Working Sunday

Naomi and I had to work at the New York Booth today. Working on a Sunday is never fun, but at least I get to work with Naomi, which I haven't done in a while. To make it all better, we decided to go for a tasty lunch away from the booth during a lull in between interviews.

Since Naomi is now Vegan, we walked around until we found a Vegan Chinese Food Restaurant she had been to before, Buddha Bodai.

We decided to share our meal and we began by some delicious vegan dumplings. I went all out and had them pan fried instead of steamed.

Then we went for the General Tso's "Chicken" and some white rice.

This meal was DELICIOUS. I'm running back here the first chance I get - the general tso was not too heavy, the "chicken" was the perfect consistency, and all is right with the world after you eat this meal.

We rushed back to work to find that our afternoon interviews had been cancelled - which wasn't that big of a deal, since I had to go to midtown after to buy some things. Not a bad working sunday after all.

Some Days Are Longer Than Others

This work day was a weird one - it started late in the day and thus, ended late in the day. We were working in the South Side of Chicago, an area that I'm not quite familiar with but a place whose reputation precedes it. I was excited because I thought I was finally going to get to see a High School Football game - but it turns out that that night they were playing at the other school. We had a full work day otherwise, with plenty of solo interviews to keep us working and busy over 8 hours.

In any case, we finished working, and scheduled the cab to pick us up. We packed our equipment and waited in the chilly air for the car to come. And waited. And waited. When it became obvious that the cab was not coming, we searched and called every cab company we found online - to no avail. They all said "we'll be there in 5 minutes," and 5 minutes later they would call back to say they didn't have any cars available. The school's security and cleaning staff looked at us and thankfully felt bad enough so that they gave us the phone number to a "local" car. Think gypsy cabs to the extreme: it was essentially a young woman in her car. She had someone else in the car with her - to ensure that the driver would be safe and we weren't going to try to steal from them. Funnily enough the School's cleaning lady whispered to me on the way out "Don't trust the women either, pay attention."

I don't have the words to explain how I felt. The frustration the moment I realized why the cabs were not coming. The frustration at the fact that I didn't feel comfortable enough to walk to a nearby bus station. The fear, and anger. The attempt at bravado. Thankfully we made it to our hotel okay, considering that we were carrying with us thousands of dollars in equipment. We decided that if ever there was a day that deserved a feast this was it, and so we made our way to The Chicago Diner, a Vegan place. First: a much needed alcoholic beverage.

Followed by Vegan Meatloaf - which came in a delicious sauce, Vegan mashed potatoes and a side of veggies. 

It hit the spot - it was also the best Veggie Meatloaf I've ever had. And it was just enough to get us to feel better about the fact that some days, really are just wrong.