The Hunt for Food on Wheels

It's official, Twitter has successfully given rise to a new generation of hungry street-walkers who are tracking down their next on-the-go-meal through the web. From waffles to ice cream to Korean BBQ, trucks and tipsters are tweeting exact locations throughout the day, making your chances for a caloric curbside snack radically higher than the pre-Twitter days. Here are some of my favorite meals on wheels in New York:

Cupcake Stop -- @CupcakeStop
Kogi Korean BBQ (heading cross country from L.A. by end of summer)
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream -- @benwvl
Wafles & Dinges -- @waffletruck
Le Gamin -- @legamintruck

For a nationwide list of street vendors who are using twitter, check out Serious Eats! And to see street food come to life every week, tune in to VendrTV an inside look at the nation's vendor culture and cuisine through the eyes of street cart connoisseur, Daniel Delaney.

The Treats Truck from Daniel Delaney on Vimeo.

I couldn't post this piece without a photo collage from my recent girls getaway of my personal favorite (albeit non-tweeting) street trucks; one that evokes the sweet, rainbow-colored nostalgia of childhood...Mr. Softee. A towering vanilla soft-serve doused in rainbow sprinkles....as amazing now as it was 20 years ago!



Related Stories:
When Twitter met Food Trucks [Cnet]
Food Truck Nation [Wall Street Journal]

Hamptons Dispatch #4: Eight Hours of Boating Condensed to Four Minute Video

Locations: Robin's Island, Peconic Bay and Sunset Beach, Shelter Island
Soundtrack: "Lights and Music" -- Cut Copy

A Girls Getaway...Without Going Anywhere: Day 2

There's nothing like waking up with your best girlfriends by your side, bursting out of your sleeping bag and running to the kitchen to whip up some buttery scrambled eggs, syrupy pancakes and bacon. American brekkie at its finest (or fattiest depending on who you ask) and for us it was an essential way to kick off Day 2 of our Manhattan Girls Getaway.

Of course, we ate breakfast in front of the boob tube, something I haven't done ever since I removed my television from my bedroom in a quest to simplify my life. So there I sat, fork in one hand, remote in the other, watching the remnants of the movie we had started the night before but as per usual, I was asleep before the opening credits were finished rolling. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit what movie we chose (with resounding unanimity) to watch...it was none other than The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. The title makes me giggle, reminding me of the first time I visited my one-time lover in Italy, showed up to the airport in black leggings (as pants), and in his broken English and clear disdain for the leggings he questioned, "Are those your travel trousers?"

I assume he was secretly and mildly entertained by my traveling pants, just about as much as I was entertained by the film. Most entertaining was Kostas, Lena's young Greek lover from Santorni. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm a glutton for a delicious European love affair, fiction or non.
So after Kostas re-kindled his burning desire for Lena and they ran off into the deep blue Mediterranean together, it was time to get back to reality and figure out what our itinerary would be for Day 2. As an avid and sometimes menacing bike rider, I convinced the girls to take South Street/Battery Park bike tour with me as guide. They agreed, and a short subway trip later we were at Bike and Roll Rentals, located along the water near the Liberty Island Ferry. For a modest $12/hour we scored some awesome beach cruisers with super comfy seats and locks. Some scenic shots along the NYC Greenway en route to South Street Seaport:
South Street Seaport was even busier than usually because a certain Prince, President, and sandcastle contest got in the way...


But with our bikes we whizzed by the chaos and fled to a more sane spot...the brand new South Street Seaport Farmer's Market, setup in front of the fish vendor stalls. It's a delightful addition to the SSS neighborhood. See for yourself:



Making a quick stop to show the girls Stone Street's (I'm a sucker for cobblestones), we raced each other back over to the Hudson and directly to my favorite Battery Park Italian cafe, Inateso, for THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE IN MANHATTAN. I talked it up the whole way over, but the girls vowed that I was right. Look how content we are:
Next up...the park, Sunday brunch, and the secret garden.

A Girls Getaway...Without Going Anywhere: Day 1

Planning the ultimate girls getaway doesn't necessarily mean expensive spa vacations in exotic destinations or rock star escapades in Vegas. A fun, memorable "getaway" is as simple as clearing your weekend schedule (well, maybe that's not so simple in N.Y.C.) and spending a couple of quality days and sleepover-style nights with the chicks you adore most.

