We came, we saw, we ate a lot of food.
Oct. 3rd, 2005 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Massive vacation update. It's hard to imagine that I might have left something out, but I probably did. I already miss being on vacation, even though it's beyond thrilling to have my own bed and have all my stuff around me. For one thing, it's freakin' freezing here now, and it was always in the 70s and 80s on the east coast. Woe.
Jade and I love the food. We've never kept that a secret. In fact, it may very well be the key to our friendship. There is nothing like having a good meal. While we were on the east coast, we had many. Here's where we went -- if you're in the area you must try some of these!
New York:
Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.: This was passably good. If you're in Times Square and don't know where else to go, this would be a good choice (assuming you're not allergic to seafood). If there's a long wait, however, I'd skip it. It's basically deep-fried seafood, good but not outstanding. The fun novelty, however, is having your waitress quiz you about Forrest Gump ... but their questions are rather easy, hardly a challenge at all! :))
good enough to eat: *Excellent* place to have brunch. Location: Upper West Side -- I was visiting my friend Melissa and her fiancee and this is their favorite place to have brunch. But be prepared to wait in line; it's a small place and they don't take reservations. People wait, though, because damn is it good. They have these great pancakes that come with homemade syrup and strawberry butter. Seriously, you could eat the butter all on its own. The bacon is thickly sliced and fried with brown sugar ... oh dear I think I've drooled on my keyboard ...
Michael & (something): I knew I was going to forget the name of this place. Cute little Italian place that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kstanley took us for lunch, located near Washington Square park. I had the chicken marsala, which was v. good. I didn't even have room for the side of pasta it came with.
New York slice pizza: We went to this place twice, and I still don't know what the name of it was. Location: Flushing, Queens. Just your regular plain cheese pizza for $2, along with surly New York server. I loved it. The crust was thin and crunchy on the outside, with just the right amount of cheese and sauce. Mmmm.
Patsy's (1): Yes, we went to two Patsy's. This first one was sort of a mistake; my cousin thought it was just another branch of the one she actually wanted to take us to. It was very good -- I had linguini with clam in white wine sauce -- but it was much fancier and more expensive than we'd been anticipating. The other Patsy's, you see, is a pizza place. I wouldn't make a deliberate trip to go to this one.
Patsy's (2): Make a deliberate trip to go to this one. It was *fantastic*. Located in midtown, on 60th between 1st and 2nd Ave. Has a great atmosphere, reasonable prices, and delicious food. We shared the caprisi salad (individual portion still fairly large), fried calamari (so, so good), and plain cheese pizza (cheese, sauce, and crust all fabulous -- we think the cheese was fresh mozzarella). I weep that there isn't a Patsy's near either of us.
Some fancy steakhouse attached to some hotel: I was never able to read the name of this place. My cousins took us here -- very expensive, very upscale. Great food, though probably not worth the price. I had half-dozen oysters to start, followed by New York steak (medium rare) and pureed Yukon Gold potatoes. My cousin had the filet mignon, and it was really good -- I'd order that next time (if there is a next time). Usually NY steak is more reliable than filet, but hers was fab. The potatoes and creamed spinach were super yummy. I'd pass on the oysters.
Tai Pan Bakery: Located in Flushing, Queens -- just your typical Chinese bakery where you can get a lot of yummy pastries for cheap. This came in handy on the day we left New York, since Jet Blue doesn't serve meals and airport food is expensive and not very good.
Tao: Asian fusion restaurant where we had a pris fixe lunch. It was *great*. I'd only go back for lunch, though, as it's probably a far better deal than dinner. Started with peking duck rolls, followed by sliced sirloin and fresh fruit/tangerine sorbet. My cousin's vegetable dumplings and Jade's chicken satay appetizers were yummy also.
Tasti-D-Lite: Saw this in Times Square and had to go. How could we not, being the Sex and the City fans that we are? You know, that scene with Charlotte and Harry where he's bitching about how it's not real ice cream, and then tastes it and it's surprisingly good? Well, I still am not clear on what exactly it is, but it was goooooooood. I had the cookies and cream, and it tastes just like ice cream. Melissa says it's frozen yogurt, but I'm not sure that's what it is. I mean, frozen yogurt is so boring. :))
White Castle: To be honest, I wasn't that crazy about it. It was just fine, as far as fast food goes, but I won't weep that there's not one near me. It was good to be able to go with a Harold and Kumar fan, though. :D
Washington, D.C.:
Ben & Jerry's: We went to the one in the Old Post Office Pavillion. Damn, I'd forgotten how good fresh B&J is. We make a big deal about Cold Stone, but really, regular ice cream is my favorite, when it's served soft and yummy like this was.
Bistrot Lepic: It's possible that it's moved even further than it was the first time I went there. Damn it's far. It's deep, deep into Georgetown. And it is so worth it. (Well, assuming you take a cab back to the Foggy Bottom metro stop, because I'm not sure it's worth walking there *and* back, considering it's also quite pricey.) I've been there a few times now, and each time I always get the salmon wrapped in potato, with fresh grapes and grape sauce. It is *really* good, but I think I'm ready for something new. Jade got the duck (cooked medium -- it's so odd to have not-well-done poultry), which was fabulous. We both started with the lobster bisque, which might have been my favorite part. It came with chunks of just-grilled scallops (the guy who had told us the specials had said it was shrimp; when we teasingly confronted him about it later he was like, "Oh yes ... I was lying," in this apologetic way. It was tres amusant). We also shared this goat cheese and beet salad that Jade adored (I merely just liked it), and ended with a chocolate mousse that might have been the most chocolatey thing ever.
