Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Chains of Love’ Category

Save a Prayer

We (or maybe, I) find it amusing that a majority of Icelanders believe in elves, yet, it’s earth shattering news that prayer doesn’t really do shit for sick people? The things people will believe in. And even better, people who know they are being prayed for have more complications.

Indian_2

I love it when a potential tragedy is averted and everyone says “our prayers were answered.” Great, so what does it mean when your prayers go unanswered, which is quite a bit of the time? Was God just busy, testing your faith, ignoring you, teaching you a lesson—I don’t know.  Like everyone was praying for the trapped Sago miners, and you pretty much knew it wasn’t going to end well, and it didn’t end well.

Maybe only Anna McCloy prayed hard enough (or maybe the miracle came from the Metallica cd she played for her husband when he was in a coma, and the Taco Bell [not too long ago, I was online trying to find the closest Taco Bell to my apt. I hardly ever eat there, but I do get the urge for a chalupa every now and then. And Yahoo yellow pages insisted there was one at Hicks and Atlantic, which is maybe 15 blocks up the street, but made no sense because that intersection most definitely doesn’t house a TB, it’s just the Long Island College Hospital. Well, I finally figured out that TB is in the hospital, you can see it from the street. I haven’t worked up the nerve to eat hospital crunchwraps yet] she fed him after he regained consciousness).

Toga! Toga!

Toga Ah, so good to see the sick-making leggings trend getting so much ink. And from my favorite NY Times columnist/daughter of a former Peruvian finance minister, who apparently used to rebelliously dye her hair pink and blue and make mix tapes despite now being a pearl-donning (try finding a photo where she’s not wearing them) grown up who thinks nothing of throwing iPods in the trash.

I’m really bothered by that new Taco Bell commercial for the chicken caesar grilled stuft burrito (chicken caesar as a flavor? That’s a whole other thorny issue) that’s not really a burrito. To prove it’s not a burrito, the one toga-clad woman says coyly to the other, “You have to peek under its little toga.” Disgusting. Oh, I just noticed on the website they tell you to "Peek under the Toga at the Nutritional Facts." Who's responsible for that slogan? Is it worse than stirrup pants?

Is Giardiniera Contagious?

I had to track down hot sauce from ten different Latin American countries in short order. That's not as easy as it might sound at first because Mexican is no problem. You could go to a Brazilian store (maybe in Astoria or 46th St. in Manhattan) or head out to Elmhurst or Corona and scout out Ecuadorian bodegas. It's all doable, but involves hunting and pecking. NYC is so not about one-stop shopping.

I had my trusty Western Beef to fall back on. If anyone would have a wide variety under one roof, it would be them. And I easily managed to find six out of my ten, from Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Ecuador. I didn't bother with photos of them, that's for a near future project that'll appear in print.

Radwater
The advertised sale price expiring nearly two months ago is not quite so rad. But it still rung up at 99-cents.

Fresquito
So adorable, Fresquito almost makes you want to clean other people's bathrooms.

Giardiniera
This cloudy plastic tub of who-knows-what always makes me wary. The word giardiniera is too close to giardia for my taste.

Bronx Cheer(less)

Bronx Apparently, the boomlet of chains popping up in the Bronx isn't making everyone happy. I can't honestly speak about the independent retailers that the newcomers might be displacing because Bronx knowledge isn't my strength. I go up to Queens, down to Staten Island and over to New Jersey, but never ever hit Westchester or the path from upper Manhattan through the Bronx. It's just not on my way to anything (well, Stew Leonard's, but only once).

I think it's odd when people worry about glut while they're still amenity starved. I've lived in neighborhoods where the only chains were uninspiring fast food hawkers like KFC, Subway and Burger King. No Laundromats, banks, drug stores or substantial grocery stores. Residents would've killed for a crappy C-Town or CVS. Or at least, I would've.

Now Brooklyn, they know how to embrace a chain store. Target number three is on Flatbush's horizon. And what's this about a Legal Seafood on site? Highbrow.

Thank You, Internets

Traderjoesback_2Phew, I knew if I waited long enough someone would've gone nuts with Union Square Trader Joe's Flickr sets, and save me the trauma. (I really like how the world is evolving into a place where leaving the house is totally unnecessary. Having bit of a child star fetish I wanted to see Mac Culkin reading his literary masterpiece on Monday, but couldn't get it together. As it turns out, I didn't have to because video of the event turned up on YouTube. I still don't quite get why YouTube is the new hotness, but I'm slowly warming up to it).

I considered joining in the opening day mayhem, but you know, having a job tends to cramp one's moblogging style. And besides, I'm still reeling from the Atlantic Center Target debut from a year and a half ago.

If I'm not too bleary tomorrow, I might just check out TJ's day after carnage.

What a Sham

Shake

I've always been overly enamored with unnaturally colored food, particularly green things, simply because I think the shades are pretty. Spinach is tasty enough but its hue is hardly swoon-inducing. Chocolate chip mint ice cream? Now that's a nice eye-pleasing item. Don't even get me started on the beauty of grasshopper pie.

