Best Guess Who's Ten?

A decade ago today I launched the best blog in the world, and ten years later here it still is, still getting posted on, still being read . . . maybe not drawing as much of a crowd as blogs sort of peaked in '06/07, but here we still are!

Now naturally I was hoping to commemorate this landmark blogging achievement with something really exciting. In fact, I had considered ENDING this blog on this, its tenth anniversary . . . not ending blogging, just quitting blogger because, let's be real, it's not the best and it does not look like the year 2014 over here. I even checked out a few other blogging platforms, and almost found an alternate that I liked in exposure.co, you can check out a test post I posted there here. My issues with it were, while it's very nice looking, you can't leave comments and you can't change the typeface or layout. So while it might look nice over there, if you visit a few other exposure blogs, you'll see that they all match. Kind of a bummer. Oh, and I've also thought about going full tumblr, too, but just can't commit. See? (if you scroll through my tumblr for a while it'll stop being the same pictures I posted on exposure).

Oh, and if you didn't put it together, these are pictures from when I was 10. If this blog were a person, that's what it would look like. But with pictures and words stuck all over it.

And here's a link to my first post, where I report on eating at Benny's Burritos and saw Victor Garber there. He was actually with either his boyfriend or a date, but I was too nervous to out him. I think I even put it in the comments but deleted it. TMZ would do that years later.

All right, thanks for stopping by. Please keep coming back and I'll try to keep being cool.

Best Pictures of Friends

Hey, here's some pictures of friends I've taken over the last month or two I haven't posted yet.

There was this time I went with Brady and Aubrey and Kait to get tacos and tortas. I took them to Taco Mix and La Cabaña because they deserve the best!

You might ask how New York is these days. Well. Both Jesse and Kim are moving to California within the next week or two. So yeah, Pretty Bad.

Here's pictures from the last day of tutoring this year. Lots of pictures of Christian.

Clever and Kate.

Leica-focussing lessons.

This is the look I get from Kristin most of the time. I cause problems.

Best Remembering Memorial Day

This Memorial Day weekend I went to two places I had never been before. What a weekend!

On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend I fulfilled a lifelong (or year long) dream of visiting Shady Glen out in Connecticut.

But don't think it was easy and uneventful getting there! Turns out Kim's battery needed a jump before we could go. But thankfully Ian was available for a swift and effective jumping. After that, it was easy and uneventful getting there.

We arrived to find Shady Glen the dream I had dreamt it would be.

Before you even sit down they're already pouring you a water! And I asked them to make me a mint chocolate chip milkshake with a shot of chocolate syrup and they were like "No problem." AND you get to keep the whole cup. This is how things are supposed to be, America!

And here's the reason I wanted to go there so badly: The Shady Glen Cheeseburger. Are you wondering what all that orange stuff to the side of the burger is? THAT'S THE CHEESE! They put all this cheese onto the burger that overlaps onto the grill and it cooks up into something crisp and amazing. I got my cheeseburger with the nice cole slaw and some super crinkle cut fries. Take note, Shake Shack: Americans still love crinkle cut fries!

Note: The burger itself is not gigantic, it is a little on the humble side, but with the soft bun and crispy cheese it adds up to something real nice. Plan ahead properly and maybe get two?

One more treasure from this trove of treasures: Their mural of elves and sprites enjoying Shady Glen treats.

I really identify with this guy.

Menu. You can also get a hot dog with a giant cheese crips, too. I saw it myself!

Goodbye, Shady Glen! I'll love you forever.

Then, on Memorial Day, I went with Jeff to his ward's Memorial Day cookout at the Midwood Chapel. I've never been to Midwood! It's like normal America with houses and everything out there.

Oh man. Cookouts. Cookouts forever. All churches, everywhere, all denominations, should always be having cookouts on holidays. Please. Always. Everyone.

Cookout food! So many great potluck options, plus your trusty hamburgers and hotdogs.

Kid on the left kept asking Ben if he would go battle with him.

I snuck inside to have a look at this nice old building. For a long, long time this was the only LDS church in Brooklyn. It had that nice old church look and feel, big time.

Here's Jeff. Before the cookout we had seen X-Men Days of Future Past. It was fine. Doesn't make sense that they just had Quicksilver go home like that.

