NY eats: Hummus Place

In my opinion, the best meals are spontaneous. That way you have no expectations, and you're usually hungry and stumble upon the most wonderful little places. I knew of Hummus Place, which has 4 locations in Manhattan, since my cousins had eaten there before, but I wasn't actually intending to eat there.
My mom and I were wandering around on 73rd and Amsterdam when I spotted, below street level, the door to the restaurant. It was freezing cold and we were starving, and ecstatic to find some Middle Eastern food. And talk about cheap!
Lunch special included your choice of hummus plus pita and one appetizer. You could also get a special deal with 3 appetizers.
We ended up ordering the classic: hummus tahini, which was served warm, generously drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sumac, a citrus-y spice.
We requested whole wheat pita, which ended up being the right decision: It was warm, doughy, and chewy, so unlike those flat, tasteless pitas served at most places.

As for the hummus, it was UNBELIEVABLE... honestly the best hummus I have EVER had, Israel included, and I don't say that lightly. The perfect smooth texture without being completely liquid. The rich, bitter tahini blended with the slightly grainy chickpeas... I'm trying my best to do it justice, but until you experience it, you won't fully appreciate all that I'm saying.

I also ordered falafel-- there were six, perfetly crispy and served on a pool of either cilantro or parsley sauce and tahini. The second my teeth into it, I was in heaven. I hadn't had falafel this good since Paris this summer. The inside was a tiny bit gummy, but that could easily be ignored. Sandwiched into a hunk of pita and dredged with gobs of creamy hummus, I stuffed my face.

But don't think that this is all! Quinoa taboulleh was a classic, with the quinoa adding a feathery, light texture.

My mom ordered the most WONDERFUL dish that I've never seen before on a restaurant menu, an Israeli dish called Shakshuka-- overeasy eggs in a sauce of tomatoes, onions, and peppers.
In the past, we've tried baked eggs with mushrooms and breadcrumbs, but they were much too dry. I usually hate runny egg yolks, but combined with the silky texture of the tomato sauce, they bleded into the dish. It was so overly simple, but the kind of wintry dish that warms you from the inside. It would be great over rice, with bread, or even as a pasta sauce. We will DEFINITELY try recreating it at home.

On New Years, we also ordered hummus, labneh (yogurt cheese), and roasted eggplant with tahini from them. Unfortunately, I had already eaten, so I didn't try them :(
The atmosphere of the place was great: exposed brick walls and small tables, all concealed and away from the cold. Their salt shakers even had dried chickpeas inside!

To conclude the meal, my mom ordered turkish coffee, which I had never had before and promptly fell in love with. According to her, it was a little watery, but to me, it was amazing: not nearly as sweet as I had been expecting, with a strong cardamom flavor. If I could have this every day, I would become a coffee addict.

So, in conclusion, I would be happy to eat here every day until the day I died.
Locations:

Upper West Side 212.799.3335 305 Amsterdam Ave. (Bet. w.74th and 75th st.) Delivery available from 84th st. to 64th st, from West End Ave. to Central Park West

West Village 212.533.3089 99 Macdougal St. (Between West 3rd St. and Bleecker St.) Delivery available from 10th st. to Broom st., from Hudson st.to Broadway

East Village 212.529.9198 109 Saint Mark’s Place (Between 1st Ave. and Ave. A) Delivery available from 14th st. to Houston st, from Broadway to Ave. C.

I have returned!

