Illustration Friday: Robot

For Illustration Friday

Golf pencil on white notepad

My Morning Foodbox

When I used to work at Katharine Gibbs, I played my ipod on the half hour or so ride along the highway. My new job is much closer, and I can be there in as little as ten minutes. For these new trips, I usually do not take my ipod. I'm not sure why. It seems like I would be spending more time turning it on and adjusting it than I would driving. Anyway, I usually listen to WQXR on the way to work and WAXQ (Q 104.3) on the way home.

Almost every day at 8:30 on WQXR I hear Frank Bruni of the New York Times give his Manhattan restaurant review. It is not always an evaluation of some high class and expensive restaurant that one might expect to find on the New York Times Classical station. I have heard him talk about hot dogs during at least one review. He also reviews food books now and then.

Listening to Mr. Bruni's reviews has become my morning ritual. Sometimes he reviews a place that I have no interest in visiting or hearing about. Today was the first time that he reviewed a place that I want to check out for sure. The name of the place is Café d’Alsace. I mainly want to go there to try out some of the exotic beers they have, but Mr. Bruni makes the food sound interesting as well.

Check out:
Diner's Journal by Frank Bruni

and also:
The Pour by Eric Asimov

Lost in space

Where is Scott, you ask?

Unfortunately I have a full time job now, which seriously cuts into my screwing around and doing nothing time. I don't blog at work because I have no privacy (no cubicles, everyone works in the same room). I haven't been blogging after work because I'm mostly staring at a computer screen all day so when I'm not there I usually focus on not computerized pastimes. I think I might just have to eliminate this whole job thing from the equation.

Here is the last day of our Disney trip, loyal readers:

The plans for our last day consisted of doing non-World-Showcase things at EPCOT and going to dinner with Ellen's parents, who came down that day. We mainly wanted to go on the relatively new Soarin' ride. We got fastpasses for Test Track first. At some point we went on the Journey into the Imagination ride. The ride ends in the Kodak "What If" Labs (I think thats what it is), where we took this smashing photo:



We kept on popping over to Soarin' to see how long the standby line was. I forget why we didn't get fast passes. Either they were out for the day or the times were too late. Anyway, the standby lines were incredibly long (well, somewhat credibly long, perhaps). We went on Living With The Land. While we were waiting on the short standby line for this ride, we noticed the guy in front of us was wearing new pants. The size sticker was still on the leg. I put my camera on macro and nonchalantly took two photos. The first one was poorly aimed and the second was blurry. I didn't want to take a third as the flash would have called too much attention to me.



I had never been on this ride. I was a fun trip trough some experimental fruit, vegetable and fish gardens. I think we went on Test Track after that, which was fun.



We then waited on line for Soarin'. I think we waited for more than an hour, but it was cool. I really felt like I was flying. There are even smells, like when we passed over an orange orchard. I would do it again if the line were not too long.

We left EPCOT and went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This resort was very impressive. I took some photos but they did not come out very well. We ate at Jiko, one of the resturaunts in the resort. I had some kind of chicken. It was pretty good. I can't remember that much about it. I also had some kind of South African beer. And so our vacation was more or less over. Our flight back to NY was the next morning.

Disney ~ day 3

The Disney Architecture group that I started on flickr has attracted none other than the likes of Mr. Thomas Hawk. I just thought that was cool.

My memory of what we did and when we did it on our recent Disney World trip is starting to fade, so here is day three:

I forget exactly what we did that morning (did we go to the pool? Eat breakfast?). Maybe that was they day I slept until 10 when I got a cell phone call to come down to the pool. I can't remember. Maybe its because finished the Franziskaner the night before.

I do, however, know that we went to the Magic Kingdom. We took the monorail (you take either the monorail or the ferry from the lot to the park). I also remember it being hotter on that day than on other days.

We walked down mainstreet in the park, towards the castle. We wanted to get a photo of us in front of the castle. We carefully avoided the Disney camera people, who are stationed around key photo vantage points so that they can take your photo and then charge you for it. We found a fairy nice place and began to figure out which stranger we would ask to take our photo. We found a couple and one of them took this picture:



If you want to see it bigger, just click it. After our photo op, we went off to the Adventureland part of the park. We got fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise, which I had not been on since I was six. Then we looked around for things to do until the passes were valid. We heard some people talking about Pirates of the Caribbean. Being who we are, we already knew this ride was closed until the summer. They unfortunately are rennovating the ride to go along with the the movies of the same name, the second of which comes out right around when the ride reopens. This is a most unfortunate turn of events. Hopefully, they won't ruin the ride. At the very least, we all hope they retain the dirty foot, which I do not have a photo of. If anyone has a photo of the dirty foot from the ride, let me know. We need to start a 'save the dirty foot' campaign. Anyway, we checked the ride out, just in case it was open. This photo pretty much tells the story of what we found:



So, we hopped in to The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management), which was antother classic attraction that was changed when new movies came out. It was okay. I really don't remember the old one much, as I was six years old. We also went on the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, which is a walk through treehouse. I was tired and there were a lot of stairs, but it reminded me of the movie, so that was fun. We then went on the Jungle Cruise! We had a very entertaining guide/boat driver guy. He seemed a little disgruntled, but that might have just been part of his act. I believe his name was Sean, but it might not have been spelled that way. He was fun. After the Jungle Cruise, there was nothing else in Adventureland that we wanted to do, so we went to Frontierland. We narrowly avoided getting stuck behind an oncomming parade consisting of a highschool marching band, but we dashed just as the parade barrier was being put up.

We got fastpasses for Splash Moutain, but then we didn't go on it. We did go on Thunder Mountain, which had a long line (we did not get fastpasses). It was actually my first real roller coaster. It wasn't bad, except for the few times that I was sure that I was going to fall out. After that, we went to Tom Sawyer Island, which was kind of dissappointing. It might have been more fun if I were younger and my legs didn't feel like they were going to snap off before I even set foot on the island. There were a lot of cute ducks around, but you don't need to go to Disney World to see those guys.

We got back to the "main land" and were really getting tired. We decided to get some food, and by food I mean hot dogs. I managed to eat my hot dog (mustard with a hot dog somewhere under it) without getting a drop of mustard on myself. They were very refreshing and boosted our energy. We went to Liberty Square next. We went to the Hall of Presidents, mainly because it was air conditioned and we could sit down. I think the show needs some serious historical revisement. Anyway, we went to The Haunted Mansion after that. The Haunted Mansion is always fun, but it wasn't as much fun as last year, when we went in the evening and the cast members are extra spooky.

After Liberty Square, we went to Fantasyland, where I snapped this photo of a rooster:



We went on Its A Small World. The line for Peter Pan was too long, so we went on Snow White's Scary Adventures. Then we went to Mickey's PhilharMagic. This was a great 3D show, and it included a lot of classic Disney scenes redone in 3D. I liked it a lot. After the show, Ellen bought me shorts that say "crabby but loveable", with a picture of Donald Duck. Then we went on the Mad Tea Party, which was a blast. Of course, we could barely walk after it was over.

From there, we went to Tomorrowland. I don't remember what we did first. We went on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which had a long and delayed line, but was fun. We also went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (aka the people mover). By that time it was an hour away from our dinner reservation at Tony's Town Square, so we headed off in that direction. The huge nightly parade/show had begun, so it was tough going from Tomorrowland to Tony's at the front of the park. We were packed in like sardines and we could barely get through the crowd. An agitated cast member kept things moving by yelling at people to keep walking. We made it trough and we were on the correct side for Tony's (which we more or less planned). We were seated soon after arrival. Ellen told me the menu was not as extensive as it once was. I eye balled the spagetti, but then I figured that I was on vacation. I could eat spegetti any time and at a tiny fraction of the price. I decided to get steak. I thought there were two steak choices on menu, but I didn't read the descriptions or even the title of what I was ordering for that matter. My steak came, and it looked kind of strange. I figured there was just some kind of fat on the outside, so I cut into it. It turned out to be a light color on the inside. I was embarassed because I had no idea what I had ordered. Ellen thought it was some cut of pork. Eventually, I asked the waiter what I had ordered ( :-) ) and he told me it was a veal t-bone. I guess I saw the word t-bone on the menu and, too tired to read on, ordered it. I had never eaten veal before. Anyhow, Tony's wasn't that great, it was just okay (especially compared to the Biergarten!!!). Luckily, we were near the front of the park by the time dinner was over, so we got out pretty quickly despite the crowds.

I think we stopped briefly in Downtown Disney (or the marketplace) on the way back, where I got Ellen a Mickey pillow/ball/stuffed thing. It was cute.

Extended playlist

Turn To Stone - Electric Light Orchestra
Freeway Jam - Jeff Beck
Get on the Good Foot - James Brown
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
Express Yourself - Charles Wright
Satisfaction - Otis Redding
Mr. Spaceman - The Byrds
Judy is a Punk - The Ramones

Now Playin'

Hangin' 'Round - Lou Reed
Hot Love - T. Rex
Love is the Drug - Roxy Music
Radio Radio - Elvis Costello

Encore:
Hot Love - T. Rex

Just purchased from Amazon:
Motion Picture Soundtrack - Kung Fu Hustle
First Rays of the New Rising Sun - Jimi Hendrix

40 hour work week = over. More Disney when I'm less tired. This weekend = freelancing.