Bread and Chocolate: This used to be my favorite place to have brunch in D.C. Used to be, because now they've raised the prices and the food is good, but it's not worth it anymore. Alas.
Champ's: My friend Richard took us here. It's just your regular kind of taverny place, very casual. I had a salad with sesame-encrusted rare tuna; it was pretty decent.
Cosi: We grabbed breakfast here one day. It's passable, but not really worth the prices. For breakfast it was fine.
Legal Sea Foods: We'd heard from multiple sources that the clam chowder here is divine. It originated in Boston, but we didn't have enough time there to find out. The food was good, but the chowder was only so-so. Maybe it'd been hyped too much, or maybe it would have been better in Boston, I just don't know. The best clam chowder I've ever had is still from Gladstone's in Malibu -- but Jade says they don't use whole clams anymore, so maybe not. Anyway, I'd still like to try the chowder from a Legal in Boston. What I had here that *was* excellent was the half-dozen Bluepoints oysters that I got. Those were damn tasty; far better than the ones I'd gotten at the fancy hotel restaurant.
Pizzeria Uno: This is a yummy, casual place to go. I do wish we had one here, because I don't know anywhere else that puts broccoli on pizza. My favorite is the Spinoccoli pizza, with, as you can probably imagine, spinach and broccoli -- it is so. good.
Red, Hot, and Blue: This is another place that I weep isn't on the west coast, or near as I can tell, anywhere but D.C. It's got the most delicious barbecue-type food, very reasonably priced, including a potato salad I would happily kill for. I don't know what they do to it, but eating it almost brings tears to my eyes, it's so good.
Yee Hwa: I'd never been here before, but a review had said that it was very good Korean food, so I wanted to give it a try. I had been hoping that it would be one of those Korean BBQ places, as Jade's never been to one of those, but alas it was just regular Korean (and Japanese) food. It was good, but not worth the prices. The tempura we shared was surprisingly tasty.
Connecticut:
Mystic Pizza: The whole reason we rented a car and drove to Boston instead taking the train or bus or whatever was so that we could drive through Mystic, Conn., and eat at Mystic Pizza. Mystic Pizza is one of our favorite movies, you see, and we both love pizza, so it seemed the thing to do. The food is good and that includes the pizza, but I don't think it's worth a deliberate trip to Mystic. I'm glad we did it this once, though. (The original seating area was converted into a bar after they expanded to contain all the people who wanted to eat there after the movie came out. Now there's hardly anyone.)
Boston:
Dunkin' Donuts: Apparently, Dunkin' Donuts is a coffeehouse that also happens to sell donuts, and everyone on the east coast knows this. I had no idea the coffee was so highly touted. Well, I got a cup, and it is, indeed, very good coffee. It's no wonder places like Starbucks haven't gained much of a foothold back east, because east coasters have DD. And their donuts are pretty good, too. It's probably a good thing I don't have one around the corner from me, though I wish I did. I'd rather have a donut than fancy coffeehouse pastry any day.
Fiorella's: We came here with our friend Joanna, but sadly only had dessert (we had dinner elsewhere). We did get to eat some of their breadsticks, though, and they were good enough to make me regret not being able to eat their actual food. The dessert was quite good.
Harvest: Had brunch here with the lovelyheinous_bitca and sydney_lynne. Really good food and conversation, though we didn't have nearly enough time to talk about Firefly, WoW, and Draco/Ginny. :D Joanna has great stories, but they don't have anything to do with those three topics. :)) Anyway, the food was great, though I filled myself up with too many pastries to finish everything. I started with the quiche, followed by salmon, with a caramel panna cotta for dessert. I prefer vanilla panna cotta (though it has to be real vanilla, not the almond extract crap that El Greco served us last time), but the caramel one was quite good.
Some random Pho place: We had dinner with my Boston-dwelling cousin and his wife here. We were supposed to go to Legal, but it was an hour wait and they had a baby whose bedtime was in an hour, so we just went to this place. The food was good, but you know, I have pho all the time. Still, if I were a local I'd probably go there a lot.
The eating we planned to have, but didn't, alas, actually have:
Capital Grille: This was supposed to be where we were going to have dinner our first night in D.C. The trouble was that we had lunch late and it was really filling (Red, Hot, and Blue), and it had a dress code of 'business casual' that we weren't sure we could meet (we'd packed very sparingly). So we just canceled our reservation and ate at Pizzeria Uno instead.
Roy Rogers: I didn't actually want to eat here, because as fast food goes, it's crappy and inferior. But their strawberry shake was surprisingly delicious, and Jade wanted to try it. Well, apparently right after I left D.C. Roy Rogers went out of business, because the one I normally went to had become a McDonald's. It was disappointing, but not surprising. I mean, the food sucked so no one went there. The funniest thing came out of this, though ... we were wandering around trying to find a RR when we saw this young, respectable-looking businessman coming up the street. We had deliberately not asked the homeless man where RR was, because you just never know ... anyway, RLB has no clue about RR and he asks the homeless man, who rants: "Roy Rogers?! Why you askin' me 'bout Roy Rogers? There ain't been a Roy Rogers here in years! Burger King bought out Roy Rogers! Why you askin' me 'bout Roy Rogers?!" And RLB had to stand there helplessly as HM went on and on about RR. Oh, it was hilarious. And even more hilarious is Jade's impression of HM. She never breaks character. It's so good.
The Broadway shows we watched:
Chicago: Brooke Shields played Roxie. Her Roxie was a bit grating, but you know, I find Roxie grating in general, so that might very well have been deliberate. She has a nice voice and could probably cut a pop album, but she's not a Broadway singer. The gal who played Velma, however, was *fabulous*. Her name is Luba Mason, and I'm going to have to see if she has any albums of her own out. We got really great seats for a really decent price -- $65, and it was like, the 4th row.
