Lazy Saturday

Saturday. It feels good to do nothing in them, specially when you do have stuff you could and should be doing. Whatev's, life is short and there was some beautiful weather in New York City! While Mi Cariño got her poetry on, I watched some Wonder Years on Instant Netflix before heading to Manhattan to meet up with Steph. P.S. They had to change the music on the opening credits. WTF.

First, I ran into Brito in Columbus Circle

Then I was really sad upon remembering there are no more Borders. I hate that I have to travel so far to find a bookstore with a large selection of books. (And before you say anything, I support independent bookstores - it's just nice to not have to "order the book" I want all the time.)

After meeting up with Steph we spent a good hour almost searching for parking before giving up and using a parking garage. From there, we eventually walked to Harry's Burritos in Columbus and the 70's. We had been there before, a while back.

First: Mango and Coconut Margaritas

delicious chipotle chicken tacos (on soft flour tortilla and not soft corn like I requested, but whatever it was good)

followed with raspberry margaritas

the rest of the day was spent meeting up with Ida where we had lots of talking, lots of walking, and all around good times.

Junot Díaz

Has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I felt like making him my title, so I did.
Had dinner with the girls, and it had been a while since the last time we all hung out together, just the three of us. It was nice. Steph drove us to Mt. Kisco where after much deliberating we decided on Mexican, and thus Hacienda La Paloma.

Hacienda is a great place, had a beautiful atmosphere with fun music. The staff was friendly and pleasant. We began by having some (warm) chips and salsa

The chips were great but the salsa only so-so. We followed this fresh made guacamaloe

Which I did not eat. What I did have was some Corona Light. Do not be fooled by the Modello on the glass.

My main entree: taquitos al carbon. Soft corn tortillas with grilled shirt steak and pico de gallo. It came with Mexican rice and refried beans, which I didn't eat because the taquitos were right just as is.

Sleepless in Seattle

In Seattle for a couple of days. Had a perfect lunch at La Cocina, a Mexican restaurant in Clinton Hill (or "The Hill if you're a local), which is a nice area, very hip. I had the Cocina Burrito with vegetarian meat crumbles without guacamole.

Shit was the bomb. 'Nuff Said.

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

After lunch in Albuquerque, we hit the road to Santa Fe. We took the scenic route. Check out all the blue:

Mountains upon mountains. The place is gorgeous and at times just beyond breathtaking. I kept singing the Santa Fe song from Rent, which probably bothered Matt a little, until we turned on his iPhone on shuffle.

We stayed at this place called "The Triangle Inn", which markets itself as the Gay Santa Fe Bed and Breakfast. The couple that own the place have two children and are hella friendly. The B&B consists of a bunch of "casitas" all made out of Adobe. I stayed in one of their Studio Casitas, with a lovely living area and kitchenette area attached to my bedroom. The only drawback? They don't receive TV signal, so although the rooms are equipped with TV's, you have to depend on their (considerably) large vhs collection if you'd like in room entertainment. Luckily, I had Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to keep me company, but this also means that as of this writing I've yet to watch this week's Grey's Anatomy and that sucks balls.

We were hungry, but also tired, so instead of heading into town for dinner, we drove around the corner to Gabriel's. The place is huge and quite beautiful. I was swayed by the smell of onions and so I had me a most excellent chicken fajita.

It comes with rice, pinto beans, pico de gallo, guacamole  and corn tortillas.

The food was excellent, and even though I was only able to eat about half of it, I was immediately thrown into a food coma, so we quickly paid the check and I promptly passed out for the night.

I kiss better than I cook

Once again in Texas, this time with Gaspar, this time in San Antonio. Working on a Sunday is not the best, but today was pretty smooth. At lunch, our participants sent us to Tommy's Restaurant, a local haunt. I had tacos de Carnitas a la Mexicana (made with beef!) and beans and cheese.

They were huge, but made with flour tortillas, and I don't know, not necesarily the best. But Tommy's had the awesome sign that will now become my motto

After lunch, since we finished quickly, I walked through part of the San Fernando Cemetery number 2. There were some beautiful tombstones and inscriptions. It's always interesting to see what's "in vogue" in certain times, like the many many tombs from the '30s that held a picture of the deceased.

