Else what's a heaven for?

I decided Julian and I needed to go on vacation before the end of the year, partly bc he gets holiday blues, partly bc he'd failed at going on vacation twice in 2 weeks, and possibly bc I'd been looking through pictures of our last (amazing) vaca for a week straight. I originally suggested we hop a same-day flight to New Orleans, but he argued against that, which is probably for the best, as, with less than a week's notice, he put together another of his amazing itineraries.

From the first blast of humid air as we walked off the plane, to walking down Bourbon St and seeing redheads handing out free cans of Monster Rehab, I immediately knew we'd picked the right last minute destination. I was a little disappointed that we had our first meal at Coop's, bc how could we eat better than that? And honestly, their rabbit jambalaya is one of the best things we ate all trip. And it's next door to Molly's at the Market, which has the apotheosis of coffee, large Irish coffee in to-go cups. Seriously, I'd fly to New Orleans for that meal. ( museums & music )

( kayaking & art )

I'd packed two dresses for the trip, the classy one and the slutty one: I think the slutty one was too slutty for Bourbon St. I got a few unfriendly looks as we were seated in Galatoire's, possibly bc I had an immature moment and decided to wear all the makeup. ah well. We had chosen the reveillion menu - one of everthing! - including escargot Yvonne, sauteed shrimp, duck & foie gras lentil soup, fancified redfish, and bread pudding. Julian was pondering the wine menu when an older gent from the family table next to us came over and said, "If you're still looking at the menu all this time, you need my help. I've eaten here about a hundred times and I recommend..." It was such a terribly sweet gesture in a restaurant overly full of local families.

Before this trip, the only strip club I'd ever been to was the Penthouse Club in NYC, so I groaned a little that we went to the Penthouse Club in New Orleans. ( You'd think I wouldn't be so shy about a commercial transaction, but... )

The next morning, we woke to the most spectacular thunder and lightning I've ever heard, so we punted our cemetery tour. Instead, we had lunch at Cochon Butcher, formerly S'wine Bar, which was as good as I remembered, which is impressive. I was falling asleep on my feet at the Cabildo, but it's an awfully good museum and a great counterpoint to Ned Sublette's The World That Made New Orleans. We went to Cane & Table in the French Quarter for drinks, but I was kind of out of it for that and for dinner at Three Muses on Frenchmen Street. Julian commented that Frenchmen Street might be where locals prefer to hang out, but I can do that any night in the East Village: Bourbon Street I cannot.

Monday morning, ( Cajuns & rum ) We then stopped in the French Quarter for absinthe frappes where Lafitte and Andrew Jackson had them, except Old Absinthe House now hangs football helmets :( We drunkenly wandered into the Tabasco store, Evans praline shop, and Pepper Palace. The last had yummy stuff to try, including delicious peach and mango salsas, but I'd rather have gone to Slow Burn in Monterey.

The reveillon menu at the Commander's Palace probably would've killed me - during the trip I tweeted that "I'm hungry" now meant "I'm no longer full to bursting". ( what we ate ) I now wonder why I ever ate again after this meal.

We went to Rick's for our last Bourbon Street entertainment, but it took only one drink before I safeworded and we went back to the Penthouse Club. It was less crowded than it had been on Saturday night, but the dancers were less athletic/attractive - one of the prettiest convinced me to never, ever get a boob job - and they closed at 2. Which was ok, bc we had a morning flight, made more palatable by shrimp etouffee. It's a tribute to how amazing New Orleans is that their airport shrimp etouffee is still better than any in New York. I need to go back, in <2 years.

The problem with business class is that it's too comfortable: I never figured out how to work my seat (although I had a foot rest so it was okay) and then they handed Samsung Galaxies to everyone, so I watched Cloud Atlas until too late and couldn't fall asleep. Both Julian and I have a thing for cute little sets, but my favorite thing about the amenity set was the perfect-for-my-travel-makeup jet age bag. So cute.

This was our first time flying together, let alone going to Europe: we discovered that we have a fundamental difference in how we visit cities. I like hop-on, hop-off buses bc they efficiently show you a lot of things you probably want to see if you've never been somewhere before. Julian had laid out a marvelous itinerary I appreciated much more after I stole the guidebook from him and started reading about what we were seeing.