The Producers: This was all right. I'm not sure if I'd give it another chance. I fell asleep during several numbers, but I'm willing to chalk that up to being tired. Of course, if it had been that good, I probably wouldn't have fallen asleep. The guy who played Nathan Lane's role sounded freakishly like NL. Oh, but the story with this one is that Jade actually panhandled on the streets of New York in order for us to get the tickets. Well, actually, what happened was that we went to TKTS, and could have gotten seats for $55 each. But Jade realized that she didn't have enough cash (TKTS only takes cash), so we had to find an ATM. We found an ATM, but she realized she hadn't brought her ATM card (we were trying to be careful about how much cash and such we had on us). So we were lollygagging in front of the ATM place, trying to figure out what else we could do, when this guy comes up complaining about how it claims to be a 24-hour ATM but he can't get in. We explain how you have to slide your card through the door thingy, which will then open. While he's in there, Jade's like, "I'm going to ask him for $5." (Because that's how much we were short; 5 measley dollars.) I was like, "Nooo! You can't beg for money on the streets of New York!" And she was like, "Sure I can." And she did! When he came out, she bold as brass asked him if he had $5. And he did (though duh, he'd just been in an ATM, it wasn't like he could have said otherwise), handing her $10. Out of mortification and a remaining sense of dignity, I returned $5 to him, because really, we're not beggars, we really just needed $5 to see a Broadway show. And he was v. cool about it, saying that we'd helped him get into the ATM place, that his company had paid for the majority of his trip so far, etc., but still, you know. Super mortifying. Jade got his address (he asked her not to send money, just a thank-you card or something), but I'm not even sure he would have given us his real address (I wouldn't have!). But get this -- so we go back to TKTS with $110 in cash, and they don't even have the seats anymore. They only have balcony seats! For under $30! So we didn't even have to get $5 from that guy! Sheesh. We hadn't even thought of asking for not-as-good-seats. *facepalm*
Spamalot: So, so, SO good. And it was made even better by -- well, let me explain. When we booked these tickets, it was before Spamalot had won the Tony, so there wasn't this mad, crazy rush to see it yet (plus it was well in advance). The one disappointing thing was that Hank Azaria was not going to be in the production, and we were really bummed about that. But David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry were still going to be in the cast, so at least we had that. Then as we were sitting down and looking at our Playbill, Jade suddenly let out a *GASP* and pointed to a name in the cast. It was ALAN TUDYK!!!!!!! He was the unknown guy who had taken Hank's place!! We had no clue who he was when we booked the tickets, but I think I speak for both of us when I say that by the time we saw it, we would have *preferred* Alan!! (For those of you who don't know, Alan plays "Wash" on Firefly.) And he was so, so good. And surprisingly hot. (DHP was okay; his role wasn't much.) He played all the good roles, like: Lancelot, the French Taunter, Tim the Enchanter, and the Knight of Ni. I am sooooooooooo happy we got to see him live. <3
We might have seen some sights between the eating:
At this point I don't know if I have the will to actually list all the sights, but suffice it to say that we saw a lot. And walked a lot. And also missed a lot -- which hopefully we'll get the next time we're on the east coast. I've done pretty much everything already, but Jade definitely needs another trip one day. Even if it's only for Patsy's.
Comparison of the various subway systems:
I'm biased, but my favorite one is D.C. I'm sure Boston's is great also, but I didn't have much opportunity to test it out. At least it was clean and well maintained, like the D.C. Metro. My only issue is buying the fare, having to do it from some guy in a booth. Haven't they heard of automated machines?! Sheesh. Anyway, D.C.'s is simple, clean, elegant, and gets the job done. New York's gets the job done, but it's also dirty, hot, and confusing. If I knew what I was doing I'd take cabs everywhere.
We saw a couple of movies:
Serenity: Oh, the trauma of seeing it in D.C.! First, they had put it on the marquee at Union Station (the closest Metro stop to our hotel) on Tuesday, which, as it turned out, WAS A MISTAKE. They weren't showing it till Friday. I will never forget the crushing disappointment I felt when the theater was like, "Oops." Jade seemed bound and determined that we see it as early as possible (I was okay with waiting until opening day), and she finally found a theater in Georgetown that was screening it at midnight on Thursday. It was full of Firefly fans, some decked out in character costumes. Save me from the geeks, gawd. Anyway, they laughed and cheered and were generally ... well, overenthusiastic. Which has its good and bad points. The sad thing is that we had misread when the Metro closed for the night, and ended up walking alllllll the way from Georgetown back to our hotel. That was not. fun. If we had gotten mugged and/or killed, I'm sure we would have regretted being too cheap to spend $40 or whatever on cab fare. *sigh*
Serenity: :)) Yes, we saw two movies, and they were the same one. This time we saw it in New York, not too far from our delicious dinner at Patsy's. (I asked the waitress where the nearest multiplex was, and she had no idea what I was talking about. We explained that this just meant a really big theater, and she directed us to this one, which had "nine screens." We were hard-pressed to keep a straight face, as we hail from a land where 20 screens at your local theater is not unheard of.) This was the opposite audience experience. There were only like a dozen or so people at this showing (we overheard some NYers going, "Wow, we have to remember this theater. This movie was sold out at the other 5 theaters we went to!"), which was definitely not as fun as the first crowd, annoying though they were. I mentioned that I saw it a third time yesterday; that was a good mix of Firefly fans and regular movie crowd.
I read a couple of books:
The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes: I finally read the first installment of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. It was good, but I'm definitely not obsessed yet. I'll have to keep going to see whether another one sucks me in. It's okay, Sandman fans -- I didn't like the pilot of Firefly, either. Or the pilot of many other things I eventually got obsessed with. In fact, not liking pilots is my M.O.
