot dog I've ever had.

I decided to go for an Oroshi hot dog, with a side of wasabi fries. The sauce made for a unique, tasty hot dog, but the best part of the meal was the wasabi fries. Even though they were very hot, I got through my whole serving and was still craving more. I gave in and ordered another hot dog, this time going for the Japadog signature, the Terimayo. I enjoyed the delicious combination of teriyaki sauce, mayo, and seaweed down to the last bite.

The next day, my friend Elliott came to visit, so we made the trip out to Coney Island. The weather wasn't as good as we were expecting, but that meant there wasn't anyone there. We were able to ride the famous Cyclone wooden roller coaster, as well as a cool ride called Soarin' Eagle. While it's unfortunate that the park doesn't have something like a day-pass, I'm very glad that I rode both of those roller coasters. Cyclone featured some exciting drops and a much lengthier ride time than I expected.

For the second day in a row, I enjoyed a delicious hot dog, this time a chili cheese dog from Nathan's Famous at Coney Island. The meal wasn't as filling as I was expecting, but it was a very solid hot dog. However, I'm going to make a bold statement and say that Japadog is better than Nathan's Famous. I enjoyed the unique flavors really enhanced the hot dog at Japadog.

After a long train ride back to Brooklyn Heights, we discovered it was raining hard. After taking some time to let our lunch settle and wait out the rainstorm, Elliott and I decided to get some barbecue for dinner. We first checked if Wildwood had any open reservations, but it was very busy, so we decided to go to The Mighty Quinn's, a casual barbecue restaurant in East Village. The line was out the door when we arrived there, so I figured that we had made a good pick.

At The Mighty Quinn's, you can get the meat on a sandwich or just the meat, along with a small side of cole slaw. I went for a serving of spare ribs, with a deliciously tangy barbecue sauce and a sprinkling of salt. The meat just fell off the bone, and I savored every bite of those delicious ribs. The Mighty Quinn's is definitely the best place I've been in New York. While the atmosphere isn't fancy, the prices are reasonable and the food is absolutely amazing. If you're ever in New York, try the ribs and thank me later.

Sadly, Elliott had to get back to New Jersey that night, but we managed to grab some frozen yogurt after dinner. I enjoyed a combination of crema de Barcelona and coffee. 

Even though Elliott had to go back to New Jersey that night, but we had some more adventures just a week after that. I'll save that for my next post. 

Mord Fustang concert and Brooklyn Nets game

I'll admit that this entry is being posted a little later than usual, but I was in Boston this weekend and I've been distracted by learning to use Ableton. Anyways, I went to a Mord Fustang concert on Friday, April 12th at a club called Pacha. I've been thinking about this, and it's a little weird to call it a "concert", because it's more of a DJ set. Regardless, Mord Fustang was the main act, and after listening to him at home and as the opener for Feed Me back in February, I decided that he was a must-see.

Given that this was my fifth concert in New York (5 concerts in 3.5 months, crazy), I knew the drill, and got to Pacha at about 11:40 pm. One of the amazing things about taking part in the nightlife of New York is seeing the sheer number of people out and about in the city at 11:40 pm. It's a far cry from the sleepy suburb that is Shoreline, WA, my hometown. The first thing that I noticed was that there weren't as many people at the club, because Mord Fustang is still up-and-coming compared to Knife Party or Madeon. I was happy to see that the second floor was open, as there is a good vantage point of the DJ booth and its not usually as crowded as the main dance floor.

The opening DJ's selection ranged from good electro house to appalling selections such as "Gangnam Style", which I was hoping had faded away months ago. I guess we're not quite there yet. He also had the bad habit of yelling out "hands up!" or "New York!" very often, which got annoying quickly. I'm not opposed to a well-timed vocal sample or shout to pump up the crowd, but if you use something like that more than twice in your set, it loses its impact.

Soon enough, Mord Fustang took the stage and played a great 2-hour set. He's a mysterious Estonian producer who still hasn't revealed his real name and produces a unique style of music that combines a few genres. Many of his songs have the pronounced kick drum pattern of progressive house combined with the loud, energetic synths of electro house. Others are even harder to classify, mixing in elements of dubstep or even moombahton. No matter what his music is classified as, it's all awesome, and his set on Pacha's excellent speakers really brought that to life. The set even featured a remix of The White Stripes' hit "Seven Nation Army".

From the second floor, good view of the mystery man himself, Mord Fustang.

Blurry, from the second floor.

From the main dance floor, near the stage.

The highlight for me was the heavily featured "Lick The Rainbow", which is my favorite song of his, and has a really unique sound with a cool bass line that was awesome on the speaker system. His remix of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" was a surprising hit, and a good lead-in to a final mashup of many of his other songs to finish the set. All in all, it was a great show and I look forward to hearing what he produces in the future.

I bought a Snickers bar on the way home (because at 3:15 am, I couldn't resist), and didn't get to sleep until a little after 4. Somehow I managed to wake myself up for an eventful Arsenal match that ended with a great result. The rest of the weekend was filled with teaching myself to use Ableton and watching The Masters.

However, the next day I attended a Brooklyn Nets game through Northeastern's Co-op Connections department. The tickets were subsidized heavily, and I am very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to go to a game at the great price of only $15. It's been a long time since I've been to a basketball game, and while the Nets (or the Celtics) can't come close to filling the gaping hole in my heart left by the departure of the Sonics, it was nice to attempt to get back into the NBA, at least for a night.

Walking in.

It's certainly a unique building.

"BROOKLYN PRIDE!" Or something like that.

