nacken travel blog
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
We just got back from the Bubble Lounge .
So, how was this Tuesday? Warm ... nice .. not as sunny as yesterday, but very pleasant temperatures, got a bit cloudy later in the day.
For dinner we went to one Sushi place we really like. Though it belongs to the chain of "East" sushi restaurants, this one is the best "Kaiten-Sushi" place in Manhattan for us. (there is one more, called "genki sushi" which is higher in price and lesser in quality!)
Well, this place is on 3rd Ave between 26th and 27th and it is a fun place and the sushi is very good, oh, for those who may not know, kaiten sushi means that you sit at a counter around a kitchen area, in which the sushi chefs do their thing .. and around goes a conveyor belt with portions of sushi on colorful plates ... so you can just watch what passes you and pick what you like .. the color of the plate indicates the price ... so at the end the waiter just takes the stack of empty plates and calculates your check ... yes, just try to drop some plates or smuggle them into someone elses stack ... i bet those waiters have seen it all ...
One really great specialty they have is white tuna, oh so yummy. We rarely find it somewhere else, and never in that great quality ... other things we had, ikura, unagi, uni, salmon, tuna tar tar .... getting hungry again just writing about it .... at the end we shared a "mini udon" ... broth with thick noodles .. very very tasty
We then took a cab to the beforementioned Bubble Lounge to meet with Berna, Chris and Ryan, and to listen to the Lascivious Biddies, a 4 girl band doing jazzy cabaret fun stuff. The lady frontlining the band is Lee Ann Westover, an old friend of mine, from the days when she had a country band named "Strange Cargo". Ryan actually introduced me and Chris at a very funny Biddies event back in 2001. We all were painted green for the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
Anyways, the Bubble Lounge was just as we left it (we had our wedding champagne there 10 months ago), only that now (as anywhere in Manhattan) smoking is forbidden by law in restaurants and bars ... But it was surely fun, Billy, the evening manager remembered us and so did some other wait staff, the music was nice, and on the table next to us we spotted Kathleen Turner. Ah well, that is New York ... we stayed until 11:20 and then took a cab home.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
For dinner we made reservation and the special monday lobster feast place: Mo's Caribbean Bar and Grill. On the way I shot some more video of the eastside at dusk, and here is the result.
This place has been doing the lobster special for quite some time now: first lobster is 13.95 and 2nd and 3rd come for 7.95 ... you get 2 sides with that ... while years ago you could select your side order out of eight, it is now pre-determined that you have baked potato and salad .. the single last decision you have to make is what dressing you want for the salad. And Cash Only !!! Still an amazing deal, and even better: the quality of the lobster is great, they are of good size and service is nice and quick (in this case it was even a bit too quick, lobster showed up 5 minutes after ordering.)
This Monday is another great weather day in NYC. 24 C, sunshine, great for wearing shorts. I spend lots of time running errands like bringing the dive gear to be serviced, grocery shopping (I missed that feeling of schlepping bags full of stuff 5 blocks, in Fiji you just lug it into the trunk) and on the way I shot some various video clips which I put together here.
Monday, April 28, 2003
Sunny Sunday with very warm temperatures! We went to the IMAX theater on the west side to watch Ghost of the Abyss, Jim Cameron's second exploit, err, exploration of the Titanic wreck.
I am glad we had the chance to watch this 'movie' in NY, since there is no IMAX thater in Fiji. But 11US$ for a 60 min documentary is somewhat steep .. but as impressive and well-done the movie was, I was glad it was only 60 minutes .. it started getting repetitive .. and why they had to ride the 9/11 horse of sentimentality??? Ah well .. go see it if you can, no way to download that, and if they ever release a 2D version on DVD (and i bet they will) ... this will surely cure your insomnia ... amazing that a almost all CGI bit of one robot cam (Jake) trying to rescue another robot cam (Elwood, I am not kidding) was the one thing that close to the end woke up the people and was actually entertaining ...
After the show we made our way throug central park ... below some shots of it, us with funny 3D glasses on, Sakura (Cherry Blossom) in NY ..
We crossed Manhattan Island to visit our old NY friends Chikako and Marcus, who (just like us) have a substance abuse problem with Sushi. So we went to another great neighbourhood place "Gari No Sushi" (aka Sushi of Gari) and had the Omakase Platter .. To our surprise it was delivered on 4 different plates (usually one big one) and no one did an nice intro as to what is what ... something we were used to from prior visits. But it seemed that our waitgirl was new and well .. she did her best .. and most importantly, the food was GREAT !!! .. they do some more experimental sushi, more colorful, eyepopping, but nothing as bad as cream cheese and lox (aka "Boston Roll") .. no, really nice stuff.
