Last Day Off

I really don’t want to go back to work!  >_<

I made a cake today from this recipe because it was really easy.  I have to wait until tomorrow to eat it though, I hope it turns out!

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales No Comments » September 2008

30-Second Food Review: Mesa Grill (NYC)

102 5th Avenue, New York City (map)

My food quest started with a booking at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant two months ago, and later I decided to also do my own “Iron Chef tour.”  First on the list was Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill.

Food:  Pretty? Yes. Worth it? No.  Starter bread and corn muffin were average. We skipped appetizers and went straight for the entrees. Both the boyfriend and I opted for the spice-rubbed New York strip.   For $35 I expected a lot more.  The steak was overcooked (I had asked for medium-rare, it arrived closer to medium-well) and I didn’t taste much, if any, spice.  I could’ve cooked a better steak myself for a quarter of the price.  For sides, we had the carrots, which were in a sweet and spicy sort of sauce, not too bad, and mashed potatoes, probably the best of the dishes ordered, but still nothing special.

Service:  I’d booked the reservation through Open Table that morning, and when we arrived, we still had to wait 5-10 minutes for the table.  The main waitress was quite friendly.  Food came quickly.  Surprised they don’t offer fresh ground pepper.

Ambiance:  Rather nice, darkly-lit.  Reminds me of Cactus Club, but I suppose a tad classier.

Overall:  I would not return or recommend.  It’s possible maybe their other dishes stand out a lot more, but for an American-styled restaurant, I was disappointed with the poorly cooked steak.  Maybe if the steak were $20 instead, then I’d say that quality would’ve been expected. I later received an e-mail from a co-worker saying that’s what you get for a chef whose first restaurant was in Vegas, has a career based on TV shows, and hasn’t lifted a pan in years, lol.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: 30-Second Food Reviews No Comments » September 2008

30-Second Food Review: Emmett O’Lunney’s Irish Pub (NYC)

210 W 50th St, New York City (Map)

On our first day in New York, for lunch we decided to just wander down E 51st Street (which was where our hotel was located) and pick a random place to eat. Unfortunately, the place we ended up at (I don’t even remember the name) was part of a hotel (which we didn’t know) and ridiculously overpriced for the food (a glass of orange juice was $7!). So for dinner, I did a quick search online instead to find a place that was a bit more down to earth.

Food: Value and quality of food was pretty good. My boyfriend had the pot roast which he thought was excellent, and I had the lamb shepherd’s pie which I would say was average. I think it could’ve used a little more gravy. Portion was fairly large. My goal was to eat at least 50% of it, I think I got maybe up to 60%.
Service: Waitress was quite friendly, service was quick.
Ambiance: Pub ambiance, so large space, it wasn’t too busy when we had arrived.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: 30-Second Food Reviews No Comments » September 2008

30-Second Food Reviews: New York City

My vacation this year took me to New York City, mainly Manhattan, for a week.  Two of my goals were to get on the Conan O’Brien show (success!) and eat, eat, eat. I just wish I had a bigger appetite!

A couple things I noticed with the restaurants there was that they always seem to have an over-abundance of staff so you’re never served by just one person, but rather up to five at times.  I find it a tad awkward when they stand around watching you like a hawk to take your plate away, or when they walk by to check on you but don’t actually say anything to you.  But I guess they’re just there to serve you.

I’ll put up some quick reviews of the places we checked out over the next little while.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: 30-Second Food Reviews No Comments » September 2008

Everybody, Rock Band!

Rock Band Vancouver is a tournament that is happening on October 4th at the EA Canada studio to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Spread the word!

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales, Video Games No Comments » September 2008

Redonk

Our family dog is ridiculous. We usually let him out to pee before everyone starts going to bed, so like around 10pm or 11pm. But he always gets up around 2am for another pee. He sleeps in my sister’s room, and if I’m still awake, I usually hear the quiet squeak of her door open up, then the dog walking past my room towards my parents’ room. He then specifically wakes up my mom so that she will let him out to pee.

Just a few minutes ago though, I heard him come out (I’m still not in bed right now… I know, it’s stupid late) so I decided to go and test his ritual… I met him in the hallway and asked if he wanted to go “peepee” (he seems to understand what “peepee” means). But he just stood there. So I went down the stairs to see if he’d follow, but instead, he heads to my mom’s room and wakes her up to go outside!

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales No Comments » September 2008

Super Mario and Princess Toadstool Stitches

This took me a good six months to actually get around to doing and completing from the original request date, lol. Someone at work who had bought my Link and Zelda stitches requested Mario and Princess ones to match. The lighting of these is pretty bad, I decided to try a single flash on a lightstand instead of using my lightbox set up.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Artsy Fartsy 2 Comments » September 2008

Sheesh

Warning:  Rant entry, don’t bother reading it if you don’t care about petty things that bother girls.

I really dislike it when friends start to tell me something but they don’t really give you the whole story.  One friend told me about a little drama happening on Facebook involving another girl we used to know in highschool.  She posted up her recent wedding photos and was basically bragging about how much money she has, so another friend of ours sort of put her in her place.  But I don’t have access to these photos and therefore can’t see the comments.  I asked if my friend could change her password so I could log in briefly to see what was going on, even though it’s super immature, I know.  But she just avoided answering me on that one.  Just tell me NO for goodness’ sake if you don’t want to do that.  At the same time, it’s just facebook!  As if it’s so important to guard the account that preciously.  She said she’d e-mail me some of the photos and comments made, but never did.  And that’s the minor and immature situation that I shouldn’t care about anyway.

The second situation, another friend called me up yesterday.  She wants to hang out sometime.  We caught up briefly over the phone in the mean time.  She asks me how I’m doing, I say same old.  I ask her how she’s doing, she gives the impression that something’s bothering her.  I ask her if it’s work ’cause it was Sunday and she was working, but she says no and that it was something else.  Obviously I ask her what, and she just mumbles her way through not answering me.  If you don’t want to freaking tell me what’s wrong, then don’t even hint at it.  What’s the point and hinting to me that something’s bothering you when you’re not going to tell me?  I know that those two sentences just repeated the same thing, but I wanted to reiterate the pointlessness of the situation.

Anyway, that’s what’s annoying me lately.  :P

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales No Comments » September 2008

Demo Out

Sometimes reading user comments can be rewarding.

“The Lock down D looks great. It’s fun guessing which way the A.I is gonna turn off your contatct. Actually the contact animations while dribbling in general are very well done. “

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales, Video Games 2 Comments » September 2008

Tiger Woods is Jesus

Sometimes EA’s marketing actually does know what they’re doing.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Video Games No Comments » August 2008

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