The Nets, unfortunately, decided that they needed to play music during every one of their offensive possessions, which is blasphemy to me. I went to watch basketball, not hear clips of songs playing. Isn't there enough of that during halftime and timeouts? Besides that, it was a great experience. The Barclays Center is a funny looking building, but it's a very nice arena and the Nets managed to pull through with a comeback win. The end of the game was very exciting, as Nets forward Tyshawn Taylor hit a clutch three-pointer with about 22 seconds left to put the Nets up by 4. That essentially sealed the win for the Nets.

This weekend, I'm hoping to attend day three of the NFL Draft, which shouldn't be as crowded as the first two days and will still be a cool experience for a lifelong football fan. I'll be wearing blue and green that day for sure, 12th man stand up!

4/6/13 - Mets Game and the Spiciest Thing I've Ever Had

Sorry that I have waited so long to post about last weekend. I blame the release of Age of Empires 2 HD. Anyway, my friend Elliott visited on Saturday, April 6th and we had quite a day. We made plans ahead of time to go to a New York Mets game, and get dinner afterwards. I had never been to a Mets game before, but had heard good things about Citi Field, so I was very excited.

The Mets played the Miami Marlins in a day game, starting at 1:10 pm. The subway was packed with other people going to the game, and the stop is very convenient to Citi Field. We had beautiful weather that weekend, making it a great day to see a baseball game. Our seats were in the first row of the upper deck in left field, which gave an excellent view of the field. Obviously they weren't the best seats, but they were perfectly good for just enjoying the weather and some baseball. Elliott enjoyed seeing all the airplanes landing at LaGuardia Airport, as he is a bit of a flight aficionado. The upper deck provided an excellent view of that.

A beautiful day.

For lunch at Citi Field, we got sandwiches from Blue Smoke, a delicious barbeque place. My pulled pork sandwich was excellent, with a great tangy sauce that left me wanting more. The seasoned fries were very solid as well, though they left me wishing for garlic fries from Grounder's at Safeco Field (can't fight my Seattle bias). The game was fairly uneventful until the Mets scored 3 runs in the 7th inning and 1 run in the 8th to win by a score of 7-3. On a beautiful day like last Saturday, going to a Mets game is a great way to spend the afternoon.

Yum.

After the game, we stopped at Jamba Juice near Times Square before taking the subway back to Brooklyn. We decided to go to the Brick Lane Curry House for dinner, at the Lower East Side location this time. I first learned about the restaurant from Man vs. Food, which featured an insanely spicy curry challenge that the host managed to finish. The "phaal" curry has 10 different kinds of chili peppers in it, including the dangerous Thai chili. I was debating with myself whether or not I should attempt the challenge the whole way there.

When we got to the restaurant, I had to make my decision. Because I was feeling adventurous  being an idiot, I decided to go for it, ordering a mango lassi to help with the spiciness of the curry. After ordering it, I immediately thought, "What have I done?" I knew it wouldn't be easy. The curry came and I let it cool for a couple of minutes. The first bite immediately hit me hard, and my mouth felt like it was burning up. My face was sweating and my eyes were tearing up, much to the amusement of Elliott. After a few bites, I would take a break, only to take a few more. The mango lassi provided some temporary relief, and the water provided the tiniest bit of relief, but it was really just a matter of sheer determination. Slowly but surely, I managed to finish all of my curry. My mouth felt like it was burning up afterwards, but I got my certificate of completion and a free mango lassi (on the house).

Worth it? I say so.

After we left the restaurant, I felt extremely full and sick to my stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up, but somehow I managed to hold it all down. After we got back to Brooklyn, I had to go get some Pepto Bismol to help calm my stomach. Despite all the discomfort and suffering, I think it was worth it. I have a story to tell for a long time. The day ended with me saying goodbye to Elliott, who was headed back to New Jersey. We managed to pack a lot into the day, and have the story of the time I ate all of a spicy curry from hell.

Thierry Henry - Legend

It is hard to talk about Arsenal without mentioning Thierry Henry, the club's all-time leading scorer and an integral part of the modern era of success at Arsenal, including his huge role in the club's unbeaten season in 2003-04. As I've probably mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Arsenal and have become very loyal to my club. Thierry Henry is legendary to me, and I've always wanted to see him play in person.

What does all of this have to do with New York? Well, Thierry Henry is now the star of the New York Red Bulls, one of the most talented teams in the MLS. This Saturday, I got the chance to see him in person. My friend John, another devoted fan of Arsenal, came to visit this weekend, so we decided to go to see the Red Bulls play against the Philadelphia Union. This is known as the I-95 rivalry, and the geographic proximity of the two teams (plus Sebastien Le Toux leaving New York to play for Philadelphia) makes this a fairly heated rivalry. Granted, nothing in the MLS comes close to the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers rivalry, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the passion of the home fans.

Saturday started off like a normal day during English Premier League season, with me watching the Arsenal match. Arsenal thoroughly dominated Reading, leading to a 4-1 victory and edging closer to the sliding Chelsea in the table. After that, John and I made a stop at Tim Horton's for breakfast, enjoying some good donuts and coffee. My large iced capp was a bit too large to finish before we left for the Red Bulls game, but I saved it for later (sort of... it got rock solid in the freezer and when I thawed it out later it wasn't the same).

Getting to Red Bull Arena, which is in Harrison, New Jersey, is very convenient, as you just take the subway to Fulton Street or Park Place and catch a PATH train a couple blocks away. The PATH train stops about 5 minutes walking distance away from the stadium, and we arrived just in time for the national anthem. Our seats were 3 rows up on one of the corners, which was really cool because we got to see players setting up to take corners up close.

