Tweets This Week: Thanksgiving in Palmdale

• -sigh- Andrew Knowlton is such a dreamboat. Plz keep talking about food.
• My aunt wants me to cater a hotel party with cheese before Elvis renews her vows.
• Oh and don't forget to dilute brine with ICE and stick the poultry right in next time. #cooking
• Need to remember to hit my sliders with onion water for a little steam. #cooking
• Despite my warning that I was cleaning the stove, my dad still thought the cleaner was marshmallow. So he tasted it.
• Why do I love Ruffles and ranch dressing so much?
• "I googled you, it's what modern girls do when they have a crush."
• Turkey bacon is ok, I guess. #notreally
• My parents have started storing things outside because it's 29 degrees.
• Dance battled teenagers w @jromulo . Ow. #feellikeanold
• My cousin played a song from final fantasy 10 at her cotillion
• Hurpy turksgivingz http://plixi.com/p/59208788
• Dad: " I think I am ready for apple pie" and no one got up. #getityerself
• Dad needs to take a carving class. http://plixi.com/p/59200666 #cooking
• Aw crap, I have to unzip the back of my dress. #stillhungry
• My phone smells like butter. #cooking
• HEY. Who ate the grape bonbon? There is one missing from my platter! #immastabyou
• Fyi in n out and wendy's are closed but jack in a box and carl's jr are open. #thanksgiving
• Grandma burping is kind of the cutest thing I have ever heard.
• I have more in common with my 12 year old cousin than most people my age. #pokemon #puppies #snacks
• THE BIRD http://plixi.com/p/59099676 #Cooking
• I don't know if I'm crying from cutting onions or laughing so hard at the dancing penguin people during the Thanksgiving day parade.
• Started the Thanksgiving prep. Went shopping all afternoon with Dad DLV.
• First plate on the table. Goat cheese terrine. http://plixi.com/p/59082614 #cooking
• Where the hell did my mom pick up the word "chipster"?? #thingsmymomsays
• I HAS MADED MY FIRST APPLE PIE http://plixi.com/p/58916548 #cooking
• I don't know if my diet is better or worse at my parent's house. I'm eating a Hungry Man microwave dinner. #workingvacation
• Uyyyy, this batender doesn't know what "makers neat" means. #immastabyou                         

Thanksgiving: Live from Palmdale!

Hey everybody! I'm taking this week to focus on Thanksgiving. You can follow my live mobile uploads if you friend me on Facebook.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY !

Tweets This Week: I drank stupid things like Michelob and Borba Beauty water

• I got around to hearing 10k. WTF have I been missing from my life? @Nullsleep was right. #rage
• I finally finished my 10 chicken wing meal from Atomic. It took me 3 days.
• Wow. Whoever thought of the web concept for the new breast cancer site gets a gold star. Watch left, then click right. http://ow.ly/3bYro 
• Muhaha, glad I hid that poptart ice cream sandwich in the freezer #nomnomnom
• Anyone can unlock my phone because of the grease trail. #gross 
• Listening to my roommate watching South Park, Food Network = "No No Channel"
• I get this wonderful tingly feeling when I see line items over $100 for just cheese. #catering
• Feels good completing a menu for catering gigs. It's like I finished my homework or something and now I can play #pokemon
• LOL, there's garlic paper in my suitcase. I need to get a bag specifically for catering...
• I don't know how, but I ended up losing a battle with a piece of cheesecake. #thepastrywon 
• Gwenyth's robot move when she sang the word atari is so cringe-a-licious. #glee 
• I'm doing that "Does this fit? I'm sure it does" dance with all my dresses. #whywontyoufit
• Real talk: Should I pack a dress for a family party that takes place after Thanksgiving or should I buy a new fatty dress that day?
• If I drink Borba skin care water and eat buffalo wings, do they cancel each other out? http://ow.ly/3bl5J 
• Marjorie's done it again! Now I have a fancy Facebook photo from a chip show! NYUH. http://ow.ly/3b2p1 
• dudes apparently use social media 11% of their time spent online
• Women are unequivocally driving social media, worldwide. 16% of time spent online is social. -Linda Abraham
• Women spend 8% more time on the internet from men - Linda Abraham
• Drinking Michelob. Not sure how I feel about that.
• Muhhhhh Hootsuite is going pro. I have 7 days to decide. I'm in too deep with too many twitter accounts. #icaintquityou 
• You have to be in the UK to get one of these pretty calendars! Anyone want to grab one for me & mail it? http://ow.ly/3a30R 
• <3 THIS, @FortNinety ! http://ow.ly/3acTi 
• Interesting article about giving trends, Entrepreneurs give more donations while business builds: http://ow.ly/3ab9C 
• Chip music can change the world! Help us save @facundorules this weekend @pulsewave ! http://pulsewavenyc.com 
• I had the most amazing roast beef with hot sauce and provolone on marbled rye! #nomnomnom 

