The Love Party 2008 - The Love Train
Just as I have finally mastered wordpress, they upgraded and now I must learn the new blog program.

My annual party is on May 17, 2008. I have created a separate website for my love party. Please visit www.carlhansloveparty.com for more information.

My guest of honor, Noel Boado/Yna Nova, photo is in Outsmart Magazine. She looks fabulous. Check out Yna Nova photo by David Lewis

Outsmart Magazine

Beer and Bugs

According to my plan when I joined the gym last year, I was supposed to be hot and gorgeous with a six pack by this time of the year. Unfortunately, several blockades are always in my path and they are in the form of butter, crab legs and the mudbugs.

I truly believe that the Vietnamese favorite “foreign food” here in the south is the crawfish. There are more Cajun restaurants in Alief (SW Houston), Texas than most cities outside of Louisiana.

We celebrated my niece, Jessica’s 21st birthday with a huge crawfish boil. I made a 20 quarts pot of seafood gumbo to go along with the crawfish. We had enough guests to clean out the giant gumbo pot and 180 pounds of crawfish. YES! 180 POUNDS to go with the beer.

Here are the photos of the crawfish boil. This article is short because I am working around the clock getting ready for the big party. I will update the site once the Love Party is over.

Since I consider New Orleans as my second home, this article will have more pictures of New Orleans. However, before anything else, here is my video of Easter in New Orleans. The first song, “La Vie en Rose” is beautifully performed by one of my favorite singer, the Vietnamese legend, Bach Yen. This is her samba version of “La Vie en Rose”. The second song is also an Edith Piaf’s standard, “No Regrets”. This version is done by the European trio, Bad Boys Blue. The quality of this youtube version is no where near the original wide screen version that I created.

SO HOT AND STICKY

The Monday before Good Friday, I began to create my Easter bonnets. It was time to retire the two bonnets that Gary and I had worn for the last two years. I went to the Jumbo 99 Cents Store near my house to stock up on glue guns, glue sticks and a ton of silk flowers. I used one of the purple “pimp daddy” hat from Halloween to create Gary’s 2008 bonnet. For my bonnet, I used a Chinese fold up straw hat that I bought in San Francisco’s Chinatown for one dollar. Ian chose a regular straw hat as his base. I also made an extra bonnet using a Vietnamese rice hat.

In my tiny art studio (my computer desk)I managed to burn my left ring finger twice on the same spot with two hot sticky glob of boiling glue leaving a beautiful scar. It was quite comical sleeping with a finger encrusted in dried up glue and a huge dolop of aloe vera gel on top of it to soften the glue while I sleep. However, the beautiful bonnets made the incidents worth the pain.

THE STICKY FLOOR

Gary and I were the first of the five friends to arrive in New Orleans on Good Friday. The rest were to arrive on Saturday. Ian drove from Rock Hill, South Carolina. Lewis drove from Houston and pick up Stella in Lake Charles, LA, on the way to New Orleans.

Gary, Ian and I stayed at the Staybridge Suite located on Tchoupitoulas at Poydras. The hotel room is spacious and has a full size refrigerator, a full size microwave, a dishwasher, a stove, pots and pans, dishes and cups. Harrah’s Casino put us there for a very cheap price and that was a good thing because this place can use some cleaning up. The tile floor in the kitchen felt sticky so I used a wad of wet papertowel to clean the tiny area.

On the plus side, the hotel had complimentary breakfast every day. The spread included scramble eggs, sausages, fresh fruits, danish, waffle, cereals, milk, coffee and juice.

FOUR LEAF CLOVER

While our friends were still on the road this Saturday morning, Gary and I stopped by the Clover Grill on Bourbon Street for our obligatory hamburger platters. We always enjoyed this tiny eatery for its ambience and simplicity. Next to us at the counter was a mother and her two childrens who ordered way too much food and had to take the club sandwich to go.

If you go there for breakfast, please order the three eggs ommelette. This is the fluffiest thing I have ever seen.

THE OSCAR GOES TO …

Gary, Ian and I walked around the downtown/warehouse district and to my surprise, a street (don’t know the name) that I have walked by at least a hundred times before revealed an abandoned theatre. I looked through the metal fence and took a few pictures and was amused at the fact that despite taking at least 10 photos of this street prior to this day, this was the first time that I noticed the old Dix Theatre. My friends may recalled that for last year “Brunch” invitation, I used a picture of a small alley with a walk way connecting two buildings. The theatre is in that alley.

The three of us ate lunch and returned to the theatre later and found that the metal fence was opened and a young man was sitting in a blue pickup truck parked on the street. We asked him about the theatre and was told that it was a movie set and that he was a security guard. He let us take pictures.

THE FALL FROM GRACE and A NEW LOVE

Through out the years, I praised my favorite restaurant over and over. Cafe Masperos on Decatur was the first restaurant I went to in New Orleans and the food has always been good and cheap. This trip the food fell apart. This is one of the busiest time New Orleans has experienced since post Katrina and I think that the restaurant could not handle the extra spring-break crowd that wrapped around the block at 2:00 PM. My beloved mufalleta sandwich was dry and lacked the tanginess of the olive dressing that I had come to love in the last 18 years. Ian was born and raised in Metarie and he was craving for red beans sausage and rice. The beans had no flavor at all and needed a heavy doze of salt. The tasty sausage unfortunately was cold. The seafood platter has always been one of the best in town, but on this Saturday, the fried food was cold. To make matter worse, the price has gone up. This favorite place of mine gave me the worst food experience on this trip. I will give it one more chance when I go back to New Orleans in the next few weeks.
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I found me a new love on this trip. My new love is at the restaurant, Drago’s. This established eatery opened its new location at the Hilton Riverside a few years ago and this was my first time at this place. My new love is not the restaurant, but a dish that this restaurant created and served. The CHARBROIL oyster dish at this place put me in a trance that caused me to forget everything else (I barely remember the good fried seafood platter). Plump louisiana oysters on the half shell topped with butter, parmesan cheese, rosemary and other spice and herb and then charbroiled to perfection leaving the cheese to crust around the shell and then placed on a platter swimming in melted butter which diners use the crusty baguette to mop it all up.

Lewis’ friend, Stella, is from New Orleans and her father used to sell his oysters to the family that own Drago’s. Stella told me that beside eating the oysters, we must use a spoon to scrape out the cheese that encrusted the oyster shells to truly enjoyed this dish. I scraped it with enthusiasm. In the past, I have witnessed Lewis’ reaction to certain delicious food and it was like he was at the height of passion. This time, I know how he feels.

THE GAY EASTER PARADE

Stella and Lewis left their Hilton Hotel early Sunday morning to attend Easter service at a church on Burgundy street. Ian stumbled in our hotel around 8 AM after a night of partying. The three of us ate the free breakfast at our hotel and rested until 2 PM when we met up with Lewis to go to Cafe du Monde. Stella decided to stay at the Hilton and rest. We all showed up at her room to show off our Easter bonnets before we made our walk along the river bank.

We ate our hot beignets and drank our cafe au laits and then headed out to Bourbon Street at St. Ann to catch the parade which starts at 4:30 PM. While we waited for the parade to start, we quenched our thirst at Oz, a gay club on Bourbon Street. It was nice to see the wives and their straight husbands hanging out at the club with the rest of the revelers. We also met up with many people we see on the parade route through out the years. This included two young ladies who always show up in colorful wigs and a young couple who passed out confetti eggs and chocolate Jesus candy bars.

The parade started promply at 4:30 PM. Led by a group of motorcyclist, the 15 minutes long parade rolled from Louis Armstrong Park onto St. Ann Street and turned onto Bourbon Street. The parade was filled with drag queens in giant bonnets riding on horse-drawn carriages.

Once the parade was over, we walked along Bourbon Street and was greeted by many other revelers. A group of young Japanese students felled in love with our bonnets and asked us to pose with them for pictures.

Lewis rejoined Stella who was resting at the Hilton and headed out to their nightly jazz club adventure at Snug Harbor, a jazz bistro on 626 Frenchmen Street. Gary, Ian and I ate at the Harrah’s Buffet and spend the rest of the day in our hotel room watching TV.

A TRIP TO THE VERSAILLES

The Monday after Easter, Ian abandoned us and went to stay with his aunt in Metairie, a large suburb west of New Orleans. This is Ian’s hometown. Gary and I checked out of the Staybridge and checked in at the Hilton Riverside where Lewis and Stella were staying. Our room at the Hilton had a wonderful view of the Mississippi River and we watched all kind of boats and ships traveled up and down the river.

On Tuesday, I drove the remaining four of us to the Versailles, a small community east of New Orleans on Chef Menteur Highway. There are many Vietnamese living in this community and they were one of the first group of residence to return and rebuild the Versailles after Hurricane Katrina left the place almost completely destroyed.
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There is a bakery/restaurant there named Dong Phuong Bakery. This place makes the best lady finger cookies in the world and unfortunately, it was closed on Tuesday. I drove around and stopped at Ba Mien Restaurant (meaning Three Regions). Like many of the Vietnamese restaurants in this area, Ba Mien no longer have just Vietnamese clientelles. Since post Katrina, most of the restaurants in this area are Vietnamese and this means that people from all race, all economic levels now eat at these Vietnamese restaurants.

We ate really well with dishes ranging from Pho noodle soup to vermicelli with grilled pork and shrimp and a platter of authentic (rice paper style) Vietnamese eggrolls. Stella and Gary had Vietnamese ice coffee for “desert” and Lewis and I bought freshly fried banana fritters and Vietnamese beignets (fried sesame seed dough) at the grocery store next door to the restaurant. Ba Mien Restaurant was opened around 2000 and it suffered flood damage five feet hight (you can still see the flood line) from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I am happy that many of these small restaurants like Ba Mien are opened and that the clientelles are diverse.

On Tuesday, between lunch and dinner, Gary and I went to a small convenient store at the corner of Royal Street and St. Phillips Street to buy gumbo to go. Adjacent to the Flanagan’s Pub, this small place is run by a young, attractive and feisty Vietnamese woman. The front of the shop has a small food stall which locals come to buy various delicious items to go. The food available this day was gumbo, baked chicken, fried catfish and boil shrimps. Our gumbo was delicious even after the long walk back to our hotel.

TRIP BACK HOME

Gary and I headed back to Houston on Wednesday but Ian, Lewis and Stella stayed in New Orleans until Friday. We are all planning for the next trip. I had to cancelled my June trip to Orlando and sell my Margaret Cho’s tickets for a concert there on ebay. This is because a few days before this article got posted, I was chosen as a delegate to the Texas Democratic Convention on June 7 and 8 in Austin. I will record and report the process of politics for all to read and see. I may make a short trip to Chicago to meet with friends coming in from Swizerland in a few weeks. I have relatives living in Chicago and if I do make it up there, I will try my best to visit.