Eventually the work day finished and after some shopping for tomorrow and kiboshing an impromptu drive to Austin, we headed to Pasha for dinner in honor of Mi Cariño who is off in her Israeli adventure. It's a mediterranean restaurant, with lebanese and Iranian owners. We began the night by first making faces to the baby on the table next to us, who obviously could sense my awesomeness with children and kept giving me the eye. Food wise though, we had baba ganouj

And pasha potatoes

and this awesome flatbread, which we dipped on this mixture of olive oil, oregano, chopped olives and some other seed we couldn't identify.

My entree consisted of Sheesh Tawook Kabob. This was chicken breast, served with greek salad (by request), garlic sauce and pickled cucumbers.  

OMG what a good meal. Dinner lasted about an hour and a half, talking about nothing and everything. Gaspar's a good egg. For dessert we shared a Baklava.

Dessert was the only thing I didn't utterly love, but it was good enough for a few bites. All in all, not a bad beginning, San Antone!

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Welcome Back

Yesterday, my Ida moved back to New York City. It was nice to be just the three of us, together. I love how it felt as if only a day or two had gone by since we had seen each other. We celebrated by eating at El Paso Taqueria, an amazing restaurant.

I had the Enchiladas Poblanas (con salsa mole y queso fresco) and a Dos XX Amber.

It was the perfect welcome back meal. I look forward to once again have NYC adventures with my little Boo and the Stephanopulos.

Sleeping Tours

Not very often do I get a local (that I actually like) to get to show me and my co-facilitator around when we travel. And this one's a psychic, to boot! Last night Carolina and I were chaperoned by Irene, who is all kinds of sweet. She drove us down to Old Town in San Diego, to eat at the aptly named Old Town Mexican Cafe and Cantina.

We began the night by admiring the ladies that work towards the front of the restaurant, who are kneeding masa to make fresh tortillas for our meals.

We started with some House Margaritas and your ever present chips and salsa. For my main meal I chose to eat the Carne Asada Tacos.

The tacos were tiny - and that was just the right size. The corn tortillas are so filling and thick! My tacos came with salsa verde and beans, and I have to tell you, simplicity made all the difference. I ate those babies and was soon ready to be rolled back to my hotel room. I wholeheartedly recommend this place - they had a mariachi trio walk around playing songs on request. And Michelle, our cute server, was super efficient. Service makes a difference, y'all!

Irene, however, offered to take us back through "the scenic route." I do not know how scenic the route was because after I sat down, Irene handed me her shawl so that I could cover myself and then I promptly fell asleep. I woke up a couple of times during the tour - saw the Coronado bridge in its full night time glory. Then I fell asleep again but woke up in time to marvel at the pretty houses in El Barrio and to gawk at the wonderful building that houses the police station one of our participants founded. A period of sleeping followed that and then we stood in front of the San Diego Trolley, where I remember Carolina asking many, many questions. Eventually Irene realized I was tired, and still in NY time, and thus drove us back to our car so that we could head towards the hotel.

So last night two things became apparent to me: I eat a lot of Mexican food. Specially when out on the road. And two, I have the gift to fall asleep and wake up very quickly. Like I can be fully conscious and aware and talking one second and asleep the next. Maybe it's a superpower. Yeah.

Foray into the Upper West

So, I'm stuck in New York City until the middle of July - this could be really good. I hope it ends up being a really good thing, in any case.

Work sent us out to the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights to be exact. Work was long and strenous, so no time to go outside for lunch, but Carolina and I decided to treat ourselves to dinner before going home. Besides, Matt severely insisted that we stop by this place, as he loves it dearly, and if there's one thing I trust is Matt's culinary's recommendations. Enter la Taqueria y Fonda, La Mexicana on Amsterdam.

Real hole in the wall place. Has a tiny kitchenette area out front, and a couple of tables towards the back. A TV was set to the news in Spanish and we sat down next to the big fridge. They brought us great home made chips with three delicious salsas to munch on while we deliberated on what to eat. In the meantime, several "neighborhood characters" stopped by to scream a little, ask for some change, and to remark that 6:30 was not too early to be drunk. I chose the Vegetarian Quesadilla.

