New York Days 3-5

As much as I would have liked to have kept this up daily, it just wasn't possible. Friday and Saturday nights were totally packed and, as we knew they would be going in, we decided to book a hotel room ahead of time so we wouldn't have to make the trek back to Coney Island at 3am. Anyway, here's the rundown of the last three days.

Day 3 - Friday

After the second night in Coney Island I slept a little better and my strange dreams seemed slightly less lengthy. We got up at a respectable time, got ready, packed our things for our weekend stay in Manhattan, and then headed in to have lunch with Angela.

At her suggestion, we went to a place she's been wanting to try called Kati Roll. The Midtown Lunch blog pretty much sums it up when it says it's an Indian burrito, but it really is meant in the best possible way. The paratha is is grilled to order (somewhat unfortunately as this makes the wait time a whopping 10+ minutes) and then filled with a choice of chicken, lamb, beef, spicy potato or egg, and then all wrapped up and ready to be devoured. Sam and Angela both had Chicken Tikka and I had spicy potato, which was delicious, but not nearly as spicy as the chicken... go figure. We weren't totally on top of our game when we ordered one each (they're kind of small) so we went for round two, this time trying an egg one and the beef, which also turned out to be spicier than the spicy potato. All were super delicious and have got me wishing that such a place existed back home and within a few minutes walk of my office. But maybe that could be my million dollar business venture. Kati Roll goes West Coast.

After lunch we headed to the W to check in, drop our crap off, and get in a little rest. Then it was back down to Soho for always delicious Rice to Riches, more browsing and basically just killing time before we met up with Sam's friends for dinner. We wandered around for a while hitting Mango, Zara, and the ever popular Apple store and Bloomingdale's bathrooms, and then it was time for dinner. We headed over to the LES and met up with Sam's friends, Ross, Dave T., Clara and Aki.

Dinner was at a place called Kampuchea that neither Sam nor I had ever been to before. After reading a few so-so Yelp reviews I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out the place was nothing like I imagined it to be, decor and food. The whole place is high rustic wooden communal tables and high stools with no backs. Not ideal after a few minutes, but they looked good so I get it. As for food, personally, it was a little mixed. We started off with grilled corn slathered in some kind spicy aoli and topped with a grated hard cheese. Not Cambodian in the slightest (I've had it a couple times at Peruvian places) but super delicious. Slightly messy but definitely worth it. And even worth all the corn crap that got stuck in my teeth. For my entree I ordered the pork soup noodles. I don't really know why I ordered that because I almost never, ever order pork noodles but at the time a big bowl of soup noodles seemed in order and nothing else was really jumping out at me. Unfortunately, the noodles were nothing like what I expected and generally just a little bland. I suppose had I actually taken the time to read the menu carefully AND listened to the waitress's suggestions, I might've ended up with something else, or at least had a better understanding of my dish before it arrived. But oh well, live and learn.

After dinner we headed over to Fontana's to see Dave Y. play a show with is band U S V S. We had a bunch of time to kill while the other bands played so naturally we spent it drinking. By the time Dave Y. came on we were all feeling pretty good. I really had no idea what to expect from the band but I was very pleasantly surprised. They were totally good and my 18-year-old groupie dream came a little bit true when Dave dedicated a song to Sam and I, just for being back. (Omg the lead singer of a band just dedicated a song to me!!!) Eight songs later and it was back up stairs, a round of shots and talk of wing-women, the Poconos and fire pits. Tons of fun. Three hours and seven drinks (for Sam) later it was time to hit the train and head up town to pour into our W bed. All in all, a very good day.

Day 4 - Saturday

Woke up earlier than we should have so naturally we went back to sleep, which meant that naturally we were running later later on. I guess it didn't help either that we started watch the Olympics on our giant flat pannel tv at the foot of our feather bed. (Even for being in probably one of the least luxurious rooms in the W, it was still quite lovely.) Once we were finally out of the hotel we headed into Williamsburg to meet up with Dave, Dave, Davit and Clara for brunch at Harefield Road. The best part about brunch there, free coffee or tea AND choice of bloody mary or mimosa... Oh yes. It really is great. My eggs benedict did not disappoint either. After brunch and a short side trip to faux Game Stop, it was back to Dave and Clara's sweet ass apartment for hours and hours of Rock Band. When I say sweet ass apartment, I mean it. It's a two bedroom with two good-sized bedrooms and an office, a very good-sized livingroom/dining room/kitchen, AND (bonus!!) a large outdoor patio complete with lawn and vegetable garden..! They're growing tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, leeks, celery, strawberries, green peppers.. It's so great!

