Expectations

I think a lot of times misunderstandings in relationships occur because of differences in our expecatations of what another person is supposed to do in a given situation. For example, we expect our boyfriends to remember things like our birthdays and valentine's day (what I believe to be reasonable expectations) and certain boyfriends may expect us to do all the cooking, cleaning, and bringing home our own bacon while they sit back (what I believe to be unreasonable expectations). When our expections aren't met, we get angry and disappointed. But my point is that we can only have expectations of people that we care about.

Day 1-2 - Montreal - homesick

It's been an exhausting couple of days in Montreal. We stepped off our flight from La Guardia around noon on Thanksgiving day as snow was falling all around. There's something so romantic and peaceful about that dusting of white over everything.

Everyone here is gorgeous, the women on the streets with their beautiful long coats and the men all sharply dressed in armani designer splendour. It's hard to be in this city and not be consumed by desire for expensive things and I can't deny that feeling of absolute confidence that walking down the street in impeccably tailored clothes can give you, but I can't wait to be back in Seattle and be in a room where I know with certainty that I'm better dressed then the men. Why is it that these things can affect me when I know they shouldn't? I had a conversation with IW and she said that she feels happy just having window shopped, just having tried on nice things. I wish I had the same positive feelings about the experience, but it's usually just a sad reminder of things that I can't have or as IW puts it, things that I 'choose' not to buy.

I think I'm homesick.

NYC - Day 3

Slept in once again today and got to our 2pm destination just a little late to meet a 'mafia' character to start a walking tour of New York hosted by New York Accomplice. The idea is that you're an accomplice taking a job with the mafia and you follow clues to various drop off spots throughout Manhattan. The tour took about 3 and half hours and they started us off by pointing us to a bar for a round of drinks. I guess I can't write too much detail about what we saw since it's all supposed to be a secret, but the weather was about perfect. Not as cold as the last two days, so it wasn't too hard walking around. The trees had that wonderful, stark, barren, fall/winter look to them (if that makes any sense) with their branches reaching towards the sky against the gigantic backdrop of New York architecture. The groups were small, so it was interesting to meet and talk with the other people while working together to get to the next destination. There were plenty of surprises including live frogs, a bike ride on the Brooklyn Bridge, a russian doll, and Frank Sinatra - ask me and I'll explain more. The producers and actors did a wonderful job of putting it all together and it ended with a bang :)

nyc day 2

Day 2 in NYC
Woke up today after IW had gone off to study and ventured out by myself in the Big Apple. I walked over to Ground Zero and decided it was too sad to try and take a picture of it. However, there were plenty of tourists doing so. IW hosted a party at her place this evening with appy's and chocolate fondue so we headed out for a day of grocery shopping and prep work. I couldn't wait to see what a NY market would be like. We hit Fairway on the upper west side after being whisked to our destination via the subway. I really love not having to drive! We walked by H and H bagels so I had to stop in and try one. It was tough and a little like day old bread. Definitely not my kind of bagel. Fairway was insanely busy with narrow aisles and too many people and shopping carts, but a good selection of products (minus the west coast emphasis on 'organic'). There'll be pictures that I'll update with later. The products were the same for the most part as some of my favorite places in Seattle.
After getting back to IW's I made steak au poivre with a quick beef stock, 2003 MontGras Cab, Syrah reduction - recommended at a tiny wine shop that IW and I stumbled across in Soho last night - and cream sauce served over sauteed vidalia onions and sauteed asparagus. Yummy and quick. We then started prepping salsa, cutting fruit for the chocolate fondue and served a brie and manchego with crackers. There was plenty of wine and good conversation at the party and not a single person out of the 15 or so people was a native New Yorker. I did manage to meet someone who promised to show me some of the good restaurants in Brooklyn. Can't wait!

new york city

Just arrived in NYC today after one rough flight with a screaming child in front of me. I've never really had thoughts about strangling children before, but after 5 hours of screaming I was ready to muffle her for good. On the flip side, there were 2 infants and a young girl who sat on either side of me with their parents and they were perfect angels the whole flight. I just hope I have better luck on the flight home.
I took the cab from JFK to my friend IW's place in the financial district and had an interesting conversation with the cab driver. He was basically criticizing how oversexed young women have become and how women share their sexual exploits freely now, be it menage a trois or 3am booty calls being made from the back of his cab. Having grown up in the 60s he thought that sex was ok, but with discretion. He thought it is a man's job to be the aggressor and if a women wanted to 'get laid' she could suggest it in a way without just coming out and asking for it a la Samantha Jones. Have shows like 'Sex and the City' done a disservice to women by making us believe that we can be emulate it's characters and still land Mr. Nice Guy who'll stick around for more than 2 seconds?
After getting to IW's we stepped out and I got my introduction to the NY subway system followed by dinner in Soho at Cafe Habana. We shared a plate of their spicy grilled corn sprinkled with cheese (I'd like to say cotija, but I'm not sure), fresh lime and plenty of butter - a steal at less than $4 for 2 cobs. It was absolutely delicious. I then had the corn hominy stew with chicken. Satisfying and perfect given the cold temperatures outside. I keep wondering why I've chosen to visit NY and Montreal at a time when it's colder than Seattle. More to report tomorrow....

2 sushi spots in one day

I had japanese for lunch and dinner today. The first was Sanmi Sushi right next to Palisades on Elliot Bay. BD and I shared hamachi kama, nabeyaki udon and crab temaki. The food was good and simple if a little unexciting. The egg for the nabeyaki udon arrived more cooked then I'd like, but the flavors were good. The crab temaki was real crab, and maybe it was the amount of mayonnaise, but it lacked the freshness that I've had with other crab sushi. BD mentioned that they may be going out of business, but I suspect that's due to low visibility. The restaurant seems to be just an extension of the Palisades building next door when seen from the street.

The second place I went to was Blue C Sushi in the University Village. PC and I went immediately after spin class still dressed in our gym clothes.

On a side note (skip to the next paragraph if you're looking for food stuff only and are easily offended), we're still puzzled by the gender of our spin class instructor who definitely had the physique and voice of a male, but went by the name of Heather. I think 'she' underwent a sex change, but PC wasn't sure and kept insisting 'she' is a 'he'. I think the telltale sign was that 'she' wore tight spandex and didn't seem to have the requisite parts for a 'he'.

Blue C Sushi is the exact opposite kind of place that Sanmi Sush was. Sanmi was understated traditional japanese. Blue C is trendy, hip, the waitstaff are dressed in sexy sophisticated NY black, and there's trance playing in the background with 2 large projection screens against the wall streaming j-pop videos. Blue C Sushi is kaiten sushi where patrons grab plates of sushi that circulate the restaurant on conveyor belts. I was actually impressed by how fresh everything was since I've been to other kaiten sushi places before and have not really been eager to go to another one. There's nothing intimidating about eating sushi here, all the plates have little signs underneath listing the ingredients and whether things are 'raw' or 'cooked' (For the sushi virgins I suppose). Items sampled included their spider roll, spicy tuna roll, shrimp tempura roll, sesame noodles, salmon, hamachi (very fresh), chopped scallop and unagi nigiri, gomae, and a dessert cream puff (which I'll pass on next time). All in all, prices were inexpensive for the quality of food since the bill for the two of us (~$40) was just about what we paid for lunch at Sanmi.