The new Trader Joe’s in Chelsea has this awesome shelf of all their new products (in case you’re wondering, the shelf is by their sampling station). I always stop to quickly browse their new products and have actually found really good snacks on those shelves (their new chocolate chip cookies that are slightly crispy and very buttery are one of my favorite finds). The other night, I found the Mediterranean Pasta Salad Kit:
I picked it up because I’m a sucker for gemelli pasta, I love pasta salad, and I didn’t have to buy anything else to make the pasta. The kit comes with a bag of pasta and chicke peas and a white bag with seasonings, dried olives, and peppers:
The only additional ingredients you need are olive oil and water (very easy to come up with both ingredients, no matter how stocked your kitchen is):
The pasta kit is really easy – and it literally takes minutes to prepare – all you do is cook the pasta:
Mix the seasoning bag with olive oil and water:
Finished mix:
Drain the pasta and chick peas and pour them into the seasoning mixture:
Stir, and enjoy:
I also added some cooked chicken breasts so make the salad a little more substantial and placed it in the fridge (although it is also pretty good straight from the stove). The kit costs about $3, which is a great deal (I think) for a salad kit that serves four. Have you tried any of the easy-to-make kits from Trader Joe’s?
On Saturday night, I went with Annie to a party and ended up in Greenwich Village looking for food at 2am. Our initial plan was to get Mamoun’s, but the really long line made us reconsider our original plan (actually, on 6th Avenue, we almost ended up getting food from the taco truck, but the food looked questionable). Since Mamoun’s line was too long, we ended up walking further down the street to The Kati Roll Company for kati rolls. Kati rolls are like Indian burritos, but instead of using tortillas, they use naan-like bread. I ordered two Chicken kati rolls:
There are 9 different types of kati rolls you can order, but I went with the chicken masala rolls because you could smell the chicken cooking on the grill from the door. The potato kati roll looked interesting, but I thought it might be a carb overload since the bread looked kind of heavy. The kati roll interior:
Annie was my photographer and suggested I take a bite of the kati roll while she took a picture:
The roll texture was chewy, slightly flaky, and also a little greasy. The rolls took about 20 minutes to make because all these people decided to cut us in line since they were drunk (I guess you can’t expect much customer service at 2am in the morning). I took one roll home to eat in the morning, but I literally got home and tore into it. The chicken was a little spicy and there were lots of cooked red onions that added a nice flavor to the roll. Their pricing was also a little sketchy because the guy behind the counter just decided to charge me for the more expensive kati rolls. I’d definitely return, but probably during cooler weather (the restaurant didn’t have air conditioning and I swear my face was burning red from the food and the heat) and during normal hours so they don’t try to overcharge me.
This is my favorite summer salad – it’s light, refreshing, and very easy to make. It also tastes better a day after it’s been in the fridge (especially if you use a lot of lemon juice and tomatoes!):
You can also turn the salad into a meal by adding feta, chicken (or other proteins). I love eating this salad in the summer time, especially when it’s too hot to cook in the kitchen!
Last Thursday, Soren and I made plans to have lunch and then spend the entire afternoon at the movie theater. I suggested Saravanaa Bhavan in Murray Hill because the movie theater was in nearby and Indian food definitely would’ve kept us full for the entire day. I’ve had dosas in the past from The Dosa Man in Washington Square Park, but a lot of my Indian friends said that the Indian chain was the best dosa in New York:
The restaurant’s dosas are the largest I’ve ever seen; some of the waiters brought out dosas that took up half of a table! Since Soren and I were sharing, we decided to order one lunch special:
And one masala dosa:
Both were very good, but my dosa stuck to the tray and the onions and potatoes were really unevenly spread through the dosa (in fact, I didn’t even know my dosa had potatoes in it until I was halfway done). Soren’s meal was very good, especially with so many different sauces to dip the rice in – Soren didn’t even know it was entirely vegetarian because it tasted so hearty. Maybe not the BEST dosa I’ve ever had, but it was very good and very filling. Their prices are around $10 per dosa, but they are very large and come with lots of different chutneys.
The restaurant fills up really quickly around lunch time, but getting a seat wasn’t too difficult because the food is served really quickly. After our lunch, we watched Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, and Twilight – my favorite was Toy Story 3 (in 3-D) – my favorite character was the hedgehog that’s always in character – Mr. Prickle Pants!
Did you know that you can take a ferry from Manhattan’s Pier 11 to Brooklyn’s Ikea? My friend Annie had to buy some picture frames and we decided to make a night of it by taking the ferry across the East River to the huge Swedish megastore. I’ve only been to Ikea a handful of times, but I always hear SO MUCH about their meatballs (in fact, one writer from The Atlantic actually made an entire meal from food purchased at Ikea). I had absolutely no idea that the Ikea in Brooklyn had a large cafeteria – I thought there was only a small food court area that sold soft serve and their frozen foods. When Annie told me we were going to eat Swedish meatballs there, I was wondering how we were going to eat them because I thought they only sold them frozen; however, we went up the escalator and walked to Ikea’s huge cafeteria!
People actually go to Ikea to eat dinner – they have no intention of shopping and just want to eat Ikea’s meatballs…isn’t that CRAZY?! We picked up trays (awesome) and immediately saw all these awesome desserts (double awesome):
There were a lot of things I wanted to eat (a problem I always have when I go to cafeterias with multiple stations) – there was macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders, stuffed salmon, tarts, tortes, cake, even baby food! We were originally going to get two orders of Swedish meatballs and one order of chicken tenders, but we decided to all order the Swedish meatballs:
The Swedish meatballs plate comes with 10 Swedish meatballs (the guy had a heavy hand with our plates because it was later in the night), mashed potatoes, gravy, and lingonberry sauce. I also impulsively got an elderflower juice box. The Swedish meatballs had a really synthetic texture (like, there was no way that meatball was coming apart) but was nicely seasoned and I ate them all. It almost tasted like Thanksgiving (a really really bad Thanksgiving) because of the slightly tangy lingonberry sauce, meatball, mashed potato, and gravy combination. We also shared this torte:
The torte had pleasing textures – very creamy chocolate with crunchy wafers and possibly a little coconut. After we returned our trays, we walked around and looked through their children’s department (all of their stuff is so cute, especially their fabric!) We found awesome hats, puppets, and…an abacus:
Annie found her frames and we caught the last ferry back into Manhattan. The ferry ride is really nice and is a nice way to see the New York skyline and the statue of liberty (although I got a little seasick on my way to Ikea). Ikea also has a bunch of specials – Tuesday was Swedish Meatballs for $2.49 and Thursdays is Ribs night! Thank you, Badrul, for dinner!