Anyway, after losing my shit over their veg garden and island kitchen sink, it was time to settle in for four straight hours of Rock Band. This was a first experience for both Sam and I, but we did have the guitar part pretty down as we have played a fair amount of Guitar Hero at home. After hearing how difficult the drumming was and thinking I would know none of the lyrics to any of the songs, I was fully prepared to just play guitar a few times and mostly watch. No such luck. Everything is awesome! Drums actually are pretty difficult but after a few songs I couldn't help but keep going, despite the stress of not wanting to let my band down. Sam tried his hand at drums and, of course, was much better than me pretty much out of the gate--not shocking in any way. We sang a couple of songs each, too (Maps?? Hells yeah 100%! Creep? Freaking flawless!!) but mostly we just ended up back on guitar and bass doing what we do best. After four great hours as Waxy Blaze it we took a break from the band and headed to the UES to meet Sam's family for dinner.

We headed up to Dovetail where Sam's brother-in-law's sister is the Pastry Chef. I knew we were in for a great meal and one loaded with extras, but I couldn't even begin to comprehend what lay ahead of us. The restaurant is very nice. It's rather minimal but not particularly large so it was a nice clean balance, and with good lighting, which is important to me. We settled in with our menus and decided on a few appetizers to share: crab ravioli, seared scallops and gnocchi with shaved truffles. The ravioli and scallops were both good, but the gnocchi was easily the standout appetizer. They were perfectly tender and not too chewy, and were lightly pan seared with just the perfect flavor of buttery goodness. Oh, and the truffles were definitely a nice touch, although not actually entirely necessary. But I happen to like truffles, so I no complaints. For my entree I had a duo of beef. One piece of well seared, perfectly tender sirloin, and a beef cheek "lasagna," so to speak. It was slow cooked beef cheek layered with a root vegetable (I'm guessing parsnip or turnip) and then topped with cheese and lightly baked. Both were delicious. But once we were done with our entrees, that's when the meal really began. 

Being that Vera is the pastry chef, I knew she would more than take care of our desserts but I had no idea what was to come. 

New York - Day 2

Day 2 of 7 and it didn't disappoint. As planned, today was shopping day. We had big plans to get up early with the parents and try to adjust to Eastern time but that just wasn't happening. By 8:15 it was already hot and I had a restless night full of strange dreams. So at 10:30 we tried the whole getting up thing again, me from my bed in Angela's old room, and Sam from his childhood bed in his old room. While this sounds like an unexciting arrangement for a 20-something couple on vacation, there is really something to be said for having your own bed when the night time low temperature is in the mid-70s.

After we were up and washed it was time for the long trek into the city. I had heard tale of the seemingly endless journey that is Coney Island to Manhattan, but I could never fully comprehend what that meant...until today.

Step 1: Walk to bus stop. Not horrible by any means. Two short blocks and there you are. What did throw me somewhat was the abundance of Dollar Cabs. Until today, I'm not sure I'd ever heard those words coupled. The premise of the dollar cab is that for $1-$2 a town car will take you from the bus stop to the train station, because the bus is not particularly reliable and, let's face it, everyone just wants to get to the train. I'm somewhat fascinated by these dollar cabs because there were quite a number of them going back and forth and it really seemed like a lot of competition for something that 1) competes with public transportation, and 2) arose out of seemingly mere annoyance and sometimes inconvenience. I mean, I get how it happens and great for everyone involved, I just could never see something like this happening in San Francisco. (Or does it already happen somewhere and I just don't know it??)

Step 2: Wait for bus. This would have been better had we not just missed one, but it also wasn't awful compared to the ungodly amounts of time I've spent waiting for the 52 or 33. But again, watching all the dollar cabs was somewhat strange, if not a little fascinating.

Step 2.5: And this is totally optional--Walk to boardwalk and walk on the beach. I've never been to the boardwalk at Coney Island and I could smell the beach as soon as we stepped out of the house so I just had to go. It was basically as expected, if not a little bit cheaper. Maybe it says something awful about me or the city I live in or the places I go, but I can't help but get a little excited when I see bottled water being sold for $1. Good for you Coney Island vendors! Oh but both the high and low point was seeing the hot dog vending machine. And not some fancy Japanese one that is probably self stocking, cooking and cleaning. But just a regular, old looking, probably will eat your dollar and give you E. coli vending machine. I can't help but wonder under what circumstances one would choose the hot dog vending machine over an extra half-block's walk to Nathan's or any number of places, or would walk the extra half-block past the boardwalk, which is of course lined with all types of food vendors.

Step 3: Go up stairs to board train. This is all very simple and straightforward. Except that it's not if you're not paying attention and all the tracks look a like and all the walkways look like they go to the same place but they don't. But other than that it's fine and MTA workers were actually mopping out all of the cars before the train left. (It's the end of the line.)

