South, but no quite

So, in Richmond, VA with Mariel until Sunday. Luckily we flew down so the comute was pretty quick. When we arrived there was still some afternoon left, and so we dropped off our bags at the hotel and went in search of Maymont "An American Estate." This was one of those really old mansion with gardens that was donated to the State after the death of their owners, who had no children.

The place is pretty breathtaking, and is now used as a huge park. Unfortunately we were too late to tour the house, but not too late to tour the grounds. The Mansion in question:

After we drove around looking for some good eats and ended in a part of town that didn't look too savory, but it was worth braving in order to eat at Croaker's Spot. We didn't know it was somewhat of a chain (there's another one in North Carolina) but it's the kind of chain you're proud to eat at, so it's all good! ;-)

I had me a generous serving of blackened salmon, these fillets were super flavorful and came with mashed red potatoes, steamed broccoli, and a block of corn bread.

I ate it all. Not a bad way to begin to get to know a city, if I do say so myself.

I will love you 'til my dying day...

Finally the day arrived to go see Brandi Carlile in Concert. After an amazing birthday weekend that included dinner at Cesar's, and an Idina Menzel concert, this was just the way to start my 31st year in this earth with a bang. Because we felt like it, Mi Cariño and I stopped by Heartland Brewery first. I was craving a real meatloaf after my Chicago experience. 

First, some pumpkin ale, which brought many memories of sneaking to the Heartland Brewery at the bottom of the Empire State Building with my friends during lunch hour. 

They had a pre-fixe deal and so we went for it. Thus the Spinach Dip appetizer

To my deep disappointment, the meatloaf had been taken off the menu. I made do with some steak and potatoes. 

The meal ended with some pie. It was not very memorable. 

We spent the rest of our time at the restaurant trying to guess which of the groups present were also attending Brandi's concert (since Heartland was practically next to the concert hall.)

Brandi was everything I imagined she would be live, and the best part was to get to share her with Mi Cariño. 

Bienvenue à la Nouvelle-Orléans!

So I've left ages and ages go by since I last updated here, but I've kept the pictures because I keep telling myself I'm not just going to skip it. In the interest of time and what not, the next few updates will be more tumblr like than usual. (As if this wasn't so, anyway.)

In any case, middle of my Southern Tour and I have the day off! Although I have a car available to me, New Orleans is enough of a walking place, especially since I'm staying near the action.

Pretty and colorful French Doors, everywhere.

A quick visit to the French Market

Followed by a visit to Plaza d'Armas. It's essentially a town square, and it reminded me a lot of the town square in my hometown in Bani.

Before a stop at the Presbytere and the Louisiana Museum. Both were quite interesting: they had a "hurricane" exhibit, "Living with Hurricanes - Katrina and beyond,"where they showcased not just Hurricane Katrina, but also the history of the State, and the city, with the various Hurricanes that have passed by. There were also exhibits about Louisiana History, and a real fun one for Mardi Gras.

A beautiful church next to the Presbytere, whose name I can't remember

Inside shot!

Out of the church, I ran into a street performer. There were quite a lot of them, all over the city. I don't know if they need to get "licenses" the way they do in NYC in order to not be harassed by the cops, but this one seemed to be doing well considering it was Tuesday afternoon around 3.

After all of that walking (and believe me, it was a lot. I left the hotel at around 9am and just walked, walked, walked until 3:30pm) I made a stop at The Sun Ray Grill, where Mary Lee works. She treated me to a most delish Chicken Club Pita, which is sliced grill chicken, ham, bacon, lettuce and tomato, with a trio of melted cheeses. They served that with fries and Creole Honey Mustard.

As soon as I said my goodbyes to Mary Lee, it started to rain with gusto. It was an expected surprised, since the day had been muggy and hot. I made myself comfortable in the front of the restaurant, where they had a tin roof, and just enjoyed the sound of the rain. It was just like the rain of my childhood: hard, fast, small. The sound of rain on a tin roof is one of my most favorite sounds in the whole wide world. Once it finally calmed down, I started to make my way back to the hotel. While walking, I ran into these informative plaques:

Which was most definitely something about New Orleans/Cuban history I did not know, since to my understanding Martí had worked on the flag in New York City. Go figure.

