Day: April 25, 2006

When you’re coasting until the next payday, you do what you can to budget your meal expenses, not just to stretch the paycheck, but so that you can afford to splurge a little for something better.

Half of the dinners in the past week were home cooked. Wednesday was free dinner at work provided by the student government. Friday was free dinner at NYU’s Asian Pacific American Studies Institute, which celebrated its 10th anniversary by bringing back many of its former faculty and resident artists, and recently moved to the newly formed Department of Social and Cultural Studies.

Tuesday’s splurge: prix fixe at the French Culinary Institute. $35 for 5 courses – a big steal, especially for French food. There are some flaws because they are students: the menu had way too many rice dishes (thai rice, rissoto, then chicken and rice – enough already), our server had to juggle 9 tables by herself and her classmate wasn’t doing buptkus. One of the student chefs blew the budget by putting on 2-5mm slices of truffles on the side of the dish instead of shaving them. The deserts all had custard in them as the theme. Mind you, the dishes were well-executed, but they didn’t get the harmony down pat.

Saturday’s budget eats: The Taste of Chinatown – $1 and $2 dishes of tasty Asian cuisine. The ultimate was the $2 Peking duck – the line went down the block for half an hour. Recommended.

Sunday’s splurge: dimsum in Flushing at Ocean Jewels Seafood Restaurant
133-30 39th Ave. This is how dim sum used to be. Good, attentive service, no plate more than $3, and very inventive and well-executed dishes. Recommended.

On Monday, more rain. Some pockets of sunshine. Slightly better than Sunday? Well, no, Sunday actually had more sun.

“West Wing” on Sunday – sooo great to see Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn again! Sam’s looking like his first several seasons self, rather than the Sam who left some years ago (who was gearing up to be a Congressman candidate himself). Looks like Sam went back to his corporate law firm roots during his off-screen years. How he went from Congress-bound to law firm – well, I don’t know, but I will have to re-watch the episode again to see what I missed. But, the Josh and Sam chemistry is still great and had a top-of-the-game feeling, between the great banter between the actors Bradley Whitford and Rob Lowe. Just great – it was vintage West Wing – or, as Sam put it, nostalgia…

Sam’s engaged to be married to a fellow lawyer (a woman whose identity is being speculated). I had always been fond of the chemistry that Sam had with Leo’s daughter Molly, but I guessed they both moved on (Molly being hardly eager to go with a guy who’s no less workaholic than her dad was; she’s not a lawyer; and that last episode had her with a husband who was decidedly not Sam). But, the idea of Sam being “Josh” to Josh’s “Leo”? Come on, Josh still has his problems coping with stress; I’m finding it hard to see him as the Santos administration Chief of Staff. He’s not Leo, for sure. And, man, will he ever learn, considering his continued lack of stress-coping skills? Should he really be allowed to go back to the White House for another administration?

What Josh really needs is to get further treatment from his shrink (having been played in Season 2 or 3 by actor Adam Arkin, being the only one who could get Josh on track instead of Josh’s usual “I’m really stressed out, and I’ll explode right NOW and take my anger out on you, Poor Fool”). Josh and the Blackberry thing – umm, boy is that a bit much.

And, what will Josh and Donna do with their relationship? Hmm. And, love how President Bartlett and President-elect Santos are working on something to get some traction in foreign affairs.

Previews suggest that Santos is looking to invite Vinick, the Republican candidate who lost the election, as the Vice President. Hmm. Nothing in the Constitution prevents that from happening, I must say! And, look at John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They were one and two in the election and became president and vice president (well, that was back when vice presidents weren’t fellow ticket candidates).

Really getting into “Gilmore Girls” on WB (the future CW). I watch it now and then, but thought it was interesting to watch how Rory’s Korean-American friend, Lane, had pulled off her bi-cultural wedding(s): a Buddhist ceremony to satisfy her conservative Buddhist Korean grandmother and a Christian ceremony to satisfy her conservative Christian Korean mother, an alcoholic-free/Korean cuisine reception to (again) satisfy her mother’s inclinations (and allowing Lane to get a whole heck of a lot of moola from generous and pleased non-alcohol inclined Korean relatives who promptly left with all the packaged Korean food), and a rock-n-roll wedding party for the entire town and her rocker friends (plus the Korean cousin who liked Avril Lavigne music – okay). Quite something.