Hey, everybody! Happy New Year! Wow, what a trip! I must say, I was a bit sad to return to Chicago... the weather sucks and the city just isn't accessible in the same way. All the same, it's nice to be home. Meanwhile, I have a LOT to update on, and I just don't think I have the energy to do it tonight. We got home at 6 our time (7) NY time and I'm pretty exhausted.
I came home to find my fall quarter grades... STRAIGHT As, BABY! Needless to say I was pretty thrilled... I tacked them on the refrigerator.
For dinner, my parents had what I suppose is "improved instant ramen"-- Literally takes 10 minutes. I guess it's Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee: the Asian version. Ha, I just cracked myself up... didn't realize she already had an Asian last name!
No, but seriously... It looked delicious, but I really refrain from instant ramen... the ingredients list is just way too hard to decipher. I couldn't resist taking a picture though: into it went basically everything in the fridge that was still edible-- cherry tomatoes, endive, cilantro, and egg.
I defrosted some pumpkin and lentil stew and had some bread and celery with hummus.

Sometimes the simplest food is the best. Tomorrow I'll be investing a good chunk of time in doing highlights of New York (in individual posts)... I might do some picture posts while I'm here, though.
Good night!
Oh, and about New Years resolutions...
I try not to make too many. This year I have:
1) While food is a huge part of my life, and I think I may have discovered my passion, I really need to make room for other interests and hobbies I used to devote more time to, i.e. writing, drawing, reading Russian lit, studying languages, etc. etc.
2) Just spend less time on the computer doing "mindless" stuff... especially browsing through food blogs! Other than checking up on my favorite ones, I really don't want to blow an hour just looking at photos. Spend time away from the computer doing other stuff, like in 1)
3) I kind of slacked off this quarter, despite the straight As. I need to be more organized and STUDY for my APs! The problem is that my "AP" classes are actually the ones where the workload is less, which will be bad for the AP grade in the longrun. I need to devote just 10-15 minutes per class reviewing every day.
I think about my old resolutions from my old middle school journals, which I used to write in religiously.
I don't know if this is interesting for anybody else, but this is certainly weird to find (from 8th grade).
"Lida's Resolutions for 2006
1) I WILL try to get at least 8 hours of sleep on weekdays. This means I have to turn out the lights at 11, so get in bad at 10:30-10:45
2) I WILL do 50 situps every day, rain or shine
3) I WILL try to keep my room clean so I can redecorate it. Ditto the playroom (from my old house) so it can be turned into a place to hang out!
4) I WILL care less what people think of me.
5) I WILL NOT go online while doing homework unless it is to get help on said homework
6) number six is middle school relationship drama... basically, don't obsess waiting for a certain relationship to end and "have fun with other guys". AAA middle school...
7) I WILL make at least 2 more friends that are guys (what was wrong with me? Who actively thinks about "making friends" like that?)
8) I WILL keep writing my novel-- a work in progress
9) I WILL try as hard as possible to go swimming every weekend
10) I WILL BE MORE ORGANIZED"

The funny thing is that when it comes to the sleep, organization, exercise, etc. I haven't changed much at all. But in terms of caring what people think of me and making more friends, I've opened up so much more. I 'm just happier in general, and less stressed out. Just seeing these changes in the kinds of resolutions that I have are setting 2009 off to a good start.

I can't think of a title for this post

Wednesday is piano day.
Caught a ride to school with some extremely nice neighbors.
Breakfast: 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 cup of my butternut squash from last night, 1/2 banana, the rest of our cranberry sauce stirred in (this didn't look as pretty, but at least it wasn't cold) 1/3 cup oat milk, 1/3 cup water, Greek yogurt, candied walnuts.
I didn't have a snack today, but I did grab a carrot from my lunch box.
Lunch: tofu sandwich with hummus and spinach! It was kind of bland... maybe it needed mustard (weird with hummus though) or something. But super satisfying!
I was really craving hummus, so I had more carrots and celery with more hummus.
And a pear.
The lunch spread you see includes snacks for music.
I took the bus downtown after school to music... I got there about 45 minutes early, so I went to Starbucks because I was literally FALLING asleep. I couldn't decide what to get, but I didn't make such a good decision in the end. Whereas I like the sweetness of mochas, the pumpkin spice latte was just NOT for me. I thought it tasted way too sugary by the end... and what's in it, anyway? It was orange... was there actually pumpkin in it?