*Video from Slutty Fringe

Brunch Picks: Instant Pancakes + Fried Eggs

I don't regret living across the hall from the trash chute. Sure it's really loud when people throw individual bottles down at 4am, but there are perks. One afternoon, a delivery man had rung my doorbell for the 3rd time that week; confused about who exactly ordered the Chinese food. And whenever I hit that point of utter frustration, a girl in short gym shorts pokes her head out of a door down the hall and says, "Sorry, that's for me." Does this mean that she doesn't know her own apartment number if this delivery guy has come to me twice already? And shouldn't he know to go to her apartment if the number's been the same? I dunno, Ridgewood's weird. ANYWAY, this particular delivery attempt drew my attention to the piles and piles of thrown out kitchen supplies by the trash chute. It wasn't jammed into the chute itself, not even touching it! It was packed in boxes because someone was moving out and probably didn't want to bring so much with them. I know how the "purge" goes. I know this is tons of build up, but there were boxes of unopened pancake mix!

I squealed and my roommate Dave ran out to get eggs, milk and syrup. It doesn't count as dumpster diving if it never made it to the dumpster, right? I also made us some fried eggs to go with the pancakes. I had one casualty, sorry little eggie! And no, I didn't steal from someone that was moving out. Trash chute drop offs are FAIR GAME.

Follow Friday: Test Driving My Surprise Sandwich Service

 
Michael Glass found me via Cheffle and contacted me on Twitter about my surprise sandwich service. I had posted a while ago that I would deliver a random sandwich (to select parts of Brooklyn, Wednesday through Sunday) for $7 and a referral tweet. Michael requested 4 sandwiches last Thursday, 1 with meat, 2 vegetarian and 1 vegan. I thought about the things in my kitchen and dreamed up a sage pesto that would be appealing to both meat and non-meat eaters. I had a lovely crottin from Lazy Lady farm and thought it would go perfectly with a cured meat and some greens. How would I make a substantial sandwich for a vegan if I started with just the pesto? The only material of any hearty substance I had were baby potatoes! I boiled them until they were tender, sliced them quickly and tossed them (still hot) in pepper oil and garlic.

I got amazing black sesame buns and rosemary focaccia from Amy's Bread at Chelsea Market as well as a pack of speck from the Italian supply shop. I scoured the Manhattan Fruit Exchange for crunchy greens that didn't require tiresome washing and cutting; I was going to assemble these sandwiches on the fly and without my knife kit. Pea shoots called out to me and provided a sweet dimension to the smokey speck and toasty sesame flavors. Armed with only a plastic knife, parchment paper and rubber bands, I assembled all four sandwiches in less than 10 minutes. Always assemble the vegan sandwich first to avoid cross contamination with shared ingredients! It was perfect timing, too. Michael and his 3 friends were waiting to see Puppet Playlist at the Tank (where I work), so it was wildly convenient for me to deliver. I spent way less than $28 on supplies and I got to feed an extra sandwich to my co-worker Trey! He asked, "So...de la V. Let me get this straight. If I call you or tweet and say 'We're going to the park at whatever intersection, we're hungry' you'll just show up with sandwiches?" -- essentially, yes. There are limitations to this, but essentially yes. I will feed you if you're hungry.