Carolina was kind enough to eat the mash avocado that was on top of the tortilla before I took the picture. The vegetarian Quesadilla was delicious - made out of three corn tortillas, it was stuffed with, yes, cheese, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce, caramelized onions, and possibly more goodness that I just can't remember. Picture me moaning with the happy for about 20 minutes. When we finally finished and paid for our meals, it took us a good five minutes to find the strength to get up and leave. Then we made the decision to walk an extra 5 city blocks to the nearest subway, since we were both just too full to consider sitting down. All in all, not a bad way to end what proved to be a challenging work day.

Goodbye Austin, Hello New York

All things come to an end, and so did our Austin trip. We decided to make sure that we ended the trip with a bang and so woke up early for some breakfast before heading to the airport. Enter El Mesón Taquería.

We were there so early we had to wait in the car for 10 minutes for opening time. (7am on Saturdays.) You order and pay right away. I got the Chorizo con Huevo plate, which consists of Chorizo, egg, black beans, potatoes, corn tortillas.

I wasn't expecting ground chorizo, so I was very pleasantly surprised. It was also good and spicy and just pretty much perfect. Well worth almost missing our flight for.

Speaking of our flight - we flew American, from Austin to Newark, via Chicago. We stayed on the same plane, not even getting out in Chicago, so that we wouldn't have to take our stuff out, too. You know what didn't stay on the plane though? Our luggage. But we didn't find this out until we hit Newark, stand by the Carrousel, see everyone else pick up their luggage, and then suddenly the thing stops churning out suitcases. Uh oh. Everyone that flew from Austin had their luggage left in Chicago. It's the first time that has ever happened to me... the suitcase has stuff I want, of course, but since I travel with the real essential things with me I wasn't as upset as some of the other passengers were. American promised to ship it to my house by 10pm Saturday night, but that looks like it'll turn into Monday morning between 7 and 10. You know what was in the Newark airport and that someone forgot to pick up, for some reason?

A couple of boxes of donated human tissue, that's what. I have no idea what that means... is it skin? Dead skin? A little gross, but also funnily fascinating.

I had to rush back to Brooklyn to drop off the equipment and then run home, shower, get prettified, and meet mi Cariño at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe to see parts of the Ultimate Latina Theater Festival. It was pretty interesting - these group of women played lines from a bunch of different movies, using all kinds of props and situations to give them different meanings. Only downside was that the whole program was too short: less than an hour. Really enjoyed it.

Afterwards we walked all over LES and found this place called Cafecito, for some Cuban Food. Not a real big place, but had a great set up. We sat at the bar, but outside, on stools facing the inside of the bar. The bartender was cute and friendly and quite personable. Mi Cariño declared that the food was the closest thing to Cuban Miami food, and the sitting outside and the mojitos probably helped. I had the picadillo (which is ground beef) with white rice and maduros.

Although I really enjoyed my meal I wasn't bowled over by it - I was more impressed with the tostones and garlic mojo that came with mi Cariño's meal. However I really enjoyed the ambiance, the Sol's and the Presidentes I had were great and perfectly cold and the music... well the music made it the entire visit worth it. Good, old school Salsa that made us wanna just jump up and start dancing.

Speaking of dancing, after la cena that's what we went off to do. First we met up with some friends, then ran into some other friends, and then the whole mess of us walked to a friend of a friend's birthday party before meeting with more friends and walking to Sin Sin for some more birthday partying celebrations. (Ha! Try making sense of that.) Good Times.

Un chín de Sazón

Hump Day, y'all, was OK. Began with a no-show at work, which is not my favorite situation, but after that the day went by fairly quickly - with the help of an ibuprofen or two.

Natalia came to meet us at the end of the day and after breaking down the equipment and a couple of pit stops, we went off to find another swimming hole. 

