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USA: NYC: Best Burgers & Shakes

Posted on February 20th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Oh, we were skeptical, standing outside on a cold and windy night in Manhattan, but disinclined to wait an hour for a table at Five Napkin Burger (and shell out another $25) we decided to try this joint.  After all, “it might be good,” I reminded my fellow burger snobs.

Ah, but it wasn’t.  8.5 ounces of ground beef, but it wasn’t GOOD meat (I can tell the difference now) although I give them credit that they managed to cook our burgers to our tastes.  Cheese was just a small, thin slice that couldn’t even cover the patty.  Sad, sad.

The fries were tasty, but the onion rings were small and tasted solely of oil.  The milk shake, supposedly made from premium ice cream, was in fact made from the kind of ice cream that you get in a paper box for 99 cents at the el cheapo store.

Sigh.

Just so you know where not to go, it’s on 46th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues.

2 comments.

NEPA: Clarks Summit Festival of Ice

Posted on February 18th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

 
[Our first stop was at Lee’s office, which had sponsored this crest…it rather reminded me of the old LEGO Castle shields…]

When the Clarks Summit Festival of Ice was proposed to me, images of the beloved St. Paul Winter Carnival’s ice palace popped into my head.  Alas, it wasn’t quite on that scale, though they did have the ice carvings, and Clarks Summit officially gets points for choosing a Reniassance theme for the holiday.

 
[One of my favories, in retrospect…very simple and elegant, and who doesn’t love the story of the sword in the stone?]

Had we done our research, we might have known that there would be free horse-drawn carriages (which I’ve always kinda wanted to try) curtosy of the Poconos Equestrian Center until 8pm Saturday, but as it was, we went around 9pm, and we rode in an engine-drawn carriage called a Jeep.

[Awesome, just cause we’d just been having a discussion about the differences between catapults and trebuchets before coming out.  Yay world domination.] 

We saw maybe half the sculptures before we decided it was too cold and retreated to the Jeep.  We would have gone home then if I hadn’t spotted the beautiful dragon outside Everything Natural and made Lee loop around and head back.  As it was, I had some fun with the dragon, and nearly froze my hands off in the process.

[The expression on my face is sincere.  I stuck one arm through the dragon’s mouth and the other through its grasping claws, and a large block of ice was bitterly cold against my already frigid hands as I waited for the flash on my camera to charge.]

2 comments.

USA: NYC: Five Napkin Burger

Posted on February 18th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[Myself, delighted to have this orgasmic burger in front of me…I can still recall the smell of other peoples’ burgers passing our tables…five stars.]

On the continued search for the City’s best burger, we decided to try midtown’s Five Napkin Burger at 45th Street and 9th Avenue. 

It was a long wait to indulge in the 10-ounce burger they offer, but it was well worth the wait.  (Our waiter recommended the signature burger, but stick with the bacon cheeseburger…it’s to die for.)

What can I say?  Each burger was made to order to perfection…  My burger was medium-rare, hot and juicy and wonderful, piled with strip after strip of thick bacon, topped with extra sharp cheddar cheese (these folks know how to please me!) and delicious carmelized onions (substituting the standard raw red onions.)

The burger was piled so high I wasn’t even sure on how to go about eating it, but where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I think most of my readers know that I’m a very strong-willed girl.  I found a way.  And I finished my mammoth burger.  $14.95.  Yummy yummy.  (The onion rings are awesome, too.)

Highly recommended.

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Blogging: 300th Post!

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

In just six months this time I managed to crank out another 100 posts - yay me!  So for those of you who don’t love me enough to keep up on all the meaningless babbling, here’s 6 months in short:

I did a ton of trooping with the 501st Legion, even on the news once, and I read WAY too many Star Wars books (more than 20) as well as a few travel journals.  I picked up baking again for the first time in years - I’ve mostly limited myself to cakes and cookies thus far, but I’m looking to branch out now that I have my KitchenAid mixer (thanks, Mom.)  I also began my quest to discover the City’s best burger and watched a couple outdoor movies in late summer.

I bought a new bike and, for the first time in nearly five years, enjoyed exercising without pain.  I saw a Broadway show and plotted out elaborate trips around the world.  I discovered a new variety of frozen yogurt, participated in dinner parties, and chased the mailman down the street as he drove away with my Star Wars books. 

I celebrated Halloween New York City-style, and Terry and Rebekah took me in for Thanksgiving.  Tarzan and I flew to Minnesota for Christmas, where I got to see Lucy and Leo (but I have yet to see the pictures - hint, hint.)  I also got to see Dave and his brother and sister, as well as Beth and her brother, and I met my cousin Karolyn at the Mall of America and had breakfast with my old high school friend, Angela.

I worked my rear off in grad school, started having nightmares about my job, and now sit here, waiting to be laid off as the Evil Mayor Bloomberg plays political games with the employment status of every first, second, and third-year teacher in the New York City public school system. 

