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.

Monday and Tuesday in a Nutshell

SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN POSTING! Now I can post to my heart's content because all my final papers, tests, projects, etc, are OVER! This calls for a celebration... anyways, last night and the day before I was working on my English project, which was actually a research paper on the history of the whale as food-- it included lots of weird recipes, as well as some politics and social history. I really liked the way it came out, so I might even post it on the blog, if people don't find it too boring. Anyways, I'll do Monday and Tuesday before I blog today.
Monday
Breakfast-- gingerbread, blackberries, a tangerine, and Greek yogurt with a sprinkle of grapenuts.

Lunch-- A Caprese sandwich with spinach and hummus to get the spinach to stick... unfortunately, I also added some balsamic, and since this wasn't sturdy bread, when I unwrapped it it kind of fell a part. Guess it's a good thing I take my lunch photos in the morning.

Snack-- A sliced apple, some Greek and Black's, another tangerine, some graham cracker sticks, and a spoonful of peanut butter, with some chai and soy milk. This was incredibly satisfying, but actually pretty light.

Dinner-- Good old comfort Chinese food:
Bok choy and mushrooms
Spicy eggplant, green peppers, and smoked tofu
With nutty brown rice.
Dessert-- grapes


Tuesday


Breakfast: can't get enough gingerbread! This time with this new "skyr" that I bought at Whole Foods-- it's basically Icelandic yogurt... I think the only difference in ingredients is some vegetable rennet. It tasted a bit more substantial, even though it was fat free... a bit like fromage blanc. It's too expensive to have all the time, but every once and a while would be nice. Also had blackberries and a banana with peanut butter.





Snack: Tuesdays I always need a snack because I have all my classes and thinking is tiring. I had a Kashi bar (Trying to use these up).
Lunch: Leftovers! And an apple
I got a pretty good workout yesterday. In yoga we did a Power Yoga video, and then I went home and ran a mile on the treadmill, then did 40 minutes on the elliptical. Sweating feels so good!
My snack was, of course, cottage cheese and grapenuts with blackberries, strawberries, and almonds.
Dinner: My dad made pineapple fried rice, but the problem with fried rice is every bowl I have, I get hungrier! I don't understand why that is... I always feel like I need to have different components to a meal, because I eat more slowly that way. Either way, this rice was packed with vegetables and protein, but it didn't really fill me up. I tried to have some kimchi on the side, but the flavors totally clashed.
The rice had: a combination of all our leftover rices: white, short-grain brown, and brown basmati
eggs
A tiny bit of shrimp
Green peppers
Fresh pineapple
Red onions
carrots
Flavorings: fish sauce, a kind of Thai seasoning (not curry)

Dessert: 2 tangerines (only 1 shown) and some hot chocolate

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!

Dixie Kitchen

This is from a few weeks ago, but keep forgetting to update.
Cute, local restaurant... one of the few we have here in Hyde Park.
They always bring you pancakes (Johnnycakes) instead of bread!! Sweet!
Ordered fried green tomatoes.
Blackened catfish with greens (cooked with meat substitute, but WAY TOO SALTY) and rice and beans. And a corn muffin.
Dad: two fried baby catfish with mashed sweet potatoes (basically pie filling) and corn.
I used to get the Southern Sampler, which had jambalaya, gumbo, rice and beans, AND a corn muffin and could finish it no problem.

