People decide to do some pretty awesome things on airplanes. For instance, the man next to me right now has decided to take off his shoes and thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly, massage his besocked feet. He has also asked me to move my leg so he can put down the middle tray table so he can rest his drink there while he continues to massage his feet. This led me to think of other things people do on airplanes that are out of bounds.
Putting on nail polish. Really? We are in a tiny tube with recycled air and you are touching up your nails? I love a pregnant whiff of chemicals as much as the next girl, but only when surrounded by my favorite Vietnamese nail techs. Not ok.
Listening to your iPod or dvd player at full volume. On one flight I had a dude one row ahead of me who had forgotten his earphones and was watching a dvd anyway. No headphones. What a hero. Funny enough, I didn’t go see Death Race in the theater for a reason, and I don’t want to overhear it now. Most times people just forget to plug in their headphones and you just have to nudge them after staring awkwardly at the other passengers near you to make sure you aren’t being too sensitive. Teenagers, however, are amazing at their capacity for volume even avec earphones. I mean, how can I hear your Miley Cyrus even with engine background noise? I hate being forced to be the cranky lady next to someone who asks them if they can turn it down.
submitted by Adrienne: My favorite is people trimming their nails and letting the nails fall on the floor. Why do people think this is ok to do in public? I have now seen or heard of this being done in airport waiting areas, doctor's offices and of course at work.
SFO
Has anyone else noticed how totally lame SFO is despite being in one of the top 5 coolest cities in America? Stores are lackluster--I looked at the full map listing just to be sure. And yeah, I am. There is a minimum of natural light. They have the offensive inward swinging bathroom doors. There is no Starbucks (which isn't bad in and of itself, but there are not commensurately good or pentiful enough subsstitutes) and San Fran certainly ahs enough awesome local coffee options to sub in, but they are NOT using them. The ceiling has fluorescent lights and lame popcorn tiles. Boo. They do have a Body Shop for antiaging. Where are my organic food markets and napa valley wine selections? I need a cheese shop, stat. As it is I will settle for their whoop-de-crap of a Gordon Biersch. A sad place to spend a football Sunday.
Lucky for SFO I am heading up to SeaTac, which, unless it has been remodeled in the last year, is also a big yawnicus maximus of an airport for serving such a fantastic city. Hasn't been remodeled. On further observation, I actually I like the generally easy access whereby you just pop downstairs and catch a tram and don't have to walk for 50 miles (United). But the ceilings are so low. Like they are replicating they stifling gray of the outside world. Boo. Come on Seattle, be cool!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Portland for the Lady of the Evening
And by Lady of the Evening I mean, lady who works all day and can only enjoy Portland in the evening. Disappointed? Maybe I can tempt you with the foreknowledge of multiple evening foodgasms at various Portland eateries. Yes, food so good it feels almost wrong to eat it in public. I wonder if the fact that Portland is a haven of every subset of liberalism leads to more interesting and higher quality food? What would happen if people actively didnt eat food that wasn't sustainable or organic, like if it were a bad business proposition to serve it? I think the result is tasty Portland. The city has a really cozy vibe. I was really excited to visit for the first time because my favorite now-defunct band (sleater-kinney) is from there and they have immortalized it and its hipster pub-trivianess in song. And it *is* super hipster. You can't swing a dead cat and not hit a person wearing skinny jeans and a trendy palestinian-inspired scarf. But it's also like a lot of interconnected small town main streets (except for the Pearl district which is an actual downtown glass jungle.) And my trainees were by far the most compassionate (yes, PC liberals) toward low income families that I have run across.