Until Next Time.
Carl

TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A WHITE CAR

One does not drive into Downtown New Orleans between the time of 8 AM and 1 AM during the height of Mardi Gras. Despite having years and years of Mardi Gras experience, I find myself driving Gary all over town in our big white Towncar while waiting for the street baracades to be removed on this Sunday night before Mardi Gras. We shopped at Wal-Mart; we gambled at Boomtown Casino in the West Bank; we gambled and ate late night dinner at Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner; we got stuck on St. Charles Avenue after the Bacchus Parade and drove out of the traffic through a mountain of debris. We finally arrived at the Riverside Hilton at 1:30 AM Monday morning.

Despite the exhaustion, we managed to spend one hour playing the penny slot machines at Harrah’s Casino next to the hotel.

We checked out of our complimentary Hilton and checked into the Sheraton Canal which I prepaid via priceline.com. I got this hotel for only $79 a night ($93.90 with tax and fees). This particular Sheraton sits on Canal Street and most parades roll past it or end at it. The people checked in ahead of me paid $192 a night.

We watched Orpheus rolled on Monday night right in front of our hotel and ate dinner at Cafe Masperos on Decatur Street. We were in bed early that night to get some needed sleep and be ready for Mardi Gras.

Zulu and the Society of St. Anne

Gary and I carted our complimentary collapsible Mardi Gras ice chest from Harrahs and walked to St. Charles Avenue to watch the Zulu Parade. We left before the parade ended due to hunger and ate at the Clover Grill on Bourbon Street. Gary and I headed out to the river bank and caught up with the Society of St. Anne. Anyone who dressed up can be part of this group. Since Gary and I were not in costume, we were only viewers at best. Every year, the group meets in the Bywater district and marched through the Faubourg Marigny and then to the French Quarter. Meeting and talking with the people of this group is the main reason Gary and I go to Mardi Gras each year. We will dress up next year and be a member of this society.

My Mardi Gras Video

SAN FRANCISCO ADVENTURE

OOPS! Did I do that?

I have written an article on this website teaching people how to bid for a hotel room through priceline.com. My main point is that you must becareful and that once you click buy, there will be no refund at all if the purchase goes through.

Well, one cold morning about two weeks before my trip of February 20, I decided to bid for my room. With out checking my information, I clicked buy and was elated to see that my offer of $62($73 with tax) a night for a three stars hotel was successful. Elation turned to sadness when I realized that my six night stay at the Holiday Inn was for the San Francisco Airport location, not the Fisherman’s Wharf location I thought I had picked. This was a $436 mistake that was nonrefundable. I erased it out of my mind until this article. I tried to give the room to friends and family in the San Francisco area, but no one wanted to stay there. The only consolation was that if I had booked directly with Holliday Inn, it would have cost me $115 per night.

I bid for another hotel room in the Fisherman’s Wharf area and was able to get the Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf for $59 (before tax and fees) a night. This hotel and its location took away the bitterness of the other fiasco situation. The Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf address is 1300 Columbus Avenue. It sits between two cable car lines and one block from the bus and two blocks from the Muni train. the Cannery is right next door and Ghiradelli Chocolate Square is two blocks away; the piers are within two blocks.

THE HOLES IN THE GREAT WALL OF CHINATOWN

Gary, my mother and I rode the 30 Stockton bus everyday to Chinatown. The bus fare was $1.50 per person with a 3 to 4 hours transfer in any direction. The ride from Fisherman’s Wharf through Little Italy to Chinatown was less then 10 minutes (with stops).

Our first point of business was to stop at a little “lotto scratch off lounge”. In the heart of Chinatown on Grant Street is a small shop that sells lotto scratch off tickets. Everyday we would purchased our $15 worth tickets and hung out at the “lounge” until we failed to win any more free tickets or money. The place was always packed and after a few days, the locals began to recognized us.

We ate at our favorite eateries and our ultimate favorite is Dol Ho on 808 Pacific Avenue. This small dim sum restaurant caters to locals. This means that it is small, sparsely decorated, intimidating to non locals and it also means that the food is GREAT!! PLEASE skip all tourist catered restaurants in Chinatown. I have eaten at most of them and they are not good! How do you know if a restaurant is for tourists? They usually have nice ladies passing out flyers or menu with “specials”. I also consider the pricey and nice looking ones tourist traps.

My mother, Gary and I ate until our belly were full and the bill was $27. However, the service here is courteous but slow. How slow? I got used to continously taking my teapot into the kitchen and filled it with hot water myself. The dim sum is much better than the overpriced City View dim sum restaurant on 662 Commercial Street.

Another restaurant we ate in Chinatown was the tiny Vietnam Restaurant on 620 Broadway that had about 14 seats. This place is crowded in the early morning hours when the nearby titty bars and dance clubs closed their doors and their patrons are left hungry for real food. My Pho noodle soup was underseasoned and needed extra star anise in the broth, but my mother’s rice with grilled pork chops and Gary’s vermiceli with grilled pork and eggroll were exellent. The two lady employees worked hard to provide the patrons a good experience. We sat on the small bar stools and watched the cook threw fresh marinated porks on the grill and produced a sizzling and fragrant smoke that filled the small place. Gary had the Vietnamese ice coffee while my mother drank hot jasmine tea from a brown plastic glass. I opted for the sweetened bean in coconut milk desert. The bill was about $25.

The fresh produce and Chinese BBQ in Chinatown are the cheapest I have ever seen in any city. Most of the fresh vegetables were 1/2 the price compared to Houston and Houston is pretty darn cheap when it comes to grocery. You can buy a whole Peking roasted duck for only $9.25 to $9.75. In Houston, a whole roasted duck is about $13. Unfortunately, if you go to a Safeway a few miles away from Chinatown, the price of fresh produce is two to three times more expensive.

During one of my mother’s shopping trip, we were very hungry and decided to walk into a BBQ joint on 1131 Grant Street. Yee’s Restaurant has a large window front which patron can look in and see all kinds of Chinese BBQ from roast pork to ducks, quails and pigeons. The three of us shared a roast pork, a roast duck plates (come with saute cabbage) and a large hot bowl of pork congee soup with “thousand year old” eggs. Hot tea was on the house! The food was delicious. The roast pork was tender and its skin was crispy. The roast duck was roasted a little more tender than other places but I like it this way. It came with a tangy/sweet sauce for dipping. The thick rice soup was steamy hot and full of pork and egg. Our bill came out to be an outrageous $15! Keep in mind that $15 buy one chicken Caesar salad in the nearby Little Italy area.

We did stopped at XOX Cafe on 754 Columbus Avenue in the North Beach area next to Little Italy. Chef Jean-Marc Gorce makes the best truffles in the world. The small morsels come in many different flavors ranging from rum to Earl Grey. They all melt in your mouth. Chef Jean-Marc also has a location in Oakland but it is the original location that I go back years after years for coffee and chocolate. The truffles are affordable and you can order them on line at www.xoxtruffles.com . Don’t be fool by the young picture of him though. As cute as he is, he has gained some weight through out the years and is actually a bear now. Our box of truffles never made it back to Houston. Gary, my mother and I ate it all!

A friend had told me that his family, when they visited San Francisco, did not eat at any restaurants in Chinatown since there were not any restaurant similar to Houston’s Ocean Palace, Kim Son etc… There are a few and one of them is China Empress. I have not been to this place, but it is very famous. However, the holes in the wall I wrote about are better than most restaurants I’ve been to. Please do not let your fear denied you a wonderful food and cultural experience.

CHINESE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL

San Franciscan celebrate Chinese New Year on the third Saturday of February each year. The big festivity kicked off the night before with the crowning of Ms. Chinatown. There is a festival on Saturday and Sunday. The big parade was on Saturday night but my mother, Gary, cousin Ann and I watched it on TV in my hotel room. The weather was cold and rainy and since we all have seen the parade before, it was much more comfortable to see the parade inside during this storm.

We did have a wonderful time Saturday morning visiting the street festival in Chinatown. We tried a wonderful street fare snack called egg puffs. The lightly sweet eggshaped waffle resembled a soft cream puff dough. The one dish that I saw on every street corner was the curried fishball stew. It must be a tradition to eat this dish on this day of celebration. A noisy and wonderful dragon dance passed by us up and down Grant Street which were full of festival booths.

CRAB ATTACK AT FISHERMAN’S WHARF

I just can’t escape from my crab indulgence. This trip was no different. My mother and I ate dungeness crab on several occasions on this trip and decided that our favorite place for crab is Nick’s Lighthouse at Pier 45. The crabs were large, meaty, hot and delicious. Gary’s crab avocado salad was also noteworthy. We did have an off experience at the nearby Pompei’s Grotto. We were not informed that the crabs served at this place was cold. The best time to enjoy cold crab is the morning after a hot crab indulgence and there were too many to eat all the night before.

THE BEAUTIES OF ASIA SF

My cousins Ann and Victor invited us three to a wonderful experience at Asia SF (201 Ninth Street), a restaurant/club where all the waitress are transgender or men in drag. Our waitress was Jackie, a beautiful lady from the Phillipine. This was my mother first time here and she loved every single minute of it. For the next two hours, Jackie was the daughter and she was “Mom”.

The food and the cocktails were great but it was the drag show that blew everyone away. Emceed by San Francisco’s Tita Aida, the perfomers take the stage every half hour and performed on the bar itself. We came here on a Thursday night and discovered that it was better to see it on a week night than the weekend and since it was not too busy on Thursday, we were able to see all three shows. We went on a Friday a few years back and was rushed out within 1 hour to accomodate other diners. Reservation is a must.

HAPPY TO DO NOTHING BUT EAT

We did not do much on this trip beside walking the Fisherman’s Wharf area and going to Chinatown. We have been to Sausalito, Tiburon, Alcatraz and Muir Woods many times before and this trip I decided to accompanied my mother as she shops in Chinatown.

My cousin Ann and Victor live in Oakland but work in San Francisco. They spent much time with us and took us to many nice restaurants.

Gary and I had to sabotage the check at my favorite Sushi restaurant, Blowfish Sushi to Die For on 2170 Bryan Street. This very hip and loud favorite hangout of the young ones serve some of the best sushi. There is no point for me to mention all the different types of sushi we ate that Friday night since I don’t remember. Compare to the many sushi joint I have eaten, the bill was appropriate.

On Sunday night while my mother was watching the Oscar at the hotel, Ann took Gary and me to an El Salvadoran restaurant, Panchita (3091 16th Street). This small but elegant restaurant is in the Mission District and is known for its pupusas which is El Salvador’s thicker version of a corn tortilla quesadillas. We ordered several different version of pupusas ranging from fish, chicharon and beef. They came cut in wedges and stacked in a circle surrounding a small bowl with a dipping sauce. They were deliciously hot and cheesy and dangerous for me since I am lactose intolerant. Gary had a combination plate of chile rellenos, chicken enchilada and El Salvador tamale. They were out of the tamale and substituded a very good crab enchilada in its place. Gary thought his meal was bland, but I tasted it and it was good. Ann had a chile rellenos since she does not eat meat. Her friend, Bryan, a photographer,(www.bryanalberstat.com) accompanied us but I do not remember what he ate. My chicken mole was not what I am used to. I like the spicy and lightly sweet version that we Texan eat and this version was on the dark, bitter side, but the chicken was perfectly cooked and it came with rice and black beans.

