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edenfallingTuesday morning I caught a bus down to NJ. Technically it was two buses, since they made us physically switch vehicles in Binghamton, even though usually it's a same-bus-straight-through route. Maybe the one in Ithaca was low on gas or needed some kind of repairs.
Anyway, Susan and I went to the Benihana in Millburn (or is it technically in Short Hills? oh, whatever) for dinner, which was an interesting experience I am glad to have had, and which I never need to repeat. (In summary, the visuals of the hibachi cooking are cool, but the food is kind of blah and honestly I'd rather just go to a decent sushi place if I'm in the mood for Japanese.) I paid two-thirds of the bill and all of the tip since it was kinda-sorta for her birthday and I didn't want to sit around trying to make exact change.
Then we went back to Susan's place where we played with her cat (who has halfway grasped the concept of "fetch"), ate chocolate cake, watched the first two episodes of The Good Place, and generally chatted and caught up on stuff. It was a good evening. :)
...until I woke up in a cold sweat at 2am and realized I'd forgotten to sign the receipt at the restaurant. *headdesk*
I managed to get back to sleep by resolving to return to the restaurant Wednesday afternoon, and didn't wake up properly until a more reasonable time. I spent the morning doing a bit of writing, a bit of tax course stuff, and a bit of general relaxing until Mom, Dad, and I went down to the Bottle Hill Tavern for lunch. This is the physical and spiritual successor to Poor Herbie's, a long-time Madison institution whose owners finally retired last year. I think the new iteration is a bit better than its predecessor, while retaining much of its charm. I had a shrimp po' boy and some local NJ hard cider, which were both excellent. :)
After lunch I allowed Mom to load me down with a random assortment of food -- six eggs, a wedge of Brie cheese, a few slices of banana bread, a slice of the peach and blueberry kuchen she'd made recently, and three or four servings of chili -- packed up the car, and headed out.
I found the manager at Benihana, who found my receipt (which was indeed unsigned), and we were both glad to get that squared away. Then I drove home to Ithaca, which was mildly maddening since I kept running into traffic clogs. None of them were very big or involved complete halts, but they added up and I didn't reach home until 7:45pm. *sigh* Well, at least I got to listen to 8.5 Great Courses lectures on Chinese history, even allowing for a bunch of rewinding to catch bits I missed the first time through. Normally Ithaca to Madison is a 7 lecture drive at best.
And now I'm going to have some dessert and go to bed, because I have work in the morning.
Anyway, Susan and I went to the Benihana in Millburn (or is it technically in Short Hills? oh, whatever) for dinner, which was an interesting experience I am glad to have had, and which I never need to repeat. (In summary, the visuals of the hibachi cooking are cool, but the food is kind of blah and honestly I'd rather just go to a decent sushi place if I'm in the mood for Japanese.) I paid two-thirds of the bill and all of the tip since it was kinda-sorta for her birthday and I didn't want to sit around trying to make exact change.
Then we went back to Susan's place where we played with her cat (who has halfway grasped the concept of "fetch"), ate chocolate cake, watched the first two episodes of The Good Place, and generally chatted and caught up on stuff. It was a good evening. :)
...until I woke up in a cold sweat at 2am and realized I'd forgotten to sign the receipt at the restaurant. *headdesk*
I managed to get back to sleep by resolving to return to the restaurant Wednesday afternoon, and didn't wake up properly until a more reasonable time. I spent the morning doing a bit of writing, a bit of tax course stuff, and a bit of general relaxing until Mom, Dad, and I went down to the Bottle Hill Tavern for lunch. This is the physical and spiritual successor to Poor Herbie's, a long-time Madison institution whose owners finally retired last year. I think the new iteration is a bit better than its predecessor, while retaining much of its charm. I had a shrimp po' boy and some local NJ hard cider, which were both excellent. :)
After lunch I allowed Mom to load me down with a random assortment of food -- six eggs, a wedge of Brie cheese, a few slices of banana bread, a slice of the peach and blueberry kuchen she'd made recently, and three or four servings of chili -- packed up the car, and headed out.
I found the manager at Benihana, who found my receipt (which was indeed unsigned), and we were both glad to get that squared away. Then I drove home to Ithaca, which was mildly maddening since I kept running into traffic clogs. None of them were very big or involved complete halts, but they added up and I didn't reach home until 7:45pm. *sigh* Well, at least I got to listen to 8.5 Great Courses lectures on Chinese history, even allowing for a bunch of rewinding to catch bits I missed the first time through. Normally Ithaca to Madison is a 7 lecture drive at best.
And now I'm going to have some dessert and go to bed, because I have work in the morning.
