With March Madness, St. Patty’s day, and this freak storm, I didn’t dare drive into the city that night. I took the train instead, along with lots of other people, and got to ride for free to boot! We had another Meetup at Devil’s Alley Bar and Grill. It has a devilish/underworld schtick going on, so the decor is very dark, literally and figuratively, especially in the basement’s bathrooms. Check out the sinks too, you turn them on, and they’ll spill all over you so it looks like you peed yourself. That’s fun!

They bill themselves as a comfort food place, which is true. There’s nothing snotty about it at all. They’re big on burgers, and many of my fellow diners got some variety of burger. They also have ribs and other bbq, but I’m a little wary of bbq around these parts. I’ve lived in Texas and had my share of good bbq. I don’t like to eat bad bbq. I’ve also had North Carolina bbq and Kansas City bbq. Philadelphia bbq scares me.

I went for the brisket sandwich though (although I really do love me some ribs) and a bucket of fries. And by bucket of fries, they really mean a bucket of fries! It comes in an adorable tin bucket. I really liked these frieds, they’re the skinny kind of fries, which I love, and not greasy at all. I also like the little end crunchy pieces that you get at the bottom of your fries, and alot of these particular fries were like that. Yum. I don’t like thick soggy potato-y fries. I like em skinny and crunchy.

My brisket sandwich came with thick grilled bread. It was supposed to come with a horseradish sauce but I passed on that. The sandwich was pretty good actually. The brisket was dry. And by dry I mean it didn’t come with any sauce on it. In Texas they call it either dry or wet. Wet means they put sauce on for you. It was a bit plain though, so I did ask for a side of sauce. Their sauce was definitely homemade. It was sweet and sour and spicy and a bit strange, but I liked it.

The highlight of the evening was going to Capogiro for a near religious gelato experience. I’ve had gelato before in Germany and liked it alot. But I hadn’t had any in the States. I’d been to Capogiro before, but only in passing to get quarters for the meter, not to eat. They were nice enough to give me quarters without making me buy anything. That should have been enough for me to know how good this place would be!

It was A’s idea to go, and I am appreciating this suggestion, and also cursing it, as I am now addicted. I am daydreaming about it now. I can’t get it out of my mind! They have rotating flavors, some seasonal. I went with the blood orange and kiwi sorbetto. The blood orange was good, but the kiwi, the kiwi was mindblowing! It’s unlike anything I’ve ever had before. Not fake tasting at all, with real kiwi bits and seeds. And it’s not cheap either might I say! The smallest size is just under $5. It definitely isn’t a 59 cent ice cream cone, but even I have to admit that it’s worth every penny. This is the kind of addiction that I would gladly hand over my hard earned cash for. Now if only I can convince them to open one in the suburbs!

I’m fairly new to this foodbloggin’ thang, and this is my first official blog event, courtesy of Lydia at Kitchen Exhibitionist. I have an odd kitchen. It looks nice, but it’s still odd. First of all, there’s not enough counterspace or cabinets. That’s the unfortunate circumstance of the house itself. Whatever genius designed the kitchen decided to put the most unfortunate window in a key area of the wall, which prevented any additional counters and cabinets from going in. So in light of that, I have one tall cabinet which acts as a cupboard/pantry, and a newly built behind-the-basement-door cupboard that I made with my very own two hands on one Sunday (you can see how “home-made” it looks!).

The kitchen used to be horrendous. When I bought the place two years ago, it was the potential of the kitchen that sold me, not the kitchen itself. It sucked. Horrible floors, one row of crappy cabinets, weird plastic backsplash, everything was just bad. That’s why I spent two miserable months of my life painstakingly gutting it and making it functional, with a little help. Every piece of tile on my kitchen floor was installed by lil ol me. The entire remodel was completed on this frugal girl’s limited budget and in my two month timeframe. It turned out quite nice actually, but I do long for additional cabinets and counterspace.

I’m not quite sure what looking at my cupboards actually says about me. I have alot of cereal. I like it, but moreso, it’s expensive, so when it’s on sale, I buy alot of it. It’s like a strange impulse. I’ve also been on a ramen kick lately. Not the 10 cent Nissin kind, but more exotic and international that I pick up at the asian markets. I’ve been fairly experimental as of late and they’ve all been quite good. I’m sure I’ll post about that later.

So, what’s in your cupboard?

The other day I worked from home while my car got inspected. She passed! My old neighbor is my mechanic and he just takes the car from my mom’s house in the morning and then brings it back afterwards. It’s the best setup ever. When I went to pick it up, my mom got me food, cause she’s always concerned about me eating. I think judging by this blog, she has nothing to worry about.

One of my favorite Korean comfort foods is dukboki. Basically it’s rice cake (not like the ones dieters eat) smothered in a spicy sauce. The rice cake is just basically a chewy starchy tube that’s made with rice, and they slice it into a few inches in length. Then they add some fish cakes sometimes, perhaps a boiled egg, and lots of spicy cochujang, which is the quintessential korean spicy-fying ingredient. It’s spicy and sweet and chewy. This particular one was quite spicy. I believe I did start sweating.

The picture doesn’t do it justice, as it looks like a bloody mess. It kinda looks like really scary spaghetti with bits of random stuff in it. It doesn’t have a hint of tomato at all. It’s just spicy and sweet. I have very fond memories of when I was very little and still lived in Korea, we would always go to the market on the weekend. And there was a favorite stall of mine that served the best dukboki ever. I still remember it!