A good thing to do after you get off the plane is to get a meal. A good meal. Or, if it’s too late, maybe just a big sandwich from a legendary deli.
Now THAT’s a pastrami sandwich! Dun get points for neatness. Burp.
Late night snack
Yup, it’s just like being back in Uni again…
How trips begin
Before investing in purchasing guidebooks, best to hit the library…
It’s Cold!
It’s cold here! It’s been averaging 8-10 degrees in the daytime! It gets down to 2-4 degrees at night!! And no, I am NOT a weather wimp!
Of course, I wouldn’t be complaining this much if I was, saaaaay, in New York City, Beijing, Tokyo (ahhh) or even in Zurich. These places are SUPPOSED to be cold!
But San Francisco dun usually get this kind of cold snap. It’s been this way since mid January, save for a week of temperate weather when I got suckered into packing away the heavy duty down filled comforter because “it was warm”. Five days ago, the heavy duty down filled comforter came back out.
So what’s the big deal, you think. “Pile on more clothes or turn on the heat”. First off, I need to buy some winter cold type clothes. The ones I have are too big (weight loss, yay). Will do that soon. Second, I’ve got a forced air furnace. Forced air is inefficent, dries you out and blows dust everywhere. Bad for allergies. And have you seen the price of natural gas lately??
People in Japan have the kotatsu to stay warm in winter (also got kerosene heaters that I’ll never ever use). I got a fireplace.
Filled with Hot Wood! See?
Yeeeeeaaaah! Hot Wooooood!
Gotta get Traveling!
While the deals are out there and you can still get discounts!
Speaking of impulsive travel trips, anyone out there been to Zurich?
Any advice? Because it costs US$450 to go out there on UA…and that’s a deal.
Anti VD dinner
Based on the blogs I regularly read, there’s a general sense of apathy about VD (valentine’s day) except for one lucky blogger who got an Ixus (but does it walk?) for her VD gift.
If you can’t tell already, I too, fall under the “VD, so what?” crowd. So on VD (or VN?), I had a small cook-over with a couple of frens (single too).
Since we are all guys here, the menu was simple:
Thick NY Steaks (two of us ate this)
Chicken Breast with salt and pepper with garlic inside (the other one ate that)
Angel Hair with olive oil and parmasian (all eat)
2001 Domaine La Roquette Chateauneufdepape (all drink, some more than others)
I should mention here that it was 10C (50F) outside (with 5c (41F) wind chill) when I started the coals. It was soooo cold and windy, that the wind, instead of feeding the coals, was actually COOLING them!! But I WAS smoking a cigar while cooking, so I guess that’s the trade-off. Pain vs. Pleasure.
For dessert, three bottles of nihonshu, one nigori (unfiltered). That’s sake for the rest of you. See the bottles in the post below? Gone!
Then ended the evening, driving one of the guests home. Which means he drank most of the booze. Burrp. Best thing was, with a good meal and good booze, no hangover!! *whispering*
Japanese Store
Every neighborhood should have a Japanese grocery store!
Check out the stuff that you can bring home from it! The selection (if you can spot the hidden theme in the photograph) is almost as nice as the combini near the JR Station on the way back to the guesthouse…heh heh heh!
Cowboy Bebop and old movies
I went 65 years back in time tonight. Saw the Maltese Falcon in its entirety on the big screen. They were also showing Casablanca before that. Didn’t make it there on time for that classic. Bummer.
————————-3 hours after the end of the movies———————
It’s late. 0130. Cowboy Bebop is on Adult Swim. And every time I see that opening on TV, I remember being in a small hotel room in Myung-Dong (Seoul) getting ready to sleep and seeing Cowboy Bebop. In Hangul. Because that’s the last time I saw Cowboy Bebop broadcast on TV. Until tonight.
Ugh
Soooo, after a month away from the gym, my GP has given me the official “thumbs up” to begin exercising again.
I went to the gym this AM and started the usual workout (one hour on the elliptical). Could only last for 40 minutes, huffing and puffing like a steam engine (or maybe like someone inside a soapland!).
Getting back into this is going to take some time. And will probably be painful too. But it’s necessary! Tis almost travel season!
The well equipped traveler
Like many things in life, being a good traveler requires the proper amounts of planning and equipment, both in proper balance, of course!
If you’ve got all the equipment but not enough (research and) planning done, your trip will be too disorganized and you’ll end up looking like a doofus. On the other hand, if you’ve planned too much and you don’t have the right equipment, it can make your trip downright stressful because you won’t be able to do everything you planned…