Happy Birthday, redux

Got together with Steph to do a belated birthday celebration. We ended up at Gemini's Diner, my dear old haunt, where I once again enjoyed a chicken salad triple decker on wheat, no pickles. SO good! Still the best chicken salad in town (even on their off days.)

After, we walked to Steph's car to find an actual pie shop. A pie shop! Most of them mini pies, with sweet pies and savory pies. We of course did a healthy bit if Sweeney Todd singing afterward.

Yes, I'm old, but that just means more celebrations!

Touristin'

On our last day in Richmond, we tried to get it all in. As soon as work finished, we hightailed it to the Capitol Building.

It's a beautiful structure, and we climbed all the steps to the top before we saw the little sign that said that the entry was now at the bottom of the hill.

The security people were very nice though, and let us in even though they were 5 minutes away from closing time. We even had a tour guide take us around! He was very knowledgeable, but I guess that's his job to be.

After getting our history on, we headed to the downtown area, to Weezie's Kitchen - don't forget it's St. Patrick's Day and it needs to be celebrated! Actually I had completely forgotten it was St. Paddy's, but it was nice to see all the green. Weezie's is almost like a diner, and I was not wowed by their service (or their prices) but their food was okay. I chose the Meatloaf, smothered in mushrooms and gravy, with a side of mashed potatoes and veggies.

After we ate our fill, we walked down the street to the Byrd Theatre. This place is great: tickets are 2 dollars, always, and they have an organist that does a little show before the movie starts.

We also had the chance to see a local dance school do a special St. Paddy's day show, with their students doing traditional Irish Dancing. Had no idea there was a big Irish population in Richmond (or at least big enough to warrant an Irish Dancing School.)

To support the theatre we bought some appropriately sized popcorn, and attempted to enjoy The War Horse. That was tough. I think I really would've enjoyed it as a play, but as a movie it felt way too long and complicated.

To reward ourselves for sitting through that entire movie, we enjoyed some of Bev's Homemade Ice Cream across the street from Byrd. I chose a "Girl Scout" Cone: Samoas!

All in all, Richmond was a great place to visit. A short visit.

California Dreaming, Day 5

Today, worked at the Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust - but didn't have a chance to walk through its exhibits. It is a great big building with lots of cool concrete to feel under your fingers and some sharp angles in the main lobby.

It was a short recording day, although it began early. As soon as we were done, Alex and I headed to Canter's Deli, which is supposed to be an L.A. Institution. It looked like a NY Deli. I had regular meatloaf, but forgot to take a picture.

After, we began the trek to San Diego, stopping first very briefly (as in, as long as the stoplight took) outside of Paramount Pictures, just to say I saw something Hollywood'y.

We also got to enjoy the sight of some palm trees adorning the streets

The drive to San Diego wasn't too bad, considering that we left around quittin' time. It's nice to be able to use the carpool lane at such a times like this. The fun part was driving all the way down to the wrong hotel in San Diego - thankfully the right one wasn't too far away, but it wasn't as nice as the first one so that was a bit of a letdown.

California Dreaming, Days 3 and 4

What a long day. We had a full recording day, then made our way from Salinas to San Francisco. The way in took longer, since we hit rush hour BUT we had the fun part of enjoying the Carpool Lane, even making up a little ditty to the tune of "Carwash."

Once in San Fran, I crashed at my co-worker Natalia's place, which was much more comfortable than I expected if still a bit awkward. She hooked me up with dinner - I don't remember what it was.

Day 4 was a travel day - I got to see the San Francisco booth, then flew down to Los Angeles. It was my first time there, and the movies don't kid: traffic can be a killer. And all the driving you've got to do! It took a little over an hour from the airport to my hotel. Once there I gave a call to Mi Cariño's dear friend Kristie, and I met up with her and her girlfriend Emily - we had purchased tickets to go see "Bring it on: The Musical."

We almost didn't make it thanks to the traffic, but we got there just when we should've. Lin-Manuel Miranda of In The Heights fame is the lyricist for this musical, main reason why we were interested. At the theater we met up with Kristie and Emily's friend Miguel, who coincidentally also had tickets. The show was decent enough, even though the music was not extremely memorable. The actors were pretty impressive with their jumping and what not.

After, we drove around to a hip diner-like place... I just can't remember the name. I wasn't bowled over by it all. I had a turkey meatloaf sandwich. Pretty unimpressive.