The Undomesticated Goddess: I had high hopes for this one, given that I loved Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret? -- but this was far inferior. The book and the heroine was far too much like her Shopaholic series, and I despise that heroine. This one was v. similar to the other -- whiny, helpless, letting things happen to her, without a lick of common sense. Not to mention, I found the "message" a bit disturbing and insulting -- that somehow, being domestic help is easier than other jobs (in particular, her former occupation as a high-powered attorney). Oh yes, once Samantha decides to be a maid, life is a breeze. You can learn to cook gourmet meals in a weekend! Your time off is yours! It's easy and undemanding! I'm sure some poor overworked domestic (actually, MOST of them) are going, "You know, fuck you, Sophie." The romance was blah, the heroine was, as aforementioned, annoying, and the idea that a 29-year-old woman (or really, even man, if that were the case) could work in a top-city law firm for seven years and make partner is just ludicrous. Yes, fiction is fiction for a reason, and usually I'm only too happy to suspend reality. But this was going too far, even for me. Ugh. Robbie will be glad to know I have another book in my "to be sold" pile.
Shout-outs to the cool people we spent our time with:
My cousins in New York: They put up with us for over a week, which was harder on W. than on A., since W. actually gave up his bed for us. He stayed with his girlfriend while we were there, and while I'm sure that wasn't exactly a hardship, it's still really inconvenient to be away from your stuff, and to have two random people sleeping in your bed. They picked us up from and took us to the airport, and in between were extremely helpful with providing directions and suggestions, and took us to cool places to eat. Don't know what we would have done w/o their kindness and hospitality.
kstanley: Was v. patient when Jade and I had misjudged the time it would take us to get into the city, treated us to a lovely lunch, and provided lots of interesting and fun conversation. :D So, so glad to have gotten the chance to meet her.
heinous_bitca: Though it required lots of travel time on her part, she met up with us in Boston and made us wish we had more time to spend there! Very happy to meet the gal who shares all our current obsessions. :D
sydney_lynne: Someone else I wish we'd had more time with (we literally had one day and one morning in Boston). We might have gotten her to say more things, maybe make her open up the way she does in LJ. :D As it was, we were already astounded that she didn't look exactly like that avatar of herself she has. :)) We were like, but she's smiley, not frowny! And where's her lollipop?!
Joanna: It was so nice to see Joanna again! She really is a gifted storyteller. And charades artist. I could have died crying from laughter at her "demolition derby" skit. =)) She put us up for a whole weekend, and helped us find places. Thanks, Jo Jo! In gratitude, I did not once sing the Superman song.
Richard: Practically the only person I know in D.C. now. He took us out to lunch and drove us around to all the memorials (we never would have been able to see all of them if not for him). He's such a nice guy, always good to see him.
Melissa and David: Melissa was my roommate when I lived in D.C., and she hasn't changed now that she's a New Yorker. She still knows all the best places to eat!
My Bostonian cousins: J. and K. were wonderful, even if we did have to rush through dinner. They recently adopted an adorable baby girl from China, and listening to them talk about the process and how these kids come to find these families nearly brought tears to our eyes. So sad -- but cool, because now they have families who love them! Plus I haven't seen my cousin's elder daughter in ages -- she's so big now!!
Teeny WoW update:
I was shocked -- happily so -- to find that I hadn't gotten stripped of my Sergeant status after last Tuesday's maintenance. I haven't got much of a bar left, however, so I can't imagine that I'll be able to keep it after tomorrow's maintenance. I tried for a couple of hours to get into Arathi Basin yesterday, but there were no games going on. Have the battlegrounds just died now or what? I might have a chance at keeping my rank if no one else is PVP'ing, which it kind of looks like is the case. I have a lot of the usual PVP suspects friended, and no one seems to be PVP'ing anymore. I'll try again tonight, but I also have some questing to do -- given all our time off, Jade and I are the lowest ranked of all our "peers" now. Alas!
Total weight gained:
While Jade and Robbie were here, I gained 2.5lbs. I gained another 2.5lbs while on the east coast, for a total of 5lbs gained. Wah. However, now that it's all over I won't be eating out for every meal, so hopefully those pounds will just melt away on their own. (For like, two days a month ago, I had reached my goal weight.) I have to say, though, that the 2.5lbs gained on the east coast were far more worth it than the first 2.5lbs. But man, if we hadn't walked as much as we had, I can't imagine how much I would have gained. O.o
Best New York moment:
*Jade and Sarea are looking for Century 21, the largest discount-designer store in NY*
*They spot a doorlady in front of a building*
Jade: Excuse me, but we're looking for Century 21. Do you know how to get there?
Doorlady: Sure. You just keep going where you're going, and when you round that corner there, ask someone else.
Jade and I love the food. We've never kept that a secret. In fact, it may very well be the key to our friendship. There is nothing like having a good meal. While we were on the east coast, we had many. Here's where we went -- if you're in the area you must try some of these!
New York:
Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.: This was passably good. If you're in Times Square and don't know where else to go, this would be a good choice (assuming you're not allergic to seafood). If there's a long wait, however, I'd skip it. It's basically deep-fried seafood, good but not outstanding. The fun novelty, however, is having your waitress quiz you about Forrest Gump ... but their questions are rather easy, hardly a challenge at all! :))
good enough to eat: *Excellent* place to have brunch. Location: Upper West Side -- I was visiting my friend Melissa and her fiancee and this is their favorite place to have brunch. But be prepared to wait in line; it's a small place and they don't take reservations. People wait, though, because damn is it good. They have these great pancakes that come with homemade syrup and strawberry butter. Seriously, you could eat the butter all on its own. The bacon is thickly sliced and fried with brown sugar ... oh dear I think I've drooled on my keyboard ...
