miamiflyer8

Ok, I understand. Great report anyway

mkjr

Nice TR. It's always amazing to see that people can survive in Y.

As much as I loath AC, I always liked their fresh baked cookies.

I always wondered why you also did not post pics in your TRs.

That said, pics are like pizza. I've never had horrible pizza. :-)

violist

I'm not too badly off - I do have a camera, but I use it mostly
to take shots of things II'm interested in and blow them up to
actually see some details. Kind of amusing.

violist

So those chain restaurants of a higher order
that I was talking about.

I was so impressed by the Tim Ho Wan in the
mall between City Hall and Esplanade that I
checked to see if there was one in KL, and it
seems there are in fact two, and there are five
Din Tai Fungs here as well. In fact, there is a
big fancy mall complex called Mid-Valley that
has one of each, and, wonder of wonders, one
can get to this wondrous place by public
transport with only one change.

Tim Ho Wan is between two malls that are
essentially one, Mid-Valley and The Garden, on
the ground floor, technically I think in The
Garden. It was hopping at lunchtime, and a
table for one was grudgingly given. Service
was pretty swift and unsmiling, as one might
expect. I ordered that same vermicelli sheet
with pig liver, and it was hugely different.
The one in Singapore was one of the better
things I've ever eaten; this was merely
average at best, the ineffable texture over
there replaced by a very ordinary wrapper such
as you can get for a buck at a million hawker
stalls throughout the world. The main
disappointment was the filling - there,
innumerable little medium-rare liver steaks,
here, shrivelled overcooked bits that could
have come out of a scrapple but in a bad
sense. Bitter, gamy, altogether not right.

Har gow were pretty good, but again average
and easily gettable for a quarter the price
elsewhere.

I decided to get the famous steamed egg cake;
it was actually quite good, a moist airy
texture with distinct brown sugar flavor;
the egginess that the reviewers refer to
and that I was looking forward to was a
mere whisper, though.

At the next table I watched a comfortable
young couple work their way through the
menu; while I was there they went through
at least 15 dishes. I shouldn't say anything
- when I was their age I probably could have
done the same.

Price: half what the one in Singapore had
been.

Quality: less than half what the one in
Singapore had been. I might go back to
see if it was just an off-day but at this
point do not recommend.

violist

Went back south to check out the Din Tai
Fung to see if it measured up to the other
outlets I've been to or to its local
competition. This is in the basement that
connects the two malls, at the Garden end,
next to a roast duck place that I want to
try someday. I was welcomed pleasantly and
given a pretty nice table.

I wanted one of everything, and luckily
there was a "prestige set menu" offering
a large number of tastes for MYR55.

The appetizer of the day (by all reports,
it seems to be every day) a salad of
slivered bean curd, bean sprouts, seaweed,
and bean threads in a sesame, sugar, and
vinegar dressing. I was beginning to tuck
into this when other things that I
preferred started rolling in, and the
result was that this got pushed aside
and aside as my table got fuller and fuller.
It was mostly still there at the end of the
meal, the least (but not bad) of the things
to eat. So it went orphaned forever.

Then came a really peculiar version of zha
jiang mien, noodles usually in a dark
sweetish bean sauce with ground pork. I
make it myself this way, with scallions
on top. This came with bean curd dice and
steamed soybeans, which is the usual
vegetarianized substitution, but it also
had ground pork. What made it really
strange was the addition of bits of
tomato that had been marinated in soy
sauce - I suspect a case of Monsieur
Michelin strikes again. The noodles were
quite good, with nice flavor though done
just a tad past al dente.

Stir-fried pea shoots in garlic sauce were
the best I've ever had - tiny baby pea
shoots in a delicate sauce that was done
just so you barely noticed but did notice
the garlic in every bite from start to
finish.

Crab xiao long bao - a disappointment as
the crab really doesn't add anything but a
modest fishiness and a stringy texture.
Luckily you get only one of them.

Pork xiao long bao - a good version, not as
delicate as at DTF Singapore or Taipei, but
unlike most I've had, in that ballpark. You
get two of these.

Chicken soup - could have been the whole
meal - a whole drumstick chopped into bits
and simmered along with other assorted
chicken trimmings (also ladeled into the
bowl) to make a delicate and rather
delicious broth. I left some of the
chicken, gnawing off the skin and
gelatinous bits and rejecting the
flesh, out of which all the goodness
had been leached anyway.

