So this is what it feels like to run into a truck.

I am somewhat embarrassed to report that my run this morning turned out to be another dud.  On a positive note, it was not because of any injuries or soreness, but rather a pain of a different sort, stemming from last night's festivities.

It began with dinner at Kati, a new Thai restaurant on East 14th Street.  I generally avoid the new trendy Thai places that are popping up everywhere in Manhattan because they all seem to be more concerned about their martini menus than their food.  But Fatai, who lives next door to Kati, had eaten there before and suggested we go.  I relented, and was immediately comforted when I saw posted on the door a (presumably favorable) review of the place from a Japanese newspaper--I figured if the Asians liked it, it can't be that bad.

We learned as we were being served that the restaurant did not yet have a liquor license, which meant for us...BYOB!  I love a good BYOB restaurant (see here, third item down).  Fatai, upon hearing the news, ran home and brought back a six pack of delicious Pabst Blue Ribbon, which had been sitting in his fridge since the last time I went over for dinner.  Classy.

To go with our PBR, we ordered a green papaya salad, pak mor (steamed little chicken dumplings in a rice flour wrapper), chicken green curry, and a ginger beef.  One thing I could not understand about this place was that they did not have pork as an option in any of their entrees.  That just seemed a little odd.  Is pork going out of fashion?  In any event, the food that we ordered was decent for trendy Thai, although I wasn't a huge fan of the dumplings--a little too peanutty/salty for my taste.  The curry could have had a little more spice to it, too.  Definitely can't compare to my favorite Thai place in the city, Pam Real.

The PBRs soon gave way to some stronger stuff at a birthday party we went to in Queens, and then to Sugarland in Brooklyn.  Needless to say, this morning I was not exactly enthusiastic about a run.  I surprised myself by waking up and making it to the fun run in time.  However, I quickly realized that perhaps it would have been better to have slept in. Within the first mile, I knew it was going to be rough.  I negotiated with myself in my head, lowering my planned four mile run to three.  As I neared East 72nd Street at the end of the lower loop, I made a split second decision and ended up bagging the run, choosing to save my energy for tomorrow's 10-miler.  I was too lazy even to run across the 72nd Street transverse.  So all that for 1.4 miles.  Counting the run from the church to the park, I'm logging this as 2 miles, dammit.

Back at the church, I was able to get some runners together to go to the Dumpling Festival, so we went down to the Sara Roosevelt Park in the Lower East Side.  It was a zoo there.  There were like ten tents where they were serving everything from gnocchi to potstickers to Filipino palitaws.  Each tent had like 50 people in line waiting to get their dumplings.  And in the back, this crazy loud woman with a microphone was emceeing the dumpling eating contest.  While we were there, some guy ate 53 dumplings in two minutes.  Apparently he had soaked them in water first, and then shoved them by the handful into his face.  It was a bit disturbing.

Our dumpling of choice was pierogies.  They had potato, sauerkraut and mushroom, and meat.  They were OK, although I'm not a huge fan of pierogies in the first place, and these weren't served with any kind of sauce at all.  And at $5 for a plate of three (the proceeds benefited the Food Bank for New York City), we thought we could do better.

So we went to my favorite dumpling place in the city, Vanessa's Dumpling House.  It's my favorite because you get four dumplings for a dollar.  And it's tasty.  They come in either pork and chives or pork and cabbage, and they're perfectly pan fried--crispy on the bottom and moist on top.  We each got some, except Mike, who got something I had never noticed on the menu before, a sesame pancake filled with Peking duck and veggies.  I had a bite and it was super tasty (and only $2.25!).  I think I might have to get it next time. 

Continuing on our whirlwind walking tour of Lower East Side cheap food, we next hit a cupcake place that Derek has been raving about for several weeks now, Sugar Sweet Sunshine.  Personally, I don't really understand this cupcake craze which is taking over New York and the world.  It also seems pretty outrageous that some places are charging $4 or more for a cupcake.  (The cupcakes at Sugar Sweet Sunshine were a relatively affordable $1.50).  Thinking that the cupcake would not mix well with the remaining effects of last night's festivities, I passed on it, although I did have a small bite of Chris's "Sunshine" cupcake (yellow cake with vanilla buttercream).  I have to say, the buttercream was light and wonderfully sweet, and the cake was moist and delicious.  A tasty cupcake?  Yes.  But something that I would go out of my way for to get again?  Probably not.

For an only-in-New York story that touches on cupcakes, sex change, lawyers and real estate, click here.