Lost in translation

So another year has come and gone, so I figured I should make a post acknowledging/reflecting on that. I started this blog a year ago (in fact my 1 year blogiversary just passed on Christmas) as an outlet for my life. Mostly eating, since that's what I spend most of my waking hours on, and to a much lesser degree running, cycling, school, pretty much whatever was on my mind at the time. Honestly, it's done just that, I can write about stuff on here that I can't see myself ever saying IRL (mostly fear of embarrassment). Anyhoo, I guess what I'm trying to say, not so eloquently, is that I'm really glad I started this blog (big thanks to Wayne Shooooo who told me to)... I've gotten to know people I otherwise wouldn't have known if I didn't start 'food blogging' (namely Roboppy and Feisty Foodie), I've gotten job offers as a result of my blogging, and I also have another bangin' hobby to put on my CV, yeah! I've also learned a lot of life lessons from blogging... namely that my time management skills suck, people will always stare at you when you're taking pictures, and people generally aren't too happy when you insult their food. Blah, at this point I'm kind of just rambling, so I'll get onto the rest of the post.

In any case, I didn't really have any food related content prepped for today (which is weird considering I never finished posting about Taiwan), so I figured I'd make a post about a folder of images I happened to stumble across on my computer.


So it should be totally obvious from the 'abcdefucku' hat that Taiwanese people often have a poor grasp of the English language. My sister and I had a lengthy conversation about this, and we ultimately concluded that no one is shameless/stupid enough to wear that proudly if it weren't a joke. Curiously enough I came across this gem at a street market. The Chinese is correct, so it's not like they're unaware of the content written on the flip flops. Sigh, I shamefully admit I bought a pair of these for my dad. As far as I know, he still hasn't worn them to this day.


Another example of poor taste/confusion. This is actually the name of a clothing store next to 西門町. No clue who chose the name, but did they honestly think a store named as such would attract customers? I'm just gonna chalk this up to another case of, 'We have no clue what it means, but we hear it all the time.' Namefail.


Imagine the look on everyone else's face when I was snapping this photo in the airport. Apparently, I'm helping the environment by standing closer to the urinal. Who knew? I actually have more of these pictures, but I didn't want to make this post a giant picture thread so I'll end it here.

Oh yeah... so for 2010... direction of MyInnerFatty. Hopefully a return to more NYC posting, more catching up on Taipei posting (ideally before I go back again next year), more cycling, less building bikes, and grad school updates (hopefully good ones).
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The cake is a lie (totally not mine)

Is it cheating if I post something that I didn't make? Well honestly I don't really care. My buddy Chris baked this for Christmas eve last night and when he sent me pics of it, I felt like it had to be made public for everyone to see. Why? Well, when I bake stuff, 9 times out of 10 it comes out looking like crap. Don't get me wrong, it usually tastes okay (and even if it doesn't, it still gets eaten), but it was as if all the holiday gods were smiling and this was the result. No I didn't get to taste it, but I'm sure it tasted as gorgeous as it looks. It's so hypnotic, perfect concentric circles of freshly cut fruit sitting in caramelized pools of fructose syrup. It just looks so fluffy and light, and so inviting with rings of whipped cream. Sigh... it almost makes me wish that my family celebrated Christmas/Winter Solstice.
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This is why I'm hot... I mean fat

I'm not actually sure how to tag this... does this count as a slice? Or a recipe? Anyway, I'm finally coming back to this post, partially because I'm bored, partially because it really annoys me to see a mishmash of pictures on the front page of my blog. Anyway, if you know me... you know that I jizz in my pants love the 'Spicy Special' at the deli found at 109th and Amsterdam. It's also no secret that I love Koronet's despite their absurd yearly price hikes (seriously, class of 2012 and on... you have no clue how glorious it was when the jumbo slice was $2.75). It would only make sense that the 2 things belong together, considering their close geographical vicinity. I can't claim credit for this, as someone on my team actually did this before I did, but I do have to say that the combo sandwich roll is a thing of beauty.


So this is how it works... two things that are incredible individually get rolled together. Simple as that. I know a lot of people find this disgusting, that the thought of a Koronet's slice is enough for a meal and then some. Same thing for the 'Spicy Special.' Well guess what, I'm a fatty and I happen to consider this a very balanced meal.



End result prior to rolling. Actually since then I've found a better way to do this (inspired by my ohsowhite friend Davenport). For each half of the sandwich, you cut the slice down the middle, parallel to the crust, not along the bias. By doing so, you can effectively roll the sandwich 1.5x around for a nice thin pizza shell. As far as how it tastes, imagine having tomato sauce and hot cheese before hitting a nice center crust of toasted bread... then reaching a perfect mix of mayo, pepper jack cheese, and hot turkey. It's pretty much like eating a pizza with the toppings of a sub... but with more carbs. If that doesn't sound awesome to you, then... I'm sorry, you're probably dead to me. The synergy of double cheese, and artery clogging oils is undoubtedly one of my favorite meals in Morningside. The kicker? Total price... $8.50.
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Go go gadget flow... wait, that's not right

