Relaxed Sunday Morning

I took myself out to brunch this morning (after a night out with friend P and her friends). I found this cute little place ~10min from my apt called Alfresco. Too bad I'll be leaving in less than 2 weeks! Anyway, had a feta/zucchini/tomato omelette, with home fries, and a side of fruit (not your usual 'side of fruit', I'm talking about cantaloupe, grapes, cherries, strawberries, orange, blueberries, blackberries, topped with a dollop of whipped cream and ground pistachio). All this for $6.25?? Also had bottomless coffee, which was good enough to drink black. Read the New Yorker and people-watched.

Then headed over to a bread bakery that I also discovered just recently, When Pigs Fly. They are pricey, but the breads are really good. Look at the variety: sendbread.com .

After that, I went to Petsi Pies to pick up a seasonal peach pie to share with a couple who invited me over for dinner. The pie is now sitting here with me in lab, as I try to work for another hour. Lots of work to do before I leave, and some packing and other logistical stuff to do as well. Can't believe it's almost time to move!

Naughty Me

I did a naughty thing today -- I joined Godiva's Rewards Program. Oh boy, this could be disastrous. It means that I get to come in once a month for a free chocolate of my choice. I also get gifts for my purchases, and I also get enticing offers that may make me buy more pricey, unhealthy chocolate than I would otherwise. This is going to be an interesting test of my willpower.

3 Nights, 3 Social Dinners

The last three nights, I went out to three unexpected dinners. Fun but exhausting! Here is the summary (I wish I had photos!):

Wednesday night: attended a local conference during the day. Invited to dinner by a just-graduated former undergrad. He and his wife (they're so young and cute, jewish, pretty religious) had a few people over for dinner. The food was excellent, and the company was too.

Thursday night: attended the second and last day of the local conference, co-organized by my boss R. The speakers were going to dinner at this fancy place called Harvest, and there were some extra spots, so guess who got invited! Dinner was amazing. Had a white-and-green asparagus salad, some really good beef with fingerling potatoes, great syrah, and valrhona (sp?) chocolate souffle. Yum! Plus, I got to talk to cool people.

Friday night: an Israeli who now lives in the US, who I met at the conference, invited me to celebrate Shavuot with some of his friends. They live just a 15-min walk from my place, so very convenient. The company was once again excellent.

Today I think I will have an alone day. I've lost a lot of sleep recently, and I started making it up yesterday. I'm going to work on that some more today, and also just on relaxation and other personal progress.

Another Boston Common Outing

Isn't Boston Common so beautiful this time of year? Sunny and in the 70s! I think people should come visit me here, like right now. This weather will likely last only a tiny bit longer before we get into the hot, humid summer.

I took the day off today; I figured I spent an hour and a half in lab yesterday, so that entitled me to taking most of Memorial Day off :) I went to Newbury Street by way of Boston Common. I meant to do a lot of shopping, but I ended up doing only a little. Ooh, and I found out that there is a Snappy Sushi (Japanese restaurant that serves sushi with brown rice only) on Newbury! I thought the only one was in Davis Square. So, I treated myself to lunch. Doing a little work now, and later will go out to tapas with a couple friends.

Alternative to Big Surprise

My big surprise event fell through yesterday: one of the girls couldn't make it. I think I'll have to tell you what it is in order to explain why one of us had to cancel. Our plan was to go to the Cafe Fleuri Chocolate Bar: http://boston.langhamhotels.com/en/restaurants/chocolate_bar.htm . What is it? My dream come true! It's an all-you-can-sample, high-class (supposedly) chocolate bar with over 100 items!!! Open on Saturdays from 11am to 3pm only! We've been planning this for a few weeks, but one of the girls had stomach problems starting the night before, and of course you do not want to go to a somewhat-pricey all-you-can-eat chocolate buffet with a dysfunctional stomach. So we rescheduled for June 20th, although I am not sure I will be able to make that weekend. *I should mention that it's open only through the end of June; I guess it gets too hot in Boston over the summer to have the chocolate bar buffet?

Well, being the fighter that I am, I decided that I must still have an outing and, if possible, a social interaction as well :) I emailed the other girl who was in on the chocolate bar idea, K. She is a grad student from Germany, although she has absolutely no accent even though didn't move to the US until college! I can't believe it! I have more of an accent than she does. Anyway, we met up downtown to do some shopping errands and then headed to the North End to Mike's Pastry, hehehehehe. Got cannoli, and also some cookies for later (i.e., later that night and today!). It was crazy downtown though, because of the nice weather and long weekend, so a little too many people.

Friday night, I went over to California friend F's place. She made Pakistani food (she's Pakistani), and we hung out with her roommate and another girl. Drank a few glasses of surprisingly good red wine from Trader Joe's that I brought. If I could only remember the name, I should have checked! It was from Chile. Maybe I'll email F to see if she still has the bottle.

Today the weather is kind of crappy to be outdoors, rain with possibility of thunderstorms. In fact, there was a storm that woke me up at 5am :( Boooo. Still might try to go for a run. And will go to my local bookstore/coffee shop, just to read and be among other people.

Boston Ballet's Last Show of the Season

I concluded my performance extravaganza with a trip to see Boston Ballet's celebration of the Ballet Russes. They did four pieces, three of which were great (the fourth was in my opinion blah, although I think others liked it). The most shocking, though, was that I was completely blown away by the Prodigal Son, choreographed by (gasp) George Balanchine. For most of you who do not know, I have long disliked Balanchine, to put it mildly. I didn't really understand his genius. And while I still don't understand what people see in some of his popular pieces, I was completely taken away by the Prodigal Son. I had tears in my eyes at the end! Sooo good. And it wasn't even performed thaaaaat well; I think a better performance would have been too much to handle. Ok, that's an exaggeration :)

Between getting my rush tickets and the performance itself, I walked <1.5 miles to the North End (Boston's Little Italy). I walked into Mike's Pastries, which is full of deliciousness, but managed to resist buying anything, primarily because I was totally full after having scarfed down nachos before leaving my apartment. But, one of these days, I will go over there, sit myself down, and enjoy an espresso together with cannoli and other goodies.

Next weekend I have a surprise event for you. I think I am much more excited about this than any of my handful of readers, but still, I hope you'll be excited for me. Stay tuned.

Sleeping Beauty, Take II + Spring Awakening

Went to see Sleeping Beauty for a second time last weekend, this time with a couple of friends. It was great to see another cast do it, and I also enjoyed seeing it a second time so soon after the first, because I was able to focus better without getting distracted by the 'newness' of it all. Plus, we had some good girl time over lunch before the show :) We'll probably go to see Boston do the Ballet Russes together next weekend.

Now today I went with my Israeli friend S to see Spring Awakening. If I had known what it was about ahead of time, I would NOT have gone! But, at least I got to experience a type of show that I normally don't subject myself to.

Currently I am sitting in my apartment, singing along to Sound of Music, which is on TV. I think my neighbors must be very unhappy, haha. Contemplating dinner soon.