 
This one was a bit more accessible and also part of Barton Creek, but just higher up and next to a man made pool that harnessed the spring a little. Since it was cloudy and the water was colder up there, I decided to just enjoy the shore with Natalia while Matt swam. Although we did get our feetsies wet at some point.

The swimming and relaxing was cut abruptly when some ominous clouds started to move in. We hightailed it to the hotel and Natalia and I watched Toddlers and Tiaras in TLC. It really is like looking at an accident wreck - you really don't want to look, but you can't take your eyes away from it. It was a little disturbing, to say the very least. Just as we watched, the clouds made good on their promise and an awesome thunderstorm started - quick and loud and bringing in the fresh air and even a power surge that left us in darkness for a short bit.

When the rain moved on a bit (lightning kept going) we headed for dinner. Natalia's choice? Real Mexican food. "None of that Tex Mex Stuff," She said. Given that Natalia grew up in Mexico, we believe her when she says she knows the difference and where to find the goods. Enter Sazón.

Which of course, made me think of mi Cariño, but also made me think "YUM." And Yum was right, the food was delicious - and without all the dairy that makes Tex Mex a pain in the butt. Because you see, in the past month I've been having a lot of Tex Mex food that I've been calling Mexican food. Bad me!

I went for Alambres de Res, which is grilled bits of beef with peppers, pineapples and onions and charro beans in a bed of rice and bits of bacon and peas. I opted to not have the guacamole salad and instead chose a Corona.

Add some extremely fresh corn tortillas and my belly was happy indeed. We spent the rest of the evening sharing Rage Stories and Driving Stories (I didn't have that many to share), before I decided to skip on the bluegrass concert that was happening later on and went back to my room.

In any case, I write this on Thursday morning and I'm not sure what the day holds for me, but I hope it involves un poquito de Sazón in one way or the other.

Quick, quick, slow

So, here we are, back in Texas! This time in Austin, and we're off to an auspicious beginning. I was a bit nervous since I had to pick up the rental car and drive from the airport, but thanks to God, to Steph's refresher lesson last Saturday, and to the light traffic, I managed to NOT crash. I drove slower than I should've, I'm sure, and I kept missing my turns, but I kept my cool and made it to the hotel in one piece and a bit less shaken than I expected to be.

Right away I stopped by Matt's room to see what the plans were. Matt, his friend Ben and I head first to this frozen yogurt shop, Yummy Yo Frozen Yogurt, in Downtown Austin, and after tasting all the awesome flavors I made an unholy mixture of Watermelon, peanut butter and cupcake, and topped it with blackberries, oreo bits, nuts, pineapple, and Lord knows what else. I was too busy enjoying that to take a picture but trust me when I say that although it sounds gross it made me rethink my stance on frozen yogurt.

After some grocery shopping we head out to dinner - tonight's choice? Polvos.

Polvos is pretty festive with Christmas lights everywhere. When you walk inside, there's a "Salsa Bar."

I went for the Puntas de Filetes, which was beef tips sauteed with mushrooms, monterey jack cheese and awesome spices, served with rice and beans and a smidgen of salad.

Polvos was great. its only downside was that it's very popular and thus very busy.

Afterwards we drove to The Continental Club where Dale Watson was having a show. He was amazing, with an old classic country singer/christian singer voice, charismatic and interesting, with a pompadour the size of my house. The Continental had walls painted deep red and there was a dance area right in front of the stage. At first I thought there was no wrong way to dance country, seeing as how everyone in the dance floor danced differently. Some people could twirl! Ben asked me to dance and we did the two step a bit awkwardly at first but eventually I caught on to the quick, quick, slow rhythm. Unfortunately the song finished rather quickly and then it was time to go home. It's hot as hell here. A good first day.

Working Saturday

Saturday in Green Bay was very, very good: had to get up early to be at work by 8:30, but this worked out okay – one set of participants cancelled, giving us an hour to relax at 10, and then the last set of participants showed up an hour and a half earlier, which actually worked very well – they were ready and prepped to go into the recording room by noon and that translated into us being finished with our workday by 1pm. Score!

