NYC report

So Sarge and I didn't go to the theaters last night; we did go to Chinatown to pick up some food at Hei La Moon, and then afterwards I drove by Landmark so he could buy some Coldstone. (Alas, he didn't make use of the coupons that I had given him, though if he had he would have saved some $, even if the size of the treat would have been bigger.) The food at Hei La Moon is good, though not worth the price, since we can get food of a similar quality at Victoria's, and it's not that much worse at Victoria's. I guess I won't be going back to Hei La Moon for dinner any time soon.

Sarge wanted to finish up the first season of Battlestar Galactica, so we rented the last two discs of the first season set at Blockbuster, and picked up the first disc of season two. He got to the second episode of season 2, and then had to go to bed.

On Friday we drove down to New York City. I was the cause of the delay--we didn't leave the house until 1 or so, and we first had to drop off the Philosopher on Newbury Street, since he asked for a ride. Since we weren't going in the same direction, he didn't want to impose on us too much, but Sarge offered to drive him all the way. We go to our destination in Brooklyn around 7:30 or so--we left Boston around 2, and got to the edge of NYC around 5:30--and then we were stuck in traffic for the next two hours. Since everything was closing, we decided to go to dinner, and I was going to take Sarge to try out Korean fried chicken. So we headed to W. 32nd Street for Baden Baden. The bar is on the second floor, and when we got there, it wasn't so packed, though there were a lot of people. As for the rotisserie chicken, I thought it was good, not dry, but then again we didn't get much of the breast meat, as far as I could tell. And the gave us pickled radish... mmm I haven't had that for a while, and it was sweet pickled radish, not spicy. Pretty good! I could eat that at every meal I think, and I prefer it to cooked daikon.

After dinner, we walked around 32nd Street for a while. (More on that for a while.) Then we walked up to 5th Avenue, past St. Patrick's Cathedral and we stopped at Blanc de Chine. I had to go to use the restrooms at Grand Central--probably because I had been drinking a lot due to the heat, and I wasn't retaining water too well. I'll spare you the details. We then walked back to 32nd Street, and Sarge was feeling hungry. I had suggested that we could come back to eat later, but after the walk, I was ready to go to sleep. We went to New York Kom Tang. I ordered chicken bibimbap (usually the cheapest thing on the menu), and Sarge followed suite. The fried dumplings ($11.99) were definitely not worth it, and the bibimbap... Korean food is so overpriced, so I usually avoid going to a Korean restaurant, unless it's a buffet of some sort. I don't think I would go back to New York Kom Tang. Kweris suggested a different restaurant--if I had written the name down perhaps we would have gone there. Then again... There is a bakery across the street from Kom Tang--it was doing good business that night. Probably a good place for dates.

We headed back to Brooklyn after our "snack," and got back to the car around 3 or so. And we "roughed it" and slept in the car. Pretty nasty, though the baby wipes Sarge brought do come in handy. Unfortunately we left the car windows open, so we were bitten by mosquitos. No one bothered us this time, or the last time we were there, and I was a bit surprised by that.

The next morning, we got up a bit late, and we decided not to go to the Empire State Building. We got off the D train near Rockefeller Center, and considered going up to its observation deck. Sarge was somewhat interested, but I didn't want to spend the $10. I'm not impressed by the New York skyline, with all of its big buildings that are just too big. Both of us don't understand the appeal of NYC--it may be a playground and shopping hot spot for the young and wealthy, but other than that... so we decided not to get tickets and went to Kinokuniya instead.

In front of the Rockefeller Center I was suckered into buying a hat from someone raising money for a homeless shelter run by some organization. (Sarge was able to hold out.) Since I didn't need a baseball cap, I decided to get one that would be suitable for Fujian Gal as a gift, a pink one. The man gave us a free booklet (which I've misplaced), but I scanned through it, and it was a mix of Hinduism and New Age stuff. Bah.

We then went to St. Thomas's Episcopal Church. Sarge thinks it looks better than St. Patrick's. He's probably right. I decided not to go into Blanc de Chine--there was no business that morning, and 3 bored salespersons. Sarge and I definitely did not look like customers who would buy anything. What do high-scale boutiques do with people who will not buy anything and are just looking? Do they turn them away? Perhaps I will actually go in next time--I'd like to see the price tags for some of the clothes.

We took the E train to Jackson Heights, to try the chicken at Unidentified Flying Chicken. Sarge prefers the chicken at Baden Baden. I thought the chicken at UFC was good, though the white meat was a bit dry. But it's difficult to fry white meat without it getting dry? The Korean waitress at UFC was cute and sweet--but maybe she has a different 'casual' voice from her hospitality voice. (Like one of those Korean mothers/housewives who have a rather harsh voice? hahaha) Maybe if I lived in NYC I would consider asking her out on a date, but since I don't, and have no desire to move to NYC... while we were eating Sarge and I watched Nuestra Belleza Latina. The woman from Mexico was pretty, and her smile reminds me of someone, but I can't think of who right now. (She won the competition--I don't know if this is a weekly competition.) One of my students from San Jose perhaps.

I guess it is a competition/reality show, with people being eliminated from week to week? Here is an article and a photo of the winner, Miss Alejandra Espinoza.

We then made our way to Flushing, after getting on and off various trains (since several stations going were closed for repairs). Flushing is full of Chinese and Korean shops and restaurants, but as a residential area, it's full of nursing/retirement homes, rehabilitation centers, and funeral homes. We did walk to St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang Korean Catholic Church, but we didn't go in--there were some Korean ladies just inside the vestibule, sitting at some tables. No doubt there was some sort of community outreach thing going on. Too bad I didn't get a chance to go with Watcher when he was here. I would like to have seen more of Flushing; maybe next time...

There are definitely a lot of attractive young women in Manhattan. But despite their physical attractiveness, I don't think I would have much luck with any of them. After all, I'm looking for someone who is Catholic, virtuous, willing to adopt an agrarian lifestyle if it becomes possible to do so (at the very least willing to embrace the simple life), and will help me homeschool the children if there are no alternatives. So... eventually I think I will have to join CatholicMatch.com (or Ave Maria). MBH is content with the Community of St. John and will probably enter the postulancy in the Fall. So when I'm in an area with high pulchritude, like 5th Avenue or Newbury Street... most of the time I look, but then I think that there isn't much point to looking. I just get down (weaning one's self off from an attachment to physical beauty isn't easy; though it isn't as important as the spiritual qualities, it does factor into attraction.)

Sarge prefers Newbury...

Captain McKnight and the 10th Mountain Division are on NBC Nightly News right now. Do you know him Sarge? They're deployed in Eastern Afghanistan.

Hell's Kitchen, season 3 is starting on Monday, June 4.