Have I mentioned how much I love Go go curry's sauce (not to mention their provocative posters on the wall!)? Yeah, it's a pretty magical substance to me. Last year, I bought the 20 serving version and brought it home before I left Columbia for the year. That lasted all of 3 days. Anyway, Go Go Curry is another one of those places that I found whilst working at American Express. I did eventually get sick of sampling street cart food, cheap Chinese, and ultimately gave up on searching for a good beef noodle place in Midtown. As a result, I went through another phase where I loved Japanese food. Sushi, riceballs (OMSb holy crap!), and as it would be... pork katsu. Now as a little background on my love affair with katsu, when I was younger I didn't eat seafood. This was primarily due to the fact that I am indeed allergic to a crapload of different kinds of seafood, but mostly because I thought it smelled like ass (salmon and tuna especially), and even being around it would literally make me gag. When my grandmother would take us to Japanese restaurants, there was 1 thing I could order. That would be chicken/pork katsu. This sounds like a sob story, but I assure you it's not. I love fried food. I love pigs and chickens. I love rice. The marriage of the 2 is not just short of heaven on earth for me. Back to the point, Go Go Curry... one of the cheapest Japanese katsu places I could find in Midtown... I completely forgot to review it last year, so I made it a point to drag 3 of my friends to go on a free topping day. How is it?


I consider it the oasis of cheap katsu in Midtown. Sure there's Katsu-hama, but I'm a student. It's not like I'm rolling in money... I WANT FREE TOPPINGS DAMNIT! So first criteria for good food is met. It is cheap. It's actually $5.55 for the medium, and if you time it properly, that includes the katsu... I'll explain at the end. The one on pictured is the Jumbo Curry, and includes 2 sausages, 2 katsu, 2 hard-boiled eggs, and 2 tempura shrimp. On the right is our complimentary free pork katsu. Wayne and I split this, so I'm not as big a fatass as you're probably thinking right now (okay... maybe I am, just not on this occasion :D). Anywho, it's good katsu. Freshly fried, or what seems like it, both the pork and chicken katsus possess a nice distinctive popping of panko breadcrumbs, accompanied by a hot layer of oil beneath the surface of the coating. The meat is adequately juicy, and tender enough to tear with your lips... no knives here, this is an Asian restaurant after all. The shrimp are similar in quality, with a fairly thick coating of batter, but don't get me wrong... they are large shrimp (oxymorons ftw). The sausage is the slightly sweet Asian sausage that you'd find in Chinese supermarkets, chewy casing interspersed with chunks of fat. I assure you that's not as disgusting as it sounds. Finally, the egg... is an egg, nothing to mention there. The winner here is the sauce. Often times, curry sauce can be too spicy, too watery, too sweet, or too [#insert any of a number of adjectives here]. Not at Go Go Curry... they've managed to find what I think to be the sweet spot of tangy, sweet, viscous, yet runny sauce. I don't think I'm doing it justice... just... go try it.

Oh and the trick to the free topping 'trick.' The coupons are actually good for your next visit, which is absolute BS. If I show up on a day ending in '5,' it's because I want a deal on that day. So my friends and I have a rotating system. A pair of people split the jumbo curry with double everything, then you get a coupon. This coupon is passed to another friend who just gets the medium with a free katsu. Their coupon is then saved for the next visit, so that the chain reaction can continue. This of course requires at least 2 people, and the first person to order willing to sacrifice not getting a free topping (which is why we went with the double between 2 people). Friendship is... being willing to give up a free topping at Go Go Curry for a bro haha.
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Biryani Cart... I kind of miss you

Finally done with finals, so I guess it's about time I came back to posting about food (my suitemates were starting to give me crap for the lack of updates). Anyway, I'll keep this one short and sweet. The whole reason I started blogging was because I found myself placed into the heart of Manhattan, land of countless food carts, while being played to essentially play on the internet (okay, that part's not really true... I was hired to be a web developer). As it would so happen, I wanted to keep a log of the stuff I ate, I mean, a lot of it is so unique that it's something I'd want to remember later on... as stupid as that sounds. So myinnerfatty came to be. Anyway, that's not the point of this post. One of the first suggestions I was given by my coworkers was a street cart on 46th and Ave. of Americas... Biryani Cart. As someone who was barely familiar with street meat, and only know of it in the form of the 53rd and 7th chicken and rice cart, I just kind of thought to myself that this could never live up to those same lofty expectations as the other cart.

I was incredibly wrong. While both are chicken mixed with rice and sauce, the 2 are drastically different. The chicken tikka masala is drenched with a deceptively spicy orange and red sauce, layered over yellow basmati rice, and sprinkled with lettuce (so you can convince yourself that you're eating healthily). The chicken is well seasoned to an appropriate degree, is succulent and juicy (although you will occasionally run into a bone here and there), and just oily enough to leave a thin film of satisfaction on your lips after each bite. The sauce is the winner here, moderately viscous, the orange tint is ever so inviting. If you just looked at the platter, you'd be convinced that it can't be that spicy, but it is deceptively so. Of course, this isn't to the point where you're in pain when you're eating, but the tang is there, and definitely complements the heavy dose of spices. The rice is more or less... meh, but as good as the chicken is, the rice doesn't have to stand out. For $6, you could do much worse. Actually, let me put that in perspective... I normally tend towards Asian food, but I will go out of my way to visit Biryani cart. Plus Meru is super nice.
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