I'm Free From Your Spell

Yang #1 Chinese Restaurant Take Out

Beef Chow Mein and Pork Fried Rice

Shrimp and scallops with Broccoli over Brown Rice

Funny how take out food is so exciting and enjoyable, yet when you're finished, the thrill is completely gone, until like me, you reheat the leftovers and they become magical again. Looking at this picture, I might kill a small squirrel for this meal right now. 

Ticking Away the Moments That Make Up a Dull Day

Rain clouds coming in fast for a quick downpour

Cheap Chinese Take out from Yang #1 Asian Restaurant and that strange phenomena happening again where I feel a spooky nudge to look at the clock at precisely 11:11 AM and/or PM, followed by what feels like someone waiting for me to figure out a riddle.  It's happened on and off since my mother and brother passed a couple of years ago so I want to understand it but am also willing to believe it's just me being strange.  Still...I'd sure hate to think someone's trying to communicate or warn me about something and and I'm too dull to figure it out. 

You're Living in a Past, It's a New Generation

Chinese Take Out from Hua Long.  The great thing about the counter girl at this local establishment is she hates everyone, she's an equal opportunity hater.  She's a young beautiful girl, maybe her parents own the restaurant and she clearly is on for bigger things but she helps out which is still a great character builder I believe.  But maybe it doesn't feel so great, a little hard for her.  Being a teenager in this town is tough enough.  But I like her spunk.  In a great way, it cuts out all the nonsense.  Things happen fast because there are only two things you do in this place, order your food and pick it up.  Small talk is out of the question and if you want spicy mustard, be sure to ask for it before she staples that bag if you know what's good for you.  She's not having any questions about the menu.  I get that.  Every single chinese take out has the exact same menu of 1000 items and they really are able to make any of them but you as a consumer should know at this point, what's in Kung Pao chicken for example.  And also get your drinks somewhere else because she doesn't like being bothered with finding you the right soda.  I'm assuming all of this to be true based off my 10 minute experience fetching food from Hua Long tonight.

We Only Got 4 Minutes to Save the World

I would call this a rare occasion now but Chinese Take Out can be a really tasty, cheap dinner option.  Less than five minutes and you're out of there. And everything is freshly prepared right in front of you.  MSG triggers my migraines and although David Chang from Mind of a Chef assures me that not enough is used to be harmful, I still get major headaches.  But it can be worth it when shrimp, and big chunky tender vegetables in a tasty sauce is your reward. Spicy mustard and soy (also a trigger) on those fried egg rolls is a taste to live for!

I Don't Like Riding on the Passenger Side

It's been a 'while in Rome' tradition to get Chinese take-out on Christmas Eve here in New York....

...and pizza slices basically whenever I can swing it.

I got my big chance to ride in P's new car that someone gave him at work.  Always a bit of a worry, something coming for free.  I was understandably reluctant to get in. A Buick LaSabre. It started to smoke about an hours walk away from our apartment.  That's how I was looking at it.  Some red light started flashing before it sort of jumped a few times which I found hysterical but P saw no humor in.  

 Of course it was raining.  My joyride got cut short. I was dropped off and he scurried off to find a mechanic on Christmas Eve, which he did surprisingly.  Someone's always willing to stay open on holidays if they can screw you over. It was only a few minutes but you think you know people.  Turns out P drives like one of those old livery cab drivers, taking it super slow around corners and lights. It felt more like being on one of those boat rides at the fair.....only with my dad after the light came on.  I love when we're forced to be adults and suddenly realize we're barely capable.   

Me being 14 yrs old capturing he moment the light came on

Quick breakfast burrito before the fun started.

Pretty Baby Please Don't Go

Sometimes I feel that my only true friends here in town, the people that really understand me are the pizza delivery guys, or the guy that does my laundry or the man that puts all that attention to my Chinese take out order at the #1 Chinese Restaurant here on Fulton. Sometimes imaginary relationships are the best ones.