Cousin Ann invited all of us along with Bryan and my friend Ted, also from Oakland, for our last night dinner at The Water Front Restaurant at 7 Pier along the Embarcadero. This place is very nice and elegant and has a great view of the bay. I am gratefull to my wonderful cousin for treating us to so many places like this restaurant, but I told her that from now on, when we visit, she is only allowed to take us to one expensive place. Gary, my mother and I have eaten at many restaurants and feel that we enjoy the cheaper but much more delicious eateries than these more elegant but lacking in spice and flavor places. The non politically correct way to say is that we like the intense flavor of ethnic cuisines more than the Continental/American cuisines. The seafood was very bland and the deserts are typical like most restaurant. There are always something chocolaty with an icecream assortment. I actually was craving for Cajun/Creole or good southern cooking and flavor. Unfortunately, the only spice I taste from this restaurant was salt and pepper. The fish was supposed to be mesquite grilled, but being Texans with many years of mesquite experience, Gary and I failed to taste any hint of mesquite. The fish dishes were barely grilled and Gary’s sea bass was undercooked. One fnal note on this restaurant. The bill arrived with an extra $8.00 employee insurance tax. According to Ann, a restaurant that has more than 20 employees in San Francisco must provide insurance to the employees and this restaurant passed its expense to the customers. This and the so called “resort fees” just drive me mad.

It is true that the service at these “chic” restaurant is a thousand times better than most smaller cheaper places. But I feel more comfortable sitting in a corner with a table that has 4 uneven legs and shoveling my food from a rice bowl. I ALSO ENJOYED CARRYING MY metal teapot into the kitchen of Dol Ho and get my own hot water!

WE WILL BE BACK

We had such a wonderful and relaxing time on this trip that we are planning to go back in August to spend more time there. With this extra trip, Gary and I may do other things that we did not do on this trip.

Our next trip will be to New Orleans on March 21 for Easter Weekend. I am working on my Easter bonnets.

IMPORTANT NOTE - We did not rent a car in San Francisco. There is no need for one unless you plan to drive along the coast. Most hotels in the Downtown or Fisherman’s Wharf area charge a whopping $30 to $40 a night parking. Our Holiday Inn charges $30 a night. Use the door to door shuttle to take you from the airport to the hotels. The price range from $12 to $15 each way (Oakland airport is $15). If you pack very light, take the BART from the airport. The cost is about $3 to $4 per person each way with a small additional cost for the MUNI if your hotel is not on a BART route.

Here are some more pictures. ENJOY!

Carl Han

Gary and I went to Vegas for our annual vacation at the end of 2007. After two days of flight delays, we arrived in Vegas on December 27, 2007. For our first two nights, we stayed at a hotel that we had never stay before, Bally’s Las Vegas. This former MGM Grand hotel is adjacent to Paris, Las Vegas. Unfortunately, that is where the buck stops. The hotel is old, old and old. We were more than happy when we moved to the Rio Casino Hotel. Our suite at the Rio had the entire view of the strip which was beautiful when we watched the firework from our room. That is right. We decided not to dress up in our “Gay Mafia” ensembled and spend the evening eating crab legs and then hanging out in our suite instead. My friend, Leslie, had flew in from Tokyo to be with us for a week. POOR SOUL.

It’s So Creamy!

After watching the travel channel and hearing about it from Gary for a decade, I decided that we were going to visit Solvang, California. This tiny town 2 1/2 hours north of LA and 30 minutes east of Santa Barbara was founded by Danish settlers and is now considered one of the most beautiful city in America.

First we drove from Vegas to Los Angeles where we stayed at the Mariott Downtown for only $65 a night (tax included) via priceline.com

This hotel is near the famous Disney Symphoney Hall. After checking in, we walked to Little Tokyo for a mediocre but cheap dinner and then walked to the famous frozen yogurt shop, Pinkberry at the 332 E Second Street location. This frozen yogurt is not like the horrible sweet icecream impostors that American are subjected to. This was pure ecstacy. It was the best frozen treat I ever had. The flavor reminds me of the Viet/French ice yogurt, but the texture was creamy. It blew away every Asian icecream/desert place that dominates Houston, Texas.
There were many toppings to choose from, but the best is to eat the yogurt plain.

The Danish’s Schweaty Hot Balls

On the second day in LA, we left our hotel to spend an afternoon at Solvang. The drive from LA to Santa Barbara was easy and uneventful, but from Santa Barbara to Solvang, the road was mountainous and full of curves. With a thousand cars tailgaiting you, the drive can be stressful.

Solvang was beautiful and full of tourists like us. After parking, we walked and visited the many tourist shops ranging from bakeries to t-shirt stores. Samantha Brown of the Travel Channel did a piece on this city and suggested that all tourists should visit the Solvang Restaurant at 1672 Copenhagen Drive. We walked in and was quickly seated in a booth. The food items on this menu resembled an overpriced Denny’s. However, I was here to eat the famous Danish pancake, aebleskiver. The three puffy, hot and rounded pancake was served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and sat on top a bed of raspberry jam. I was dissapointed. The pancake had a texture similar to my beloved beignet from New Orleans, but it did not have much taste and to make matter worse, I am not a fan of raspberry jam. Gary had a combo plate of Danish meatballs and sausage served with cabbage. The meat dishes had no flavor at all and if you were blind folded, you would not have known what you were eating. Leslie had a boring Danish hotdog. Neither big or long, it left the mouth wanting something else.

Gary bought a giant box of pastry from one of the many bakeries and after tasting three items of Napoleon, haystack and a bavarian cream filled donut, I declared them overly sweet and unimaginative.

The drive back to our hotel was fine until I hit traffic 5 miles before downtown. It took me almost 50 minutes to drive from an area near Hollywood Blv to Downtown LA

Jimmy HACHA!

When you have three men who are independent thinkers, there will be cat fight! As much as we love and care for each others as friends, I was guilty of doing several “DIVA EXIT” . On our final day in LA, after several of my “DIVA EXITS”, Leslie did one of his own and left me and Gary to explore the Hollywood BLVD. We decided to get free tickets to see the Jimmy Kimmel Show and Les soon rejoined us to stand in line at 5:15 PM. It was raining and very cold and we were wet from head to toes. The show was quickly taped around 7 PM and the guests that night were Ice Cube, Carrie Ann Inaba and a singer from Australia. With the exception of Ice Cube, the rest was more on the D list. Everyone looks much younger and thinner in person than on TV. After the show, we rode the wonderful subway and walked four blocks back to our hotel in the freezing rain.

The Final Stage

I drove us back to Vegas and checked in at Harrahs on January 5 and Gary and I gambled for the next few days. Gary would take Les to the various Harrahs’ casino property high roller lounges and left him there so he can drink, eat and hang out all he wants.

We mostly spend our time eating. I must have eaten a hundred pounds of crab legs during my two weeks vacation. We did take a cab to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, Pho No. 1, on 4745 Spring Mountain Road. This place serves great Vietnamese beef noodle soup. We also had some pho soup at the Pho restaurant right inside Treasure Island Casino. The selection was few, but the soup was good. However, keep in mind that this is Vegas, not Houston or LA.

I was glad to come home. I had an uncle who was very ill and I am glad that I was able to visit him several times before he passed away. Like me, he loved to travel. His most recent trips in the past few years included Vietnam, Europe, Africa and several trips to Vegas.

Thank you for reading my article.

Carl

The Five Dollar Beurre Blanc Sauce

October came and went fast. Gary and I went to New Orleans with my mother, baby sister and her husband. My sister and her husband treated us to a lunch at Galatoire’s. This bright restaurant in the two hundred block of Bourbon is one of the most popular restaurant in New Orleans. I have heard and read many positive reviews of this restaurant.

My experience was not positive. We sat at our table and stared at the bright dining area for at least 10 minutes before a wait staff came. I felt a slight hint of “snootiness ” from our waiter, however, after realizing that we (we were the youngest people there and the only non caucasians) were a bunch of foodies, he warmed up to us and gave us a well trained and professional service.

The $15 fois gras appetizer was very good. The tiny two pieces of rare seared goose liver shared the small plate with a small puffy brioche. It was like eating flavored fat. The escargot appetizer was boring and lacking in flavor. The soft escargots sat in a pool of clarified butter, but the dish was under seasoned. Where was the garlic? The complimentary mini baguettes and individual slab of butter was appreciated. The waiter also brought out a plate of garlic bread which was good. Bread crumbs were everywhere.

I had a cup of gumbo which was good, but my sweetbread entre was dry and flavorless from being overfried. At a price of $17, the six small pieces of fried dried thing sat on a white plate with nothing but a sprinkling of chopped chives on top. I chose not to have the optional beurre blanc sauce because this restaurant charges $5 extra for the various sauces on the menu. COME ON Galatoire’s! I have a major issue with restaurants that nickel and dime their customers.

Gary and my mother had the rib eye steaks and they were good just like the ones you get at the Outback Steakhouse. My sister, Mimi, ordered the trout almandine but had to settle for red fish almandine since the restaurant was out of trout that day. I have to say that it was one of the best “almandine” fish I have ever eaten. Usually, fish almandine is boring but Galatoire’s flavorful clarified butter (which was lost on the escargot) made this dish memorable. My brother-in-law had the grouper filet topped with clarified buttter and a generous heap of crab meat. It was very good. The crab meat was well complimented by that delicious clarified butter. Keep in mind that anything that is topped with crab meat taste real good.

Everything is a la carte so we ordered a potato lyonnaise and a creamed spinach as the side vegetable dishes. The spinach was boring and the potato lyonnaise reminded me of a potato dish that I cooked with butter and onion. OH! I have been making potato lyonnaise for a thousand years prior to my reduced carb diet, and my version taste better than this.

For desert, the waiter recommended their signature dish of banana foster bread pudding and creme caramel (flan). Our waiter thought that we did not know what caramel was and proceeded to epxlain but stopped when I blurted out the world flan. In Vietnam and most of Europe, flan is known as caramel. The texture of the bread pudding was good, but they must have ran out of rum or bourbon that day because there was not a hint of alchohol in the desert at all. With out the alchohol, the over sweetened desert tasted like it came out of a “Little Debbie’s ” box. The caramel flan had no flavor and the caramel sauce did not have that slightly bitter sweet taste that is the hallmark of a true caramel.

The lunch came out to be $50 per person before tip (no alcohol - too early to drink); at this price, it should have been much better. One good note is that there was not a hint of balsamic reduction (ballsonit sauce) on my plate.

