The Easy Chair: A Year Off: September 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

Putting the Boss back into Boston, part 2

This restaurant in the North End has The Godfather playing on continuous loop all day and night...

Putting the Boss back into Boston, part 1

Toscanini's- voted the best ice cream by the NY Times. We went there twice and had seconds each time.

We had to stop by Mike's for a cannoli!

Rainy day chowda' and haddock at the Union Oyster House.

Plymouth Rock, MA

Jeff and Jin Sun make a stop at Plymouth Rock in MA. The original 'rock' is housed under the newly constructed concrete monument.

Martha's Vineyard Pics Need No Comments...

Outside (& Inside) Providence

Jin Sun laid back in her natural habitat in Newport R.I. - a stop off before heading to Providence.

We did the famed Cliff Walk- and saw the Vanderbilt mansions and many others. Nice crib, yo'

Live Lobs and Mystic Pizza

First taste of lobster in New England. We got the Feast which included a bowl of chowda', steamed mussels and littlenecks, lobster, and potato chips.

We watched football at the bar and had a slice at Mystic Pizza. Results: Gone commercial- pizza overrated.

Yale/Skull and Bones

While in New Haven, Jeff decided to renew his Skull and Bones membership. When asked why, he said "my hazing skills are getting rusty."

Our 1st stop on our New England swing brought us to New Haven, CT. Thought by those in the know to be the pizza capital of the US.

We went to Frank Pepe and Modern. At Frank Pepe's, we waited about 30 min so that JSP could sample the famous white pizza with clams (parm not motz). Then at Modern, we went for the standard plain. mmmm...

While we found it all to be very good, we didn't find it permanently life changing. Jeff wasn't crazy about the burnt crust concept but was happy nonetheless with the pizza-for-every-meal concept.

Louis' Lunch. Not open. They claim to have "invented" the "hamburger sandwich" (lots of quotes) here. See Tina Fey interview that references the hamburger sandwich...

http://www.esquire.com/women/tina-fey-0508?click=main_sr

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Philly Soul

We happen to be in Philly at the moment, but really just needed an excuse to post one of the greatest youtube clips of all time - starring a couple of Philadelphia's favorite sons.

To answer your question about what Oates is doing from the 2:47 point on... we have no idea either, but it's awesome.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Marine Biologist

We ran into this random Seinfeld "bus tour" while walking around New York. They actually had a game that let participants attempt to putt a golf ball into a make-shift blow hole (from a whale).

The poster says it all...

Friday, September 5, 2008

Mmmmore... Federer

5 time US Open Champion deserves another post...

NYC- Food Lover's Paradise

Lunch at Lupa- one of the many Mario Batali restaurants
Pizza at Grimaldi's- an institution in Brooklyn- Down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass
Chocolate at famed Dessert Circus star Jacque Torres

and finally...

Magnolia of "Lazy Sunday" fame ("two, no, six, no twelve, Bakers Dozen! I told you that I'm crazy

for those cupcakes cousin!") for some cupcakes and banana pudding... for the record the cupcakes are overrated. We don't love them as much as McAdams loves Gosling...

Special Guests in NYC

After a long day at the US Open, we caught up with old friends Tony and Cindy over dinner in NYC. (Cindy and Jin Sun went to high school together and lived in the same neighborhood)

We dined at Ocean Grill- just the first food stop during our week. More road food in later posts...

We also had drinks with our friends Bryan and Katherine Rose (but we somehow failed to produce a photo) who met us at a fun Wine bar near Canal street. (Jeff and Bryan went to high school together).

Lastly, we had Japanese food at Saka Gura with Jin Sun's friend from high school, Elizabeth Siebert- (again we somehow failed to produce a photo).