Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

I miss my mom, for a thousand different reasons every day. Sometimes I can see whatever it is coming around the corner, and I can brace myself, and I can dodge it, or steel myself for it, or whatever is required. Sometimes though, there's just no way to know. It just hits you. Something you remember, something that you always meant to say or do, some bit of comfort that you didn't even realize you had until it's gone. I had a work triumph today. Not a big one, but the advisory panel for our research group met today and I have been working on this research this year, and while I'm not leading any pieces of the project, I've been thinking about them all and trying to contribute where I could. I'm also the person who did a lot of the organizing and coordinating, although I certainly had tons of help. And we've been prepping for this for such a long time, and all these other things went wrong this week, and then it happened. It was done. It went great.

Friday we went to Chinatown and I got TJ a scarf and I got a couple more pashminas, which are fabulous, since they are both scarves and shawls. Handy. We went to an aquarium store in Chinatown so Trevor could gawk at the fish, and we asked the women there for a good restaurant nearby. Via a translating niece, a very nice Chinese woman told us that there was a Malaysian place around the corner that was tasty. At Nonya , Trevor shocked me by selecting a shrimp dish, and I also had shrimp as per my usual custom and so we shared both and they were quite good, although our meals weren't even close to the best part of the meal. As a starter we got this Malaysian pancake thing that was all fluffy and 3-D and came with chicken curry dipping sauce. And, as if the pancake wasn't enough to win one over, the whole meal came with free hot tea, a lot of it. This was extra special awesome since it was FREEZING outside. Then we wandered around Chinatown for a while, since I decided to sea

Well, I wasn't able to order in the other night because what I wanted didn't deliver to Jessica's address, so I took a little stroll around the East Village to S'Mac, short for Sarita's Mac and Cheese, and I am so glad that I did. Also, you may have noticed a cheese theme. You are not wrong. I love cheese, but normally don't indulge because once I start I CANNOT stop. But I'm on vacation, so... From S'Mac , I ordered two Nosh sized goodies, one for dinner and the other for lunch the next day. They have combos or you can design your own. I ate the Alpine for dinner. Gruyere with slab bacon, and I elected to get bread crumbs on top. Creamy and well-balanced. The next day's lunch was the Cajun - a combination of cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, andouille sausage, green peppers, onions, celery, garlic and seasn'n. Spicy, but not too much. I also got a take and bake, i.e. they make it and you take it home and bake it. That was a Meditteran

Things I have eaten: 1. Seaweed salad, spider roll, shrimp udon at some Japanese place I can't remember the name of 2. Ordered in breakfast of French toast and bacon, which came with 3 little containers of syrup (3!) Jessica and Sean order in a lot because it is so convenient here. You can get everything from breakfast to Ethiopian food. It's magical. 3. The Great Iberian Peninsula 3 wine and cheese flight from Artisinal ; also 1/3 of a bottle of Prosecco and a pot of Fontina, garlic, and rosemary fondue with crudites, apples, and kielbasa - I highly recommend any of this, but especially the flights of paired wine and cheese. They have 12 different flights, one of which is all sparkling wines and another of which is beer. Delicious. 4. A chicken bowl from Yoshinoya, which is like the McDonald's of Japanese fast food. So it was a little bowl with rice, veggies, and some chicken. Very quick and so-so-tasty. 5. A feast at Suba , a Basque tapas place that was oddly decora

Please ignore the awful hair. I was getting ready for bed, and I finished my most excellent new scarf. The scarf has fingerless gloves built into the ends. Courtesy of this Knitty pattern .