The first half was fairly uneventful, other than ruthlessly booing Sebastien Le Toux (former Sounder and Red Bull) for going to Philadelphia. Thierry Henry didn't start, so John and I were worried that we might not see him play. However, we saw him start to warm up on the far sideline early in the second half, and immediately starting to get excited for him to enter the game. Soon after, the Red Bulls went up 1-0 on a beautiful flicked-on volley from midfielder Dax McCarty. The players ran over to the corner flag right in front of us to celebrate, which made it more exciting. The stadium was buzzing with energy after that goal.

McCarty celebrates.

Thierry Henry entered the game soon after, and John and I were quick to join most of the stadium in giving him a standing ovation. The man is a legend, not really any other way to say it. Unfortunately, the Union equalized soon after, and New York fans got nervous that it might end in a draw. Thierry Henry had a thrilling bicycle kick shot attempt in the 75th minute that went just wide, but we cheered him for the great skill he showed. In the 81st minute, Henry came through in an absolutely thrilling fashion. He made a great run into the box and received a cross, which he volleyed up with his right foot, and smashed it into the goal with his left. It was a beautiful show of skill that everyone has come to expect from Henry, and John and I were going crazy. He shows such grace and skill with the ball, and seems to glide elegantly as he runs, making it wonderful to see him play.

Legend.

The game finished at 2-1 Red Bulls, though not without excitement at the end. Philadelphia appeared to have equalized again in stoppage time, but one of their players was called (rightfully so) for a foul on New York's goalkeeper. There was a collective sigh of relief, and we soaked in what turned out to be a great win. It was truly a dream come true to see Thierry put on such a show in person, capped off by the game-winning goal.

When John and I got back to New York City after the game, our next stop had to be Katz' Deli for a delicious sandwich. John enjoyed the classic corned beef reuben, while I was given a corned beef sandwich (though I ordered a reuben). Not to worry, though, the corned beef sandwich, which was piled high with the juicy and tender meat, combined very well with the spicy mustard. We left feeling very full.

Nom.

Bottom line, it was another great soccer-filled day, and one I won't soon forget.

PAX East 2013

Last weekend, I took the bus up to Boston to join my friend John and his brother Joe for PAX East. For those of you who don't know, PAX is a video game convention that started as an annual event in Seattle in 2004. Now there's a PAX East in Boston, and a PAX Australia coming up this year, but let's be honest, PAX Prime in Seattle is where it's at. Granted, I'm just grateful that I was able to attend any of them. The reason why it's such a big deal is that it's a chance for average gamers to check out what games publishers have coming up in the next year or so, and talk to representatives from the developers or publishers. PAX is really dedicated to providing gamers with access that normally only games journalists get.

I know this blog is supposed to be about life in New York, but I'm counting a trip to Boston for PAX East as part of life in New York. It's a huge opportunity for me to attend it, either in Boston or in Seattle, and many people from New York thought the same way as me and made the trip.

My alarm was set 8:30 on Saturday, because I wanted to get out to the convention center fairly early. I convinced John and Joe to plan for an early day, and they were happy to get out to the convention center early as well. I made sure to bring a backpack, because you want a place to store a coat and all the free swag you get. Plus, I was able to leave my 3DS on sleep mode in the backpack. All three of us made sure to bring our 3DSs, because there's a very cool feature that allows you to share your Mii with other people's 3DSs that are on nearby. It does this automatically, and Streetpass (the name of the feature) proved to be a huge hit at the show for us.

The first game we went to play was Transistor, the next project that Supergiant Games is working on. Supergiant is the studio behind Bastion, one of the games of the year in 2011 and just an all-around incredible game. Transistor looks to follow in Bastion's footsteps while branching out in some new ways, including a cool combat system that is a mix between real-time and turn-based combat. The line to play it was a chance for us to use Streetpass, and get closer to our goal of getting a Mii from every state and many different countries.

A beautiful Bastion poster I purchased. Love that game.

After walking around the show floor for a while longer, we decided to go see round two of the Omegathon, a tournament held at PAX every show. The game selected for the second round was NBA Jam: On Fire, which is a favorite of mine for its crazy gameplay and entertaining multiplayer. Every time someone in the tournament played as the Celtics, they were cheered for, while teams playing as the Heat or Lakers were booed relentlessly. Unfortunately for all the Boston fans, neither team playing as the Celtics was very good, evidenced by them selecting an Allen/Pierce lineup instead of an Allen/Garnett lineup. We decided to leave after 4 games had been played

By that time, it was 2:40, and we were hungry. The convention center in Boston is near the waterfront, meaning it is relatively isolated and there is very little food besides what was available at the convention center. We decided to take the T to Downtown Crossing and go to Five Guys. On the silver line bus there, we all got a Mii from the tiny British territory of Anguilla, which is an island east of Puerto Rico. AJ from Anguilla, you're kind of a legend to us!

The Five Guys location had a Coca Cola freestyle machine, so I was able to enjoy some peach Fanta with my burger. Try it and thank me later. We headed back to the convention center and wandered the show floor for a while before going to the PC freeplay area. They had a couple hundred PCs set up with a good selection of games for people to play. Before, we had discussed making our names in-game the same as famous sports commentators and using their catchphrases in-game to troll everyone. I chose to impersonate Gus Johnson, which I did by yelling into the mic the player's name whenever someone was killed in Team Fortress 2 (what we were playing). Joe summoned up his best Dick Vitale impression, yelling "Yeah babay!!!" and "Upset city babay!!!" among other great Dickie V lines (and typing #dickievpicks in the chat). We were all laughing the whole time, and it summed up the sort of goonery (I'm making that a word) with friends that I love about PAX.