For afters, mango pudding - a pretty
hard but tasty interpretation, topped
with a fan of ripe fruit slices and
(boo) a splash of milk.

I got out for US$15 including tax,
service, and 33c for tap water.

A note on the Mid-Valley complex - it
consists of two malls connected by an
underground mostly food court as described,
which boasts American names such as Tony
Roma's and KFC, former American names such
as Kenny Rogers Roasters, would-be American
names such as Texas Chicken, Manhattan Fish
Market, and NY Steak Shack, international big
shots like Sushi Tei and the aforementioned
DTF, and local luminaries such as Village
Duck. The food mostly smells pretty good.
Next time maybe I'll forgo the hotel chain
loyalty thing and stay at one of the hotels
on premises. I could have eaten here all week.

violist

Last breakfast. I didn't feel like it but
decided to give it a shot anyway and was glad
I did. At the Malay station they had lamb
curry (not rendang - this was in a lightish
brown sauce with turmeric and chiles) was
very nice but boneless and fatless, sad to
say; it was also not hot enough, something
one could remedy using the minced hot
peppers or the fish-based sambals that
were available.

The Indian things were

pulisadham, a lentil and rice concoction
flavored with tamarind and cumin, pretty plain
but good;

vadai, lentil flour fritters, which strangely
dissolved in the mouth to yield an okra-like
texture and even flavor;

potatoes varuval, a curry tinged red with
pepper powder and possibly a bit of tomato,
pretty good, especially as I had shamelessly
mined the dish for lots of extra onion;

the chicken and fish curries were there as
they were every day - I'm guessing they
don't rotate in different dishes until these
are gone. The chicken had gotten even spicier,
and the fish didn't smell as bad, so I took a
small piece - it was actually pretty decent.

I finally decided to check out the western
foods table. Everything looked pretty average
and boring except for two things, which I
tasted. Mac and cheese, in big blocks - I
took a slice off one and discovered it to
be bland, starchy, not very cheesy or
anythingy. Confetti corn which in addition
to the usual tiny dice of green and red
pepper had a bit of hot pepper added, which
made the combination quite nice. I had a big
mound of this and ate every kernel. Oh, yeah,
it was cut fresh off the cob, not previously
frozen.

Chinese
For my departure there was radish cake, this
time coated in dried onions and chile flakes
- delicious to the taste but had suffered
from perhaps several reheatings, so the
texture was kind of grainy and odd.

I tried a vegetable spring roll, which was
meh, also having suffered from overaging.

Three of those custard buns today.

Juices included pink guava as well as green
guava - they taste the same, but I hit the
jackpot with mango juice replacing the apple.

Feeling the need for a modest kick in the
pants, I had a mug of teh tarik. How do you
tarik (pull) tea from a samovar? I held my
mug as far from the spout as possible to
help the milk proteins foam up; semi-success.

violist

Departure day: I stuck around way too long,
not having any energy to brave the
thunderstorms, which I could hear starting
about 10 (they weren't supposed to start
until 12:30). And I didn't have the stomach
space to hit another dim sum place, having
eaten copiously and relatively well at the
hotel, so my original plan of taking the
free shuttle bus to Paragon gave way to
a lethargic nothing. They let me hang out
in the lounge as long as I wanted, a nice
gesture that cost them pretty much nothing.

Off to the airport. I had tons of time and
just sort of moseyed to Sentral and instead
of taking Ekspres did the bus again. It was
the same bus, of which I recall having made
the same ominous noises as on the way out.
No traffic, and it got us there in 45 min.

Again, formalities took mere moments.

Last time, my friends and I decided that
the regional Golden Lounge is nicer than
the fancy big one, so that was my choice
today. It was pretty busy when I arrived,
but by the time it was time to go, it had
cleared out considerably.

Cotes de Blaignan is the house red pour,
and it's pretty respectable, certainly
better than tomorrow's business class wine.

Things I tasted.

Rasam was spicy and delicious - a creamy
tomato lentil soup served with those
frito-shaped pappadums;

mackerel cake that was oily and fishy
but not bad;

some kind of mystery meat pastry;

curry puff with way too much anise in it;

and an odd vinegary hummus.

Things I didn't taste.

Spaghetti with tomato sauce, some rather
fishy fish in white sauce, curried bony
bits of chicken, and biryani rice; a
salad bar, breads, and a cheese board.