Later on, Michael tweeted the above photo with "@bltidm made me and @reducify mouthwatering complexly flavoured sammiches. She delivers to Brooklyn. Get them before she's famous." I don't think my vegan sandwich was as good as the speck one, but I'm biased you knowwwww. Thanks for being my first victim, Michael! 

If you're interested in helping test drive my surprise sandwiches, tweet @bltidm or shoot me an email at gimmegrilledcheese at gmail dot com!

At Home: A Housewarming Meal in Brooklyn feat. Attract Mode, Anamanaguchi, George - Jonathan + new friends

Ok, so this technically didn't take place in my home but it was a housewarming meal ! My good friend Gabe just moved into an apartment with Pete (Anamanaguchi), Dave (of the Mauros) and George (minus Jonathan). To ring in to the new residents, I christened the kitchen with its first real meal. The hang out was also a chill send off for Adam from Attract Mode, who was back on the plane to Los Angeles the next morning. I surveyed the kitchen and discovered that Mother-bear Mauro had equipped the place with all the knives and containers a girl could want! Everything was going to be a-ok!

After a massive shopping trip at the Food Bazaar in Ridgewood, I lugged everything onto the M train and met up with Gabe. Once settled, I immediately started brining the chickens. After a couple of hours, I drained the little babies and patted them in a dry rub of cayenne pepper, coarse peppercorns and salt. I slow roasted 2.5 whole, flattened chickens and finished them with a home made wasabi aioli with cider vinegar (below center). Accompanying the chicken was picolo cheese with dried apricots (below left), mashed potatoes with gravy, mint peas with queso fresco (above), radish apple salad with parmesan cheese (below right) and my favorite: spiced wine with soaked apricots and apple cores. I was shocked with myself. I thought that I didn't make enough food, but we barely dented the massive pot of mashed potatoes! Oh well, hope everyone enjoyed those leftovers!

BV photo contributor, Leia Jospe took a photo of me with my handiwork (left). I, too, wish that dinner looked like that every night! New friends Mia, Kally, Mariko, Joe and Matt Hawkins were also in attendance (who recounted the meal experience in his journal). Gah, it's nice to cook for good people. And we'll have to do it again when Dave comes back to town!

Around Town: Basque Bliss at Txikito

I've been telling you, Alex Raij is my hero. She's opened a 2nd restaurant in Chelsea called Txikito (right next to Co., across the street from Grand Sichuan) and it's focused more on Basque cuisine, moreso than the Barcelona style tapas at Tia Pol. The mellow atmosphere of Txikito is a cloudy version of the Barcelona tapas experience; the Basque region of Europe is in the countryside, a muddled geography that is both French and Spanish. The portions (small plates are pintxos) and serving style are similar to Tia Pol but there is a noticeable shift in flavors. There are more hearty ingredients like chorizo without the paprika, served warm on crusty ficelle (below left). Spanish staples like bacalao and white anchovy are still here but not as punchy as before. Instead of ham and cheese croquetas, we have salt cod. One of my favorite things about Basque culture are the txakoli sparkling wines. The bubble is very subtle, akin to San Pellegrino and less throat tickling than champagne or prosecco.

In my mind, I was set on ordering a bunch of small plates until the server mentioned a large plate special of suckling pig. You know I can't turn down any utterance of porcine. And boy ,was it divine! It came as a large square placed atop an herby chimichurri sauce, the crispy skin shining and almost blistered in some parts. I saved a large chunk of skin for last and bit down in the most satisfying way. I heard the crunch and felt the layer of fat squish into my cheeks from all the pressure. The dish was well worth the $30 and I recommend eating it with a friend if you want to get it. I finished off the meal with a palate cleansing goat milk yogurt with honey and walnuts (above right). I think the idea was to emanate flan, but the honey was so cold that it was chewy and not that easy to eat off the spoon. Nevertheless, the flavors worked well together. Think of Txikito as Tia Pol's older sister: a little more mature but definitely related. Things you need to know about Txikito: BASQUE, TXAKOLI WINES, CHELSEA, SUCKLING PIG

Tech Tuesday: Fort90's Babycastles Recap, Cloud Computing with Dropbox + Hootsuite Going Pro?

