food

San Francisco eats

As we were getting ready for our trip out here, we kept hearing that “the food sucked,” at least compared to New York, but that the “tacos were really good.” We both found this hard to believe. Isn’t the produce supposed to be fresher here? The Asian food more authentic? Plus SF is a big city – not ALL of the eats can suck, and in fact none of it does.

Crepes

Apparently crepes are a big thing in San Francisco. I received two separate recommendations for crepe places (none from the idiots above), and we’ve found one that is none of those recommendations but tasty all the same.

We had breakfast at Honey Honey on Post Street both yesterday and today. It’s about a 10 minute walk from our hotel and seems popular. Yesterday I had the breakfast crepe, ham, cheddar cheese, and tomatoes, which was tasty.

But today’s selection, the Half Moon Bay – crab cake, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and mushrooms – was face-meltingly good.

The dishes come with a side of fruit (or potatoes if you prefer something carbier) and were less than $9 each, a pretty good deal for the amount of food.

Mexican in the Mission

As you New Yorkers know, it’s virtually impossible to get good Mexican food in the Big Apple. In fact, I can barely tell the difference. So getting authentic tacos and burritos in the Mission District was a must.

We traveled out to the Mission last night, an adventure in itself. Deciding to forego public transportation, we walked, which was fine till we got to a highway. Luckily that stretch didn’t last too long.

Our destination was 24th Street. At 12th Street, we thought, Just 12 more blocks, not so bad. Well 12 NYC blocks and 12 blocks in the Mission District are two very different things. By the time, we got to where we were going, we were both pooped and starving.

We had done our research beforehand, looking up places on Yelp, but couldn’t remember any of the names. So we randomly picked El Delfin.

Apparently it specializes in seafood, but we went with the enchilada/tamale combination.

Yum! I still don’t know “authentic” Mexican food from inauthentic – all I know it was good, not overly greasy/cheesy like in some other places I’ve been. Also the salsa for the nacho chips was amazing! Super spicy and tangy. And our waitress was super nice.

As for the Mission itself, we’ve heard people rave about how cool and hip it is, but I dunno. Maybe we missed the main stretch but it seemed a little scummy to me. It was strange because there’d be seedy areas, then suddenly a very chic restaurant or cafe.

And then we got on the wrong bus to go home. We ended up even farther out, at 26th Street. One lady on the bus very kindly told us the right bus to get on, and then warned us to be careful. “Lots of crazy people around here!” she called with concern from across the deserted street. Great.

We had toyed with the idea of living in the Mission, but we both agree: a big fat no. We’re too old to be hipsters.

Coffee

Another thing we noticed is that there seem to be a lot fewer Starbuck’s here. In New York they’re on every fucking block. Around our hotel there are zero.

So far we’ve tried coffee from a bunch of random places, and I haven’t had a bad cup so far. From the little place on Post with the mismatched chairs and tables, to Honey Honey, to this chi chi coffee kiosk in Union Square, everything I’ve had has been good.

I’ve realized: coffee in New York is terrible. When the best voted is McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts, you know the bar has to be set pretty low. I wonder why that is. Maybe there’s just not that tradition of gourmet coffee, aside from Starbuck’s, which I would not call gourmet. There’s the 50 cent deli coffee, which is pretty damned good; there’s fast food coffee; and then there’s Starbuck’s. There are rare instances of a cup of joe that’s in between.

More plusses to living in San Francisco. There are definitley minuses – like seemingly lots more homeless people – but I’ll get into those later.

boston / food / travel — Comments Off
10
Aug 09

Had a great time in Boston this weekend

Thought I’d get in a visit with ES before I potentially move to SF. Beside, it’s been more than a year, and I like to go at least once a year.

Friday

I arrived early evening, just in time for dinner at one my favorite Boston restaurants, Elephant Walk (the website is sort of awful btw). The restaurant is much more chi-chi than I remember, at least in an old-fashioned, New England blueblood kind of way. Or maybe in a French way. But the food was less expensive than memory serves.

We got our favorite appetizer, nataing, to start, and then I got the Amok Royal, which is, according to the menu, “a spicy, custard-like preparation of fresh crab, bay scallops, grouper and shrimp with coconut milk and complex Khmer seasonings, steamed in a banana leaf cup and garnished with cilantro and red bell pepper.” I thought it was going to be more like a stew so when the very custard-like concoction arrived, I was surprised. But it was really tasty.

We both stupidly forgot our cameras, and so couldn’t take pics of the beautiful, and delicious, food.

Afterwards we walked around Boston University, my grad school alma mater. I barely recognized anything, except where I actually had classes. I know the campus has changed a lot but we walked to areas I swear I had never been before.

We got back to ES’s place semi-early, around 10, and then just chilled for the night. Half of the fun of visiting ES is all the chatting and catching up, and lying around making comments about stupid TV.

Saturday

Saturday was absolutely beautiful: sunny, dry, and cool. I was up fairly early, around 8:30, and had a leisurely morning with coffee, toast, and my computer. (I’ve been visiting ES for so long I always have no problem making myself at home, though I’m not sure how her roommates feel about that!) It took us a while to get out of the house, between gabbing and whatnot, but we finally made it around 2.

We took the subway to the Boston Harbor area, and started our journey by snagging some lobster and crab rolls along the way:

We were supposed to take a boat out to one of the harbor islands, but every single one was sold out. I guess everyone had the same idea on that unbelievably perfect summer day.

So instead we just enjoyed the weather and tooled around the area, spotting among other things, a parade of segues:

A lovely ocean view:

And pretty flowers:

Next we headed out to the North End, where there was a street festival for one of the innumerable Catholic saints:

And of course there were games, where you could a variety of animal-shaped items, such as rubber duckies:

And where you could nosh on a delicious cannoli:

I got one with chocolate chips. Yum!

Then we wandered over to where some old guys out of The Sopranos were playing bacci ball. There was one guy who played with a cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth while another had a thinning jet black pompadour you know he’s had since about 1955.

I wasn’t close enough to get any good shots of the players. Just this spectator:

His whole outfit screams, “I’M ITALIAN AND I’M FROM BOSTON!”

We were supposed to go see this show at 7, but it was such a gorgeous day, neither of us wanted to go underground on the subway and then sit in a theater for two hours. So we just walked around some more, venturing first into Haymarket at closing. Not a good idea! Not only were all the vendors taking down their stands and equipment, people were rifling through all the thrown-out/discounted vegetables and fruit, all at a madcap pace. It was crazy. I kept feeling like I was going to get whacked in the head by some metal pole or knocked over by an Indian or Chinese grandma lunging for a free tomato. Then when I stepped in something cold and mushy, I decided it was over and hightailed it out of there, waiting for ES on the other side.

For dinner we ate at Lucca. The food was delish. We shared the Carpaccio di Manzo, which I didn’t realize till afterwards was raw meat. Still, it was really good. I got the Pappardelle alla Bolognese and ES got the Orecchiette al Formaggio, which was like gourmet mac and cheese with sausage. Both our dishes were yummy but I think I liked ES’s better.

Again, no pictures. Our waiter was very snooty and we felt intimidated, dolts we are. He was way younger than we were too! Douche.

After dinner we walked around some more. We came upon this fountain sculpture, or whatever you want to call it. Kind of like the fountains at Bellagio in miniature. People kept running through it, trying to beat the water spouts but getting soaked all the same.

We did not attempt a run.

Sunday

Another leisurely morning, followed by a quick visit at the Sowa Open Market in the South End, which was perfect because it’s right near South Station. There’s a fun indoor antiques market, where you can buy everything from a suit of armor:

To a Muhammad Ali figurine:

To this crab plate:

I did not buy the crab plate, but found some cool jewelry. Since there was TONS of stuff, I narrowed down my choices down by focusing on stuff in cases, assuming that quality was a little better. I got an art deco style necklace and bracelet for $34. Originally there were $40 together but I bargained the lady down a little.