I was nervous since I was essentially hanging out for the first time with Mi Cariño's friends without her, but they were so open and friendly and fun that time flew. All in all, I'm excited about Bring It On: The Musical eventually making it to Broadway, and getting to enjoy the changes it'll go through after the tour.

Diners and Dives

Sometimes Dinner calls for breakfast. After a 10 hour workday, we walked to Philadelphia Deli, to have some chow. The place is in a very old shack looking structure, where the tables look like they've been there 20 years and the chairs and booths 30 at the very least.

Our waiter greeted us by calling us Dear every other second, and looked like she should've retired a good 15 years ago. She was quite lively and spry. I chose to have me a sausage and cheese omelette with potatoes and toast.

It was quite tasty and I devoured everything in sight. After the waiter found out that we were from out of town, she came over to make sure she knew where we were from and our business in town, before insisting we had some of the pecan pie before we left. I didn't want to be rude, so I said yes. She added some ice cream:

I kept thinking of When Harry Met Sally. Pe-CAHN Pie! Susan and I left nothing behind.

Afterwards, Susan and I decided that a movie was needed, because we needed to dispel the last dregs of the very long day. I didn't tell her I had seen Bridesmaids already, so we watched that. It was kind of weird and funny, because we laughed a whole lot more than anyone else in the theater (being Friday night, the small place was chock full of couples and a couple of female friends.) Not sure why - they laughed the most at the bathroom humor in the midst of the film, but I still find that opening scene beyond hilarious.

Party at The Four Deuces

So there was a party at The Four Deuces, right? Only that The Four Deuces was Marley's place, and the whole thing was a Murder Mystery party set in the 1920's. It was quite the interesting affair... sometime around Thursday it dawned on me that I didn't have a costume and that I wanted to look authentic, so I went all over the place looking for something to wear. I didn't just wanna wear any regular flapper dress, so I looked online for inspiration, considering that I have at home a most gifted seamstress. In the meantime, on Friday, I stopped by Party City where I got myself a bob wig, and borrowed some gloves and jewelry from Rose. Mami helped out by buying two modern dresses to butcher. So here's the process! I showed Mami this picture (which I do not own and I found in a roaring 1920's blog):

And then I showed her this picture (which I also do not own):

and with inspiration taken care of, Mami went to work! First we decided that I wanted solid black and she figured the material and a little something something to spice up the ensemble.

She butchered the first dress by cutting up the top part, and the second dress, since it was a floor length full sleeved number, she made shorter and cut off the sleeves and a new neckline to match the times. 

From Rose, I borrowed a bracelet, a ring, a cigarette holder (that I ended up not using since I had so many things in my hands already), black gloves. I walked all of Knickerbocker in order to find the fake pearls.

The rest of the costume was taken care of by rummaging through the house. A notebook handbag (white), the killer shoes had a higher heel than I wanted (since women usually wore the two inchers back then), but they were the only closed toes sandals I had hiding in my closet, and they had a buckle diamond embellishment that went well with the diamond embellishment Mami had sewn into the dress. I added some white stockings to complete the black and white theme and Presto! You can call me Penny Cheatum. Yay Mami! 

I have to admit though, that getting ready was the most fun part of the whole deal. The party in itself? It was okay - I only knew about 5 to 6 people in the room, and having to walk around making up stories and small talk about fake people and fake events can be draining. Murders kept happening but I don't think my mind was really into figuring out whodunit. (It was the money hungry daughter who done did it, by the way.)

Afterwards, however, Mi Cariño (who was Scoops Jennings, a female journalist that dressed like a boy in order to be a journalist) and I were ready for some food, and so we made our way to what we're trying to make "our Diner" - for the next few months at least.

I had me a grilled cheese sandwich under a mountain shoestring fries.

which was a perfect way to say see you later Roaring '20s! I had a blast!

Still Sleepless

In our second and last day in Seattle, after work we hit sightseeing mode pretty quickly. The day however, began with some spiced apple cider from B&O espresso bar. I kid you not when I say there are a lot of coffee places in Seattle. Most of them are called espresso this or the other though.

After work I wanted a "light" lunch, but something fun nonetheless, and so we stopped by Roxy's Diner (the East Coast at the West Coast!) and had a grilled cheese sandwich with fries.

Roxy's was also great because they offer quickie same sex marriages

Then, we went off to search for the troll under the bridge in Fremont. We walked in circles around the neighborhood since google maps only pointed to a random area we couldn't figure out because apparently neither one of us can read a map. Eventually we found a sign, and that led to another sign and then another and then, there it was! It was not what I expected. This thing was huge!