Ok, what have we learned about me, music and party photogs? I like to wave my finger in the air (left, from Fort90). Apparently I like to wave it in Mark Denardo's face. I didn't have the words to describe the amazing Babycastles / Attract Mode opening party two weekends ago. You know who does? Matt Hawkins does, in not ONE, NOT TWO, but THREE parts. The man has a secret photographer lurking about and he's somehow documented a lot of my dancing and fingerwagging. I made a lot of new friends that night and can't wait for the next one.


Check out RocketBoom's video below, Matt explains everything that's going on from the gaming to the art on the walls:

...

I'd still say my room is a partial computer graveyard but I'm slowly crawling out of that hole thanks to cloud computing. Dropbox makes my life so much easier. I don't think I'm living so much in the shadow of a potential system crash as I was before with my jank computers I've cobbled together from the street and ebay. I'm not so dependent on documents, but music! Dropbox allows me to host my music files online and I can play them from my phone or computer with no lag (as long as wifi is strong). Sharing video footage has been awesome too! All I did was upload my footage and shared the folder so someone else could help edit it. Alright, I know the first thing you say is "What if the cloud crashes?" You're right, it probably could! But not for a while...and it's not like I have a huge collection of files anyway. Plus, my ex-roommate Teresa works there. It has to be awesome! Need a Dropbox invite? Email gimmegrilledcheese at gmail dot com and I'll hook it up!

...

 I'm pretty mad at Hootsuite for going Pro. I have 7 days to decide which accounts to keep (if I stay basic) or if I should suck it up and pay for a subscription. Me not tweeting is just unnatural. Do you have any multiple account management recommendations for Twitter?

Music Monday: Really Bad Photos of Bands I've Seen + Industries of the Blind

It's been a great season for big stage shows! I managed to get some crappy cell phone photos of Guster (left) and Barenaked Ladies (below). My friends, Jukebox the Ghost, opened for each of them at The Theatre at Westbury and The Beacon Theater, respectively. I'm super fascinated by the way these large venues are run. For example when I got to the Beacon theater and the guy next to me introduced himself as the general manager, I apparently made a swooning noise. I wonder, how does one get into hospitality at such a place?

Catering is a funny deal at venues because you have to cook not just for the bands but the venue staff, the crew, managers, security, ushers, ticket takers and sometimes ...PR people (haha). The kitchen at the Theatre at Westbury knocked out a full turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, ham, pot roast, brussel sprouts with chestnuts and pumpkin pie! How amazing would it be to have Thanksgiving multiple times in a year??

...

This beautiful stuff destroys. With only a youtube video on a sparsely filled out Myspace account, Industries of the Blind lived up to everything I hyped them up to be in my head. The Tank has a contemporary chamber music series called Ear <3 Music and I like to work the bar at some of their events. I did a double take two weeks ago when I saw the words "post-rock" under the Ear <3 listing. We've never had a post-rock band since I've started working at The Tank and I hadn't heard of a local outfit sporting guitars with violins. Eight members took up our tiny stage: 3 guitar players, 1 bassist, 1 drummer and 3 violinists. A single light shined behind the drummer and cast everyone else into shadow. They melted into each other, just as the melody rose and fell.

The continuous set had two very prominent tension points where the audience was overcome with a wall of sound, akin to our heroes in Mogwai, Maserati, Godspeed and Explosions. The loveliest sections featured a single violin player with the sparsely placed guitar, almost like Threnody Ensemble. This band needs to play more, for sure.