I spent much of my time at the work
tables overlooking the bank of 738s at
the B gates, because that was where the
outlets are. Eventually I wised up and
sat me down in a more comfy chair and
snoozed for two hours, then, as I was
ready to eat, tried the chicken curry,
really all a bunch of odd trimmings,
fine with me, as there was a lot of skin,
in a mildly spicy rather delicious sauce.
The rice was terrible with a strange bitter
taste. I ended with a dessert plate of
pistachio nuts and a couple dates that
had been put there so people could break
their Ramadan fast. There were also other
fruits and some Western desserts available.

MH 609 KUL SIN 2305 0005 738 2A

This flight was full of mainland tourists
who though rowdy were mostly not much of a
problem (despite the cutting in line issue,
which is not unique to the mainland), but
one particularly screechy lady who was not
afraid to pound on things and her fellow
travelers I feared might cause a delay,
but eventually she was calmed down by her
compatriots. The front cabin was again
half full; the back was pretty packed.

Attentive service from both male and
female attendants.

For the snack, shepherd's pie or dim sum.
I maybe should have chosen the former just
to see what it would be like. I chickened
out and went with the dim sum, which were
three deep-fried shumai (made with mystery
meat instead of pork and mystery fish that
might have been shrimp) and a yellow bean
bao. On the side those strangely crunchy
peanuts in a packet and a Lindt ball.
With this I had the steward keep the guava
juice coming.

We landed five minutes or so early, just
before 12.

violist

Thank goodness the Silver Kris lounge is
open all night. The buffet goes down at
0100, but the cook comes around to give
everyone last call, a most civilized touch.
I actually declined the kind offer to check
it out.

Planning to snooze a bit, I scoped out the
sleep aid situation. Offerings included
Ch. Loudenne, Charles Heidsieck brut reserve,
Courvoisier XO, Jack Daniel's, and Dalmore 15,
not a bad lineup at all, especially for
Cognac lovers.

I want to talk about David Beckham's Haig Club.
It's a "single grain" whisky, supposed to
bridge the gap between the brown liquor
drinkers and the white liquor drinkers. In
essence, I'd say much more white than brown.

An unpromising nose of cherry soda and
solvent (hence the white), and it really
went belly up on the palate - I looked in
vain for any of that black pepper and posh
spice that some reviewers find. Oak, water,
and death on the finish. One man's smooth is
another's watery; I am suspecting the
reviewer who found smoothness is being paid
off by Diageo.

So the Edinburgh Whisky Blog referred to
Becks in this way: "I like Beckham as much
as the next man - we all remember THAT goal
from the half way line, and the brilliant
interview with Ali G," so I looked up that
interview. Takeaways: 1. Sacha Baron Cohen
is in fact pretty funny; he's funnier than
Victoria Beckham is pretty; but I believe
that his unbelievable rudeness in character
probably betrays something about him out
of character - of course, he went to
Cambridge, which is sort of like going to
Yale. 2. Victoria Beckham is cute, but not
more alluring, I think, than several women
I managed to get dates with in my youth.
What is notable about her, though, is her
fiery brightness and what comes across as
a fierce loyalty to friends and family.
3. About David - from the comment about
brilliance I expected something like
Muhammad Ali's repeated reaming of Howard
Cosell or Sylvester Stallone's gentle
chidings of Oprah Winfrey. What I got was
a disarming smile and a few embarrassed
asides that if he were not so pretty might
have been interpreted as simplemindedness;
of course given it has a half billion quid
behind it it is seen as something else.

From which I went on to review Muhammad Ali's
career, which was really amusing, especially
the Dick Cavett and Michael Parkinson vs. Joe
Frazier and Ali interview, which lasted about
12 rounds and a split decision. Those 43
minutes helped the time along considerably,
and I eventually decided not to try to sleep
this night. United Business isn't that much
to be awake for anyway.

Around 5 an investigation of the showers
found them fine, but I preferred the United
ones in Tokyo and even the Thai ones in
Hong Kong.

Around 6, breakfast called. It had been put
out about an hour before, but I resisted the
clarion until I remembered that there was
Chinese food.

A charsiu bao was average, but given it was
in the airport, and given it was free, I'd
give it a B+.

Fried radish (also known as turnip, also
known as carrot) cake was gummy and
tasteless, and no way does it get a pass.

