Anyway you say it is a downer indeed, so why not take your ass out and drink the night away, especially when its an open bar. Recently while slumming away at the CAF headquarters aka studio, I found my self-wanting to do something new and fun. But everything has a price tag on it, so I google the word Recession and found a great little site that offers open bars in major metropolitan areas in the US of A. It’s definitely worth checking out, if not for the free drinks at least for the air-conditioned ambiance.

 

http://nyc.myopenbar.com/ 

When I was in Delhi India for business a while back and I was very lucky to stay in Oberoi- the best hotel in town. In the lounge my friend Caroline and I discovered that they serve an Indian wine called SULA. Upon curiosity and stick to my motto of drink locally we ordered that and we both instantly fell in love with it. I think that night two of us probably drank 3 bottles altogether and we had the greatest time chatting until we got kicked out from the fancy bar.

A year and a half past and all of a sudden Caroline pulls out a SULA bottle from her cubicle and surprise me so much I am jumping up and down. Yes, they sell it in NYC now at 111 Lex Liquors and Wine in Murray Hill!
    
Taste:
-    Ripe cherry and plum fruit
-    Peppery notes
-    Full body
-    Smooth with strong Oak finish

According to their website this wine is great to pair with tandoori dishes and mildly spiced curries. Wow! An Indian wine that go well with Indian food! Frankly, this $13.99 bottle taste better than most $30 bucks ones I have had and of course different peeps have different taste :-)

Here are some history from their site:

Situated 180 km northeast of Mumbai, Nashik is India’s largest grape-growing region, but traditionally never grew wine grapes. Wondering why, Rajeev Samant an enterprising, Stanford-trained engineer quit his hi-tech Silicon Valley job in 1993 to do some investigating.

A little research quickly showed that the Nashik climate was not only perfect for wine grapes, but was also on par with winegrowing regions in Spain, California, and Australia. His determination doubled, Rajeev returned to California in search of a winemaker. In Sonoma County he found Kerry Damskey, an eminent Californian winemaker, who enthusiastically agreed to help start a winery on Rajeev’s 30 acre family estate.

Read more at:
http://www.sulawines.com/

Where to buy in NYC:
111 lexington avenue (btw 27 & 28 st)
New York, NY 10016 USA
Tel: 212-213-2288
http://www.111lexliquors.com

Also online:
http://www.winedelight.com/wine_store/product_info.php?products_id=1442

 Got any suggestion for Cheap Ass Wine? Please let us know!

The price hikes globally has hit us New Yorkers badly, it seems shocking that even Midtowners have to be a little cautious, but no need to fret our good friend at MidtownLunch.com is making a list and checking it twice to see which eateries are forced to raise their prices. A great idea for those who eat out during lunch around that area, a big Thanks Zach!!!

 

To Find Out more about MidtownLunch and the Price Hike List go to MidtownLunch.com!

 

 

Have you noticed that your fill at your local watering hole doesn’t do the job anymore? Filling unfulfilled, retaining your inhibition while paying for one pint after the other? Well just recently on The Wall Street Journal reported many bars (small and large) are sneaking in a pint “sized” glass that is not actually 16 oz but a 14 oz glass.
 
“… Libbey's marketing manager for glassware in the U.S. Glasses with a thicker bottom or a thicker shaft help create the perception. "You can increase the thickness of the bottom part but still retain the overall profile," http://online.wsj.com

It’s not all bad news though, if you’re feeling that your bar maybe taking part of the “perceived value” club, don’t sit passively contact www.beeradvocate.com "raise a fist and refuse to pay" when served a skimpy pint, says Jason Alstrom, who founded the magazine BeerAdvocate

 June 15, 12-4 pm

"Klezmer music, Chinese opera and acrobatics, language lessons, scribal art, folk art demos, crafts, tours and, of course, kosher egg rolls and egg creams! Experience a unique slice of Lower Manhattan, where Chinatown meets the old Jewish Lower East Side at our annual festival, voted the best annual block party by the Village Voice." www.eldridgestreet.org

 

For more info goto:

www.eldridgestreet.org 

Free event

 

It may not be a surprise to most thrifty shopper that Trader Joe’s located around Union Square is a god send to those who want great food for great deals. While shopping for wine and organic milk I   spotted the new Dark Chocolate Cover Pretzel Bites ($2.99 12 oz) and Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups ($2.99 12 oz). I jumped with excitement, which is not unusual for me at TJ's, grabbing one of each I couldn’t wait to taste them at home.

The little bite size pretzel are perfect making them easy to pop into ones mouth and the mini peanut butter cups are smooth and creamy best when frozen in these hot days. I also thought they would make perfect little party bites or gifts; one can’t resist the cute miniature edibles.

 

for more info on Trader Joe's go to:

http://www.traderjoes.com 

featuring:

• FREE ACCESS
  to all the museums along the mile
• 23 car-free blocks
  5th Avenue between 82nd & 105th

• Live bands
• Entertainment
• Art-in-the street
  activities for kids

---

One day a year, for the past 29 years, nine of the country's finest museums, all ones that call Fifth Avenue home, collectively open their doors for free to New Yorkers and visitors for a mile-long block party and visual art celebration. This traffic-free, music- and art-filled celebration fills the street and sidewalks of Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th street, the mile now officially designated as Museum Mile. Over 50,000 visitors attend the festival annually.

This year's 30th annual festival kicks off at Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum with an opening ceremony, at 5:45pm, on the steps of its landmark building on Fifth Avenue @ 91st Street.