Tweets This Week: Marketing Notes, NY Gamer Meetup, DJ Spooky at Google + Surprise Sandwiches

• 4 Surprise Sandwiches successfully delivered to @michaelglass ! Thanks! Let's do that again!
• Delivered a speck, chevre and pea shoot sandwich on black sesame roll !
• Also made chevre, potato and pea shoot sandwiches for vegetarian friends of @michaelglass #delivery #surprise
• Dj Spooky http://plixi.com/p/56351286 #vanuatu #digitalmedia 
• The gift economy! I got a free dj spooky cd! #vanuatu #digitalart 
• TEK is technological ecological knowledge #di#digitalmedia #vanuatu 
• In case you've escaped my video wrath on Facebook, here's a K-pop band that I discovered in high school: http://ow.ly/38g0e 
• I like spamming my own Facebook page.
• I can't even begin to tell you about the ten course dessert tasting at Spot. http://plixi.com/p/56213991 
• Good dessert adventures @mightyatom @anamanaguchi @georgealways @GabeLiberti 
• Omg I hope someone brought their ds to this gamer meetup. Even better if #pokemon 
• Omg RT @tinycartridge Somebody put shoes on a damn hedgehog. To promote Sonic Colors,... http://bit.ly/b1vIos 
• @marikosmak Maybe @themeathook can help us find a whole pig in Brooklyn to roast?
• What my desk looks like @TheTankNYC http://plixi.com/p/56152602 #work 
• @marikosmak Hay b. mantis, we gon roast a boar or what? 1] http://ow.ly/37NRX 2] http://ow.ly/37NT5#hearmeroar 
• Data-driven decisions. Test, test; improve #marketing 
• #nonprofit is a tax specification, not a management philosophy
• Emotionalize the brand? How about I just pinch you really hard? #marketing #ijokeikid 
• "What do you bring to the dance? What are you looking for in a partner?" - Arthur Cohen #marketing #partnership#omglearning 
• Learning thangs about metrics, ROI, SEO and moar about teh Twitter and EFFbook. #omglol #socialmedia #omgrly#rly 
• So much ego. I have 2100 #fb frens. *watches 100's of people unfriend her*
• WHAT THE..... http://ow.ly/37sTo 
• I want to be in a post rock band so bad.#soooobad 
• Pdf from a webinar I missed looks boring. From now on, I will photoshop myself into presentations interacting w/ punctuation+graphs
• Epic dinner br0s! cc: @GabeLiberti @anamanaguchi @FortNinety @AttractMode @georgealways @mightyatom @leiaj 
• RT DeMarko: The Shortsleeves make me want to hug a unicorn :3

Brunch Picks: Salmon Toast at Sweetwater

Alright, it's official a thing that I do at brunch. I get the salmon. Moreover, it's also that cured salmon is available for brunch at all. As I grew up in California, lox or cured salmon or grav lox weren't choices for brunch. Wait, I also didn't grow up eating brunch or bagels for that matter; I had a clear division between my meals or it was leftovers! It's a definite change from my weekends in New York, you just have to get brunch! I don't even think I had many cured meats on the West coast, perhaps because it's warm out and the curing practice just didn't develop as well as it did on the East Coast? I digress. I tried Sweetwater in Williamsburg last weekend. The Sweetwater salmon is served open face on 3 pieces of rye with a garlic dill cream sauce and a side of caper argula salad with housemade half sour pickles. I think someone completely forgot the capers because this dish, while flavorful, didn't pop as much as it could have without that acidic kick that lemon or capers typically provide. The pickles were delicious but not strong enough to carry the basic cream sauce and fish taste. Eating the open faced sandwich was tricky because I didn't really want my fingers to be fishy afterward and the sauce was dripping all over the place. A better construction decision would have been to sauce the bread first or make sure the sauce was thick enough to stay on top of the salmon. I'm of the sandwich school that believes soft things should be on soft bread, otherwise I feel like I'm eating a canape on a cracker. I knew thinking negative things about this dish would get me later. After an hour of walking around, I was burping up pungent dill like nobody's business. So I'll say it was good, but make sure the capers make it onto the plate. Things you need to know about Sweetwater: BROOKLYN, WILLIAMSBURG, BRUNCH, COCKTAILS

Facts N' Cheese Episode 18 - Tete de Moine + Jeff Lagasca

Welcome to Facts n' Cheese! It's like Mac n' Cheese, but not! Join me on my awkward trek through cheeses of the world. In each episode, I'm joined by a friend and I make them eat cheese while I spout out all I know about a particular curd conglomeration. Special thanks to Jeff Stockton for designing our logo as well as Ryan Darrenkamp, Lisa Uhlman and Vance Spicer for their beer, house, camera equipment and editing!

