Sushi Lovers

When you tell somebody they're going to have sushi pieces the size of chopsticks... they kind of just laugh at you and order like they normally do. Yama is that restaurant and I was the one who was laughed at. We ordered enough sushi to feed a small army! I really didn't mind though since I ordered my favorite pieces. Uni, Toro, Sea eel, Salmon.. yum!

The Heat, The Meat, The Beat

Well if you haven't noticed... it's summer. The temperature is finally in the 80's...sometimes 90's and its HOT. That also means that I've kicked off my marathon training and with 19 weeks to go.. its just getting started. My weekend long runs are about 10 miles now so they're still very manageable. I don't like that I tan so easily. Saturdays I wear t-shirts out... Sundays I wear sleeveless when I run. I literally look like tri colored pasta with my shirt off (forearm/shoulder/chest). I need a good beach day to even it all out. The good thing about all this running is that I get to eat whatever I want. I'm currently in 3 eating clubs. A monthly burger hunt, a weekly chinatown hunt and a monthly brooklyn local restaurant hunt. This is all on top of my unplanned food outings. If you look at my credit card bill.. all you see is $ for running and food. Even with all this eating I've been losing weight without trying.

9/2007- 235 lbs
7/2008- 210 lbs
1/2009- 200 lbs
7/2009- 195 lbs
4/2010- 186 lbs
6/2010- 175 lbs

60 lbs total in 3 yrs. The first 20 was from dieting and working in NYC. The middle 20 was from mild running and the reduction of alcohol. The last 20 have been purely from running. I think I'm going to lose another 20 lbs just for marathon training but it will be tough to decide where to go from there. One thing is for sure... running is expensive! You eat more, you spend more on gear/races, you spend more on your wardrobe when you start losing weight. More on my marathon training progress with my next post.

The Best Burger in NYC

Words can not describe how good this burger was. It's a big claim but I think it was the best burger I've ever had in NYC. Back Forty had it right from beginning to end. A very light and fluffy sesame bun... medium rare came out medium rare (also read JUICY!)... they used a sharp cheddar which I likedf. They provided their house ketchup which was a little smokey (mixed w/ bbq?), mayo and mustard which I also liked since I was able to squeeze on a very generous portion. They did not give too much of the green stuff so the main focus is the burger.. heck there wasn't even a tomato. Everyone at our table agreed.. this was the real deal. High fives all around. Best burger to date.

Brooklyn Half Marathon

So this post is a little late. I blew out my knee around mile 10.5 but manage to kick it back into gear for a strong finish. Someone tried to outtake me in the chute and I wasn't having any of it! What I thought was going to be a photo finish by a nose with me pulling my pants up actually turned out to be pretty tame with my competitor a good 3 strides behind me. Here's a link below with the race details... will I be ready for the marathon in October?

Apple Pie

I want to eat it.

Sorry there haven't been that many posts lately. It's finals week for me and I'm ridiculously busy. I'm sleeping on average 4-5 hours a day but I'm still maintaining my exercise/run routine. I'm having difficulty finding time for regular meals so I've just been eating out a lot. Usually after work I head to the gym... then to the library... get home around 11:30PM .. eat dinner... study another 3-4 hours before I head to bed. The life of a working grad student. My mind gets so tired that random thoughts just pop into my head. Today it was the apple pie. Now I need to eat it.

Knicks fans know what's up

I just want to cheer for the Knicks again.. is that too much to ask for?

The Missing Link

Hanshin Icreon HUWB-3000Kit

So what kind of computer geek buys a flat screen TV but forgets to check whether or not there's a DVI/VGA input? Me. Of course. I had all these wonderous plans to cancel cable and work primarily off of my laptop but the fuss of cable converting and aspect ratios, blah blah blah has put me off to the project. With this new kit.. all I have to do is plug one end into the TV and the other into my computer and shazam! all is good in the hood! Well this nifty device isnt out yet... so I have to keep my inner geekdom under control... until then...

TNF Endurance Challenge= Gnarly business!