Plus, follow the mile with street muralist De La Vega – grab a piece of chalk and make your mark!

Japan is known to be one of the most expensive places to live, especially in Tokyo and it’s no different while visiting. Taxis are over priced, a traditional sashimi dinner can run well over $200 (albeit worth every dollar), and lodging is steep. However entertainment can be astonishingly cheap – even free.

1. During the weekends in Harajuku the best kind of activity is gawking, which is quite expectable in this case. The parading of the Harajuku girls come out to play, some come as Gothic Lolita, visual kei, rockabilly, hip-hop, and punk. Most hang out waiting to have their photos to be taken others dance to their hearts content while the on lookers take pictures or straight on gawk. Harajuku kids are often open to tourist taking pictures but not all are camera friendly so do ask before clicking.  Location Takeshita Street in Harajuku, Tokyo.

2. Yoyogi Park located in Shibuya and Omote-Sando region is another great cheap and free place to hang, the charming park often is referred to as the Central Park of Tokyo. Best on the weekends where all the independent bands come out to play (for free), also strolling through the park I noticed many cluttering of groups, covering almost every parts of the park. One can find martial arts group to the symphony medleys to the “I own a white fluffy dog” club. On a nice spring day nothing beats a walk in the park with a little background music.   

3. Shopping may be out of budget for most CheapAsseaters but we found that it is not impossible, skip all the corporate and designer and try the little mom and pop. Often catering toward tourist Oriental Bazaar has numerous finds one can take back for gifts, very affordable while maintaining the integrity the memorabilia. Also on the same street is Kiddy Land where one can find random crazy adorable stuff for kids of all ages, some items found are, fake rhinestone cell phone covers, stuffed hello kitties, and everything cute. And lastly on   Meiji- Jingumae Street and the corner of Laforet department store, one can find an outdoors display of used kimonos for sale. I found a black men’s kimono for 1050 yen, definitely a steal.

 

For more pictures go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheapassfood/ 

Due to the super high oil prices the plane tickets prices are skyrocketing. Here are some resources for scoring the cheapest tickets out there.

The best method is to use websites call “Travel Aggregators”. These sites search hundreds of other sites and find you the cheapest flight out there. These sites do not sell tickets or travel packages on their own. Instead, their engines scan the internet for bargains on airfares, hotels, car rentals and other travel services and you buy directly from the chosen airline.

If you have a Fixed Schedule and Fixed Destination:

Kayak
http://www.kayak.com/

Sidestep
http://www.sidestep.com/

Farechase
http://farechase.yahoo.com/

Mobissimo
http://www.mobissimo.com/

Qixo
http://www.Qixo.com/

For international flights:

DoHop (based in Europe)
http://www.dohop.com/

 

If you have Flexible Schedule and Fixed Destination:

Fare Compare
http://www.farecompare.com/

Farecast
http://www.farecast.com/

Farecast Fareguard
http://www.farecast.com/about/howFareGuard.do

If you have Flexible Schedule and Flexible Destination:

Kayak Buzz
http://www.kayak.com/buzz

Airfare Watchdog
http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/

Farewatch
http://www.gofox.com/flights/farewatch.php

Mobissimo Activity Search
http://www.mobissimo.com/search_activity.php


Check Consolidator Fares
Airline consolidators are brokers who buy seats in bulk from the airline, then resell them to travel agents (often those whose specialize in discount international travel) or sometimes directly to the public. Often, but not always, this results in a lower fare than offered by the airline.

Travel Hub
http://www.travelhub.com

Airline Consolidator
http://www.airlineconsolidator.com

One Travel
http://www.onetravel.com

If you are comfortable downloading a software on your PC to search continously for the price criteria you set (while you are sleeping):

Trip Stalker
http://www.tripstalker.com/

Buy Direct From Airlines
If you insists on using traditional booking sites like Travelocity or Orbitz, be sure to check the airline’s website first. Lots of airlines now have lowest price guarantee so  it makes more sense to buy directly from the airline, plus you save coins by skipping the booking fee.

Try ITA Software Trip Planner, they scour the net for worldwide deals and put you directly with the airlines:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch

Southwest airline for some reason is not search by aggregators site, so also check their price too.

And here’s my personal favorite:

Get your money back if your airfare drops prices after you purchased it:

Yapta
http://www.yapta.com

 

BON VOYAGE!

Most of you readers come to CheapAssFood.com to:

A. To find cheap eats
B. To find cheap recipes
C. To find free shit

and that is why we love you all. Recently I was surfing the net for more ideas on how to find ways to cut cost and came across this article, “How to Reduce Your Food Costs in 60 Minutes a Week” from www.seriouseats.com. I love this site and love all the writers just as much, but after reading this short blurb, I thought to my self then what? The four suggestions that the writer recommends is something we all do, especially in these hard economic times.

Yes we all, scanning online circulars, clip coupons and try to create a grocery list. This is more or less common sense particularly if you’re a cheapass, so I thought of my own top 10 ways to Reduce Your Food Costs.

1. Pack a lunch to work
2. Stop the midday caffeine habit (something I MUST do, at times I spend over $5 a cup)
3. Stock up on mac and cheese
4. Clip coupons
5. Buy in bulk
6. BUY a reusable water bottle
7. Stop buying bottle water
8. Use leftovers to recreate meals
9. Limit your eating (out) to once a week
10. Check out CheapAssFood.com more cheap eat and ideas