Episode 18 features the washed rind Tete de Moine, my friend Jeff Lagasca and the song "Astro-Box" by one of my new favorites: popSTAR. We shot this episode back in February, so the Bat for Lashes show Jeff refers to is from 2009! Episode 18 was the last one of our 2nd "season." We're hoping to shoot again soon. If you'd like to be a guest or would like to submit a theme song for us to use just email me gimmegrilledcheese at gmail dot com !

More facts about Tete de Moine:

• Tete de Moine is a washed rind, Swiss mountain cow cheese made by Monks. 
• The paste is described as "half-hard" or "halfpressed" and it's matured on a plank of spruce for around 2 months.
• Its name means "Monk's head." I have never seen anyone with a head so small or cork-like.
• The preferred way of serving this cheese is by scraping its paste, zesting it (like I did) or using a girolle. A girolle is a custom cutter for this particular cheese. It is made up of a spike where you rest the cheese and a razor crank that gives you cute cheese ruffles. Nice touch for garnishes on potatoes, guys. A girolle will set you back about $60 bucks so think about your tete consumption before sinking your hard earned cash on one of those.
• Tete de Moine is over 8 centuries old ! 
  

At Home: Chicken Saltimbocca with Lemon Butter Sauce + Huazontle

Chicken Saltimbocca (Italian for "Jumps in the mouth") is one of those recipes that made me say, "Damn." when I saw it. I've never had it or its original veal incarnation but I was very intrigued by the problems encountered in an issue of America's Test Kitchen. I read about how it was difficult to get the meat flavored inside of the cured meat wrapping. They solved this by placing a pesto-like paste between the chicken and the prosciutto. In this version, a boneless chicken cutlet is wrapped with a layer of rough chopped herbs and covered with a piece of prosciutto. When I was shopping, I was met with the grim misfortune that Food Bazaar did not have prosciutto. Almost deterred from wanting to make this dish, I stumbled upon very thin-cut turkey bacon. I figured it would cook quick enough and regular bacon would probably take too long or impart too much grease (omg did I just say that?).

When constructing the meat portion of this dish, make sure your meat is seasoned and dry before you start wrapping it. Otherwise, you'll have a difficult time keeping the prosciutto or turkey bacon stuck on there. To solve this problem of sticking (and a general lack of toothpicks), I put finished rolls into the freezer until I was ready to start cooking. If you're using prosciutto, don't oversalt!

 Since I'm still flat grilling it, it was hard to constitute a sauce from the bits of meat that stuck to the grill. I scraped what I could into a pan with 1/2 cup of white wine, lemon zest, juice from half a lemon and butter. The garnish / greens for this meal were very interesting. I picked up curly parsley and whole leaves of sage that I fried in butter until they were crispy. A fun new vegetable I discovered was huazontle. It's a Mexican vegetable that looks like broccoli but tastes more like spinach. You're meant to deep fry it with Oaxacan cheese and eat it with aioli or tomato sauce. I wondered if it would hold up on its own without deep frying. First I par-boiled the trimmed stalks (they're pretty long!) and shocked them in cold water. I swept them through a bit of the lemon butter sauce and tossed them on the grill for a split second, enough to warm them.

The final plate started with a stalk of huazontle with a stalk of parsley. I slit the side of the chicken and inserted two overlapping fried sage leaves. A spoonful of the lemon butter sauce did the trick and dinner was ready! My roommate and doorman loved it, I froze the remaining saltimbocca for another time!