We had beer and sake and a great time ... Chikako told us about the latest, crazy fashion trend in Japan, skirts that are fashioned in a way that under a layer of see-through material, there a layer printed with the picture of a naked butt in panties !!! Sure enough I had to research the matter and came across this link.
Afterwards we went back to their place for some more chatting and icecream (yum, butter pecan) and then we took a cab home ...
Where I did some more research on those skirts .. and it seems to be just a hoax ! Here another link. Now I have to reconsider what to get Ritsu for our first anniversary, damnit ... well, I can always try to get that sailor moon uniform ... :)
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Today was mellow-day.
We slept in till 11:30 ... Then I made breakfast for Ritsu .. and we slept some more till 3:30 PM ... We then took a walk and went to PetCo to get some stuff for our cat Misha. We were especially amazed by the selection of high-tech kitty poop stations .. one was using a conveyor belt to scoop up the remains, another would actually flush the whole thing 4 times until the plastic litter grains were clean ... wonder how many complains about drowned cats they got so far (those retail for 250$ and 350$) .. we settled for one that has a pretty smart roll over mechanism and only cost 35$ (and fits in our suitcase)...
For dinner we tried the chicken wings from PluckU (since we were out of range of the next 3 Atomic Wings places by just 10 blocks or so) and they were pretty neat, very spicy. Their french fires were surprisingly flavorful (if not a bit soggy) and the potato cheese munchers were very tasty too. Just for kickers I also ordered a cup of their chili, and besides having too many beans, it was good too.. too bad they forgot to pack the blue cheese sauce and the celery sticks. Nice lazy Saturday.
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Friday: Ritsu went to see a chiropractor to take care of her backpain ... while it has gotten a lot better, a nagging pain remained. And it seems this chiropractor seems to be quite helpful.
In the evening we took a bus over to Hoboken in New Jersey (on the way I noticed the above building on 42nd street, which was not finished when we left NY 7 months ago, and it looks pretty interesting. The area around Times Square has changed quite a bit) to visit our old New York friends Berna and Chris in their new appartment (I love what they did in the bathroom with that plastic crocodile). They were receiving all kinds of mail orders for me, so I was like a little kid on xmas opening up all those neat parcels.
Later Ryan joined us and we went to a german restaurant called "Helmer's Cafe" and though I am usually not a fan of basically all sausage based food, it was very nice !!! We had schnitzels and smoked pork chops and sausage platters, washed it down with nice beers! Very very nice.
We took a bus back around 11:30 and it only took us about 35 minutes door to door to get back to our appartment on the eastside. Below is the nightview over to the eastside .. that red light is a huge Pepsi Cola neon sign (here some history on it) (and here another link).
Friday, April 25, 2003
Tonights dinner was fantastic (again) ... we went to Union Pacific where we had dinner the day we got married ... they have a fantastic pre-fix dinner menu: Ritsu had the Blue Fin Tuna and the Halibut, later the chocolate panacota. I had bay scallops, raw on the half shell with each a blob of uni (sea urchin meat), and the Tamerind Laquered Pekin Duck (which was OH SO YUMMY) and desert for me was mango/papaya carpaccio with pineapple icecream ... with that we slurped down a bottle of my favourite champagne, Paul Goerg .. it was great !!!
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Third night or 3 hour sleep ... I will never understand why traveling westward is no problem, but going back eastbound just screws me up everytime ... anyways ... more observations while walking in my new neighbourhood: My old appartment building in midtown has now become the "Buckingham Hotel". The electronics chain The Wiz seemed to have filed for chapter 11 and is closing at least its new york stores ... the japanese Asahiya bookstore is gone, and so are many small and medium restaurants. You see many "closing down sale", "going out of business" and "store for rent" ... the only bigger independent bookstore I knew on 57th and B'way is now a Daffy's store and part a Fleetbank shop ...
For dinner we went to surprise our old friend Christian at work, which is Aquavit a great swedish restaurant. He looked VERY surprised when we walked in ... we could not stay in touch since he does not use his email EVER and I lost his phonenumber when I lost my last cellphone. We chatted and had very nice dinner at the bar (which is still the same quality as the dining room, but apperently cheaper) ... Ritsu had a red cabbage gazpacho and then swedish meatballs and I went all fishy over a salmon plate (pictured below) and later a herring platter, offering 4 different kinds of marinated herring. Everything was fantastic. Noteworthy was also their horseradish infused aquavit (which literally means "Water of Life") which was very flavorfull.