I leave you with a picture of a flower that transports me immediately to the Dominican Republic, everywhere I find it:

I don't even know what kind this is. All I know is looking at this my eyes water and I think of home. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed my visit to New Orleans - it had enough aspects of the Dominican Republic AND New York, to make me feel like I could live there happily. As long as I don't have to drive outside of the little bit that I walked around on. ;-)

A Sunday with Mi Cariño

Sunday was a blast: low key but fun. We began by lazying about in bed, reading and what not before heading for brunch to Cafe Triskell. I had scrambled eggs with bacon, sausages, salad and red onions.

I did not really like it. I put as much stuff as I could in them eggs to stem the yuck feeling I knew I was going to get from them, but c'est la vie. Brunch took some time so it was well in the afternoon by the time we set out to do some shopping. Or mi Cariño shopped while I tried to not be a pain in the bum. Eventually, however, we made it to the city, where we watched "Circumstances."

The filmmakers described the movie as taboo busting, and that it was. Two young girls in Iran, best friends, lovers. One comes from an affluent family, is used to the little freedoms money can buy. The other is used to pain and oppression - her parents were professors, killed by the regime. The story really begins when Brother (I can't remember his name) comes to town, ostensibly after spending time in rehab. In an attempt to get his life together he repudiates what was once important (music, friends, drugs) and tries to become a better Muslim. Unfortunately, for him this means getting in cahoots with the Morality Police. This doesn't help his sister and friends at all though - soon enough Brother reports them to the Morality Police, and has no qualms with the fact that they'll check to see if his sister is a virgin. Several new things are found about the Brother, and Friend and Sister go through the hardest part of the film. There is no real happy ending, as these kinds of movies rarely will, but it was tough for us to watch. I think you have to be in the right set of mind to watch this film. We were glad we supported it, although we left the movie theater already thinking about what happy lesbian movie we'd watch once arrived back at her place. 


Before that though, we stopped at Patsy's to have some pizza and salad. I'd never been. It's a chain, I believe, but it doesn't feel like one. 

Before heading back to Astoria we stopped by Dylan's Candy Shop to look at the candy, but didn't get any. We finished the day by (partly in my case) watching "Saving Face," which is a happy ending, actually fun and loving romantic lesbian story. 

Miami, Part 2

Spent another week in Miami with Mi Cariño and her family. It was a great visit indeed, and the time just FLEW. Which is nice, and then it isn't.

We flew in Tuesday night, in theory. By the time we were heading to the airport, thunder was crackling like crazy, which delayed us right off the bat - originally we were scheduled to depart at 9pm but that didn't happen until after midnight. Thankfully Mi Cariño's parents still picked us up and we arrived at the house somewhere close to 4am. But since we had nowhere to go the next day it was all good, and we just spent Wednesday lazying about and catching up on sleep.

Highlights from the trip: a visit to Coral Castle Museum.

This guy (25) is jilted by his 16 year old fiancee. After deciding he will never love anyone else, that no one else can love him, and being told by the "Sweet Sixteen" that she was saying no to him because he didn't have any money, he made it his life mission to build himself a castle. And he did so, by using Coral. It's essentially a sculpture garden, the guy's name is Edward (you look up his last name!) The amazing thing is that he built it all himself, and he did it at night so no one could see him. He "knew the secret of pyramids" apparently, and went about making reading chairs, thrones, bedrooms, a well, a confession room, a place to stargaze, and a place for children to play. It's actually kind of impressive. 

I mean, y'all, he made a heart table. Without modern tools. We're talking before 1951. Amazing. 

Another Highlight - Zoo Miami. Mi Cariño, two of my nieces, and my buddy O and his youngest son Caleb and I, had us a good time looking at animals and melting in the sun. We should've gotten a bike to ride through and minimize the walking and the child whining, but it was all good. Witness, cute picture of kid turned Jaguar!

We also visited the mall and had us some fun at Dave & Buster's and went crazy at the bookstore buying the kiddies books (and ourselves) and had us a 50% dinner at some chain looking restaurant thanks to the girls and their connections. Here, a pretty decent spaghetti bolognese. 

Which makes me say: let's talk about food! First there was Yucca with grilled chicken and maduros.

We ate that at Las Islas, where we ate at the last trip. The food was once again, uninspired. But the Abuela likes it, and so, we go. 