Michael & (something): I knew I was going to forget the name of this place. Cute little Italian place that
kstanley took us for lunch, located near Washington Square park. I had the chicken marsala, which was v. good. I didn't even have room for the side of pasta it came with.New York slice pizza: We went to this place twice, and I still don't know what the name of it was. Location: Flushing, Queens. Just your regular plain cheese pizza for $2, along with surly New York server. I loved it. The crust was thin and crunchy on the outside, with just the right amount of cheese and sauce. Mmmm.
Patsy's (1): Yes, we went to two Patsy's. This first one was sort of a mistake; my cousin thought it was just another branch of the one she actually wanted to take us to. It was very good -- I had linguini with clam in white wine sauce -- but it was much fancier and more expensive than we'd been anticipating. The other Patsy's, you see, is a pizza place. I wouldn't make a deliberate trip to go to this one.
Patsy's (2): Make a deliberate trip to go to this one. It was *fantastic*. Located in midtown, on 60th between 1st and 2nd Ave. Has a great atmosphere, reasonable prices, and delicious food. We shared the caprisi salad (individual portion still fairly large), fried calamari (so, so good), and plain cheese pizza (cheese, sauce, and crust all fabulous -- we think the cheese was fresh mozzarella). I weep that there isn't a Patsy's near either of us.
Some fancy steakhouse attached to some hotel: I was never able to read the name of this place. My cousins took us here -- very expensive, very upscale. Great food, though probably not worth the price. I had half-dozen oysters to start, followed by New York steak (medium rare) and pureed Yukon Gold potatoes. My cousin had the filet mignon, and it was really good -- I'd order that next time (if there is a next time). Usually NY steak is more reliable than filet, but hers was fab. The potatoes and creamed spinach were super yummy. I'd pass on the oysters.
Tai Pan Bakery: Located in Flushing, Queens -- just your typical Chinese bakery where you can get a lot of yummy pastries for cheap. This came in handy on the day we left New York, since Jet Blue doesn't serve meals and airport food is expensive and not very good.
Tao: Asian fusion restaurant where we had a pris fixe lunch. It was *great*. I'd only go back for lunch, though, as it's probably a far better deal than dinner. Started with peking duck rolls, followed by sliced sirloin and fresh fruit/tangerine sorbet. My cousin's vegetable dumplings and Jade's chicken satay appetizers were yummy also.
Tasti-D-Lite: Saw this in Times Square and had to go. How could we not, being the Sex and the City fans that we are? You know, that scene with Charlotte and Harry where he's bitching about how it's not real ice cream, and then tastes it and it's surprisingly good? Well, I still am not clear on what exactly it is, but it was goooooooood. I had the cookies and cream, and it tastes just like ice cream. Melissa says it's frozen yogurt, but I'm not sure that's what it is. I mean, frozen yogurt is so boring. :))
White Castle: To be honest, I wasn't that crazy about it. It was just fine, as far as fast food goes, but I won't weep that there's not one near me. It was good to be able to go with a Harold and Kumar fan, though. :D
Washington, D.C.:
Ben & Jerry's: We went to the one in the Old Post Office Pavillion. Damn, I'd forgotten how good fresh B&J is. We make a big deal about Cold Stone, but really, regular ice cream is my favorite, when it's served soft and yummy like this was.
Bistrot Lepic: It's possible that it's moved even further than it was the first time I went there. Damn it's far. It's deep, deep into Georgetown. And it is so worth it. (Well, assuming you take a cab back to the Foggy Bottom metro stop, because I'm not sure it's worth walking there *and* back, considering it's also quite pricey.) I've been there a few times now, and each time I always get the salmon wrapped in potato, with fresh grapes and grape sauce. It is *really* good, but I think I'm ready for something new. Jade got the duck (cooked medium -- it's so odd to have not-well-done poultry), which was fabulous. We both started with the lobster bisque, which might have been my favorite part. It came with chunks of just-grilled scallops (the guy who had told us the specials had said it was shrimp; when we teasingly confronted him about it later he was like, "Oh yes ... I was lying," in this apologetic way. It was tres amusant). We also shared this goat cheese and beet salad that Jade adored (I merely just liked it), and ended with a chocolate mousse that might have been the most chocolatey thing ever.
Bread and Chocolate: This used to be my favorite place to have brunch in D.C. Used to be, because now they've raised the prices and the food is good, but it's not worth it anymore. Alas.
Champ's: My friend Richard took us here. It's just your regular kind of taverny place, very casual. I had a salad with sesame-encrusted rare tuna; it was pretty decent.
Cosi: We grabbed breakfast here one day. It's passable, but not really worth the prices. For breakfast it was fine.
Legal Sea Foods: We'd heard from multiple sources that the clam chowder here is divine. It originated in Boston, but we didn't have enough time there to find out. The food was good, but the chowder was only so-so. Maybe it'd been hyped too much, or maybe it would have been better in Boston, I just don't know. The best clam chowder I've ever had is still from Gladstone's in Malibu -- but Jade says they don't use whole clams anymore, so maybe not. Anyway, I'd still like to try the chowder from a Legal in Boston. What I had here that *was* excellent was the half-dozen Bluepoints oysters that I got. Those were damn tasty; far better than the ones I'd gotten at the fancy hotel restaurant.
Pizzeria Uno: This is a yummy, casual place to go. I do wish we had one here, because I don't know anywhere else that puts broccoli on pizza. My favorite is the Spinoccoli pizza, with, as you can probably imagine, spinach and broccoli -- it is so. good.