This restaurant is and will always be popular and busy (dinner reservation for Saturday need to be booked almost a month in advance). It is part of the tradition of life here in New Orleans. For men, jacket and tie are required at dinner time and for lunch wear your Sunday’s best.

My sister summed it best when she said “I’m glad we went here though…” which means that we came, we ate and we will never come back. We all agreed that our dungeness crab buffet at Harrah’s Casino was a much better meal.

I am dissapointed at many of the pricey restaurants I have eaten through out the years. It is surprising to me that that many of these so called “food critics” give such high regards to restaurants like Galatoire’s. Am I so strict with my taste bud? If my meal cost less than $35, I would not be so harsh, but this meal cost $60 per person (including tip) for LUNCH! I had $50 meal that was worth $50. I also had $10 meals that tasted better than most $50 meals.

Hurricane in Houston

I hosted my second annual “Brunch in November” on November 3, 2007. It was held at the home of my gracious friends, Carl Mc and K Nguyen. The 30 guests feasted on a New Orleans inspired meal.

Gary helped me served the famous hurricane cocktail in virgin and regular forms. Gary had ordered beautiful plastic hurricane glasses and plastic hot pepper straws to sip it with. Recipe is at end of article.
For appetizer, I served a homemade pate, a cheese plate of brie (topped with dried cranberries) and baby blue cheese.

For the meal, I made a twenty quart pot of seafood gumbo, cooked 30 cups of rice, simmered a giant pot of red beans & sausage, stewed a pot of vegetale creole (tomato, cauliflower, cabbage cooked with butter and bacon), and peeled and deveined 25 dozen shrimps for my shrimp etoufee. I also served a platter of Holmes brand pecan smoked boudin.

For the deserts, I made two large bourbon creme caramel and a huge batch of banana foster served over Blue Bell vanilla icecream topped with a dolloped of whipped cream. I did have a wonderful box of baked lady fingers which I bought from a Vietnamese bakery in Louisana but I forgot to serve them to my guest. Gary and I ate the entire 30 counts of lady fingers after the party.

Guests brought various wines, champaign and orange juice (mimosa). A pot 100% Kona coffee was brewed and served with sugar, cream and equal.

We had a great time eating, drinking and meeting friends. I look forward to next year.

My friends and I were too busy eating and none of us took a single picture of my food. At least, the memories are in our belly and mind.

I will be going to Vegas on November 15 to celebrate my 42nd birthday. We will be staying at our favorite Vegas hotel, Paris Las Vegas. Get those penny slots ready VEGAS!

See you next time.

Carl

CARL’S HURRICANE
DRINK RECIPE

This is my version of the Hurricance. Fill a large punch bowl with 2 litre (maybe quart) Welch’s passion fruit drink, 2 litre of any tropical punch drink, about 1 litre of passion fruit cocktail (25 percent juice - I found this at the international aisle in the Fiesta Supermarket in Houston) 1 cup of orange juice and the juice of 4 limes.

Mix well and serve over ice in a hurricane glass with dark rum according to taste. The original version at Pat O’Brien in New Orleans uses equal part rum to equal part cocktail mix. This version will have enough alcohol to knock down a football player. Garnish with orange slice, maraschino cherry and a fancy straw. ENJOY!!!!

Gary and I have been back to New Orleans and the surrounding areas about once a month. We visited Biloxi twice and New Orleans three times this summer.

Katrina in New Orleans

My best friend, Katrina, and her son, Conor, came with us on one of the trip to New Orleans. They had a great time touring the swamp. We had a great meal at one of my favorite restaurant;

The Star Steak & Lobster House
237 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 504-525-6151

The host, Joey, has been there forever and is lovely as always. The small and cozy restaurant has gotten a makeover and is not as cluttered as it used to be. The service is on par with all the restaurants in New Orleans, slow and courteous. Katrina and I had a combination plate which consisted of Jambalaya, steamed rice, red beans sausage and rice and crawfish etoufee. I forgot what Conor had, but Gary had his usual special steak of filet migon topped with crab meat. The average price on the menu is between $16 to $24 with the lobster dinner priced around $30. I do not remember much about this trip exept that Gary had won some good money playing black jack therefore we ate well on this trip. This included the oversized seafood plate at Cafe Masperos (601 Decatur St). Please take note that if you are at the front door of this restaurant and there is a sign telling you to wait outside, please wait outside. Katrina, Conor, Gary and I waited outside while a group of 6 was inside and when a table was available, the door man went outside and brought us in to our table. The inside group protested only to be told by the doorman that our group read the sign and understood it! I think he waited all day for the opportunity to say that.

Video
Before I continue with my journey, here is the video of Southern Decadence during Labor Day weekend in New Orleans. The song is a remix of “Down Town” by Petula Clark.

The BallsOnIt Effect

Gary and I went to Biloxi twice and each time we met up with his parents and sister. The last meeting was in August to celebrate his mother’s birthday. It was a short trip and all we did was eat and drove around the surrounding area of Biloxi and Gulfport.

We celebrated Dixie’s birthday at the new Emeril’s Fish House in Gulfport. This moderately priced restaurant is inside the large and very bright Island View Casino. The location used to be part of Harrah’s Grand Casino Gulport before Hurricane Katrina.

The food at Emeril’s Fish House was a dissapointment. My traditional dish of shrimp and grits was mediocre. The grits was creamy and the few pieces of mushrooms gave it a nice contrast in texture and taste but the shrimps were overcooked and the ever popular “balsamic reduction” that was drizzled over the shrimps did nothing for the dish. I AM TIRED OF balsamic reduction. Infact, Gary and I have renamed this hideously overused sauce as “BallsOnIt” . I guess that these darn chefs think that by putting this “BallsOnIt” reduction on their dish it will elevate it to a higher status. All I tasted was the sourness of the vinegar which killed the shrimps. CHEF of the world; please stop this BallsOnIt assault! I also had the gumbo and it was too salty! Every gumbo I ever had at Emeril’s or any of his restaurants were always too salty. Yet, Dixie’s (Gary’s mother) creamy corn and crab chowder was bland. Gary and Dixie both had the fish of the day and the dish was so unremarkable that Gary has no recollection of it. I remembered it as tasty, but overcooked. The dry fried potato that the piece of fish sat on top was again, unremarkable. Arthur (Gary’s father) had his usual roast chicken dinner and he enjoyed it. Tracey (Gary’s sister) had the same shrimp and grits dish as mine and did not eat her shrimps at all but she liked the grits and the mushrooms. I had the sorbet trio for desert. The three very small balls of mango, passion fruit and lemon sorbet was refreshing but Dixie could not eat her sorbet because it was too tart. Tracey picked up the bill and commented that it was one of the cheaper meal she had paid for. She paid over $1,000.00 at a restaurant in Tampa (Bern’s Steak House) for the four of them two weeks earlier; therefore, Emeril’s Fish House was a bargain (dinner price range from $24 to $35).

Biloxi and Gulport are recovering and just like New Orleans, it is a slow process. Most of the nice mansions facing the ocean are gone. The lots are either vacant or replaced by larger condo units.

There were not many people out and about. My 15 minutes drive from Biloxi to Gulfport that Saturday night was easy. The road was almost empty after 7:30 PM. BUT all the casinos were packed. Most of the rooms in Biloxi and Gulfport were sold out. The casinos industry is definitely keeping this part of the Gulf Coast alive. However, beside gambling, eating and walking on the beach; there is not a whole lot to do in the area right now.

Southern Decadence

A few years back, I decided to rename this weekend Southern Bearcadence. I stand correct. The gay bear community was a force this weekend. Over 100,000 visitor came to New Orleans for Southern Decadence 2007 and gave a big boost to New Orleans’ economy considering that this summer was one of the slowest summer the tourist-dependent economy ever had.

RESORT FEE!!!

I bid three rooms for my group of friends and got the Ambassador Hotel for a total of $42 a night ($35 plus tax & a priceline.com charge) for each room. This was cheap, but this hotel does something that many hotels now do and it drives me nuts. The Ambassador charged a whopping $7 a night for their resort fee. Other resorts ususally charge about $2 to $4 a night for this fee. The Ambassador is not a resort! This fee includes inter-net usage but none of my friends could connect to the inter-net. For next year, I may raise my bid and get a nicer hotel but only if my friends are willing to spend a little bit more.

Meanwhile, Harrah’s Casino put me and Gary at the nearby Double Tree Hotel on Canal Street. We did not gambled enough to be placed into their luxurious hotel on Poydras. The Double Tree was a disaster. In the course of one hour, we were moved to three different rooms. We had requested a non smoking room and the first room smelled like an ashtray. The second room was being remodeled and the bath room door was off from the frame by three inches. The third room still had paint strips on the door and the toilet shot water up two feet into the air. The toilet engineers had to come up and readjust the pressure level.

Our Double Tree also hosted the 388th Bomber reunion. Judging from the age of the attendees, there will not be many after this one.

Fridaycadence

I spend this day checking in hotel rooms for friends and waiting on friends to arrive. Ian flew in from South Carolina and Chito flew in from Galveston. David and Adi arrived around 10 PM and Dee and Billy arrived around midnight.

For lunch we first walked to the infamous Clover Grill, but at 11 AM, all of the 24 seats were taken and the wait was about 20 minutes. Chito decided to walk into the bar across the street, Lafitte in Exile, and found our friend Ritchie all alone in the bar. We kidnapped Ritchie for the remainder of the trip.

We did not want to wait so we walked to Cafe Masperos for lunch. Gary and I shared a hamburger and a muffaletta and Joe had a chicken sandwich. Chito and Ritchie had the Jambalya. My favorite place has $1 wine and $1 strawberry daquiries served in 8 oz see-through plastic cup.

To burn off the heavy meal, we walked to the nearby French Market which is under rennovation and only a small part of it is available to vendors. I did not see my “Jade Lady”. I befriended this lady back in 2003 when Gary and I had a weekend booth at the French Market selling our toys. I made a habit of buying something from her everytime I am in New Orleans. Despite losing her home to Katrina, she and her husband are still living in New Orleans and ocasionally she set up her small booth selling jades and other artifacts from China. Her husband is an engineer working in New Orleans. The couple are from mainland China.

On the way back to our hotel, we walked past the gay clubs on Bourbon Street but went to the Corner Pocket on St. Louis instead. It was too early in the day and the pretty male dancers had not yet showed up at this small popular bar.

For dinner, Ian joined us at the all you can eat dungeness crab buffet at the casino. Joe and his group of friends went their separate ways and I have not seen Joe since ( he was hanging out at the Corner Pocket). I have never seen two of my thin friends ate so much before. As skinny as they are, they must have ate their weight in crab legs.

We all went to different places this night. After a short stroll to the French Quarter, Gary and I came back to the casino and parked our rears at the table game and penny slot machines. This was one of the luckier trip for me. I won about $300 on two of my favorite penny slot machines. That ATM check card was never used!
  
