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Rainy Day Photo Walk

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on October 3, 2014

Posted in: Image Gallery. Tagged: Bridge, empire city, FDR, Image Gallery, NYC, Overpass, Rainy Day Photo, Rainy Day Photo Walk, The Impala, traffic, Upper East Side. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Rainy Day Photo Walk

Last week during a strangely comforting rainy day I decided upon an impromptu photo walk around the upper east side. The following are the result.

I haven’t had my favorite Thai Food chain in a while and seeing it during this rainy day photo walk was an ambivalent feeling of happiness and sadness. Happy that I’d found yet another location of Spice, but sad that it wouldn’t be this day that I would dine there.Bagel Shops. Mmmm I sure do love the taste of a good bagel! As I crossed the street I came across this American nouveau retro muscle car – The Dodge Challenger. I look at this model of the Challenger and think Knight Rider meets Dukes of Hazard 2014.

I continued my journey east toward the FDR

From here I headed back west away from the water and back towards the west side and came across this.

The Moon at Night

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on April 25, 2014

Posted in: Image Gallery, Nature - Environment. Tagged: An eye, empire city, Full Moon, Gotham, Manhattan, Nights, NYC, The Lesser Light, The Moon. Leave a comment

An eye thru the branches

Moon Thru the Branches

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: HILL COUNTRY BARBECUE FOOD REVIEW EPISODE 1 Continued…

As I was saying after hearing the rave reviews from some friends, I decided my next course of action was destination Hill Country Barbecue Market. Hill Country is located on W 26th St. between 5th and 6th Avenue. Once I arrived at my destination fortune reigned down upon me as opposed to the rain drops from earlier as I approached the entrance to Hill Country.

Uh Yessum!!! All you can eat for $27 I think is a good deal. Will the food live up to the hype? Let’s find out the evidence of the truth.

It certainly doesn’t hurt having an A in the window. So with that being said I went on in to see what the Hill Country experience is all about.

Once inside the establishment, I was greeted pleasantly and then asked what I’d be having to eat before being shown my seat. They apparently give you a ticket to show at each food station for proper checking off of what you select to eat during your stay in Hill Country. I also received a green paper wrist band to indicate that I was indeed an all you can eat patron. I didn’t feel quite like a V.I.P with it on since there was no free drink or desert included with my meal other than two glasses of water, but it’s all you can eat for everything else.

Feeling quite hungry I got up from my table with ticket in hand and waited my time in line like everyone else to be served my meats and sides.

When it was my turn at the counter the carver saw my ticket and promptly cut my meats of Barbecue Chicken, Pork Ribs, and Brisket. This how they present your meats to you on brown parchment paper of some sort. In actuality they roll up the meats in the paper and you unwrap it yourself at your leisure.

Those ribs were everything. They were juicy, moist, fall off the bone tender, and flavored with the right amount of spices so it hit on all cylinders for me.

Over there be the sides. Now I ask you to look below. Does that look like traditional Mac N Cheese to you? Once again with the hoodwink! That is Ziti not Macaroni people.

After tasting it though I have to say I’m a fan of Hill Country’s Longhorn Cheddar and Ziti. It’s just plain good. It was an extra charge for the “Longhorn Cheddar Ziti but I didn’t mind it. Taste wise it’s not too salty, and has just the right balance of a tangy cheese flavor blanketing well cooked Ziti. MMm Mmmm son, what’s not to like? It was so good in fact I went back for a second helping as seen below. 😀

I didn’t even mind the char on it.

Looks like the Ziti N Cheese went on trial and clearly by the evidence in this photo “through the fire” as well for pleading the 5th on whether it was authentic Mac n Cheese or not. In the end it’s all good. Up next for tackling were a pair of corn breads sitting in a basket asking to be sampled.

The Cornbreads

The red skin potato salad was also good but not great. I think i’m just more of a fan of a sweeter, vinegar, and mustard potato salad.