That was it! You couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better hostess (thanks ES!).

Next up, San Francisco!

See all my Boston pics.

food — 3 Comments
11
Jul 09

I ate sooo badly today

Toast with butter and cheese
Coffee
Slice of plain pizza
Half a bagel with cream cheese
More coffee
Hot dog with sauerkraut, onions, pickles, cheese, and hot sauce (YUM)
Lemonade
Tomato soup
More toast with cheese and butter
A 99 cent bag of Cheetos, which at 2.5 servings contains 36 grams of fat (!!!)

Nothing green (unless you count the pickles). No fruit.

I can feel the double chin growing.

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23
Jun 09

London, Day 10

Ten days are more than enough in London. I am so ready to go home.

Today was a good day. We went out to Cambridge and heard presentations from ProQuest and the Royal Society of Chemistry. All were very good. ProQuest talked a lot about their project with the Paley Center, putting the center’s seminars, interviews, and show/movie clips online in a database, all with transcripts and subtitles, and indexed. You can even download clips, edit them, and email them. It’s pretty neat and launched today, in fact. I think it’s only available through universities, and maybe the NYPL.

After the talks, Anthony took us on a tour of Pembroke College Cambridge, his alma mater. It was very pretty.

After the tour, we all went off on our own, basically splitting into two groups. Of course in library school there are a lot of women. Today it hit me that I’m used to hanging out with men, between MB, YP, my brother online, hell even my boss. Of course there are all my other good friends, but I don’t see them as much.

So when I somehow ended up in the group with three men and one other woman in her mid-40s – ie, a grown-up – I felt a huge sense of relief. I think it helped that there were just five of us as well, instead of a giant group with three or four conversations going on at once. It was very relaxing sitting there with our drinks and chatting.

For dinner we went to Queen’s Head. It was a very nice pub. I got the fish and chips since I’ve been wanting to try it all this time.

It was GOOD, especially after having had a drink. I got a nice big piece of cod, and the batter was crispy and thin. The fries were tasty as well. 9.95 pounds. That plus 2.75 for the wine made a total of 12.70 (they gave us lunch at ProQuest).

While hanging out at dinner was fun, I was ready to go back way before most of the others. I’m definitely someone who needs her quiet time. It’s tough to spend a nearly solid two weeks with the same group of people, and to be away from home.

Tomorrow is a lecture in the morning and a visit to the Nature Publishing Company in the afternoon.

All London Day 10 pictures.

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22
Jun 09

London, Days 8 & 9

Now I have to two days to write about.

Day 8

Again I had a leisurely morning, getting up at 8 and fooling around on my computer till I left at 10.

The tube to the Natural History Museum was much calmer than the one to London Bridge. Once I got out, however, I was as always confused about where I was, but managed to figure it out. The next problem: hungry and not wanting to spend a lot, especially after the previous night’s expensive dinner. I was still on a grilled cheese sandwich kick so I got one with a mocha from a café nearby for less than 5 pounds. Not bad.

I meant to go to the Natural History Museum first, but ended up in the Science Museum (which explained why I kept thinking, This is a lot like the Science Museum in Boston). It’s very much for kids, but it was very good. I liked the History of Medicine exhibit, though it starts out chronologically then gets totally mixed up, and the Listening Post, in which bits of real chat room conversation are captured via light and sound. It was pretty neat.

After finally realizing I wasn’t in the Natural History Museum, I headed over there, and was immediately overwhelemed by the zillions of kids. I kind of zipped through it, though I did go out of my way to see the animatronic dinasours, the coup de grace of which was T. Rex:

It was pretty neat despite the mob. One little kid got really scared when he turned the corner and saw what he was in for.