Even in its commonplace buildings, Barcelona is comfortable with unusual or particularly design-oriented architecture that in America would look overthought. We spent our morning walking around La Rambla to Santa Maria del Pi and the Gothic cathedral. I wish I had the background in architecture to tell you why these churches are different from Notre Dame, which is probably the most notable gothic church I've seen; I can't remember much about the architecture of the dozen churches I saw last time I was in Italy. Rick Steve says Barcelona's cathedral barely cracks top 20 in Europe and I can't disagree, although we needed to see Catalan gothic to set up the rest of the day.

We stopped at Xaloc for second breakfast. It was a sandwich shop & bar, nothing fancy, and we ordered coffee and sandwiches, nothing fancy, but of course the ham was jamon iberico and the cheese was manchego and the proportions were just right for a delicious, nay perfect snack.

Suitably fortified, we continued on to the museum of the city, looking for some background before we headed into the royal palace. Instead we got a side view into Roman life. Barcelona was settled by veterans, who built a very typical colonial town. The museum is over an archeological dig that includes a Roman laundry, garum factory, winery, and baths, all of which are well-illustrated and explained. A later church was also buried on the site.

Lunch was at Tapeo anem de tapes. All morning, the sites were busy, but not crowded and on the way, we found out why: all the tourists were in a four block line to get into the Picasso museum. I'm so glad I saw his work in Hakone instead. At Tapeo anem de tapes, we tried the tapas I don't get in NYC, like sautéed asparagus with pork, fried rabbit ribs, and pigs feet.

I had never heard of Sagrada Familia before seeing it in National Geographic's Places of a Lifetime list last week, but it is the most inspiring church I've ever seen. Julian's itinerary - and the excellent tour guide - set up Gaudi's neo-Gothic masterpiece perfectly. Our tour started at the so-called Passion facade, which is supposed to be based on what they can piece together of Gaudi's destroyed-during-the-Civil-War plans. The primitivism of Josep Maria Subirach's sculptures brings home the raw emotion of the event. I didn't care as much for the Nativity facade, a Where's Waldo of biblical figures and natural elements. I find the gammatria of the whole building a little tiresome, honestly.

The inside of the church is best described as a pale stone forest that will, when they finish (currently projected for 2026, almost 150 years after they started), be gaudily decorated with colored light from the enormous stained glass windows. Even as an unbeliever, I felt connected to the story.

We stopped at the "block of discord", a series of family homes built by modern architects including Gaudi. It was, in fact, very weird, but we were very tired, so we headed back to the b&b to recharge.

We tried to go to Tickets, a young descendent of El Bulli, but couldn't get seats. Instead we headed to Cal Pep, recommended by my sister, and got there in time for the first seating, instead of waiting in a queue at the counter, watching others eat. It was an experience, best described as Catalan omakase. We ate whatever the raspy-voiced chef put in front of us, under the baleful glare of big teethed fish in a refrigerator case. This included tomato bruschetta, clams in olive oil and garlic, fried little fish, tuna tartare, octopus & chickpeas, and soft fried artichokes; we special ordered the sausage of pork and duck foie with white beans. They opened a bottle of white for me and a bottle of red for Julian, which they left next to us and kept pouring. At the end, they estimated we'd drunk 15 euros worth. Total. We spent the meal giggling and laughing and Julian found an adorable British-style cab to take us home.

The best thing about the weekend was how ordinary it was - nothing death-defying, just stuff people do when they're on vacation - and yet it was incredibly wonderful. I took an egg cheat and had breakfast in a perfectly ordinary diner; after having been in so many places trying for that ambience, it was amusing to have (delicious!) eggs and coffee in the real deal.

Frommer's guide to NY state lists "Black Mountain" as the best hike in the southern 'dacks; ( it was at least my best )

The nearest Zagat-rated restaurant was 42mi away, so after showers, we went to a random restaurant I found in the local ad supplement, with the superb name of The Lobster Pot. Bc really, any summer when you haven't eaten lobster outside is wasted. I was a wuss and had the lobster tail, which was fine. I also had a bikini-tini and proper clam chowder. It was a random choice - and it was exactly right. (Like so much of the trip.) Then we played pirate-themed mini-golf, which was superb: I was really awful at it and laughed and made faces when my ball did untoward things. Then we got ice cream at Stewart's and got a night cap and everyone was just so friendly/helpful/nice. Yaay travel!