This was my first trail race and probably the most difficult race i've ever ran. High grade steep uphills, Rocky fast downhills, mud wipes, scattered thunderstorms and questionable signage all contributed to a very very technical race. Not to mention the fact that I only had road shoes, slept 3-4 hours the night before and had to wait around 5 hours for my leg of the relay.. I still managed to do fairly well. Very challenging race but also very satisfying. This only means that 1) i need to buy trail shoes 2) i need to train harder for my next trail run. Oh, and shouts to an awesome weekend with Team TBW and congrats to Team Lets do this! on the relay, Kino for completing the 50k and Marco for the 50 miler! gnarly!

The Olympic Tragedy

Is it any surprise that the Greeks are facing one of the worlds largest financial collapses? 6 years ago when they hosted the Olympics, skeptics were already commenting on the astronomical debt that they accumulated from the games. A simple Google search directs you to multiple BBC articles from 2004 detailing the troubles ahead. Ridiculous how many countries use the games as an excuse to overspend on soon to be empty stadiums and Olympic villages. You do have to applaud Vancouver for keeping the games somewhat manageable but even ESPN had something to say about them.

Something needs to be done about the Olympics. The Olympic committee needs to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.. because honestly.. who even watches the games anymore?

round three

I can't get enough of this katsu curry!!! here's a shot of it at menkuitei. fatSON indeed. :)

Cinco de Mayo- weekend pre game

I'm VERY open minded when it comes to celebrating other country's holidays... if it involves drinking. I'm more crazy about St. Patricks Day than some of my Irish friends (something about him getting rid of the rats in Ireland? something him saving the Irish with Catholicism? green beer?) Next Wednesday happens to be Cinco de Mayo and guess what.. i'll be celebrating that too. I realized I dont really need to wait that long... I live in Sunset Park.. there's PLENTY of Mexicans here! It's about 2 AM right now and the party is still rocking. Too bad for them I'm not in the party mood and have already called 311 to file the noise complaint but definitely something to keep in mind for next year! Tequila!

Curry Katsu Don

When I came back from Japan, I vowed not to ruin my memory of Japanese food and avoid it completely for the next year. I only set myself up for failure because I'm an overachiever and believe anything is possible. After I tried out the Go Go Curry NY edition, I knew I had a new mission... and that was to find the best Curry Katsu Don in NYC. Today would be considered round two. Curry-Ya... some say its the best in NYC.. some say its second best to Katsuhama. Well I tried it... and its damn good. NOT as good as the secret tonkatsu restaurant underneath the train tracks by the Yuracho JR station but I would say 75% there. Here's a photo for your pleasure.. next stop... Menkuitei!

TNF Endurance Challenge

One more week until my first trail run.. here's a quick video to see what i'm going to go through. Thx MC for the vid... now I have something to mentally prepare for!

Relativity

"I’m jealous of all faster runners. I think taller people have it easier b/c they have longer legs when one passes me and then I think shorter ones do b/c of lower centers of gravity (?!) when one passes me. It’s all relative."
-JL

I think she hit it right on the head. There's always going to be someone faster/slower in a race. Mostly faster.. lol

Lebron James Dunks

yo... is he the truth?  i can't stop watching the cavs this year. 

Cirque de Soleil- OVO

"T

So i'm going to watch OVO this weekend and convinced a few friends to watch it with me.. and as I start telling one of them how much I like Cirque Du Soleil... she stops me and says.

"you're a cirque de soleil whore"

what?  no way.

I do remember the first time I saw Ka in Vegas.. I was completely blown away.  I could feel the heat of the flames on my face... the floor tremble as the actors raced back and forth along the walls and into the crowds.  The music was wonderful, the acrobatics fantastic and somewhere along the line they managed to even stick in a decent story line.  What a well executed show.

A few months go by and I hear about Corteo showing at Randalls Island...I had to see this.  The show had a different feel to it.. a much lighter and fun theme but still a fantastic show none the less. 

So I think to myself.. so how many of these have I watched?  In addition to those 2... there's also Delirium, O... Ovo would only make 5. so ha!  there you go.. not quite the Cirque Du Soleil whore.  I'm still super excited to watch the show.. and for half off at that!  Hopefully you guys will get a chance to catch it too!

Go Go Curry

I didn't know there was one in NYC!  