Anyway, I can't say much about the natural beauty except for seeing lovely snowy mountains on descent into the airport (which violates my rule about being too long with too many moving walkways), but which has some weird wonderland area and some fun local eateries in it. Here's what I *can* write about:
The wee small hours of the morning. Let's talk coffee. I read about Portland eschewing chain coffee (Starbucks as public enemy number 1) and chain everything for the most part, in favor of independent stores. So while I don't buy into the Starbucks hate because of my stint working there and being covered by health benefits as a part-timer, (and neither did my trainees apparently, because at least 3 of them brought in ye olde evil empire coffee every day) I still wanted to try to keep it local as far as my daily brew. This was more difficult than I expected because my daily route from Multnomah to Hollywood was strangely void of coffee establishments. Day 1 I tried the Cafe D'Arte right by my hotel and their espresso was decent but slightly bitter. I liked that they didnt have a set americano size, so I got a smaller cup with less water. I asked my trainees where I could get coffee in the Hollywood district the next day. They said Starbucks. wrong. so I asked for anything not Starbucks. They said "there is a coffee shop next to the Trader Joe's", which, upon further examination, was a Panera Bread. This is like when my father used to tell us how much he enjoyed going to "the sandwich shop" where they knew him and exactly how he liked his sandwich, and when we went to visit him we realized "the sandwich shop" was the Subway across the street. After tenacious investigation (aka driving away from the Panera Bread) I found the Aliviar Coffee Shop. Their americano totally seduced me for the rest of the week. They gave me some expert explanation of their two bean blend roast yadda yadda. All I know is it was cheap and I didn't have to sweeten it because the espresso was so smooth. I actively miss it. The other nice strong brew I had was Stumptown, which was great for an evening pick-me-up.
Let's talk food. Oh man, ready yourselves because I ate my way through Portland. They are 5 pounds lighter. I am not.
Let's start with breakfast, which is simple because after I had Grand Central pastries I never wanted anything else. Ever. Buttery crunchy scones soft and slightly sweet inside, that includes both the raisin and the ones filled with raspberry jam (which had been slightly carmelized). I had a flaky mushroom pastry--which made me totally rethink savory morning pastries, chocolate and plain croissants, cinnamon apple bread--oh so moist!, and cookies. They all rivaled the best of their kind I have ever had anywhere. Including in Paris.
Lunch: I had some incredible Thai Food at Sweet Basil, which was close to our training site. The Sweet Basil chicken, which is ground chicken with sweet basil and peppers and scallions was a personal favorite. The 2 item lunch special is so the way to go. We also ordered out from a Balkan food place called the 2 Brothers Cafe owned by the uncle of one of my trainees. It was totally delicious and fairly unique as far as cuisines I have tried. I asked if it was like Russian food and I was told it was not at all like Russian food (but it's kind of like Russian food). I had a chavapi which is a half a pita-esque bread (but way moister) filled with flavorful sausages. very simple. very delicious. comes with sour cream, which really sets it off (not Russian at all). Also comes with this red pepper paste which is delicious. I also had their ghoulash which was good, but actually TOO meaty for me. I would have preferred more veggies, but again the flavor was hearty and delicious--satisfied my soup craving for the day. The word for 2 Brothers was definitely flavorful, not spicy at all. Sweet Basil--flavorful and, if you don't take their hotness grading system seriously, verrry spicy.
Dinner: Flew in Sunday and grabbed dinner at Burgerville, which I had heard was potentially better than In-n-Out. I wouldn't say better exactly, but having far more interesting offerings than In-n-Out or other typical burger places? absolutely. I had the peppercorn bacon burger. yummy. and SWEET POTATO FRIES at the drive-thru? heavenly. Keeping it low and greasy, another night I partook of VooDoo Donuts for dinner. VooDoo Donuts are rad, but not necessarily because they *taste* better than other donuts. They are definitely tasty, don't get me wrong, but their real delight comes in the fantastically colored Willy Wonka presentation and unique flavors of the donuts. The maple bacon was my favorite (just a nice, dense maple glazed bar with bacon on top) but the lemon chiffon, chocolate peanut butter fritter, and voodoo donut (a voodoo doll made of chocolate glazed donut filled with raspberry jam and with a little voodoo pretzel in his heart) were also excellent. and they were each, as my friend Camille put it, "the size of an ottoman".