My latest girls getaway was right in my own Manhattan backyard with two of my best girl friends, Sarah and Jen. It was such a success that I had to share what I think is the perfect recipe for a fun, laid-back and inexpensive but ever-so-girly weekend.

Friday Night Femme Feast:
Men, listen up. Women can survive on a diet of cheese, chocolate, more cheese, wine and cupcakes. So don't waste your time fumbling around with elaborate recipes, unless you're the next Boulud. Just get friendly with your neighborhood Whole Foods cheese man and you'll be sure to please. Our kick-off girls dinner revolved around the above essential "food groups."

Our cheese platter was complemented with sweet fig marmalade (which could be substituted with Quince Paste from Whole Foods), Carrs crackers and Sarah's ceramic cheese labels. They are a fun idea for entertaining large groups or inspiring girlishness. Not sure which cheese to buy at Whole Foods? These are some of my favorites: Midnight Moon, Truffle Tremor, Montenbro, Manchego, Pecorino Ginepno, and of course, some aged Pa Pa-Pa-Parmiggano.

For chocolate, my favorite place to buy (or try free chocolate samples) is Pure Dark on Bleecker. I often purchase things based on the emotion I feel when I'm in a shop. Pure Dark's low lighting and earthy colors conjure up the same sexiness you feel with every divinely bitter bite of dark chocolate. That's reason enough to buy a few slabs and leave it out at your girly feast for repeated visits throughout the night.

Wine is obviously left up to personal taste but should be purchased in abundance for any girls getaway. Since women tend to appreciate themes (why do you think we're so good at bridal showers?) here are a few extra-feminine bottles to be paired with long intense chats about (ex)boyfriends, dating, and sex....in no particular order.

Little Black Dress - Pinot Grigio
Four Sisters Chardonnay or Shiraz
2007 Ménage à Trois Rosé


After you're nicely buzzed and divulging details that you never thought you'd share, it might be a good idea to eat something more substantial. I whipped up one of my classic risotto (sans peas due to Jen's childhood hatred for them) and Sarah re-invented her Nana's roasted chicken recipe with impressive ease! Although we were all admittedly stuffed from over-doing it on the cheese, we were so pleased to be enjoying an inexpensive home-cooked meal, and even more excited to be eating it in our pajamas.
Tomorrow, get the lowdown on the rest of our Manhattan Girls Getaway: biking around downtown Manhattan, shopping the local farmers market and discount stores, lounging at the park, eating New York's best ice cream, and discovering the village's best kept secret [garden].

How to Spice up your Cube

We all know that cubicles are a sad excuse for a work space, yet due to space constraints in New York City, many of us are doomed to this grey paneled existence.

I was reminded of my dread for the cube yesterday, when I entered a Park Avenue cosmetics corporation with dark narrow hallways and a sea of squares. It's not that I'm bashing cubes for their shape. In fact, I delight in lots of cube-shaped stuff, like the challenge of a Rubik's Cube, the creaminess of cubed extra-aged Gouda, or the refreshing taste of a margarita on the rocks.

But spending the majority of your day inside a tiny space with four walls, fake lighting and stale air is outrageous. It's so unpleasant that people are now resorting to bizarre behavior to combat the mental and physical effects. Take two of the marketing girls I met yesterday. They are cube neighbors and their computers face each other, but of course, the wall is in the way. So, they took a packing knife to the wall and removed a big chunk of it so that they could chat and compare notes without the nearby finance cube village getting annoyed.

And almost every cube in yesterday's office had a yoga ball instead of a desk chair. I guess those who had good annual review earned an even fancier desk prop...the yoga ball chair. Feast your eyes:

While I'm a big yoga advocate, I still don't think this chair does anything to brighten the bleak atmosphere created by cubes. My vote? Replace office chairs with the first-ever adult jumping ball! This corporate guy looks a lot happier than most office folk....why?

He's riding around on a 29'' spherical caricature of Elton John with a french chef's mustache. How could that not make you smile?

Imagine bouncing down to Starbucks for your 4pm latte on this ride! Functional, fun, and in my expert opinion, quite ergonomically sound.
Thank you, Elton, for making office life a bit more sane (and for writing Your Song, my graduation song from high school.)Check out some of the Winners of Wired's Saddest Cubicle Contest: