blaHCL Presents

Sunday, my Roomba dutifully kicked into service at 9:30 am. Cornered itself, by closing the door, in the bathroom at around 9:45, so I had to get out off bed to open the bathroom door and let the little poor thing out. We didin’t officially woke up until noon-ish though… Fortunately, Fred drove us into the city, saving us from another day of walk-a-thon… sort of…

We decided to head out to Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown for lunch. Have been craving for their crab meet soup dumplings for a long time. Their Shredded Turnip Shortcake isn’t too bad either, it’s worth a try if you ever go there, though I still think my cousin-in-law makes the best turnip shortcakes ever! They also have two other locations in New York (one in Uptown and one in Flushing). I haven’t been to either of them, so can’t really vouch for the food quality other than the one in Chinatown.

What’s a meal without some quality desserts? And what better place in Chinatown to get dessert than Hui Lau Shan? The placed used to have a HLS sign right outside the shop, but it has now been replaced with a new sign for teashop “Whatever.” Seems like the shop has also underwent some remodeling - the furnitures are mostly new, and they also expanded their menu to include sandwiches and the like… but they did manage to keep all the original HLS dessert menu in-tact. So if you want HLS, look for Whatever.

It was a pain to find a parking spot (especially in Chinatown). We were lucky to find a spot right where the restaurant was. So we decided to leave the car in Chinatown and head to midtown for some window-shopping (we were well-aware those price-range is way out of reach for us). Note to self and visitors -

• Don’t take 6 train on weekends unless you absolutely have to. It took us nearly 25 minutes for a 6 train to come by (meanwhile 4 and 5 train were swooshing by back to back across the platform)….
• Don’t bother go shopping on a Sunday when at around 4~5 pm. Most stores close early on weekends (some at 5, most by 6 pm).
• Unless you enjoy it, avoid 5th Ave. on weekends when it’s nice out. Crowded would be an understatement.

So yeah, we walked a bit around 5th Ave. Got “tailed” by the “watchdogs” in one of those high-end stores (we did dress a bit… “middle-class”). Which, of course, sets me off and eventually lead them into a little goose chase (i.e. walking from stand to stand at a faster-than-normal pace, flipping through every article of cloth so they had to “reorganize it” afterwards… you get the drift). Yeah… if you think I can’t afford your merchandise, just leave me alone and I’ll leave eventually (or maybe I’ll just end up buying a thing or two, if I see something I really liked)… tail me and it’ll give you something to work with, seeing that you have nothing better to do!!

We also stopped by F.A.O Schwarz… well, guess Christine and Fred aren’t big toy fans after all… and clearly Christine never saw Big, so that ginormous piano didn’t appeal much to her… we also had a quick tour in the Apple Store nearby, and I was so close to coming out $250 short and an iPod video wealthier…

It has almost become a ritual for me to bring visitors to one of the Sushi of Gari chains at least once during their visit… since we were around midtown, I decided to take them to the recently opened Gari 46. Food is still on-par with the UES store, but they seem to have slightly different entree and dessert menu (Gari 46 entree menu is more limited comparing to that of the UES location). The decor is more modern, but not as awkward as the UWS location. Overall I think it’s a great alternative if you don’t live in UES (easier to get to, and more spacious seats).

So… did we walk at all? Of course!! We took the train from Chinatown to 51st & Lex, walked to 46th & 5th (stopped by Minamoto Kitchoan on the way), started our adventure up the 5th Ave, turned around at 55th & 5th, and finally ended up at 46th & 8th. If you count it, it’s really not much less walking than the previous day…

I just remembered why I don’t head out on weekends… it’s more tiring than some work days… (much like the days back in HK where I’d be walking outside all day with no breaks!!)