Soup Dumplings, Pink Unicorns and That Guy from Buffy

what an amazing weekend it was! the brief re-cap:

1. a couple of days after last weekend's visit, MS asked me to pick up a lovely pink unicorn she had seen in the toy aisle of our local Stop N Shop. it seems she'd found a good home for her. On Saturday, we braved the icy rain/sleet/snow, the SI Ferry and the NYC subway system to bring Frenchie (for that was the unicorn's name) to MS and Dug; but only after we had had some fun with her 1st.


2. the drop off happened at our favorite NY Chinese restaurant, which is home to the world's best* soup dumplings. this was a double bonus: MS & Dug and soup dumplings.


3. while waiting for our table, who happened to wander in with a mini-entourage, but Danny Strong (aka Jonathan Levinson from Buffy)! much debating ensued over whether or not to acknowledge the fact that we were in the company of a b-list celeb (with a-list geek-star street cred), 'til our table was ready. on the way to the table, CawfeeMate stopped and told Danny that we "loved his work". To his credit, Danny seemed genuinely happy to be noticed and thanked us.

dinner was great, as always, but we promised Dug that the next time we met up in the city we'd try a different restaurant (since this is the only one we meet at when we're together). luckily there's an app for that...

*in truth their's are the only soup dumplings i've ever had.

Whatta Weekend III: I Give Up

ok not really.

i just don't have time to write individual posts. work just got super busy and i wanna strike while the iron is hot (read: before this weekend comes) and before i get buried again, so here y'go...

True Tales of Dishwasher Hell: it's still not fixed. what a fucking surprise. a new repair service was called in after the 1st one flaked on us 4 times. the new guy was just as clueless as the last guy. i called Haier Corporate, lodged a formal complaint. that and $2 will get me on the subway.

the Soup is Inside the Dumpling: another trip to "the soup dumpling place" with MS, N'il and their menfolk* (Ivan Turgenev and the General, respectively). the food was, as always, absolutely amazing and completely impossible to quantify on the WW point system. that's fine, 'cuz i starved myself all day in preparation...like a ritual fast...and was rewarded with culinary nirvana.

the Rice (Pudding) Capades: the dumplings were followed by a trip to Rice to Riches, in SoHo, the "31 Flavors" of rice pudding. yes, that's right...rice fucking pudding...and not just your basic "vanilla w/ cinnamon", we're talking amazingly erudite flavors like French Toast, Tiramisu, Marscapone Madness, Rocky Road and Mango. the single serving is enough for 3 people, so save room or a spot in your man-purse, to bring it home for later...OR you could just have a tub of it shipped to you...if you wanted to...

*Diving into Pool With Beaus: i'll get right down to it; i absolutely adore MS's new fella (who will not be referred to as a "boyfriend", because...she said so). he's hunky and sweet and thoughtful and fun to talk to; he listens well and does not appear to be judgemental in the slightest (read: he takes her friends in stride and laughs at their jokes and off-color remarks). oh he's also not a pool shark, which makes him infinitely less threatening; there's nothing worse than a straight guy who flaunts his athletic prowess while on a double/triple date. straight guys intimidate me enough, without the added bonus of feeling inadequate at pool to make me feel worse. the General, though, isn't threatening in the least, despite his incredible height and massively hot shoulders...he's exactly the kinda guy you want around when there are other, more threatening, straight guys around...in case they actually threaten you.

the absolute best part, though, is that when she's not aware of it, the General looks at MS with utter adoration and (don't tell her, love). he's an 11 out of 10 and i couldn't be more excited for her if she brought home Colton Ford's straight twin brother, Eddie.

Things You Only Hear in Chelsea...

"Dude, you dress like Debbie Gibson"~ Random Faggot #233 (overheard, Saturday, while dining at my favorite Chinese restaurant of all time)

Can You Mainline Espresso?

after the scintillating soup dumplings of Chelsea, we took the girls to the cafe` that Stephen and i went to on our 1st date (g'head, you know you wanna say AAAAAAAAAAAAW), for dessert. we hung out for a while; indulging in cappucinos, pumpkin cheesecake and tiramisu and then parted ways. now, on the way into the city, Stephen and i stopped at a Starbucks so i could get my caffeine quota for the day (CawfeeGuy is a high-holy mess without it; we're talking headaches, mood swings, etc). when i got back in the car to go home, i still had half of my 5-shot-venti-iced-skim-caramel-latte. by the time we got home, at 9:30, it was gone. long story short: i was so wired, i didn't fall asleep till after midnight. i lay in the bed, next to stephen, with every atom of my body vibrating. i felt like the Flash. i felt like Whitney Houston. now, i feel like hell.
i am so tired and so delerious that even the lyrics to Samantha Fox's Love House seemincredibly deep and meaningful.
today is probably the worst day that i could feel like this: it's Monday, the interns have all left (leaving me to do all my work myself), and i've now got more work than i have gotten all summer long. i probably shouldn't be blogging...

"There's love in my house for fun, whee/There's love in my house for you/There's love in my house, you won't be sorry/'Cos I know just what to do"~Love House (Samantha Fox)

No Dumping

Nil was in town this weekend, and as we haven't seen her in a month or two, we made plans to go to dinner with her and MS.
stephen and i had gotten into the city a bit early and in an attempt to come in out of the rain, we stopped off at Barracuda for a dirty Martini (ok, he had water and i had a martini) to wait for the girls. a little bit later, we met them in front of the best Chinese restaruant in Manhattan: Grand Sichaun (on 24th and 9th). we had taken MS there a couple of months ago and she's been asking me for weeks when we were going back; she was hooked, after tasting their signature delicacy: the soup dumpling.

i can't say i blame her, these things really are addictive. the 1st time stephen took me for them, i pestered him for months afterward. in case you haven't figured it out, they're dumplings...filled...with blistering hot soup. seriously. you can't make this up. delictable chunks of pork or crabmeat floating in absolutely intoxicating pork broth, wrapped in a perilously thin membrane of dough. they even have a diagram hanging on the wall to teach you how to eat them without burning off half your face (yeah, they're that hot). we also ordered Glass Noodles with Spicy Pork, Tea-Stained Duck and Sauteed Baby Bok Choi; all of which were delicious in their own right and worth a golf-clap. as usual, the service was bad, but to be honest after dipping into the little sacks of nirvana, sitting in the bamboo steamer, you really could care less.

"yes to food is yes to life"~ Eat the Menu (the Sugarcubes)