Meng's Playground

I was curled up in my jammies doing my weekly catchup (on Facebook messages, organizing photos, and episodes of Glee) when I first found out I was going to help spread the Foodspotting love during New York Comic Con. Yippee!!

Bursting my bubble, Bill asked the obvious:
“What does food have to do with comics?”

Like Lisa Simpson stumbling over the spelling of ameliorate (season 14, episode 12), I answered carelessly on an otherwise easy question.

“Well, everyone likes good food, right?”

So off I go, spreading joy and cheer all across NYCC with Amy and Fiona of Foodspotting. After two days of…

• testing small children on accepting candy from strangers (95% failure rate)
• getting price gouged on snacks ($4.25 for a 16 oz. Coke! That would buy me 6 dumplings and a soda IRL)
• (barely) surviving the iOS 5 upgrade

…I finally have a better answer to the question: what does food (or more specifically, Foodspotting) have to do with a comic book convention?

1. Artists and illustrators
Fanboys, artists, and writers all flock to comic conventions to meet their favorite comic book creators. If they’re lucky, they get to chat with their idols or even leave with an autograph or sketch.

Even on this front, Foodspotting is here to help! To help facilitate this otherwise awkward fanboy moment, Foodspotting supplies a crucial icebreaker: a highly-collectible limited edition of 200 NY Comic Con button designed by illustrator Cliff Chiang.
Yes! Instead of showing up empty-handed like 99% of other fanboys, just whip out your super-rare and impressive souvenir! It separates those “in the know” from the n00bs. 

2. Famous people

Comic conventions are all about being larger than life: from the incredibly intricate costumes to the epic noms bag that everyone was toting their swag in. But most importantly, people want to see big-time celebrities! Stan Lee! Wylie Dufresne! Amy Cao!
Yes! Prepare to be star-struck in every way possible. First, our booth was luckily situated right in the the autograph arena in Javits North with optimal lighting for flattering paparazzi shots. Second, lucky NYCC-goers on Friday had a chance to catch a star-studded panel discussion featuring Foodspotting’s very own Amy Cao, wd-50 owner Wylie Defresne, cheery Marvel talent scout C.B. Cebulski, and others. Very exciting!

3. Free swag
Last, but not least, is the free swag! Veteran NYCC-goers seem to have developed mental map with laser-focus on the tables known to give freebies (or maybe their strategy is to just look for the very-mobbed booths).
As an avid 3Rs believer (Reuse, Reduce, Recycle), I’ve never been a huge fan of tchotchkes. It always felt wasteful to pick up jelly bands that slip off my wrist and clog the sink, or plastic keychains for the hundreds of keys I imagine I’d inherit if I ever became a high school janitor.

Instead of showering convention goers with the tired old logo pens, we stuck with consumables and usables. We recognized new users with the aforementioned collector’s pin (re-pinnable and fashionable on every outfit!), and rewarded existing fans and loyal users  with a high-quality Foodspotting T-shirt (that doesn’t dry out of shape after just one wash!). Yes!

But finally at the end of the day, we all have to eat. I hope that with Foodspotting’s help, we’ll all have “X-Ray vision to good food” (best description ever, Amy!) and no one (not even R2D2) will ever have to waste a meal on mediocre food again. 

Want more photos? See the complete photo set!

Doughnut Plant’s Raspberry doughnut

Finally emerged from being held captive for the last 48 hours by a group of 13 fossils* who forced me to endure 

10 times the daily recommended sugar intake in the form of doughnuts alone **

9 excruciating minutes in UI hell ***

Doughnut Plant’s Matcha Green Tea doughnut

8 dollars for cab fare to save us from spending our precious empty calories walking to our next stop

7 times I would have started an Occupy Chelsea Market picket line had I been picking up the tab

6 times my iron will triumphed over my body’s cries for lower glycemic index foods ****

Murray’s Bagels’ grilled chicken sesame bagel

5 nibbles at a Murray’s bagel to cleanse the palate *****

Pink Berry’s peanut butter fro-yo with caramel, peanut crunch, brownie bits, and toffee chunks

4 toppings that challenged the structural integrity of my Pink Berry Peanut Butter twist

3 licks of salt ******

2 check-ins away from developing “iPhone thumb”

1 food group in my food pyramid

1/2 of a Fat Witch caramel brownie—so wickedly rich, even this sugar veteran caved under pressure.

0 nanoseconds after I was set free: when can you kidnap me again? *******

Doughnut Plant’s cinnamon bun

* You know who you are—don’t make me name names. 
** Top three (in order of inhalation speed): Coconut Cream (blink and you’ll miss it), Crème Brûlée (delayed only to gasp in admiration at its engineering), Tres Leches (could only be made better by dunking it in one more leche).
*** Dear FoodParc UI designer: why are the flatbread sandwiches I’m craving hidden under salads? The salad menu’s the last place carb-lovers like me look.
**** My trainer taught me well: mind over matter.
***** Do bagels soak up sugar as it does alcohol? (At least the placebo effect does)
****** After experiencing the salt and oil tasting at Filling Station in Chelsea Market, I feel cultured and slightly Hammy (RIP little guy).
******* as I’m still nursing the mother of all sugar hangovers with the second half of my Fat Witch caramel brownie.

