[For Joanne Yao who requested a post about what it's like to work at Serious Eats on my call for blog entries]

Working at Serious Eats is, pardon my pun, serious business.

What are aren’t paid in wages we’re more than compensated for in amazing food – the creme de la creme of what New York can offer. I’ve sampled NYC’s top 7 falafel sandwiches, 11 bowls of the best Taiwanese shaved ice, and countless sandwiches.

Whenever editors travel, they tend to bring back regional specialties – chess pie from Kentucky, cheesy bread from Brazil, candied jalapenos from a food fair. They’re all fantastically nerdy about food and generous with their knowledge.

Ed Levine, Serious Eats Overlord, surveying the cupcake spread in his “Phat Beets” tee. Because of his diet, he (wisely) opted out of the tasting.

A typical day at work might begin with a bag of peanut brittle on the table, courtesy of the manager’s mother. Maybe an intern made a pizza; I munch on one slice, then another. Around lunch, the UPS guy comes with a delivery; or maybe it’s a PR person dropping off some lobster rolls – free rein on that. Finally, in the afternoon, an intern runs out and comes back with 2-3 sandwiches for our “Sandwich a Day” feature  and I saw them up into bite size pieces. They disappear. If you’re still hungry, there are 8 bags of potato chips in the cabinet from a kettle-cooked chip tasting organized by intern Aaron Mattis awhile back. Maybe Adam Kuban left pizza in the fridge. And don’t forget the bag of frozen Sushi Poppers in the freezer, ready for defrosting. Although no one except me has touched those.

Then there are regular tastings: the best hot dog, best American cheese, etc. The photos in this entry from the Best Cupcake in New York tasting organized by super badass fellow intern Leah Douglas. Leading up to last Friday’s cupcake tasting was sampling treats from dozens of bakeries.

Yep, Magnolia got unceremoniously cut early. Crumbs crumbled. I developed a bizarrely discerning palate.

And as far as what I actually end up writing about is mostly due to whatever I dream up. The idea of eating a butt-ton of shaved ice was my own beany, beany idea. Carey, the NY editor, gave me a go-ahead on a Flushing food court roundup, so off I went on the LIRR toting my new DSLR.

(My new life insight: the difference between an eccentric Asian girl snapping food photos and a journalist? A proper camera.)

Ed and Melissa from Cupcakes Take the Cake shaking hands over the cupcakes. I call this photo “The Treaty of 2010 Cupcakes.”

More photos of our epic cupcake tasting after the jump.

Meta-photo! We see Robyn in some form of photo-taking about 55% of of the time. No one bothers to take photos because Robyn is so good.

Prepping cupcake tastings is absurd work.

Robyn Lee in action! She is hilarious and talented with a camera.

One bite at a time, baby.

Chichi leaning over Leah’s shoulder, ready to eat some cupcakes.

Melissa from Cupcakes Take the Cake

Melissa’s amazing doodle! (I am the one documenting everything, of course). Robyn is on the floor hugging a beloved manatee, she also write a blog called “occasional manatee.”

“LEGALIZE FROSTITUTION” (duh)

Related posts:

1. Kickass Cupcakes to add ice cream cupcakes
2. Mini Red Velvet Cupcake
3. Kickass Cupcakes: A Happy Hour
4. North End Scallops, Porter Sushi, Audio Slideshows: A busy weekend
5. The truth is out.