California Dreaming, Day 1

Today starts a week long tour of California. Super excited about it - except that I hurt my hand while playing Volleyball yesterday. My hand felt like hell while flying and all I kept thinking was that my thumb was broken. But, I'm nothing if not a professional, and so I got on a plane, on my own with two bags of equipment and flew all the way to San Francisco Airport to meet up with Kevin.

From San Francisco he drove us to Salinas, California. It's not a small town at all, but it has that kind of feel. However, blocks away from our hotel we found an In-n-Out, and that just made my night. It's simple, delicious, and you've got those little bible verses pre-printed on the food wrappers to entertain you.

After, Kevin and I made our way to Salinas Valley Emergency Group Hospital. The place, was amazing. I was seen almost immediately, and I was incredibly impressed by the equipment and how organized it all was. Ah, to have health insurance and have a private hospital nearby! My thumb was only sprained, but it meant that I get to spend my week with my hand looking like this:

Oh yea. Really looking forward to setting up the equipment and writing my log sheets. /end sarcasm.

The Windy City

Had a quicky trip to Chicago thanks to work. Didn't really had time to sightsee much since I wasn't feeling a 100% and to boot work kept me really busy. But of the two nights I spent there, the last night I was able to enjoy a little bit of the city.

I began by making a very quick stop to the Museum of Contemporary Art. I didn't have time to see the entire Museum and to be honest I wasn't really bowled over by any of the exhibits. But it was nice to walk about and see that people were freely allowed to take pictures as long as they didn't use flash photography. Mark Bradford's work was there, and that's the one I related to the most, but I can't say I'm a real lover of his style.

Afterwards I decided to walk to the movies but was sidetracked and kept walking to Navy Pier, which our participant had recommended. I liked that Chicago is as much a walking City as NYC is. Navy Pier is without a doubt, "tourist-trap-py" but I enjoyed my walk down the Pier. It's essentially a bunch of shops and restaurants and stands along the pier to the Lake. From there, you can see some of the Chicago Skyline and even some of Michigan's (I don't know which town.)

There was a Ferris Wheel that had yet to open and so I didn't have the chance to ride, I got to see a quick magician act, an acapella group performing, a Chicago style hot dog, and to close, a bit of ice cream. (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough!)

Here be pictures (and video!)

 

April 20th

This day was a very special day. This day, I was able to, finally, go to a Pita Pit.

You must understand, that Mi Cariño has talked about this place since our second date. I'm quite sure. If not then, then our third. This is a very much loved franchise.

We ate here late afternoon, the place practically empty. The look is very reminiscent of "healthy" fast food chains, ala Subway. I had a very healthy chicken pita with a very unhealthy sauce. I cannot remember the name of the Sauce. Y'all, I eat chicken in this sauce all this time, but can't remember it, because the thing happened over 17 days ago and I'm lucky to remember the lovely heat I experienced that day, so stop being so annoying about the details.

In any case, you essentially pick a protein and pack that pita up with all the healthy stuffing you'd like, like mushrooms and lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and onions and all that goodness. You can have all of that grilled if you'd like to. I had my fresh pita with some stale chips and a diet coke, because I'm trying to get myself used to not drinking regular soda. Boo.

My verdict: I made the wrong choice by choosing the sauce. Otherwise I felt that the Pita was delish and worth returning to. Why aren't there any Pita Pits in NYC? Maybe I should open a Franchise... how much are those? In any case, I'm glad it was good because I would've hated to have found that the place Mi Cariño had been talking about for so long sucked.

Measurements


Like flashes I remember
chopping vegetables for the locrio de vegetales:
carrots, celery, peppers and more
until finally the rice reached that deep 
brown orange color that can only be achieved with
salsa de tomate, ajo, sal, cebolla, un chin de aceite, 
and always, oregano. 


There were the days after school 
rushing to sprinkle brown sugar on hot oil
til it was the right brown
to coat the chicken with
to feed my brothers with
to leave the food on the pots so
Mami could serve me because


there's nothing so bad as cooking
and serving yourself. Like flashes I remember
slowly moving away from the kitchen
first by making desserts and then
by making


nothing at all. This is all to say
chopping ain't nothing if it means
having you around. 


