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travelin pals - foodie international, kirsten alana & epstein travels with lola
i’ll be honest, while i do think i like a lot of different kinds of food, i don’t think of myself as that adventurous of an eater. strange foods scare me a bit. i think i might even have a texture/sensory issue that was never dealt with but that’s another story.
i’ll be traveling to Asia this august and i figured this would be the BIG food exploration experience for me. Asian food really scares me. but, in order to have an adventure of a lifetime, i’m going to get past that. i’m going to be willing to try things i wouldn’t ordinarily choose to eat AND here’s how i know i will…
i ate SCARY ASIAN food in New York at the end of march. it wasn’t intentional. not at all. but there was a formula that led to the scary Asian food eating and here it is:
- going to a happy hour mixer on an empty stomach & finally eating dinner at midnight = i’m so hungry i could eat a horse!
- being a little tipsy (ok maybe really tipsy) = i’m drunk enough that it’s a good idea to put something in my stomach
- dining amongst well-traveled peers = i feel like i’m on survivor and this is a crazy dare that i must take so i don’t kicked off the island!
good times at Kenka - east village - NYC
all of this chow-down took place at Kenka in the east village.
here’s the run down of the crazy-ass Asian food i ate. just typing this makes me a little nauseous but i’m going to persevere just like i will in august.
- takoyaki – fried octopus balls
- yakitori – chicken skewers of thigh meat, chicken liver, hearts, gizzards
- bull penis – bull freaking penis
- kaeru no kara age – fried frog
it really wasn’t all that bad with the exception of the aforementioned texture issues with the bull penis – YUCK.
like kids in a candy store!
BONUS was DIY cotton candy and cheap big pitchers o’beer! that, and hanging out with three totally cool travel peeps that i’d been dying to meet til 1:30am! thanks miss foodie international, kirsten alana & jonathan epstein for a night i’ll not soon forget!
XO – lola
*cotton candy photo credit to Kirsten Alana – photographer extraordinaire
I’d say it was worth enduring bull penis for the do it yourself cotton candy:)
i loooove cotton candy! it was quite the experience. go there if you ever get the chance!
I love it!!! What a fun, crazy night. I’m obsessed with takoyaki and have it all the time, but that was my first time wrangling a bull penis. Blame @EpsteinTravels on that prized dish. I’m looking forward to many more freaky foodie nights in our future!!
me too!! you got me outside my food comfort zone and i loved every minute…except where i almost gagged on the bull penis 🙁
I’m so jealous that I wasn’t there with you to meet all the cool peeps! By the way, didn’t know that an octopus had balls. Who knew?
soon enough, you’ll be meeting these infamous travel stars! it’ll be worth the wait.