I really enjoy eating Chinese take out in those little white boxes just like they do in the movies but lately they're serving the main dish in the foil containers, so we transfer them to a plate. You see I get the extra thrill of doing things I've seen in movies. That's been with me from the get go. I have a deep nostalgia for the late 60s and 70s. After I saw the movie Paper Moon when I was about 10 with Tatum O'Neal I kept all my things in a cigar box and smoked cigarettes in my brothers room with a white muscle shirt on. I would smoke in there because he had the bed most resembling the ones in the movie and because my brother had just come out of the Marines, his bed was always made. It was deeply satisfying to me to recreate not only the scenes in movies but to try to 'be' the character. I'm not talking about acting, I'm talking transforming into the actual character for my pleasure alone. I still long for a friend like Ethel on I Love Lucy that lives next door and is funny and always available. Music was the main builder of my tweens, teens and adulthood but movies and tv definitely formed my youth. I felt more close to Carol Burnett than I would to a favorite aunt. Doris Day in her brilliant technicolor allowed me to live in a clean, bright, colorful world with matching shoes.

It's not a huge deal if the white containers go away in the big picture but its still a little sad for me. By the way the Pepper Steak was perfection!

I'm Sick of Love, But I'm in the Thick of It

Valentine's Day in New York! Hundreds of young men flocking to their local bodegas after work with their wallets out. Its as though they've all been given the exact same list and one by one they're mindlessly checking it off. The dozen red roses, the ugly metallic balloons, the box of heart shaped chocolates. This equals romance and I love you? Or does it?

To me its a little unoriginal and lazy, even though it probably takes a lot of effort. C'mon this is a day to honor your love for your friend and partner. Put a little thought into it! You know, I believe someone could come along and completely reinvent this holiday and sentiment and make it fresh again. The actual idea of celebrating your romance is a great idea.

I have no room to talk. In my youth, I had always despised this particular holiday. Couples looking adoringly at each other. Yuck! And instead of concentrating on what I could do differently, I've just been like the grinch sneering down on all the Who's in Whoville. So at the last minute I thought to do a little creative honoring of my own this year. Something small and thoughtful. I raced out to get Chinese Take Out, Hunan Beef for P, Cashew Nut Chicken for me - two shrimp rolls. I got a few small items that P'd mentioned he needed and put them around the house for him to find, simple little drug store items, nothing elaborate. Just something to let him know I was thinking of him this day.
It's Tuesday night and I know what P wants. And it has nothing to do with romance and the best gift I can give him is to let him be. So we ate at separate times because we're on different schedules and I kept his dish warm in the oven. I let him do what he likes to do on Tuesday nights and I enjoyed a nice dinner myself.

But in the Meantime Baby

All the post holiday humbug has left me a little uninspired food-wise. I am confident that ideas will return but in the meantime I'm relying on my little friends around the corner called #1 Chinese Restaurant.
I got one each of the Beef and Chicken Curry, a small boneless BBQ spare ribs and two egg rolls.

Its always scary when you create that one day suddenly the urge, the will, the ideas will all go away without warning. I recall back in the 80's my friend KK was constantly quoting Nina Hagen lyrics in my ear. This particular song comes to mind, Pollution Pirates. Isn't it funny how someone will beat words into your head so much that you don't even hear them? Today I stopped and read the lyrics to that song I'd heard every night. Its a great song!
I'll get my cook on again real soon.

Never Can Say Goodbye

Low Mein. Pepper Steak. Egg Rolls. BBQ Short Ribs. See this is why foodies find it so hard to leave big cities. With all the amazing food, sometimes you consider Chinese Take Out to be a bad choice. But then you realize, our Chinese take out restaurants kick ass ovuh heuh! How good was this?! And it was all under $20. C'mon!

These little unassuming depressing store fronts house these master chefs. We watched this guy do all this Benihana hoo doo knife magic without an audience. All alone in this tiny space. Fire to the sky, gigantic wok. His vegetables came out perfectly done. Glistening green bell peppers, onions with a bite, vibrant green onions. And then they wanna give you a free soda just for coming in. Don't wanna let you go!

The boneless shortribs alone were heaven sent. That color. And they give you so much! That's the other beauty of Chinese say as opposed to Thai. You get enough low mein to have for lunch the next day and that's the small. I love this town!