Top 10 Most Painful Foods to Eat

Number 10: Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza The sharp, jagged edges of a Stouffer’s pizza will lacerate the soft palate of your mouth and the blisteringly hot cheese will cause second-degree burns.

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Number 9: Nagaimo (Dioscorea opposita) Irritant oxalate crystals in the skin of this mountain yam can leave some people’s hands prickly and tingly. Soak the whole thing in a little bit of vinegar and water to reduce the irritation.

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Number 8: Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia The common name for sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia is brain freeze. It happens when the capillaries near the sinuses are rapidly cooled and then warmed.

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Number 7: Chicharrones As we get older our teeth get more brittle. Be careful when you’re eating crunchy chicharrones because you might chip your teeth!

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Number 6: Lemon juice in a hangnail Whatever you do, do not do a Google image search for “hangnail”.

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Number 5: Putting in contacts after chopping jalapeño peppers One way to neutralize the stinging capsaicin from the peppers is to flush your eyes with milk.

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Number 4: Triangular Flapjacks The “texture and shape” of triangular flapjacks are dangerous enough to warrant a ban at a school in England! A student was injured by one of the mucronate corners of the snack.

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Number 3: Mochi Choking on these sticky rice cakes sends, on average, 100 people to the hospital every year in Tokyo alone. Some deaths have also been caused by elderly people choking on mochi served as part of zōni, a rice cake soup.

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Number 2: Xiǎolóngbāo Soup dumplings are one my my favorite foods but I always get burned by the piping hot liquid inside. The dumplings are filled with meat or seafood along with a gelatine made from broth and aspic. When they are steamed, the gelatine melts and becomes a delicious soup. If you don’t let the broth spill out onto your spoon first to let it cool, prepare for third-degree burns on your tongue.

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Number 1: Tortilla Chips The salty, rough edges of tortilla chips always slice open the corners of my mouth. Last night I accidentally swallowed a whole tortilla chip and it ripped open a giant gash in my esophagus!

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What are some food that have been painful for you to eat?

M. Wells Steak House

There is a rumor going around that Hugue Dufour and Sarah Obraitis from M. Wells Dinette are planning on opening their new steak house this summer in Long Island City. I am very skeptical because… well, remember what happened last time?!

The LIC Post has reported that there will be a 24 square foot concrete trough for holding live trout.

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This is the purported location of the new steak house: 43-15 Crescent Street in Queens. It’s an old auto body repair shop.

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I’m going to check out the location this week to see if I can see anything inside the building!

cicada macarons

I went cicada hunting in Staten Island on Sunday. The brood II cicadas emerge only once every 17 years and I needed to catch some to make a batch of cicada macarons.

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This cute one crawled up my leg!

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I am storing them in the freezer until I’m ready to cook them.

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Please check back soon for photos of the cicada macarons and a recipe!

matcha green tea Kit Kats and Crunch bars at Mitsuwa

Mitsuwa in New Jersey is the largest Japanese grocery store in the United States. They have an amazing food court that includes ramen, tempura, soba, and gyoza shops. You can also find incredible wagashi at the Minamoto Kitchoan counter.

The summer Umaimono food festival vendors are starting to set up inside Mitsuwa and one of the first ones I saw was this matcha green tea frozen yogurt stand. There is one combo that includes a mini slice of matcha cheesecake!

If you walk down the candy aisle, you will find a giant wall of green tea Crunch bars and Kit Kats!

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Mamak

I had one of the top ten meals of my entire life last night at Mamak, a brand new Malaysian restaurant that serves authentic Penang style halal cuisine! It’s the only place in New York City that exclusively features this delectably complex culinary tradition on their menu.

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Mamak is a colloquial term used in Malaysia to refer to Tamil Muslims who operate roadside food stalls, mamak stalls. Above is the udang nasi kandar, a generous portion of succulent shrimp with a spicy mamak style sauce.

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Murtabak is a stuffed and folded savory crêpe. The name comes from the Arabic word “مطبق” (folded). At Mamak murtabak is stuffed with minced beef and egg, and served with pickled red onions. We were blown away by the subtly complex flavors of the beef inside. There was definitely a hint of cumin — and maybe aniseed, clove, coriander, and cinnamon?

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You must try the lamb satay. The meat is so tender it melts in your mouth! Cubes of rice, cucumber, and red onion are served on the side, along with a bit of the most delicious peanut sauce I have ever tasted!

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We got to meet the amazing owner and chef, Nani Yusof Hughie! Thank you, Nani, for such amazing meal! We will be back soon!

Mamak
35-20 Farrington
Flushing NY 11355
(718) 886-4828

chorizo caramel ice cream at OddFellows

OddFellows Ice Cream Co. is serving chorizo caramel ice cream! The smoky chorizo flavor isn’t immediately present but after you let it melt in your mouth a bit, it is unmistakable! Maybe they’ll come up with calamares en su tinta with fudge like Heladería Islandia in Xixón!

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Victory Garden’s herbal ice cream

I just had the best ice cream of my life at Victory Garden! Their goat’s milk herbal ice cream (shown below) and their chocolate rosemary blend were both incredibly delicious, it was like a dream come true! I added cacao nibs, my favorite ice cream topping. They have other toppings, too, like mastic wafers and honeycomb candy.

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Victory Garden
31 Carmine
New York NY 10014