On Wednesdays I usually play intern for a small non-profit residing near City Hall. It’s a nice place - cozy, laid back, although sometimes my boss needs some organizational assistance (not with papers but with people), but overall I don’t have many complaints. Well…until this week.

 Yesterday, we moved into a quaint space in Astoria, where both the people and the food can be traced and made from ages ago - just nice and authentic.

 However after work I didn’t get the chance to explore the neighborhoods, for They Might Be Giants were in town, and Ami (the boyfriend) and I were supposed to get tickets.

 You see where this is going don’t you?

We wait on the line in front of the Bowery Ballroom only to find out an hour later that they were SOLD OUT. So what better way to compensate than to a good meal?

Ami’s a vegetarian, and as for me, I always did enjoy my broccoli as a child. So we headed up 1st Ave to COUNTER - a hip-ish vegetarian joint, whose decor seemed like a modernized diner.

Out of sheer greed, I ordered the Vegetable Tasting Mosaic, hoping it will fulfill all my childhood vegetable fantasies. Alright, so that was exaggerated, but it was the general point of the decision.

I was disappointed. It was to an extent where I began making excuses for its shortcomings, such as, "I should’ve gone with my gut and ordered the risotto!" But I was, especially with the hype and the well-worded menu, I could not accept it.

It wasn’t as if the entire dish was a short fall, the juiciness of the mushroom roulade was brought out very well by its tomato paste filling and the green beans were fork tender. But as these descriptions sound, the dish did fall short.

So we paid the bill and walked out a little tired and off-center, I thought, "what better way to compensate for a disappointing dinner than to have a good dessert!"

So we hopped on the R to 49th St and walked to Kyotofu, a dessert bar on 9th Ave between 48th and 49th St. The spot was busy, a clear handful for the waitresses, but we were immediately seated. Out of recommendation by the friendly waitress, I ordered a raspberry mochi chocolate cake, accented with green tea-anko cream.

The cake was moist and sweetened perfectly so the flavors of the chocolate and raspberry were complimentary, not just brought out with sugar. The cream acted as the medium for the different textures of the cake, and mellowed any clashing of flavors. I would recommend the mandarin ginger green tea to go with this.

I then had the opportunity to dip my fork into Ami’s sorbets, which were raspberry shiso and citrus yuzu, all spooned perfectly into little square dishes adjacent to sesame seaweed cookies and whipped cream.

Boy was I happy. Although the zest in the yuzu sorbet became too overpowering after time, we were both more than content with the course. I even bought one of their famous chocolate soufflé cupcakes to go and ate it outside. I could see why it was voted the best cupcake, the creaminess of a frosting was not needed because that texture and flavor tasted like it was baked into the cake.

Oh yeah, there isn’t a picture of the cupcake, for I devoured it before I got the chance to whip out my camera. Well, in my defense I’m still new to this, and I had another day of playing intern ahead.