Whole Foods and GMOs

     As a Whole Foods fan, I was pleased to see that they will be requiring their products to be labeled by 2018 if they contain GMOs. Being an environmentalist, I oppose GMOs since they reduce biodiversity and have so many negative side-ffects on the environment. However, with a growing world population I can see the benefits GMOs bring to humans. 

     Genetically modified organisms are a current hot topic, specially now that Whole Foods will be requiring their products to be labeled. Despite being happy about this, since I believe people do deserve to know what they are consuming, I think five years is a little too long.

What do you think about this? 

See you later, 

Karla Boza 

Del Seoul - Chicago, Illinois

Last year my friend and I visited Boston for Spring Break, we discovered many delicious places to eat, so this time we decided to give Chicago a shot! 

As soon as we arrived to our hostel, we quickly placed our belongings in our room, brushed our teeth and headed out the door. We had the luck of being in one of Chicago’s nicest areas, or so we were told. After walking a few blocks outside the residential area we found ourselves in what appeared to be one of the busiest streets in the zone. Oh my goodness, I instantly fell in love with the city. There were various small restaurants and shops, the type of places you could spend a whole day walking in and out of and just never get bored. It was already dark outside yet we decided to stroll around the place. We discovered various restaurants, some where packed and others were empty. In Chicago we found that there were only extremes; either your restaurant was packed, or your tables were empty. Of course, we went for the place which could barely sit anyone else in. 

As soon as a customer left their table, someone else quickly got it. This seemed to be the dynamic of Del Seoul, a Korean BBQ restaurant. We entered the shop and headed straight to the cashier and placed our order. Of course, me being myself, I took what seemed an eternity to order. I ended up trusting the recommendation of our adorable cashier. Few times have I met someone who treated with me so much patience, considering the way I am and that there was a long line behind me. We headed to a nice table near the window and waited for our order to arrive. As soon as I got my Korean taco I instantly took a picture of it. This action alarmed our neighbor who, without any hesitation, pointed out that I must really be obsessed with food. This turned into a somewhat interesting conversation between strangers in which she mentioned how she studied abroad in Korea and had never heard of a Korean taco; to say the least, she was a skeptic. 

To keep this somewhat short, our skeptic neighbor seemed to have loved her food. She devoured a plate of wings and another of meat, rice, and veggies. Meanwhile my friend had a pot of veggies and meat over a bed of rice, and I had a combination of meat, chives, cheeses, and cream over fries. I have no idea what anything that we ordered was called, but to say the least, it was all amazing. As I write this I am still dreaming about the beautiful combinations of flavors that formed in my mouth with each bite that I took. I followed the instructions given my the waitress, which were to alternate the combinations of my plate. Sometimes I’d take fries with meat, others meat with cream, cheese, and a spicy sauce I stole from my friend. Every bite tasted different, and yet everything was perfect.

I would recommend this place to anyone who visits Chicago. I feel so lucky we stumbled upon it because I’ve never tried anything like it before. The combination of Korean food with Latin American influences, like the taco and cream, proved to be physical representation of perfection. 

See you later, 

Karla Boza 

*Please excuse the poor quality of some of the images, as they were taken with my cellphone. 

Kalbi Poutine

Miso Soup

My personal favorite, the Kalbi Taco

Noodle + - White Plains, NY

          This is one of White Plains best kept secrets, at least for now. This fabulous place with less than ten tables is home to some of the best noodles I've ever had. I've been here twice and both times I've ordered their delicious pad thai; once with chicken, once with vegetables and tofu. Both times my food has had a distinct and memorable taste that keeps my taste-buds asking for more. I'm not joking or exaggerating when I tell you that currently, thanks to Noodle+, I've craved noodles more than ever. As funny as this may sound it has gotten to the point where I can genuinly state that Noodle+ has become my favorite place in town. 

     Noodle+ has a good sized menu that offers primarily dumplings, noodles, and rice plates. All of their food is tasty, I can assure you this because I'm guilty of sampling a little here and there from my friend's plates. I had been eager to visit since I saw the little cutesy orange place from across the street; once I tasted the food I can't have enough of it. The simplicity with which the place runs is part of their charm. Despite having numerous families waiting for a table everything appears to sort itself out in less than half than hour. Noodle+ runs with such efficiency it becomes a mystery how they don't sacrifice taste. Despite the fact I've only been there once, I have always been satisfied with my food. 