Monday dinner was at the Bread and Ink Cafe, a real gem of a place with a good fixed price menu. Garlic cheese bread with tomato basil sauce was exactly as expected. Their bread is dense as a hockey puck, still moist, but crazy dense, so my recommendation would be to lay off. My spaghetti was the real star. Fresh spaghetti with bacon and arugula in a chevre (goat cheese) and garlic cream sauce....foodgasm! yesssss. and terrific reheated. the dessert, a chocolate ganache covered ricotta pound cake with candied citrus was pretty fantastic too. I actually had it for breakfast the next morning because I was too full that night and I also have no regard for traditional food rules. I am typically not a huge fan of candied citrus or citrus and chocolate, but this was melt in the mouth good with a very subtle citrus flavor. The last dinner exploit to share was at the Three Doors Down cafe. (a lot of these restaurants seem to have the word "cafe" in them, which creates an expectation of casualness that is incorrect.) I decided to go to this restaurant because one of the owners and chefs is the brother of my former radio cohost, Steve, in Taiwan. First, when I mentioned Steve's name I got special attention because they all love Steve and wish he would move to Portland. Adorable. And I got a free appetizer of parnsip puree and goat cheese bruschetta that was not only tasty, but exciting because I have always wanted to know what parsnip puree tasted like (because they mention it all the time on Top Chef). For those who don't know, it's slightly sweet and carroty.) I also had grilled radicchio wrapped in pancetta and covered in gorgonzola basil sauce. mmmmmmmmmm. (as long as you can handle the bitterness of the radicchio). For dinner I had pan-roasted white fish on top of french lentils, mushrooms, celery root, pancetta (tastes bacony), and spinach in a truffle cream sauce. It was RIDICULOUS. Fireworks in my brain. Foodgasms, paroxysms of foodgasms. not kidding. The flavors were so well-balanced, each bite was layered...Oh glory. Then again, I love lentils. And then I got to meet Steve's brother who looks virtually nothing like him, but *sounds* exactly like him. crazy.
Activities. There are famous rose gardens in Portland. Don't go there at night even when people tell you they are "lit up." Not really. You can still have the life affirming "I stopped and smelled the roses" experience and get a nice view of the city, I guess. That takes about 10 minutes. But then you should hie your ass down the hill to Powell's City of Books which is probably Portland's best extracurricular activity. It's not just "childrens", it's elementary and junior high and Newbery award winners and Caldecott award winners and so on. Used and new all intermingling. warm fuzzies. I spent an entire evening in the stacks of various departments. Anyway, I also went shopping *no sales tax in Oregon!* on the NW side on 23rd and went into a few boutiques and Lush and Paper Source. Upon realizing that what my mother said, "that's 10% right off the bat" was true, I did most of my christmas shopping.
Accommodations. The Residence Inn was fine, but it looks like a condo complex and has no elevator, which *blows* when carrying luggage. I said I couldnt stay there if they had non 1st floor units. They did, but beware.
Bicyclists . There are lots of them and they don't care about you and your impaired dusk eyesight, oh wasteful car dweller. again, beware.
Anyway, I can't say much about the natural beauty except for seeing lovely snowy mountains on descent into the airport (which violates my rule about being too long with too many moving walkways), but which has some weird wonderland area and some fun local eateries in it. Here's what I *can* write about:
The wee small hours of the morning. Let's talk coffee. I read about Portland eschewing chain coffee (Starbucks as public enemy number 1) and chain everything for the most part, in favor of independent stores. So while I don't buy into the Starbucks hate because of my stint working there and being covered by health benefits as a part-timer, (and neither did my trainees apparently, because at least 3 of them brought in ye olde evil empire coffee every day) I still wanted to try to keep it local as far as my daily brew. This was more difficult than I expected because my daily route from Multnomah to Hollywood was strangely void of coffee establishments. Day 1 I tried the Cafe D'Arte right by my hotel and their espresso was decent but slightly bitter. I liked that they didnt have a set americano size, so I got a smaller cup with less water. I asked my trainees where I could get coffee in the Hollywood district the next day. They said Starbucks. wrong. so I asked for anything not Starbucks. They said "there is a coffee shop next to the Trader Joe's", which, upon further examination, was a Panera Bread. This is like when my father used to tell us how much he enjoyed going to "the sandwich shop" where they knew him and exactly how he liked his sandwich, and when we went to visit him we realized "the sandwich shop" was the Subway across the street. After tenacious investigation (aka driving away from the Panera Bread) I found the Aliviar Coffee Shop. Their americano totally seduced me for the rest of the week. They gave me some expert explanation of their two bean blend roast yadda yadda. All I know is it was cheap and I didn't have to sweeten it because the espresso was so smooth. I actively miss it. The other nice strong brew I had was Stumptown, which was great for an evening pick-me-up.