I also wanted to see the Blue Whale, which is touted by my Time Out book. I have to say: an utter disappointment. It’s humungous, of course, but the room is so tiny and jam packed with other mammals. It’s not like the American Museum of Natural History, where you have this enormous room and the blue whale suspended from the ceiling.

Next was the Victoria & Albert Museum. Thankfully there were no kids on the top few floors, only running around the ground floor. I loved looking at the royal collection and all the Victorian-era stuff. It was such a peaceful atmosphere, a huge relief after the madness of the Natural History Museum. My energy waned as I made my way down so that by the time I reached bottom, I’d see yet another wing and think, No more!

There’s a nice courtyard, where I sat for quite some time, eating my Balance bar and chilling.

Afterwards I walked over to Hyde Park, through Mayfair, where I found another nice courtyard to sit in, and over to Picadilly. Used the bathroom again at the Meridian, and was much less conspicuous this time around.

Over the weekend I had suddenly remembered that I regularly read a blog about food in London, duh! Su-Lin’s latest post was on Malaysia Kopi Tiam, which I realized I’ve passed a billion times since I’ve been here. I was excited to try good, reasonably priced food so I made a beeline there after all my sightseeing.

It seemed authentic what with all the Chinese-speaking people hanging around, and, unlike that damned Japanese place from yesterday, there was no minimum. I wasn’t sure what some of dishes were so I went for the menu with the pictures and picked the laksa mee with chicken, basically a mildly spicy coconut curry noodle soup with chicken on the bone and fish cakes.

It was soooo good, and at 7.50 pounds definitely the right price. Since I was well under my 25 pounds for the day, I got a lychee drink too – with real lychees – for two pounds.

My total food spend for the day: 13.49 pounds! A huge improvement from the day before.

Day 9

This was today. Lectures were really boring. This morning’s was supposed to be a discussion but it just meandered and never really focused on one topic. It was really torture, to be quite honest.

This afternoon we went to the Office of Public Sector Information, where the guy talked about government documents. Again: snoresville. I mean, the information was somewhat interesting, but he was such a dry presenter.

I felt so burnt out on sight seeing today that I did absolutely nothing. After lectures I went with one of my classmates back to our dorm, and hung out playing on the internet till we went to dinner.

Finally had Indian food: Diwana on Drummond Street, as recommended by Anthony. It was very good! We shared a chef’s sampling of appetizers for about 4 pounds, got paneer dosas for 7.05, and a mango lassi for 2.

Chef's sampling of appetizers

The coconut chutney was so good; I’ve never had it before. And the dosa was extrememly filling and tasty.

My total food spend: 16.30.

Tomorrow we’re off to Cambridge.

All Day 8 and Day 9 pictures.

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21
Jun 09

London, Day 7

Writing about Day 7 on the 8th day. I was so tired last night, I got into bed before 10 and slept till 8 this morning. Today’s agenda: Victoria and Albert and Natural History Museums.

Got a good amount of shut eye the night before, from about midnight to 8 AM. I wasn’t sure if there was cafeteria breakfast and I didn’t feel like having it, so I just stayed in my room, drank instant coffee, ate part of an Odawalla Bar and played with my pictures, some of which are up on Flickr. I’ll also put links by day in the earlier posts, and perhaps some actual pictures.

I left around 10. Getting to the subway to take me to London Bridge was absolute madness. There were zillions of people coming and going from the airport, on top of just the regular tourists and Londoners. But the actual ride was super short, about 10 minutes.

From the London Bridge station, I wandered over to Borough Market, as recommended by my brother. It was a lot of fun. There was such gorgeous food:

Plus the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had.

It was greasy and crispy and melty with pieces of sweet red onion. Yum!

Next was the Tate Modern, which I loved. There seem to be just two free floors, but those floors go on forever. I’d think I was done, then discover two more ginourmous wings. Of course I got the audio, though I remember little, except:

• I liked the Richard Long and Robert Smithson pictures. Robert Smithson did the Spiral Jetty, which I was obssessed with when it was at the Whitney.

