Black Friday

Well, actually it was quite fun. I suppose it was Black Friday for my wallet? Maybe more of a pink or pretty blue Friday for me!

So I managed to drag myself out of bed at the early hour of 11:30 (shhhh... my claim is that I'm still on West Coast time) in order to meet up with coffeeandink. Coffee was had (but not ink, which is probably a good thing), along with drinking water. I somehow managed to pick the plastic cup that leaked too, but luckily didn't trip over Mely or greet her with anything stupid, like, "Wow! You are not blue!"

After we were both properly caffeinated, we headed off to the Strand!

** B (my sister's roommate) wants to write now: Things I've learned this weekend...
- Did you know that when animals smile it is typically an act of agression?
- Did you know that one of Ning's friends is looking for a boyfriend who brushes with Crest bubble gum tooth paste and another one of Ning's friends is looking for a boyfriend who doesn't breathe when he sleeps?
- Did you know that Vladamor in Harry Potter is a very bad guy?
- Did you know that they store the balloons for the Macy's day parade in New Jersey...I suppose that isn't a big surprise...
B is now done hijacking my entry (even though she got Voldemort's name wrong!!)**

I will list all the loot later. Suffice to say that about one hour into it, I had a really hard time lugging my basket around, and this was before we had gotten through all of the first floor and the basement. By the way, the Strand is ginormous! I mostly just sort of stood around and ogled at all the books and promptly forgot what I was looking for. (I need a palm pilot like Mely so I can keep track of everything!) oracne and geekturnedvamp showed up about halfway through the first floor, and they proved to be much better at resisting the lure of many discounted books than either me or Mely. Mmmmmmm, booooooks.

Also, I sadly had to put away about half the things that Mely recced to me (embarrassingly, I just misspelled that as "wrecked," which in no way says anything about the quality of the books). So, um, yes, Mely, you should email me or comment with the rest!

Then we headed off to Veselka, which is a very tasty Ukranian restaurant (first time I've had Ukranian, yay!). It was near a Tibetan restaurant too, and I sort of ogled at the menu because I've also never had Tibetan. They had six different types of pierogies for the regular pierogie dish and two or three more beyond that. I like pierogies. Especially when they're deep fried and crunchy with sauteed onions and applesauce. I stole several bites of Mely's vegetarian stuffed cabbage too, which was really, really, really tasty (must get some other time). I think I had potato, sweet potato, beef and something, cheese, mushroom, and.... some other kind of pierogie.

Dessert was skipped because we then headed over to Chikalicious, sans oracne, who was abandoning us for Persian meat on a stick and ice cream with rosewater sauce.

Chikalicious is wonderful. It's got a discreet little entrance, all glass panels. But since it was very cold outside, the glass was mostly fogged on the inside so we couldn't see in, and once we got in, it was lovely and white and clean, only it managed to be so in a way that was calm and peaceful instead of sterile and sci-fi-like. If you sat at the counter, you could see them preparing the desserts, but we opted instead for back support and cushions. Mely got brown sugar panna cotta with grapefruit sorbet and a champagne topping, and oh, it was good. I wish I could describe these things better. But the panna cotta was smooth and sweet and creamy, while the grapefruit sorbet was light and sharp, and there was just a hint of bubbles from the champagne. Also, it came in a lovely square pink bowl with high sides. geekturnedvamp got the quince pudding (more a bread pudding type thing) topped with Asian pear salad and tea sauce, and it was homey and slightly like apple but also quince, possibly because it had less of the normal appley-cinnamon spices and more mellow tea flavor. I was greedy and got the chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and wine sauce. It was good. It was really, really, really good. The chocolate tart was a little crunchy on the outside (the crust), with a warm and gooey chocolate center, and the peppercorn ice cream isn't weird at all, but cuts through the thickness, and then the wine sauce is rich and plummy and tangily fruity, and it all just works.

Gaaaaah. Am now extremely envious of sister, who lives in NYC and can go more than once a year.

After which, we decided to really go for it and get ... more dessert! This time to an Italian dessert place, in which I got a fruit tart (it was giant! loads of berries and pineapple on top of custard and crust, and the wonderful bit was that there was a little layer of raspberry jam between the crust and the custard) and geekturnedvamp got mini raspberry tarts and mini eclairs (I want eclairs now too).

And then.... me and Mely decided to go for more books! B&N ahoy ^_^. And! I got book one of Nana by Yazawa Ai which is now out and everyone must get it and read it because it is my favorite thing ever! And books one and two of Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden, for which I shall lay blame at Mely and Rachel's feet, as well as Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, because my addiction must be fed. Ooo, I also had a pretzel stuffed with cheese at B&N, at which point I think Mely must have been looking at me funny for how much I was still eating (I have somewhat of a bottomless stomach).

Then I went home and camped out outside my sister's door for an hour because Rent had a longer running time than usual, but that's ok, because it meant I got to dig into my books immediately, and I'm already almost done with Pretties, and it is good!

By the time I got in, I decided I wanted something salty again, so I munched on leftover dumplings (I love leftovers!) and then had some more tiramisu and pumpkin pie, courtesy of yesterday's feast. And now we are all watching Mansfield Park and eating grapes and chips, and I am happy and full and have tons of books and finally got to meet Mely and oracne!

(I finally figured out how I can still be eating after all this -- I forgot to have lunch! My stomach doesn't do well skipping meals, and it must be compensating. Ahhhhhhh, food, how I love you.)