Sun morning we woke to thunderstorms: so much for the boat ride. Instead we went to Lake George's best vegan restaurant, a burger shoppe, where I had a veggie burger. It was not awful, although my companion had to save me from the amount of jalapenos I'd eaten. Wandering through town, we happened on the Adirondack Winery, the worst winery I've been to in my life. ( Read more... )

I'm personally very proud of the logistics of this trip bc the transportation went so smoothly, even though I overestimated the driving times. Which meant that Sun night, I had time to hit the gym for balance work and order Chinese food. Mon, I ran an extra mile during my run bc I felt so good. I did all sorts of things I'd been dawdling on, like finishing my book about Darwin and finally cooking seitanic jambalaya.

I've had Veganomicon since before the experiment started, bc I'd been planning to cook for Lbro, but I don't have time for LJ, let alone cooking. It was the most intriguing recipe in the book, bc I *heart* jambalaya and it's a good, filling lunch. Cooking was rather dramatic: I forgot to scale down the recipe so even though I didn't have enough beans, it was still threatening to overflow the pot. Halfway through, I realized it finishes in the oven, so I ended up using a casserole dish for the overflow. The rice took far longer to cook than expected, so I had to keep checking it, which also involved balancing the amount of water between the two pots. At one point I started ladling water from one container to another, but it was spilling, so I grabbed for the handle to move the pots together. That would be the metal handle that had been in the oven for 40mins. OWOWOWOW. I ran my hand under running cold water for 3 10min intervals (between checking the food for doneness), but I'm afraid my long-suffering gf heard me whining about it our whole conversation.

Pongo was kind enough to do the research and tell me the Macys fireworks would be over the Hudson this year. I don't know how I've lived in this building for 6 years and never seen them before. ( The Long Ka-boom )

My mother was very sick Fri night, so I was guilted into going to ABT's performance that night. While I've been avoiding ballet for the past few years, I've been going to Lincoln Center for ballet for almost 30 years, so when I say Fri night's performance was incredible, I know what I'm talking about. ( text ) My sister commented I was very lucky to see Kent in her last season and I can't disagree.

I kept the entire weekend free so that I could climb with GMac whenever he was available, but he didn't get back to me and then his 5yo was misbehaving, so yeah. This is part of why I want to learn to lead: it's much easier to last minute find an experienced second than to spend 3hrs on the bus and $40 to get to the cliffs and find no leaders available.

Instead I spent Sat doing laundry and other things that had to happen before the cleaning lady came. Decided to run as a warmup to lifting, but didn't feel like switching shoes, so I ran with the Vibram Five Fingers for the first time. It hurt no more than my traditional sneakers - I got shin splints at about the same time as usual. I attribute this to the POSE seminar I attended last year. I also ran it the lower loop a minute faster than usual, at a sub-10min pace, although my times have been so erratic lately, I can't tell if it was the POSE running.

The farmer's market is finally getting interesting, although by the time I got there, the beef and turkey vendors had gone. Bought bass - not sure if it was striped or sea - and broiled it with sliced squash. I couldn't understand why Julia Child said to put a touch of white wine in the pan, until it came out half uncooked: put it back in the oven with the white wine and it came out aromatic and delicious (and cooked). Simplest, tastiest thing I've ever made, although not terribly filling.

I thought lifting would be okay, bc I wasn't climbing the next day. ( HAHAHAHA )

Speaking of plans gone awry... I wish my hrm had still been working, bc I'm sure my profile for Sun's hike would've been fascinating. Did Breakneck Ridge to Cold Spring, a 7.5mi I've done in the past. However, even though I haven't been hiking since, um, Grand Teton last August, I decided to repeat the first half mile 3x. The first half mile, that gains 1100' over half a mile. Um. ( how that went ) The hike was exactly what I needed though. I was getting pretty snippy last week and it was glorious to spend 8 hours with nothing beeping at me, no one demanding my attention, with my biggest concern being the hot spot on my arch, navigation, not running out of water, and putting one foot in front of the other.