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
I am still digesting all those New York impressions and things I have forgotten about: wailing police / fire engine / ambulance sirens, musicians in the subway .. body oder in the subway ... wearing socks again ... wearing SHOES again. People coming up with loud stories in the subway asking for money, 80% of people wearing headphones, trying to ignore each other as much as possible. Restaurants asking for "20$ food order per person minimum". Seeing tax / calculating tip on the check. Fighting over taxi cabs. Doormen. Dry cleaners on every block. Blocks. Cable internet connection ... i must have downloaded 4 GB of data today ... in ONE day ... the ISDN plan I may get in Fiji will cost me 5 times of what I would pay in NYC and I am restricted to half a GB for the whole month .. sigh. Cable TV .. around 100 channels yeah !
Tonight we went to the opera to watch La Boheme. We met Ritsu's friend Yuka and had food at PaneVino, which is the closest to the opera. What was nice was that we were promply seated and the waitres took into consideration to ask if we are going to the 8 PM show. So our food showed up fast ... I had seared salmon, and while not bad in preparation, the bread that came with it had more flavor and the red beet sauce and the asparagus were just the wrong combination .. Ritsu and Yuka has some spaghetti with clams .. the sauce was so yummy that I ended up dunking my salmon in it ... and if a place comes up with a "20$ food per person" minimum, it seems cheeky that all but one pasta dish are around 17-19$ ... ah well ...
Sad to see that the Met now too has severe security controls (but it went way faster than thought) and we got nice center seats all the way up in the top level balcony ... The production was pretty good, though me and Ritsu nearly fell asleep during act 1 (on my part, having had only 3 hours of sleep the night before, no wonder. Ritsu is still taking her painkillers ... ) ... but act 2 and 3 were very good .. and it got molto dramatico in act 4 ... why do all these people have to die .. and sing their pants off while doing so ???
Anyways .. a great great evening ... and after I had to upset some old ladies who thought they can jump ahead of us and steal our cab, we were on our way home ...
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Today I was woken up at 8 AM by my sweet one, after I just got to bed at 5 AM ... It was kinda hart to get out of bed ... but I was very happy to see that she was up to go to her training session that she came for .. I made her breakfast and then walked her to the office ... I spent then most of the time downloading stuff and catching up with TV shows i have been missing out on .. having a cable connection is just great .. i hope one day fast internet will be like running water and electricity .. always there, no extra charge ..
Ritsu came back home for lunch and I made some tomato / mozzarela / basil something and some mini sandwiches ...
Afternoon was nap time and for dinner we went to Sakagura, one of the japanese places we always liked a lot .. we never go there for sushi .. but more for their isakaya style dishes .. it was great !
Monday, April 21, 2003
so this was our easter sunday ... at least Ritsu is feeling a bit better
we slept in very long .. till 2 PM ... i made breakfast then, french toast .. and then I left to do some shopping .. I went all the way to times square, which was overly crowded by tourists ... bought some little kitchen things at the 99c store ... the weather was nice,65F/19C so I donned my fiji grab: shorts and bula shirt and sandals .. must have looked funny while many others were still wearing coats and jackets ... I got food for us at the amish market around the corner and I made us chicken tortelini with a cream/cheese/ham sauce ...
Sunday, April 20, 2003
Oh what a day ! (since I missed the midnight deadline I need to point out that this was all YESTERDAY, Saturday)
This day, our second in New York, started with me being woken up by Ritsu crying, caused by terrible back pain ... so before 8 AM I made my first walk to the next pharmacy place, to find out they open at 9 ... so .. i returned, held her hand, went back out at 9 ... just to find out, that 'coz it is easter weekend, they open at 10 !!! .. SO back to comfort her, then back to the pharmacy at 10 ... they were open, yeah ... I bought some cooling patches and painkillers ... Ritsu had some back pains before and this stuff usually helped ...
But not this time .. around 11 AM it got so bad that she could not stop crying and I started calling "Physician referral services" .. great experiences ... they first ask you a bazillion questions, that have nothing to do with the ailment, more sounding like marketing data collection, and the this guy had only one doctor on the list that was open this Saturday, according to his computer ... well .. after several phonecalls it turned out his computer was wrong ... Dr. Adlersberg must have been out golfing or something, or enjoying Passover with his family ... good for him ...
I finally decided to bring her by cab to the next emergency room ... but at this point the poor thing could hardly move at all ... and we called an ambulance (which also makes sure you get attention at the ER right away ... not after 1 hour of sitting ... upright sitting at that point sounded as comfy as laying on a bad of nails for her at that point) ... So .. 20 minutes later we added another popular New York mode of transportation: the ride in an ambulance.