The Cole Slaw was good, fresh and crisp. I devoured it after handling the Potato Salad. This is what happened to the first round of meats while joking with an Italian couple who were seated next to me. As they both looked on at my meal the lady in the couple said with a heavy native Italian accent that I ate two people’s worth of food. I laughed at her and put up four fingers. She, her man, and I all laughed a good laugh before I refocused on my meal telling them how good it was.

“The field has been laid waste to sir! Reload Soldier!!! RELOAD!!!” Was all I could hear LOL!!! However the sides and meats filled me enough to only have enough room for some brisket and desert. I drank only a few sips of water during the meal relying more on my chewing and tasting so as not to over fill myself and also dilute my digestive juices for what was coming.

Check out the smoke ring and the glisten of moistness on them there pieces of brisket. Makes me wish for some burnt ends right now.

Succulent perfectly smoked and flavored Brisket!!! I now know why there was such praise and rave reviews.

When the last bites of brisket were gone I went to see what they had for desert and was recommended what you see below. The Lemon and Blueberry Merengue Cake.

Desert

The cake like the rest of my meal was very good and I was more than adequately satiated by the time I put down my tools. Hill Country I’ll definitely be coming back. I’ve found yet another good BBQ place in the city. I mean after the disappointment I suffered in my last visit to Virgil’s, Hill Country Barbecue just reminded me that there are places where the food is done right and comes to you hot and ready to eat. Give this place a try if you’ve never had the pleasure of eating here. I give Hill Country and 9 1/4 out of 10 rating.

Till next Food Adventure this has been Hill Country Barbecue Food Review 2013 by THEJNSREPORT.

April Fool’s Day & Hill Country Barbecue Food Review 2013

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on April 2, 2013

Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: April Fools, Chelsea, Cloudy, empire city, Food & Drinks, Hill Country Barbecue, hotel gansevoort, Meat Packing, NYC, Review, The HighLine, weather. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: April Fool’s Day & Hill Country Barbecue Food Review. Episode 1

It just so happened that today on April Fool’s Day 2013, I decided I’d do something a little different on a day off. It’s a fact that most of us New Yorkers are busy rushing to and from work on a daily basis trying to afford the cost of living here, so much so that we seldom get to enjoy the city the way tourists do. Today I decided to change that and break from routine.

I believe that it is every working person’s right and obligation to every now and then pamper themselves, to splurge and live a little, even if it can only be done once a month, once a week, or even once a year. Initially I was going to go down to Battery Park City and get some images but then I thought better of that and figured I’d hit the HighLine before figuring out what I wanted to eat.

I checked the Weather Channel before heading out and saw that it was reportedly 60 degrees in Central Park. I saw that by evening it would dip to 47 degrees. I thought that was no problem as I didn’t plan on being out too late it being a Monday and all. Now then, I head out without an umbrella or a heavy jacket because after the brutality of this past Winter, 60 degrees would most likely feel like 75 degrees to me.

Well folks, I’m here ta tell ya I was played. I was had, bamboozled, tricked, denied, hoodwinked, snatched, suckered, stolen and just plain ole got. Ha ha Weather Channel April Fool’s. The jokes on me. I get outside in the drab grayness of the afternoon and for a while things seem calm and just gray. Next thing I know, it suddenly starts to rain and the air becomes wickedly chill far below 60 degrees.

Due to my lack of preparedness for the chillier than expected afternoon, I got myself on a cross town bus versus walking over to the HighLine as I originally intended.

I get off at 14th and 9th and start to walk south towards the Hotel Gansevoort.

By the time I made my way to the HighLine my hands were so frozen I could only hold the camera just long enough to take a quick snapshot of the surrounding environment before having to place them back in my pockets. This repeated warm and cold dance between my hands and the April Fool’s weather kept up for about 15 minutes.

Up up up the stairs we go until…

Nothing up here reminds me of Spring right now.