I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted that night, but thankfully there was a 5 Hour Energy booth with free samples outside the expo hall, which we had been stockpiling. After waiting in line for bag check, as I left for the bus straight from the convention center, I had gotten a lot of new Miis through Streetpass. By the end of the show, I had gotten someone from every state on the east coast!

We checked out the new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game, which just left me wanting to play a Pokemon game from the main series, before heading to the show floor. The Nintendo booth on the main show floor was poorly organized, so we left without playing anything, though we did get lots of Streetpass Miis from the great state of Washington. Nvidia was showing off a handheld gaming platform they were working on, so we tried that, but it just didn't seem ready to compete with the 3DS. Maybe with the Vita though.

Google Maps on WiiU?

Finding a place to eat lunch was an adventure, because we saw this deli on the map, but didn't know where it was. Turns out, it was in the Boston Globe building near there, but it was closed! We ended up taking the silver line to South Station and getting Regina's Pizza there. The day ended with us spending a lot of time in the handheld lounge and laughing at the random Streetpass Miis we got. Somehow, I had someone from South Dakota before I got to PAX East. I would guess that was at PAX Prime in Seattle. We picked up Miis from Japan, the UK, and Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, most of the Canadian Miis didn't have a province specified, so we lamented them not just SAYING they are from Nunavut or the Northwest Territories. How else am I supposed to get a Mii from there? Oh well.

PAX went by way too fast and was very exhausting, but the chance to hang out with friends, laugh, and enjoy our shared passion for video games was great. I can't wait to go to PAX Prime in Seattle this August!

Knife Party concert

The best thing about living in New York, for me, is being able to see so many of my favorite producers live. It's still hard to believe that in less than two months' time, I've seen Feed Me, Porter Robinson, Madeon, and Knife Party. Plus, I've got a Mord Fustang concert coming in April. I really feel like I am experiencing the most exciting things for me, because above all, I love music and sports.

My passion for electronic music has developed in the past year, but I had quickly fallen in love with a group called Pendulum. Nominally, they were considered drum 'n bass, and their first album reflected that, but their second and third albums took influences from electro house, rock, and other genres. Their third album, Immersion, is easily one of my favorite albums of all time. It's just an incredible work from start to finish.

Sadly, Pendulum broke up a couple of years ago. The two main producers from Pendulum, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, formed Knife Party, and have been producing a unique mix of electro house, dubstep, and even some moombahton. They've created a very unique sound and have released a lot of loud, epic songs that I grew to love. Some of their songs use some quirky vocal samples, like "Centipede", which talks about giant tropical centipedes. Knife Party's music is definitely something of an acquired taste, but as someone who fell in love with electronic music through Feed Me's unique mix of electro house, progressive house, and dubstep, I have come to love Knife Party.

I knew that they wouldn't actually take the stage until 1:15 or 1:30, so I didn't get to the club until about 12:10 am Saturday morning (Friday night, whatever you want to call it). The opener used a nice mix of electro house, and didn't get caught up in producing as insanely loud bass as possible while ignoring musical quality, which I appreciated. The second floor of Pacha (the club), where I stood for the Madeon concert, was VIP only for Knife Party, so I was stuck on the first floor. I thought I had found a little bit of space near the stage to stand, but this obnoxious group of bros and bro-ettes (whatever girls hang out with bros) were standing there too. I didn't really care, but then more of their obnoxious friends came and pushed and shoved in near them. I was livid, because I was standing there first and minding my own business when they intruded in the small bit of space I had been standing in like they owned it. The worst offense was the girls in the group continually getting pictures of themselves taken, for which they needed to carve out a large swathe of space so they could get maximum likes when they posted it to Instagram.

I am a very tolerant person, so I wasn't going to do anything, but it was infuriating. I kept wishing that I could just have a little bit of space somewhat near the stage in which to stand. Having some sweaty bro's back pressed up against you is not comfortable. Whatever. I wasn't going to let them ruin my night, because I was seeing Knife Party and that's all that really mattered.

When I saw two guys nearing the stage, one with a hat, I knew it was time for Knife Party. Gareth was wearing his signature hat, of course. Rob Swire looked just as awesome as expected. I wish I could grow a goatee like his. The concert reinforced my veritable man-crush on Rob Swire, he's just too awesome. I wish I could rock a midi-guitar like he did in the Pendulum days.

Anyway, they had an epic setlist of loud, bass-heavy songs that got the crowd pumped up. Their song "Tourniquet" came on early in the setlist, and the catchy electro house tune was great to hear live. "Fire Hive" was another one of my favorites, with loud bass and a unique rhythm that mixed dubstep and moombahton. They mixed in their remix of Swedish House Mafia's "Save the World" and a little remix of part of Swedish House Mafia's hit "Don't You Worry Child". While the songs almost all had a loud, driven bass line, it wasn't overpowering and exemplified their ability to produce catchy songs with epic bass.

Until they kick us out... until they kick us out...

They saved their song "Bonfire" for the end, and what a way to finish. The crowd yelled the word "Bonfire!" whenever it came up in the song, and the crazy bass drops of the song left my ears buzzing the whole way home. If they had played any Pendulum in their setlist, I think the world would have exploded from awesomeness overload. Ok, maybe that's just me, but it was an amazing concert nonetheless. Those two crazy Aussies know what they're doing.