Chee kueh (steamed rice flour cake) with
chye poh (preserved radish) was also kind
of average, the cake fine though a little
hard and the radish I thought a bit too
sweet. B given the situation.

Shaped noodles with Szechwan chili oil was
nicely al dente but in no way spicy enough.
Luckily there were dishes of minced big and
little Thai chiles nearby. I used the latter,
and the resulting piquancy made for an A-;
the thing that could have elevated this dish
would have been a sizzle in pig fat. There
are departures to Indonesia and such places
from this terminal, so that's not going to
happen.

Har gow were nasty - a filling of shrimp
ground to a paste with some godawful starch
binder. F. F! F!!!

Luckily there were a lot of shrimp in the
shrimp laksa noodles, presented sensibly
as separate components. The shrimp were
quite nicely boiled; the laksa gravy was
pretty nice. My use for the shrimp was to
eat them in bites with the har gow and
pretend they were a unitary dish.

violist

Off to the gate.

The hotel-printed boarding pass that I'd
used to get through security had a little
notation in fine print that said that it
had to be exchanged for another boarding
pass - something I didn't tumble to until
fairly late in the game. I duly presented
myself at the transfer desk by the United
gate, where a not impolite Singapore agent
told me that in fact United, not being so
chummy with SQ as it might once have been,
had been relegated to the other transfer
desk a half mile down the corridor. So off
I trundled, my heart beating rather fast and
shallow as I came up to the desk. Panting a
bit, I gasped my request to the bored young
man, who told me that I had to go to the
security desk, a folding music stand ten
feet away that had been folded up in
anticipation of an early escape for the
staff. The music stand had to be reunfolded,
painstakingly, and then the security girl
also painstakingly and either reluctantly
or semi-illiterately tried to find my name on
the list. This took a while, but eventually I
was allowed to reapproach the desk and get
my new boarding pass, which said the same
things as my old one had. At this point, my
ankle (cardiacly swollen) was really killing
me, so I asked the fellow to call an electric
cart for me, which he did; I think he did,
anyhow, but as I didn't understand the Canto-
language he was speaking, he could just as
well have been calling his girlfriend. Anyhow,
he reported that no electric carts were to be
had at such short notice, and I should just
walk slowly, as there was plenty of time to
make the flight, as it was delayed.

So I did, pausing to wince every hundred yards
or so. During my journey, an electric cart
with empty seats whizzed by every three minutes
or so. I cursed.

UA 2 SIN SFO 0845 0915 789 3D

When I arrived, there was still a security line,
so the young man had not lied to me about that
at least, and after that, we had still a bit of
a wait: we ended up leaving half an hour late
and landed either 5 late or 45 early, depending
whether you believe the company's filed plan or
the public schedule. Turns out we were lucky -
according to flightaware.com, the flight averaged
an hour late taking off, with two cancellations
in the recent week.

The seat-bed was hard and narrow but reasonably
comfy, with enough space to store a bag in the
footwell.

The flight attendants were fine, though, strangely,
they pressed me to overeat and overdrink.

TO BEGIN
Chilled appetizer - chicken roulade with spicy garlic
sauce and South Asian pickles

Fresh seasonal greens - zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes,
Kalamata olives, fennel and sunflower seeds with your
choice of Caesar or Asian-style dressing

The chicken was a boneless drumstick, the sauce
Sriracha, and the pickles gari and something else
uninteresting, I forget.

Reasonably unwilted greens, okay extras (I put the
zucchini aside), a very sweet dressing that tasted
of garlic and a little ginger and soy but mostly
of some kind of sugar.

MAIN COURSE
Braised beef cheek - braised sauce, polenta, grilled
red capsicum and zucchini

Bacon and sage stuffed chicken breast - bacon-sage
jus, roasted potatoes and braised cabbage

Sauteed prawns - pumpkin and salted egg cream sauce
and egg noodles with shredded vegetables

Vegetarian kofta - onion and tomato masala, okra
poriyal and dill and sultana pulao

Executive dining - if you prefer more time to work
or relax, ask a flight attendant about our executive
dining service. At your request, we will present your
main meal followed by dessert based on your schedule.

violist

I told the young Asian guy that I sort of preferred
the meat but would accept the prawns as a second
choice; he put his hand on my shoulder (he did this
several times during the flight, and I don't know if
it was cute or creepy) and gazed into my eyes and
intoned, sir, you WILL GET your first choice. After
eating I wondered if I'd made the right choice. When
it was piping hot, the beef cheek had an acceptable
texture, but as it cooled, the gelatins solidified
a bit, so the last bites were almost as firm as the
cold five-spice beef shin you get on appetizer plates.
The demi-glace-ish sauce was okay, very gooey, as
you'd expect, and not too salty. I didn't have the
guts to try the polenta or the vegetables.

