Lunes: la playa

We relaxed on the beach by our condo all morning. It was hot hot hot, but the breeze kept us cool and a dip in the ocean was refreshing. Although some ominous clouds were looming in the distance, we managed to avoid a single drop and headed in around 2 or 3, no tan in sight.

We decided to walk along Ashford Avenue westward toward San Juan for a late lunch and I was anticipating my first pina colada of the trip. We had read about Hacienda Don Jose's amazing views and mediocre views and true to the reviews, that's exactly what we got. We both got lunch specials and pina coladas which were so refreshing and went down way too easily!

On the walk back we picked up some wine for the condo and just relaxed here until dinner time. We tried walking east on Ashford this time and ended up at yet another Mexican spot. Neither of us was very hungry so we shared nachos and had sangria before calling it a night.

San Juan, here we come!

Hola from Puerto Rico!

B escorted me to LaGuardia airport early on Sunday and I had no problems getting down to Atlanta to meet BP, who flew in from Seattle. I only had to kill about 4 hours there! Bored stiff and exhausted. But she made it and we were on our way to San Juan, Puerto Rico. A slight delay and some turbulence throughout, but we made it here just fine, too dark to see much of anything, and the cabbie didn't know where we were going so it took a while to get to the condo, but we did manage. 8 entry keys later, we had arrived in our home away from home, a cute little studio on Condado beach.

It was late when we arrived so we just ran over to the 24 hour Walgreen's to pick up a few essentials and then hit the sack. We slept in until 10 the next morning and literally rolled out onto the beach until mid-afternoon. The water is amazingly clear and a beautiful turquoise color. The sun is brutally hot as is the sand, but that's what we came here for! Here's the view from our balcony:

Otto

We managed to get 8:30 reservations at Otto on a Friday night so we braved the possibility of torrential downpours (there were none!) and walked down to Greenwich Village for dinner.

We were welcomed by a cacophony of sounds -- voices of locals and tourists alike waiting in the large bar area to be seated, the click clack of one of those old-timey flip schedule boards (like you see at a train station) to indicate when your table is ready, and 80s tunes blasting. Not exactly what I expected of a Batali restaurant! But what I wasn't surprised to see was a whole station dedicated to cured meats, house-cured olives and Italian cheeses slicing each plate to order. The minute we eyed that up, we knew we would have to order some.

The waiter's recommendations did not disappoint, from the bottle of Montessu Punica ($44) down to the most amazing Coppa ever. Apparently the meat was flavored by fennel, chilis and various spices and melted in your mouth. For $9 we got a generous portion. The pizzas were also delicious, even a simple Margherita D.O.P. or a more involved Napoletana with big pieces of whole anchovy, reasonably priced at $11 and $12, respectively.

I felt bad for ordering the chocolate budino for dessert since B's allergic and I was crazy full, but I ate every last bite of it and was happy that we walked home so I wouldn't feel like a complete glutton. The chocolate was smooth except for cocoa nibs which added some texture and a soft whipped cream. Mmmmm.

I've never been to any of the other Batali restaurants (except for Bar Jamon for wine) so I can't really compare, but for the value and deliciousness, I <3 this place. Reservations are a must -- the party that came in just before us didn't get a table until we were paying the bill! No photos because it was too dark, but I'll be back!

Eat, drink and be merry

I've been meaning to write up some of my favorite eateries so far, but haven't managed to find the time. So this will be an abbreviated version for now with no photos. Hope to do better on this front going forward...

Mmmmm, summer in NYC wouldn't be complete without soft serve from a Mister Softee truck. I swear they follow B around because he sees them at every corner whereas I have to go seek them out. I can't believe they have a website!

Finally made it to Momofuku Noodle Bar and it was worth every minute and every dollar. They really know how to do pork. The ramen was incredible but the real star here was the steamed pork buns served open-faced. Oh I could sit there and eat pork buns all day. Delicious! As Homer Simpson says, pigs are "a wonderful, magical animal."

