Gyu-love!

So as you may have noticed from my schedule to the right, I'm about to begin a week of vacationing with my parents. They fly in tomorrow then we drive up to Boston for the weekend, and then we return here for a week in the city/Queens/Long Island. I think we're all looking forward to it.

But as a result, I will be, in fine family tradition, at the Convention and away from home and friends for my birthday. As many of you may know, I don't do birthdays very well anyway, so this is fine with me. I don't like plans or events or anything like that... but I do love my friends at work. So at the last minute yesterday I emailed everyone to bring drinks and food and hang out after work. I wasn't expecting much since it was so last minute. I just wanted to hang out and unwind on my last day at work (last for a little while anyway).

And everyone made me so happy! Piers, who didn't work, was super-sweet... I didn't have time to pick up any wine before work, so he brought two bottles. And he even brought me a mango! Even though he's allergic. And Cara brought a blueberry pie, and you all know how I feel about blueberries. :-) And Joji, one of my managers, carried a cake all the way from Chinatown, when the train wasn't running. And Mike, my friend from Japan who just started working in the office building across the street, happened to call the restaurant looking for me. And he left his office at 9pm, so he came for dinner and stayed for a drink with me! And the Stoli Blueberi Brett bought me was a huge success. Oh oh the funniest part was when they came out with the pie and cake with candles and sang Happy Birthday, and when they got to the name part *laughs* everyone said something different. Classic, so iconic of this period of my life. I will never forget it.

Oh how I love everyone. *sigh*

It's funny. Waiting tables one meets all sorts of people and families. Some you love, some you hate. And among those I hate are the ones who are like the person I used to be. I've become so much happier and friendlier and *nicer* since I left high school, and I like this person so much better. These pouty, angsty kids come in and I want to slap them around and tell them to be nice and gracious, to tell them that life is good and people are beautiful if only they would be too.

I hate to wax philosophic, but... it's true. And I guess I was just so touched yesterday by the kindness of my friends, I couldn't help it.

Okay, I'm done now.

Aces

B and I went on a date last night here in LIC. Around 9pm we headed to a place on 36th Ave called Aces. It's probably been there about a year, and he'd read reviews online praising the bartender and his special cocktails and the "Huitlacoche" risotto. B had a caipirinha (national drink of Brazil, made from sugar cane) and I had the blackberry mojito. Though I don't really like mojitos, the bartender had said hew as making it, completely fresh etc, I thought I'd give it a try. It was certainly better than a normal mojito, and after a few sips began to grow on me.

We shared the "Huitlacoche" risotto to start. Huitlacoche is apparently Mexican corn smut - a fungus, like mushrooms or truffles. Nothing looked particularly fungal in the dish, and it was really really tasty. The risotto was almost creamy and sweet. For entrees, B had the braised lamb shank, which was also fabulous - tender and meaty and sweet - and I had the pan-seared striped bass, which came out steaming - topped with fried plantains, sitting on a bed of spinach in black bean and mango sauces. The meal came out to about $60 - about the same price as our lunch at Dos Caminos in Midtown East. However, whereas Dos Caminos was considerably overpriced, the meal at Aces was ridiculously underpriced. For the taste and presentation of everything, I would have been willing to pay much more. It's unfortunate that the fact that it's located in LIC probably means it's severely underappreciated and relatively unknown. Except for two women at the bar, we were the only people in the restaurant. And when we walked by again three hours later (after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) there were only three men at the bar. Sad. Even the decor was really nice.