I had an apple. I was originally going to have a larabar too, but I thought that was overkill.
Quartet went well, but because the coach is a cellist, there wasn't really much I could do...
Private lesson was the opposite-- in an hour, we only got through 2 pages of a nocturne!
So my dad picked me up (back from his trip, but he leaves tomorrow) and we went home, where we had the world's fastest dinner.
He stir-fried some cauliflower, we had leftover brown rice, string beans, and those salmon sausages I bought at Whole Foods.
The verdict: DELICIOUS! Tasted just like meat to me! It's not that you couldn't tell it was salmon, but the texture was very convincing. It's not even meant to imitate meat, I don't think, but it was great. I ate it with ketchup and mustard.
I was starving, given lack of snacks and being out of the house for over 12 hours, so I had seconds.


And thirds on cauliflower that I didn't photograph.
I still wanted something sweet, so I had grapes and a zen soy swirl pudding... I still can't decide if I like them or not. I like the first bite, and then by the end I already feel like I shouldn't buy them again.

I love my Sailor Moon spoon...
tomorrow is my friend Kaitlyn's birthday, and I'm making her a special lunch :) Nothing fancy, but it'll be fun for me, because I'll pack her stuff I would never make for myself (she's the opposite of me... carnivorous, junk-foody, etc.): I'm thinking a marshmallow, nutella and banana sandwich. I'll also leave her a little card and maybe some other cute things.
Good night!

Classic comfort staples

This will be short because there are only a few more weeks before winter break and that means TONS of tests, papers, and projects!
Last night I made a yummy sundae with vanilla frozen yogurt, mango, half a banana, cinnamon, and a sprinkle of coconut. YUM.

Breakfast: went for 1/2 cup of oats because during the week, I need a more substantial breakfast: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup of that weird maple flavored oat milk (i might have to throw this out...), 1/2 cup water, 1/2 banana, some blueberries, flax, and Greek yogurt.
Snack: I nibbled on carrots! It was nice to have this instead of a bar because my mid-morning hunger isn't so severe that I need something THAT calorie dense.

Lunch: I made a delicious wrap, although it got so flattened that it looked more like a sandwich. It had baby spinach, rapini, avocado, a Laughing Cow, and hummus. SO GOOD! Plus leftover broccoli and an apple.

It was practically a blizzard all day! I love snow, but that cancels out all possibilities of running outside. I decided to come home after school and try a different approach- save the homework for LAST, because then you really can't procrastinate. Right when I got home, I changed and went down to the workout room for some elliptical stuff. I did intervals today... 5 minutes warm up, 1 minute hard, 2 minutes easy for 25 minutes, then another 10 minutes of moderately paced training. Intervals definitely make things more interesting! I don't usually trust the calorie burn, but it was about 390 calories.
I went upstairs and had a snack of 1/2 cup cottage cheese, the other half of my banana, and 1/8 cup of grapenuts with cinnamon.

This definitely tided me over till dinner! I practiced an hour of piano and did some homework while my dad made the fastest dinner in the world.
THIS IS COMFORT FOOD TO ME. Pure Chinese homestyle cooking: scrambled eggs and tomatoes and stir-fried string beans.

The eggs, which I need to make sometime, are really simple: you scramble eggs in vegetable oil, then add garlic, ginger, salt, soy sauce, and tomatoes, and stir-fry it and then reduce the heat. The tomatoes burst and the whole thing becomes sweet and soupy-- in fact, many restaurants serve this as a sauce for noodles!
Seconds on eggs:

OH YUM YUM...
and I feel a dessert/fruit craving coming on.
Had hot chocolate, a pear, some grapes, and a small whole grain graham cracker square that tasted like cardboard.

NOTE THE AWESOME ROBOT MUG.

Good night!

