- How I Feel: tired
- Hows the weather: rain
- What U Doin: relaxing
Still a bit tired from a busy weekend. I basically spent most of it in the city.
Last Friday, I headed to the city after work for a Wine and Chocolate Social in Duvet Lounge. Now, I haven’t been to this lounge before and it’s been known to be a hard place to get in but with this event, I was able to get in easily with two of my friends. The place was nicely lit with beds surrounding two sides of the dance floor. There are also couches on the corners as well as tables on the other side. Anyway, the wine collection - four whites and four reds - were mostly European - Italian and French with a bottle or two from Chile and Argentina. I stick with the white wines most of the night starting with Primaterra from Venezia, Italy - crisp with the taste of apple - followed by Stellina di Notte - a pinot grigio with fruity flavor. Next up was Terraz de los Andes from Argentina followed by Casa La Postle from Chile. The wine selection was wonderful but the chocolates were missing. When I finally found some chocolates - my high expectation was shut down when I saw the packaging. It didn’t seem like European chocolates as what the invite indicated but the taste was good so it wasn’t a total disappointment.
So after the event, we went to pick up another friend before getting some grub. We headed to McCormick & Schmicks’s located at 5th Ave between 51st and 52nd which had a Happy Hour Special from 9:30pm till midnight. Who can beat $2.95 Cheeseburger in Midtown? We did have a funny incident - I excused myself to head to the restroom and came back and thought my friends already ordered. So we chatted for awhile until one of us indicated that they were hungry. Then everyone thought someone ordered for everyone. We laughed and shrugged it off since the night we were having a good time. Anyway, for starters, we had Ahi Tuna Roll, which I think was seared and prepared right. The Shoyu Dipping Sauce made it a bit exquisite. We also had chicken wings, which had the right amount of kick and a creamy spinach dip. Then our cheeseburgers arrived and we munch and chatted the night away. McCormick’s can be a place to meet up with friends in the bar, dinner with the family or even a romantic dinner with curtained booths in the basement for a real intimate dinner (if you can ignore the noise). Anyway, we drove our friend’s home before heading home to get some relaxation before Saturday coz…
I headed back to the city on Saturday for the Armin Van Burren concert at Roseland Ballroom. I picked my friend up and got to the city around 5. So we decided to grab some grub first and headed to Wondee Siam, a small Thai restaurant along 9h Ave between 52nd and 53rd street. I haven’t had Thai for a while now and it sure reminded me of what I was missing. For starters, we had steamed Kanom Jeeb which are dumplings made out of ground pork shrimp, shitake mushrooms and water chestnut. It sure was tasty and just had a slight kick in it. Next up was the Duck Spring Roll which came out literally hot that I almost burned my tongue (was too eager to taste it). It had the right amount of crunchiness to it and the duck was tasty. For my main dish, I ordered the Kang Dang which is made up of coconut milk, bamboo shoots and fresh basil with Thai green curry paste. I chose chicken to come with it but you can choose pork or beef as well. It sure was tempting when it came out and surely didn’t disappoint my palate. The chicken was tender and the shoots still had the crunch to it. The sauce (or should I say soup) had the right spice to it – not too spicy but not mild either. I was basically drinking the sauce after I cleaned my plate of rice. The presentation wasn’t that great but if the next table asked what you are eating because it looks delicious, then it must look good.
After that good hearty dinner, we headed to my friend’s friend house to chill out since the concert won’t start till 9pm. We end up watching the Final Four between UConn and Michigan State. The game was tight during the 1st Half but Michigan started the 2nd half strong with their tight defense and good shot selection. I think UConn got surprised with how Michigan State played that by the time they managed to cut the lead to 1, they were tired and weren’t able to get over the humped. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo sure made all the right moves substituting players constantly ensuring that they the energy to finished the game. I’m sure a lot of people voted UConn to get to the finals and got disappointed with the result.
It was almost 8:45pm by the time we left the house. Luckily, Roseland Ballroom was just two blocks east of where the house was. We got there and the line was halfway around the block. They started letting people in around 9 and there was a line on the ticketing booth for will call and buying tickets. I bought mine early and online which cost about $40 plus 8.25 service charge and I found out the tickets were selling for 70 bucks at the door. Anyway, we got in and headed straight to the stage where Glenn Morrison, guest DJ and producer, was already spinning tunes. We were basically about 3 people out of the stage so we had a good view. I took my time getting to the rhythm – not wanting to get tired easily – as I knew (and I’m sure a lot do) that AVB won’t be spinning till midnight. The place was getting packed slowly and by around 10:30pm, people were pushing and shoving their way so that they could get closer. My buddy and I were in the middle of the pack – moving a step back and two steps forward. The nearest we got was about two person away from the barricade surrounding the stage. For three hours, I was just doing my usually thumping, following Morrison mix of techno and trance. Then around midnight, AVB came on the stage and that’s when the place got rowdy and packed. You almost cannot breathe as everyone was just pushing towards the front – squeezing everyone who was already there. I just kept my composure and start dancing to his beats. It sure was swell – beat after beat – like there is no tomorrow. I did get out of the crowd around 2pm as we headed upstairs to get a better view of the crowd and continued raving the night away. The place was packed from top to bottom and had a mixed group of ethnicity and color as well as age. We left around 4:30 in the morning and the place was about 90% packed. I did hear that he ended up playing till 5 in the morning and the place was still thumping.
So that was my weekend – great wine, great food variety, great game, great trance/techno tunes – what else can you asked for? It was tiring… but it sure was worth it!
Work hard, play harder
by sometime soon 
..HeyThere..
-Wuz just blog hopping! Gr8 blog
...found u under 'music' search...btw 
Your layout is great, posts are fairly easy to read (maybe make the font size a tad bigger)... All around, it's a great journal. 
Have a great weekend! 
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