happiness is a warm pupa

File it under the most delicious thing I never want to eat again.

Near the corner of Lafayette and Broadway is an Asian stall mall (if I can call it that), and in one stall is DeliManjoo, home of two crazy machines that bake and package the tasty morsels pictured above. The machines are almost worth the price of admission all by themselves (especially since it’s free to just watch), but for a mere $3, you can get a bag containing a dozen freshly baked, individually wrapped cakes. . . cakes filled with piping hot custard!

The custard is actually dangerously hot, but the cake is so warm and moist that you feel compelled to risk it—over and over—because you know they won’t be nearly as good once they cool down. (And they’re not, I “checked.”) So, you keep peeling away the crinkly cellophane, and you keep eating the hot, little. . . they’re supposed to be little ears of corn, but sitting there, in their shiny, steamed-up cocoons, they really do resemble adolescent moths. . . . Hmmm, best not to think about that.

Or maybe you should, since it might discourage you from eating all twelve. Because, while I do recommend a trip to DeliManjoo, I recommend that you go with hungry friends, and share your bag of steaming hot custard-filled pupae. I ate all twelve by myself and learned a hard lesson: Like swimming and drinking, DeliManjoo is something you should learn to do, but never do alone.