Around Town: Otafuku Takoyaki + Korean Tacos at Dokebi

Immediately after I posted about takoyaki last week, my friend Tim Caraballo said "I didn't see Otafuku on there!" and Clark commented shortly after that I needed to check out a takoyaki stall near St. Mark's place. Luckily they were talking about the same vendor! Otafuku is not a restaurant, there's barely anywhere to stand! All that's available is a small bench outside to eat your wares from a carry-away box. I later learned that Otafuku is named after the sauce that they use on the takoyaki. It was raining, so it wasn't the most ideal weather for eating outside. I stood around thinking, "Where shall we eat this stuff?" Plopped down at Starbucks (don't worry, ordered something) and stunk up the place with the smell of fried octopus balls doused in sauce and piled with seething bonito flakes. It is hands down the best takoyaki that I've ever had, ever. The dough was not as gummy as the takoyaki at Sake Bar Hagi or Kenka, these were made with actual wheat batter. You can get the balls by themselves or with a combo meal of okonomiyaki or yakisoba. What you need to know about Otafuku: CHEAP, MANHATTAN, ST. MARK'S, CARRY-AWAY, STALL, JAPANESE, TAKOYAKI

...

Dokebi Korean BBQ and Shabu Shabu was always a place that I walked by in Williamsburg but never tried. It was rainy over the weekend and I needed something comforting. I was wowed by the lunch menu, Korean tacos?! Count me in ! I was an idiot and ordered sides of pickled radish and teriaki jalapenos but I forgot that you get a lot of little snacks to eat before Korean meals. There was potato salad, wilted watercress, kimchee and some kind of seaweed. I may have stuffed myself silly before the actual meal. The bibimbap comes sizzling in a hot stone bowl with vegetables, rice and raw egg (right). I order 3 tacos: peppery short rib (left), spicy pork (center) and pork belly (right). The latter was my favorite (of course) but had an oddly sweet holiday spice. More, hoisin and sugary than your typical pork belly. I'm going to have to come back for some Korean BBQ or shabu ! Things you need to know about Dokebi: KOREAN-JAPANESE FUSION, SHABU, BBQ, TACOS, WILLIAMSBURG

Tech Tuesday: National Pokedex, Digital Art @ Google with DJ Spooky + The Weekly Geek Podcast

Oh guys, I've seen all 210 non-event pokemon in Platinum and got the national pokedex! Hooray! I pulled Roserade out of vault and am power-leveling that little 'un with the Exp. Share. I'm probably going to go on an evolving spree this week to clear my bag of all these stones, shards and incense. Anyone want to hang out with me in the Pal Park? I'll make sandwiches.

...

On Thursday, I'm heading over to the Goog to check out an artist talk with Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky). I've been wanting to see him speak for a long time. I also might have the chance to eat in the fabled Goog-teria, too. I hear they have a cheese-monger. 

...

I've been following Chris Furniss and Jinny Koh on Google Reader for a long time. In fact, Google Reader is like my morning paper these days! Chris and Jinny also in charge of The Weekly Geek podcast out of Seattle, WA. This week, they hosted two awesome guests: Mare Odomo and Cory Schmitz! I met Mare and Cory at PAX back in September and their artwork recently debuted at the Attract Mode / Fort 90 curated Babycastles gallery last week. 

Jinny also shared a Lifehacker article about Google Chrome offering free wifi on Vigin, Airtran and Delta flights during the holiday season. Bah, humbug! I booked Jet Blue this year!

 ...

EDIT: I went to the NY Gaming Meetup mixer on Wednesday and it was a lot of fun. At first, I was a little timid and sat alone at the bar. No one looked like they brought their DS or pokemon. I wanted to do battle with someone who wasn't 8 years old, you know? I could get in a lot of trouble looming around playgrounds and schools, in search of a worthy trainer to take me on. There was more drinking and game dev talk than actual gaming, so I put my DS away. Someone almost made fun of me for loving Pokemon so much and I said, "At least it isn't Yugioh cards." I suggested that the next event be a LAN party, I hope someone takes me seriously. We ended up being in a shoot for a Meetup subway ad. Ridiculous huh?