Billy’s Bakery’s Hello Dolly bar

Places mentioned in this post:

Murray’s Bagels Chelsea
242 8th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(646) 638-1336
murraysbagelschelsea.com 

Doughnut Plant
220 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
(212) 675-9100 
doughnutplant.com

FoodParc
839 6th Ave
New York, NY 10001
(646) 600-7140
foodparc.com

Chelsea Market & Fat Witch Bakery
75 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 243-6005
chelseamarket.com
fatwitch.com

Pink Berry
170 8th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 488-2510
pinkberry.com

Doughnut Plant’s Salty Peanut doughnut

You learn something new every day. Exactly one year ago on Friday October 1, 2010, I learned:

• the importance of snagging an early reservation and shooting in RAW after a very dark meal at Graffiti and no discernible photos to show for it. If you don’t Foodspot it, it’s like it never happened. 
• that all my efforts at being green were offset by the carbon footprint of my daily commute. This Friday morning was particularly discouraging, having traveled only 8 miles in 56 minutes. Evidence here.
• that my jogging to snacking ratio that’s supposed to occur precisely at a 1:1 ratio has sadly turned into more of a 1:∞ ratio. Sitting trapped on the parking lot that’s also known as the Long Island Expressway, I dreamt about lacing up and whizzing past all the other suckers stuck in their seats. Then I’d finally have a fighting chance of meeting my Nike+ goal of working out 10 times in 4 weeks, which my phone kindly reminded me was expiring in 7 days.

What’s with all the reminiscing? 

Because my friend Andrew got all sentimental on me two days ago on October 1, 2011 as he, Erica, Desmond and I walked down Houston on our way to the New York Wine & Food Festival event Pizza After Dark at Pulino’s. He had just gotten Foodspotting’s spotter’s digest, which chronicles each of our lives through:

• your good eats this week (I hope we meet again, eggs benedict!)
• an icebreaker to go on a Foodspotting adventure with new friends (who wants to try Robicelli’s Buffalo Chicken Cupcake with me?) 
• the dish you had exactly one year ago (Had I known my way around my camera last year, I would have been staring at Graffiti’s mighty yummy pickled ginger scallops served with candied red chili)

It was that last section that almost brought on the waterworks for me. Within the last year, I went from a number-crunching road warrior who had just discovered a little website called Foodspotting, to a star-struck camera-wielding Foodspotter on her way to an #NYCWFF event with three incredible new friends. 

Before I had a chance to get all warm and fuzzy and emotional, the party has started! The wine was flowing, the pizzas were spinning, and camera flashes from fans getting a peek at Spike Mendelsohn were blowing up Pulino’s. 

While Erica and I stood in the antipasti line debating if we should intervene in an unabashed case of “Chat and Cut”, Andrew magically materializes with plates full of salami, prosciutto, and cheese. Then just as the thought enters our head to get a refreshment, Andrew again, comes to the rescue with our choice—red or white. 

Then comes the stuzzichini. Egg salad and pâté crostini, stuffed razor clam and mussels, and fried stuffed olives all found a comfortable home in my tummy. 

Finally we’re on to the main attraction. 

To some, the main course was Spike Mendelsohn, who graciously took photos of fans on the verge of swooning in his tasty presence (myself included). 

To others, it was the pizza dripping with cheese strings stretching from plate to plate. The juicy figs, the silky prosciutto, and the concord grapes bursting to fill your mouth with sweet winey juice—who knew nibbling pizza could be so erotic? Forget oysters, I’m advocating pizza for the new hot date aphrodisiac. 

To me though, the night was made when I slipped into the kitchen behind the air of authority granted by my camera. Now I know exactly what it’s like to be Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas stumbling upon Santa’s workshop. As I’m humming What’s This, I’m snapping away furiously. Seeing the pizza dough flying through the air and the burn marks they proudly wore on their forearms made me want to throw on an apron to jump in and seize the moment! But learning from Jack’s disaster of hijacking Christmas, I stuck to my purpose: paparazzi-ing it up. 

At the end of the night, the girl with the insatiable snacking appetite was finally satisfied with a belly full of food and a CF card full of memories. I’ve truly been the luckiest girl to have these incredible friends who’ve made the last year unforgettable—and I can’t wait for next year’s Spotter’s Digest on October 1, 2012 to remind me of tonight. 

Want more action shots, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes from Pizza After Dark at Pulino’s? Check out my complete photo set on Flickr. 

Places mentioned in this post:

Pulino’s
282 Bowery
New York, NY 10012
(212) 226-1966
www.pulinosny.com

PS. So now a year later after the lessons learned, I’m happy to report my progress:

• Although I still learning to improve my photography, I’m proud to say those particular amateur errors no longer get the best of me. 
• I’ve traded my car for a new pair of city-tough walking shoes that take me gallivanting around town at 6 miles per hour (according to Nike+).
• Though my consumption of snack foods is still disproportionately high compared to most present-day humans, I’m starting to get back in the butt busting routine of running and unabashedly wiping out on the monkey bars at bootcamp. 

