Working from "home"

Only two recordings today, and they've happened at our hotel and so Rose and I got to have a nice day of working from "home." Our hotel has a most wonderful patio and I was able to spend most of my non-recording time out there, enjoying the New Mexico heat.

For lunch we just walked out of our hotel and found The Grove Cafe and Market, where I enjoyed the Farmer's Salad: mixed greens, golden beets, asparagus, yellow pepper, tomato, marcona almonds, goat cheese and a lemon basil vinaigrette.

It was really yummy, even though it was wet goat cheese, which is not my favorite. For dinner we went to a nearby pizzeria, but I didn't take a picture and the food wasn't that great and thus: they don't get to be here.

All in all, though, a good productive day in Albuquerque.

That's So Raven!

So, Mi Cariño's closest friend Kristie and her love Emily are in town - which is a great excuse to not do anything work related today, as it's a long weekend! Well, for regular people. I'll be working on Memorial Day, but that's no reason to not enjoy today!

We got up around 7am, which is pretty early for a Saturday, and took the subway to the Great White Way - we wanted to get cheap tickets to see "Once" on Broadway, which I've been dying to see, and it happens that it's one of Emily's favorite movies too. I figured 8am arrival would be okay, although secretly I wanted to be THERE at 7. But since I needed Mi Cariño with me, and the last time I made her wait in line at a Broadway cheap ticket line the 7am arrival wasn't needed, I compromised and moved it up one hour. I wish I had had the wherewithal to take a picture of the line when I arrived! Days with matinees get a long line, but there were at least 30 people ahead of me. And there was no way to know if everyone was interested in one ticket or two. So, Mi Cariño and I decided to go for a sure thing and we walked over to Sister Act, which is another musical I've been wanting to see, but not something that was really a priority.

Regardless, we got there with barely people on the line, and we scored sweet cheap tickets on the first row, smack dab center. The main character would be played by Raven Symone, and so we figured, eh, it would be fun! And it was. Somewhat. We got matinee tickets, arrived just in time for show to begin, and enjoyed Raven's acting - her style suited the slapstick thing the show had going. The problem: the songs were all original. They didn't sing any of the awesome renditions used in the movie. And to make matters worse, the original songs weren't that great: they lacked that whole gospel-y but hip thing that the songs from the movie have. It was good for a laugh, though, and it was nice to be right there.

After the show, we made our way down to Union Square even though it was pouring, so that we could eat at S'Mac. I got a surprise Mac'n'Cheese, since I had a moment of disconnect from when I was looking at the Menu and voicing what I wanted. This thing had figs in it and what not. But it was good and tasty nonetheless.

Participant Recommendations

On our last day of recording in Syracuse, one of our participants spoke about the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, in Cazanovia, NY - about an hour away from Syracuse proper. So the moment that work finished, the three of us piled up on the car and headed over.

Cazanovia is what you picture when you say "small suburbian town." We drove past main street before making it to the Art Park.

After spending some hours around, we drove back to Cazenovia proper, walking around "Main Street searching for what to eat. We eventually decided on The Lincklaen House. The place was chock full since apparently one of the local High Schools was having prom, and the kids were using the outside steps for pictures. One couple even were having dinner in the restaurant area, and the three of us struggled to not "aww" at them during their date. I enjoyed having Grand Marnier Salmon - pan seared Atlantic Salmon with sauteed spinach rice pilaf and a grand marnier butter sauce. It was quite delicious and I ate every bit of that.

After dinner we continued walking around main street, getting an ice cream first, we went off to Lakeland Park to look at Cazenovia Lake. 

Today, we were up early to take the plane back to New York. I said goodbye to Syracuse by watching some Golden Girls. Not a bad visit at all. 

In English my name means Hope

Our second day in Minneapolis was smooth workwise - work went by quickly and we were stuck with an extra short lunch hour, and so we just crossed the street to make a quick stop by Peter's Grill. I went for simple and had a grilled cheese sandwich with vegetable soup.

I can't say that this simple choice led me to understand why Peter's Grill was so crowded, or highly rated on yelp and what not.

For dinner I was on my own, since Bea needed a break, and I needed to mellow out. After my different choices I went with the hotel's restaurant and seriously, who remembers the name of hotel restaurants? I do, however, have pictures of the meal: an organic turkey meatloaf, wrapped in bacon with mashed potatoes.