The weather wasn’t great but it was getting sunnier by the second. We decided to go for lunch before heading out to explore Green Bay. Our choice this time? Kavarna, a vegetarian café in downtown Green Bay. All of their selections looked awesome and the place was packed when we got there – always a good sign. I ordered a cup of tomato, “chorizo” and parsley soup, and a bean burger with onions, lettuce, tomato, garlic cream cheese in a soft bagel.

On the way out we got cookies. Mine was white macademia. We ate our cookies while walking around the downtown district. Not a very busy area by any standards, but very cute with stores like “Hat-Cetera” and “Sassy girl.”

We got in the car and headed north to Door County, specifically to Cave Point Park. We hiked along Lake Michigan for a couple of hours, stepping mostly on eroded rocks, but once in a while finding strips of sand completely covered with thousands of small shells.

At one point we ran into a seagull that didn’t like us very much, but we stayed clear of his rock and it helped the situation. At one point we stopped to sun bathe a bit and enjoy the sound of water lapping on rock, of the seagulls calling to each other, of the nearby trees dancing with the wind. The lake looked like the sea – there seemed to not be an end – and the water had various colors, depending on how deep the bed was, going from extremely clear to light green to green blue, to deep blue. I can only imagine what it looks like in the middle of summer.

After the 45 minutes drive back to Green Bay we struggled to find what to eat – the Italian restaurant our contact had recommended was closed. The Thai place we found online was also closed. Finally we settled on a Mexican Restaurant (I know, after that whole week of Mexican at Brownsville,) but at least this one was open and came highly recommended by yelp users and what not.

I had the two “mini” ground beef burritos. These babies were drenched in melted Mexican cheese and really weren’t much more than ground beef in a flour tortilla with lettuce and cilantro and tomato on top. I was very disappointed. However, it was all fixed when I stole one of Matt’s corn tortilla, and made myself a ground beef taco. And THAT was delish. We were stuffed.

The night ended with the Mets beating the Yankees 4 to 3, and with the voice of my Cariño. Oh yeah.

Workday #197

So I've worked at my present job now for 10 months... but with weekends and vacation days and what not, yesterday was workday number 197. All in all it was a good day. Although like any place of employment my job has its downsides, I LOVE my Job, like seriously I do. It takes me to all these places I'd otherwise never see, I meet awesome people, get a chance at some great food, I get to accumulate frequent flier miles.

Yesterday was one of those good days: After a good, thorough morning workout, Workday was long, full, but also very smooth and I got the job done happily. I met me some extremely cute little old ladies that make me smile just remembering them. We had a simple lunch that consisted of bread and hummus and cucumbers, since I forgot the peanut butter that is a key ingredient in a PB&J Sammich.

After work we stopped at a WalMart and purchased some shorts and some chanclas and rode for about 30 or so minutes to South Padre Island, TX. Beautiful Sand!

It was gorgeous. I didn't get in the water to swim right away, but walked on, letting the waves kiss my feet before I found me a good corner where I attempted to build a sand castle, without any tools but
my hands, and a business card. Enter the StoryCastle!

Not so bad, considering!
After all that work I went in the water to de-sand, but didn't really swim - the waves weren't that big/exciting, but the water was close to warm and it felt good against my body.
After quickly changing by the car we drove around until we found The Big Donkey, one of the restaurants in South Padre that had been recommended to us. I had the blackened fillet o' fish (what kind of pescado? I don't remember!) smothered with onions, mushrooms, peppers and garlic. It came with a side of rice. I like the way they cook Mexican rice around here. It doesn't have the flavor that most Tex Mex places in NYC (and everywhere else I've been so far) has.

Whatever the fish was, it was very fresh, but also kinda bland. What I really enjoyed was the awesome smothering factor of the peppers and onions.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a Dairy Queen for some soft serve vanilla ice cream.

Yeah. I love this job.

100% Natural

Yesterday we drove down Boca Chica Boulevard in Brownsville, TX and found "100% Natural." They gave us pickled jalapeños instead of chips.

Suffice it to say, it be spicy.
Then I had the Soya con Carne Cheeseburger and a salad.

Our food earned us a "nieve de yoghurt con todo."

Delicioso.