...with the help of some dear friends of course. A week ago I took a vacation (on a budget) to visit two of my closest friends in the big city that never sleeps. Dhyana and Juan are two awesome people I meet while studying abroad in Espana, and now that we've done the New York tour we can officially say we've hung out in three countries as a trio! This trip was super kewl (notice the renegade spelling to further prove how cool it was) snags and all. I stayed for four day and came armed with a list of things to do. Most of them food related. With all that background info given we should all be on the same page. So a review of Neo Griot in New York:

DAY 1
I arrived mid-afternoon into LaGuardia and took the Super Shuttle in. When arranging my trip I thought this would be the most prudent plan as my friends have grown-up jobs and wouldn't be able to meet me at the airport. Unfortunately, I arrived during the whole "white cooler" apocalypse and my shuttle was promptly delayed. By the time I was all loaded up to make the trip to Manhattan it was about rush hour which meant a lot of time in crazy NYC traffic, throughout Manhattan, in an old van with no shocks. I got car sick and crabby. So when I called Juan to meet up post checking into my hotel I greeted him fondly with, "I am so hungry I could punch somebody in the face." Totally an exaggeration but he knows me well enough to know how moody I get when hungry. (It can be so much like those Snickers commercials!) So we made plans to meet for Vietnamese in Union Square for dinner with Dhyana. The dinner was pretty good... I had an awesomely spicey curry shrimp soup thing... but the best was dessert. Knowing my love for all baked goods Juan took my to his favorite cupcake bakery: Crumbs.

Dhyana y yo sonriendo

They literally have cupcakes as big as your head. Take a look...

This cupcake is a bad mutha... shut yo mouth!

After some serious deliberation I decided on the halfbaked flavour. It had gobs of stuff on it. The cake was a swirl of chocolate and vanilla (mostly vanilla). The frosting was half vanilla and half chocolate with cookie crumbs on top. The latin name I believe is: sweetimus maximus. Or something like that. Juan got his favorite butterfinger. Dhyana... poor thing, doesn't eat eggs so she ate an apple. No joke. She's like the healthiest person I know! I wish I could say I had such discipline but alas, I don't. I ate that whole cupcake and it was lovely. The cake was moist and the frosting tasty... although I could have done with a little less. I'm not a huge frosting fan. After gabbing and gobbling dessert in the park as young posh bohemians we all ventured our separate ways at the end of the night and vowed to meet up in the morning to take in some culture.

DAY 2

Los tres amigos met again. This time in the borough of Brooklyn! Somehow, someway I'd found out about the exhibit on the gentrification Brooklyn at the MoCADA. The museum is fairly small, located on the BAM campus in one of its buildings. However, the exhibit feature local artist whose are touched on a universal issue (displacement of low-income and POC communities in the name of renewal and revitalization) in a very dare I say colloquial way. With the Renegade Art Fair taking place annually in Brooklyn and the continued popularity of hipsterdom as the new cool it was interesting to see art from multiple sides of the spectrum. By life long Brooklyn residents, those on the cusp of the renewal and White flight back to the borough, and even local kids who'd taken part in an art class project on the subject. Afterward, we realized all that pondering had made us hungry so we took the train further into Brooklyn to grab some Banh Mi. This was Juan's first time trying the sandwich so I eager to convert him. I am all about portable foods... burritos, gyoza, samosas, pasties, etc. So the banh mi sandwich is right up my alley. I'm typically limited to just a chicken version as I don't eat swine (no bacon for me) and I'm not big on beef.

Mmmmm.... banh mi for me!

After our lunch break we kept on truckin' through Brooklyn. I had heard of a wafel truck selling Belgian wafels... the dense ones with the studded sugar pearls. So me and my foodie friends check the Wafels & Dinges' hot line and tracked the truck down. Unfortunately, by the time we got to its location they were packing up to move to their late night spots. Juan, always my hero explained, "Man, she came here all the way from MICHIGAN to try these waffles!" So the owner/cook took pity on Midwestern me and gave me a plan wafel to try. And a couple of pictures!

Make (and eat) wafels... not war.

No words... this picture is worth 1,000.

This.wafel.was.amazing. (a period means pause, so please pause for dramatic affect when reading that prior bit). Soft, still warm, with pockets of pearled sugar sweetness, a nice chewy texture. And all it had on it was a dusting of powdered sugar! I couldn't wait to try the real deal... b/c Juan and I both new after tasting this wafel that we'd track this truck down again and get the whole experience. So we took a bathroom break and the Brooklyn museum and waited.... see how content we were to do so:

Juan y yo chillaxin' in the sol

I know at this point you want to know more... but the end of the glorious reunion vacation is another story all together. Mostly I'm waiting on some additional fotos but in the meantime... I will be back soon with after pictures of those brownie ice cream sandwiches a la Ray Ray.

Hello peoples.... First things first! I know the video from the compost cookie post is down. I uploaded it from my desktop and it worked for a bit. Now it doesn't and I'm still trying to figure out why. In the meantime here's the first installment of my confession episode. I'm spilling my heart out hear so please be nice. I know this is a controversial issue so just know this is my opinion. You can agree or disagree. So without further melodrama I present my confession (part 1).

Hello all! Whew! Much like Hattie McDaniel (shout-out to a Black cinema goddess) I previously may, "not know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies," but I kind of feel like I do now. This first episode has been almost 2 months in the making. I was able to get started thanks to lots of help and support from friends (thanks Shannon, Will, Chris J., Kyle, Densmore, et al.). But, it also took a lot of self schooling regarding video editing and uploading on a PC. I love my PC but this past 2 months has been a time when I wish I was part of the ilife crew (here's lookin' at you all you Apple product lovers). To each his/her (zer?) own!

Anyways... here's the deal. While I love to bake I am not quite there yet regarding making up recipes. SO this little kitchen experiment was made possible from a recipe I got from the lovely baker and blogger Amateur Gourmet. One last disclosure... as I said this was my first attempt at video editing and as a camera woman. I am sorry for the random water make, any odd splicing and/or shakey camera moments. Take a chill pill and some anti-motion sickness meds if it really bothers you that bad- with time I should get better. I did invest in a new Flip cam so things should be much easier in the future.



Lastly....
1.) The cookies turned out awesome! A great mix of sweet and savory. Unfortunately in all the hubbub (i.e. taste testing) I forgot to take a picture so you could see for yourself. My bad.
2.) Remember, this cookie is all about re-purposing those last bits of pantry ingredients. SO, if you don't like my mix-ins it's okay Pick some of your own and bake away.

Hola party peoples....

And by that I mean mostly my nearest and dearest friends. I've decided that since the aughts are done with I should do something super cool and retro. Which is what brings me to this awesome blog. Errr...vlog. Well, it's gonna be a combination of videos of me cooking some of the gazzillion recipes I have bookmarked and other deep thoughts. I'll try to keep it all food related but I do love a good tangent. So, I hope you stop by from time to time and check it out. You could even (GASP!!!) add griotkitschen to your RSS feed. Oh, and if you have an food suggestions... just sent me a shout out (aka comment).