Right about here the wind really started to kick up as well as the intermittent drops of rain. Man I tell ya, let me catch that weather man in the streets. LOL

At about this point on my tour the wind and rain kicked up enough for me to call it quits for the day and start figuring out what I wanted to eat. I found an exit stair well nearby before hitting up a Starbucks to get out of the cold and wet for a bit while recharging with an espresso. After some Starbucks I ran into a few friends who mentioned a great Barbecue place to try called Hill Country Barbecue. After hearing their rave reviews of the “Moist” brisket served there I decided I had my next destination mapped out. To be continued…

THEJNSREPORT’S Must Reads for end of Summer/Fall 2012

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on September 12, 2012

Posted in: Social Commentary. Tagged: Antebellum, books, empire city, Fifty Shades, literature, Must Read, sexual appetites. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S Summer/ Fall 2012 Must Read List

So several months back after taking a break from watching lackluster movies that came out this year and looking forward to Summer here in the Empire City aka Gotham aka “I Love NY”, I decided it had been quite a while since my last book read (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy) and so I started to pick some books that piqued my interest. One of these books was “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L James. I found this book a very interesting and entertaining read . By the time I was nearly done reading it, it was suggested that I read another book titled “Antebellum” by Author R, Kayeen Thomas.

Let me first say that both books are well written page turners that thoroughly engross, envelope, and entertain the reader. I can’t count how many times I’ve nearly missed or missed my stop on the train while reading them. Both books share a common thread even though they encompass two entirely different subjects. The common thread being sex and relationships.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” deals with relationships and in depth descriptions of the sexual appetites and experiences of both the two main characters in BDSM while discovering for themselves what defines their relationship. Is it sex or is the sex merely an essential expression of love felt between two young people from different backgrounds? Either way the sex somehow isn’t the central theme of the story even though it dominates a major aspect of the relationship between both main characters. It’s a very well paced book with lots of detail and believable fantasy. It leaves the reader contemplating and reflecting on one’s own assumptions of what a relationship is defined as. While I personally like this book, I tend to think for some it would be clearly adult content too descriptive for prudes or the timid to entertain reading. I say to each their own.

What a read!!

Antebellum on the other hand addresses sex as a component of an even more powerful story bridging relationships not just between men and women but slavery and the contemporary world of today intertwined through time travel.

This in my opinion is a unique look at how the past and the future can be merged seamlessly while telling true history and struggles of Afro-American slaves in America and where the descendants of those slaves are today. Ground breaking and thought provoking is what came to my mind while reading this book. I could literally see what was being described both in our modern world and then back during slavery in early American history. An even more important aspect of the story evolves around the use of the N -word both during slavery and today in the post civil rights era. I couldn’t help but remember thinking about the Black Men Posting while reading certain chapters of the book.

This is a story I feel I will want to read again and highly recommend for all youth, especially those who are ignorant and/or have limited understanding of their history. It speaks to the media images of whatever music artist is currently relevant while glorifying the lifestyles they project and brag about. I’ve become a huge fan of this book and want to see it made into a feature length film. When I think of the impact on screen this story could have if done right it gives me goose bumps. Sometimes movie adaptations of books don’t always pan out right but the potential is there and that potential could awaken many youths whose attention spans are so short they’d rather watch the movie than read the book.

Probably the best book I’ve read this year!!

When I started to read “Fifty Shades of Grey” I had no idea what the story would involve other than what I had heard second hand from some people who’d said they put the book down and couldn’t finish it due to the subject matter. Never being one to let someone else’s experience dictate for me what I was to think without reading it for myself I picked up the book. After reading it cover to cover my overall impression is…It’s a great read but not for everyone. Antebellum I really enjoyed and I say GET THIS BOOK!!!! Anyone whose read either book and has some insight they’d like to share feel free to reply to this post.

This has been another report from THEJNSREPORT.