some vegetables, but mostly meat

Last week marked two years in New York for me. I know, I know that's still baby status for all you ~real~ New Yorkers out there, but it felt big because I swore to myself before I moved that I would be out in two years. But I'm still here! I guess I stayed for the food. 

Here's what I ate this past week:

A crunchy salad with lime, mint, feta and sunflower seeds for a really rainy day.  I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and for once, I think my food actually looked just as nice as hers. 

Then the rain stopped, so Thanh and I went to Samurai Mama, which is one of the worst restaurant names I have ever heard. I'm actually totally against any restaurants with the word "mama" in it. It bothers me almost as much as when grown ass adults use the word "sammich" instead of "sandwich." Now you know one of my pet peeves. Or two? One and a half.

But...Samurai Mama serves some really serious food so I can't be mad. Like this melty, silky pork belly and zucchini. I wish it came with rice so I could've pour the fatty broth all over it.

"Tuna Tacos"

Good but I wouldn't order it again

Ahhh!!! Bukkake Udon

The most perfectly springy and silky udon noodles ever topped with scallions, seaweed, and two unidentifiable piles of vegetables. On the right is a side of mushrooms and my broth, both of which got dumped on to the noodles. On the left, is a very soft poached egg that was supposed to be stirred into the noodles, but I liked dunking the noodles into the yolk more. I guess the idea is like Japanese carbonara, sort of. It's good, light summer food.

Then there was some more rain, which again, turned into another sunny day and left me wanting barbeque. The weather here is being really Pacific Northwest.

So Melissa and I went to Fette Sau. As usual, we got more food than we could eat, but having too much food is better than having too little. That's why me and Mel are friends. Starting from the half-sour pickles (which I've grown to like) and going clockwise--squishy rolls, pork belly, more rolls, spicy sausage, beef brisket, a short rib, and a too-large order of German potato salad. 

I would end this with "Summer's here!" but it's raining really really hard again. So I guess we'll see about that.