Cangrejada (in my pants)

My handsome friend Edison took me to Barzola (92-13 37th Ave, Queens, NY 11372) a few weeks ago and I had some unbelievably delicious Ecuadorian cuisine from the coast. If it’s the right season, you can order the cangrejada, stewed whole spider crabs.

If you order the cangrejada, they bring out a basket full of equipment (like this wooden mallet).

I learned that every soft part of the crab is edible. Even the what Edison described as the “fecal matter” inside the carapace.

The flesh is unlike the flesh of crabs that I am familiar with. These spider crabs have a veiny, gray appearance; HOWEVER, they were exceptionally delicious!

By the way, Edison is going there for fanesca on Sunday — but I wasn’t invited!

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Crispy Chinese Watercress Salad

I tried to see if I could somehow replicate SriPraPhai’s crispy Chinese watercress salad (Joyce wrote about it last year).  How was I going to recreate the “carnival of colors, textures, and tastes”?  Haha.

First I made the sauce.   I figured it was mostly fish sauce so I started by dumping in about a cup.  Then I added some jaggery, lime juice, fresh bird’s eye chilis, chopped red onion, and bruised mint.  It wasn’t sweet enough so I shaved in a little more jaggery.

After I washed the watercress i set it up on some paper towels by a box fan to dry it off (so it wouldn’t splatter the oil all over my beautiful face when I dropped it in hot oil).  I used tempura batter and fried it in vegetable oil.  Later on I realized the batter was too think.  I should have been shaking off more of that batter before frying.  =-(

I served the salad with the sauce at the bottom… and I put it on a plate that was too small to be able to mix the salad with the sauce (just like at SriPraPhai!)  Oh… just realized I forgot the bed of iceberg lettuce.  *sigh*

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The mystery of the rainbow parasol

I was finally able to stop that guy who rides his bike around Williamsburg with the rainbow parasol, merengue music, and the shiny steel cart hitched to the back.  Actually, I didn’t stop him…  he was waiting at a red light at S. 4th and Driggs.  It turns out he sells Dominican chicharrón for $4 — if you can ever catch him. 

He uses a giant cleaver to chop the fried pork and serves it on a piece of foil with cassava crackers and lime.  I took it home and it was so good.  There was more meat than I expected and it wasn’t so crispy that I thought I was going to chip my teeth like at Mariscos Veracruzanos.

I have to admit after eating a few pieces I gave in and got out the El Yucateco hot sauce.  I’m turning into my cousin, Patrick.  He doesn’t eat anything without hot sauce.  He actually carries a bottle of Frank’s in his glove compartment.

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Mamoncillos, Seoul Station, Stogo, and Kamui Den

Friday was my last night with Aida and Carlos so I took them and Erica out to Kamui Den at 186 Avenue A for shabu shabu.  We had planned to eat at 6:30 because I needed to get to bed super early but they didn’t open until 7 so Erica and I went over to Thompson Square Park to watch the skaters and fantasize about being able to skate.  Aida and Carlos didn’t show up until 7 though because Carlos insisted on walking to the restaurant from the Museum of Natural History (which is like 5 miles away on the Upper West Side)!

Everything was fine until someone (Aida) dropped a piece of beef onto the center exhaust cone of the table top stove.  At first the meat just sizzled as we tried to scrape it off and into the broth but then it started to burn and smoke.  I looked over at our server and she was cracking up, in a cute way.  Eventually the stray piece of beef was burnt to a crisp and its ashes slid down into the water.  I guess I was blushing  terribly during the whole incident.

You can kind of see the ashes in this picture.  It looks like we were not doing a very good job of skimming the scum.

For dessert we went to Stogo, a “gourmet, organic, dairy-free” ice cream shop.  I tried the red velvet ice cream and really liked it.  It had huge chunks of red velvet cake mixed in with the ice cream.  Erica said she didn’t like hers though.  I think she got chocolate hazelnut.  Aida and Carlos got the regular size in order to be able to mix two flavors but I don’t think they finished theirs.  Mine was gone in like 2 seconds.

I forgot to mention that the other day I had Korean tacos for the first time.  I saw on CNN.com this story about two Kogi taco trucks that tweet about their location and how huge lines form in advance.  I guess it sounds like fun but I’m glad there’s a permanent location here in New York, Seoul Station.  I think it’s on Saint Marks near 1st Avenue.  I got two beef and one pork taco.

They were kind of amazing.  I would definitely get them again.  They come with shredded purple cabbage and a cilantro sauce only.  I had to add the sriracha.

I didn’t get to say goodbye to Aida and Carlos before they left on Saturday but when I got home I found that they had left a giant spread of fruit.  Among the fruits was a little green fruit that I assumed was a key lime.  However, when I went to slice one open to add to my (non-alcoholic) spritzer, it turned out not to be a citrus fruit at all!  It’s skin broke like the shell of a longan and inside was a large pit covered by a thin, white membrane that was only slightly sweet but mostly bitter.  I just found out it is a mamoncillo.

Courtney and I found this bottle of Fred water for sale at a Duane Reade today.  It looks like it’s shampoo or astringent or something.

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