Apparently the community got together and came up with the idea as to what to have in that space under the bridge, so it wouldn't become your run of the mill under the bridge space. Pretty cool idea.

After we escaped with our lives, we rushed to make it to Pike Place market, and I tell you that was tough. You miss one turn, you end up 5 miles from where you want to be before you can turn back! But it was a good overview of Seattle.

At Pike Place, we got to see many goodies. We unfortunately did not get to see the fish being thrown around. But there were beautiful sights, including the very first Starbucks.

And Left Bank Books.

After all of that, my co-worker went to meet up with a friend, and I detoured into Wildrose.

The place was in a sense your run of the mill pub, but with performance space, plenty of space for people to interact, tables, and the bar where I sat.

I made some friends for a bit, which was nice, before they recommended I have the baked Mac and Cheese. Even though all the dairy was going to kill me, I caved in. It was spiral pasta in a creamy cheese sauce, topped with bread crumbs and fresh tomatoes.

It was freaking perfect, served with delicious big chunks of toasted bread. I suffered gladly. I also had me some rose prick pale beer, which is Alaskan.

All in all, Seattle was a very chill place to visit: the people were very nice and smiled at us frequently as we walked, there was tons of coffee to bring your mood up for when it's down when it rains, and the food was quite tasty. If not for the rain, I would include Seattle in my "list of places I'd like to move to," and I'm sure mi Cariño is glad about that because I don't think it would make her list at all.

Burke, VA

Work sent me to Burke, VA for a day. It was a quickie trip, with more time spent on the drive to and fro. It wasn't a big deal, but we had a beautiful breakfast. The Diner was a throwback, with mini-jukeboxes at each table.

Breakfast was a farmer's omelette, with delicious potatoes, sausages, onions, and more wonderfulness.

It made the trip worth it, I guess. 

On a clear day you can see forever

After a night of debauchery, nothing like Diner food to set everything right. We made our way to Gemini's in Kips Bay, where everybody knows my face, if not my name.

To make things different, I went for the Corned Beef Hash with Potatoes, two eggs sunny side up, and wheat toast.

I pretty much scrambled all that up and ate every single bit. It was really, really good.

Afterward, we walked to Times Square, got caught in torrential rain (I mean that. I'm talking DRENCHED), struggled to figure out what to do with our afternoon, and ended up shopping. Not a bad Sunday - except we were all tired. I made my way back home to watch the Barbra classic, to cross stitch, and to miss mi Cariño, who's coming home soon.

It feels like home

I'm so behind on my postings, I wonder if it's even worth it to do all of the one's I've missed. But I'll do a big Combo and include most of the stuff I've been meaning to enter.
So, let's start with the diners! This month I visited my two favorite diners in NYC with two of my favorite ladies.
First it's Gemini, in Kips Bay or Midtown East, where I took mi Cariño because I was hankering for this: A Chicken Salad Triple Decker.

I've yet to taste a better chicken salad. Or better coleslaw. This is one of my biggest guilty pleasures but also it's total comfort food. I love the Gemini, and have about 10 years worth of memories from that place.

The other diner also has a lot of history, but not as deep and personal. Went to this one with Stephanie after work, this time on Midtown West. I had me the Buffalo Chicken Wrap.

The wrap was great, and the coleslaw is decent, but the diner has now started a "new plates, smaller portions" redesign deal, that although generally more healthy, like Steph told me it sucks since that's not the reason we go eat at places like these. I love that 95% of the time that I've eaten there has been with her. The last time we were there, it was right before my second date with mi Cariño. I also had the Buffalo Chicken Wrap then. I need to start being more adventurous with my meals.

Speaking of adventure, Lily and Kenisha kidnapped me for lunch this last Friday and took me to a Thai place in Brooklyn off of the Bergen Stop on the G Train. I can't remember the name - and Lily doesn't either! I'll edit this later and include all of that. We ordered off of the lunch special menu. First off a nice tiny salad

Very sweet and spicy. This was followed by some crispy fried Egg Rolls

And these were very yummy. Then I surprised myself by NOT ordering Tofu Pad Thai. But now I can't remember the name of what I ordered! Spicy Flat Noodle with Tofu is the easiest way to describe it. It might also be the plate's name.

It was good. Well worth taking the extra long lunch hour.