Not impressed. The sauce had mushrooms and a nice thick gravy flavor, but that was it. I needed to take away the taste with some pecan pie a la mode.

Much more impressed with this, but it wasn't the best thing ever, either.

Soon after, Bea and I met up to drive a little ways to go see a play made out of "The House of Mango Street," which I found out was happening through my Carino, who loves the collection of short stories.

Since it's been a while since I read the book, the play was fresh and exciting. I think they did an okay job of adapting the stories and the actors were pretty nice, especially older Esperanza. I think, though, that the source material is better as short stories than as a play.

Peaches!

So, in Minnesotta again, this time a full stay in Minneapolis. Traveling with Beatriz this time, who was kind enough to take over the car and entertain herself while I hung out with my favorite Minnesottan, Dawnie!

It was one of those great times when you get so excited you forget to take pictures. Dawn picked me up at my hotel and then indulged me when I said I wanted to try out something new: Buffalo Wild Wings. Forgive me for not having any photographic proof. The wings were interesting, the sauce more so, the company was excellent. Found out that Dawnie is waiting for another little being to enter the world, so we indulged in some delicious water.

After, we drove down to see her place and say hi to the two men in her life: Jeremy and Ethan. I'm really sad I didn't get to take a picture with Little E, who is a total sweetheart and all kinds of handsome. I got a tour of their home, and it's beautiful and comfortable. Made me remember how Dawn and I would fantasize, while folding letters at the Boy Scouts Office, of having an apartment together in New York City where Dawn would get to decorate, and I'd get a little corner for my comic books and things. Story of my life: surrounded by all these awesome women that don't appreciate the beauty of a comic book poster decorating the hallway. In any case time went by really quickly and before I knew it, Dawn was dropping me off at my hotel. I can't believe that it's been 12 years since we met - so much has happened in our lives since! I do love that seeing her is like time hasn't gone by.

So, today Beatriz and I actually have to head to work. The morning started a little rocky since we had the recording address wrong, but once we made it there, it was all pretty smooth. For our lunch we weren't so sure about what to eat, where to go, so we just walked around the downtown district, where I got to see this:

It was a shock at first, but funny. The downtown district was full of food trucks, but we didn't see one we were attracted to. Finally we found Bombay Bistro, which had a nice lunch buffet going.

I had two delish servings of naan, lovely basmati rice, eggplant. It was a happy, good choice for lunch. On the way back to the recording spot, I saw this:

Made me wish I read music notes so I could see what song was it.

For dinner, after much searching of the online world, we headed to Bryant Lake Bowl. We shared an order of giant tater tots.

They weren't pretty good. They were just too big to remain with flavor, you know? The sauce, which was mayo based, was tasty and creamy. For my entree I tried a Silver Ranch Bison Philly. Which is a shaved top round, peppers, onions, and swiss with garlic roasted aioli philly sandwich.

Although I was proud of me for trying out something new, I didn't feel like the whole thing paid off - I ate about half, since I didn't really enjoy the taste of bison. We stopped by the bowling alley part of the restaurant, and we were impressed with the fact that you can keep score manually. It was pretty cool.

Since all the lanes were taken we stopped instead by the arcade next door. Played some games.

All in all, not a bad beginning to a short visit.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

You can't visit Richmond, VA without stopping by the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. This Botanical Garden has an interesting story in itself - a niece that bequeathed her land first to her "companion" and then to the city so that they could create a Garden and name it after her uncle. First the city doesn't know what to do and it takes years after the companion's death before they're able to create and institute the Garden, and oh boy, did they institute! They use the place for everything: outdoor concerts, places for the elderly to volunteer, classes for children and adults... it's a pretty cool place, indeed.

We got to look around during lunch and after work. Some picture highlights:

I think that orchids look like aliens. I'm just saying.

After we drove around in search for a new place to eat. I didn't write down were we went, so you only get pictures of the food. Don't worry, you won't miss much if you don't go there. First: fried green tomatoes:

They were not good. Not at all reminiscent of Idgie and Ruth and all that goodness. I spoke with Mary Lee and she told me I'm not supposed to ever eat Fried Green Tomatoes north of Alabama or something like that.
I also had what promised to be an interesting burger, with cheese and grilled pineapple, as well as sweet potato fries.

