Walking Feast, Round 1

A few weeks back now, I met up with the lovely Rochelle of Sexy Girls Eat for a Walking Feast.  If you have to ask what a Walking Feast is, why are we friends? 

I’m just teasing.  It is as simple – and as wonderful – as it sounds.  A feast while walking.  Admittedly, some of our feasting was done while seated, but the eating began around 1 pm and we didn’t part ways until 2 am.  The damage we could have done is far worse than actually was done – I was having issues and apologized profusely to the darling, but we persevered and came out on the other side better friends for it.  (I have to add here that my beloved sunglasses also went missing this day, but that is the last I will ever mention of that.  Unless asked.) 

We began our day at Chelsea Market, wandering around but saving our appetites for our 1 pm reservation at Morimoto.  There isn’t much I can say about that I haven’t said before – especially in my various reviews of the place – but I have food porn.  Which I’m sure you’re keen on devouring. 

We opted to share everything, much like girlfriends are apt to do.  First came the gorgeous toro tartare, one of my permanent favorites, but I am sad to say we were so busy chatting that I completely forgot to instruct Rochelle on eating the yamomo berry/plum (I forget which season and what color is which; I prefer the raspberry looking one but this one is still yummy) to cleanse her palate.  Ah well.  Next time!

Though I’ve been to Morimoto NYC many times now and the servers always recommend the tuna pizza, this was the first time I actually had it.  It was pretty good, I can see why it’s recommended to newcomers, but it isn’t so much my style of thing.  Yummy – just not what I come to Morimoto to eat.

Rock shrimp tempura two ways (which I didn’t try), gochuchang (the Korean chili paste) coated or wasabi aioili.  I love both, but I didn’t have any this time as I was still eating fish only at that time.  I think Rochelle liked it – it’s one of my favorite appetizers here as well.

Last but not least, we also split the roasted black cod, which yes, is now one of my favorites.  We also actually had the same waiter I’d had last time – he even remembered me! – and we managed to wrangle from him the recipe, of sorts.  Enough that I’m confident I can recreate this at home easily… with one minor exception, I haven’t been able to locate one ingredient, which I may substitute with something else for comparable results but not quite the same.  Ah well.  Delicious as always 🙂

After this, we moved on our way back through Chelsea Market, picking up a cookie to split along the way:

White chocolate macadamia from Ruthie’s.  It was good, chewy, a bit on the small side – which is okay, and was only $1 I believe. 

Also at Ruthie’s, I picked up two cupcakes for my nephew’s birthday party the next day, one for the birthday boy turning 3:

because he loves Elmo, although right now, he’s really into Thomas the Train, but they didn’t have any Thomas cupcakes.  Isn’t that awesomely adorable?

And a cupcake for his brother, who is 18 months old but their mother insists I buy two of anything I buy for them else one will get jealous:

He got a little smashed up in transit but not that much; the eye is flattened but honestly, it still looks alright I think.  (The eyes were googly already since Cookie Monster is a little cockeyed…) 

D, the bday boy, insisted that my BF eat the Cookie Monster one and well, B (his brother) wasn’t going to eat this giant frosting covered cupcake anyway.  I took pictures of them eating the cupcakes but as D’s parents do not consent to his picture being on the internet (with very just cause), and BF doesn’t want his face on the internet either, I can’t show any of the pictures… but I will say that the frosting wasn’t very good, the cupcakes were dried out (ie, needed the frosting to taste maybe alright)… so these are really more for show than for eating.  And at $5 a pop, I’ll pass on them next time, but I was happy to make D’s face light up at the sight anyway.  (He didn’t like eating it either; he chomped down on Elmo’s eyes and then kind of made a face and decided he wanted fresh fruit instead.  Kid has good taste, what can I say?)

We also stopped into Fat Witch to pick up a brownie since I constantly hear about how wonderful they are but have never had the pleasure.  We decided to split a Caramel Witch.

It was a tiny bit too sweet for me, but texturally hit all the right notes for a brownie – chewy, dense, slightly crumbly, and chocolatey.  I think maybe a plain Fat Witch would work for me.

Then, we left Chelsea Market and walked crosstown to my favorite stompin’ grounds in the city: East Village, where I showed Rochelle a bunch of places I loveloveLOVE and some that I really like.  As we walked, I suddenly realized we would be passing Milk Bar… despite detesting David Chang, I thought I’d be a good friend and take her there anyway.

Because it was like, 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, the place was completely empty except for one or two other people.  We took our time peering at the cookies and debating.

We decided to get three cookies, although at final count, somehow 5 cookies wound up in the bag. 

(One of them isn’t shown because we weren’t entirely clear which ones were which, except one looked just like the other.) 

I tried 1/2 of each cookie and I didn’t like the banana cookie they’d had that day.  The other cookie we had whose name escapes me also wasn’t too notable (Rochelle?  Any help?).  But the last cookie?  The compost cookie, which contained bits of pretzel and I swear to you Cheez Doodles?  Well, it caused me to go into fits of delight and text Rochelle, “David Chang can’t do shit right but a cookie.” 

To which she responded, “He has a pastry chef who does them.”

Damn. Straight.  That’s right.  Because he can’t do shit right by me… but a cookie.  I love salty-sweet combinations, so this might not be your thing, but it really worked for me.  I would definitely go back for just another cookie.  The other stuff?  Whatever.  $4 for milk, up yours.  Maybe I’ll try the soft serve since it sounds interesting.  But the compost cookie just works for me.  (I’ve read other blogs that visited in the first few weeks Milk Bar was open and it was mixed reviews on the compost cookie.  I guess I just really like the salty/sweet thing.) 

After a bit of showing Rochelle my favorite E.Vill supermarkets, grocery stores, and just wandering around, we decided it was time for a snack and hit up Pommes Frites, another place I frequent.  We shared a regular and three sauces – honey mustard mayo, pesto mayo, and roasted garlic mayo, which is too many sauces for a regular, oops! but I’m glad she got to try that many.  It didn’t even occur to me to take a photograph, haha.  It was a delicious snack.

A bit more walking around and we headed to one of my other very-often-I-end-up-here-for-a-snack-and-drinks places, which I won’t name, and we proceeded to eat some treats. 

Miso tofu… which was awesome and I have to try making at home.  Super yummy.

Japanese potato salad… which I’m addicted to, but I can’t bring myself to pay $13.99 a lb. to have my own container at home.

Croquettes… which I buy frozen and make at home anyway but they’re fun bar food!

And then my camera died.  It’s like, it doesn’t warn me until about 20 photos before it dies, which is way too little to plan ahead for, you know how I am~!  And it’s totally like my camera loves dying in the middle of dinner with Rochelle.  It really does.  <3 you anyway girl 😉

Of course, you think the day is over, right?  Nope.  After that, we walked over to the bubbletea place on 3rd Ave. and had bubbletea and laughs for a bit, then headed over to Vintage Irving for a nightcap of wine and more giggles. 

Our first walking feast over, we parted ways.  I headed home with a full belly, a light heart, and a happy smile on my face.

Looking forward to the next walking feast…<3