When I was wee, I'd make an annual fuss about wanting a Shamrock Shake (they also had Shamrock Sundaes, if you recall), which was indulged at least a couple of times. It's funny because I'm just now getting around to reading Fast Food Nation (that's me, ahead of the curve) and just read a bit about marketing fast food to toddlers in an effort to snare customers for life. I was trying to recall if I ever felt little kid urges for fast food, but the only advertising that definitely worked on me was the Shamrock Shake promotion. I've always been a sucker for limited editions.

But really, that had more to do with my passion for the color green (it's been my favorite color since birth, my family knows that, and I've always planned on having a green wedding dress when and if that day comes, and then this past weekend my mom mentioned that my younger sister who's getting married for the second time this summer was having a green wedding dress made. We totally have a friendly relationship despite living in different countries and rarely seeing each other, but that seriously pissed me off. In fact, it's making my blood boil this very second as I recount it in type) than necessarily wanting to eat at McDonald's.

The tragedy is that I hate mint (I've grown to love fresh mint in savory dishes–but as a sweet flavor component it just doesn't work for me) so my parents would actually order me a coveted shake and then I would get grossed out after first couple sips. I know this happened on more than one occasion, and I'm surprised now looking back, that it was even tolerated. That's why I don't have kids, finicky tots would make me lose my shit.

I?m sure it's been at least 25 years since last trying a Shamrock Shake. It's doubtful that I'd truly enjoy one as an adult, but I would like to be able to at least see one. NYC is about crushing dreams, so their big city McDonald's franchises don't sell them. I bet if you asked a Brooklyn counter person what a shamrock was, they wouldn't even know. Not that I would try that sort of buffoonery–I'm just saying.

I'm not alone in my quest:
Bring Back the Shamrock Shake
X-Entertainment

Blogging for the Big Guns

Walmart It is things like this that make me wonder about working in corporate PR (for the record, I'm a librarian who has little-to-zero influence over campaigns). But then, I'm overly sensitive about things that barely matter.

Wal-Mart, and I'm sure plenty of other companies, have been targeting sympathetic bloggers and sending them pro-Wal-Mart tidbits, which inevitably get posted as opinion. It's one thing for a corporation to deflect poor public opinion with upbeat propaganda–that's expected–but the general public parroting spoon fed messages is almost scarier.

But I guess many would argue that this is what mainstream media has been doing for ages.

A Word to the Wise [Richard Edelman]
Wal-Mart Bloggers Exposed! [Holmes Report Blog]
Does the 'P' in 'PR' stand for 'press' or 'public'? [BuzzMachine]
4 Sides of the Story, Pt. 1 [Crazy Politico's Rantings]

Trader Victory?

Tradervicpomegran400 I didn't end up getting to go to the nearest Trader Vic's in Chicago during President's Day weekend like I had wished (though I did have a perfectly charming meal that Sunday at Blue Hill at Stone Barns). Sometimes dreams just don't come true.

Until I saw these magical words Trader Vic's to resume U.S., foreign expansion. Sweet Jesus! Ah, but still no deal. The east coast appears to be left out of this brilliant plan with locations slated for decided hotspots like, er, Bellevue, Washington and Qatar. Neither of which are on my must-visit list.

Those "European-inflected signature creations," like the elusive crab Rangoon, are just going to have to wait until I can make it to the Northwest (likely) or Middle East (not so much).

Chain Links: Good and Bad

In my book there's no such thing as a bad chain–I have room in my heart for them all–but clearly not everyone agrees.

New2_1 New Yorkers have been crapping themselves over the soon-to-open Trader Joe's. Part of me can't blame them. $2.99 vegan pad thai? Amazing (I guess), though I'm more of a discount Niman Ranch bacon and Total Greek yogurt shopper.

The new Bed-Stuy Applebee's isn't being met with so much love. What kind of foolish freaks line up for honey bbq Riblets, they ask? Well, these people, apparently. There are worse crimes than Applebee's fascination. I'll admit that a new chain in a formerly chain-less area can be weirdly thrilling.

I'm just excited to hear that the Applebee's is housed in a former Lerner's. If they'd only create a two-in-one concept.

Fruitless Venture

Ok, I've already lamented about the lame food situation in my new work neighborhood, and now I'm having second thoughts about the shopping scene too. Inititally, I was wowed by the strip on and around 57th and Lexington with Aerosoles, New York & Company, Daffy's and Strawberry. Of course Bloomindale's is also in the area, but that's a horse of a different color (green).

So, despite three floors and a plus size section, the Grand Central location still beats all because I've always looked to Strawberry primarily as a source of cheap shoes. And this one has a pathetic little pocket in the basement that's always crammed with like four workers sitting around and socializing while pretending to stock the ten items on display.

And to add insult to injury I happened to buy one of the smallest X large shirts in existence (I've never seen poly-blend tee shirt fabric with so little stretch) and somehow lost the receipt, which I never ever do. And this new job is so time sucking that I didn't make it back for almost a month and apparently the store has a retarded 14-day return/exchange policy and only with a receipt. I didn't even bother for the $14.99, but now I'm stuck with a crappy too small shirt. I've soured on Strawberry.

Strawberry * 711 Lexington Ave., New York, NY