Lunch in Midtown Manhattan

This weekend was pretty uneventful for me, other than seeing my beloved Arsenal suffer a brutal, agonizing defeat to our bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur. I'm still mad about that and likely to be so for quite a while, but I figured that I would write a post about my experience getting lunch at work in Midtown. As I mentioned in a previous post, I think that going to get take-out for lunch is a significant part of the experience of working in New York, and after nearly two months here, I've developed a bit of a routine.

Hale and Hearty

Sometimes I'm just in the mood for a good cup of soup, especially when I'm feeling a bit under the weather. Hale and Hearty has a wide variety of delicious soups, sandwiches, and salads, and the comfort and convenience has made this a big hit for me. Today, for example, I enjoyed a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, lettuce, and aioli, along with a cup of split pea soup (high on the list of looks gross and tastes delicious foods). Their sweet corn chowder with chicken is another one of my favorite soups, with just the right combination of the different ingredients. I like that they give you a piece of bread with your soup, because I can always go for dipping fresh bread in soup. Hale and Hearty has become an established part of my rotation of restaurants for lunch.

Chipotle

What's there to say about Chipotle that hasn't already been said? It's awesome and there's a location just over a block from my office, so I've gone there a fair amount. In fact, I went there 4 days in a row back in January. Nowadays, I've gotten a little more adventurous, and I like to keep some variety in my lunch routine, but I still go to Chipotle once a week. My go to order, in case you were wondering (which you probably weren't, but you can read it anyway), is a chicken burrito bowl with pinto beans, brown rice, hot salsa, corn, lettuce, and cheese. An excellent combination with a little bit of spice, though sometimes I go for a burrito. Bottom line, Chipotle is awesome.

Toastie's

I discovered this wonderful sandwich shop when I was browsing Yelp for good places to get lunch near my office. They have a large selection of delicious, unique sandwiches, as well as a create-your-own salad station. I have not ventured to try the salad, because I'm a little worried that I would have no idea what to put in my salad, but the sandwiches have served me well and given a nice array of options whenever I go to Toastie's. The Popeye sandwich was the first I tried, which is a chicken sandwich with mozzarella cheese, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, roasted red peppers, and honey mustard. That's certainly a unique combination, yes, but the honey mustard really brings it all together. The Alice sandwich is another favorite of mine, which is a delicious turkey sandwich with brie cheese, sliced granny smith apples, romaine lettuce, and honey mustard (there's a pattern). I do also enjoy sandwiches that don't have honey mustard on them, these just happen to be two of my favorites.

Pongsri Thai

I discovered this nice Thai restaurant a few weeks ago on 48th st, between Broadway and 8th Avenue. They have a nice lunch special with about 7 different options, though I usually opt to go for the chicken pad thai. They serve it with some vegetables on the side, which I make sure to eat because I worry that I don't eat enough vegetables, and it's solid pad thai. It's a nice option now because I know exactly what to expect and have a good go-to menu item. The Sriracha fried rice is next on my list of dishes to try, however.

Chef Pho & Peking Roast Duck

While this Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant has an odd name that combines two popular dishes from the two countries, it's only a couple blocks from my office and they have a huge lunch menu. I only first tried it a week ago, but I was delighted to find that it tasted very good. The chicken with garlic sauce and vegetables was delicious (even the broccoli, surprisingly), and I got rice and a spring roll with it. I will definitely be going back there, I love some good Chinese food!

Majestic Deli

This deli is very conveniently located, and have a nice selection of delicious hot paninis. I enjoyed the charcoal chicken and the Tabasco chicken paninis, served with chips and a pickle. New York seems to be obsessed with pickles, I see them served a lot at delis or diners. Nothing against pickles, I just find this obsession kind of funny. Anyway, they make excellent paninis at Majestic Deli.

I've tried out some other places as well, but these restaurants have become my rotation. I'm always looking to add to it, perhaps an Indian restaurant or a Mediterranean restaurant. The delis that have serve-yourself hot and cold food of every variety, along with sandwiches, are not my favorite, because the food usually isn't that good. Some people like this, but it's not for me.

That's all I've got for this week, thanks for reading!

A Truly Great Day

Saturday was one of the best days of my life. Just a thoroughly incredible day from start to finish. Friday is when it really got set up, as my friend John was coming to visit from Boston, and I was sitting with my family in their hotel room. Both John and I are very proud Arsenal fans, and we had to watch the match against Aston Villa on that Saturday. My dad had heard me mention that the NYC Arsenal Supporters club met at a pub called The Blind Pig for all the matches. He wanted to join us for the Arsenal match, and figured what better place to watch than a pub with many hardcore fans? I was completely in favor of this, and he called to confirm that they would let me and John in, despite us being under 21. They confirmed, and my excitement level for the match continued to build.

Fast forward to the next morning. My alarm went off at 8:40 am, which is normally too early for a weekend for me, but there was an Arsenal match! I showered quickly and put on my Arsenal t-shirt, drinking a quick cup of coffee as well. John was sporting his Per Mertesacker jersey, and lent me his awesome Arsenal jacket. We set off for the pub, which is on the Lower East Side. Despite getting lost on the way, we managed to get there about 10 minutes into the match. My family was there already, and we walked over to join them.

The place was packed with proud Gooners sporting the colors of our club! It was a great atmosphere, sharing in all the excitement of the match with my dad, my friend John, and many other Arsenal fans. When Aston Villa scored in the second half, the whole place fell quiet, as we knew that our goalie Wojciech Szczesny should have saved the shot. Many times Arsenal came close to scoring, until finally we broke through in the 85th minute. It was a beautiful piece of build-up play that led to the goal, with a lofted pass over the defender from Jack Wilshere to Nacho Monreal, who was making a great run down the left side. Nacho found Santi Cazorla on the trailing run into the box, and Santi finished it off with a powerful shot. The place erupted, everyone high-fiving and cheering, quickly joining into a song of "Oh Santi Cazorla" to the tune of the White Stripes' hit "Seven Nation Army". Arsenal held on for the win, continuing our streak of strong play in Premier League matches.