Let's talk food. Oh man, ready yourselves because I ate my way through Portland. They are 5 pounds lighter. I am not.
Let's start with breakfast, which is simple because after I had Grand Central pastries I never wanted anything else. Ever. Buttery crunchy scones soft and slightly sweet inside, that includes both the raisin and the ones filled with raspberry jam (which had been slightly carmelized). I had a flaky mushroom pastry--which made me totally rethink savory morning pastries, chocolate and plain croissants, cinnamon apple bread--oh so moist!, and cookies. They all rivaled the best of their kind I have ever had anywhere. Including in Paris.
Lunch: I had some incredible Thai Food at Sweet Basil, which was close to our training site. The Sweet Basil chicken, which is ground chicken with sweet basil and peppers and scallions was a personal favorite. The 2 item lunch special is so the way to go. We also ordered out from a Balkan food place called the 2 Brothers Cafe owned by the uncle of one of my trainees. It was totally delicious and fairly unique as far as cuisines I have tried. I asked if it was like Russian food and I was told it was not at all like Russian food (but it's kind of like Russian food). I had a chavapi which is a half a pita-esque bread (but way moister) filled with flavorful sausages. very simple. very delicious. comes with sour cream, which really sets it off (not Russian at all). Also comes with this red pepper paste which is delicious. I also had their ghoulash which was good, but actually TOO meaty for me. I would have preferred more veggies, but again the flavor was hearty and delicious--satisfied my soup craving for the day. The word for 2 Brothers was definitely flavorful, not spicy at all. Sweet Basil--flavorful and, if you don't take their hotness grading system seriously, verrry spicy.
Dinner: Flew in Sunday and grabbed dinner at Burgerville, which I had heard was potentially better than In-n-Out. I wouldn't say better exactly, but having far more interesting offerings than In-n-Out or other typical burger places? absolutely. I had the peppercorn bacon burger. yummy. and SWEET POTATO FRIES at the drive-thru? heavenly. Keeping it low and greasy, another night I partook of VooDoo Donuts for dinner. VooDoo Donuts are rad, but not necessarily because they *taste* better than other donuts. They are definitely tasty, don't get me wrong, but their real delight comes in the fantastically colored Willy Wonka presentation and unique flavors of the donuts. The maple bacon was my favorite (just a nice, dense maple glazed bar with bacon on top) but the lemon chiffon, chocolate peanut butter fritter, and voodoo donut (a voodoo doll made of chocolate glazed donut filled with raspberry jam and with a little voodoo pretzel in his heart) were also excellent. and they were each, as my friend Camille put it, "the size of an ottoman".
Monday dinner was at the Bread and Ink Cafe, a real gem of a place with a good fixed price menu. Garlic cheese bread with tomato basil sauce was exactly as expected. Their bread is dense as a hockey puck, still moist, but crazy dense, so my recommendation would be to lay off. My spaghetti was the real star. Fresh spaghetti with bacon and arugula in a chevre (goat cheese) and garlic cream sauce....foodgasm! yesssss. and terrific reheated. the dessert, a chocolate ganache covered ricotta pound cake with candied citrus was pretty fantastic too. I actually had it for breakfast the next morning because I was too full that night and I also have no regard for traditional food rules. I am typically not a huge fan of candied citrus or citrus and chocolate, but this was melt in the mouth good with a very subtle citrus flavor. The last dinner exploit to share was at the Three Doors Down cafe. (a lot of these restaurants seem to have the word "cafe" in them, which creates an expectation of casualness that is incorrect.) I decided to go to this restaurant because one of the owners and chefs is the brother of my former radio cohost, Steve, in Taiwan. First, when I mentioned Steve's name I got special attention because they all love Steve and wish he would move to Portland. Adorable. And I got a free appetizer of parnsip puree and goat cheese bruschetta that was not only tasty, but exciting because I have always wanted to know what parsnip puree tasted like (because they mention it all the time on Top Chef). For those who don't know, it's slightly sweet and carroty.) I also had grilled radicchio wrapped in pancetta and covered in gorgonzola basil sauce. mmmmmmmmmm. (as long as you can handle the bitterness of the radicchio). For dinner I had pan-roasted white fish on top of french lentils, mushrooms, celery root, pancetta (tastes bacony), and spinach in a truffle cream sauce. It was RIDICULOUS. Fireworks in my brain. Foodgasms, paroxysms of foodgasms. not kidding. The flavors were so well-balanced, each bite was layered...Oh glory. Then again, I love lentils. And then I got to meet Steve's brother who looks virtually nothing like him, but *sounds* exactly like him. crazy.