• Meshes in the Afternoon was a totally bizarre surrealist film, but it actually kind of made sense. I could totally see how David Lynch has been inspired by it.

• Francis Bacon died in 1992. I thought he was much older and that he was a contemporary of Max Ernst. They are actually 20 years apart. I really like Francis Bacon’s stuff though a lot of it is disturbing. Maybe because I love horror movies, and see how a lot of them are influenced by his work, like when a face changes to something horrific for a split second.

• Then there was the whole series of works on the manga character Ann Lee from Ghost in the Shell. I’ve never heard of either, but it was still fascinating – the idea of person as a commodity, of having no identity. Of course we couldn’t take picures but I managed to sneak one in:

After the Tate Modern, I needed a break so I headed over to the Cut, which Anthony said was a cool area. It looked like a fun place to hang out, but aside from one bookstore, I just sort of walked around, then turned around and headed right back.

I wanted to walk back over to where Dali Universe was but got completely lost. Somehow I ventured off the Thames Path, and ended up in a quiet (too quiet) residential area. I saw signs for the Tower Bridge and followed those, but the signs led right onto the Tower Bridge and soon I found myself crossing back over. Dammit!

I was probably kinda museumed out anyway and just took my time walking back to my area. I passed the Tower of London, but didn’t feel like going in, and found St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Very pretty and peaceful, at least not at the main entrance. Too bad it was too late to go inside.

Then I just meandered my way back. I was wearing my new Keds, which sort of hurt my toes by the end of the day.

For dinner I tried the Japanese place next to the first Korean place I went to. While the food was pretty good, it was overpriced. And there was a 10 pound minimum, boo! I got tamagoyaki, fried noodles with veggies and meat, and a soda for 16 pounds, almost $30! Way too much. I guess it’s not that easy to find cheap eats around here.

All Day 7 pictures.

food / library school london / london / travel — 2 Comments
16
Jun 09

London, Day 3

Whew, it already feels like I’ve been here forever. Now the hallway of our gross dorm has a damp mildewy smell, like they tried to shampoo the carpets but did a terrible job.

I woke up at 5 AM to bright sunlight – my blinds don’t work well – and couldn’t fall back asleep, not even wearing the blindfold Virgin Atlantic gave us. Worried that I’d have to wait for the shower and already starving, I got up at 6:30. Luckily I didn’t have to wait. Someone was finishing up just as I came in.

I also went over to breakfast early since I needed some alone time after socializing so much the days before with people I don’t really know, which I find more tiring for some reason. I skipped the regular sausage and tried the vegetarian one, which was actually pretty good, almost like a falafel.

After breakfast I walked around a bit taking pictures, then stopped in Tesco for some instant coffee. I still had time to kill before class so I went back to my room and read. I was suddenly very tired, even after two cups of coffee, and could have fallen asleep.

Today was all lectures. The guy who runs the program knows a lot and has tons of experience, but he sort of rambles when he lectures. The woman after him, who talked about marketing e-journals, was better once she got warmed up.

By lunch I was still feeling need for alone time so I took off and wandered around. I went to the Muji store, which took me a while to find again, though I’ve passed it a billion times since I’ve been here. I wanted to see if they had any cool mugs, water heaters, or sneakers. They did not. At least there’s a microwave in the kitchen, though it might be disgusting. I ended up getting a cheapo mug from a random supermarket, where I also had a sandwich and chips for lunch.

Very common seems to be sandwiches packaged like the Pret sandwiches – in a cardboard box. They’re absolutely everywhere. There’s also this chain called Eat, which looks almost exactly like Pret.

