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My sister had her baby!!!! Tonight around 7pm Jacob was born. He's just over 7 pounds and healthy and perfect. My sister and BIL are doing well. I talked to my sister and mom over skype and saw the baby! So cute. At some point there will be pictures!
I'm in Cambridge at a comparative lit. conference. Sunday I'm giving my paper.
I drove up Thursday. The driving was uneventful and I got in in time to make it to a trapeze lesson. Trapeze!!! I was freakin terrified. Then I went once and was much better. It took 2-3 times for the nervousness to abate enough for me to do a properly timed knee-hang, straddle whip came right back, and got a couple good tries in for split. Didn't catch straddle whip, first one I choked, second felt good but I think our timing was off?
The trapeze rig is indoors, inside a Jordan's Furniture store. (Click on store tours: Reading, then inside, then bridge). It is insane. You walk in and it's complete sensory overload. Attached to the furniture store is a Fudrucker's, IMAX movie theater, Bose sound store, and probably some other random ass stuff I'm forgetting. IN THE ROOM with the trapeze is a candy store and all of these crazy statues (a flower "garden", George Washington on a horse, a 2-story icecream sundae housing an icecream shop, a literal green monster coming out of the wall--baseball reference--etc.) made out of jellybeans, the icecream shop with little tables you can sit at to watch the trapeze, and a bunch of fountains set to music with a coordinating light show. WTF. It's a trip and the fountains/lightshow/music are loud and distracting.
For the conference you meet with the same 12 people for a 2-hour session for each of the 3 days. My group seems really nice. The papers today were strong and the discussion excellent. I wish I was going tomorrow instead of Sunday, but whatever. I went to another panel in the afternoon that wasn't as good.
Things I like about traveling alone:
-I always forget how much I like traveling alone until I do it
-driving in the car myself, being as capricious as I want with the radio and singing a lot
-strewing stuff about the hotel room
-eating and watching tv in bed
-big, comfy bed all to myself
-people-watching while eating alone in restaurants
-my own schedule, gym, pool, meals, all what I want to do
One thing I don't like about traveling alone:
-figuring out how to tip people. I'm cool with tipping when you have to pay for something (restaurant, bar, taxi, etc.) I've figured out how to tip the hairdresser even though you can't put it on your credit card and have to hand him cash. But this hotel is nicer than where I usually stay and there was a bellman (and no Denis) so I panicked a little bit while I tried to figure out how to tip him (because you're supposed to tip bellmen right???). There was some awkwardness digging in my purse trying to find my wallet (and praying I still had singles left and not just twenties after all the tolls) but it worked out in the end.
Food:
Thursday:
-good breakfast at home
-trip food started out poorly with sad reststop sandwich
-didn't improve much with mediocre (and overpriced!) chicken cassoulet even though it was roomservice
-dessert (creme brulee) was good, but I hope they don't screw up creme brulee! Berries with it were really yummy
Friday:
-omlette at the hotel bar was good and served in it's own mini cast iron pan, which was just adorable
-lunch was fantastic (and reasonably priced) "gaucho chicken" at Mexican bar near Harvard Square. Really good marinade and awesome green sauce.
-it's dinner that prompted this post. I went to the Italian restaurant attached to the hotel. It's restaurant week so they have a 3 course tasting menu. OMG so good.
First course: wild boar over a chickpea gnoccho with chocolate and sour cherries. Phenomenal. I'm a big fan of wild boar, but this was the best I've had since I spent that semester in Italy (the woman I lived with used to make wild boar over polenta which was the most incredible thing ever).
Second course: hake with Roman artichokes and lemon. Not as good as the boar, but still very tasty. I'd never had hake before and it was nice and light.
Third course: zuppa anglaise, also something I hadn't had before (although I'd had the gelato flavor). The sour cherries and the chocolate reappeared, more strongly this time, and it made a nice closing.
I also tried a new drink, a French 75. Described as "gin with bubbles" I thought "I like gin, why not?". It has gin, sugar, champagne, and lemon (I think). Pretty good. It really masks the flavor of the gin disappear which is disappointing, but the lemon is good.