© Yazcaminante, 2011

In-N-Out Burgers

Had my first In-N-Out Burger, for lunch, today.

They're worth the hype.

Comedy of Errors

So we decided to head to Philadelphia for a weekend getaway - leave Saturday, return Sunday. Simple, right? No, it isn't when you're me! Because I can get you lost inside a ten foot square area. It's a gift, and I shall embrace it as such!

Our weekend began with my reserved car not being available - screw you dollar rent-a-car! - but thankfully we fixed that rather quickly and left for Philly in a beautifuly sunny day. We hit some traffic when we hit I-95 but thankfully mi Cariño had me there to entertain her with my inappropriate questions as she drove. That's right, she drove - because she wanted to see me drive in a Parking Lot before she would let me drive. And I refuse to do that! If the State of New York thinks I'm a good driver everyone should think so! In any case I'm scared of driving so it all worked out.

After some scrambling around, switched theaters and some quick walking we made it to what was ostensibly the reason why we were going to Philly - Q Fest! A queer, week long movie fest, that would include the movie "Leading Ladies." We got there just in time to see the theater lights darken! It was perfect.

Wanna know what wasn't perfect? The movie. OMG I can't even list the amount of things that are wrong with this movie. Should I start with the horrible acting? The atrocious dialogue? The uninspiring storyline? The one good thing I can say about the movie is that it was well shot. As in, it looked pretty. So the money they saved on a writer and an acting coach went to their camera and editing budget, I suppose. At one point, the male lead dances with a random guy at a club - that was pretty. He's obviously a good dancer. The female lead? Not so much. For one, everyone kept going on and on about how she was the one that took care of her family and THAT didn't come across once for me. Oh well, moving on.

After the fiasco that Leading Ladies turned out to be, and after some change of mind on my part, we went to Campos to eat some Cheese Steaks.

These were very VERY good - just not life changing. I guess I'm not that big a fan of beef, unless it's fried. But then again, anything fried is good, no?

After the Steaks we crossed the street to Christ Church. It is a beautiful building, has been around since 1695 and the most interesting part is that the church itself serves as a burial ground - as in you're walking down the center aisle and you'll be stepping over 4 or 5 grave markers. We ran into a couple that was taking pictures of each others posing with bibles and what not. Mi Cariño did not, to my disappointment, suggest we did this too. ;-)

We did some more Old City walking and soon enough it was time to find dinner. Enter "Bar Fernando" otherwise known as Bar Ferdinand, a Tapas place. I had a Valenciana

and we shared el Manchego Frito

Croquetas

Organic Sauteed Mushrooms

And I had the Atlantic Cod with Potatoes and a green sauce made out of I don't remember what.

Bar Ferdinand was not very memorable - The croquetas were horrible, and the waitress was forgetful, but the cod and the mushrooms were simply delicious. As was the Valenciana drink.

Sunday we drove around to North 4th Street to Cafe Estelle. What a find! We had to wait 20 minutes to sit, but it was well worth it. Cafe Estelle sits in the ground floor of an apartment building in what looks like a very industrial area. But it held the most awesome pancakes I've EVER eaten. Seriously. Bar None. I mean like REALLY really really really good pancakes.

Mi Cariño had this concoction called "Shirred Eggs" that I was not allowed to eat. Or take pictures of.

Shirred Eggs are baked eggs - these had spinach, mushrooms, truffle oil and cream. I went for a delicious omelette with red and green peppers, red onions,  ham and cheddar, homefries and toast.

Cafe Estelle made this trip worth it, the food was so good. We made it back to the Old City to see "Oy Vey My Son Is Gay."

It was good - it went a little crazy with the storyline there towards the end, but Lainie Kazan and Saul Rubinek made it totally worth it. They were hilarious. Like I am not. We finished the trip by sightseeing. Here's a statue

And so, that was Philly. It wasn't a very organized/structured trip, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. It was certainly worth getting lost every other block and the traffic and what not. Except the Leading Ladies part. That wasn't worth it.

Next up: San Diego, CA!