Curry Katsu anything was probably one of my favorite meals  when I was in Japan. 

So know that I know that there's one by Times Square.. guess what i'm having for lunch tomorrow???

hahahahahahahaha

fatSON is happy.

Running in the Rain

While many of us were just lying in bed on this rainy Sunday morning more than 6352 women (and 8 men?) ran the More half marathon in Central Park.  It could've been easy for them to just say eff it and stay in but they got up early.. went through their routine and got out to run.  Crazy props to them.. and a big big congratulations to my friends Reintine and Emily for being part of that brave 6352.  

Registration

Did you ever notice that registering for classes feels a lot like Black Friday shopping?  It did for me.  I really dont understand how they come up with the registration schedule.  I have 15 credits under my belt.. 4.0 GPA.. but I get shafted with the last registration day.  ugh.  Soo..i'm literally sitting in front of the computer.. counting the seconds.. refreshing my browser.. hoping that i'm one of the "lucky" 9 who get to fill out the last spots in this rare summer finance course.  I get it.. woo-hoo!  but the other class I wanted was filled.  boo.  So like any other black friday... you start shopping around for the next best deal.. and there you have it.. I settle with the same course but in a 2 hour 8:45PM-10:45PM time slot.  Do I really want to spend my summer week nights in class until 11?  No... but I feel a lot better knowing that there's probably another person out there that was trying to get into this class and didn't. 

Sunshine

I think its about time I break out the shades.

The Bacon Royale

" You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France?"

"A Royale with Cheese"

I loved that scene from Pulp Fiction and you would be lying if you said that you didn't want to try the Big Kahuna Burger after watching that.  It's been some time since I've had a decent burger and even longer since watching the movie.  So when a friend of mine tells me she just had the best burger  she's ever had at a bar called Royale... you know I had to try it. I literally cleared out my schedule and made plans the next day to visit the restaurant and try out this burger.  I read the reviews on Yelp and there was an almost unanimous response that this was the place to be for burgers. 

Born and Raised in New York, I can't help but be cynical and find every reason possible to explain why these reviews may be false.  Friends of owners?  Tipsy after hours party goers?  Tourists?  You name it.. I thought of it.  I convince my friend to join me in my burger quest.

I drop by on a rainy evening and it seems like its one of the more slow nights.  The burger menu was simple.  Burger Royale,  Royale with Cheese (Swiss/American/Cheddar/Bleu) or a Bacon Royale.  Perfect.. I order the Bacon Royale (medium) with Cheddar.  Within 10 minutes I had a pipin hot burger in front of me.  Here's a picture of it on top.  I gotta say.. the burger was good.  Bacon was CRISPY.. Burger still had juices flowing out of it.. 2 slices of melted cheddar on top. The only thing I have to say though is that the bun was a little lacking.  It was toasted... it was buttered.. it was a fancy gourmet sesame bun.. but I didnt like that.  I was hoping for a lightly toasted but soft sesame potato bread that was going to absorb some of those juices.  The bun they used was more of a shell or a case for the burger to keep it from being too sloppy.  This was not my dream Big Kahuna Burger but I would definitely revisit if I'm ever in the area. 

Week 3 Training Run

The training is coming along slowly... I have one month and 2 days to prepare for the Brooklyn half marathon and about 2 weeks to prepare for the TNF Endurance challenge.  Meanwhile schoolwork has picked up with midterms next week and a few papers due the week after.  I wish I had time to think about everything that's going on around me but I like where I'm at right now and i'm happy to keep on trucking.  Here's how I did on my latest training run... the long hill modeled after Heartbreak Hill from the Boston Marathon.  lol.

The Double Down Sandwich

After reading through dozens of news articles and facebook status updates about this sandwich.. I had to try it for myself and see if this was just a bunch of hooplah. 

