Buffalo
Last week I was in Buffalo for 48 hours.
You know, I’m sure it’s a lovely town and I just seem to go to craptacular places there... but, holy hell, I don’t ever need to go back to Buffalo. After a longish day due to some airline difficulty and other general shenanigans, it’s time for dinner and my co-worker and I (who’ll we’ll call “Joe”) decide to blow off Buffalo and have dinner in Toronto. We are having dinner in a totally different country to avoid having dinner in Buffalo, NY.
I texted Adina about where to eat in T-Town (is that we call it?) and she enlists her social media circle on Orkut to chime in on their favorite places. Lots of good ideas and we chose Lee Restaurant because:
(1) There is a very low chance that they would have wings there
(2) Susur Lee is the owner/chef and I thought he was cool on The Top Chef Masters television program
Four things about this meal (1) It was 72 miles from our hotel
(2) Chef Lee was there. He walked right past us. He spent a lot of time tweaking the lights.
(3) The “Singapore Slaw” with 19 ingredients. This was a brilliant salad. My co-worker (“Joe”) and I both had our socks knocked off by this salad. I could eat this every single day for lunch.
(4) Their Peking duck was superb. It’s served deconstructed (wait, isn’t Peking duck always deconstructed?) and features these amazing accompainents like pickled ginger dyded with beat juice, chutney, and a nice chunk of foie gras. Foie gras + Peking duck = Hola Amigo!
St. Louis
After Buffalo I was in St. Louis.
That’s a pretty town, although everyone was quick to add, “well, if you went two blocks that way, it’s a war zone”.
Whatever. They have some nice, grand homes and lovely springtime weather.
Mouser! Oh, and our tiny kitten cat greeted Mrs. Robot the other night with a mouse in her mouth. Mrs. Robot did not have a fun time retrieving the mouse and, granted, it’s not something that is fun to do, but I’m so proud of our little orange friend. She had been watching this one spot in the kitchen for a few days so we knew something was up.
Good going kitty!
Quercy
Our favorite neighborhood joint, Quercy, is closing at the end of this week. For many years this was our go-to place for raises, new jobs, or anything else that needed celebrating. I will miss their rack of lamb.
(luckily, they also own La Luncheonette in Chelsea which is literally a stone’s throw away from my office)
The guy in front of me farts.
Ah, jeez. I mean, first of all, I heard it - which is noteworthy because we are about to emerge onto the street and it’s pretty loud. Oh, and suddenly it smelled horrible (I mean, worse than the subway can normally smell (this station often has homeless poopers in it)).
I’m all riled up. The guy knew there were people right behind him. You don’t do that. Then again, maybe this was a gas-passing that had not been planned - I mean, I heard it and it was loud enough over the din of the street noise.
We get up on the street and I’m looking at the guy as we stand on the corner about to cross the street. I guess I’m trying to read his expressions on this farting. Wait, I just re-read that last sentence. “read his expressions on this farting”?
End of story: As he crosses the street (after farting on me) he trips and drops his pager.
Yes, pager.
Into a puddle.
Virginia The week before I was in Virginia Beach. It was a cold and dark day in Virginia Beach. I had a 5pm flight and as the plane finally made it out of the clouds, we were all reminded that the sun is still out... way up there.
Pretty flight home.
(1) It was 72 miles from our hotel
Oh, and our tiny 