Disney 2006 - Day 2

This is a pretty long post. If you want to read my review of the Biergarten (the most entertaining part of the post, go down to ** Food Box: Go or no go? **

We got up bright and early on Thursday to go to Animal Kingdom, the largest Disney theme park. Its good to go there early because thats when the animals are awake. It was fairly crowded going through security. After we got in, we went directly to the back of the park to get FastPasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris. This one ride is bigger (in acreage) than the entire Magic Kingdom (I think). It is at the back of the Harambe marketplace in Africa. Harambe is one of my favorite examples of Disney architecture.


Ellen near Harambe

After we got our FastPasses, we went to Asia to go on the Kali River Rapids. The line was very short. We brought zip lock bags and garbage bags to put our wallets, cell phones and camera in. A sign along the line to the ride says "You will get wet, you may get soaked!" The ride was short, but Ellen got completely drenched when we went down a tall drop. I got fairly wet too. We also brought a towel with us. We had some time to kill before our Kilimanjaro Safari Fastpasses were valid, so we went into the Maharaja Jungle Trek. Its a walk trough exhibit with Asian animals. We saw huge bats and tigers, among others.

After that, we went back to Harambe to get on our safari. Its very safari-like, as the name suggests. There are barriers between the trucks and the more dangerous animals. The lions were a no-show this time, and our driver/guide didn't even mention them. There were a bunch of baby elephants, though.

After the safari, we strolled through Harambe. Then we crossed a bridge to go to DinoLand U.S.A. On the bridge, we saw Expedition Everest, a new roller coaster. It is the fourth tallest point in Florida and the largest artificial mountain constructed by Disney. We saw it last year when it was under heavy construction. It was scheduled to open 5 days after our 2006 visit, but we heard screaming people as one of the cars whizzed along. I guess they are testing it on live subjects. In DinoLand U.S.A., we went on the DINOSAUR ride, which we also went on last year. I consider it to be the scariest Disney ride that I have been on (even scarier than the Scary Adventures of Snow White!). I think it might also have the brightest light on a Disney ride - there is one lighting flash that leaves you seeing an impression of whatever you were looking at when it goes off. Fun! After the ride, we got one of a number of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie iced cream sandwiches, which we call "tasty sandwiches" for short. Then, we headed out of Animal Kingdom.

We spent the second half of the day at EPCOT, and we had made reservations at the Biergarten in Germany.



We had a lot of time before dinner, so we decided to go to every country in the World Showcase starting with Canada (we started at Mexico last year, so now we went in reverse). We didn't really do anything at Canada or the United Kingdom, we just poked around in the shops. In France, we decided to get a snack, so we went into the Boulangerie Patisserie. I forget what Ellen got (raisin bread???), but I got a liquid snack. I didn't even know the French made a beer. I decided I had to try it. They had to do a bit of looking around for a bottle opener (probably because nobody ever orders the beer in France). More than five dollars later, I ended up with what must be the Bud of France, it was nothing special or interesting at all. I guess that is why France is more famous for their wine.

After France, we walked around Morocco a little, seeing some Disney made north African architecture. Then it was on to Japan. We went through the big store in Japan. Most of the stuff they sell there is available at H Mart in New York for about one twentieth of the price. We also tried to find some sushi in Japan for another snack, but we couldn't find a place that had it. There was a really cool exhibit of old Japanese tin toys. If you are in EPCOT, I recommend seeing it. After the tin toys, we breezed trough the American Adventure to Italy, where we did some more poking around and candy buying. There were some British guys there doing Romeo and Juliet. Shouldn't they have been in the UK area? After Italy, we looked around Germany's shops. We would come back to Germany later for dinner (and what a dinner it was!)

There is an "African" trading outpost between Germany and China that sells crap from the other countries, mainly because no African country is represented (except Morocco) in the World Showcase. Come to think of it, there aren't any South American Countries (Jose Carioca, anyone?) or Australian/South Pacific countries either. In China there was a cool exhibit about the building of Hong Kong Disneyland. We were really tired at this point, but there were still two countries left!!!!! We went on the Maelstrom ride in Norway and on the El Rio del Tiempo ride in Mexico where they put all of the malfunctioning Small World animatronics, according to Ellen. Then we went to get dinner.

