and so, we went to get dim sum in china town this morning. and i've been to china town before, so i knew to expect the chickens and other slain beasts hanging in windows (one "chicken" had 8 legs- we couldn't quite figure that one out), so i was a little worried that the BHE's strict vegetarian diet would be hard to accomodate. (since i eat seafood, i knew i'd be square). but when we got to our chosen destination, the menu was filled with bok choy, green beans, eggplant, and tofu options and when we quietly mentioned to one server that he didn't eat meat, all the wait staff seemed to shout to each other around the restaurant that he wanted only vegetarian food. so we thought we were safe.
we were wrong.
"i don't eat meat" apparently means i don't eat any blatant beef/pork products but i'm totally cool with pork-laced eggplant, shrimp-encrusted tofu, and sausage-stuffed sticky rice. it became a joke. everything he tried had a little golden ticket of carne tucked in it somewhere. he somehow eventually got full, but it was an amusing ordeal for him. i loved it. i enjoyed all the known and mysterious seafood(?) options and thought the whole experience was pretty cool. we shopped around china town for a while afterwards and i got knock-off sunglasses for dirt cheap and my cousin got a wallet. there were fake hand bags all over the place and allegedly there are real bags out of the back of cars and in apartments in the area if you're willing to risk following one of the eager salesmen off the beaten path. i'm too cheap and easily spooked for all that. i'd rather just make do with a "squishy couture" or "harold vuitton" bag, thank you very much.
then we went to battery park and spent the day on the boat tour admiring lady liberty and ellis island.
by the time we were done with that, it was getting late and we were starving...so we took a cab to one of nyc's most famous pizza places, lombardi's. because at this point we all felt a bit bad for my poor veggie husband and because it's the house special, we shared their original (thin crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella in thin slices (not shredded), basil and romano). it was good. the crust was perfect but i thought the sauce/cheese were a big tasteless. i got laughed at for adding a bunch of red pepper and salt and black pepper, but it helped. if i went again i would try their specialty clam pizza, which i hear is delicious.
so then we went to an improv comedy show by the group the "upright citizens brigade," which has apparently been around forever and is pretty well known, but is only $10/ticket for the early show and free for the later show and is really informal and totally fun. it rotates people like amy poehler (SNL) and horatio sanz (SNL) and kate walsh (grey's anatomy/private practice- who knew she was funny?) and other local comediens. it was amazing. the stuff they came up with on the spot was funnier than most scripted television. their creativity, timing, mastery of language, formatting....all incredible. and it was fun to see a few famous people- john lutz (30 rock) and bobby moynihan (SNL) perform with the troupe.
then we went for dessert at a crazy hip place owned by the "it" chef david chang (momofuku). it was muy tasty and really fun. they have weird things like fruity cereal milk flavored soft serve ice cream and green tea bread, etc, etc.
we've been escorted and guided around by my wonderful cousin and her husband. it has made such a difference having locals to show us the non-touristy sights and tastes of the city. plus, they're a ball, so we've had a great time eating and laughing and eating some more with them.
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