(3.2.12) On my one year anniversary of this challenge I wanted to do something extremely memorable... like sky diving. Well, that didn't really pan out. Instead, I checked out not one, but two restaurants in the metro. I went to Open Sesame in the East Village for lunch time coffee. I was recommended to try the Turkish Coffee. I'm open to new things and decided to order it. It came served in a tiny tea cup. Whoa, was it bitter. There was barely more than a shot there. Each sip was just as bad as the one before. I was hoping it would get more tolerable. My friend ordered a fruity drink of sorts, and of course I can't remember the name of it. Something along the lines of "jalab." It was pink and looked refreshing. When I asked how it was he said it tasted like perfume. With that great of a set up, I had to try it. Wow, it tasted just like perfume. He drank it all though and said he liked it. I would like to go back and actually try the food. I'd hate to cross off a place based on two drinks.
Then for dinner I popped over to Cool Basil with my man. I've heard great things about their food and was excited to try it for myself. I ordered two sushi rolls: the Alaskan and The First Date. Both were very good. The First Date was tempura red snapper with a tangy mayo sauce. I recommend it. After taking this picture, I realized Instagram does not do a good job of making food look more appetizing. All the filters made the sushi look awful or spoiled. I also tried the Thai Pumpkin Curry. It was a two-star spicy level out of six stars. It was still too hot for me.