Then, we had pasta bolognese at some fancy outdoor restaurant by their "Lincoln Center." The area has a name. I do not remember it. It was very nice, like a loooong strip of stores and restaurants. Does it count as an outdoor mall? We ate there after watching "Sarah's Key," a movie that's just chock full of happy, happy, joy, joy. (Smell the sarcasm.) It was a nice movie, though. So was the pasta. 

A couple of days later we ate at some new trendy restaurant in the heart of Miami. Kill me because I don't have the desire to check for the name. I suck. We began with some cheese balls as appetizers

An I had me an extremely expensive Chicken Mofongo. It was worth it though, the stuff was delish. But don't tell Mi Cariño I said that.

On our last night there, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory, a first time for me. The food was good, I had meatloaf with mashed potatoes. I'm pretty sure I took a picture of that, but can't find it, so just imagine it. Mi Cariño sent me a picture of our dessert though:

The Cheesecake did not disappoint. Neither did this amazing week. I will leave you with an image from Matheson Hammock, a manmade area we visited (but did not swim in) that afforded us a great view of the Miami skyline. But don't worry, I did swim in Miami Beach. I even got a tiny tan! So, yay.

April 21th

Road Trip! We head to Orlando, for a shorter stay than I had originally planned, but it's all good, the family is game. Mi Cariño, her mom, her dad and I eventually manage to leave the house to head to Orlando. It's over three hours away from Miami, and it's a trip the family has done before. (A lot.)

The drive wasn't bad though, it's nice to sit in the back seat and just fall asleep and not worry about directions and get to munch on great goodies. We were hungry by the time we arrived though, and so after dropping bags and things of the sort, we had a quick dinner at Pei Wei.

Pei Wei, I'm told, is the "fast" version of PF Changs, another of Mi Cariño's favorite. You order, they bring it to your table... good stuff. We shared all of this:

First some salty Edamame

Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls (these were only okay)

Mi Cariño's favorite, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, which were quite yummy.

Afterwards we made our way to what I think was Downtown Disney. I suck at names of things. We essentially spent a couple of hours walking through a Disney Store and seeing some Disney things before heading for "real" dinner. At the Store I purchased a whole lot of goodies: necklaces for Brichelle and Brianna, (and a little doll for Brianna, too); presents for myself and for Mi Cariño. The necklaces were super cute but I'm sorry to say very cheaply done. Brianna snapped hers off a couple of hours after she started wearing it... I assumed that it was because she's tiny and totally rough with things. But Brichelle's necklace also snapped, and Bricho certainly wasn't going around pulling on the necklace. Boo, Disney!

In Any case, to dinner. We went to a place called BJ's. Looked like a chain, but I've never heard of it, so maybe it's just a really big sports bar place. Food:

Stuffed Mushrooms.

Something fried. Probably crispy onions type deal. Don't remember. Can't say I really enjoyed them.

Angel hair pasta primavera with garlic toast and blackened chicken. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would've easily eaten the whole thing if allowed.

After dinner we made it to Mi Cariño's brother's place, since he and his wife were kindly putting us up. We relaxed, watched American Idol and chatted a bit before going to sleep. It was a good, if busy day. I think a lot can be said about traveling and what it says about people. As a "professional traveler" I definitely believe that the simple act of going from one place to another can sometimes bring out the worst in people... you're not in your usual space, you have to deal with circumstances you weren't expecting, you have to think quickly and there's a lot of pressure to get things right, right away. I'm not trying to be humble when I say I'm a good traveler - it really is what I DO. Everything with being okay with traffic to putting up with planes leaving late, to children screaming around you and to your "co-pilot" getting the directions wrong - I've dealt with it all. Bad weather is by far the worst, but the second is a person that does not know how to travel. In any case, this diatribe is to say that I put a lot of weight on traveling and how people interact when they do; it's when the real you comes out! So this was an important day for me.

Running


Testify 
circles
over


over
water
sleep


deeply
for you. 


© Yazcaminante, 2011

Say what you want

about the Olive Garden, but the unlimited soups and salad deal?

It's pretty sweet.

At the Akron/Canton Airport, on my way back to NYC, via Milwaukee.
Small regional airports may not have great food selections (this one has an Arby's and a Great Lakes brewing Co.) but they tend to have the free internets, so it's not that bad of a deal.

I guess this post is about the sweet things in unexpected places.

Or something like that. Off to watch some Gilmore Girls.