Category: Travel

I got denied entry at the US border. Two times, yesterday. They were extremely suspicious that I didn’t book a return flight. I don’t really want to get into it other than that but I’m out a ton of money and I’ve wasted way too many hours at the airport. At least I’m at the gate and on my way out now.

So yes, a one-way. I plan to spend a couple of weeks with my Grandma in Boston to keep her company but also have some time to unwind and change my focus on some things, productivity-wise. I’m always happy to return. Can’t wait to stroll down cobblestone streets, a donut from Blackbird in one hand and another from Dunkin’ in the other. That’s the dream, haha. But who am I kidding? I’ll probably be too full. My g-ma is constantly feeding me and in ridiculously large portions because she thinks I’m always starving or something. And she often offers all the stuff I don’t enjoy eating. White rice. Pork buns. Apples. Bleh. I’ve been thinking about how to get around it. I’m thinking of wrapping food in napkins and tossing it the the birds or something later. Feasible, but she’s always just sitting there, watching and smiling at me while I eat. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve never skipped that guilty feeling of wasting food but I’ve been so good with my running… I really don’t want to lose all that progress. Unlikely. She recently learned that I have a weakness for braised pig trotters… super tasty but super fatty and I’ll be having it for days straight. Whatever. I’ll spend some time to jog ’round the city to try maintain my weight. I hope I don’t die trippin’ on those cobbles.

My grandma actually watched my uncle (her nephew) die that I wrote about in a previous post. I wonder how she’s feeling about it and what she has to say. I’ve always seen her as tough and sassy woman. I’ve seen her angry but never sad. I think she’s alright but we’ll talk it over.

“You cannot live trying never to hurt anyone. It’s not possible. What you CAN do, is love people and trust your friendships. Trust that they’re resilient enough to withstand the ebbs and flows of life.”

can’t expect anything

from anyone

anymore

Didn’t finished writing this one at the time it was relevant so this is a few days late.

Have to say I feel pretty gross right now. Just came back from eating a burger from Kopp’s (not Copps as I had previously written). I was definitely expecting my body to react poorly but didn’t think I’d have that bad of a feeling until maybe a washroom trip… My stomach feels like there’s a balloon of air within it just sitting on top of everything I just ate. Kopp’s was definitely was an American experience. You walk in, and all the employees are wearing bowties and paper hats like it was the 1950s. The counter was super industrial — long, stainless-steel, and I thought it really dramatized that whole factory-style burger-pumping culture of the fast-food industry. The sheer number of people coming in and burgers coming out was pretty amazing to see. I ordered a cheeseburger, the works. It was $5  burger and it took me an $11 Uber ride to get there, one way. I wouldn’t say that the burger was worth it, but the experience definitely was. I can’t say I’ve seen a burger joint of its kind before. Something about the whole place just felt distinctly American. The burger itself was pretty standard except the patty’s grilled on a shit-ton of butter. As soon as I got my order, the grease was already soaking through the paper bag that it was put in. Like the girl I am, I stood at my standing table, eating my burger with plastic fork and knife. I barely ate the bun. I’m sure people were judging. Whatever. The burger was pretty tasty but it was like my body knew something was wrong after a few bites. Other than that, it was a pretty normal burger. The only other subtle differences were that the burger was wider and the patty was thinner (more surface area of the patty on the tongue?). I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat it again; I would much prefer a beefchuck burger cooked rare or something.

Finished off with dessert there, of course. Kopp’s is know for their custard which is essentially ice-cream but there are some eggs mixed in there. It’s not enough to add any sort of eggy-flavour but it definitely makes it denser and subtly grainy. The flavour I got was cherry amaretto cheesecake. I made the mistake of ordering it in a waffle cone because it ended up being huge… but marvellous nonetheless. Plenty of cheesecake chunks… I couldn’t help myself and I finished the damned thing. Was supposed to head out for some wine for my last night there but not feeling so good, I just headed back, just in case, you know?

Jeez, I’m such an experience junkie. I’ll put myself in physical or mental discomfort just to try something new or novel even. Satisfy the craving, then die.