Activities. There are famous rose gardens in Portland. Don't go there at night even when people tell you they are "lit up." Not really. You can still have the life affirming "I stopped and smelled the roses" experience and get a nice view of the city, I guess. That takes about 10 minutes. But then you should hie your ass down the hill to Powell's City of Books which is probably Portland's best extracurricular activity. It's not just "childrens", it's elementary and junior high and Newbery award winners and Caldecott award winners and so on. Used and new all intermingling. warm fuzzies. I spent an entire evening in the stacks of various departments. Anyway, I also went shopping *no sales tax in Oregon!* on the NW side on 23rd and went into a few boutiques and Lush and Paper Source. Upon realizing that what my mother said, "that's 10% right off the bat" was true, I did most of my christmas shopping.
Accommodations. The Residence Inn was fine, but it looks like a condo complex and has no elevator, which *blows* when carrying luggage. I said I couldnt stay there if they had non 1st floor units. They did, but beware.
Bicyclists . There are lots of them and they don't care about you and your impaired dusk eyesight, oh wasteful car dweller. again, beware.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sacramento, terminal A layover...quiet haven of the domestic traveler
Oh Sacramento airport, I didn’t expect this from you, no not at all. I feel sort of blushing and embarrassed and like I need to spend some more time with you and, I don’t know, apologize for assuming you would be as beige and boring as the city you serve. But I am so wrong. Your A terminal is…light and airy. Two ladies have rolled past me in Segways. Your food court shames other food courts. It wasn’t like the usual political race, choosing the best of the unknown and greasy worst. I actually love La Salsa and CPK, while sort of merely enjoying burger king, and quiznos, but I decided to go with the untried Lemongrass which promised fresh Asian cuisine. I chose the spicy Thai noodle soup Ko Sui (or whatever.) It appears that my mouth is a better (though slightly scalded) place for it. I have now burned my tongue ladling your coconut curry broth with big pieces of white meat chicken into my mouth. I am addicted to your flavor and can’t stop even though I know you might hurt me. I feel like I want another layover with you (airport terminal A and soup respectively), get to know you better. I’m actually a little melancholy now that I realize I won’t be able to enjoy you on my return flight from Portland. In more enjoyable news, I have broken out into a light curry-induced sweat and I’m quite pleased about it.
At the same time, fie on you, Cinnabon! You always try to thwart me at every airport driving my scent sensors into flywheels of temptation. You are the devil’s treat. You have taught me to identify with what crack addicts must feel like when they want their next fix. And for months, months! I have been able to be strong and avoid you. And the only way I have been able to accomplish this feat is the knowledge that one of your cinnamon rolls has like 12000 calories. But now, you have made MINI bites. NOOOOOO. No no no, bite size portions of 1000 calories make you irresistible. I am undone.
At the same time, fie on you, Cinnabon! You always try to thwart me at every airport driving my scent sensors into flywheels of temptation. You are the devil’s treat. You have taught me to identify with what crack addicts must feel like when they want their next fix. And for months, months! I have been able to be strong and avoid you. And the only way I have been able to accomplish this feat is the knowledge that one of your cinnamon rolls has like 12000 calories. But now, you have made MINI bites. NOOOOOO. No no no, bite size portions of 1000 calories make you irresistible. I am undone.
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