But I also hung out with Santa Claus and a toy soldier, and rode a vintage subway train under the streets of Manhattan.  Finally, in my last ten posts, I saw some movies, celebrated the Chinese New Year, acquired a new robot, indulged in some strange and delicious foods, and developed a habit for taking weekend trips to northeastern Pennsylvania, which I’ve already adopted the local habit of referring to as “Nepa”.

And there’s six months in review - yay me!  Stay tuned - Lord only knows what I’ll do next.  (It drives my mother crazy and keeps my friends on their toes…good times.)

[Me…sticking my tongue out at Darth Yoda.]

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Cats: Robotic Litter Boxes: PetSafe Simply Clean

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Cats.

[Tarzan stared at his quietly-humming litter box for a very long time…]

As Tarzan is a finicky creature when it comes to his litter box, and as my new habit for weekend trips involves my not cleaning the litter box between Friday morning and Sunday night, I decided to invest in a self-cleaning litter box.  I mean, really, who doesn’t need another robot in the house?

I went to NYCPET, where I buy Tarzan’s favorite litter.  I saw the very same litter box Beth had…for $189.99 (plus New York’s 8.375% sales tax!)  So I went home and asked Beth where she got hers, and what she paid.  $100 at Fleet Farm.  Doubting that I would find a Fleet Farm in New York City, I opted for Amazon.com.  ($90.52, direct from Amazon, and free shipping!)

Tarzan was quite apprehensive at first - you’re supposed to acclimate you cat to the new, perpetually-spinning litter box, but who has time for that? - but he soon adjusted (bless his easy-going, ever adaptable soul.)  I was able to leave him for four days, and there was really only one fault with the box…the lip is definately not high enough for Tarzan’s enthusiastic digging tendancies.

[My bathroom upon my return home.  A clean litter box, but a messy floor.  Obviously some slight modifications need to be made.]

4 comments.

Food: Batter Blaster

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Food.

[For the lazy and the incompetent: Batter Blaster.]

Quote Mike: “Even you can’t F this up.”

Oh yes, we can.

Hungry and drowsy on a Sunday morning and, more importantly, without Mike there to cook for us, Lee dug the previous day’s discovery, Batter Blaster, out of the frig.

The Batter Blaster is a pressurized, canned pancake batter.  Disturbed, we had checked the ingredients in the store, to discover that there was nothing scary in it.  In fact, it’s all organic.  It might be good, we thought.

[Lee, spraying pancakes into the frying pan.] 

Lee taught me to preheat the pan before cooking (who knew?) and to cover it with some butter-like substance (where do people learn these things?)  We shook the can’s contents up quite well.  We sprayed it on to the pan.

Flipping the frothy pancakes was somewhat of a challenge.  And they didn’t taste quite right.  So I smothered on in butter and poured on the maple syrup.  And they still didn’t taste quite right.

And after that, we put the Batter Blaster away and indulged in the bagels, lamenting the Batter Blaster’s epic fail.

2 comments.

Food: Grapples

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Food.

[I admit that they pick apples that do look vaguely like an over-grown grape.]

Last time I was in NEPA, we bought grapples, but I never got to eat one (likely due to the constant food consumption during my stay.)  Lee bought me another pack on the condition that I actually eat them this time.  (In my defense, last time there were four of us and we were each supposaed to eat one.)

This time, I ate two grapples.  And what a strange experience…  Looks like an apple, tastes like a grape, they say.  I’m not so sure if I buy into that.  Looks mostly like an apple, although vaguely grape-like.  Smells like artificial grape flavoring.  Tastes like…somehing very confusing (though not unappealing, but certainly they won’t replace Granny Smith apples for me.)

Wondering if they were genetically engineered or merely injected with flavor, and at what stage in their development was the alteration done, I did a bit of research.  On the Grapple website, they have a neat video (go to this page and watch the video on the right-hand side) from the Food Network that explains the whole Grapple process (they’re actually just soaked in flavor briefly after they’re picked.)

[The first clue to the grapples origins I found on the package.  It listed “Ingredients: apples, natural and artificial grape flavors.”] 

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Trooping: New York Comic Con 2009

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, Food, NYC, Star Wars.

[Me, breaking out of my germ infested apartment, wearing stormtrooper handcuffs and sporting a stolen E-11.]

As I had spent the week with a triple digit fever, spending time in Midtown Manhattan with 60,000 of my closest friends was not high on my priority list, but I did, in the end, manage a few hours, plus a brief appearance at the Legion dinner.

[Snowtrooper making a withdrawl at the ATM.]

Too exhausted to suit up myself, I walked the floor with Kris, spotting him and helping him take some fun pictures…

[Myself with an R2 unit - wee!!!]

…and I served my time at the Legion table, which had such a hideous location this year that I proposed that next year, if we don’t get a floor on the main table, we don’t bother with the table at all.

[Myself with a Republic backpack, and a baby Rotta the Hutt - I want an ABS version of this backpack.]

I walked the floor briefly and looked at some of the toys and such.  The above $35 Republic backpack was very tempting, but I want a hard, ABS backpack, and this one, while supposed with cardboard, is still soft…and not right…  When someone makes these, send me a note and I’ll send a payment through PayPal.  Seriously.  I want one.