Music Monday: Babycastles / Attract Mode Opening was Awesome + 8STATIC and Pulsewave Announce November Lineups

http:/htt

Babycastles has done it again! Not only did the gallery space look amazing with Fort 90 / Attract Mode curated artists, I got to dance around like an idiot to George & Jonathan, Nullsleep and chipbr0 Zen Albatross. My absolute favorite display was Mare Odomo's pokemon woodcuts. Someone pointed to the Ash woodcut and asked "Which pokemon is that?" Oh boy, that was funny. If I had all the monies in the world, I'd CATCH THEM ALL. New arcade cabinets were debuted as well, unstinky Dave Mauro had a beautiful red case that used to be a photobooth. Good work!

...

8 static and Pulsewave have announced their November line ups and they're looking GOOOOOOOD.

8STATIC (Philly) with Bubblyfish, RoBear, 8bitbEtty & visualicious (viz) on Saturday, November at Studio 34

Pulsewave (NYC) with Bit Shifter, Le Belle Indifference, Albino Ghost Monkey & InvaderBacca (viz) on Saturday, November 20 at The Tank

Tweets This Week: Pokedex Registration Completed + Vanilla Shake Poptart Ice Cream Sandwich

• The Shortsleeves! We recorded a new song today with @GabeLiberti ! http://ow.ly/19QbVE 
• Me in the "studio" with @GabeLiberti http://plixi.com/p/55411690 
• STAND BACK. WE ORDERED THE SUCKLING PIG. #Dinner
• @TheFoodLab What happens to all of that test turkey? I bet you have a bajillion!
• Pokedex registration completed #pokemon
• BAND PRACTICE #holluh #sup #sostoked 
• Watching Paula Deen. She is making a salad, soooo boring!
• I forgot how amazing and stand-alone the Machinarium soundtrack was! So happy it pops up on random every now and then.
• I'm afraid that if I keep trying to shave my hair to look like Sonic the Hedgehog, I might actually just look like a brown @Nullsleep
• Chicken! http://plixi.com/p/54808434 
• Vanilla shake Poptart and cookie dough ice cream sandwich http://plixi.com/p/54799849 #tadow
• Hahaha, @anamanaguchi & @Nullsleep on @brooklynvegan. Love that last photo of ninja Mark Denardo http://ow.ly/33fm3 
• Reliving my 8 year old Norcal attitude by bringing back the phrase "Um....hello!" and "No shit, Sherlock."
• I want you to know what I successfully hard boiled an egg in the microwave (after the first one exploded). #cooking 
• Always love a green lantern reference during meetings.
• Halloween haul includes bacon peanut brittle, chocolate cookies, candy and a tummy full of beer. Maybe some leftover fried chicken.
• The Shortsleeves! Jen from the internet cooking show, Tasty Memories, used our... http://ow.ly/19Jr82

Brunch Picks: Roebling Tea Room

Roebling Tea Room is the restaurant I want to open one day. Its decor is a rustic brand of classy industrial and the menu is freshly changed every time I go. The only thing I would change about my dream establishment is the size. I love the extended back lounge by the bar but I feel like it should be table service or loungey; not both. Anyway, I know I've been ordering salmon almost every weekend for brunch. I had no idea it was "a thing"! Maybe I like the cleanliness of cured fish in the morning? The Roebling salmon plate comes with a large chunk of rye bread with a drizzle of olive oil, beet salad, capers and lettuce. The cut of the bread was a bit cumbersome but it tasted good. Is it me or was beet puree something of a trend in 2009? I had it with lobster tacos before. In any case, its rooty redness and mitigating dollop of sour cream were a match made in heaven.I washed everything down with the almond tea latte, I'm too much of a curmudgeon to try anything else on their vast tea menu.

Roebling Tea Room also has a giant-ass pancake with large chunks of apples. I've never ordered it because it looks so huge, so go in with a friend if you want to tackle that monster. Rumor had it that Bill Murray's son works the line at the tea room, too. I think I spotted him with a black eye, not sure if I wanted to bother/gawk a homie at work you know! Things you need to know about Roebling Tea Room: BROOKLYN, SEASONAL INGREDIENTS, GIANT PANCAKE, SO MUCH TEA