Of course I could have never done this while thinking straight... this was the result of seemed like a brilliant idea after 3 hours of endless margaritas and a giant burrito.  I head over with a few friends to the nearby KFC and I order the $6 sandwich (muy expensivo no?).  With whatever sense I had left, I decided to split the sandwich in half with my friend in order to save on the calories.  I take my first bite and the first words that come out of my mouth.. its chicken!  Not only do I say this once.. but over and over again as I continue to plow through this sandwich.  You see... this sandwich was so built up in my head that I had imagined for it to taste somewhat magical.. mysterious.. something I've never had before.. but in reality.. it is exactly what you see above.. boneless fried chicken.  2 pieces actually with 2 slices of un-melted cheese and the saddest 2 slices of bacon Ive ever seen.  As I finish the sandwich my friend Jess asks me.. "was it worth it?"  Well.. I'm not sure if I've ever been as fascinated and curious about fast food in my life.. and if this sandwich can drive the other restaurant chains to experiment and deliver creative fast food concoctions then.. Yes.. it was worth it.  Will I have it again?  Probably not.  But how often can you have a meal at a fast food restaurant and then tell a story about it?  Kudos to you Colonel for providing a little excitement in all of our lives.

It's going to be a LONG season

It's tough being a Mets fan.. you always start the year thinking you have all the right ingredients and then injuries start happening, players don't perform and you end up right where you started. 

This was only the 11th game of the season but after 20 innings its seems much farther in the season now.  Our pitching rotation is all out of whack.. pitchers are playing with short rest.. this game was longer than a double header! 


It took 46 players,  6 hours 53 minutes to complete the longest game in Mets franchise history.  This will no question effect the team in the coming games.. but at least they got the win.  Go Mets!

Jumper

I walk past these statues everyday on my way to work.. to school.. back home.. and I always take a few seconds to just enjoy the view.  These statues have definitely been getting some press in the recent days so I thought I'd chime in on it.  I like the idea and can kind of see where the artist is coming from.  Visually I think its great.. stunning even when seen at the right time of day.  To hear how taxing it is on the NYPD is disturbing... maybe it shouldn't be such a long installation...maybe more awareness is needed?  I'm not sure if there are any right answers.. but that is the same reason why I love New York.  Just do it.  Self expression should not be put on hold.  Can I live?

Friday Burrito Night

There are burritos.. and then there are burritos the size of 1 week old babies.. and then there are babies that can eat their weight in burritos.  I think I was that baby.

Fridays are great because they mark the conclusion of what was probably a disgusting and work filled week... and the beginning of an adventurous and fun weekend.  Sometimes I like to celebrate with a beer or two.. but today I will celebrate with a big burrito.

Happy Friday!

The Poached Egg

The Poached Egg is one of those things you love to eat but never bother to learn how to make yourself.  I've been experimenting with different ingredients in my daily bowl of soup noodles and realized that the egg is probably just as important to me as the noodles or the soup.  So here's that quick video tutorial I watched that helped me along the way!




Also... for those that like the soft boiled eggs in their ramen...

Time to move on

I had a good run with my Blackberry Curve.. but the 2 yrs is up and I feel like I need some pizazz in my life.  Nice big screen, weather, some apps for the randomness in my life.  I think i'll miss my keyboard, push email and MAYBE BB messenger.. (that's a big maybe.. I dont like being that accessible)... but I won't know unless I try it out.  Cheers to you little guy.. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.

April 29th...

HTC Droid Incredible

The Grad Social

Silly GSA... how convenient of you to throw a grad social the week of voting. This vote is going to decide whether or not you can raise our student activity fee and increase your budget by 50%.  You're lucky I can eat AND drink more than the $10 increase... congratulations.. you won my vote.  However...I need to work on my post social behavior.. falling asleep while microwaving pizza is not indicative of a successful grad student.. more so... a delinquent undergrad.  and if you were wondering.... I still ate the pizza in the morning.

The Long Run

I always thought.. what the hell is a long run?  I know its long..  but what gives?

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/long_run.html

This at least gives me a little guidance on how not to over train.  Quick read if you guys were also curious. 

and why not?

I sometimes wonder why I stopped updating my xanga.. then it dawned on me.. it's because my ex didn't like that my other ex was commenting on my posts!  hahaha.. I guess we still see all the relationship drama on facebook/twitter/myspace.. blah.  but to hell with that.. I need a place to vent.. to post pictures and to say what I want.. and I want everyone to know about it (also because the web is so darn convenient).  here's to the beginning of sikclah.blogspot.com which in chinese literally means.. go eat shit.