     I would recommend Noodle+ to anyone who lives around White Plains. I can guarantee you won't leave without a smile on your face. It is such a positive environment (no pun intended... well, maybe just slightly) you will be returning every week... literally. The waiters are nice, the customers are nice, and you are probably a nice addition as well... so give the place a chance !

See you later, 

Karla Boza 

Devon & Blakely - New York CIty

     The past weekend was marked as my return to the beautiful City of New York after a well needed winter break. On top of my to-do-list was check out the International Center of Photography (ICP). See, photography is like a hobby of mine. I have always been drawn to it and find beauty in the images captured and the various stories behind them as well. So naturally I was pleased when I visited the Center with a friend this weekend. The exposition was interesting and more than anything, it was tremendously rich in history. If anyone out there is a history junkie then this would be an amazing opportunity to get your fix. However, given that this is primarily a food blog, I will tell you about the decadent sandwich I had right before visiting the ICP. 

    I discovered this place alongside a friend while we were shopping. We passed by and were captivated by its charm, just to be turned down as soon as we set foot in the place. Turns out Devon and Blakely is so popular that they actually run out of food. Yup, when its over, it certainly is over. We were bummed and even more determined to eat there next time. Luckily next time we went we were greeted with open arms into the charming food shop. We had our pick between fresh tossed salads, soups, and an alarming variety of sandwiches and paninis. Being the food addict that I am, I went for a prosciutto panini. I don't know where to begin about how beautiful this was to my taste buds. The taste was so rich and satisfying that I couldn't wait to take the next bite. 

     I would recommend this place to anyone, honestly. Their food is fantastic and don't even get me started on the juices; orange is by far my favorite. My friend has had both soups and salads and I believe she has liked them both. I've always gone for the sandwiches and have never been let down. I swear there is something special about the place, the atmosphere is just perfect and everything tastes better inside.

See you later, 

Karla Boza 

Whole Foods - White Plains

Yesterday I found they sold this great mix from Central America. Let me know if you have tried it!

See you later,
Karla Boza

Bryant Park Freebie Delights

     Oh come on, if there is something we can all agree on is that sometimes things do indeed taste better if they're free. A few days ago I wrote about a decadent waffle I had at Bryant Park, you can read about that here, but what I'm trying to tell you about is their amazing popcorn. And, well... the best part is that it is free. 

     Ok, so technically it isn't free, but you can try it for free! You will know where to find it since there will be a mob of people stretching their hands into the booth.  A guy comes armed with a container full of popcorn and satisfies everyone's desires in hopes of getting someone to buy his overpriced kettle popcorn. The popcorn is amazing, I swear! I know, I know, popcorn is just popcorn, right? But hey, these guys have turned ordinary kettle cooked popcorn into something amazing. They have a great variety of flavors and you can pick over which one to taste. I might not be to keen on buying a nine dollar bag of exploded corn, but after tasting their stuff the idea was definitely growing on me. 

     So if you are not into skating or shopping, Bryant Park will win you over with its amazing food. Maybe you can even sprinkle some of that free popcorn over your waffle! 

See you later, 

Karla Boza

 

Enseña por El Salvador

     Ok guys, so this is actually a very important post, probably the most important one in the whole entire blog. Ironically, it has nothing to do with food. Well, except for the fact that one of the guys on it is addicted to food as well. However, what I'm trying to get to is that we all know how important education is, right? And what you probably don't know is how crappy it is in El Salvador. Well, here is where you get to step in and change that. There is this new organization called Enseña por el El Salvador, and what they are trying to do is get some of the best professionals to become teachers in rural areas. This sounds slightly crazy, but I swear there is some reason behind the madness. It has been proven in other similar programs that this does in fact work; and it works damn well! So please, check out the video, and if you want to make a difference in El Salvador you have two options. Either share it with your friends in order to raise awareness, or donate to their campaign here.

Thank you so much, 

Karla Boza