Saturdaycadence

Ian and I were in bed by midnight. Gary came back from the Casino around 3 AM and my fourth roommate (shall be nameless) crawled in at 7:30 AM. Restless and hungry, Ian and I walked to the French Market Cafe and ate the breakfast buffet. It had everything I wanted; grits, eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuit and gravy. The bears were up early and filled pretty much the entire restaurants. All eyes were on us, a short fat Asian guy and a tall African/American cowboy, as we walked to our table.

The weather had been perfect until 4 PM. It rained heavily and my pre-dinner wine party had to be moved from Lewis’ Crown Plaza hotel to my Double Tree-NOT.

I made a mistake of bringing two cheap bottles of red wine and one of them tasted like dishwater. Pairing these two wines with a block of 8 year old white cheddar, 7 year old yellow cheddar and a 7 year old parmesan cheese from Italy was a crime! I also had deviled spam (it was not even the real Spam, but a HEB grocery store brand) on fine crackers along side of one small great tasting smoked summer sausage and a box of Kroger Sociable crackers. We were just enjoying ourself talking and “chillin” out in my room.

The rain stopped as we ran out of Perrier water and cheap wines. We walked to the French Quarter for our dinner. We dropped David and Adi at the Star Steak & Lobster House for their romantic dinner. They told me the next day that they enjoyed their dinner. Eight of us went to my cheap eat favorite, Cafe Masperos. We were split into two groups of 4. Our group shared the fried seafood plates (two plates total). While, Dee, Billy, Lewis and Ian ordered individual dishes. Lewis and Dee had the red beans sausage and rice. I remember this because Lewis always put some vinegar on top of his red beans and this night he asked the young and tattooed waitress to bring him some vinegar. Billy had the fried shrimp plate. I forgot what Ian had. I think he had the small jambalya with a fabulous French onion soup.

Dee and Billy left us after dinner and us 6 men wandered around the gay bars in the French Quarter. We all walked to the Raw Hide ( 740 Burgundy St) and squeezed into the very crowded bar. Gary and Ian did not want to stay so we made a turn and left the bar. I have heard many many naughty tales about this place. This night, the bears took over the place and it was too much for Gary and Ian to handle. Gary and I bid goodbye to our boys and headed to the Casino. Lewis bar hopped a little bit then went to Snug Harbor, a very nice Jazz club located on the other side of the French Quarter in the Marigny district on Frenchmen Street.

My luck on the penny slot continued. I won about $150 on the penny slot and went back to my room by midnight. The rest of my room buddies hobbled in very late. Gary came in around 2 AM. Ian, after spending a night at a local club crawled in bed around 7:30 AM and the last one entered in at 8:00 AM.

Sundaycadence - THE PARADE

Dee and Billy left their Ambassador hotel early morning for a swamp tour. Ritchie, Adi, David, Chito, Gary and I went to Bacco’s for lunch. The famous ten cents martini are available, but not on Sunday. This Brennan’s restaurant no longer have the low priced lunch that was available pre-Katrina. However, the lunch specials are still priced nicely ranging from $12 to $24 for lunch. Gary and I had the three course brunch special. The $24 dish came with a choice of salad or soup. Gary and I went for the duck confit salad (EXCELLENT!). The entre was two fried eggs on top a bed of smokey pulled pork which was on top a piled of potato cubed hash. I enjoyed this dish. Gary’s eggs were perfectly cooked while my eggs was cooked too long and one of the yolk broke when it arrived to the talbe. The third course was the delicious bread pudding. This bread pudding was much better than the bread pudding I had at the original Emeril’s two years ago. Ricthie had the popular lobster ravioli. I had it before and it is good, but for a fat boy like me, I can eat two times the portion that was served. Chito had a grilled chicken salad and Adi just had the duck confit salad. They both like their food. I think David had the Eggs Bacco’s which is similar to the eggs benedict. What ever it was, he liked it. My friends Adi and David paid for my lunch. This was very sweet of them. If I knew, I would not have ordered the most expensive dish on the menu.

PARADE MANIA

Most of my friends and I managed to meet on Royal Street to catch the parade. We also ran into many of our friends in Houston. The short but fun parade started around 2:30 PM on Royal Street from the Golden Lantern bar. I have been a part of this parade before and it was a lot of fun.

Prior to the parade, there were about 6 of Grant Storm’s ultraconservative Christian protestors. However, their message of hate was counter attacked by a man carrying a “Hate Reflector” sign and a megafone yelling “STOP THE HATE”. Thank you kind man for doing this.

The parade had all kind of marchers consisting of drag queens, bears, shirtless men in boa etc… We all took pictures as we cheered on the marchers. It make me want to be part of this parade again. The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes and soon the crowd moved toward the action on Bourbon Street. We stopped briefly at the Corner Pocket again and this time there were about 5 male dancers prancing around in their panties on top of the bar. I was dying from thirst and ordered 4 cranberry with soda water at the bar while the dancers were shaking their rump for dollars from bar patrons. My money and tips went to the bartenders. The dancers were too skinny for me. As for my friends, I plead the 5th.

Gary and I went to Lewis’ hotel drinking red wine, pomegranate juice and goji berry juice to recovered from the heat of the day. Lewis hotel room was beautiful. It had a living room with a small kitchen area. Since Lewis was staying there for a week, he packed enough food and vitamins to feed an army.

The three of us ate our Sunday night meal at the Casino Buffet. The reason why I decided to eat there was that it was close to us and it had stone crab claws on the buffet. I just can not resist a crab dinner. Gary and I gambled all of our winnings on Sunday and mannaged to acheived high roller status for the year 2008. Hopefully Harrah’s will put us up in nicer hotels in the future.
MORE PICTURES!

Home Sweet Home

Ian slept over at his aunt’s house and flew back to South Carolina on Monday. Dee and Billy flew back to Houston that morning so did Ritchie, David and Adi. Joe and his friend, Juan, along with Juan’s nephew and a friend from Dallas drove home. Chito flew to Ft. Lauderdale to continued his vacation with his sister there. Gary and I drove back to Houston in my big car only to experience car problem. It turned out that “Big Bertha” needed two new coils and I am so lucky to have a mechanic for a brother-in-law. Lewis stayed back in New Orleans for 5 more days of Jazz overload at Snug Harbor.

GALVESTON

Today, September 14, 2007, Gary and I drove down to Galveston to visit Chito and Phil. Chito and Phil run a nice B&B in Galveston, The Lost Bayou Guest House B&B (1607 Ave. L, Galveston, TX 77550-6021 (409) 770-0688). Chito took all of us, including Phil’s 24 year old cousin from Italy, to a wonderful lunch at the Saltwater Grill. The food here is respectable and the price is great for what you get. I decided not to write a review of it due to two reasons. First reason is that it was Chito’s treat and I was enjoying my friends’ company. The second reason is that I am just to lazy to write about it. After lunch, Chito treated us to a 3D movie at the Imax Theatre at Moody’s Garden. We ended our wonderful afternoon at a gay bar on the seawall, Third Coast. There we met some locals and had a wonderful time drinking with them. Since I am the driver, I had 3 cranberry juice with soda water while Gary downed 3 Shiner Bocks. We really had a good time and plan to visit Galveston more.

Next Trip

Gary and I along with my mother and aunt are going to New Orleans on September 21 for 2 nights stay and I plan to go to Snug Harbor to support the local muscians there.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
OH! One more thing. PLEASE LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!

The Diversity of Love

The last two weeks of May was fast, fun, amazing and exhausting for me. My party, The Diversity of Love, was special and fun. The 90 guests at Hollywood Bistro were entertained by belly dance troupe, Tribal Lillies, and drag divas, China Doll and Yna Nova. China Doll’s emotional speech was touching and meaningful.

The delicious food (those crunchy Vietnamese egg rolls) came from Hollywood Chinese/Vietnamese Restaurant. Thank you Danny (owner) for letting me take over your bistro. I also want to thank the staff of Hollywood Bistro for their hard work.

The videos of all performances are on www.youtube.com
Please go to youtube and search for cahan diversity of love. This will bring up all my videos.

Last word on Christina Lee. I found out that Christina decided to give LA a shot and was not able to go back to Houston for the party (she had a job interview the following Monday).

Dream Vacation

Two years ago, my brother, James, gave me and Gary a vacation trip to Hawaii on one condition that we would lose some weight by the end of 2005. Well, as all my friends can see, Gary and I did not lose weight. However, my brother still gave us the vacation and on May 24, 2007 Gary and I left Houston and arrived on the big Island of Hawaii that Thursday evening.

My brother, his wife, three childrens and my mother were to arrive on Friday but missed their connection in San Francisco and did not arrive until that Sunday.

THE VIDEO

Houston, We Have a Problem

I did not want to write about this, but since it is a part of my journey and this journey will be revealed.

The Thursday before my party on May 19, Gary went to his doctor for general check up and we decided to tell the doctor to check on his psoriasis skin problem he had for the last three years.

What was a short trip to the doctor turned out to be a removal of a non-myeloma skin tumor. The two procedures (one more after the first biopsy) forced us to use our Hawaii money toward medical expenses. I became nurse Rached overnight. We are still waiting for the second biopsy result to see if everything is ok. The three inch wide and 1/4 inch deep wound on Gary’s back is healing and I now have become an expert in dressing wound.

This means NO SWIMMING IN HAWAII for Gary!!!!

The Hilton Waikoloa Village

We landed at the Kona Airport and took a $42 shuttle to the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort. On the way to the hotel, I noticed that there were all kinds of white stone placed along the high way spelling out words or forming pictures. I asked my driver about this Hawaii grafitti. He told me that in honor of the ancient Hawaiian Petroglyphs (carvings on lava rocks), people takes these white coral washed up along the beach shores and place them everywhere to make a statement.

My brother booked us a nice beautiful room at the most beautiful hotel I have ever stay, The Hilton Waikoloa Village. This 63 acres resort sits on an ancient volcanic lava flow and surrounded by a beautiful lagoon along its rocky shore line . Every evening was a picture perfect sunset evening. The theme was Asian and there were statues of Buddha every where. The hotel is so big that you can walk or take a boat taxi or ride a monorail to your room. There are three main towers at this resort, the Lagoon Tower, The Palace Tower and The Ocean Tower. We were at the Palace Tower which to me was the nicest one.

Trapped in Paradise

The Hilton Waikoloa Resort is about 40 minutes from the nearest town, Kailua-kona. This means that a one way taxi cab is $65. This also means that none of the free local buses stop here.