[Best costume of the con: the Incredible Hulk.]

I also saw some neat costumes, but this towering hulk, who easily cleared 7 feet, was quite impressive.  (I love seeing people’s creativity come out at cons.)

[Stout’s burger, with swiss and guac, and a side of sweet potato fries.]

After the con, the 501st and Rebel Legions headed over to Stout, on 33rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, where Danny and I indulged in burgers.  Burgers and fries run you $10, but you have to pay an additional dollar for each topping.  I wasn’t well, so it’s hard to judge, but it was made to order and was quite satisfying, even though I was dying, so if you’re in the area, give it a try.

[Steve Sansweet, head of Lucasfilm fan relations, I believe.  He looks like he could be my uncle in this pic.]

Steve Sansweet stole my chair when I stood briefly for some reason I can’t recall.  Now the temptation was there to forcefully reclaim my chair, but as I was still on the mend, and as it seems like a bad idea, I instead stole Steve I.’s chair when he stood for a moment (and Steve I. was nice and did not steal it back.)  Sansweet was a really nice guy, spent the whole evening with the Legions, and sat at out table signing trading cards for us to snatch up.  Good times.

Randomly:

{OM NOM NOM NOM!]

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NEPA: Braving Dante’s Inferno

Posted on February 4th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

How to get from NYC to NEPA without a car?  I found two ways: first was to take a Martz Trailways bus, and second was to take an NJ Transit train to Port Jervis, NY and request a ride.  The times worked out about the same, but I loathe buses, and PJ was only 60 miles out, so I opted for the train, which was also less than half the cost.

I STILL think this would have been a good idea if Lee hadn’t had to drive through 60 miles in white-out conditions to pick me up that night (though as it was I felt a tad guilty and opted to take the bus home Sunday.)  Anyway, I do still appreciate that (read: I still feel guilty about that.)

…I should have taken a picture of that…

[Best action figure ever: Grand Admiral Thrawn, with a Yslarmi on his shoulders.]

Lee promised to buy me a toy at Target, which makes me far happier than it actually should.  The best part about it was that we found - and I had never seen this before - a Grand Admiral Thrawn action figure, who is easily one of the coolest villians of all time (and the figure is far superior to the Mara Jade figure from the same series which, as a Mara Jade fan, I absolutely refuse to buy.  They made her black suit purple and gave her a pink lightsaber to make her appealing to girls, apparently, but I find it insulting, as would most any Mara fan, I suspect.)

[The onset of my death, on a couch in NEPA.]

As Jenn and I were both ill, we did dinner Saturday, but not bowling.  Saturday ended with me collapsing in exhaustion on a couch with a fever as everyone else sat around socializing.  (Felt bad about that, too, actually.)

[What breakfast prospects looked like before Mike showed up.]

Mike and Jenn came back Sunday morning.  Lee and I were either unwilling or unable to cook breakfast for ourselves and sat around waiting for Mike to rescue us from our rampant hunger.  He obliged around midday and made scrambled eggs and some nice, thick pancakes - though, Mike, the thinner ones I don’t mind as I can roll the sausages in them…yay Pigs in a Blanket.

[Mike to the rescue, yet again.]

The weather was uncharacteristically pleasant on Sunday (not that I ever ventured outside) but Lee was in a good mood and chose to take me to the Martz station in the Corvette (perhaps as a way of saying thank you for my opting to take the bus home…)  I’m not sure how happy the Corvette was about that, as it was rather slushy on the roads, but Lee assured me she (yes, the car has a gender) didn’t mind.  (The car also got an hour-long sponge bath upon returning home, so, I don’t pity her too much.)

[A very pretty car parked in a not-so-pretty patch of water and slush on a sunny afternoon in early February.]

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Kids Say: “Oh, the stress…”

Posted on February 4th, 2009 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

My school instituted Enrichment clusters for all grades (which means teachers have to go out and buy extra stuff for a class they’re required to offer once a week…because we’re not poor already.) 

My students chose puzzles and games, and as a good number of them are somewhat violent and mean towards each other, I thought forced cooperation would be good for them.  I bought a few 100-piece puzzles and make them work in groups of 4 to 5 to put them together.

They’re getting quite good at them.  What could not be completed in an hour can now be finished in 30 minutes.  While working, a few students inquired about Candyland.  I said that if a group finished early and cleaned up nicely, I would be happy to let them play Candyland.  So the competition between three groups began.

They worked quickly, cooperating more than ever, sharp eyes finding the right pieces quickly, and as they got closer, they became more frantic.  For once, I just stood back and watched.  “Oh the stress…” I commented as I watched a group of four girls slapping together a Hello Kitty puzzle from Target.

One of my English language learners threw herself across the table, grabbed a piece, and smacked it into place as she muttered under her breath: “Oh, the stress…”

With a vague sense of guilt, the thought occurred to me: A new workaholic is born.

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