Alone on a Saturday

Today was a good balance between eventful and relaxed. I woke up at 8:30!!! my alarm didn't go off! I had to be downstairs by 8:45 to get to my piano re-audition, so I hastily gulped down some yogurt and cottage cheese with berries and grabbed an english muffin with peanut butter to take with me. Didn't take a photo.
It was a good thing my mom got a grad student to give me a ride because it has been POURING outside for 4 days or something like that! Luckily, I got to my music school early and was able to warm up. The audition was no big deal-- it was just in front of 2 of my old piano teachers who only had me play 2 pages of my piece (weird contemporary Russian one that involves banging my fist on the keyboard).
I got home a little after 10, and knew that I had to be at my swim meet by 12. I figured that I should probably eat a real meal before the meet, but I needed to give myself time to digest. Although I wasn't hungry, I made "lunch" at around 10:35-- It was mainly very carb-y, easy to digest things: spinach and feta omelette, a piece of toast, and left over pasta from last night.
It was still raining out, so I gave myself a little extra time, because I'd decided to bike there. However, when I got downstairs, I ran into one of my favorite neighbors, Marian, who offered to give me a ride. She is so incredibly nice... she also gave me a ride back and invited me over for dinner tomorrow night!
The meet went really well for me. Of course, it was my first meet of the season, so I didn't really have any times to compare it to. I was in the 200 medley relay (breaststroke), 50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 400 freestyle relay. I really felt confident about my starts and flip-turns... I'm definitely getting the technique down. My time for the 50 wasn't that great.. 34.55, but still, probably better than what I would have gotten last year. As for breastroke, I DROPPED 5 SECONDS OFF MY PR FROM LAST YEAR! 1:27 is actually a pretty decent time. I was so happy... I also feel like if he'd put me in a different heat I could have gone even faster, since I was in a heat with just one other person, who happened to be on our team. My last event was right after breaststroke, and I was first in the relay, so I was pretty exhausted by that point. Everybody felt so exhilarated afterwards, though. There was also pizza with the other team afterwards, since our schools are both UHigh (they're UniHigh, and we're UHigh). I hung around for a while (didn't have any pizza, big surprise), then went home.
Once home, I finished Breaking Dawn... maybe I should take a break from trashy books for now. I do have to read chapter 3 of Moby Dick. I also talked on the phone to relatives and did my math, which was really tedious and time consuming. UGH, I still have a lot to do... although compared to last year, this amount is negligable:
-3 more chapters of bio reading (4 chapters total, and the pages are HUGE), plus a sheet of essay-ish questions
-study for math quiz
-read chapter 3 Moby Dick
-Sit by the lake (in this weather?) and write a reflection about the water (gotta give it to the English teacher for creativity)
-2 page long French composition
I would do the composition now, but I can't figure out what to write about! There are 3 questions, and I can't think of answers to any of them.
Anyways, when I came back from the meet I had a pretty big bowl of cereal and nuts and berries and milk, so I didn't get hungry until after 8:00, but I decided to make myself a real meal. My mom won't be back till midnight on Monday, so I figured it would be good to have leftovers in the fridge.
I made a variation on a Deborah Madison recipe for a summer vegetable ragout, using whatever was in the fridge: parsnips, carrots (purple and orange), squash, an onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and an apple. Instead of first sauteeing the onions, she had you add everything to the pot with a little olive oil. After letting it simmer with some herbs and salt and pepper and water, I added chickpeas, some tomato paste, and the tomatoes. I also made a pesto to go with it, only instead of following her advice and using a mortar and pestle (who has that kind of time?), I made it in my Vitamix blender, the love of my life... of course, the texture was more of a puree than a pesto, but the taste was the same. Her pesto was a marjoram pesto, but I didn't have that, so I just added some mint and some unidentifiable herb off a plant by the kitchen window. Also in the pesto were a piece of bread soaked in vinegar, capers, pine nuts, garlic, parsley, and olive oil.
I figured that the pesto would be essential to this dish, the stew not having any flavor, but as it turns out, the vegetables were so fresh that the broth was sweet and fragrant... maybe from the apple? Still, the pesto was the perfect accent: all those strong flavors really made it a bit more special. I ate the stew with a Japanese sweet potato (microwaved it then broiled it) and some ancient bulgur pilaf I once made that was in the freezer (it had raisins and pine nuts in it-- yum!).
Tomorrow I really need to get work done! I think I'll get up early and then set out for the lake if the weather's nice (if it's really nice-- unlikely, maybe I'll go for a run) to do my English paragraph. I'll probably end up doing homework at Istria (nearby cafe with awesome gelato) so I don't feel like I've been in the house all day. Maybe I'll also bike down to the grocery store and do some errands and feel like a real adult. Either way, I have to babysit at around 5, and according to Marian, Sarah (the girl I babysit) and I will be having dinner at her place.

