Righting wrongs in the buffet line.

Speaking of the Chinatown Soccer Club backpacks mentioned in the previous post, here's a photo of a pile of them in action at yesterday's Adi Cup 2010 Fanatic soccer tournament.  I was able to be there for two of the CSC team's soccer games and a bit of free lunch.



If you read my post about last year's Adi Cup, and the horrendous way the line for BBQ was handled, you might like to know that this year's event (which was moved to Pier 40) satisfied me on the food-service front.  There were two buffet lines, both moved quickly, and food was plentiful.  This year, too, they finally allowed players to jump the line to get lunch (which only makes sense if you're trying to keep a tournament running on time).  And, in addition to pulled pork (and hot dogs and veggie options and delicious BBQ chicken wings), there were pulled chicken sandwiches.  Perfect.



Now I'm feeling better about the free lunch from Adidas I hope to eat in 2011.

Adi Cup 2009
Adi Cup 2008

p.s. The guys were ROBBED of best uniform this year.  Robbed. Come on!  Look at that custom tailoring by my friend, Jen Wang!  Yes, I'm biased, as it also happens that Dan designed the CSC uniform, as well as a logo for the Krauts (a CSC-spin-off team), but I still think it was the best jersey at the tournament.



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Je [mange] au foot.

Last Saturday, I attended the 2009 Adidas Fanatic tournament, or "Adicup" in a park on the west side of Manhattan. I was there to cheer on competing CSC members (no matter their various alliances f0r the day), but was myself "fanatic" especially for the official CSC team in their smart yellow jerseys.

I was also there to eat.

I do like soccer. I promise I do. But I'll admit that a major draw to this event is the promise of free food. And free drinks. And free ice cream. Especially free ice cream.

Here's a brief photo-review:




Woo! Soccer!



Woo! Free Drinks!

Two things to mention here -- it was quite hot last Saturday, but I swear it was a good 20 degrees hotter on that green astroturf (or whatever) field. Thank goodness for rehydration options. Secondly, I refused to drink any of the "0 Calorie" beverages. To me, zero calories means weird fake sugar flavor. The Sobe Lifewater wasn't bad. Pomegranate Cherry was much better than Blackberry Grape, which tasted kind of cough-syruppy.




Awesome! Soccer! Yeah!




Awesome! The grills are up! Finally!

For an event that started at noon, which I consider to be lunchtime, the people running the show waited a good long time to put out the eats. I lingered near the tables when I finally started seeing smoke from the grills, and ended up pretty near the head of the line. Just out of my reach? Hot dogs (beef or vegetarian), veggie burgers, hamburgers, BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, coleslaw, potato salad, and various "fixin's," as they say.




Wait a minute! What's going on here?!

Although we were only 25 people or so back from the start of the line, it took maybe 40 minutes to make it to the table of food. Why is that? Well, apparently, there were not enough fully cooked hamburgers to go around. The men working the grill were busy rectifying this issue, but in the meantime there were plenty of other things to eat.

The problem that halted the line when it had barely begun moving was when people at the start of the line who *really* wanted burgers refused to accept alternate protein sources. They blocked the line in a snarl of greed and effectively kept it from advancing. Like a huge hairball in a pipe, they twined around each other, many of them waiting while eating from loaded plates (loaded with everything but their precious burgers) in front of everyone still hungry behind them in line.

The polite thing for burger-desperate free-food gobblers to do would have been to take what was ready and available (and free) and eat it, getting back in line for a burger if they were so determined to consume ground beef. Or at the very least to have made a second, single-file line of burger-holdouts that the rest of us could navigate around/through. But not these patrons. Stubbornly waiting for more burgers to be made, they clotted around the buns and condiments, holding up the works. As a rule, any one of them would move slightly to the side only grudgingly and in tiny increments of distance when challenged for access to the table by people directly behind them in line. This was infuriating to those of us just out of reach of food who could not move forward while they stood there trying to look innocent.

I admit to yelling, "Move it! You have food!" in that direction (okay. several times). But these Meat-Greedy Guses just hovered blankly, jamming up the works, refusing to make eye contact, and trying not to look guilty. Maddening. You can bet I whipped around them haughtily with my burger-less plate and elbowed in to get my mustard packets when we finally did manage to get to the buffet. Ruiners.





Ahhhh! Soccer! Now I feel better!