TO FINISH
International cheese selection - grapes and crackers
served with Port

A Brie-ish white-rinded thing, a bluish blue, and
Cabot clothbound Cheddar - I had a thin slice of the
last, which was pretty decently sharp and tasty.

Dessert - ice cream with your choice of toppings

I said no, thank you very much, but the FA asked
flirtatiously if I was sure, so I acceded to a scoop
of rather ordinary vanilla with another glass of that
Port, thank you very much. And then went to sleep
for maybe five hours.

MID-FLIGHT SNACK
Singapore-style soup - noodles, shredded chicken and
mixed vegetables in spiced broth

The broth was okay, but the noodles were both hard
and gummy at the same time - how do you do that?,
and the chicken could just as well have been
excelsior. A baby bok choy and a rather nice doong
goo mushroom completed the ensemble.

Fruit and light snacks are available at any time
following the meal service. Please help yourself or
ask a flight attendant for today's selection.

PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
Cheddar and three-pepper frittata - tomato and white
bean stew, bacon and sauteed spinach

Congee - traditional Chinese-style porridge with
minced chicken

Cereal and banana - served with milk

Fresh fruit appetizer, yogurt or savory congee
garnish and breakfast breads.

The flight attendant who took my order had said
"congee, right?" so even had I wanted eggs (which
I might have, for the white beans and bacon), it
might have been difficult to overcome that (though
friendly) stereotype. I was fine with the congee,
which was as before pretty tasty, the chicken
substituting for ground pork, the garnishes being
little you tiao slices, scallions, and shreds of
ginger. Okay I guess.

We landed I guess you'd say early.

Immigration took moments, and PreCheck security ten
or twelve minutes, and I was soon on my way to the
club to check up on what had happened in the last
15 hours. Nothing had, thank goodness.

UA 309 SFO IAD 1053 1905 320 7A

I trundled to the gate just a hair early and checked
to find I was 4 on the waitlist. Eh, the bulkhead is
okay, and this aircraft had a cutout to put my bag into.

The flight was fine, with my proximate seatmate having
bought the Economy Plus seat and grateful for the extra
room and thus being pretty jolly. I used my 1K privilege
and got a Courvoisier and was spontaneously offered a
snack box (I declined); after a bit of small talk with
my seatmate I fell asleep for the remainder of the
flight, waking up a minute or maybe less before landing,
which was actually early, so we were lucky again.
Flightaware says that this flight averages half an hour
late, with the previous day's having been diverted to
Harrisburg.

violist

The bus to Wiehle was adequately fast, and the Silver
Line was nowhere as bad as I had been led to believe,
so I got the second to last bus home so got to change
out clothes and pick up some wine and in bed by midnight.

2V 84 WAS NYP 1110 1430

I no longer need to ride in business class, as I get
to preboard as an elderly person, and business class
offers offsetting advantages and disadvantages vis-a-vis
the quiet car. So the quiet car it was, for a quite
pleasant trip. On-time arrival, and the five-block
walk to the hotel was quick, and I was pretty hungry,
having sacrificed dinner for earlier arrival at the
house. On the corner of 39th and 8th, I smelled good
smells emanating from NYC Fried Chicken, so I ordered
a couple thighs. These came in a few minutes, piping
hot, fried very hard in a salty coating with a touch
of garlic. The chicken had not been brined, so the
saltiness was not objectionable. Of the two pieces,
one was large and juicy and tender, and the other
reasonably tasty but with none of those other
characteristics.

A tripadvisor review that gives you the idea:
NYC Fried Chicken reminds me of Crown Fried Chicken
(my absolute favorite), but 10x more ghetto.

My friend Dave has some cautionary things to say about
Crown. If it were even 2x more ghetto than that, I
would not have survived to write this trip report.