Listening to my Body

Today I ate light. I didn't work out, but I still ate less than what I would have if I hadn't eaten out. Basically, I was careful. I ate slowly. I thought about whether I was really hungry or not. And surprise surprise, I ate probably half of what I would have otherwise.
Breakfast-- I wasn't that starving, so I had 1/4 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup yogurt, half a banana, some raspberries, 1/4 cup grapenuts, and a tsp of flax. As you can see, this isn't deprivation or anything, but is definitely lighter than what I would have gotten. If I had been truly still hungry, I would have gotten more, but since I wasn't, I stuck with it. It was a great feeling not to feel stuffed after breakfast.
The thing is, I was so focused on thinking about eating slowly that I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH MY FOOD! Ha... I find that really funny.
After breakfast I went to Istria, the yummy cafe/ gelato place by my house, to write my first art history paper. I made big mistake # 1 of the day: I ordered a cappuccino. I remember that my mom loves their cappucinos, but the "small" was honestly the size of a soup bowl. I know most of it was foam, and I had no problem finishing it, but I honestly felt nauseous and had a stomache ache for the rest of the day. This is why I really shouldn't drink coffee. Anyways, it was still a good idea to go there because I just sat down and wrote my paper. You have to pay for wireless there, so there was nothing to distract me.
I came back and we ate lunch a little while later. My lunch was also maybe a 1/3 of the size of my usual one... I had one piece of pumpernickel with hummus, spinach, and 2 triangles of lemon thyme tofu, plus a carrot, some cucumber and celery with the rest of the hummus. I also had a bowl of Trader Joe's roasted pepper and tomato soup. I ate very slowly and even noticed that all the different flavors were more pronounced... the tofu is definitely DELICIOUS in sandwiches. The chewy texture made it so satisfying!
I didn't finish all the vegetables.
A big later, I decided I just HAD TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. I decided to go downtown for no apparent reason and run some errands. The problem is, I am probably the only moron in this country who has never heard of Black Friday (my mom explained it when she called later), so I didn't understand why 1) I had to stand squished on the bus the whole way there 2) I could hardly move walking down the street and 3) there were tons of sales.
I WAS ON MICHIGAN AVENUE, for crying out loud. How stupid could I be?
Talk about unobservant... I mean, I knew people were here for Thanksgiving break... It was weird, because listening to all the different languages, I mainly just heard Chinese and French, the 2 foreign languages that I speak, being spoken... EVERYWHERE. It was like I was in China and not America, that's how many Chinese people there were.
I stopped in Nordstrom and got some shirts (didn't even want to think about buying pants), eye makeup, and body butter. Then I walked to the Borders by Watertower and bought Interview with the Vampire, which I am already really into. Then I walked really far north, realized there were no bus stops, then walked all the way back and over the bridge. I would say I got a good 3 mile walk in today, so at least I wasn't totally sedentary. I'm going to swim tomorrow, I think.
When I got home, I had to acknowledge the fact that I was pretty hungry. I didn't want to completely spoil my appetite, but I needed something more than just a piece of fruit. I had an apple (sliced, to make it last longer), a spoonful of peanut butter, and a few crackers with some milky tea. When I finished, I saw there were some crackers that I'd missed. I was about to eat them when I stopped myself-- I was full for the time being. I think I'm going about this the right way.
Dinner was very fast-- we just had leftovers and my dad stir-fried some zucchini really quickly.
For protein, I had some black beans with a bit of yogurt. My plate also has the zucchini, cranberry sauce, corn bread, and some of the squash-millet bake.
I ate slowly and DIDN'T HAVE SECONDS. I was tempted, but honestly my stomach has been feeling weird since the coffee and I didn't.
However, I do feel some hunger pangs, so I'm going to have a small snack. I don't feel deprived-- I just feel pure. Of course, I'll eat more when I exercise and eating is still my life... I just don't feel overstuffed anymore.

