Tuesday brings more oatmeal titlation.

Yesterday, the Oatmeal Revolution marched on. Here we see my black sesame oatmeal. Black sesame seeds are a very common food additive in Japan. You can even get black sesame spread for toast or anything else upon which you may want to spread peanut butter or icing. I won't deign to attempt an exhaustive list.

The black sesame seeds gave a flavor similar to peanut butter, but a little lighter. I also added sesame oil, brown sugar, salt and a dash of mirin to the oatmeal as it boiled. The result was a markedly different cultural perspective on oatmeal. I love black sesame seeds, so this is likely to be a repeat offender in the breakfast line up.
Todays yogurt was a Stonyfield Farm lowfat vanilla. It's my favorite of their flavors, although some days I prefer the cream-on-top version. With a steamy summer swelter brewing outside, though, the more refreshing bite of lowfat is definitely preferable.
And just because of the staunch nutritionists in the audience, I made sure to eat my chocolate-covered nutrition waffle twins.

Then, randomly on the street, I was offered a handful of salted almonds. Yeah, I ate them. What? I'm a gonzo food journalist, after all.

The street eventually led a co-worker and myself to Gray's Papaya Dog on 72nd St. and Broadway. Gray's is a chain of hot dog joints that have spawned a few imitators around the city. Collectively, the garish yellow store-fronts and the rows of franks slowly crisping on sheets of aluminum foil are often cited as a food-tourist must if you visit Manhattan.

I had the "recession special" "with everything" with a pina colada "juice."
To translate, that's two dogs and a drink for $3.50, not bad. "With everything" here doesn't include chili or cheese, although some other Papaya locations do cater more to the chilicheeseonionmustardkrautpile that true colonic masochists come to expect from a dog with "everything." At the Gray's Papaya, though, "with everything" is a healthy lading of sauerkraut with onions stewed in a red sauce ladled over top. I like to squirt a little brown mustard on the top of that. And as for "juice," well, there are discernible bits of what I hope was actually coconut in the pina colada, so I guess we'll let that one go.

Since I was working till 8 last night, I had to have a snack a little after 6PM. I packed the leftover chalupa and some of the honey ginger chicken wings for the occasion. As far as leftovers go, the chicken fared better than the chalupa. The fresh vegetables were too much of a pain to remove before reheating in the microwave, but didn't really fare well. All the water that released from the veggies made the shell very soft. It started to fall apart on me, still delicious, but a pain to handle.

And then, when I got home, it was leftover couscous with a much more profound helping of the yogurt sauce. This was a much more pleasant leftover experience, although still not as good as leftover saag paneer. Since everything had been sitting in the fridge it was all cold which made the vegetables all the more brighter. That and a few cold ones and I barely noticed how disgustingly hot a 5th floor Manhattan apartment can get in July.