Gary and I were trapped!!!! With only $300 in our pocket, our activities were limitted. $100 was used for round trip shuttle to and from the airport. Another $40 was for the city parking at Houston Bush Airport. That left us with only $150 to spend on our dream trip. The following activities that we planned but could not afford were:

Taking my family to a nice restaurant
Go to town to buy Kona coffee at the Wal-mart
Sample local cuisine at mom & pop joints in town
Renting a car to explore the Big Island
Go to a Luau
See the spectacular lava flow
Do day trips to the other islands

We checked the menus at all the restaurants at the Hilton and suffered sticker price shocks. It did not matter if it was an Italian eatery or a Japanese Sushi joint, every thing ranges from $20 and up for lunch and $35 and up for dinner. The hotel had a small food court which serves turkey sandwiches for $10. But who would want to eat a lame turkey sandwich for $10? The breakfast buffet was no better than the one you get at a Golden Coral, but the Hilton’s was a whopping $28 per person. The dinner buffet was $38 and it did not even have seafood. The HORROR!

Fish & Chips

The King’s Shops is a 10 minutes (a tram or a shuttle was also available for $1 per person) walk from the Hilton. This was the only shopping complex in the area. This complex has high end stores from Tiffany’s to Louis Vuitton that cater the millionaires living along the beach. There is a food court which many employees of the Hilton and the Marriott go to eat. It has typical food court choices ranging from Subway, DQ Country, and a few others small eateries. Our favorite were Island Fish & Chips and King’s Court Pizza & Grill. The pizza place serves rice combo plates beside pizza. An order of rice with choices of entre (the pork adobo and Hawaiian beef stew were our favorite) cost $11 but it was enough to feed two fat boys like us. My favorite was the Island Fish & Chips. For $10 you can get a fish sandwich combo or the fish and chips basket. The fish is mahi-mahi and it was fresh and cook to order in a place that was smaller than my walk in closet at the Hilton. A young lady takes your order and another one cooks your food. The wait time was about 15 minutes. I admired the cashier at this place. We ate here at least four times and each time I like the way she handled tourists asking questions ranging from if the fish was fresh? What is mahi-mahi? What is tempura batter? How many pieces of shrimp to an order? I wanted to go up to these folks and tell them that the alternative was to eat at the Hilton for about $50 a person and then they can ask all they want. This lady should work in the PR department for a corporation.

Paradise Exploration

If you are going to be trapped in a place, the Hilton Waikoloa Village is the best place to be at. Just make sure you pack lots of ramen noodles and a small electric pot. We spend the first night just walking around the property and ate ramen noodles in our room and went to bed at 7:30 PM Hawaii time (12:30 AM Houston time).

Day 2

The birds started singing outside our room at 5:00 AM. Gary and I set out at 6:30 AM to look for breakfast at the Hilton. This is when we discovered that the buffet was a whopping $28 per person so we went back to our room for another round of ramen noodles. After our delicious Asian breakfast, we walked along the volcanic rocky beach at the Hilton. This beach is beautiful and unique, but you can not swim in it due to rip tide and sharp volcanic rocks. The white coral rocks give contrast to the black lava rocks. Countless pools of water left by the low tide reveals fish, sea urchin, sea cucumbers, crabs and all kind of other marine animals. It was like going snorkeling without getting wet. There were also protected ponds between shoreline and homes. These are small ponds with shrimps and fish unique to the Big Island.

We took the tram to the King’s Shops for lunch and continued our budget paradise with a delicious lunch of two foot long Subway sandwiches which we took back to our room to eat and relaxed. Gary was already bored by this time and this forced me to call the public transportation department only to be told that there is no bus that stops at the Waikoloa resort areas to bring us to the nearest town of Kailua-Kona.

We rode the Hilton’s shuttle to the nearby Marriott and walked along the only sandy beach near us. It was nice and pretty but being raised in South Florida, I have seen better. Gary’s sister lives near Clearwater, Florida and the beach and emerald green water there is more beautiful than or just as beautiful (trying to be political correct here)as any of the beach on the Big Island. By 2:00 PM, the sun was hot and we headed back to our hotel room and rest until dinner time.

We went back to King’s Shops again for dinner, but we were sick of Subway already and ate at Island Fish & Chips. The sandwich combo was a tad bland, but the fried (tempura style) fish & chips was delicious. I normally do not like mahi-mahi, but it tasted great inside a crispy tempura style batter. The basket was accompanied by a pineapple coleslaw and typical thin fries. Beside the usual cocktail/tartar sauce condiments, I noticed that there was a bin of guava jelly so I aksed the lady what it was for and was told that the locals like to dip the french fries into them. It tasted like guava dipped fries. I liked it. The Friday ended on a low note when my sister-in-law told me that the family missed their flight and will not see us until Sunday. This was when I finally told my family about Gary and told them please hurry and come rescue us.

Day 3

Boredom overcame us as we ran out of things to do at our resort. I walked along the “Museum Walk”and marveled at the art collection this place has. We walked along one of the most beautiful golf course in the world. We took the taxi boat and circled the property twice (one more time with my mother later on). We ate fish & chips again. We also tried a rice combo inside the King’s Shops food court and it was delicious. We will end the trip eating the rice combos three more times. We did take advantage of a tours briefing at the Hilton just to enjoy the free coffee and day old pastries.

We ended this day watching the sunset and it was spectacular. Every picture I took resembled a post card momment. As the sun dissappeared from view, a young hunky athlete raced around the property and lighted the gas torch lamps along the Hilton’s shore.

Day 4 - Sunday
Rescued

My family arrived and my brother gave me $100 to spend on frivolous things. I went swimming for the first time since I arrived. My two nephews and niece put on their fins and goggles and swam inside the natural lagoon at the Hilton. This was 4:00 PM and the water was cold. We lasted no more than 1 hour. The wind picks up almost every day at 4:00 PM and the temperature was cool in the evening.

We ate at the food court at King’s Shops again because the children were tired and it was easier to go there and eat instead of dressing up and step in to one of those chic eatery at the Hilton.

Day 5
Free breakfast

I discovered that our rooms are on the Hilton Honors floors and that free continental breakfast was available to us every day in a reception room on our floor 50 feet away from my room!

Gary, my mother and I woke up early this day and visited the breakfast room. There were fresh guava juice, orange juice, milk, coffee, tea, four kinds of pastries and fresh fruits ranging from papaya to pineapple. However, being Houstonians, we were protein deprived.

Us three walked around the property and my mother posed for about 50 pictures.

All of us ate at the King’s Shops food court again and by this time, I was getting tired of it. Between me and Gary, we have eaten every rice combination, all the fish & chips we care to eat and we were sick of Subway sandwiches.

Fine Dining

At my brother’s request, I made reservation for the 8 of us to dine at the Hilton’s popular Kamuela Provision Company restaurant. The airy restaurant sits on a hill and provided the guests with a spectacular view of the sunset each evening. I am going to rate this restaurant not on price since I am very biased against restaurant that are overpriced. I will rate this place on food quality only. The children’s dish from the child menu were good. My youngest nephew ordered his petite sirloin medium rare and liked his steak. My brother and Gary had the rib eye steak and both were cooked to their liking. My sister-in-law, Mary, had the lobster dinner and she enjoyed it. My mother had the seafood pasta and ate about half of it before she was full. She told me that it was the best pasta she had in a long time. My miso glazed grilled salmon brule came out very late and the waiter comped my only alcoholic drink of the trip. The lava flow is a drink similar to a pina colada with a strawberry swirl in it. It was sweet, good and a little stingy on the rum.

When my plate arrived, it was the typical rice patty round shape thing in the middle and topped with a 4×4 squared shaped salmon patty. The restaurant named this dish as a salmon brule because of the glazed miso sauce on top of the salmon. The fish was a dissapointment! The sweet glazed miso sauce had no flavor and the fish tasted like it was poached not grilled. There were four spears of asparagus on the plate spread out beautifully like a fan. Since there was not much substance on my plate, I was still hungry after I ate it and proceeded to finish my mother’s “delicious” pasta. My oh my! I had better spaghetti at CiCi’s Pizza than the mess that was in the oversized bowl it came in. I wanted to ask the waiter to bring out the basil, the oregano, the parsley, the onion anything to make me forget that I was eating spaghetti made for a three year old.

The best part of my meal was the white cheddar cheese spread served along side with soft blueberry muffins. It was on the house.

My family enjoyed it though; especially when the sun came down and provided us with a view to remember.

Day 6
The Big Tour

This was my last full day on the island and my brother treated all of us to a 12 hours tour around the big island by Polynesian Adventure Tour. The cost of the tour was about $82 per person; not bad considering a one way cab fare to Kailua-Kona was $65. I was excited about this tour. The Big Island is very diverse. The area we stayed at rarely rain, but on the other side of the Island, the town of Hilo is considered to be the rainiest city in the US. We boarded a shuttle bus at 6:30 Am and transfered to a big bus one hour later at Kailua-Kona. The bus first stopped at a Kona coffee farm and we sampled the many variety of coffee and desert. Gary and I bought a small macadamian rum cake which was delicious. We boarded the bus half an hour later and headed to the southernmost bakery in the United state, the Punalu’u Bake Shop. The bake goods here were delicious and their sandwiches and burger were good too. I bought a bag of goodies which included several types of malasadas (similar to donuts) three sandwiches (tuna, seafood and turkey) and a package of sweet taro bread. Gary and I had camped out in the back four seats of the bus and our little area resembled a small catering service complete with a small ice chest and two memory cushion foams to provide support for our big a–.

The bus then took us to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach. The beach sand here is black due to the volcanic rocks. Our driver said that there will be many turtle sighting there, but the only turtle anyone saw that day was the turtle art work on my t-shirt.

The next stop was the main event. The bus took us to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The drive since we left has changed from dry volcanic rock to the lush hill of the Kona coffee farms to the rainy forest at the foot hill of the volcano to dry and desert landscape of the caldera.

The first part of this volcanic park exploration was the buffet at the entrance. Gary and I wisely skipped the boring buffet and used this hour to explore the area. We were high up in the mountain and down below was the Kilauea Caldera.

Then the bus took us to the famous lava tube walk. We all walked through a wide but short lava tube. The kids were having fun walking through it. It was like walking through a dark tunnel.

From here the tour goes down toward the caldera. This was the best part of the tour. The wind was cold yet the bright sun and the hot steam keep it warm. We already knew that this was as close as we can get to any volcano action. My mom opted to stay on the bus and sleep.

I spent too much time watching the Travel Channel and learned during this vacation that all those spectacular lava flow action or dramatic waterfalls and cliffs come with a very high price. To see the lava or those big falls, you have to fly in a helicopter ($330 per person), fly in a small plane ($200 per person), be on a cruise ship that happens to float by the flow or walk 5 hours each way to the area where the lava were flowing. I could barely walk to get lunch, therefore, any walk to a burning slope was out of my league.

After the volcano park, the trip was just tiring and boring for me. We drove through the rainiest city of Hilo and stopped at an orchid farm. It had a grand champion orchid in bloom that was worth $20,000. If you are a Houstonian and you collect orchids, then you should know the orchid farm that used to exist in the Richmond/Rosenberg area. Well, the Hawaiian orchid farm was just boring.

