I always use visits to Claire as a convenient excuse to stop in the Union Square area to buy things for eating or for wearing. This time, I made a beeline for Momofuku Milk Bar.
I don't really like baked goods, or sweets in general, but when I see something like Chinese sausage* focaccia or green curry banana bread, I have to try it. Asians don't bake, so Asian ingredients+yeast+heat is mindblowing to me. Also, AZN pride and stuff.
Chinese sausage focaccia
Green curry banana bread
I also got the pork buns for good measure. People think David Chang is a genius for the pork bun, but I think it seriously needs scallion (the menu says it's supposed to have scallions, but mine did not).
My mother would have keeled over if she'd seen me pay $9 for two tiny pork buns. Therefore, Chang is not a genius for creating this pork bun (nothing in there is particularly new), he is a genius for making basic Chinese ingredients sexy to white people. I don't mean that as either criticism or dismissal; after all, I plan on doing the same and only resent him for getting there before me.
Nevertheless, I got nothing but love for the way the grease ran down my arm.
Small girl, smaller bun, big fatty
The focaccia was good but I wish it had been fuller, crazier. Why stop at sausage? Throw some tea eggs in there! Bits of browned guotie rice! In the end we were trying to figure out how to divvy up the last piece according to where the two last morsels of sausage were buried.
Conversation at one point turned to food neuroses, like how there are people who only eat white colored foods (ask me about this sometime and I'll make like Freud and expound.) Claire and Janelle wanted me to blog a week of eating nothing but green foods. I decided green curry is the only way I'd survive such a sentence. I'd put it in everything, because this banana bread has proven you can:
I regret not getting the kimchi butter to go with this.
I can't be the only one with a face-stuffing pic:
Notice the mountain of individually-wrapped croissants in the back. They did not go unloved.
Eventually we got around to dyeing eggs. Craftmaster Claire found a method that involved wrapping silk ties (or scarves) around the eggs and boiling them so that the pattern from the ties transfers onto the shells.
How cool is this?!
Why would you dye eggs any other way?
Hope everyone's Easters were just as awesome. I decided to go to Casa Mono with StephenB tomorrow night after all. It was kind of a done deal after peeking at the menu, but none of y'all tried to dissuade me anyway. Your collective fault if I get creeped on. Stay tuned.
*Officially making a list of overlooked foods that I will singlehandedly popularize someday. Considering American highbrow obsession with salumi/charcuterie, it's only a matter of time before Chinese sausage gets its moment in the sun. I'll be there to see it happen, my porky pretty.
Yay for feaster and making the blog!
ReplyDeleteI tried to dissuade you from this meeting with my telepathic good intentions if not with my blog comments, but didn't try too hard, as I look forward to hearing about whatever creepy incident arises from GOING ON A DATE WITH AN OLD DIVORCED GUY.
The eggs look amazing! And thanks for the croissant love.
ReplyDeleteAs for going on the date with the old divorced guy, I thought about saying "go for it, he's probably safe and you're getting a free meal," and then I thought, "hmm, I am currently dating a relatively old guy myself, and was once considering going on a CL date with someone where neither of us speaks until after we hook up. Maybe my judgment as a normal person cannot be trusted."
And look! you lived! Too bad about splitting the meal, but at least you gave the dude a little hope that not everyone's an asshole. 8 appetizers and an entree? wtfff.