After the game, we went across the street to meet back up with my mom and sister, who had gone to meet one of my sister's friends from school who was also visiting New York. John and I recapped the game, raving about the great play of Santi Cazorla and Per Mertesacker. As it was about lunch time, John voiced his desire to go to Katz' Deli, which is a famous deli also down on the Lower East Side. While we had a bit of an adventure figuring out how to get there on the subway, including the most delayed train I've seen during my time here, eventually we got there and it was packed full of hungry people, including me.

Photo by John.

The line at the sandwich counter gave me a chance to figure out what I wanted, and I eventually decided to go with a corned beef reuben, because it's a signature sandwich there and I figured I should go for that. The sandwich maker gave me a couple slices of corned beef to try while I waited, and it was just delicious and full of flavor. The sandwich was piled high with this wonderful meat, along with sauerkraut and a unique sauce that really enhanced the flavor. Personally, I thought it was better than the reuben at the Carnegie Deli, though my dad was not so sure about that. Either way, it was an amazing sandwich.

My family needed to get back to the hotel, where they were keeping the bags for the day. John and I took the subway back up that way with them. Sadly, they had to go back to Seattle, so I said goodbye, realizing that I probably won't see them for 5 months. I'm very thankful that I was able to spend a lot of time with them during their 6 days in New York, but it went by too fast. Mom, Dad, and Libby, I miss you very much!

Luckily for me, my friend John was staying until Sunday evening, so we went back to Brooklyn to relax for a while before the concert that night. We were feeling a little lazy about dinner, so we decided to go to Park Plaza Restaurant, a quick 2 minute walk from my building. The menu there is huge, but I had been eyeing the pancake and waffle sundaes every time I had been there. Peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup and ice cream on top were particularly intriguing, so I decided to go for it. I had to order it once, right? It was very filling, so I had to go lie down for a bit.

Yeah, that was my dinner.

John and I set off for Pacha NYC, a nightclub in Hell's Kitchen, at about 10:50 pm. We were extremely excited for Madeon, but didn't feel the need to be there for the opener. As it turns out, we got there when the opening group, Jack Beats, came on. They did have some pretty cool synth sounds mixed in, as well as a nice remix of Hardwell's "Spaceman", but we were counting down the minutes until Madeon came on. The 18-year-old French electro house producer is already well-known for his remixes and original music. He put together an amazing setlist with live versions of his own songs, along with many other classics from other producers. He worked in some Porter Robinson, Deadmau5, Wolfgang Gartner, Zedd, Knife Party, Hardwell, all of which were loud and exciting. Two of the more unique songs were remixes of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" and Blur's "Song No. 2", which are rock hits from several years ago. The electro house remixes of those that Madeon played were very cool, and a little unexpected. He finished off with his famous mash-up "Pop Culture", which contains bits of 39 different songs, leading into his song "Finale", fittingly. I couldn't help but smile and appreciate the wonderful work of Madeon, who didn't let down during the first show of his I saw. After the end of "Finale", he mixed a short mash-up of all of his songs, which felt like a nice way to sum up the concert. It's still hard to believe that he's only 18 years old and already so talented.

By the time we got back to Brooklyn, it was 4 am, and we were still recapping Madeon's awesome setlist at the concert. All in all, one of the greatest days of my life, from start to finish. What a day.

A Visit From My Family

Last week, I was very lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with my family, who were visiting for the week during my sister's school break. They flew in on Sunday, 2/17, and I met them for dinner in Midtown. We went to this great sushi place called Kodama. Some of their specialty rolls were excellent, and I always enjoy some basic shrimp or tuna sushi. My dad told me that the restaurant was an excellent find, and I replied that I found it on Urbanspoon. Apparently I should play it off as having local knowledge.

The next day, we went to the Museum of Natural History. There was a very cool exhibit on the scale of the universe, using the planetarium as a scale to compare other objects to. It's still hard to conceptualize the size relationships in the universe, but walking around this exhibit helped give me a sense of scale. There were many exhibits of animals (the taxidermy variety) set up in the sort of habitats they inhabit in the wild. I'm always curious to learn more about different animals and their unique characteristics, and the museum gave me a sudden urge to watch Planet Earth. Seeing some of the dinosaur skeletons inspired discussion of the possibility of bringing animals back to life, but I don't know why we would want to bring back Neanderthals, let alone dinosaurs.

Not a real Easter Island statue, unfortunately.

After the Museum of Natural History, we got a late lunch at a restaurant on the Upper West Side called Sarabeth's. My family all enjoyed their lunches, and I enjoyed mine at the time, but the smoked salmon omelette appeared to be the cause of a brutal case of food poisoning that I suffered from the next day and a half. We followed lunch with a walk down through Central Park, where my sister was set on seeing a statue of some dog, named Balto. My dad and I started chanting "Baldo! Baldo!" and eventually my sister joined in. I don't know exactly why we started, but it provided a lot of laughs on the chilly walk through the park.

After walking down towards Times Square, we got on the subway towards Brooklyn, as my parents wanted to see my room. After a quick stop there (not a lot to see), we had a nice dinner at the Park Plaza Restaurant, a pleasant diner just a few minutes from my building. My buffalo chicken sandwich was very solid, and we had a nice dinner there, away from the slight chaos of Midtown Manhattan.

