The Girl Who Ate Everything

Swedish cows, living the life.

Holy hell, did I only write one post all through June? :( Ffffffuuuuuh...

Well. Here are the results: 11 posts about my sweet trip to Sweden last month as part of my "Snapshots from Sweden" series on Serious Eats. Check 'em out if you so desire:

Spettekaka from Fricks Spettkaksbageri »
Giant Cinnamon Buns from Café Husaren in Gothenburg »
Vikentomater, a Tomato Farm With Over 80 Kinds of Tomatoes »
Max, Home of 'Sweden's Tastiest Burgers' »
Strawberry Season »
Sourdough Bread and Forested Trails at Sundsby Säteri »
Celebrating Herring Weekend in Marstrand and Klädesholmen »
Vanilla Hearts and Cardamom Cookies at Flickorna Lundgren »
Heberleins, a Grocery Store with Soul and a Whole Lot of Cured Meat »
Swedish Breakfast »
Roaming Around a Swedish Supermarket »

Admittedly, they're probably not as fun as the posts I write on this blog, but I need to be a bit more professional on Serious Eats (more facts, fewer made up words, you know). And while it may not look like those posts took a lot of time, they...did. Many late nights went into writing those posts (which involved sticking lots and lots of Swedish websites into Google translate), which meant no time for this blog. I had to write most of the posts at home since my regular workday can't accommodate for writing those posts. (Of course, the posts that took the least amount of time to write were the ones that got the most comments. I've learned my lesson for my next press trip.) The downside of my deadline for those posts being the end of June is that I didn't write as well as I would've liked, but the upside is that it forced me to document a fantastic trip that I may have otherwise let fall prey to my quickly deteriorating memory, and...it's July, and I'm done! I can start anew! It's like being reborn! As a 25 year old baby.

As by starting anew, I mean I can blog about all the stuff I haven't blogged about over the past six months. Um. Hm.

Yeah, I have a lot of catching up to do.

Sometimes people ask me general questions like, "What's the best dish you've ever eaten in New York City?" Then my brain responds with a little pop and fizzle and sort of goes all oozy while dripping out of my ears. (Is that where the brain goes when it melts itself? I'm just guessing.)

But when I think about it, after plugging up my ears, it's not a very hard questions. It's a really broad question, but if something is truly memorable, it shouldn't take that long to...well, remember. It should be like that word association exercise where you have one second to splurt out the first word that comes to mind when given a word prompt, like "fish oil." (My response: "eeeeuuhhhhggg[throaty gurgles]" which isn't a word, I guess.)

Given one second, I couldn't tell you what's the best thing I've eaten over the last seven-ish years of living here, but I can remember the best thing I've eaten in the last two months:

Mm, lamb.

"Muslim lamb chop" ($21.95) from Northern Chinese restaurant Fu Run in Flushing. I put it in quotes because the menu calls 'em chops, but they look like ribs...and I just found out they're lamb breast. Or we could just call them "crispy, cumin and sesame seed-coated, super tender, juicy lamb meat-on-bone-sticks" because that's what they are.

Joe DiStefano describes the dish better:

Imagine a mad chef-scientist turning his attention to American Chinese pork spare ribs. Naturally he'd replace lamb with pork since it's so much tastier. Then he'd braise it, roll it in spices, and deep fry it. The crunchy spice-studded exterior encases red-tinged meat and bits of snow-white fat, all packed with wonderful lamb flavor.

Let's go back....five months. I was in Norway. I'm still writing about it. Refresh your memory with day 1, day 2, and day 3.

Good morn—I mean, afternoon.

Taking photos doesn't just allow me to (sort of) visually remember events that happened, uh, five months ago, but can also tell me the exact time the fading memory happened. The above photo (the view from Kåre's apartment) was taken at 1:23 p.m. on February 15. This means my slovenly self probably woke up some time after 1 p.m. Kåre and I were supposed to be at his parents' house, about a 30-minutes drive away, around 4 p.m. for a home cooked dinner. And thus explains why not a whole lot happened in between.

But "not a whole lot" is still more than nothing! Something, even. And something we did.

Baker Brun, purveyor of buns and buns.

We started our day by pumping up our bodies full of sugary buns from Baker Brun, a Bergen-based bakery chain that makes loads of bread and...sugary buns. Here you can buy favorite Weegie pastries like skolebolle (school buns) filled with custard and topped with dried coconut-covered frosting, or karamell bolle (caramel buns) topped with caramel frosting and crushed almonds, or princesse bolle (princess buns) with custard and raisins rolled into the cinnamon and cardamom-flavored dough and drizzled with icing (like a variation on the French pain aux raisins). We got one of each.

These eats are real. And cheap. Clockwise from top left: Falafel pita sandwich from Taim, cheeseburger from JG Melon, Spicy Rizzak from Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop, and salt baked squid from Congee.

Two weeks ago, James Boo emailed a group of food bloggers in New York City (myself included) if they'd like to contribute to a cheap eats guide. And less than two weeks later (i.e., super-damn-fast), it's here: Real Cheap Eats NYC. 123 recommended eats under $10 from 22 trustworthy contributors, spanning a buttload of cuisines (I didn't count, I just know it's a lot) in all five boroughs. No ads, no slideshows; just sweet photos and short descriptions (and there's a mobile version of the site for iPhone and Androids, for those of you who actually live in the 21st century, unlike me, who still has a dumbphone). We've got pizza, sandwiches, noodles, rice dishes, tacos, burgers, desserts, and more, along with a section for vegetarians. If you like those foods, Real Cheap Eats is for you. And if you don't...my god, why are you reading this site? Ahhh get awaaay [virtual pushes you out].

Hope you enjoy the site! More sub-$10 recommendations are always welcome!