Best Mom and Dad Came to Town and We Ate Everything (As Usual)

Well, the other week Mom and Dad came to town. The first night they got in real late but Mom and I ate at Parm. Dad went to bed. Then the next day we took a special tour of the Federal Reserve and saw all the gold (around $350 billion dollars worth) and got to hold a gold bar (they way 28 pounds and are worth more than $500,000 these days). It was probably the coolest thing we did on their whole trip, and I've only got one picture. THAT IS NOT MOM. Quit it, you guys. That's Melanee, from college, she was in town with friends and was on our special tour, too.

After the tour I took my folks to Mile End. Here's the Smoked Meat Poutine

Mom had the Smoked Meat Burger. She had come to New York with a burger curiosity.

I had their maple-glazed hot dog with jalepeno cream cheese and crispy shallots.

But on the bill it was called the Happy Dog.

Also enjoyed a lovely colorful pickle plate.

Then we took our naps. And then I took them to grab a Pork Pancake from Spicy Village.

Then we went up to the NY Historical Society.

Check out this Headless Horseman statue. The artist seems to think the horseman was not a supernatural entity? And that his pumpkin wore a coonskin cap?

Boss Tweed Snake Jug.

Then we went to the Carole King musical, "Beautiful." It was right up my mom's alley.

Then we late-dinnered at Bill's Burger & Bar. I hadn't been there for four years. I remembered the Bill's Burger being excellent. Guess what? I was right! It IS excellent, a magnificent example of a smash burger. I re-recommend it to everyone!

Saturday morning we went to Dominique Ansel to drink hot chocolates and to not eat Cronuts. DKA 4 Life.

Here Dad debuted his new "For Arms" jacket wearing style.

Then we saw the Once musical. It was good, but I like funny zany musicals, I realized. Still, it was worth seeing. Once.

Then we dinnered at Marco's in Brooklyn. This is a very nice slightly fancier Italian restaurant. It was a winner of a meal.

Olives!

Crumbled cheese with honey and almonds!

Fiddle head Ferns with lemon oil.

Scallops and Clams.

Grilled Cabbage.

Polenta.

Fried potatoes.

There were other foods, too, but the photos didn't turn out well.

After dinner, dessert at Ample Hills. You can just add me to your list of people you've seen post a picture of their pretzel cone.

Then the next day we Mother's Day Brunched at the Breslin. They put us in our own curtained booth . . .

. . . with a nice view of the art.

Started off with some ridiculous scones. Put these on your Breslin must-list.

Dad had grapefruit. I hear it was good. Ok.

And he ordered the Lamb Burger which I KNOW is good.

The table shared an oven-roasted grilled cheese (so I guess it wasn't grilled at all?)

Mom had the Walnut Pancakes. Not the most gigantic stack you'll ever see, but they're mad tasty.

I had this baked egg and chorizo dish, I can't really remember what the idea with it was. But it was good.

We poked into a heavily-incensed church after lunch.

And then, after attending non-incense church, had a look at the Phoenixes at St. John the Divine's.

Then we went back down to Chinatown and had dinner at Bassanova Ramen. It was a huge hit with my folks. Who'dve guessed?

Like everyone, they were a little thrown by the Bassanova dumplings at first sight.

Dad showed Mom how to finish off a bowl of ramen the authentic way.

Then I couldn't help but introduce them to the Chong Qing Chicken at Famous Sichuan. They were real good sports about it.

THEN we went to Big Gay Ice Cream. And I learned that the behind-the-scenes name for a twist cone with sprinkles and chocolate dip is a "Berlin."

Look! It's me!

Ok, then on Monday we started off at the MoMA:

Painting. Not an out of focus photo.

Lunch in the Plaza Food Hall, a No. 7 Subs ham sandwich.

Then we ate Coconut Cream Pie in the park.

Family photos in the park.

Mom and Dad went to the Met and I had a little personal park time before going home. Look at this giant raccoon way up a tree in broad daylight! (you might have to click or squint to see how giant it is)

This summer's central park art installation: Blue Clouds.

That evening we went to dinner at Fatty Cue in the West Village.

Foods eaten included their fried chicken bao,

Pork Ribs in fish sauce,

Cheddar mashed potatoes and bacon.

Korean fried chicken with curried greens.

Roasted carrots and ramps.

And the brisket.

And that was it! That was my Parents' great trip to New York. (Except their flight got delayed, then un-delayed, then re-delayed). But you know what else was also "That's It"? Fatty Cue. Just found out it closed this weekend. We only just barely got to eat there! It was good. Oh well.