** Food Box: Go or no go? **

We sat outside of Germany until it our reservation time. People were gathering around the lagoon for the fireworks show. It was here that a mosquito decided to bite my leg. Anyway, we got in to the all you can eat Biergarten buffet just as the band was finishing their last show of the night. We always got the latest reservation possible. It looks like a real bier garden inside, with a fake sky and fake trees. You share your table with other guests. The German waitress asked us for our drink order. We ordered Franziskaner and she was surprised that we knew what it was. She asked us if we wanted the large or the small, so we ordered the large. I assumed the large was a half liter (how wheatbeer is usually served) and the small was a regular pint glass. She came back with what looked like two gigantic glass buckets with handles on the sides. They were at least a liter each. I don't know how she carried them and several other glasses at the same time. This was all (actually more than all) the Franziskaner we could handle. And the food was THE BEST FOOD I HAVE EVER EATEN, EVER!!!!! There were assorted meats (they all had name tags on them), pretzel bread, mustards, macaroni and cheese, POTATO DUMPLINGS! I didn't give the salad a cursory glance because I had all-you-can-eat meats and starches. I didn't look at the desserts either because I had another plate of food for dessert :-) If I could, I would eat at this place every day for the rest of my life, which would probably be very short after eating there so often would cause heart failure. Its not that you can't eat healthy there, its that you won't. It was also very reasonably priced. Obviously, there was no way we could finish a liter of beer each. First off, we had stuffed ourselves silly. Secondly, one of us had to drive back to the hotel. Fortunately, they offer beer to-go cups. This place is heaven on earth! The to-go cups are ordinary disposable plastic cups. While transferring the beer, we accidently spilled some. It didn't seem like munich, I mean much, because our beers were huge to begin with. We were mainly disappointed with wasting precious franziskaner.

Wearily, we made our way back to the car. We couldn't drive back to the hotel with two open containers of Franziskaner, but we had gone to the Winn Dixie (a southern supermarket) the night before and bought a 12 pack of 24 oz. water bottles. By the time we went to dinner I had a empty water bottle that I was bent on recycling, so I poured the beer into the empty bottle, as illustrated here:


It pays to recycle!

Then we went back to Cornado Springs.

Here is a shot of the bottle with Franziskaner:



Side note: We thought the water we bought was Zephyrillis brand (which sounds like a tropical disease). Only after I posted the photos to flickr did I notice it is actually Zephyrhills, a water brand native to Florida. But during the whole trip, we offered each-other water bottles saying "Zephyrillis?" and calling the water "Zephyrlicious".

Disney 2006, Day 1

We arrived in Orlando on an earlyish flight and went to pick up our rental car. We were supposed to get a Chevy Aveo, the least expensive GM car there is (manufactured in Korea). We had signed up for a subcompact, and we were told to go into the lot and pick our car. There was no subcompact section and we couldn't find an Aveo. We went back to the booth and they told us to take any car in the compact section. At first we were going to take a Chevy HHR, but it had no sun roof so we took a Pontiac Vibe. We ended up with a car that probably could have carried an Aveo in the trunk! We also signed up for the ripoff buy-a-full-tank-of-gas-now thingy instead of having to find a gas station before returning the car. More on this later.

We drove from the airport to Disney's Coronado Springs (without getting lost!) and we were very excited.




We checked in and immediately went to the pool, where we got food (the first of many hotdogs on the trip). I got a refillable Three Caballeros mug. We went in the pool for a while and I went down the water slide. I was the only person over 12 going down the water slide.

Then we headed off to Disney MGM Studios, the smallest of the Disney theme parks. There, we went to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Star Tours, Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D and lastly to Fantasmic!, a cool nightly show there. During part of the show, huge sheet of water shoot up and have animation projected on them. It was awesome.

After that, we decided to eat dinner at Disney's Boardwalk resort, accross from MGM. The place that we wanted to go to (Spoodles) was packed (1 hour wait without reservations. After that night we made dinner reservations). Instead of Spoodles we walked down the boardwalk to Big River Grille and Brewing Works. They didn't have wheat beer, because they brew it seasonally, but the wait was very short (about 5 minutes). The table was like a bar table, keeping with the brewery theme. The chairs were also tall and narrow, as was Ellen's Pilsner glass. Someone did some shifting around to get closer to the rickety table, Ellen's beer (which was full) fell over and on to her and her backpack, so she smelled like beer for the rest of the night. There's no use crying over spilled beer. She had a blackened mahi mahi sandwhich, which was very good. I had salmon, which was a little too fishy for me. I like flakey fish that tastes like almost nothing except for the lemon I squeeze onto it. We didn't get charged for the beer, but I think it was because we got them at the bar before we were seated and they were never put on the bill (check :-) rather than out of sympathy for spilled beer. After that, we went back to Coronado springs to sleep.