Ahhhh! Ice Cream! Now I feel best!

At some point, late in the afternoon, the free ice cream wagon came out. I grabbed an ice cream sandwich and a lemon ice for myself (and shared both with Dan). They were just what I needed. By this point, I was as sweaty as if I had played 5 games of soccer myself. Or run from the countryside into Rome carrying a dish of Italian ice (as pictured below) while wearing a heavy-looking helmet of some sort.



At any rate, the ice cream treats cooled both my literal and figurative hot-head hotness. The evening ended in cooling breezes, dimming sunlight, final games, a spirit of everybody's-a-winner, and happy weariness.

Football! Ice cream! Rah! Rah! Rah!

Seen on the street:

(photo by Dan)

Blue Bunny Sedona Granola Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches were being given out (free snacks!) near the corner of University and 14th Street around 1pm. You'd better believe I turned around and backtracked a few steps to get one.

I'd eat these again, though the chocolate frozen yogurt had a bit of a "low-fat aftertaste." I'd rather have a full-fat version. This one reminded me of my mom's diet fudgesicles (which we were not supposed to eat. Sorry, Mom!). The granola cookies on either side of the frozen yogurt filling were smooth and tasty -- with no cookiesmoodj!

Poetry Tuesday: Hot Dog Hot Dog

Hot dog hot I want a drawn dog
but I also want to eat you hot dog
Hot dog how you grill there getting
crispy and you sit there penciled in
Hot dog but dog I am brimming
(I already had a turkey reuben)
-- Hot inviting; it's hot-dogging me
-- Extra hot inclusive 'cause its free
Such hot neighborhood such good dogs
So dog kind and true and here arrayed
Hot dog hot dog two ways thank you
Thank you hot dog artist cooker man
I'll take mine home as hot dog friend




(Thank you, Joseph! This is an awesome project. I love my drawing.)

Clif's Edge

Today's mini Chocolate Brownie Clif Bar was brought to me by Transportation Alternatives. These were given out to bicyclists on a recent Bike to Work Day.

The flavor and scent are sweetly plastic and the texture is dense, moist, and grainy, like partially chewed brownie stuffed with uncooked rolled oats. Throughout the lengthy chewing of this tiny brick of "nutrition for sustained energy," my tongue burns slightly and my jaw grows weary. Still, I like Clif Bars so much better than other energy bars I've tried.

There are other Clif Bar flavors I prefer, but I actually would eat this again if there were only worse options and I had to choose something (is that faint praise, or what?). It's reasonably filling and compact without much of that artificial, "diet" sugar substitute taste.

To make a general comment that is not meant to be brand-specific, I have been repeatedly reminded that while chocolate covers up a wealth of sins, it usually doesn't hide all of an energy bar's warts.




By the way, I broke this warty baby out of Snack Jail, where Dan had left it on the 14th. I should have earned my own that day, but I don't like biking in NYC. Drivers are really aggressive around here and I don't own a helmet (yet; I'm working on it). I barely ride in my neighborhood, and I definitely don't bike to work. All that said, I support the initiative, respect bicycle commuters, and thank TA for the freebie.

Poetry Tuesday: Dan went to a fancy art party and all I got was this lousy herbal water.

You, the coatless, who are going home when the sun sets,
Drink this. Drink this in your
Cold home, surrounded by your
Reheated macaronis and consolation lipsticks. Sniff
And you may clean your fixtures with the smell.
Astringent hydration; there's frowning inside.
Vanilla and lemongrass fight over you,
So you must not be lonely. But you are
Lonely. As mint has deserted you all.
Oh. The situation's muddied.
There is something in your water.
It is meant to be there but it should not be there.

Your tongue is angry at you now.
The two of you are going to argue.

Freebies at work

Someone gave Dave a free Triple Mocha Shock Coffee drink on the street. I'm the guinea pig. It tastes like (in this order) coffee + chocolate + dirt + licorice + poppy seeds crossing my tongue. Three of those flavors were a shock, so perhaps it should have been Triple Shock, not Triple Mocha. I also disagree with this drink's slogan, "Sleep is overrated." No it is not.

Free snacks abound! I got a heads-up that Ethan would be bringing in leftover brownies from his fiance's bachelorette party. Rich, dense, and tasty. Also, congratulations on the impending marriage, E!