For the afternoon session, there were three speakers. The first was okay, the second so boring I wanted to gouge my eyes out, and the third pretty good. They were from this company that provides services to publishers and libraries on electronic resources. For instance, they received a grant to provide 30+ e-books of key texts available for free to students in the UK, and they measured and monitored how and how much students used them, and if the availability of the e-books affected print sales at all (it didn’t).

There is someone in the class who’s not a student but involved with academic journals. She kept asking questions that were already addressed in the presentation, which got really annoying by 4:30 when I was totally wilting and itching to get outside. Take it off-line people!

It’s been really beautiful here in London. Today was partly sunny and cool. I decided to take advantage of the weather and walk to London Bridge. Well, tried. I got lost a billion times. The frigging streets go around and around, and turn into other streets without warning. I kept getting out my map. I did end up in some cool parts of town though by mistake, like SoHo.

Eventually I ended up at some bridge. Not the London bridge but it went over the Thames and so I crossed it and ended up on the South Bank. Yay! The Royal National Theater was right there, as well as the Hayward Gallery. In the near distance I saw the London Eye, which my brother recommended.

What is essentially a giant ferris wheel ride is kind of pricey – 17 pounds – but really the first touristy thing I’ve paid for. As I was waiting in line to give my ticket, this large woman and her little son behind me kept trying to cut. I think they were Russian. The woman was big with clothes that were two sizes too small, long dyed black hair, long fake red nails, and tats all up and down her arms. I didn’t want them to cut me, but I didn’t know if I’d have been able to take her.

When we finally got on the car, they and this older Chinese woman all basically pushed me out of the way to get seats. I was not a happy camper.

The ride itself was nice. I took a bunch of pictures. It was much slower than I expected. I kept thinking it was going to be like the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island.

Next door was the Salvador Dali museum, which MB recommended. Unfortunately it was closed so I took pictures of the statues standing outside.

In the distance I saw Big Ben and Parliament, and I headed over to the bridge nearest to that area.

When I got to the other side, I wasn’t sure where I was. It seemed to be lots of government buildings, but unlike in New York, they were really old and ginormous, and where I was at first no one else was around. I felt like I was in an ancient building graveyard.

Eventually I ended up at the Household Calvary Museum (I think), then somehow the right direction back through SoHo, found Oxford Street, and Tottenham Court Road, which leads back to my dorm. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out without a map! I just kept moving away from where I was, following my instinct, and of course the signs pointing towards the roads I knew.

I was starving by the time I got back. I avoided all the touristy eateries and went to Goodge Street, which is near my dorm. There’s a lot of variety at reasonable prices. Feeling a little homesick, I ate a Korean place, not that I’m Korean, but MB and I do that often enough. The bibimbap was 7.50 pounds. With a soda and tip, it turned out to be 9.50. With lunch and dessert (a Beard Papa cream puff), I spent less thatn 20 pounds for the day. Yay!

When I got back, I found some of my classmates chatting and laughing in the kitchen. It seemed they got take out pizza. Wanting to be a little social, I joined them for a while, which was fun. Proud of myself again.

Though I’m having a good time, I miss New York and its perfect grid streets. I miss having my best pal MB to talk to every day. Ah well, it will only make our reunion sweeter.

Tomorrow we’re going to Oxford, hence the early departure. I need to get up at 5 in order to meet some of my classmates at 6:15 downstairs. Ugh.

All Day 3 pictures.

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04
May 09

Overdue for a post

School school school! What else?

Last weekend I shot a bunch of video for one of my school projects, including footage of Coney Island. MB had a bunch of praciticing and work to do so he stayed behind, but YP was able to join me.

We headed out pretty early, around 10, luckily for us since it took a year to get out there, especially with the F running on some other line. It was hot in the city but chilly out by the water. The season has just started so a lot of booths and rides were still being set up, and there weren’t that many people out at that relatively early hour.

Except for all the freaks. It was very strange – everyone was either inbred-looking or obese, which in a way was good because it turned off my appetite for all the otherwise good-smelling fried food.