Red, Hot, and Blue: This is another place that I weep isn't on the west coast, or near as I can tell, anywhere but D.C. It's got the most delicious barbecue-type food, very reasonably priced, including a potato salad I would happily kill for. I don't know what they do to it, but eating it almost brings tears to my eyes, it's so good.
Yee Hwa: I'd never been here before, but a review had said that it was very good Korean food, so I wanted to give it a try. I had been hoping that it would be one of those Korean BBQ places, as Jade's never been to one of those, but alas it was just regular Korean (and Japanese) food. It was good, but not worth the prices. The tempura we shared was surprisingly tasty.
Connecticut:
Mystic Pizza: The whole reason we rented a car and drove to Boston instead taking the train or bus or whatever was so that we could drive through Mystic, Conn., and eat at Mystic Pizza. Mystic Pizza is one of our favorite movies, you see, and we both love pizza, so it seemed the thing to do. The food is good and that includes the pizza, but I don't think it's worth a deliberate trip to Mystic. I'm glad we did it this once, though. (The original seating area was converted into a bar after they expanded to contain all the people who wanted to eat there after the movie came out. Now there's hardly anyone.)
Boston:
Dunkin' Donuts: Apparently, Dunkin' Donuts is a coffeehouse that also happens to sell donuts, and everyone on the east coast knows this. I had no idea the coffee was so highly touted. Well, I got a cup, and it is, indeed, very good coffee. It's no wonder places like Starbucks haven't gained much of a foothold back east, because east coasters have DD. And their donuts are pretty good, too. It's probably a good thing I don't have one around the corner from me, though I wish I did. I'd rather have a donut than fancy coffeehouse pastry any day.
Fiorella's: We came here with our friend Joanna, but sadly only had dessert (we had dinner elsewhere). We did get to eat some of their breadsticks, though, and they were good enough to make me regret not being able to eat their actual food. The dessert was quite good.
Harvest: Had brunch here with the lovely
heinous_bitca and sydney_lynne. Really good food and conversation, though we didn't have nearly enough time to talk about Firefly, WoW, and Draco/Ginny. :D Joanna has great stories, but they don't have anything to do with those three topics. :)) Anyway, the food was great, though I filled myself up with too many pastries to finish everything. I started with the quiche, followed by salmon, with a caramel panna cotta for dessert. I prefer vanilla panna cotta (though it has to be real vanilla, not the almond extract crap that El Greco served us last time), but the caramel one was quite good.Some random Pho place: We had dinner with my Boston-dwelling cousin and his wife here. We were supposed to go to Legal, but it was an hour wait and they had a baby whose bedtime was in an hour, so we just went to this place. The food was good, but you know, I have pho all the time. Still, if I were a local I'd probably go there a lot.
The eating we planned to have, but didn't, alas, actually have:
Capital Grille: This was supposed to be where we were going to have dinner our first night in D.C. The trouble was that we had lunch late and it was really filling (Red, Hot, and Blue), and it had a dress code of 'business casual' that we weren't sure we could meet (we'd packed very sparingly). So we just canceled our reservation and ate at Pizzeria Uno instead.
Roy Rogers: I didn't actually want to eat here, because as fast food goes, it's crappy and inferior. But their strawberry shake was surprisingly delicious, and Jade wanted to try it. Well, apparently right after I left D.C. Roy Rogers went out of business, because the one I normally went to had become a McDonald's. It was disappointing, but not surprising. I mean, the food sucked so no one went there. The funniest thing came out of this, though ... we were wandering around trying to find a RR when we saw this young, respectable-looking businessman coming up the street. We had deliberately not asked the homeless man where RR was, because you just never know ... anyway, RLB has no clue about RR and he asks the homeless man, who rants: "Roy Rogers?! Why you askin' me 'bout Roy Rogers? There ain't been a Roy Rogers here in years! Burger King bought out Roy Rogers! Why you askin' me 'bout Roy Rogers?!" And RLB had to stand there helplessly as HM went on and on about RR. Oh, it was hilarious. And even more hilarious is Jade's impression of HM. She never breaks character. It's so good.
The Broadway shows we watched:
Chicago: Brooke Shields played Roxie. Her Roxie was a bit grating, but you know, I find Roxie grating in general, so that might very well have been deliberate. She has a nice voice and could probably cut a pop album, but she's not a Broadway singer. The gal who played Velma, however, was *fabulous*. Her name is Luba Mason, and I'm going to have to see if she has any albums of her own out. We got really great seats for a really decent price -- $65, and it was like, the 4th row.