Wednesday night we met to go to "The Book of Mormon", a critically-acclaimed show written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. It fit their usual edgy and absolutely hilarious humor, and did not disappoint. I'm very thankful to my parents for taking me to this, as musicals are a little bit out of the norm for me, but I found this one wildly entertaining.

Thursday I met them for lunch and dinner. The Carnegie Deli served up as-expected huge portions for dinner, and I was unable to finish my half of the reuben that I shared with my dad. It was a glorious mound of bread covered in delicious slabs of corned beef, sauerkraut, and covered in melted Swiss cheese. My appetite was not back to full capacity yet after the bout of food poisoning earlier in the week, unfortunately. After dinner, we found a cupcake shop called Crumbs (which has several locations on Manhattan) and got cupcakes there. I really enjoyed being able to sit down and enjoy them with my family in their hotel room, just relaxing and spending time with them.

Friday was another wonderful night. Outside of the hotel room, there were repeatedly massive traffic jams of people trying to park in the parking garage there. Multiple lanes would be clogged up, and the intersection would get blocked. The policeman there was very busy, needless to say. Something like that just doesn't happen in Seattle, so it was fascinating to watch it play out. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Hourglass Tavern, on 46th Street between 8th and 9th, which is the famous Restaurant Row, I believe. They seemed to do a lot of business before the theater shows started. My pork roast was juicy and flavorful. We all wanted to stop at Junior's for some of their famous cheesecake after dinner (my family had it a few times while they were here). While I was disappointed the tiramisu cheesecake was not available by slice, the raspberry swirl cheesecake did the trick just fine. The mixture of delicious flavors made a great dessert. I stayed in the hotel room until just after 11 pm, when I left to meet my friend John, who took a late bus from Boston that night. The next day turned out to be one of the greatest of my life. I'll save it for its own entry, which should be up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Porter Robinson concert

Last Friday (2/8), the Northeast got hit with a major snowstorm. While New York was not affected as much as other parts of the region, we got some snow here. The wind was brutal during the mid-afternoon, which I found out the hard way on my walk to and from CVS to get some food and cold medicine. My that night, it had calmed down, so I went outside to enjoy the snow a little bit.

Snow in Midtown

Reppin' Seattle proudly

By the next day (Saturday), the streets had been mostly cleared up. After an excellent start to the day with a tough, gritty win from Arsenal, I started to get really excited about the Porter Robinson concert that night. While there was snow on the ground and I was recovering from a cold, it takes a lot more than some snow and a slight cold to stop me from seeing Porter Robinson!

This concert was at the Roseland Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan, not far from where I work. The train ride there took longer than I expected, because the 2/3 trains were running local instead of express (meaning they stop at every stop on the way, which isn't normal for all 2/3 trains). All that meant was that I heard less of the opening DJ. I didn't even miss either of the two official openers, so nothing lost there.

The first opener was a one-man electropop act called Penguin Prison. While his music is not my favorite, his act combined singing and mixing music together, which was impressive. All told, he put together a nice opening act.

The second opener was Seven Lions, a producer of what I would best describe as trance-step (trance + dubstep). His musical style is quite unique, and while I hadn't heard a lot of his music, I was excited to see him. The bass was incredible on all of his songs, and while he did get a little caught up in producing crazy loud bass sounds, I really enjoyed his part of the show. His song "Days to Come" was the highlight for me, mixing in loud bass with smooth, slow, trance-like synths to create a really cool sound.

Then came Porter Robinson. What a guy. He's only 20 years old (pretty much exactly my age), but he's already produced some absolute masterpieces. My personal favorite song of his is "Language", a beautiful, elegant electro-house song that brings a chill to my spine every time I hear it because of how amazing it is. Listen to it, it's seriously incredible.

Back to the concert. He started off by mixing together his songs "Vandalism" and "The Seconds" with Deadmau5's "Arguru" which he has done before, and with good reason, because they work really well together. From then on it was a constant stream of EDM greatness, as he skillfully mixed together songs of his own creation and songs of other producers. One of the highlights for me was when he remixed Pendulum's "Slam" and transitioned it into Knife Party's "Internet Friends", which is cool because the two main members of Pendulum went on to form Knife Party, so it was a nice transition from past to present. Some of the other highlights were listening to "Easy" by Porter Robinson and Mat Zo, hearing him mix in Deadmau5's "Strobe" (another masterpiece), and hearing both Porter's original version of "Unison" and the Knife Party remix. 

Legend.

Basically, I'm a huge fan of Porter Robinson. His music is amazing, and his ability to put together an exciting mix live is amazing as well. After the concert, I stopped to buy a bottle of water because I was really thirsty from dancing and jumping up and down for several hours. The two concerts I've been to in NYC so far have been amazing, and I'm looking forward to the next one (Madeon).

Feed Me concert at Webster Hall

When I first accepted my internship in New York, I realized that I was going to be living in one of the best cities in the U.S. for going to see EDM (electronic dance music) shows. 6 months in New York is a great chance to experience life in the city, but I was going to do it my way. Two of the things I love most are sports and electronic music. I decided to try and go to lots of shows, because that's what I'm most interested in doing. One after another, the concerts kept getting scheduled. First I found out about a Porter Robinson show on February 9th, then a Feed Me show on the 2nd. I jumped on buying tickets for both immediately. A few weeks later, I saw a listing for a Knife Party concert on March 15th, and a Madeon concert on February 23rd. I was quick to buy tickets for both of those as well. Bottom line, I lined up some incredible concerts.