My fave pic from our expedition:

Aside from shooting video and taking pics, we actually rode the Wonder Wheel, which was surprisingly scary. I may put up some video footage. It’s not too exciting, but I’m so proud that I was able to figure out iMovie and crop clips, take out the audio, and add different audio. It was fun.

On Friday MB was supposed to fly out to Prague, but he missed his flight. The airline was screwed up, but he also left pretty late. He was able to get on another flight for Saturday and made his flight. Yay!

So we were able to see Wolverine Friday night. It wasn’t bad – some good action sequences, but the plot was pretty stupid. Could have been a lot better.

Saturday I saw a couple of friends from college whom I haven’t seen in ages. We had dim sum (which was NASTY by the way, won’t be going to that restaurant again) and walked around Chinatown. It’s funny how everyone seems the same though so much has changed. For instance, IS has THREE kids. I remember when we used to sit in the hallway of our dorm gabbing for hours. Now she’s a mom. But at the same time, she seems perfectly natural as a mother.

The rest of the weekend was all about schoolwork. Got a lot done, including my library profile and reading cards for Collection Develpment on Sunday; my library organization paper for today; the little film for Thursday’s class (must have redone the voiceover 5 billion times); and a draft of another informal paper for Thrusday. Need to edit that, then finish the write-up for the corp speak project, and throw together a presentation for the same. The bulk of my work is definitely for that Thursday class.

Next Sunday, Collection Development final, which shouldn’t be bad, and on Monday, Management presentation. Then I’m done till London! Can’t wait.

food / friends / photography / weekends — 2 Comments
13
Apr 09

One of those non-stop weekends

Fun but busy.

Friday was completely dead at work. Almost no one was around, including my boss. Still, I got a few things done in the morning before working out, then hopped the train to New Jersey, where I’d be hanging with ES, who was in town for the holiday, and AY.

We decided to go around New Brunswick, home of ES’s alma mater and slightly closer to New York. It was cold! We shivered as we walked around campus. ES wanted to visit these junk food trucks. She got this hot dog thing. I wasn’t going to eat any junk but it looked good and she was sharing! So bad for us.

Before dinner we had drinks at this Asian-style bar and restaurant. The restaurants there are huge! I’m so used to shoeboxes in Manhattan where you’re bumping elbows with your neighbor. We had one martini each. I had a “saketini,” sake mixed with Grey Goose vodka and pear puree. It was tasty but strong. That one drink totally knocked me on my ass, and I basically drunk for a couple of hours.

For dinner we had what could be called American style tapas. The dishes were tiny and included stuff like mini-burgers, seafood “fritters,” and tiny gourmet pizza slices. Most of the food was really good, but we all agreed our favorite were these cheese bread puff things – which were free! We had about eight dishes total, plus dessert, and ES and AY also had a bit of wine, and the whole bill was still only about $60.

We were out pretty late. I caught an 11:30 train back and got home by about 1.

The next day I met ES and SB at SB’s place. It’s been months since I’ve seen SB and her daughter Ellie, who grows by leaps and bounds every time I see her. Now she seems so much older. I said, “Do you remember me?” and she looked at me like, “Dehr.” The kid is 4.

The weather was horrible that day. Cold and rain rain rain. We managed to find a place to eat near my old apartment. ES and I both had a full Irish breakfast, which was excellent for my hangover (yes for me, one drink = hangover). But I was definitely on a downward spiral in terms of eating junk.

Afterwards since the weather was so terrible, we went to the Met. Man, was it crowded! SB knew about an entrance that was slightly less crowded so that was good, but when we made our way to the main entrance to go upstairs, Ellie started to get overwhelemed by the crowds. I don’t blame her. I was barely holding it together myself. So Ellie and SB headed home.

Once ES and I got inside the museum, it wasn’t as bad. I always surprise myself by knowing how to maneuver the museum. First stop was the caf where we got some much needed coffee. Again, so crowded! But we didn’t have to circle around too much before two seats opened up.