The Producers: This was all right. I'm not sure if I'd give it another chance. I fell asleep during several numbers, but I'm willing to chalk that up to being tired. Of course, if it had been that good, I probably wouldn't have fallen asleep. The guy who played Nathan Lane's role sounded freakishly like NL. Oh, but the story with this one is that Jade actually panhandled on the streets of New York in order for us to get the tickets. Well, actually, what happened was that we went to TKTS, and could have gotten seats for $55 each. But Jade realized that she didn't have enough cash (TKTS only takes cash), so we had to find an ATM. We found an ATM, but she realized she hadn't brought her ATM card (we were trying to be careful about how much cash and such we had on us). So we were lollygagging in front of the ATM place, trying to figure out what else we could do, when this guy comes up complaining about how it claims to be a 24-hour ATM but he can't get in. We explain how you have to slide your card through the door thingy, which will then open. While he's in there, Jade's like, "I'm going to ask him for $5." (Because that's how much we were short; 5 measley dollars.) I was like, "Nooo! You can't beg for money on the streets of New York!" And she was like, "Sure I can." And she did! When he came out, she bold as brass asked him if he had $5. And he did (though duh, he'd just been in an ATM, it wasn't like he could have said otherwise), handing her $10. Out of mortification and a remaining sense of dignity, I returned $5 to him, because really, we're not beggars, we really just needed $5 to see a Broadway show. And he was v. cool about it, saying that we'd helped him get into the ATM place, that his company had paid for the majority of his trip so far, etc., but still, you know. Super mortifying. Jade got his address (he asked her not to send money, just a thank-you card or something), but I'm not even sure he would have given us his real address (I wouldn't have!). But get this -- so we go back to TKTS with $110 in cash, and they don't even have the seats anymore. They only have balcony seats! For under $30! So we didn't even have to get $5 from that guy! Sheesh. We hadn't even thought of asking for not-as-good-seats. *facepalm*
Spamalot: So, so, SO good. And it was made even better by -- well, let me explain. When we booked these tickets, it was before Spamalot had won the Tony, so there wasn't this mad, crazy rush to see it yet (plus it was well in advance). The one disappointing thing was that Hank Azaria was not going to be in the production, and we were really bummed about that. But David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry were still going to be in the cast, so at least we had that. Then as we were sitting down and looking at our Playbill, Jade suddenly let out a *GASP* and pointed to a name in the cast. It was ALAN TUDYK!!!!!!! He was the unknown guy who had taken Hank's place!! We had no clue who he was when we booked the tickets, but I think I speak for both of us when I say that by the time we saw it, we would have *preferred* Alan!! (For those of you who don't know, Alan plays "Wash" on Firefly.) And he was so, so good. And surprisingly hot. (DHP was okay; his role wasn't much.) He played all the good roles, like: Lancelot, the French Taunter, Tim the Enchanter, and the Knight of Ni. I am sooooooooooo happy we got to see him live. <3
We might have seen some sights between the eating:
At this point I don't know if I have the will to actually list all the sights, but suffice it to say that we saw a lot. And walked a lot. And also missed a lot -- which hopefully we'll get the next time we're on the east coast. I've done pretty much everything already, but Jade definitely needs another trip one day. Even if it's only for Patsy's.
Comparison of the various subway systems:
I'm biased, but my favorite one is D.C. I'm sure Boston's is great also, but I didn't have much opportunity to test it out. At least it was clean and well maintained, like the D.C. Metro. My only issue is buying the fare, having to do it from some guy in a booth. Haven't they heard of automated machines?! Sheesh. Anyway, D.C.'s is simple, clean, elegant, and gets the job done. New York's gets the job done, but it's also dirty, hot, and confusing. If I knew what I was doing I'd take cabs everywhere.
We saw a couple of movies:
Serenity: Oh, the trauma of seeing it in D.C.! First, they had put it on the marquee at Union Station (the closest Metro stop to our hotel) on Tuesday, which, as it turned out, WAS A MISTAKE. They weren't showing it till Friday. I will never forget the crushing disappointment I felt when the theater was like, "Oops." Jade seemed bound and determined that we see it as early as possible (I was okay with waiting until opening day), and she finally found a theater in Georgetown that was screening it at midnight on Thursday. It was full of Firefly fans, some decked out in character costumes. Save me from the geeks, gawd. Anyway, they laughed and cheered and were generally ... well, overenthusiastic. Which has its good and bad points. The sad thing is that we had misread when the Metro closed for the night, and ended up walking alllllll the way from Georgetown back to our hotel. That was not. fun. If we had gotten mugged and/or killed, I'm sure we would have regretted being too cheap to spend $40 or whatever on cab fare. *sigh*
Serenity: :)) Yes, we saw two movies, and they were the same one. This time we saw it in New York, not too far from our delicious dinner at Patsy's. (I asked the waitress where the nearest multiplex was, and she had no idea what I was talking about. We explained that this just meant a really big theater, and she directed us to this one, which had "nine screens." We were hard-pressed to keep a straight face, as we hail from a land where 20 screens at your local theater is not unheard of.) This was the opposite audience experience. There were only like a dozen or so people at this showing (we overheard some NYers going, "Wow, we have to remember this theater. This movie was sold out at the other 5 theaters we went to!"), which was definitely not as fun as the first crowd, annoying though they were. I mentioned that I saw it a third time yesterday; that was a good mix of Firefly fans and regular movie crowd.
I read a couple of books:
The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes: I finally read the first installment of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. It was good, but I'm definitely not obsessed yet. I'll have to keep going to see whether another one sucks me in. It's okay, Sandman fans -- I didn't like the pilot of Firefly, either. Or the pilot of many other things I eventually got obsessed with. In fact, not liking pilots is my M.O.
The Undomesticated Goddess: I had high hopes for this one, given that I loved Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret? -- but this was far inferior. The book and the heroine was far too much like her Shopaholic series, and I despise that heroine. This one was v. similar to the other -- whiny, helpless, letting things happen to her, without a lick of common sense. Not to mention, I found the "message" a bit disturbing and insulting -- that somehow, being domestic help is easier than other jobs (in particular, her former occupation as a high-powered attorney). Oh yes, once Samantha decides to be a maid, life is a breeze. You can learn to cook gourmet meals in a weekend! Your time off is yours! It's easy and undemanding! I'm sure some poor overworked domestic (actually, MOST of them) are going, "You know, fuck you, Sophie." The romance was blah, the heroine was, as aforementioned, annoying, and the idea that a 29-year-old woman (or really, even man, if that were the case) could work in a top-city law firm for seven years and make partner is just ludicrous. Yes, fiction is fiction for a reason, and usually I'm only too happy to suspend reality. But this was going too far, even for me. Ugh. Robbie will be glad to know I have another book in my "to be sold" pile.