The next stop was the Rainbow Falls. For some reason, I had vision of a giant and tall waterfall that drop several thousand feet down from a beautiful mountain. What I saw was fall that was 80 feet high. I have to tell myself that not every fall is like a Nigagara Falls. As I walked backed to the bus, I overheard a fellow traveler telling his wife that “we’ve been robbed”.

The last stop was at the Parker Ranch. This is a huge cattle ranch on the northern part of the Island. The bus stopped at a local shopping strip here for 20 minutes. By this time I just wanted to get back to the hotel.

We got back at the Hilton around 6 PM; almost 12 hours since we left in the morning.

Gary and I walked one more time to the King’s Shops and ate our usual fish & chips dinner and the rice combo with pork adodbo one last time before flying out the next day. My family was to leave one day after us.

Day 7
Last day in paradise

Gary and I spend our last day here in paradise walking around the property with my mother and back to the volcanic beach of the Hilton. My brother took us out to lunch at a nice eatery in the King’s Shops area named Merryman. We boarded our shuttle at 4:00 PM this Wednesday evening and flew to Honolulu and caught a flight back to Houston.

The flight was terrible. The cramped Continental Airline seat and the hot cabin temparature along with 4 crying babies left me awake the whole entire flight. The memory cushions that Gary and I purchased to support our rears did not help much on the long flight. We arrived at Bush Airport at 10:30 AM Thursday morning and drove home only to pack to leave on Friday for New Orleans and Biloxi to meet up with Gary’s parents and sister.

After we left Hawaii, my two nephews and niece swam with the dolphins at the Hilton’s lagoon. I do not have pictures of them with the dolphins, but they told me that it was fun and exciting.

I am forever grateful to my brother and his family for giving me a chance to experience paradise. I had a nice time, but wish I could do all the things the Travel Chanel suggests to do. This would have required an unbelievable amount of money. I am not sure if I want to spend that kind of money to experience this type of paradise again.

Until next time Have Fun!

My recent trips to New York City and New Orleans make me think of the beautiful Edith Piaff’s song, La Vie En Rose. However, instead of being in bliss by a lover, I was in bliss by the two cities. Since I write about New Orleans all the time, this article is about NYC. I created a video for New Orleans instead.

I LOVE NEW YORK

After two decades, I traveled back to the “Big Apple” on March 22 for a four nights stay. My partner in crime, Gary, and I had a marvelous time and decided that we will have to go back again and again.

CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP

It all started one night in February when I was restless and decided to check air fare on the inter-net. To my surprise, Jet Blue Airlines and ATA Airlines had a price war and I was able to book two out of four remaining sale tickets through ATA. The cost of our two round-trip, non-stop tickets including tax and everything was $284.

THEN I discovered that New York City is not a cheap place to stay; especially Manhattan. This is a place where a one star, shared bathroom hotel starts at $75 to $150 a night. I have been using priceline.com for my hotel rooms in the last 7 years and the highest hotel room I paid was $75 a night for a three star hotel in San Francisco during the busy month of September. I was able to book a hotel in Manhattan through priceline.com for my last three nights and had to stay near LaGuardia airport for my first night.

A NIGHT IN ELMHURST

Something was going on in Manhattan this particular Thursday because all the two stars private bath hotel rooms were sold out. I could not get anything through priceline.com and had to use my AAA travel service. The price was $120 for that night at the Clarion LaGuardia. This was $15 cheaper then Expedia and Orbitz and $40 cheaper then a non AAA member. THIS DUMP was a disaster. The place needs a makeover badly. The air conditioning unit worked only on a particular setting and that was heat, heat and heat. True, the Sunday before that Thursday the area was under a blanket of snow, but by the time I arrived, the temperature had risen to 60 degree.

It was 6 PM by the time we checked in our room and decided to search the area by foot for a restaurant. We ended up at Rancho Jubilee; a Dominican restaurant in a former Trader’s Vic location. The original thatched roof and the giant T was left untouched. Unfortunately, the food at this place was not good. Gary’s banana wrapped snapper was bland and overpriced at $18. My traditional dish of mofongo was a major disappointment. Mofongo is a Caribbean dish made of mashed green plantain, garlic and pork crackling. When it is done right, the dish is delicious, but my mofongo tasted and look like the cornbread dressing that has been left in the freezer for 6 months. Luckily I brought snacks with me and enjoyed myself a can of Vienna sausage in the comfort of my room.

MANHATTAN

The hotel that priceline.com got us was The Exchange Hotel. What a wonderful deal this was. The small boutique hotel is in the historic Front Street at the Financial District. The room had a microwave and a refrigerator which we never used. I enjoyed everything about it, but Gary found the bed too firm for his back.

From the hotel we walked less than 1 minute to NYSE building along Wall Street which dead ended at Trinity Church. Most of the subways lines were within 1 to 10 minutes walk from the hotel. At $80 a night, I hope I can get this kind of deal again in the future. The hotel actually cost an average of $279 a night.

THE SECOND DAY

After checking in at our hotel, Gary and I set out on foot and walked the lower Manhattan area. I was amazed at the wonderful smell of food every where as we walked by may street food vendors.

We first walked to Trinity Church. The church is beautiful especially the inside stained glass window. We then walked to TWC area and took some pictures of the construction going on. From there we walked 15 minutes to China Town and had a wonderful lunch at Congee, a restaurant specializes in rice soup. We ordered a duck congee and a fish with thousand year egg congee. The soup came in its own clay pot. We also had an order of shrimp dumpling dim sum and an order of pork dumpling dim sum. The meal came with free hot tea. Our bill was a huge $13.50!!!!! Take that Rachel Ray!

A trip to China Town is not complete with out shopping. I used my bargaining skill to obtain 4 pairs of jade chopsticks, a marble flute, a silver tea kettle and a jade bracelet only to see them in a million pieces after arriving back to Houston. More on this later.

From China Town, we wondered to Little Italy, then headed back to our hotel in the rain and rested for about 3 hours before taking the subway to Time Square.

Time Square was full of life and lights. There were so many tourists there. I felt it was like Vegas with all the lighted bill boards. We walked to Grand Central Station around 9 PM and had dinner at the Oyster Bar. I enjoyed the experience there, but again disappointed in the food. I cook all the time and have eaten out at many places through out the world and I think that my standard is very strict once a restaurant charges more than $16 for a single plate of food. The grilled fish dish I had here was nicely done and it came with crispy onion ring and a scoop of coleslaw. The piece of fish was about the size of a McDonald’s fish filet sandwich but it cost $20 and it left me hungry. Gary’s oyster sampler plate was overpriced at $16 for 8 oysters. Add in one beer and our bill was over $50 for a meal that was not satisfying at all. WHY is it that American and Italian restaurants always charge more for less meat when compared to Chinese/Vietnamese or Mexican restaurants? Forget about service. Congee was the cheapest restaurant and yet it had the best service of all the places we went to.

We stopped at a McDonald’s near our hotel and got us a hamburger and two apple pies and happily ate them in our hotel room.

THE THIRD DAY

We met my friend, Willie, whom I have not seen since 1986. The first and last time I came to New York City was in 1986 when I helped Willie moved back from Houston to New Jersey. We spend the day walking the area of Greenwich Village and Chelsea. Lunch was at the Saigon Grill. The food was actually good and reasonable. The appetizer was Vietnamese egg rolls and I was happy to see that the egg rolls were made with rice papers instead of the easier Chinese spring roll skins. We shared our plates of stir fried beef with asparagus, crispy beef noodle and spicy shrimps. The bill was a respectable $50.

Willie drove us across the river and into New Jersey where we spend the day in suburbia living.

Gary and I took the Path Train back to NYC and rest the remaining of the day. This night we walked about three blocks to L & L Hawaiian Barbecue. This small fast food joint has an even smaller sushi bar inside. Gary and I had the special combo which came with three fried shrimps, a fried mahi mahi and a choice of meat (chicken, short ribs, and beef). The combos came with rice, salad and macaroni salad. Our meal was served in a to-go foam container filled to the max. The dish was $10.99 a plate. They did serve spam sushi, but we did not try it.

THE FOURTH DAY
The imposters

Gary and I had booked a luncheon with the Elton John’s Lunch Around the World fundraiser. For the last several years, on Elton’s birthday, his biggest fans organize a luncheon through out several big cities from NYC to London raising money for his charity foundation.

Our luncheon was on a small cruise boat that cruised around Manhattan for about 3 hours. Most of the 200 guests were hardcore fans; gay and straight. I met a few straight husbands who were dragged to this event by their wives. My table had four guests from Tokyo! Gary and I felt like imposters. We do not know any of Elton’s songs and lyrics as a look-a-like plays and sings on a piano with a crowd of fans singing along with him. The buffet lunch had baked chicken breast (no surprise here) with baked ziti, salad, vegetable medley and a variety of deserts. The $50 per person fee was worth it since most of it goes to Elton’s charity. I had a great time watching people and talking to people. It was like one big family with two red headed step sisters.

BROADWAY BOUND

After the Elton’s luncheon, we walked from the pier to Time Square and then to Rockefeller Plaza and back to Time Square down along 5th Avenue.

We had an early dinner at a diner near Time Square. The food was boring and overpriced to the point that I really don’t remember much about it. I think it was called the Flaming Lips or something like it.

We saw our only Broadway show, Spamalot. The comedy is loosely based on the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I will be honest with all my readers and let you know that there is nothing more torturous for me than to sit through a Broadway type show. This was no exception. We sat up in the balcony where our tickets were only $35 a piece and I am glad that was all I paid. The theatre was very small and our view was good, but the tiny seats left my fat ass in serious pain. Gary enjoyed the comedy of Spamalot more than I did. There were a few fun numbers for me, but they were not enough to keep me from wishing that I was some where else. I guess when it comes to theatre; it is just not in my blood. Maybe I will see Hairspray or Mama Mia next time and these two shows may change me.

IS THE FOOD WORTH IT?

We ended our last night in NYC by having a late dinner at Thai Son restaurant. This Vietnamese eatery is in China Town and serves traditional Vietnamese food. We both had Pho soup and at $5.75 for a giant bowl, it was all worth it. Again, why is it that Vietnamese/Chinese or Mexican restaurants give more meat and charge less than the American or Italian ones?

The mediocre of American food on this trip and several trips prior prompted me to write a new column which will be named “IS IT WORTH IT?” I will do a review of all the restaurants I eat at and deemed them worthy or not; based on price and taste. I will not take service into consideration since the nicest restaurant staff I meet comes from cheap hole in the wall eateries not at the white table cloth, black tie snobby places. I have no problem shelling out $50 for a plate of food if it is good and worth its $50, but I am tired of paying $10 for a plate of boring Caesar salad with bad grilled chicken meat at any Italian eateries.

THE FIFTH DAY

While we wait for our limo to pick us up after checking out of our hotel, Gary and I walked to a nearby pizzeria, Mardi Gras Pizza. The place is smaller than my tiny living room but the food was good. I had a gyro while Gary had two slices of pizza including the Mardi Gras pizza which was topped with crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage and very spicy jalapeno pesto. It was too spicy for Gary to finish. The total bill was $13.