UGH, for the second time since my mom left, I tasted spoiled milk. I guess the problem is that my dad doesn't drink milk and I don't drink it that much... Maybe we should just stop buying it? I used the other milk, which is even older but somehow hasn't spoiled yet... I wonder what they put in it-- I'm slight suspicious (it was the 2%)-- anyways, even though it's caffeinated, I had some hot chocolate. When my stomach feels strange some warm milk usually makes it feel better. I had some grapes and a tiny piece of Green and Black's dark chocolate to feed my sweet tooth. And off to bed I go!

Thanksgiving Eve

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and it will be strange! For the first time, I'm basically cooking an entire dinner myself :) so I'll have to get cracking early. I'm planning on getting up and enjoying a leisurely breakfast, getting started on prep work, and writing my paper, then meeting up with some people for a run, having lunch, and I guess cooking for the rest of the day. Finally, an excuse to cook for enough people to make something special!
By the way, it turned out that the Autumn Millet bake needed way more cooking time than the recipe said, so I'm going to serve that tomorrow night as well, although it does seem a little redundant.
Anyways, Breakfast:
Not to be boring, but we really did have to get rid of that banana bread, and with my dad's help, it is ALL GONE! I had two pieces with peanut butter and grapes, but no hot chocolate.
I did work and stuff in the morning, and really regretted not having done any exercise... I really didn't feel like running because I had that long run with friends the day before, so I did the unthinkable... I went swimming.
It felt so strange to be in the water again, and yet not strange at all! In fact, it was comforting to me, like the rhythm of the turns and arm motions brought back tons of my memories (both good and bad). The problem is that the pool downstairs is tiny and almost too shallow in the shallow end for flip turns, but it feels amazing to have the ENTIRE pool to yourself! I had so much room that I really felt myself moving forward in my fly!
I swam for about 45 minutes-- enough for a good workout, but not enough that I was no longer having fun (yes, this workout was really FUN). This wasn't even half a swim practice...
Warmup-- 10 laps (once again, no idea how long this pool was, but I was betting that the 10 laps were maybe 300-400 yds? not even, maybe)
Then I did the normal warmup we do for meets:
Fly-- kick down, swim back, drill down, swim back
Same thing for Back
Same thing for Breast
Same thing for Free
Only I did this cycle 4 times, with 10 seconds of rest between each lap, so it wasn't terrible.
This was actually pretty time consuming, considering each "cycle" is 8 laps.
After that, I decided to do a fast IM, going at a fast pace: a lap each of fly, back, breast, and then free.
Then I did another 10 laps cool down, and my dad came down to tell me he was going to a meeting. I got all excited about swimming and did a fast lap of fly for him. That's the thing-- sometimes I get in the water and I can't move and other times it's just so fun.
Lunch-- for some reason I've gotten addicted to wraps! Also, they're too messy to take to school, so I might as well enjoy them while I can.
This wrap was stuffed to the brim and really strange... basically, I'm just trying to clear out the fridge:
Pumpkin (already mixed with some cinnamon and maple syrup)
Red pepper hummus
Portobella mushroom
Leftover Chinese grilled green peppers (with a lot of vinegar)
Black beans
Baby spinach
Weird, huh? The pumpkin got a little weird at the end... it was definitely the odd one out, but it also worked.
I also had a carrot with some more hummus and a bowl of yogurt, cottage cheese, berries and some cereal. Of course, this bowl soon became bottomless. I refilled it, then refilled it again with milk, then promptly threw it away because the milk was so sour it was disgusting. Ugh. But I still wanted more so I got a new bowl and had some cereal with soymilk. THIS IS THE PROBLEM OF CEREAL. IT NEVER ENDS. That's why it seems like having two big pieces of banana bread is fattening, but really it isn't because you know exactly how much you're eating. Maybe I should make Thanksgiving resolutions instead of New Years ones... If so, mine would be COOL IT ON THE CEREAL/yogurt/cottage cheese.
