16 Handles Frozen Yogurt

One of my favorite places in NYC is 16 Handles, a self serve frozen yogurt shop. I love how you can take as much yogurt as you'd like. You can put whatever toppings you want on your frozen yogurt, but I prefer mine without toppings. 16 Handles doesn't have the kind of toppings I like such as peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, etc. My favorite thing about this place is the frozen yogurt is extremely tasty and guilt free.

Here's what I got the past two times I went there and had my camera with me...

Last week I went there after dinner. I was disappointed that they didn't have a few of my favorite flavors like coffee and strawberry. I got peanut butter, cookies and cream, and banana.

Peanut Butter: This flavor was SO tasty! It had a very strong peanut butter flavor and tasted just like a rich peanut butter soft serve.

Cookies and Cream: This was another good flavor although it didn't taste like cookies and cream. It tasted more like light chocolate but I liked it.

Banana: Yuck! This one was awful, I couldn't even finish it. It tasted like icy, artificial banana flavor.

I went back late Friday night after going to a concert and was very happy to see two of my favorite flavors back. I got coffee, pistachio, and strawberry.

Coffee: My favorite! I absolutely love coffee flavored ice cream and frozen yogurt and this is one of the best I have tasted. It is so creamy and rich in flavor. I can't get enough of it.

Strawberry: I normally love the strawberry flavor here, but this time it tasted icy and hard and not as good as usual.

Pistachio: It's creamy and pretty tasty.

Another flavor I love is white chocolate macadamia. I wish they had it more often.

There is only one problem I have with this place, it is inconsistent. Sometimes the flavors are nice and creamy and other times they are icy, and it melts pretty fast. Otherwise I love this place and wish it were closer to my apartment.

16 Handles
153 2nd Ave between East 9th and East 10th
New York, NY

Lan Cafe

I recently tried Vietnamese food for the first time. Unfortunately, my first experience with Vietnamese food was not very pleasant or memorable. I went to Lan Cafe for dinner and the restaurant was pretty empty. We were seated right away. I couldn't decide between a few dishes but finally chose the curry string bean dish.

Curry String Bean

Curry string bean sauteed with tofu and mushroom in curry sauce with a side of rice

I was expecting to like this dish because I love curry, but I didn't like it at all! The tofu had a bad texture and was too soft for my taste. The string beans were good and I was able to finish them. I was not able to finish the tofu and struggled to eat the pieces I ate.

My friend ordered Pad Thai

Pad Thai sauteed with chinese broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, tofu, and bean sprouts

I tried a little and this dish was a lot better than mine. I wish I had ordered this instead.

I had high expectations for them considering I had read a lot of positive reviews. I didn't enjoy my experience at Lan Cafe and will not be back.

Lan Cafe
342 East 6th Street between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave
New York, NY

A Wonderful Dinner at Angelica Kitchen

Last week I had a wonderful dinner at Angelica Kitchen. I arrived there around 8:15pm, and we were seated right away which was nice considering they usually have a long wait. I debated over what to order for a while, but finally chose one of the specials of the night when the waitress told me the portion is pretty big. I had the choice of adding two basics for an additional two dollars, so I chose steamed vegetables (butternut squash, sweet potato, and turnips) and tempeh.

My entree, "the Adventures of Pasilla, Queen of the Desert"

Smokey chili lime roasted tofu spiked with chipotle, jalapeño & pasilla chilies; served with soba noodles tossed with peanut sauce, & tangy mixed pickled vegetables including cauliflower, carrots, red onions & radishes. Accompanied by string beans, & roasted sweet potatoes; garnished with dandelion greens.

Despite the cheesy name, this special was amazing! I was very surprised to see such big pieces of tofu, I expected them to be stingy with it like the last time. The soba noodles with peanut sauce were extremely tasty. I LOVED the peanut sauce. I normally don't like thick tofu, but these were roasted and spiced so well that I enjoyed them. Both the string beans and roasted sweet potatoes were delicious too. The only thing I didn't really care for were the pickled vegetables. I also didn't taste any garlic in this dish which is always a plus.

My mom ordered a pantry plate with marinated tofu, hummus and extra pita chips, and today's special salad. She's not a big eater, so she gave me some of the special salad.

Hummus and pita chips, baked marinated tofu, and today's special salad: Whole Wheat udon noodle-vegetable salad including julienne daikon, carrots & green cabbage, arame, scallions, peanuts, & roasted tofu cubes; lightly tossed in jalapeño-cilantro dressing & served over mesclun greens; garnished with ruby kraut.

I mixed some of the tempeh with the salad and it was good, although I liked the special I ordered a lot better.

Overall, the meal was very enjoyable! If I ever see another soba noodles with peanut sauce special I definitely need to return and order it.

Cosmic Cantina

Last Saturday night I met up with two of my friends for dinner at Cosmic Cantina, a cute vegetarian Mexican restaurant near Union Square. When we walked in, it was a little confusing as we didn't know if we should wait to be seated or if we should seat ourselves. After a few moments, we just decided to seat ourselves and look at the menu.

Cosmic Cantina's menu was pretty cool. They had some burritos listed, but they also had the option of creating your own. The custom burrito page on the menu was extremely long with so many different options to put inside your burrito. They had regular flour tortillas, whole wheat tortillas, spelt torillas, etc. There were so many different vegetables and salsas you could add, as well as different beans and rices. Each item had a price listed next to it so you could calculate how much your burrito will cost. With the menu being so long, it probably took us half an hour to decide what to order.

I finally settled on a custom burrito with pinto beans, Spanish rice, roasted vegetables, cosmic tofu, and tomato-lime salsa.



The burrito was very tasty and the flavors all blended very well together. I love when I can order pinto beans in a burrito, it tastes so much better. My only problem with my food was it was not as filling as I expected. I was hungry about 5 hours later and when I consume so many calories I'd like it to keep me full for the rest of the night.

I didn't take pictures of my friends orders, but one of them ordered a burrito with eggplant and avocade and one ordered a breakfast dish. I really liked this restaurant. It was great for a picky eater like me to be able to decide what to put inside my burrito. Cosmic Cantina also has plenty of outdoor seating which is great for a warm night. Also good to know, they're open until 5am so it's a good vegan option late at night. My friends and I agreed that we would definitely return!

Vegan Treats at Atlas

A few Tuesdays ago I was in the East Village when I remembered it was Vegan Treats delivery day at Atlas. I stopped by and their case was filled with lots of delicious looking cakes! I debated between two cakes, peanut butter cake and chocolate mint cake. I had never tried them before so it was a tough choice. I went with a slice of chocolate mint cake.

Chocolate Mint Cake

It was very tasty and totally fresh! I loved the mint frosting and the chocolate on top.

Atlas
73 2nd Ave between E 4th and E 5th
New York, NY