Okay so it may be sacriligious to even put a Mexican restaurant on this list, but there is something about sitting outside at Arriba Arriba in Hell's Kitchen on a warm summer day and getting a plate of nachos and a margarita. They are good and not in that Velveeta, Tex-Mex kind of way. Again, not mind-blowing, but it brings back fond memories of B's days in HK and the little studio apartment.

Mention of HK restaurants wouldn't be complete without Empanada Mama. Every filling I've tried has been good -- my faves are the Brasil, spicy chicken, and the Cuban. Priced at $2.50 each it's a good deal too! The only disappointment here was the overpriced and watered-down sangria.

There's an affordable Indo-Paki restaurant across the street called Sirtaj. It's not the best South Asian food I've had, but it's pretty tasty and for the portion-size to price ratio, you can't beat it.

Also in the neighborhood is Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. Yes, I like this place even if you have to wait 30 minutes to order. The fries are bleh and I have yet to try a shake, but the burgers are yummy and reasonably priced. Mmmmm, I want a Shackburger now!

I'm still trying to find a good Vietnamese restaurant in town, but I am finding that I may have to get out to Flushing to find anything authentic and/or affordable. We did try O Mai here in Chelsea and while the lemongrass beef roll appetizer was amazing, nothing else really lived up to that first bite. The crispy fish in chili lime sauce was decent, but I can't even remember what else we ordered if that tells you anything.

I did try Pho Cong Ly in Chinatown and it was pretty good but it's a haul to get to. And when we tried to get banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from Banh Mi Saigon in the back of a jewelry store in Chinatown, they had "run out". Boooo! I will have to go back there soon.

Since I'm talking Chinatown I may as well mention the soup dumplings we had at Joe's Shanghai (not to be confused with Joe's Ginger just up the street). It was easily recognizable by the crowd of people waiting on the sidewalk for a table. For 2 people the wait was only 5 minutes but I probably would have waited an hour for these little bites of goodness. If you've never had soup dumplings, go to their website and watch the YouTube video on how to eat them properly. Cheap cheap cheap -- $5-7 for a steam basket of 8 buns.

I would write up John's Pizzeria in Greenwich Village, but our last visit was disappointing. Now I am gearing up for an adventure to Brooklyn where supposedly the best pizza in NYC resides at Di Fara's.

Now that we have a fully operable kitchen and trying to save money, we'll probably eat out a lot less, but I'll still post any foodie gems I find out there. Mmmm, all this talk of food has got me hungry! Time for lunch!

What else?

Certainly it hasn't all been unpacking boxes and organizing...here's a smattering of other things we've been up to in the last month or so.

Saw a Sesame Street taping in our local, Madison Square Park (only 2 blocks away!):

I also got to catch up with my old friend J who was in from London. That meant lots of food and drink, lots of walking, hanging out in Central Park, and exploring Chelsea Market:

The following weekend we took a quick trip out to SmelL-A for B's niece's high school graduation. I survived meeting the entire fam but it was such a fast out-and-back trip that I felt exhausted the entire time!

Life in boxes

I haven't written in a while because all we've really done since graduation is, in more or less this order:

1. Sell stuff on Craigslist
2. Pack up boxes
3. Sell stuff on Craigslist
4. Load truck
5. Sell stuff on Craigslist
6. Unload stuff in Dallas
7. Drive 1,750 miles with overnights in Little Rock, AR; Knoxville, TN; and Bethlehem, PA
8. Unload truck
9. Unpack boxes
10. Sell stuff on Craigslist
11. Goodwill runs x 20
12. Ikea runs x 3 (not an easy feat when you have no wheels!!)
    

I've taken some time to enjoy the city on my time off, but I find that everytime I leave the apartment I spend money. Since I haven't started working yet, I'm trying to avoid all that. It's also been raining like crazy here! Not fun! The good thing is that we're nearly completely unpacked and settled in...just in time for me to leave again. Ugh.