After lunch, I met up with my friend Gauri for a heart-to-heart by school. I was originally going to see Twilight AGAIN, but plans didn't work out. After I left Gauri, I went to the bookstore and sat there for a while, browsing (mostly cookbooks...).
My dad picked me up and we went grocery shopping at Treasure Island. I HATE THIS PLACE. It's so badly organized, and everybody seemed to be moving so SLOWLY... you could hardly move without crashing into somebody. This is why we do most of our shopping downtown. Also, I needed buttermilk for the cornbread, and the only kind I could find was this really suspicious-looking stuff that had a long-ish ingredients list.
When I got home, I was kind of hungry, but didn't want to eat too much in anticipation of dinner... I also didn't want to overdo it on the hot chocolate, so I made carob instead-- skim milk with a spoonful of carob, brown sugar, cinnamon, and 2 mini marshmallows. If it weren't for the marshmallows I probably would have thought it was gross.
As for dinner, we got there an hour later but we were still among the earliest. The food spread wasn't that great or vegetarian-friendly, but I managed, and it was mainly the atmosphere that I liked. I love the grad students. One guy is awesome and was playing the banjo and harmonica at the same time... he also said that I should write a book on the history of Russian-French cuisine, since the Russian aristocracy all spoke French. A bunch of people also think that if I start eating meat, I should do a section on my blog that talks about the changes that I feel physically and mentally when I start again. He said, "I bet you'll be more aggressive."
The food:
-Turkey from Whole Foods (apparently this was really good)
-Our AMAZING cranberry sauce. This was probably the only thing I ate tonight that was really worth eating, and I ate more of it than I should, since it's not too good for the stomach. Basically, it has orange zest, walnuts, and blueberries in it. Truely gourmet.
-Stuffing that came with the turkey was vegetarian and had mushrooms and a lot of rosemary in it
-homemade stuffing with sausage, wild rice, and vegetables (I would really have liked to try this....)
-Stuffed tofu skins with sesame seeds, which I LOVE
-One of our foodie friends who is awesome and has a black belt in martial arts and is from Malaysia made brandade, which she said actually took 3 days! She got the salt cod at a little Italian place by Randolph.
-Brussel sprouts
-American-style greenbeans (I think came with the turkey)-- very bland
-Some generic Asian stir-fried vegetables. I thought they were homemade, given all the Asians, and took a lot, but they were actually gloopy and probably from Noodles.
-Mashed potatoes, which I took but didn't eat because I don't really like them.
-Shepherd's pie
-Duck from Chinatown
And then our Italian foodie friend Paola showed up with cauliflower croquettes and a loaf of homemade sourdough hot from the oven!!! Unfortunately I was full by this point, but we took the croquettes and the entire loaf home! Paola has also invited me to come make pizza with her Saturday, so I'm pretty excited.
I had seconds on stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Dessert: I actually passed on dessert. I just didn't feel like I needed it. I did have bites and sips of various things.

Green tea/lemon sorbet-- this was really more like granita, and just like eating ice with a drizzle of green tea. It was palate-cleansing and made my stomach feel better.
There were also 2 sweet Korean drinks-- one was the cinnamon I like so much and one was with brown rice. I had a sip of each and decided they were way too sweet.
Other desserts: only 2 were homemade-- orange cake and pumpkin cheesecake. It doesn't like like it has pumpkin b/c it's yellow, but this student is SERIOUSLY talented. Last party she made tiramisu and it tasted just like it was from a bakery. She also manages to produce these bakery boxes and gilded stands for the cake, and decorates it perfectly. Koreans are known for being good bakers, but she hasn't even had any training... what??
I didn't have the cake, but I did have a bite of my dad's... it was amazing. It's hard to make cheesecake really delicious and not too heavy, but this was perfect. It had an oreo crust and was perfectly light and creamy.
All in all, I didn't eat that much, although most of what I ate I didn't have to. I think I am under a misapprehension that I don't get enough vegetables, so whenever I see them at a party I take way more than I should and I get full really fast. And next time pass on the cornstarch baby corn dishes... please.