Step 4: Ride train for a very long time. I stress that this is a very long time. About 20 minutes or so into the ride I asked, "Do we have much farther to go?" thinking that surely it can't be that much farther. Trains are fast and the stops aren't that close together. We must've covered some good ground by now. Sam's response: "Yes. 20 or 30 minutes." Me: Aghast at what lay ahead of us and starting to feel hunger kick in. After any number of unfamiliar subway stops (and a few familiar ones.. thanks The National) and a whopping 50+ minutes, we finally reached Canal Street. Oh sweet, sweet Canal Street. I've never been so happy to see you.

Step 5: Because Chinatown was not our final destination, we hopped another train and headed slightly uptown, only to be foiled by the express train and have to talk back downtown. This was fast and relatively painless, but when all was said and done it felt like hours since we had left the house.

Our first destination of the day (and arguably the most important of the entire trip) was Je'bon. In the year and one month since I was last in New York, I have craved, absolutely craved the Satay Beef noodles. I've been worried that I've built up this bowl of noodles so high that it could never be as good as I remember (a la steak cubes in Chinatown). My fears were of course put to rest with that first spoonful of satay brothy goodness. Yelp reviews be damned. I always have and always will love Je'bon. Sam and I both had satay beef as it's probably the best thing on the whole damn menu, and we also split an order of Smiley Buns to start. It's comprised of a Peking Duck style bun filled with roasted pork belly instead of duck, with a slice of green onion and a slice of cucumber, and the ever delicious plum sauce on the side for dipping. In my opinion, the smiley bun is named not only for it's shape and appearance, but also for the smile it brings to my face when I eat it and think about it. The bun is exactly the right texture and density and the pork belly is oh-so fatty and delicious. Generally speaking, I hate the texture of fat. It feels gross in my mouth and just doesn't do anyhting for me. At first glance, I wasn't sure how this was all going to go down (even though I've had it before, but a long time ago). To my utter delight, it was melty and drippy in all of the right ways. The actual meat portion was tender and tasty and it was all quite lovely together. Very smiley. As for the noodles, I have to say again, they did not disappoint. It is arguably the best bowl of noodles I have ever had in my entire life. And I've had a lot of noodles. The broth is flavorful and thick, slightly spicy and not overly salty. The ramen noodles are perfectly dense and tasty, the beef is tender and oozing with flavor and the added veg makes for a perfect balance. My only gripe, not enough noodles! Yes, as full as I was, I wanted more. They're just that good.

After Je'bon it was time for the shopping portion of the day. That meant a walk to SoHo and a trip to Uniqlo and any other store I felt like going into despite being able to shop at it's chain store counterpart in San Francisco. Sam was successful, scoring a pair of jeans, a button-down, a sweater vest, four pairs of socks, and a much needed fourth hoodie. I gave their jeans a shot but just wasn't into them enough, despite the half-off sale. We pushed on and when all was said and done I came out of it all with a non-hoodie sweatshirt and a summer/fall jacket that is now too light to wear in SF, as I'm told it's nothing but cold and gloom there at the moment.

We ended the trip with much needed popsicles from Mr. Softee-wannabe truck (Mr. Softee drove away from us. We tried, but he left us) and then began the arduous journey back to Coney Island. I have to say, a Bullet really makes the trip much more enjoyable.

We came home for yet another yummy mommy dinner and some yummy fruit for dessert. (The lesson for tonight: Kiwis are really a Chinese fruit but they were exported and then perfected in New Zealand... who knew...) Then I passed out on the couch, we Skyped for a while, something something email and this blog, and so ends day 2.

Tomorrow: Kati Roll and Boba Dave's big break.

New York

Where to begin... Right now I'm doing two things I haven't done in far, far too long: 1) blogging. Yes, this is officially the first post of this blog, but there is an old one out there that chronicles a more youthful me. 2) I'm back in New York. Yes, it's been slightly over a year since I was here last and compared to the two previous years, that is definitely a long time not to have been out here. I suppose the only down side of having your boyfriend move across the country to be with you is that you really don't get to visit his awesome hometown nearly as much. But we're back now and it's Sam's first trip home since moving to San Francisco, so it should be a lot of fun.

This is day 1 of 7. Most of the day was spent in the air killing long hours in any number of ways, none of which were on Virgin's awesome entertainment system Red. Why? Because it was down. It's nothing to get worked up over but let's just say it's a good thing we had our ipods, DS and books.

We got to Sam's parents' house at about 8pm and went almost immediately into dinner. Despite having snacked a lot on the plane, we were ready for some good Mommy's cooking. It didn't disappoint. The rest of the night was mostly just sitting around relaxing and eating cherries. Then some quick checking of email and subway research and then all of a sudden it's two hours later and I've started a new blog.

It's nearly 1am now and I'm going to try my hardest to adjust to Eastern time so I should wrap it up. But certainly more to come as we eat our way through this next seven days.