Another long block to the Hampton Inn Manhattan
Times Square South, where a very friendly (in New
York!) desk clerk issued me keys for a nice little
room on the second to top floor, with a view, as
I believe all the rooms have, of another high-rise
building; whatever. One doesn't generally choose
one's midtown hotel for the views.

Dinner at Szechuan Gourmet, a Bib Gourmand place
that competes with Lan Sheng across the street,
which used to have a star but lost it and much
of its credibility in a quick two-year dive
starting not so long ago. It's a sizable menu,
and half the things are things I want to eat; as
I was alone, I just had the famous crispy lamb
fillets with chili and cumin - very tasty but
deep-fried and not all that spicy. I had to eat
all the 20 or so chiles (you're supposed to leave
them) to get the appropriate zing. I was burping
cumin and garlic and picking out chile and cumin
seeds from between my teeth for half a day after.
Luckily there was no nether effect from the hot
peppers. Service was okay bordering on brusque.

Back to the hotel for a very good night's sleep
and a not-so-good hotel breakfast, of which I
had a banana and some orange juice and then
decided to take fuller advantage and made me a
waffle, which was actually okay.

violist

Kee's is, according to the New York Times, 12/3/06,
"Hands down, the best chocolates in New York. Maybe
the world." The factory, such as it is, is in a
single-wide storefront a few doors down from the
hotel, so I decided to check it out. Kee was there
bright and early, making her fresh daily truffles
out of couverture and an assortment of unbelievably
delicate and subtle fillings. She took some time
off to chat; we had a discussion about how she
chose the profession, what her favorite foods
were, how long her products would keep (2 to 5
days). I'd heard about the famous creme brulee
truffle, but they were making them later; she
said that they'd hurry up if I liked, and they'd
be ready by 11. I said I'd be back at 3, so she
said she'd save me one to taste. Meanwhile, samples.

Black Rose - rose-infused black tea with a dark
ganache, extremely fugitive, the rose just a
whisper, the way flowery flavors ought to be;

lemon basil in white ganache, a bit more intense,
with pronounced pesto-like flavors; and

fennel, again mild and suave, the dark filling
just tinged with a touch of fennel pollen, a
garnish of extra pollen dusted on top giving
most of the anisey flavor.

I bought a few bars ($9 for 3 oz, pretty pricy,
shelf life estimated at a month, but I like aged
chocolate, and Kee doesn't) to give out later.
Said goodbye and promised to be back.

When I returned in the later afternoon I did get
to taste the creme brulee truffle - it was a tour
de force, sort of like those xiao long bao, but
no cheating involved getting the jiggly custard
into the candy. The con side was that there was
no real brulee and so no brulee flavor. I also
picked up small boxes for my friends who were
going to put up with me for the next few days.

Had a coffee (they) and a beer (myself) with my
friends Jim and Silvia in from Rome. We couldn't
find any other way to get together - we're always
passing like ships in the night, and usually we
have drinks or a snack in an airport as they're
going one direction and I another; this time it
was the train station on their way to Boston. I
left them with a couple Kee's bars to share with
Nicholas when they saw him later in the week.

Lunch at Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen, said
to have the best xiao long bao in the city. In
addition to the mandatory soup dumplings, I had
hot dog la mian, also known as sausage fried
noodles, just to say I had had them. The little
steamed buns were actually twice the size of
normal ones, so a basket of them would by itself
had made an adequate meal. They were good but
not special, the size dictating that the skins
had to be thicker than I'd like. The fillings
were pretty decent but I thought underseasoned.
Lot of soup, though. Hot dog ramen was without
redeeming social value, a regrettable choice.
Though the hot dog pieces (two dogs quartered
lengthwise, the quarters cut across into thirds)
were spiced with lop cheong spices, that was not
enough to obscure the fact that they were hot
dogs. I should have nixed the experimentation
and gone with roast duck or squid or something
harmless like that. This place also gets the
bib gourmand rating; it probably deserves it.

the invoice said Kung Fu Steamed Buns Ramen. Oh.
Perhaps their hands got tired of making cute
little steamed buns and so they went to the
giants.

Back to Kee, where I got some truffles for
Janice and dhammer53, whom I was going to see
next day, and Erik and Carol in Pelham.