I had such a fun night yesterday night. God. Found a spot at the bar to have dinner and I found myself having a field day with the staff and a couple of other customers for the whole evening. Got introduced and shook hands with everyone front of house and ended up staying a couple hours past close until midnight, chatting and drinking the night away. Everyone just loved me. I’m not gonna lie; I couldn’t help but like the attention.

When I first walked in, the host asked me if I was just coming from the anime convention. After taking a half second to check I wasn’t wearing my badge, I was instantly offended at that assumption (because I’m Asian?) and I asked what made him think that. He told me it was my shirt. My shirt is what I think a very normal graphic tee. It features a three headed zombie and maybe a tiny tiny bit of Japanese (I don’t think he could of seen it with my jacket on). But it doesn’t look Animeish at all. Whatever.

Sat down. The neighbor to my right was really chatty and pretty obnoxious but he didn’t stay for long. The guy I chat with sitting across from me (I was sitting at a corner) was a regular who goes every Saturday. He was pretty cool and even helped me order the star plates from appys to sweets. First ordered a Treasure Chest, essentially a Bijou and I think the bar staff were quickly impressed that I recognized the classic from the ingredients. As soon as they found out I loved gin and I thought Monkey 46 was ‘just okay’, I got treated to a St. George gin flight. And Christ, St. George Terroir was something else. Super earthy and super strong notes of Douglas fir. FUCK. I have a new favorite and I’m surprised to say it’s an American gin. I intend to bring it home if I find it. Spent the night indulging myself, yet again. A butter biscuit with honey, ham and pork belly (so truly American), lamb carpaccio, a giant pork chop, salted caramel mousse and a scoop of plum sorbet. And god, I got spoiled with drinks. A Bruto Americano shot and a couple of more things to better acquaint me we with American spirits. What a treat. We ended the night, four of us, sharing a Bijou with the Terroir. I loved it. (I just realized I’m still recovering from a cold… I probably shouldn’t have done that.)

I’m gonna take some suggestions they gave me in help of finding real Milwaukan(?) things. Tonight I’m supposed to be looking for something called a Butter Burger and custard, a frozen dessert at a place called Copps. And if I have room after that, I’ll be heading to a place called Balzac.

//

Woke up in the middle of the night with my contacts in, clothes and makeup on. Shocked the hell out of me. Jeez.

Here I go, running on virtually no sleep again. I caught two flights this week and they both took off around 5AM so I’ve been able to squeeze in two, three hours of sleep at the most on the following nights. I’m left too brain-dead to read, play Rubix and probably too brain-dead to blog but I wanna keep myself occupied.

I spent the last couple of days in Alexandria, VA. My first-ever boyfriend once lived here. He’s married now and has a couple of kids. He’s still living in Virginia, but maybe an hour and a half away. We’ve kept touch over so many years and so we tried to coordinate meeting up yesterday but I just had too much on my plate and we had to call it off. Bummed out about that.

Caught lunch around old town and had a bit of time to check out the George Washington Masonic Memorial. Didn’t know what to expect inside and I wouldn’t have normally done so with a building so intimidating but for some reason, I stepped out of comfort zone and just went for it. Grateful that I did. It was just a museum dedicated to George Washington. There was a magnificent bronze statue of him in the main hall that I was very happy to see.  I learned yesterday that Alexandria was named after an existing city in Egypt and that the construction of Masonic Memorial was based off of drawings of a once-existing ancient lighthouse in Egypt’s Alexandria. Scale-wise it’s a lot smaller but practicality first, of course. Cool, right? 

Have to say I love American food. Portions are a little too much but Christ, these guys have a lot of things that we don’t have much of back home, especially BBQ restaurants and creole restaurants. Been dying to try burnt ends but they’re always sold out by the end of the day. Missed out on them in Tampa too. Fuck, I gotta get around to it. It’s my American dream.

Also, I found these in the grocery store the other day.

Wonderful low-fat yogurt.

Also managed to lose my Bose headphones. I could die. Ugh.