Oh, and I found blueberries and raspberries on the trail. YAAY! Even though I was tired, I felt grubbier, so I walked the half mile down to the beach, stripped to my underwear (despite the large numbers of children), and dunked in the Hudson. Had a beer and a cup of clam chowder before heading back to the city.

I'm proud of how productive I was this weekend, bc of all the weekends for which I've been beating myself up, in which I wasn't productive. ( brain hacks ) I'm about half an hour's work from having the place tidy enough for family or people trying to get in my pants to visit, which is good bc I have a houseguest and a date this week.

It was doubly good bc my sister invited herself over for dinner last night. I suppose I could've gone to her place or a restaurant, but I couldn't really walk, so yeah. We had Turkish and it was the first time anyone else has ever eaten at my new dining table. She had a lot of stuff on her mind and I'm particularly glad that she was very straightforward about asking for what she needed, bc it felt good to give her something helpful, but I'm terrible at guessing what people need emotionally. I went to bed happy knowing that I'd done good things this weekend.

I'm planning to go singing at Marie's Crisis next Thursday, May 20th, and since many of you expressed interest, you should join me! Showtunes! *kermit-dance*

It's at 59 Grove St. (at Seventh Ave). I'm not sure when things really get started, but I'll probably get there closer to 9 than 8. It's cash only.

Feel free to invite others, as the more the merrier.

Arbitrage and adventure are two of my favorite things, so I couldn't pass up the chance to see Robert Smith promote his book, Riches Among The Ruins. If you dressed Ben Franklin in a modern suit and gave him a haircut, he'd look like Smith. He told stories like the time he was carrying $4M in bearer bonds to El Salvador and his usual hotel blew up, or financing stuff in Russia just after the wall c came down, etc. Even without having read the book, I would love love to see a movie based on it. Unfortunately, I wish he'd gone into more detail about the finance aspects, given that he was addressing a crowd of investment professionals. I also took courage from his remarks about finding work you love.

That night, I heard the authors of The Nine Rooms of Happiness. It seems really and the main message seemed to be "live in the moment". I may worry excessively, but I've obviously internalized this message: why do you think I climb mountains, dangle from fabric/rope, etc.? Nothing focuses the mind like knowing it's your own grip strength keeping you from hitting the deck. That said, I suspect there may be a few tricks in the book worth reading.

What was really astonishing was the second speaker. I silently rolled my eyes when the introducer called her one of the best psychiatrists in NYC for reproductive mental health, but after hearing her speak, I believe it. e.g. she made a remark about how if you find yourself acting in an inappropriate way, it helps to take a step back and figure out where did you learn that behavior, bc maybe you're stuck on something. And she had a whole rant about how, if you're having trouble with someone, you can't change them or their behavior, but you can change you. Which never made any sense before when my sister said something similar, but with her examples, yeah, I could see it. I wish I had a therapist that clever, bc I know I have stuff I'm stuck on.

I bought a full-price hardcover of Riches, partly so I could get him to sign it and partly so I could lend it to my sister. I passed up the opportunity to do the same with Nine Rooms, but I'll probably get it from the library, love it, and end up buying it at some later date.

Edit: Smith commented that you have to be a genius to do well at something you don't love. I kinda knew this, but I needed to hear this out loud.

This week has been sucking - work, nobody returns my emails, I'm so fat from the holidays, overwhelmed by how much self-improvement I'm doing, Bluebeard is a pigfucker - so I started writing the five happy things meme (I figure of all the signature items to steal from someone else's lj, this is least karmically bad, right? or is it the worst?) and one of them was going to be about the package of books I'd ordered arriving ON Kate Day. And I thought about getting a picture, or at least opening the package, so I opened it... and discovered it was actually a present! I got to open wrapping paper! Moreover, it was a book I wanted so badly, I, er, ordered it in the package which, uh, I guess is getting here tonight. *laughs happily*

The rest of the list:

• Kate day wishes from far and wide
  
• good eye makeup
  
• apparently I now retain water once a month and even mild Atkins-ing has an effect, so half that holiday weight gain went away with 3 days of good food choices
  
• irritating orthopod's office gave me a new prescription without making me come in
  
• friendly fun salesguy helped me buy two bourbons for gifts last night
  
• onigiri for breakfast

BOOKS!! MINEALLMINENEVERHAVETOGIVEITBACKMINE!