Washup (it was hot and humid) and then I had
to decide whether to make the free Friday at
MOMA or take a nap. Being an old guy now, I
did the latter, waking up just in time to
hustle the mile and change uptown to La Bonne
Soupe for Soup Do. Catman looked happy and
healthy, and attendance was good, the list
officially being -

Catman (le Host)
Kathywrdf (Soup do legend,, keeping her purrfect
attendance)
Violist (Legendary Repeat Souper!)
CMK10 (Repeat Souper & future Lawyer) & plus 1, a Cat Mom
dinocool & plus two (Repeat Soupers)
PhobyPhoto (third timer and Alley Cat)
Sean Luse (repeat Souper and Alley Cat)
The way of the Future (repeat Souper)
Austin 787 (first timer)
Krazy Kanuck (first timer from Houston)
Serfty (representing the great nation of Australia)
Jswong (representing the great nation of New Zealand)
Suvayanr (first timer and Alley Cat)
raquelle (First Timer)
msywings (First Timer)
Hudsonlaluna (First timer)
Cinister7 (Another First timer)

Having been in non-hamburger places for a long time, I
ordered one (on the menu: "steak hache'") rare, no bun,
no cheese, no sauce, no anything, just meat. It took the
waitress some time to comprehend this order: she seemed
a little apprehensive when she served it and was visibly
relieved when I told her it was perfect, which it was.
Excellent meat, good fries, sided with a kind of
ordinary salad.

Quien Bordeaux 12 was about as ordinaire as you can get.
After I'd suckered three of the closest tablemates into
finishing the bottle with me, I changed to Hofbrau beer,
more satisfactory.

No dessert and no afterparty for me; just hung around
chatting with people for a bit and then walked downtown
with jswong and Austin787.

violist

Time to get up early for the Brooklyn Reality Tour.
I'd had an offer to meet boxo and her dad at the
Dominique Ansel bakery (home of the original cronut)
but had needed that hour's extra sleep so didn't go.
Poured myself out of bed, grabbed a banana from the
breakfast room, and hopped the M42 to 3rd Avenue and
hoofed the rest of the way to the rendezvous on 46th.

Mr. Abraham had given us a big 40-seater bus this year,
despite our being only half that number, so we spread
out luxuriously, some of the time, coalescing to
socialize or discuss our interests periodically. There
were sufficient stops that it was easy to move around a
fair amount.

Once on board, each of us was issued half a blueberry
elderflower with lime sugar cronut; this was plenty,
given the number of Calories we were going to be
confronted with through the day, but the halving of
the pastries and the subsequent crumb shedding and
the oozing of filling was slightly awkward. Cronuts,
by the way, are perfectly fine things, but they are
not the revolutionary innovation that the media and
the maker have tried to lead us to believe - they're
a very nice and kind of cute confection, is all.
There have been layered pastries and toroid pastries
in the past, just not a layered toroid pastry that
has been documented. If I cut out a mille-feuille in
the shape of a star or a teenage mutant ninja turtle,
that would be equally creative, I think. Props to
boxo, though, she and her dad did a great job standing
in line to get the allotted half dozen each.

We started this year with a bit of a tour of downtown,
passing the Flatiron Building and the BBQ Block Party,
which I sort of pined for (not enough to go the next
day, though), the Bowery, Little Italy, and Chinatown.
In years past we'd ended the tour down here, but as
the focus has changed, no longer, and it was just as
well we started here instead.

We changed boroughs via the Brooklyn Bridge, about
which not much was made but for the fact we were going
right past Peter Luger's; should have stopped. Frequent
flyerdom does march on its stomach, after all.

All forgiven - we made an early and lengthy stop at
Smorgasburg, where, surprisingly enough, I didn't eat
a whole lot and had only two beers. One issue was that
some of the places I was interested in weren't open.

The porchetta guy wasn't ready yet, so I made a beeline
for Duck Season to get an order of crunchies, but the
demo duck breast looked so rare and good that I had to
order one ($15 for a half breast! too much). When it came,
of course, it was medium [frowny face]. Sadder still was
I encountered Henry, boxo's dad, who had gotten the same
thing, and it was too much meat for him, and we should
have just split one and an order of crunchies.

I also got Alchemy Creamery's vegan vanilla-flavored ice
pop, made I think from almond mylk; it tasted like wet
cardboard.

Things I tasted from other people:

kofta kebab I think from Rock the Kasbah, standard but
salty; whose it was I don't recall, probably Henry;

ramen burger from Ramen Burger, bought by Henry; it was
what you'd expect, and not too exciting, crunchy noodle
"bun" and medium-well overkneaded but strangely still
juicy meat, normal fixings; and

duck fat fries also from Duck Season, courtesy of serfty,
pretty good but dead salty, better with the duck gravy
dipper that came with.

