Lily Comes to Town

You know what I like? Old Novels, where the chapter title is somewhat a summary of what will happen. "Chapter IX in which our heroine discovers a terrible secret." Just so y'all know.

So Lily and I finally get our act together and she comes into town for a one day visit. 4 hours is a long time to travel for just a day without specific plans, but we made it work. After running some errands with my mother, the day began with a stop at Gemini Diner in Kips Bay where we had chicken salad triple deckers, which I haven't had in ages and ages, it feels.

Not quite as delicious as I remembered it, but still the best chicken salad and cole slaw in the city. Afterward we went for a walk and searched Baskin Robbins for Lily's favorite flavor, but we couldnt' find it. What we did find:

Although the awning was brand new, the store looked closed, so we never did find out what they sell at insomnia cookies. We also bought ourselves some ice cream but you don't get pictures of those cuz we stuffed our faces and I forgot to take a picture, so there. (If you must know I had chocolate chip cookie dough.)

For the rest of the day we literally walked around the city, just enjoying the people watching and the beautiful weather. We did some shopping, watched 50/50 which we both loved, and a whole lot of walking.

We capped the day with the cashing in on a deal that Lily had at Alma 33, Argentinian restaurant in West 8th. Dinner had a weary beginning when the restaurant called to let us know that they weren't serving their full menu, but only the Tapas or Picadas part. We decided to still go. We began the meal with some red sangria:

some really hard bread that I didn't really enjoy but yet gulf down since I was starving

Our Tapas began with some Pintxos de Entrañas, which is just steak skewers with salsa chimichurri

followed with chicken and spinach empanadas

Patatas bravas

and Miga con Chorizo

Dessert was this pudin thing drenched in creme and what not. Make your assumptions at the fact that I can't remember the name.

I was terribly underwhelmed with this meal - the patatas didn't have anything brava about them, the entrañas were okay, and their chimichurri sauce did not deserve the name chimichurri, but that's mostly because I have really good connotations with that word and this sauce is not it. The best of the picadas was the Migas con Chorizo and that's literally a mix of chorizo and mayo spread on Migas bread. Lily liked the Entrañas the best. To boot the restaurant was a little hot, and it made us be very aware of the time we spent there.

Regardless, the company and the conversation made dinner a good affair, and we left with a smile. I won't be returning here, but I'm glad we tried something new. Lily and I made it back to my place, to do some talking, and some immediate falling of the sleep after a day of walking around in the City.

Hungover Movie Day

We celebrated Stephanie's Birthday on Friday night. Saturday then became recovery day, since we certainly celebrated heartily. We began by having diner food, but that stuff was so horrid that I refuse to put it here. Plus, I didn't even take pictures. Because it was so horrid.

After that we made it to Times Square to watch Bran Nue Dae (this image does not belong to me.)

The movie was awesome. A musical set in 1965 about a young Aboriginal boy who escapes boarding school to return to his hometown of Broom. Right up my alley. The thing was a total romp, with several catchy songs, and with a main actor who is all kinds of cute. Plus Geoffrey Rush is in it. Why aren't you running to watch it?

Afterward we made our way around the city, mostly walking, running errands, and then decided to watch Go the Distance in the Upper East. This RomCom with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long was very cute, a little bit raunchy, and with a pleasing ending. The soundtrack was to die for, but I expect that from D.Barrymore flicks. Her chemistry with Justin Long was pretty good but of course in the back of your mind you keep thinking that they were broken up when they did that movie so it's kinda weird, having to kiss your ex. And make it look good to boot. The questions the movie brings up are not new one's - what do you do when your personal professional life doesn't really mash your personal life? What do you do when the two of you have to live in different places? There are no easy answers. Some people think it's best to sacrifice everything for a relationship. Others opine that if the relationship is meant to work it'll survive the distance or a breakup. I think it's a case-by-case thing, you know? Blanket statements don't really work well in these situations.

Movie was followed by a walk to an Argentinean/Italian restaurant in the Upper East and I sadly do not remember the name right now. I'll search for it later. Their food was ok - we began with some bread with eggplant (instead of butter, which I LOVED)

We shared some croquetas de papa, that were cheesy and perfectly sized, unlike the monstrosities I grew up with

My entree was battered chickend in a lemon butter sauce with veggies

The veggies were perfect, not drenched in oil but light and tasty. The chicken was a whole different business - first it was too hard, and then it was too lemon-y. The lemon butter sauce was good though, and went well with the veggies, which is mostly what I ate.

All in all, a very good Saturday, spent with Ida and Mi Cariño. The weather even cooperated, giving us good crisp air all day long. We finished the night by walking home. Yea. At the risk of jinxing it, I can't help but think that Life is hella good at the moment.