I'm in Cambridge at a comparative lit. conference. Sunday I'm giving my paper.
I drove up Thursday. The driving was uneventful and I got in in time to make it to a trapeze lesson. Trapeze!!! I was freakin terrified. Then I went once and was much better. It took 2-3 times for the nervousness to abate enough for me to do a properly timed knee-hang, straddle whip came right back, and got a couple good tries in for split. Didn't catch straddle whip, first one I choked, second felt good but I think our timing was off?
The trapeze rig is indoors, inside a Jordan's Furniture store. (Click on store tours: Reading, then inside, then bridge). It is insane. You walk in and it's complete sensory overload. Attached to the furniture store is a Fudrucker's, IMAX movie theater, Bose sound store, and probably some other random ass stuff I'm forgetting. IN THE ROOM with the trapeze is a candy store and all of these crazy statues (a flower "garden", George Washington on a horse, a 2-story icecream sundae housing an icecream shop, a literal green monster coming out of the wall--baseball reference--etc.) made out of jellybeans, the icecream shop with little tables you can sit at to watch the trapeze, and a bunch of fountains set to music with a coordinating light show. WTF. It's a trip and the fountains/lightshow/music are loud and distracting.
For the conference you meet with the same 12 people for a 2-hour session for each of the 3 days. My group seems really nice. The papers today were strong and the discussion excellent. I wish I was going tomorrow instead of Sunday, but whatever. I went to another panel in the afternoon that wasn't as good.
Things I like about traveling alone:
-I always forget how much I like traveling alone until I do it
-driving in the car myself, being as capricious as I want with the radio and singing a lot
-strewing stuff about the hotel room
-eating and watching tv in bed
-big, comfy bed all to myself
-people-watching while eating alone in restaurants
-my own schedule, gym, pool, meals, all what I want to do
One thing I don't like about traveling alone:
-figuring out how to tip people. I'm cool with tipping when you have to pay for something (restaurant, bar, taxi, etc.) I've figured out how to tip the hairdresser even though you can't put it on your credit card and have to hand him cash. But this hotel is nicer than where I usually stay and there was a bellman (and no Denis) so I panicked a little bit while I tried to figure out how to tip him (because you're supposed to tip bellmen right???). There was some awkwardness digging in my purse trying to find my wallet (and praying I still had singles left and not just twenties after all the tolls) but it worked out in the end.
Food:
Thursday:
-good breakfast at home
-trip food started out poorly with sad reststop sandwich
-didn't improve much with mediocre (and overpriced!) chicken cassoulet even though it was roomservice
-dessert (creme brulee) was good, but I hope they don't screw up creme brulee! Berries with it were really yummy
Friday:
-omlette at the hotel bar was good and served in it's own mini cast iron pan, which was just adorable
-lunch was fantastic (and reasonably priced) "gaucho chicken" at Mexican bar near Harvard Square. Really good marinade and awesome green sauce.
-it's dinner that prompted this post. I went to the Italian restaurant attached to the hotel. It's restaurant week so they have a 3 course tasting menu. OMG so good.
First course: wild boar over a chickpea gnoccho with chocolate and sour cherries. Phenomenal. I'm a big fan of wild boar, but this was the best I've had since I spent that semester in Italy (the woman I lived with used to make wild boar over polenta which was the most incredible thing ever).
Second course: hake with Roman artichokes and lemon. Not as good as the boar, but still very tasty. I'd never had hake before and it was nice and light.
Third course: zuppa anglaise, also something I hadn't had before (although I'd had the gelato flavor). The sour cherries and the chocolate reappeared, more strongly this time, and it made a nice closing.
I also tried a new drink, a French 75. Described as "gin with bubbles" I thought "I like gin, why not?". It has gin, sugar, champagne, and lemon (I think). Pretty good. It really masks the flavor of the gin disappear which is disappointing, but the lemon is good.
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That Italian restaurant dinner sounds awesome. I love restaurant week events.
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