The paramedics were nice and helpful and so was the staff at the New York Prespetarian Hospital on York and 70th street. Ritsu had to repeat her Q&A with our nurse Jennifer who then drew her blood and made some very general comments ... then an hour later, our first Dr. showed up. Dr. Ellis was interview #3 .. and he could not really pinpoint what it was and he said she would get some strong pain killer and the he would send his boss ...
From time to time we were visited by "John, I am a volunteer" ... an old chap who took his role very serious, though he could not really do anything ... while he offered "what can I do to make your stay more pleasant?" he could neither take Ritsu's pain away, nor could he fix me a Gin & Tonic ("those you may find in the doctor's office") .. but he had a very friendly aura and I can imagine he is a tremendous help for people who come alone ... we later found out a good way to put those volunteers to work: "can you find out where our nurse is?" or "what is going on?"
another hour passed before the painkiller (something nice with codeine in it) and Dr. Lappin (the Boss?) showed up (interview #4, same questions, new showhost) .. the painkiller seemed to work great, Ritsu got all woozy and felt better ... the blood results showed nothing and other test revealed that we are indeed NOT pregnant :) (that was a standard quiz question) at some point she even got up and we felt like just getting more of the stuff and go home .. that was around 5 PM ...
But then the waiting game started .. we asked what's going on .. the codeine stuff wore off, then Dr. Ellis came again, said he'd bring another pill, then nurse Jennifer said "I am just waiting for the paperwork" ... we got a new volunteer offering pillows again (seems this is the only thing they are actually authorized to do) and an african lady with unspeakable name showed up "I am from patient-liaisons" and wanted to know if we are happy ... all we could say was that the IV drip was finished, but we expected to leave soon anyway ... little did we know ..
I went outside (getting lost in the hospital maze on the way) and i found some cookies for her, which she ate .. we had not have any other food that day ...
anyways .. we both were very tired and wanted to go .. finally Ritsu got knock-out pill #2 and so we kept waiting ... at some point I was sleeping with my head on her bed ... Then suddenly there was a speaker announcement that all visitors and relatives have to leave and wait in the waiting room .. seems around 8 PM the doctors make "their rounds" and they are scared that some of the relatives could ask silly questions, so they want them out.
Anyways .. those rounds were luckily over quicker then I thought and finally I could get my wife out of the ER (in a wheelchair) and then in a cab and then back home .. it was 9 PM by then ... Not the next adventure started .. finding a place on saturday night before easter that would fill the prescription for more happy codeine drops .. I walked to the closest Duane Reade but the place was closed already ... a sign told me that the next 24h place is only a 15 minute walk away ... but it turned out that while this place was open 24h ... the pharmacy section closed already at 8 .. great ! ... and I found out from the manager that the next place with a 24 h pharmacy was another 20 minutes walk away .. so i started my walk ... but gladly I came across a CVS store before I crossed half manhattan and they had their pharmacy still open. I just had to wait 20 minutes for them to print out everything and count 40 pieces of Ritsu's new drug and then I made my way back, just in time so she could take it as recommended at 10 PM ...
I made us some clam chowder for dinner .. that was pretty much the only meal of the day .. and now I am tired and will go to bed very soon ... we are just very glad that it was nothing serious .. and that we were together when it happened ... imagine her being in Honiara, Solomon Islands, where doctors can be paid with food .. and she has something like that ...
well .. but not everyone can say they've been to the ER in NY ... and in the end it was sure an interesting experience .. even though at time I was just bored and she was just in pain .. and there were so many other things we wanted to do ... but also .. it could have been much worse .. it could have happened just before flying ... gee .. i guess i always like getting something positive out of things :)
Friday, April 18, 2003
so, we have arrived in New York !
The flight touched down 10 minutes earlier that planned... I did not get too much sleep on this flight, but Ritsu slept all the way ... did I mention how crappy airline food has become? On a 6 hour flight .. we only got a very lousy "snack" meal .. which was a hot turkey / cheese sandwich (salty and fatty) with a mini bag of mini carrots, a bag of chips and a cookie .... years ago you would have had a nice dinner and a breakfast just before arrival ... but ok .. if that is what it takes to keep the airlines going, I am game ..
The temperature upon arrival was just above freezing ... coming from Fiji surely a weird thing .. glad I changed into "men in black" New York style clothing ... we took a cab and just 30 minutes later we were at the appartment that would be our home for the next weeks ... great place .. on the 14th floor .. view of the east river, very close to were Ritsu has to go once the working week starts, and best of all .. cable internet connection .. I am in heaven ...