Eggs Benedict

People measure their life through the TV shows they watch, the music on the radio, and watching their children growing up. My life from age 18 on can be tracked by the reason why I love brunch. 

• As a frugal college student: even happy hour can’t beat a double-duty meal and bottomless mimosas for an hour’s pay.
• As a young professional: a reward for getting my beauty sleep and skipping my running date with the East River track.
• And now, as a lost soul trying to find her calling in life: a chance to meet people I never would have met otherwise. 

All of us at brunch

Earlier yesterday, seven (almost) strangers gathered at Paprika in the East Village for brunch to celebrate nature’s measure of passing time—it’s finally fall! Even though many of us were meeting for the first time through Colunching, it felt like reuniting with long-lost friends to catch up on everything that’s happened since third grade. We each shared our stories:

Desmond showing everyone how to Foodspot

Growing up, Desmond was always one-upped by Jesus. Instead of hearing “Happy birthday, Des!!” every year like most of us take for granted, he hears “It’s Christmas!! Yay!! Oh yeah, and your birthday.” But now, after the birth of his daughter Harley, Desmond has a prouder way to measure each passing year. Whether it’s a newly learned skill (Harley’s not old enough for a PG-13 movie, yet already making mad virtual dough practicing trading stocks) or new pets (I cannot describe how jelly I am of her chinchilla and sugar gliders), each of her accomplishments are added to his own timeline. 

Bridget tells us a story

Both Bridget and Yannick’s time is split by geography. While Bridget lives in New York but dreams of her future “home in Provence where I throw lavish dinner parties,” Yannick’s visiting New York from France, but hopes to make his stay permanent if the right opportunity pops up. 

Pancakes and Grade A Syrup

For documentary filmmaker Amanda, Freaks and Geeks (a show whose time came up far too soon) was her nostalgia trigger. Talking about that show brought back so many memories—it was eighth grade, and I was lying on the carpet of my mom’s living room in front of the TV, and pretending to work on my Social Studies worksheet. We can all identify ourselves in the show, or at least peg someone else from school in each character trope. It’s also strange to think back to a time when we’d hang out at a laser show or when beating the class nerd on an algebra test was all-consuming. A time before bills, rent, and responsibility.

Hillary’s adventures can be chronicled through Twitter, even though she doesn’t have a Twitter account. The infamous twitter hash #hillarygetty has been used so much by her friends that now it’ll just be awkward to adopt a real Twitter @name. 

Amanda and Jeannie

Lastly, Jeannie I “met” online—first on Foodspotting, then we carried our gripes about Asian portrayal in the media to Twitter. For a year, I admired (euphemism for stalked) her exquisite taste on Foodspotting, but was never lucky enough to cross paths in real life. Even though we’d often RSVP to the same events, I always found myself repeating her Twitter name to myself when she was nowhere in sight: “@whereisjeannie?”. If you’re lucky enough to find her as I was yesterday, you’ll be rewarded with a windfall of colorful travel stories. Until that day, get a sneak peek on her blog: Somewhere there is Jeannie.

But at the end, all of us were brought together by Bryan, Colunching’s community manager. He had tracked each of us down through various social media outlets and encouraged us to give Colunching a try. It felt like my childhood fantasy of being scouted by a talent agent while window-shopping in SoHo was coming true. As we swapped stories of how we each met Bryan serendipitously, we each pitched an anecdote of him to try to piece together his life story. With this incredible experience held dear in my memory, I’ll always treasure that first tweet from @Colunching as the turning point of meeting my new friends.

Balsamic fig & mascarpone ice cream sandwiched between two potato chip cookies from Coolhaus

I am not a fan of winter.

It’s not the slushy puddles in the NY streets, the Snuggie commercials on TV, or even trying to text on my iPhone using the tip of my nose so I can keep my gloves on. It’s because all my favorite ice cream trucks are hibernating. 

Now as we’re headed into fall, I’m like a Hurricane Irene survivalist—stockpiling every last scoop of ice cream in anticipation for lean times ahead. So how do you get the most out of each ice cream mission? The ice cream sandwich. 

Brown butter sage ice cream sandwiched between two potato chip cookies from Coolhaus

The concept of the ice cream sandwich is simply a marvel in user-friendly design. 

• it’s green—no paper cup or plastic spoon waste
• it insulates so your warm little fingers don’t accelerate the melting of the ice cream
• gives the ice cream a whole other level of taste and texture complexity

Though these three qualities begin to pave the road to success, for an ice cream sandwich to truly realize its full potential, it must also master a few basic ratios. 

1. The ice cream to cookie ratio (because nobody wants a cookie like a pillow-top mattress surrounding a pea-sized chunk of ice cream)
2. The bourgeois flavors to regular flavors ratio (because pairing low end with high end is always in season)
3. The firmness ratio (because you don’t want any ice cream squishing out the sides with each bite)

What happens when the firmness ratio isn’t respected.

So what qualities do you look for in the perfect ice cream sandwich? Where do you go for the ice cream sandwich that always hits the spot?

Places mentioned in this post:

Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwiches
New York, NY
(818) 641-9288
www.eatcoolhaus.com