Update #2: Jollibee in Queens, NY now open to....fleece you!

If you were inside the newly opened Jollibee in Queens around 5 past in the afternoon last Friday, sitting on one of the plastic orange chairs, splitting french fries between the three of you and nothing else, then you might have been among the recipients of my evul-eye or H's death-stare. It was just our luck that on one coldest nights of the year, we were out stuck in a long queue snaking around a block, partly because the fellowship of the fries wanted to painstakingly savor every piece of the potato stick. 

We went on a Friday, less than a week after the opening day, thinking that the hype has died down. Oh we were wrong. The queue was long and the wait-time was longer. I kept telling H, half-shrieking, half-whining, than I was not getting in line--but you know how that ended up. In the queue, we were handed a generic Staples ticket, which they stop distributing at 6pm. 

I thought my pink ticket was exhibit A to the efficient service I was to expect. Wrong again. The line was definitely long but not long enough to make the more than 2-hour waiting time reasonable. What exacerbated the waiting time was the bouncer's erroneous assumption that everyone in the queue would be dining in. Hence, he was trying to regulate the crowd in a manner that would ensure everyone will grab a table inside. For an establishment that seats 70  (allegedly), and with no more than a cursory glance by the bouncer to ascertain available seating, it was no surprise it took as long as it did, although it did not make it any more excusable. While the hype is at its fever-pitch, the management will do well to have separate queues for take-outs and dine-ins and dedicated cash registers accordingly. Although I can understand why Jollibee would want to keep the lines as long as possible; It made quite an impression on everybody else not in the line and certainly piqued their interests as to what we were in the line for. 

After about a couple of hours I finally made it to the cash register--and then I was mugged. It was mystifying. As if on a trance, I reached for my credit card and handed it to the mugger. I even flashed my driver's license for identification and then signed the permission slip for her to conclude the thievery:

Palabok Family Pack - $17.79

Jolly Crispy Fries Large - 3.59

(1) Peach Mango Pie- 2.29

(2pc) Chicken Joy - 4.99

Plus tax. While the rest of America is scaling back on spending, Filipinos fall in line to do the opposite, albeit forcibly. To answer the pressing question buzzing in the heads of those rubbernecks and curious passers-by in the immediate region of 62-29 Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, we were in the long queue to pay our respects to hyperinflation.

I wish to God Krystal's Palabok was up to par with my expectations. I have a feeling my days of relative financial security are numbered. 

Kitchenomics or the weekend we made ghobi manchurian

We are making full use of our kitchen. In our last budgetary meeting, we ruled out eating out as an unnecessary expense; it is now one of those luxuries that we can only sporadically afford. And so the weekends have been transformed into teaming up with H and whipping up restaurant-style feasts. Jalibes, gajar ka halwa, pooris, laddoos, pesto, putanesca, banana loaf bread, etc streamed out of our kitchen with increasing regularity.

Our latest effort was ghobi manchurian. Preliminary research confirmed H's suspicion that it's doable and in these kinds of exploits, youtube, in particular, and google, in general, are your friends. We found enough resources to guide us in our virgin attempt at indo-chinese cooking. Word of caution: be wary of this chap's youtube version of cooking demo as he has a habit of leaving you out of the loop when it comes to exact measurements, "Add 1 cup....but I tasted it and it wasn't right, so add a little more of this....".

The first batch of ghobi manchurian was such a success it emboldened us to go a step further and paired it with vegetable manchurian. We had faith in our guide since he was supposedly a Vaas-Chef. With an overstretched smile plastered on his face, he explained why ajinomoto (MSG) must be used sparingly albeit inconclusive scientific study that it is carcinogenic; In a bid to preempt a hail of hey rams from strictly vegetarian audiences, he assured us with a sheepish grin, that no eggs were needed.

His video demo was a reliable guide for the most part, though his version of a "little bit" had us befuddled when he saw him showering quite a bit of the said ingredient instead. Precision in measuring ingredients has eluded a lot of these cooking demo-ers although it might be because most of them were playing by ear, so to speak. Auntie Manjulaji of Manjula's Kitchen definitely stood out when during her demo she made perfect rotis by "adding half a cup of water to half a cup of flour".

In the end, after about 3.5 hours of cooking and deliberating on whether to put up our own cooking demo, we had a very late/very early sumptuous lunch/dinner for less than $20 plus tip it would have cost us at Masala Wok. And that is kitchenomics, in a nutshell.