My first fun and duty was to go grocery shopping for the breakfasts to come .. oh man, I forgot about the selection of stuff one has in New York (compared to Fiji) ... we then took the subway downtown .. I just needed to buy a new laptop, since I sold my iMac and I got myself a very nice 15" PowerBook at the apple store in SoHo ...
Ritsu got herself a pair of funky dark red sneakers (more comfy to walk around in, and they look great) .. and we headed home since I did not feel comfortable lugging around such a special piece of computer equipment ... once home we went out again for lunch ... a nearby thai place .. I had some spicey shrimp / pinapple curry and Ritsu went with a nice seafood noodle dish .... It is amazing how quickly the New York way of life came back up in us .. calculating tip (twice the tax), hearing car alarms (ignoring them), riding subway, hail a cab ... you can leave a bag of chips open and it will not be taken over by ants right away or turn stale by humidity in a flash (like it happens in Fiji), the NY service mentality, strangers starting talking to you in the supermarket ... We were wondering before we came how different it must feel .. and we were actually surprised how easily and quickly it felt like home again .. as if the city itself welcomed us back ... what is really weird is seeing bars from outside (have not been to one yet) and no one is smoking (it has been outlawed a while ago) ... it is strange ..
For dinner we went to one of our all time favourites .. "Tsuki" (need to scroll down a bit on that site) and it was great !!! .. Interestingly it was very crowded .. something we had never experienced in this secret neighbourhood place .. but it seems some NYtimes reviewer discovered the place and wrote a very nice review, back in January already (1/29)(link requires free sign up) ... but still, the people are coming and waiting in line... it was VERY nice that the restaurant people remembered us .. and they used us for a benchmark test, if the food is still as good as half a year ago ...
Another "long time no see" occurance happened passing my old liquor store .. even now with longer hair .. the guy in the shop waved (actually more "saluted") me ... seems I have been there a wee bit too often ... but it is a fuzzy feeling somehow :)
Unlike our old Gristedes supermarket where we did some shopping .. no one recalled us ... but it was fun to see that huge display of Fiji Water in a NY supermarket ... the price is actually pretty much the same .. 1.99 ... only here it is US $ .. which makes it about double of what it costs in Fiji .. but hey .. as long as people pay ... the other waters are not much cheaper ..
we took a cab back .. so this day we did 4 of the main NYC forms of transportation: Plane, Bus, Taxi and Subway ... now we just need to add Ferry and Helicopter (and does Tunnel and Bridge count ?? )
Thurday 5 PM LA time: we have arrived save and sound after a 10 hour flight from Nadi to LAX. Our first cullinary craving was fullfilled very quickly by having a nice roast beef sandwich at Subway !!!
Ok .. and now the story in more detail ... we left our house at 4:30 ... our favorite cab driver Ramesh .. with his DU license plate and his leopard print seat covers was ordered for the transfer .. we managed to finish packing on time and said goodbye to the cat ...
we arrived in Nausori on time, checked in (no problems with our overweighted luggage, even though they mentioned before only 20 kg / 44 lbs per person) and hopped on a small flyer to Nadi .. there we had some grubs at the airport Cafe ... then we went through the security check and did some duty free shopping ... I had a fun moment spooting two guys with the same pony tail I have, one of them sporting a similar goatee, and both of them were wearing the triple jump A.J. Hackett bungy shirts ... the SAME t-shirt I was considering wearing that day ... how FUNNY would that have been .. taking a pic of the 3 of us ... :)
anyways .. the flight was pleasent, we slept quite some .. dinner sucked .. was rice with chicken a la boring .. and really forgetable .. but we arrived in time ...
In LAX .. the immigration and customs worked great, even though we confused the heck out of people .. with a german, a japanese, a UN passport and a greencard ... ah well .. we got in ... then we called our LA friend Mika .. the last person to see us off when we left the US ..and now the first person we meet again ... we went to her place, met her friend Steven who was just great and let us relax in his place as if we had been friends for thousands of years .. it was great to have had a chance of a quick shower, exploring Hermosa Beach (where we had the subway sandwich and the sushi later) and then return to the airport to catch the flight to NY ... the food at the sushi place was pretty nice .. I never have seen Ikura Nigiri served with quaile eggs ... nasty but very yummy ...
Monday, April 14, 2003
familiar look, but different thing. I will chronicle here our travels outside fiji ... coming up in 3 days: back to NYC , the big apple !!! wonder how it will feel. We sure will eat a lot of japanese and do quite some shopping.
