Hungry Travels

An amusing incident from last night that I thought I’d share…

My sister, brother-in-law and their two girls spent the night at the Summerfield Suites in White Plains.  Before going over to visit, I swung by Aberdeen to grab some take-out. (Ma po tofu, hot shredded beef, Singapore noodles and spinach with garlic. Excellent, as always.)  I walked into the hotel with the bag of food, and was headed to the elevator when I heard a voice behind me.

Front Desk Clerk:  “Excuse me… EXCUSE ME…”  
Me:  ”Yes?”
Clerk:  ”What room are you going to?”
Me:  (confused) “345.  Is there a problem?”
Clerk:  (annoyed) “You can’t just go up to the rooms.  You have to check in with us first.”
Me:  ”My sister’s a guest here… I’m not a delivery person.”
Clerk:  (pause) ”Oh.”  (slinks away)

Keep up the good work, Summerfield Suites.

Speaking of my sister’s fam, my 4-year old niece Emma is going as a chef for Halloween.  Oh, and Emma’s legit — she loves helping her mom bake all kinds of goodies.  I think we have a future Iron Chef on our hands.

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A slight detour today to talk about a non-food related topic…

Next Sunday in Rye is the Westchester Triathlon, one of the premier triathlons in the Northeast and a race with a huge contingent of Team in Training participants. Team in Training (TNT) is an endurance sports training program that raises money and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; I’ve been involved with TNT for the past two years as a participant and mentor, and I can’t say enough good things about the organization.  

The Westchester chapter of TNT have trained together all summer in prep for the race. Some of my teammates have been personally affected by leukemia and lymphoma; others are challenging themselves to do something they never thought they could do.  And everyone has been dedicated to the training — sacrificing family time, social lives (including restaurant time!), and sleep. (It’s amazing how waking up early doesn’t faze us anymore.  5:30 am on a Saturday? No problem! This mentality will change once the race is over.)

Last year we gathered on the beach the day before the race.

I wondered if the finish line was ever going to come.

All smiles at the post-race party. Must’ve been the hamburgers, hot dogs and beer.

Whether you know someone in the race or not, I encourage you to come out to Rye Town Park next Sunday.  Volunteer, watch, cheer, laugh at us in our wetsuits… When you see someone in a purple/green Team in Training jersey, yell “Go Team!” Those two words will give us a huge and much needed energy boost. I guarantee you’ll be inspired by the athletes, and if you’ve been wanting to get in shape, watching the race might motivate you to jump-start your own fitness regimen.  Besides, how often do you get to witness 1,400 sweaty triathletes stuffing their faces with oranges, bagels and pizza after crossing the finish line?

Oh, and Danielle, buy a bike already so we can do a half Ironman next year.

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I’m passing along an email sent to me by someone at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Sounds like a fun event, and it’s for a great cause.

I wanted to see if you guys would be interested in coming to our MS Taste of Hope, Fairfield County!  It’s on Sept. 18th at the Sheraton in Stamford. We have over 27 restaurant, wine and liquor reps participating! 

To name a few participating: Capital Grill, Morton’s Steakhouse, Moet Hennessey, Wineport, New Canaan Wine Merchants.. and many many more! Tickets are $75 in advance and $85 at the door! It all benefits the National MS Society!

Below is a link to our website to purchase tickets! 

MS Taste of Hope

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Boy do I feel stupid.  Here I go ranting about Ebb Tide’s $14.95 lobster roll, and what do I read today on Grub Street, but a guide to Manhattan’s lobster rolls, from priciest to cheapest. And what do you know, $14.95 is on the cheap side.   At the high end of the scale is is Patroon’s $38 lobster roll.  $38?!! What, does the lobster hop out and perform show tunes??

So, I humbly apologize for overreacting.  My small town Westchester mind didn’t fully comprehend the scope of lobster roll inflation in our fair metropolis of Manhattan.  Next time I visit Ebb Tide I’m going to thank them for keeping their prices down.

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Random notes for today:

My co-workers John and Kristen told me about two Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurants in New Haven, CT: Caffé Adulis and Lalibela.  Ever been?  I keep hearing how amazing New Haven pizza is—- now I have to get up there to try their African food too.

Kristen also made Ethiopian at home recently and sent me links to the recipes.

Flatbread
Kitfo
Chicken Stew
Spiced Butter
Spice Mix

She said the kitfo was especially good, and actually, these don’t look as hard to make as I would have thought, provided you have the ingredients.  Berbere may be tough to find in a store, but you can always make your own modified batch of it.  
Okay, on an unrelated note, did anyone watch the profile on Michael Phelps last night when he said he ate between 8,000-10,000 calories a day?!    I’m putting away a decent number of calories right now for triathlon training, but crap, 8K-10K is outta hand.  Forget swimming, Phelps eating should be its own Olympic event.  They could pit him against the marathoners, cyclists and triathletes, set up a time lapse camera, and see who could put down the most pasta, eggs and steak in a single day. People would watch that.  Or at least bizarre people like me would.

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