Smorgasbeer is an American-style pale ale, pretty hoppy
but refreshing. I kind of liked it, but for seconds I had
the Naked Flock hard cider, pretty dry, pretty standard
but more quenching, which was necessary given the hot sun
and the massive sodium hit.

violist

Next stop, which has become traditional, the view from
beneath the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. A good refreshing
breeze and a photo op, especially of outdoorsy types out
on the water doing marginally hazardous things.

The usual round of neighborhoods, the oldest house in the
borough, the house where dhammer53 grew up, the old
Presbyterian church (I think; can't keep those sects
straight), and in-jokey places such as Teena's Cake Fair,
where we used to annually panic the grumpy proprietress
(she retired a couple years ago, and it's now closed),
the famous right turn where the bus got stuck one year
at an underpass, and the White Castle where lisa mcgu
insisted that the tour stop so she could get a burger
(and I don't think she was even pregnant yet), thus
smelling up the whole bus for the remainder of the trip.

Coney Island/Brighton Beach/Manhattan Beach - we always
take a wander through these three very differently
interesting neighborhoods, and at the Coney Island stop
I always make a beeline for Nathan's, where normal people
get a hot dog, but my heart beats for half a dozen oysters
or cherrystones at approximately 10c a Calorie. This year
I was tempted by the softshell crab sandwich, at about 2c
a Calorie, but tradition overrode that urge, especially
after I saw one go by, rather too thickly battered and
somewhat greasy-looking. The cherrystones (called topnecks
here) were fresh and briny and hit the spot.

Then a wander through the other mentioned beaches to look
at the bustling little Mockba or whatever of Brighton Beach
and the architecture of the fancy Manhattan Beach houses.

Butter & Scotch off in the up-and-coming neighborhood of
Crown Heights is a combo bakery and bar; dhammer53 had
picked it sight unseen based on Internet writeups. Turns
out to be very different from what one imagined - it's
actually a very ordinary bar with maybe 35 places, most
of which we of course took up, to the shock and chagrin
of the regular customers who trickled in expecting a
nice quiet relaxing drink or two. There actually is a
bakery, but it's next door, and one can order key lime
pie or chocolate layer cake or whatever, and one of the
bartenders trots over and picks up a slice for you. The
other focus is on fancy cocktalis and, of all things,
milkshakes. There not being enough pills in Christendom
to neutralize a milkshake for me, I got one of the fancy
cocktails, called Dear Diary, which featured flavors of
Earl Grey, pear, elderflower, and orange. Sadly, it
reminded me of Constant Comment only not as good: I
detected mostly orange with a touch of tea; it was not
a bad drink per se, but I didn't catch the subtleties,
even though it was kind of weak. Should have had a beer.
People reported that the milkshakes and the baked goods
were to die for, and dhammer53 is considering making it
a regular stop on the tour. Having learned my lesson,
I'll have a Brooklyn Pale Ale next time.

Not that there was any need for more food, but eventually
we found ourselves at the L&B Spumoni Gardens, where we
supped on Sicilian squares courtesy of gpapadop, thanks so
much for your good-natured carbohydrate generosity. After
one piece I felt the need for beer. There was a rumor of
Coronas and Heinekens at $3 a can, so I took orders at
my table and stood in line for a huge long time before
being served. By the time I got the beers, the table had
been refilled with other people (dhammer53's relatives,
as it turned out), and there was no pizza left! Not a
great big thing, but I was not about to get back in line
for more pizza.

Next and as I recall final food stop, Cuccio's bakery,
where, having had only the one slice, I felt the need for
more carbohydrates so had a Napoleon and what I believe
was once vulgarly referred as a tete de negre, only this
version was more a tetine, a vaguely boob-shaped mound of
marshmallowy creme filling on a round of white cake, all
coated with couverture.

Final sightseeing stop was sunset at the Brooklyn Heights
Promenade, a lovely thing to behold, after which we said
our goodbyes and split up, some to do romantic things
in town, some to the subway, and the dogged few back to
46th St. on the bus, home, and sweet dreams.

Super80Fan

You're a better man than I am, don't think I would survive that long a flight in UA coach.