I was nervous going to the Feed Me show on my own, because it's not as fun without someone else, but that didn't matter because listening to Feed Me is how I first fell in love with this sort of music. I arrived at Webster Hall at about 9:50, and got let in about 20 minutes later. Unfortunately, Feed Me's opener, Mord Fustang, wouldn't be on until 12:15 or so (turned out to be 12:30), which meant it would be a long time before I got to hear the music I came for. There was a DJ in a smaller room playing a mediocre set list. He played part of a Dada Life song, which was a brief moment of hope for me, but then proceeded on to what can only be described as a middle school dance playlist from 2005/2006 (no, I will not drop it like it's hot). The coat check was down in the basement, so I dropped my coat off there, and headed back upstairs. I had a couple hours to kill, so I stood in the bar area watching sports on the TVs.

Eventually, I went upstairs (at around midnight) and the opening DJ was playing some decent music, which quickly turned into "let's see how crazy of bass we can play without caring about musical quality". He eventually got off the stage for Mord Fustang, an Estonian producer with a very unique sound that it is hard to specify a genre for. I had only recently started listening to his music, but he creates some sweet synth sounds that were really brought to life by the great sound system at Webster Hall. He mixed together a lot of his own music and some other music very skillfully, playing for a little over an hour. I'm very glad that he opened for Feed Me, because I would have been happy to listen to him mix music for more than just an hour.

Apologies for the blurry picture.

At around 1:45, Feed Me came on, and I couldn't help but smile and start jumping up and down. This was the moment I had been waiting for. He did not disappoint, opening very strongly with "To the Stars", an excellent song with loud bass and a flowing main melody. The grand ballroom was packed with people and got incredibly hot, but I didn't care because it was Feed Me! He mixed in all of my favorite songs of his, and his light show (named "Teeth") was really cool as well. The bass on his bass-heavier songs was amazing, pulsating up through the floor and making me feel it in my entire body. I stood near the speakers for "Cott's Face" and "Green Bottle", and it was indescribable how loud and epic the bass was. "Cott's Face" just hits hard but maintains his signature high level of musical quality.

Teeth.

The video and pictures couldn't possibly begin to do it justice. The concert didn't end until 3:45 am, but all I wanted then was more of it. Thank you, Feed Me, for an incredible concert. Hopefully I will see him live again.

Central Park and Midtown

Yesterday I walked around Central Park and Midtown with my friend Elliott, who was visiting from New Jersey. It was my first time in Central Park, and I found it really cool to see how the park blends in with the city around it. Despite the chilly weather and cold wind, it was nice to walk around for a while to see a little bit of the park.

Me in Central Park

Oddly enough, there was a snowfield (more like ice) just out in the middle of the park. There has been some snow here recently, but it definitely didn't stick so I was surprised to find all the snow/ice. Unfortunately, it was not suitable for a snowball fight, but that didn't stop me from goofing around with the ice.

After walking from 72nd street down through Central Park, we decided to walk around Midtown a little bit. The first stop was Niketown, where I was hoping to get an Arsenal jersey. Unfortunately, they didn't have any ones with players' names on the back, which was what I was looking for. There was a very large amount  of NFL merchandise, and one of the employees was wearing a Marshawn Lynch jersey, which made me happy (go Seahawks). The store itself is a sight to see, taking up 5 stories and filling them with lots of pro sports merchandise and athletic apparel. I guess it's fitting that the New York location is that big.

From the 4th floor, doesn't do it justice.

As we were walking towards Rockefeller Center, we saw the Lego store, and had to go in. They had some very cool Lego models of buildings in New York, but the coolest thing we saw there was the containers of Legos that you could buy by the bucket. Kind of like in a candy store. I thought it was a genius idea.

 (The formatting is very frustrating. Sorry.)

We walked past Rockefeller Center and the famous ice rink on our way to go get coffee. The coffee shop of choice was Gregory's Coffee, which is a nice place on 44th street that has a very relaxed ambience. Overall, it's a nice place to sit and enjoy a good cup of coffee. I got a latte because I was feeling especially like a Seattleite (and I just love a good latte). After a nice break, we walked down to Penn Station and Elliott went back to New Jersey. I was very sad that he couldn't stay longer. It was a good day of exploration, seeing some of the quintessential sights of New York, but the night of Saturday, February 2nd was going to be way better than the day. I went back to Brooklyn to rest up and prepare.

Why I Am Writing This Blog

When I first found out I would be doing a 6-month long internship in New York City, I was nervous and a little scared. While I grew up just outside of Seattle and go to school in Boston, New York City's size made it much more intimidating to me. However, my first few weeks in New York have been wonderful and I am looking forward to the rest of my time here.

I work near Times Square in a skyscraper, which is a cool experience because it feels like a completely different world compared to the Seattle suburbs or the campus of Northeastern University. There are so many people taking the subway to work and walking around the area, which continues to amaze me. I have been going out to lunch each day at work, because I think it's part of the experience of working downtown. Chipotle and a sandwich place called Toastie's have emerged as two of my favorite places to go, but the number of options in a 5-block radius makes it tough to decide every day.

Deadmau5 ad near my office building.

My neighborhood, Brooklyn Heights, seems like a somewhat quiet, residential area with lots of restaurants. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the madness of Midtown Manhattan.

One of my goals during my time here is to really experience life in New York, which means doing a lot of exciting things that are a part of living in the big city. I decided that I would primarily focus on things that I am most interested in. I love electronic music, and New York is a great place to see my favorite producers perform live. Since I am also a big sports fan, I hope to see a baseball game at Yankee Stadium and a basketball game at Madison Square Garden, if not more than that.

Over my next 5 months here, I'll post about my adventures in New York. Hope you enjoy reading about them!