Countdown to Beantown, Part 3: The Pre-Move Holiday
Avid readers of Jaffe will already have noticed the pictures from my trip to London in my flickr badge. This was the longest stretch I've had in London since the move to New York a little over 2 years ago. Managed to fit a lot of catching up into the 8-day trip, but unfortunately didn't have a chance to see everyone. As it turns out, just because I'm on vacation doesn't mean everyone else is!!!
In spite of everyone having to work, my time in London was basically an 8-day version of my 5 years of living there. Watched a football (soccer) match in a pub on Exmouth Market, where Serena and I ran into the manager of The Eagle Pub, one of my London favorites; had a picnic on Primrose Hill; lunch at Italia Uno (unfortunately they didn't have the Torta della Nonna); tea at the LMCB; went for a walk along the Thames; and of course, Wimbledon!
Also tried some new things - a walk in Holland Park, a beigel (they spell it differently in London, apparently) from Brick Lane Beigel Bakery, and some afternoons in Serena's Institute.
Definitely the nicest trip I've had to London since leaving a couple of years ago.
The Earth adds solidity to the Rat's personality. An Earth Rat is conventional and a good achiever who likes to establish roots early in order to make a secure future for himself and his family. These Rats have the typical Rat ingenuity and mental capacity, but a strong sense of reality often alludes them preventing them from going after anything that could be impromptu. Earth Rats are honorable and love to be stabilized. Slowly and steadily acquiring wealth gives them a sense of inner peace. Although they are capable of being stingy with their finances, they do possess warm feelings for their family and friends.
Happy New Year!
*Update, 2/8*
Xiaojian took some people from lab out for a Chinese New Year dinner tonight:
1. steamed crab meat and pork juicy bun 2. eight delicious: smoked fish/aromatic beef/ preserved duck/ jelly fish/ shanghai dough/aster indicus/ spicy cabbage/ little bamboo shoot with brown Sc 3. jumbo shrimp with ginger and scallion 4. sauteed fish fillet with chinese yam and lily ball in wine sauce 5. sea cucumber with shrimp eggs 6. pork shoulder in honey sauce 7. steam whole fish 8. house crisp duck 9. vegetable in season 10. seafood soup 11. house style fried rice 12. sweet eight jewel taio 13. fruit
Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday. It's all about food, family, and friends - no religious part to it at all.
Like a lot of things here in the States, there's an emphasis on quantity during Thanksgiving. Bigger is better. TV shows leading up to the holiday talk about how to make the perfect Thanksgiving 'feast', and advertisers inundate consumers with images of massive turkeys packed with stuffing on a table with mounds of potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens, and of course, several types of dessert pies.
All of this supports the stereotype that America is a country filled with obese people who don't care so much about the quality of food as long as there is lots of it. I mean, if turkey tastes good, then a lot of turkey should taste better. In fact, if you like turkey, but you also like chicken, and even duck, then why not combine all three? It all ends up in the same place, right?
According to 123Greetings, that day is August 26. When I was younger, we used to refer to these made-up days as Hallmark holidays, since they were clearly started for commercial purposes, and there was almost always a special Hallmark card for the occasion. I don't remember there being many of them, but now there are days for everything. In fact, next week is packed with important days:
Sunday, October 7: Bathtub Day Bubbles or no bubbles, it's sure to be a great celebration!
Monday, October 8: Tube Top Day Please take a good look in the mirror before you decide to celebrate this day.
Tuesday, October 9: Leif Erikson Day A very important day for the 280,000 people who live in St. Paul, Minnesota - probably the only people in the U.S. who know who Leif Erikson is.
Wednesday, October 10: Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work And School Day In my lab, this day is celebrated year round by a couple of people who have teddy bears at their desk. No lie.
Thursday, October 11: Sausage Pizza Day Definitely a day not celebrated in the kosher pizza places in New York.
Friday, October 12: Change Your Life Day Funny enough, it's also Look Back On Your Life Day. How appropriate.
Saturday, October 13: Shampoo Day For those of you who've been waiting all week to wash your hair, today is your day!
Tonight I went to my first Rosh Hashanah dinner in years. It was in New Jersey, and on the drive out we hit a ton of traffic - before 4pm! Len's sister Debbie, who was driving, said that it was probably because of the holiday: "My mother said she remembers a ton of people leaving Manhattan to go to the suburbs for dinner."
Are you kidding?
There aren't enough of our people in Manhattan opting for takeout brisket to avoid a traffic jam on the FDR?
