Had a mini crawl of my own today – started at the Ganesh temple canteen and then back to the central area near the subway.
Temple – was all decked out for the Ganesh festival that starts tomorrow. It was buzzy today with organizers and also folks stopping by before the Big Deal tomorrow (which I narrowly missed and not by design).
I got the “Jumbo Idli” which is 2 idli and 2 medu vadas, to go because I wanted to eat dumplings and not fill up on South Indian food! Also madras (filter) coffee, which was suitably strong but a bit milkier than usual and a bit acidic (and I’m making my own with the coffee powder and an aero press, so I’m being all judgy). Idli were fine, but I prefer the ones at Dosa Hut outside or Adyar Anand Bhavan in Manhattan. Vadas were good, but again I prefer the ones at DH or AAB. The price at the canteen is the cheapest of the lot, though.
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They were also giving away Prasad outside – savory and sweet in a takeaway box: bisibelebhath (rice, lentils, and vegetables cooked together), thayir sadam (yogurt and rice with tempering), kesari / rava sheera (sweet cream of wheat).
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Distinctive Food / New York Food Court – Much busier than the last time, with a pre-dinner and dinner crowd. I got a bunch of food to go – Seafood Rice “Balls” (squares), Lions Head Meatballs (which @Dean had highly recommended), and crab and pork XLB (which I really wanted to try last time). The Lions Head are lovely - flavorful, soft, nit heavy, and not overdone on the star anise or 5-spice. The XLB were okay – lovely thin skins and a dainty size, but the flavor of the filling was not a patch on Joe’s or Kung Fu in Manhattan.
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There’s a new gelato place right at the entrance of the mall – big crowd!
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Pupusa Cart (corner of White Bear block) – Another miss from last time, but she had run out of everything but cheese, so I’ll have to go again next time.
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Skewer Cart (same corner) – The guy was just starting up, and I couldn’t wait, sadly.
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Maxi’s Noodles – An @Dean via @DaveCook rec. I went to get frozen wide rice noodles, which I assumed were ho fun which I have been in search of. But they were out, so I picked up frozen wontons instead (with helpful instructions from the lady on how to cook them). The wontons reminded me of the ones I ordered during the pandemic in CA, which is a very good sign.
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New Flushing Bakery – @vinouspleasure rec – but no sponge cake in sight. They did have 2 kinds of egg tarts, though (Portuguese and regular).
TSAoCAA(?) / Bake Culture – cute little bakery I passed on the way to Maxi and popped my head into to look for… yep, sponge cake. Success. Good sponge cake!
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Followsoshi / Dumpling Garden outpost — I picked up frozen siumai for another day.
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(It was pretty late by this point so I cut short my wandering and headed to the Woodside temple, where I walked right into the middle of a festival celebration – I had no idea there was something completely different today before the thing that starts tomorrow for a week. Haven’t been in that kind of crowd or festive atmosphere in a long time, and it was really lovely and happy. Still, mask on. Left with an apple!
