Author: deadprogrammer

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The General Theory of Tso’s Chicken

Ok, here I am ranting again about food not allowed by my low carb diet.

General Tso’s chicken. Mmmmm. Deep fried chicken cubes in sweet and spicy sauce. Droool.

Ok, if I can’t have it, I can at least finally find out who is this general and why the dish is named after him. Luckily I am not the first one to ask myself that question. Well, trusty google gave me some answers, but very few things are completely clear.

Is it an ancient Szechuan dish called “ancestor meeting place chicken” or was it “It was invented in the mid-1970s, in NYC, by one Chef Peng”? Probably the second.

General Tso seems to have been a real military general. My theory was that it’s genral in the sense of “concerned with, applicable to, or affecting the whole or every member of a class or category”, as opposed to “special”. Anyways, his specialty (huh, huh I made a pun) was Chinese and Muslim rebellion crushing. But were his “.. operations were carried out while he suffered from recurring bouts of malaria and dysentery”? Has he “… flunked the official court exams three times, a terrible disgrace …” or did he have a ” ..successful career as a scholar-administrator”? Was the chicken named so because “…General Tso […] had the top leaders of the Nian Rebellion executed with the proverbial “death of 10,000 cuts”[…] ” or just in admiration?

And how many puns can be made by people writing articles about the good general and his dish? Try to count in the following articles (which I qoted in my post):
Tso What?
Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?

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Empire State Building Checkmark

Get to the top of the Empire State Building? Check.

The triangle in this picture is formed by my favorite skyscraper of all times — the Flatiron Building.

My fascination with the Flatiron started when I read O.Henry’s “Little Speck in Garnered Fruit” (in Russian translation, of course).

Here is the quote that interested me:
The druggist made an examination. “It isn’t broken,” was his diagnosis, “but you have a bruise there that looks like you’d fallen off the Flatiron twice.”

The translation went something like “your face looked like it was flattened by the Flatiron Building”, but that doesn’t matter.

I’ve never seen a picture of the Flatiron, but reading that story, I tried to imagine what it looked like. Upon seeing the building in Manhattan 5 years later, I instantly realized what it was.

But wait, there is more.

In the first couple of years of the Internet boom I learned about Flatiron Partners, a venture capitalist partnership. At the time I did not even know who venture capitalists were. These guys had a really crappy site though. I wrote them an email, offering to code a better looking website for free, because I liked the Flatiron Building so much. I even got a response, thanking me for my offer, and saying that they were working with some professionals on the new version.

Soon, when I was working at iXL, I actually did some very light coding on their site anyway. iXL was the company that got their account. Talk about destiny, huh? :)

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Falling off the honeywagon

This evening I was looking through Gemplers catalogue and learned an interesting agricultural slang term: a special tank used for spreading liquid manure is also known as the “honeywagon”. :)

Why was I reading Gemplers? Because I hate shoddily designed and constructed things. Face it: clothing, cooking utensils, furniture and everything else made for industrial or military use is tougher and better designed. Yuppies are very much into restaurant quality gas ranges and refrigerators. I like these things too, and I am not ashamed.

My father is very fond of saying “poor people can’t afford to buy cheap things”. Well, this is completely true. I’ve had three espresso machines. The first crappy steam powered gadget cost me about $50. I am still amazed at the fact that it did not make me hate espresso. The second was a pump driven machine from Starbucks costing $150. It was better, but espresso quality was very uneven. 1 shot out of 5 came out almost right. The next machine was a $600 Ellimatic. It served me well, but broke after 3 years of service. Because it’s not a commercial machine I am having a horrible time finding a place that will repair it. Meanwhile it sits in a cardboard box, which my cat is ripping to shreds. Well, guess what. The next machine I am going to buy is a 1 group La Marzocco Linea. It costs about $5K new, $1.5K used (I am going to buy a used one). The only thing that’s preventing me from buying it now is that it needs a 220 Volt outlet. It’s going to be the first thing that I am going to purchase when I move into a new apartment. (See my apartment hunting rants in nyc_real_estate).

So, back to Gemplers. I am going to need some foul weather gear for this season’s winter fishing. And they have it in abundance. Grunden’s stuff looks awesome. And if it’s good enough for commercial fishermen, its good enough for me.

I am also considering buying some IDF gear. Dubon parkas and this IDF sweater seem to be promising.

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YASR! – Yet Another Subway Rant.

Here I am again on a train with the conductor who spews wisdom out of the loudspeaker. Guess what – bulky packages and bikes are prohibited from all train cars except the last one. An it’s a law. Not only a state law, but also a federal law – he says.

Speaking of laws. You know that little tag attached to the mattress, that says “don’t remove under the penalty of law”? The one that gave so much material to untalented comedians? Well, it only applies to the salespeople and the manufacturer. The current tags even say “except by the consumer”.

Holy crap, there is a whole industry for making those tags, and they even have an official name – “law and care tags”!

Memorable Quote: “We keep abreast of the latest bedding laws to answer any questions our customers may have in regards to the various state or Canadian laws.
“

Heh, heh :)

MTA cops are much more serious than the mattress police though. And they some things they’ll ticket you for are not advertised. For instance, smoking on an open air platform will cost you a $50 ticket. I’ve read in a book that MTA repeatedly denied requests of consumer advocates to put up “no smoking” signs there. Why would they spend money and loose an important revenue stream? From the frequency with which I see people getting these tickets on Kings Highway, I think it’s more profitable than the metrocard sales.

I bet tema is going to get a ticket like that when he’ll visit New York.

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Kissed by a Train

A train conductor announced some words of wisdom today: “Don’t push a stroller into a closing train door”.

Train doors in NYC subway cars close with a tremendous amount of force and don’t have a sensor that would keep them open if somebody got stuck. You are at the mercy of a conductor, who usually rapidly opens and closes the door, hitting you a couple of times more before you can enter the car. Jumping into closing train doors is a main event in NYC Olympics though.

You can easily recognize a person “kissed” by a subway door – the rubber “lips” leave black marks on skin and clothes.

It’s interesting to note that the announcement probably was made because somebody actually tried to do this with a baby carriage. That’s Darwin Award material.

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Manhattan Bridge Workers

This morning I have seen a guy actually _working_ on the Manhattan Bridge. Not eating donuts, not drinking coffee; not standing around looking at stuff or walking to or from the truck. Actually doing something. There were many others doing the things I described, but one was working! Amazing.

The dude is working on Manhattan Bridge Rehabilitation Program. Manhattan bridge is the youngest and crappiest of the four bridges. There are more trains running on one side of it then on the other, and because of that it twists and cracks. It also rusts horribly. The Rehabilitation program is sucking money like crazy and is scheduled to last from 2002 to 2004, meanwhile making my long commute even longer. Come on dude, hurry up!

Another thing that I noticed today was that they’ve got the biggest port-a-potty I’ve ever seen. Taking a crap on Manhattan Bridge is a rather unique experience I assume.

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Japanese Grocery

I’ve found a really nice Japanese grocery on 43d street between 6th and Broadway. It’s a bit on the expensive side, but the selection is really good. They have raw fish for sashimi, a dozen different types of umeboshi, huge selection of teas, condiments and many other things any japanophile can appreciate. They even have Japanese cigarettes. I’ve purchased the tastiest green tea ever, Kikkoman “extra fancy” soy souse ($3 for a tiny little bottle), some umeboshi, bonito flakes, bonito soup base and a few other things.

Sam Bok Groceries
127 West 43 Street
New York, NY 10036
212 221-0845
10am – 9pm Mon-Sun