Week 1's meal summary

This is about to be a really boring post.
To summarize junior year, it's awesome! All my classes are great, and not taking history makes a huge difference with my workload.
AP Bio: the teacher explains everything as though you were having an everyday conversation, and we go into molecular structures in ridiculous detail. It meets 7 times a week, so I'm still getting used to that.
Math (TSTDM= Trigonometry, Statistics, Something else that starts with a T, Discrete Mathematics... it's a mouthful). The teacher, Mr. Khan is Indian-British, who stops every few minutes to ask if we understand or to say something like "Pi is WILD. It ain't rational... it will haunt you in your sleep."
AP French-- honestly, I'm probably the most disappointed with this, because the class size is too BIG... 21 people is way too huge for a language class, and there are annoying senior guys who can't even use the present tense, but find it necessary to say stupid things as often as possible... god, don't I sound like a killjoy, but it's true.
English-- MY FAVORITE! The Moby Dick elective is insane... never before have I been in an English class where everybody participates voluntarily, and everyone has something different to say.
Adv. Drawing/ Painting-- the most relaxing class to have last period. We're doing gesture painting as opposed to drawing. The teacher is also my
Art History teacher-- art history is also a really laid back class, and Mr. Wildeman calls people "dude moneys" and things "dongles."

Breakfast has been oatmeal every day this week, and here are sample photos.
Some possible stir-ins have been fruit compote, trail mix, banana, berries, coconut, peanut butter, etc.


A sample school lunch:

Dinners
Night 1-- Eggplant, squash and roasted pepper gratin with goat cheese and brown rice. And salad.

Night 2-- Red lentils with coconut milk, served with brown rice, sauteed vegetables, yogurt, and cilantro. Stirfried watercress.
Night 3-- I went straight from swim practice to piano, so we picked up food from Greek town: vegetarian moussaka for me, chicken for my mom, a Greek salad, and a spinach cous cous soup. The moussaka from artopolis is SO GOOD. It was an excruciating workout that day, so this incredibly caloric (probably) dish was great for me. It was a huge wedge of creamy cinnamon-spiked custard layered with eggplant, carrots and SWEET POTATO, served with rice. YUM.
Night 4-- Vietnamese-style claypot shrimp with glass noodles, celery, and onions, spinach and pepper salad with sweet and spicy dipping sauce, basmati rice. And corn.
Night 5 (AKA tonight)-- Swim meet tomorrow, so pasta gorging time: spaghetti with a sauce of eggplant, olives, squash, peppers and cherry tomatoes. Sadly, this was so bland that we had to add feta and sherry vinegar. We also had spinach salad and a caprese of cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella... it was just from Trader Joe's but it was incredible, almost like fresh cottage cheese but less lumpy... I bet it would be great with fruit and a drizzle of honey.


I must confess that I haven't been doing any cooking, and as you can see, my mom has been going all out (my dad's not back yet). Actually, we haven't been eating until really late because she's usually in the kitchen for a long time, realizing she picked a complicated recipe that seemed really easy. I don't remember what she used to cook, but it used to seem so effortless... she really doesn't need to make such elaborate food (not that I don't appreciate it). The thing is that when I'm in training, I'm really more focused on getting food fast than being a gourmet.
PRACTICE HAS BEEN SO HARD. Every day I dread it, but once it's over I feel so strong, no matter how tired my muscles are. He makes us do IM order sets with shoes on, lunges around the pool, laps where we spring, then get out and do up-downs, etc. The other day a few people were 4 minutes late and we all had to do 40 up-downs as punishment. Yesterday we had to kick vertically while holding poles above our heads, and we also had to hold our breath for 10 lengths (breaths between lengths, of course). Today we did kicking sets and for some reason, I lapped people in my lane! I never thought I could kick before, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Tomorrow is my first meet, and I've been put in all my favorite events. It's also my piano audition (lesson went fine), so it's going to be a tight fit.