Memorial Day NYC trip

Day 1

Breakfast: Irving Farm Coffee Roasters
House Salad with Chicken had some kind of sesame flavored mayo-like dressing. It was sweet and good in its own way. Grilled Chicken Sandwich was a panini with pesto and tomato in it. Tomato gave a very fresh feel to the sandwich. I had Iced coffee with soymilk for a drink. The coffee was very chocolatey and had almond-like nuttiness. It came in a mason jar, as that’s the fad of the moment. The interior was bright since there was sunroof, and the benches had a nice cushion.

Lunch: Eataly Il Pesce
Zuppa was tomato sauce with fish broth, with crostini island in the middle of the yummy ocean. I think I tasted some saffron in it, but I didn’t make sure. And even if the menu said that it’s spicy, it wasn’t — lies! Branzino alla Piastra was was a whole thing of sea bass with a side of wine-based onions. The fish had rosemary and lemon where the guts normally are, and felt like it got steamed underneath the skin of the fish. The amount of salt, texture of the fish, and how well it was cooked was a thing of art. Fritto Misto was squids, shrimp, and pieces of fish all fried in a batter. I was surprised that the chef cooked all the different things for a plate in a perfectly cooked state. Nothing was overcooked. Afterwards, for a dessert, I got sweet milk and chocolate gelato. I think they weren’t worth the line since it was a little too dense and sweet for my taste. The place was packed, and a little too chaotic for me, but I guess that’s how NYC works.

Dinner: Hummus Place
Surprisingly, this place is vegetarian without any meat. It was a cute little hole in the basement with warm lightings. As it was in their name, the Hummus was the best that I’ve had. It was not too sour, not too greasy, and had something that made me keep on coming back. On the other hand, Babaghanouj was very stringy. I hope they could make it smoother and fluffier so that it’s softer to the taste like the hummus. It felt saltier comparatively to hummus, and that didn’t help. Tabouleh in this place had quinoa, and it gave a popping texture that I really enjoyed. The addition of mint also helped out in the freshness, too. Falafel was not enough. Although these little fritters were good, it was great and all but five, quarter-sized balls are way too little for five bucks! Veggie Patties with its rice and lentil sides, went together well with the tzatziki sauce, hummus, or babaghanouj. I thought I could have that for burgers and go vegetarian unintentionally.

Other things that happened today
I tried to introduce SGI to my taxi driver from Newark. He said NMRK with me, and he said that he’ll try to remember it. He had really positive spirit, so I hope he can join this Buddhism to show actual proofs with his problems.

I attended Ikeda Kayo-kai, and found out that girls in NYC are really powerful with pride. They weren’t pushy and they cared about themselves while being considerate of others. They also gave a lot of reasons. I usually have to ask a lot of questions especially in our district, but they didn’t have to make me ask. Also, there were lots of laughters unlike my chapter. I loved it!

After lunch, we tried to go to our hotel to check-in. But because of today being the Sunday, I was not able to get to our stop. The express and local trains were messed up, on top of not knowing that some trains rest during the weekends. Oh, and being sleep deprived is not a good idea. After we went back to the hotel, I tried checking in but our hotel said that the room is not ready even though it’s past the time it’s supposed to be ready. We waited a lot, and when we finally ended up in our room, the room didn’t have lots of things that my mom got upset. It didn’t have bathtubs, fridge, nor shower curtain long enough. But when I was hearing all the complaints, I fainted asleep on my bed and drowsed off. I don’t think I’m very good with complaints while I’m sleepy.

Day 2

Today is Memorial Day!

Breakfast: Friedman’s
This was my alternative plan since a place I planned was closed. Aside of me finding a spelling pancakes came with some candied bananas and walnuts and were pretty fluffy. It’s aftertaste was kind of dusty, so I think they could’ve done a better job on that. We substituted blue cheese to feta for a Louie salad and it was pretty mayo sauce. I forgot the name and it doesn’t exist anymore… so sad ☹. Last but not least Pastrami Hash was very savory and my style. I think in NY, pastrami tops my old time favorite, corned beef. The decor of the place, by the way, was very farmey and woody with boxed seats — just my style.