I was very disappointed with dinner. The good news is that I ate less, so in a way, it helped my diet. Silver lining, y'all!

Land of Lewis & Clark, Day Three

Woke early to learn that it had been snowing all night. It looked beautiful... I put on my borrowed boots and stepped outside to wait for our participant to pick us up.

We set out for Clearwater National Forest. Since this isn't really a walking town, we made our way through the somewhat plowed streets. Finally, we left the houses behind and said hello to thousands of "Christmas trees."

We walked until we reached an area that had been cleared out. Weippe is a logging town, and it's one of the main employers in the area. It's not an easy sight, compared with the awesomeness we walked to get there.

We eventually made our way back, to make sure that we wouldn't be late for work. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast and off to the car we went, to clear out the snow.

Our participant also asked us to come over to the Art Show the High School students were going to have in the neighboring town of Pierce. The towns share one High School. After work she came to our cabins and picked us up in her pick up truck accompanied by her husband and the Mayor. The High School doesn't have an art program, and the kids get to put the show thanks to the volunteer efforts of some of the towns citizens.

It was pretty cool - the kids were very excited and got to see their work displayed in a "gallery" which consisted of someone's store front. There were photographs and paintings, drawings and woodwork.
After supporting the kiddies, the Mayor took us to dinner to The Vug, a bar/pool/restaurant place right across the street. A pool tournament was going on.

I went for something safe and easy: cream of broccoli soup and grilled cheese.

I've had better. But it took the hunger away and as they say: beggars can't be choosers. At The Vug we also met a real life gold digger: he's the owner of the place and apparently also owns land somewhere in Pierce and it's fighting to keep it and its gold. He showed us what a real gold nugget looks like, before it goes through whatever it goes through in order to be jewelry. It was quite the busy day though, and I was glad. I fell asleep on the back of the pick up as they drove us back to our cabins and I am glad that I had established silence in the car on the way down, because hopefully no one noticed. Tired for sure.

Land of Lewis & Clark, Day Two

Day Two in Weippe. By the time I woke the place was covered in new snow and it took about 15 minutes for me to wish to be back home. We headed to Mechell's for breakfast, since it remained the only place open. They were very nice and understanding with my warm water with lemon. I got a veggie omelete with home fries. It was okay.

The day went by fairly quickly. The Weippe public library is pretty well set up - they have an entertainment center in the basement area so that teens have somewhere to come and play video games. They also have a pretty popular computer center, since the library is the only place in town where Cell Phones work, and people of Weippe can use the free wifi.

One of our participants invited us to come along with her to hike in the nearby forest in the morning. When I let her know that I didn't have real snow boots, the other participant asked me my size, said "hold on a second," and in no time at all went to her car and got me some gorgeous snow boots to borrow. I was amazed.

Dinner was once again, Mechell's. We slightly considered trying one of the bars, but figured it might just not be a good idea. I had a fish burger with curly fries.

I have to say I was very disappointed with the salmon burger. I ate about half of it but enjoyed the entirety of my fries. We took our time at the restaurant though... neither one of us wanted to go back to our tiny cabins. The nearest wifi spot outside of the library was the laundromat a good 100 feet away from the cabins. Luckily I came prepared with season two of Gilmore Girls.

Land of Lewis & Clark, Day 1

So, I managed to drive from Spokane, WA all the way to Weippe, ID - it took exactly 3.5 hours, fact I'm very proud of because it means I actually drove slightly above speed limit for the 170 miles we covered. Mariel took a picture while I drove:

It was very scary, but I kept at it. I guess it's true what they say about it being a bit easier the more you do it. But I really have no desire to that again. I'm glad I drove on the way in, because if I had seen the kind of places we were driving by I wouldn't have made it. I'm talking hairpin turns down and up a freaking mountain.

Once in Weippe I realized that the place was even smaller than I imagined: there was one main street, sure, about two bars, two restaurants, one gas station, one grocery store, and the library where we would be recording. Of course, there wasn't an actual hotel to stay at, but the town did have a trailer park with some cabins. Although there was no snow in Spokane and some snow on the way, Weippe was completely covered. Here's my cabin

I can't convey how tiny this thing was: one full size bed against one wall, with bunker beds on the other side. There was a tiny kitchenette with a microwave, tiny fridge, sink and cupboards. A small bathroom, and the tiny heater behind the bed bunks. The entertainment came in the form of a tiny tv with a vcr built in, and a bunch of movies - really, really old movies.