Then somehow I was able to get us to the Greek and Roman gallery, featuring Perseus and his marble ass, always the highlight of my visit to the Met. We also checked out the fairly new Galleries for Oceanic Art, which I’ve never seen before. The coolest was this ceiling decoration that was enormous! From there we made our way to the Walker Evans postcard exhibit.

When we left it had stopped raining, thank goodness, and although still chilly, the sun had come out. We walked a bit before catching our respective buses, mine downtown and ES’s to Penn Station.

Sunday YP and I had our photo outing. This month’s theme: optical illusions. In other words, use perspective to make it look like we’re holding the top of a building, or feeding a carrot to a giant statue of a horse (yes, we had props). I realized: I’m bad at perspective. I don’t know where the person should stand to make it look right. Or sometimes I do, but only by instinct. Anyway, it was pretty fun, but cold again! And very windy. Wtf.

For the rest of Sunday, MB and I just hung out. He had a lot of practicing to do, and of course I had schoolwork. I revised my paper, which didn’t take as long as I thought it would, and did some reading. We also watched a bunch of TV, and he made dinner, a tofu stir fry with veggies. Yum!

Next weekend is just me and MB. I feel like it’s been a few weeks since we’ve had a whole weekend to ourselves.

family / food / travel / weekends — 2 Comments
09
Mar 09

Maybe my dad should start a food blog

My parents were in Berkeley last week dealing with my grandmother’s house. My grandmother hasn’t lived there for some time, but there’s still all this stuff to get rid of before they sell it.

My dad just sent me this email, summing up their trip:

We just got back from Berkeley last Thursday night. From Feb 26 to March 5, half of the time at Berkeley was raining. However, I took the advantage of the other half, usually sunny, walking to UC campus, places I, as well as both of Mom and I lived – all of them are still there. I even went to SF once and bought some cheap CDs.

I like how he needs to qualify that they were cheap CDs. My parents love a sale!

Aunt Dana and Uncle Jack came last Saturday and took us to Oakland for lunch and we also went to Oakland once on our own and having an inexpensive good lunch. Some friends from Concord also visit us last Monday and having a good lunch at Berkeley downtown and their Beijging duck was very, surprisingly, good. We also had a good lunch at Berkeley’s well known Taiwanese food restaurant on University Ave. The last day there we had pizza from the so called bay area’s best pizza place, Giola (or something like that) near Grandma’s house off Sacramento Ave.

Guess I know where I got my penchant for detailing good eats. He goes on,

Besides all these eating, of course we finished the main purpose for being there, to pack and clean all the stuff in the house and stored them in the basement and garage.

In the evening there is no TV and Mom usually watch Korean TV dramas – we brought with us a DVD player and some DVDs and I always went to bed at my usual Eastern time.

Gee, Dad, you should start a blog!

In other news, MB and I finally saw Coraline this weekend. We really liked it, and the people weren’t too annoying. On Sunday I had my Collection Developement midterm, and it was cake. Afterwards we each met with the professor. He was pleased with my library profile, except that the selection strategies need to be more specific, as well as the test.

Thursday my People Centered Methods and Design class went well too. I was dreading it because I had to talk about my project, and also because the class can get really pretentious. Actually it’s just one guy who constantly name drops “big” philosophers and philosophies, and says things like, “I’m dead inside,” and “I don’t dream.” 1) Yes, I can tell you’re suffering beyond your nice clothes and good haircut and beer gut, and 2) everybody dreams! It’s just that not everyone remembers their dreams.

Anyway, besides suffering through him talking, class was fine. People actually seemed interested in my project. I guess I feel insecure in a class like that.

Today I need to get a check in pounds for my deposit for housing in London. You’d think they’d be set up in PayPal or something. I could have called but I can’t dial internationally on my cell or work phone. So either I need a phone card, or I get a check. Right now the check is sounding easier.

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.