We used Barona Limo Service to take us back to the airport. It cost only about $10 more than a cab ride and it was all worth it. The drivers are professional and punctual.

We both had a great time in NYC but did not get to do many things we wanted to do. We will have to come back to visit some of the museums, ride the elevator to the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza, hanging out at Central Park etc…

BROKEN CHOPSTICKS

When we got home and I opened up my beloved Hello Kitty luggage, to my horror, all my jade pieces and my marble flute were broken in many pieces. My jar of icy hot ointment (sore back and legs) was breached and its content smeared all over my luggage. To make the story short, I contacted ATA Airlines and was told that my things will not be covered. This was fine with me since due to my incredible bargaining skill, I paid less than $30 for the items and driving to Hobby Airport to file a claim for something this small was ridiculous. HOWEVER, the witch on the phone had the nerve to tell me that when one travels, one should only pack clothes and nothing else. The calm that usually dwells in me left in a split second as I hurled a few insults and hang up on her.

THE REAL TRUTH

It does not take a big chunk of money to travel. Gary and I are not lucky people who won a giant lotto jack pot. Each trip is carefully planned and plotted out. A budget is drawn and never breached. Everything is paid in cash (bank check card). We travel well but cheap. Every expensive meal is balanced out by several cheap meals. With the exception of transportation from and to the airports, we always use public transportation once we get to our cities. This saves us from spending money on car and parking expense. We would use public transportation from and to the airports but we are pack rats and travel with too many luggages to do so.

There are many activities that do not cost any money. While we were in NYC, the only money we spend for entertainment was the Elton John’s fundraiser and the two tickets to Spamalot.

OUR NEXT TRIP WILL BE TO HAWAII in May!! I am on a diet right now so I can prance around the beautiful beach in my new bathing suit!

Happy traveling!

The Mardi Gras that I celebrate in New Orleans is much different than all the crowd, noise and drunkenness that is depicted on TV.

I have been catching beads in New Orleans since my first trip to Mardi Gras in 1995 but this year, I missed the big weekend due to commitment in Houston and the fact that Lunar (Chinese) New Year was on  the Sunday before Fat Tuesday.

This year is the year of the Pig/Boar.  Family and friends came over to my sister’s house for a big feast.  The highlight of the party was the wonderful Dragon Dance performed by the troupe from Vovinam, a Vietnamese martial art school.  There were big dragons and small dragons dancing to the beat of the drum.  We all took turn to feed the dragons with money filled red envelopes.

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After the party, Gary and I came home and packed for our two days trip to New Orleans for Fat Tuesday.  We did not catch any parade at all on Monday night.  We should have made an effort to view the Orpheus parade, a music inspired Krewe founded by Harry Connick Jr.  We were in the Casino instead playing the penny slots machine.  I won a $92 jack pot on one of the machine.

We woke up early on Fat Tuesday to catch the Zulu parade.  The crowd on St. Charles Street was festive and friendly.  We brought two butterfly nets to catch our beads.  At 5 feet and 4 inches, I need all the extra arm extension.  Gary and I was able to catch about a dozen beads and a Zulu cup, however, we failed to catch the two most coveted throws, coconut and spears.

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With our tired feet and hungry stomachs, Gary and I left the parade route after Zulu and missed the Rex Parade.  We walked to our favorite restaurant, Cafe Maspero and while we were waiting in line, the vision of the large Elvis appeared before my eyes and I knew that this day was going to be one of the best day ever in New Orleans. I have never spend Fat Tuesday in the French Quarter during the day time and what a pleasant surprise!

We ate our delicious lunch and walked along the streets in the French Quarter.  The most festivity was on Royal Street.  Most people dressed up in their finest costume.  It was better than Halloween.  I felt like a party pooper since I did not have anything fun on.  Parades of different people and group marched up and down the narrow streets filling them with a thousand different colors, smiles and music.  I wish all my friends and family were with me to march through the French Quarter.

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There were Elvis, Kings, lots of Queens and people from all walks of life just having a good time.   Gary and I walked a good three hours in  the French Quarter to experience it all.  Of course, this caused tremendous “foot pain” on both of our feet and rendered us useless by night time.  After our obligatory free buffet at the casino, we were in bed by 10 PM and missed the annual midnight “raid” when the PoPo, riding on their horses and followed by street cleaning trucks chase the partygoers out of the French Quarter. I created my video of Mardi Gras for youtube.com. 

I hope you enjoy the video and the photos from this article.  My next article will be about New York City.  Gary and I are  going to the Big Apple in March.  It will be my first time in 21 years.

It has been a very busy year for me.  I attended Gay Day Disney and decided that this was my last time at the event.  My friends and I enjoyed our time there, but after almost a decade, we decided no more.  We will be spending more time in Fort Lauderdale from now on.

I was going to post photos and videos from my Gay Day trip, unfortunately, due to a computer problem, most of the photos and all the videos were corrupted.

Back in August, after seeing Angelina Jolie on CNN during “World Refugee Day”, I begin to work on my next video, “In My Eyes”.  I planned to show the video in September but had to postpone it because my venue of choice, Club Meteor, was shut down for renovation.  It is still closed.  I plan to show this video along with two new ones in May for my annual “Love Party”.  I hope to have the party at the popular night club, South Beach.

TWO BIG TRIPS

I ended the year with a nice trip to New Orleans for Halloween and my annual road trip to Las Vegas for new year’s eve celebration.

Halloween

I posted my video of the Halloween on youtube.com  and received many nice comments from friends and viewers.

VEGAS

Gary and I left Houston on 12-26-06 to do our road trip to Vegas.  Since I am the only one who can legally drive, I did all the driving.  On the first day, we stopped in El Paso after 750 long miles and checked into our http://www.priceline.com  hotel, The La Quinta Inn.  It was only $35 and came with free internet and breakfast and sat right next to a Wal-Mart.   The next day I drove on to Phoenix and before checking into another $35/night hotel, we had a late lunch at my favorite restaurant, Da Vang.  This Vietnamese restaurant serves the best and most reasonable food I ever eaten.  Gary and I eat here every time we stop in Phoenix.  We ordered the cat fish hot and sour soup and the crunchy salted shrimps.  Throw in two sweet bean deserts and the bill was about $18.00.  Rachel Ray, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

The Gay Paris

Due to our gambling activities, Harrah’s Casino put us at Paris, Las Vegas.  We actually had two rooms at this wonderful casino hotels, and they were free.  I gave the extra room to two friends from Los Angeles; however, they could not make it to Vegas due to the horrendous traffic jam on Highway 15 (they moved about 150 miles in 7 hours).  So everyday, I would go to my extra room and throw a towel on the floor, pulled the sheets down and ripped out a few strands of toilette papers just to make it look like someone was using the room.  I even left daily tips for housekeeping.

Gary and I ate breakfast almost everyday at the buffet at Paris, Las Vegas.  It was a great deal. We paid only $9.99 per person after using our coupons.  The breakfast buffet had made to order French crepe, pate and meat terrines, smoked salmon, Eggs Benedict, quiche, etc…  The price jumped to $27 after 11 AM for the special Holiday Brunch.  We would wake up late and walk down to the buffet around 10:30 AM and by the time our coffee is served, the deluxe king crab legs and jumbo shrimps were brought out to the buffet.  HOW SCANDALOUS!

THE PENNY SLOTS

Gary and I won $300 a piece within the first two days in Vegas.  Gary won his on a $5 slot and I won mine on a penny slot machine.  We quickly burned through these winnings in three days.

NEW YEAR’S  EVE

We were dressed up like two gay mafia pimp daddies with a mission.  The casino gave us two gift baskets which included smoked Gouda cheese, caviar, crackers, two bottles of champagne, four champagne glasses and two box of chocolate truffles.  After posing with our gift basket, we made our way out of the casino around 11 PM.  Considering that we do this every year, we should have known better not to get out so late.  The Las Vegas strip was packed wall to wall with people so we decided to watch the fireworks from the Paris, Las Vegas property along with several thousands fellow hotel guests.

The view was great.  In front of us was the Bellagio Casino, next to it was Caesar Palace and next to us was the Aladdin.  We knew we were going to have a great view of the spectacular show because most hotel have fireworks.  WE WERE WRONG!  The closest casino that had fireworks was the Monte Carlo which was a long walk away.  We managed to see a tiny portion of the display.

A HUNDRED BOOBS IN THE DESERT

The only show we saw this time was the popular “Jubilees”at Bally’s Casino.  Gary enjoyed it, but it was torturous for me.  Two gay men being bombarded with fifty pairs of showgirls’ boobs is not exactly entertainment.  To be fair, the “Samson & Delilah” number did have 2 dozen men parading around in jockstraps.  However, twenty four ass cracks is not my cup of tea either.

I was counting the minutes for this horrible variety show to end. All I saw was bad “Broadway“  show tunes, and Cirque du Soleil’s rejects.

STRANDED IN THE DESERT

On January 2, 2007, we checked out of Paris and were to drive to Phoenix.  As I put my key in the ignition, I  realized that half of it was broken off.  The broken piece was stuck inside my trunk key slot.  I have a Lincoln Town Car and it would have cost me $200 to get a new key in Las Vegas.  The car would have to be towed to a Lincoln dealership.  Out of silly principal, I decided that my sister will FedEx me my spare key.

Gary and I went on the net and booked ourselves an extra three days in Vegas at the Flamingos.  The room was free, courtesy of Harrah’s, but the gambling was not.We finally left for home sweet home on January 6 and after driving three days with stops in Phoenix and El Paso, we made it back to Houston. Since I did all the driving, I swore to myself that I will never drive this much again.

BACK TO VEGAS AGAIN

Believe it or not, Gary and I, along with my mother and her friend flew to Vegas on January 17 for a 5 day stay.  It was actually for Gary’s family reunion.  I brought the two grandmas along so they could gamble.

We gave my mother and her friend a pair of boobies’ night mare “Jubilees” tickets.  The two ladies absolutely loved it.  Mother commented that it was better than all the shows she has ever seen on all of her cruise trips from Galveston.  Coming from a lady who has seen almost every show on the Vegas strip, I was surprised.

While the ladies were enjoying the show, Gary and I rode the double deck bus to downtown and celebrated one of his aunt birthday, with the Giddings’ clan.  Downtown Vegas is dying fast and Fremont Street, despite the lights, is boring and outdated.  Many of the old hotels are closed, including Lady Luck Casino.

We all had a great time.  It is a little scary to know that out of 31 Days in January, Gary and I spent 12 days in Vegas.

FLYING TIPS

The airport security is serious when they say not to bring liquid on the plane.  My mother had to put all of her toiletries in a separate zip log bag.  Her friend’s jar of Frito Lay’s Nacho Cheese sauce was confiscated and thrown away.  HOW WASTEFUL!

Until the next trip, have a wonderful day!