Shout-outs to the cool people we spent our time with:
My cousins in New York: They put up with us for over a week, which was harder on W. than on A., since W. actually gave up his bed for us. He stayed with his girlfriend while we were there, and while I'm sure that wasn't exactly a hardship, it's still really inconvenient to be away from your stuff, and to have two random people sleeping in your bed. They picked us up from and took us to the airport, and in between were extremely helpful with providing directions and suggestions, and took us to cool places to eat. Don't know what we would have done w/o their kindness and hospitality.
kstanley: Was v. patient when Jade and I had misjudged the time it would take us to get into the city, treated us to a lovely lunch, and provided lots of interesting and fun conversation. :D So, so glad to have gotten the chance to meet her.heinous_bitca: Though it required lots of travel time on her part, she met up with us in Boston and made us wish we had more time to spend there! Very happy to meet the gal who shares all our current obsessions. :Dsydney_lynne: Someone else I wish we'd had more time with (we literally had one day and one morning in Boston). We might have gotten her to say more things, maybe make her open up the way she does in LJ. :D As it was, we were already astounded that she didn't look exactly like that avatar of herself she has. :)) We were like, but she's smiley, not frowny! And where's her lollipop?!Joanna: It was so nice to see Joanna again! She really is a gifted storyteller. And charades artist. I could have died crying from laughter at her "demolition derby" skit. =)) She put us up for a whole weekend, and helped us find places. Thanks, Jo Jo! In gratitude, I did not once sing the Superman song.
Richard: Practically the only person I know in D.C. now. He took us out to lunch and drove us around to all the memorials (we never would have been able to see all of them if not for him). He's such a nice guy, always good to see him.
Melissa and David: Melissa was my roommate when I lived in D.C., and she hasn't changed now that she's a New Yorker. She still knows all the best places to eat!
My Bostonian cousins: J. and K. were wonderful, even if we did have to rush through dinner. They recently adopted an adorable baby girl from China, and listening to them talk about the process and how these kids come to find these families nearly brought tears to our eyes. So sad -- but cool, because now they have families who love them! Plus I haven't seen my cousin's elder daughter in ages -- she's so big now!!
Teeny WoW update:
I was shocked -- happily so -- to find that I hadn't gotten stripped of my Sergeant status after last Tuesday's maintenance. I haven't got much of a bar left, however, so I can't imagine that I'll be able to keep it after tomorrow's maintenance. I tried for a couple of hours to get into Arathi Basin yesterday, but there were no games going on. Have the battlegrounds just died now or what? I might have a chance at keeping my rank if no one else is PVP'ing, which it kind of looks like is the case. I have a lot of the usual PVP suspects friended, and no one seems to be PVP'ing anymore. I'll try again tonight, but I also have some questing to do -- given all our time off, Jade and I are the lowest ranked of all our "peers" now. Alas!
Total weight gained:
While Jade and Robbie were here, I gained 2.5lbs. I gained another 2.5lbs while on the east coast, for a total of 5lbs gained. Wah. However, now that it's all over I won't be eating out for every meal, so hopefully those pounds will just melt away on their own. (For like, two days a month ago, I had reached my goal weight.) I have to say, though, that the 2.5lbs gained on the east coast were far more worth it than the first 2.5lbs. But man, if we hadn't walked as much as we had, I can't imagine how much I would have gained. O.o
Best New York moment:
*Jade and Sarea are looking for Century 21, the largest discount-designer store in NY*
*They spot a doorlady in front of a building*
Jade: Excuse me, but we're looking for Century 21. Do you know how to get there?
Doorlady: Sure. You just keep going where you're going, and when you round that corner there, ask someone else.
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Date: 2005-10-03 07:57 pm (UTC)Glad you had a good trip! :)
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Date: 2005-10-03 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 07:57 pm (UTC)They don't have multiplexes in NY? Weirdness.
The original Pizzeria Uno is awesomeness itself. I'm just saying.
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Date: 2005-10-03 08:04 pm (UTC)They do have multiplexes, but I guess that's not what they call them (or the server was deliberately being obtuse, contrary New Yorker that she is). But I have heard that the movie thing isn't really big there. They have lots of other stuff to do, you see. I really will miss that about the city -- you can do anything at any time of day. Rather cool.
Well maybe if you ever let me visit you, I can judge this awesomeness for myself. But no, you're a freakish hermit.
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Date: 2005-10-03 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 08:40 pm (UTC)I'll keep your DC recs in mind when I visit in November. :)
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Date: 2005-10-03 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 09:19 pm (UTC)Btw, he's coming to where I work next year *squee*
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Date: 2005-10-03 11:26 pm (UTC)Just like us with Alan Tudyk! :D
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Date: 2005-10-04 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 12:41 am (UTC)It was really fabulous, would have been neat to have seen even more people. Of course, we barely got to fit everyone in as it was -- we could have spent the whole time in NY or DC or Boston, really, but since we were there we wanted to see 'em all.
If you're ever out on the west coast you'll have to look us up!
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Date: 2005-10-04 01:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 06:17 pm (UTC)hahaha,
Date: 2005-10-04 04:51 pm (UTC)only you would detail every single thing you ate as the highlight of vacation
i love it!! :)
and since i intend to intern in NYC next summer, i'm totally going to keep all this in mind
*mwah*
Re: hahaha,
Date: 2005-10-04 06:18 pm (UTC)The food *was* my vacation, LOL! And just for the record, it wasn't even every single thing I ate. I didn't mention the hot pretzel and mustard we had in Central Park, a la Mia from The Princess Diaries. (It was good btw, though the pretzel vendor totally tries to rip you off by charging more than what his sign says.)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 02:01 am (UTC)