The pictures don't do the place justice - I wasn't able to really take a picture of the room since it was too small. The hard part is the silence though... the only sounds were the cars driving by sporadically.

One of the two restaurants in town was closed, and so we had our choice cut out for us. And so we went to Mechell's Cafe. Mariel and I chose to have grilled cheese.

It was as good as a grilled cheese sandwich can be. The fries not so much. We also went there for dinner, and I had me a taco salad.

I was very tired after, but it was still hard to fall asleep... the silence was a bit oppressing, plus it started to snow a little at night. Here goes day one!

Forest Hills

Headed to Queens after work last Wednesday, to spend some much needed down time with my best boy. We toured his neighborhood, walked his dog (not an euphemism) and settled for dinner at his local restaurant, Dirty Pierre's.

We sat outside, as the day was gorgeous. We also had a blast running into a former co-worker of ours. I talked my mouth off and he was kind enough to listen. For appetizers, we had deliciously spicy spanish sausages:

He also convinced me to try Mussels, which he loves. They came in this huge bowl, with warm Italian bread.

Add to that a nice glass of the house red. The bread was delicious, and the wine, whatever it was was good. The mussels though? Not so much. I don't know, I guess I'm just not much of a shellfish eater you know? I've tried so far, crab, shrimp, octopus, and now mussels. So not my cup of tea. I will try lobster, since people seem to love it so much, but I don't really expect to like it any more than I like the others.

For his main entree, he had a wonderful looking pasta. I on the other hand went with one of their wednesday specials, Meatloaf with Mashed potatoes and salad. It was downright perfect - the meat loaf was quite different from any I've ever tasted. I however deleted the picture of that by mistake. Instead, gaze at a dark pic of my boy and I

Say Goodbye to Texas

After a kind of slow recording day, we were finally done with work. We celebrated by finally giving in to my week long craving for a burger. And no better place to give in to cravings than at Crave Kitchen and Bar. The place is very neat, with a huge chalkboard wall displaying the menu and specials, and huge ceiling to floor mirrors when you walk in that almost made me smack myself. And, it is also decorated with utensils falling from the ceiling - it's quite the interesting effect.

We began by sharing the Spinach and Artichoke Dip. It was delish. I forgot to take a picture.

My main course was the Crave Burger, which consists of 1/2 pound of black angus bathed in a homemade Guinness steak sauce, with Cheddar and grilled red onions. No option to add lettuce and tomato, and I enjoyed that. As my side I chose some sweet potato waffle fries.

For a change I actually asked for my burger to be medium rare, and it was so, to perfection. It's very filling though, so soon I had Gaspar eating the end of the burger. The sweet potato fries could've used less salt and I couldn't tell if the sweet sauce that came with my stuff was the steak sauce or dipping sauce for my fries, but otherwise, a really good burger.

To round up the night, and after stopping by a T-Mobile store to buy Gaspar a new phone, we decided to go to the movies again.

We saw Inception.

I can see why people are going crazy over it, and how it can be very polarizing. Although it has crazy great action and amazing scenes, it fails to capture the audience that the Matrix caught - and I very much think that Inception and the Matrix are in the same boat. The movie could've done with some trimming - I don't want to give the plot away for someone that hasn't seen it, but I think everyone knows that it's about dreams, and pushing people through their dreams, stealing knowledge through their dreams, being caught in the dreamworld. The metaphors here can seem a little endless, and I imagine that there's already someone composing a book of essays in regards to the movie.

The reason why I think it fails where the Matrix triumphed was because the Matrix, although it held a very complicated series of metaphors and metaphysical questions, just as Inception did, kept it as simple as one could. These are the bad guys, these are the good guys, this is the goal. Although I applaud that Inception kept it murky, it's this complication that will keep your average movie goer from relating to the movie, thus being able to understand the metaphors and ask themselves the metaphysical questions.

Talking about something without really saying much about it is hard. Kudos to you reviewers.

We left El Paso the morning after this. Surprisingly, not a bad town, but the company made a lot of difference.