Chinatown Fair Arcade

This is the only place in New York that I know of where you can cheaply play some air hockey. Does that warrant a post? Umm... derr? 

Yes, it's tiny as hell but it's open 365 days a year (which I consider notable in this city). It's pretty much a basic arcade where the games are relatively cheap and the prizes you can get with tickets are basically trash (but I'll assume you're not going to an arcade for prizes). The place is filled with mostly kids and teenagers (not the obnoxious type of teens - but the nice ones who take each other on cute dates and laugh loud), so it's a pretty fun place to go with someone for a game if you're in the area. 

The Best Slow Cooker Ribs

If you thought I was going to shut up about you getting a slow cooker (or USING the slow cooker you already have), I will not. Honestly, the best part about having one of these is the fact that it forces you to try and make things you've never attempted before. This was the first time I've cooked ribs. And as a result? I'm a little bit better than you now, if you've never made them yourself. That's just the reality of the situation. MAKE THESE RIBS. They taste unholy. 

Recipe

• 2 1/2 lbs of baby back ribs (I got 5 lbs since that's what they had at the grocery store, so I just doubled the rest of the ingredients)
• Basting brush
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, or more to taste (any kind of BBQ sauce, I used Sweet Baby Ray's Original - and way more than 1/2 cup)

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, cayenne, black pepper, oregano, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Then rub the seasoning all over the meaty side of the ribs. Place the ribs so they’re standing in slow cooker, meat side out. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours.

There will be a lot of fat drippings at the bottom of the cooker, so drain that out and then you can baste the ribs with BBQ sauce for the remained 30 minutes, that's what I did. Brush with more BBQ sauce to serve. 

I cannot describe to you how good these tasted. They were ridiculous. The ribs were about $15 for 5 pounds, which seemed a little expensive at the time, but you're getting a ton of crazy good ribs without having to pay way more and get them at a restaurant, so it's a pretty sweet deal. PLEASE try these. I will be making these for the rest of my life. 

The original recipe can be found here. 

“Tuck your scarf in your coat’s arm sleeve when you’re not wearing it. This keeps you from forgetting about it and leaving it somewhere. This tip is not just for kids. Adults can be dumb sometimes, too.”

— #lizadvice

Greek Yogurt Covered Blueberries

If you're trying to consume less ice cream and/or frozen terrible/tasty things - you definitely should try this. 

All you need is a cup of your favourite kind of yogurt (I use the no-fat Chobani peach one), a pack of fresh blueberries and two toothpicks (you definitely need the toothpicks or this becomes unbearably messy). Get a cookie sheet pan out and put down some tin foil, then stick a berry with a toothpick and dip/swirl in the yogurt cup and use a second toothpick to push it off onto a cookie sheet. Coat all of the blueberries and then place the cookie sheet in the freezer. After an hour you can pop them off the cookie sheet with a fork/spatula and put them into plastic baggies. 

Can't tell you how good these taste.

Cheap Movie Days

Movies ain't cheap. Here's a guide on the cheapest times to go.

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Regal Cinemas (get their free membership card, it's worth it)

• Offers an economy ticket  for $10.50, which is only valid on any showtime before 4 pm, Monday through Thursday (except holidays.) Plus, the film must have been in release for at least 10 days.  IMAX & RPX are excluded, too.

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AMC Theatres (don't get their membership, it's $12/year)

• $8 tickets - on all movies, every day before 12pm.

Cineplex Entertainment (get their membership Scene card, it's definitely worth it)

• On Tuesdays, tickets are $6.50, which is nuts.
• And if you're a CAA member, you can get tickets for $9.83 (CDN) each when you buy them in advance of a movie at a CAA location. More about that here. 

Bonus Tip: Use your student card whenever you can! I still do and it works. 

“I once heard a sober alcoholic say that drinking never made him happy, but it made him feel like he was going to be happy in about fifteen minutes. That was exactly it, and I couldn’t understand why the happiness never came, couldn’t see the flaw in my thinking, couldn’t see that alcohol kept me trapped in a world of illusion, procrastination, paralysis. I lived always in the future, never in the present. Next time, next time! Next time I drank it would be different, next time it would make me feel good again. And all my efforts were doomed, because already drinking hadn’t made me feel good in years.”

— Heather King, Parched

Gross Confession of the Day

This is a new segment where I will divulge one of my gross personal habits. I’m pretty judgemental about the things I tell you to do and like, I realize - so to balance that out, I figured this would be a welcome addition and reminder of the fact that I’m just as gross as everyone else.

Confession #2:

I don’t wear deodorant. Nor have I ever. Why? Two reasons. (Well, it's really just the first reason mainly.)

1. My mom never did - so she never taught me to, I guess.
2. A homeless person on the subway once told me that using deodorant increases your chances to get breast cancer. Okay, okay, that might-be/IS completely unfounded. But a fourteen year old girl who hears that is definitely going to remember a statement like that, and it may or may not affect the rest of her life.

I told my boyfriend this no-wearing-deodorant fact finally at four years into our relationship and even then had to add the lie of, “Well, I’ll wear it if I’m working out or something…” which is definitely not true. But I had to add on some kind of lie since the initial confession was met with the most repulsed face I've ever seen him emote. I do keep travel-sized deodorants in my room, untouched, just incase someone sleeps over and is all, “Oh, I forgot mine. Can I use yours?” You have to have all your bases covered when you’re being especially gross, I've learned. I also use them in the summertime for other things, as you already know.

I like to think that I've trained my body to not smell all the time by not having the dependence on any deodorants. But maybe that's a crazy thought and you're sitting there being all, "Finally, I know why Liz stinks!" Anyway, we all have our things.

To read Confession #1, go on over here. And if you happen to have some gross confessions of your own, I happen to love reading them so please email me.

Poutine in NYC

The poutine at Mile End? Probably the best you're going to find in this city. The small, classic poutine is $9, which is a bit steep, but it's city-prices so that sort of makes sense (though it's only $8 at the Brooklyn location). If you're looking for just any old cheese & fries combo, well, you can go get your disco fries fix somewhere else. This is definitely the place to go when you're missing Canada.

(Please note: I do not acknowledge disco fries. And I will not discuss the differences between these two fry dishes with you. It's 2014. You should know what a poutine is.)

Cheap Magazine Subscriptions

Obviously, you know I'm into handwritten mail. Who isn't? But you know what's also pretty sweet? Magazines, baby. I waited, oh, about four years before fulfilling a dream and finally subscribing to Martha Stewart Living. Why did I wait? It always seemed too expensive. The only reason I finally signed up was because of the crazy deals that most magazine subscriptions are offering now. (This definitely sounds like an ad. A bad ad. Sorry about that.) GQ offered a year-long subscription rate of $5 FOR THE YEAR a few weeks back (it's now at $15 for the year), so it's good to check off and on.

This is basically just a public service announcement telling you that if you've been putting off subscribing to some magazine you've always wanted to get but haven't because of money - well, you should go sign up now since magazines are definitely on their way out the door. I understand that's why they're charging so little, so it'd be smartest to get in on this now because they're completely gone. 

You can find the weekly, cheap Amazon magazine subscriptions over here. But you should also check out an individual magazine's website as well. Mad deals all 'round. Get in on it.

(And if you're the type who's into tabloids... well... I genuinely hate myself for being the one to inform you of these deals. I really do.)