Being away definitely does make the heart grow fonder. I truly have a better appreciation and perspective of home, where it is, and the people that make it home. A, meanwhile, had other priorities on her mind on our plane ride home…
Safety First from Belinda Dao on Vimeo.
I had my Rory Gilmore moment. Sort of. It happened when I found myself in New Haven at Yale. Yes. Yale. The school Rory chose to attend for college. The school where she studied for 4 seasons (minus her leave of absence). The school that was the setting for the Life and Death Brigade (inspiration for A and my Delta Alpha Omega’s In Omnia Paratus), the Harvard-Yale game tailgate party episode, the Yale Daily News, etc. This school is filled with so much history, prestige, and Gilmore-related memories. I may not have been on the undergrad part of campus, but I was on some part of the Yale campus. As I walked through the halls where famous footsteps (I assume) had preceded my own, I felt the connection to something historical, something important, something Gilmore. Or it could have been all in my head. Either way, I felt, for a minute or two, like Rory. If only I could find Stars Hollow would it have been complete. Well, at least I got to fly out of Hartford.
On an unrelated note, A pointed out that while in Connecticut we forgot to look for Stonybrook (setting for the Baby-Sitters Club).
What is there to do in New Haven? This was the question that A was suppose to find the answer to prior to our traveling bonanza that would take us through three cities in three different states in one week. This was the question that A was suppose to find an answer to while lounging around in her thermals in the hotel room in Cleveland and Boston. This was the question that A was suppose to find an answer to before we stepped off the Amtrak in New Haven. Default answer: Ikea. Good enough for me.
Ikea at New Haven turned out to be quite the same as Ikea at home granted that getting to Ikea at home typically entails driving down a crowded 405 freeway rather than walking in the frigid cold (thank you wind chill) on an ice-covered sidewalk. Nevertheless, the same large blue building greeted us and as I stepped through the glass entrance sliding doors, a familiar sense of being home rushed over me. Välkommen!
Although there was nothing unique about this Ikea compared to the ones in California, it provided A and me with a good hour and half of imagining what furniture would look nice in our future homes as we meandered through the showrooms. The other displays (frames, especially) also gave us good decorating ideas. Ikea is so creative! I love it! This excursion, though, proved to be a bit difficult as A reminded me that we did not have enough luggage space to buy anything. After I came to terms with this fact, we meandered some more before venturing back outside into the cold to make our way back to our hotel.
quick and free delivery. large portions. absolutely good.
(sorry, but no pics here. my reflex to grab chopsticks was much quicker than my reflex to grab the camera.)
Most of the dinners I eat are home-cooked. The only problem is that I am not the one who cooks the meal. Imagine the courage and determination I had when I decided to cook dinner while in New Haven! (Okay. I admit the idea to cook dinner while on my trip was due to the fact that I wanted to save a couple bucks and not order take out for what would be the sixth night in a row. A and I had already picked up some 99 cents pasta and Alfredo sauce while grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s a couple days earlier in Boston.)
The Supplies
The Cooking
The Dinner
What you probably didn’t know about my attempt to make dinner
A and I bought two bags of pasta and a can of alfredo sauce to make dinner for two nights. A figured that a bag of pasta + half a can of sauce = dinner for one night. A, however, didn’t realize that “half a can of sauce” would only be enough for half a bag of pasta. After eating a forkful of semi-sauced pasta, A and I decided to dump our pasta back into our pot and add the remainder of the sauce to our pasta. After this second attempt to make dinner, our pasta was now a bit more edible though it lacked any spices to make it like the good ‘ol pasta that we get cooked for us at home. All in all, we somehow survived through this dinner. (As a side note, we did have enough leftoever pasta for dinner the next night, but we made the call instead to return to our take-out dinners. As for the extra bag of pasta we had bought, it made for a nice souvenir for the real cooks at home.)
Overall a good stay here. The room was spacious (including a living room area, kitchen, bathroom area). A free complimentary shuttle was available on request. The free breakfast was delicious as well (especially on Sunday). The only downsides would be that there’s not much around within walking distance (unless you’re willing to walk far in the cold) and the heater made A LOT of noise when it was turning on and when it was on.
Do not underestimate it. It will be your biggest adversary in the cold weather. It may be 27 degrees, but it will feel like 7 degrees. Damn wind chill.
I initially was going to fly out of Boston to New Haven, but someone suggested that I take the Amtrak instead. It is potentially cheaper than flying and it’s quick and convenient. Other than the fact that I had to lug my suitcase down a flight of stairs because the escalator was being fixed, I would recommend it to anyone traveling Boston to New Haven over traveling by airplane. You don’t have to arrive early to check-in like at an airport. There’s no security lady telling you your carry-on is too big. You can carry a larger carry-on than allowed on an airplane. It is a two and a half hour scenic route. If you want to arrive in a shorter amount of time with fewer stops from Back Bay Station to New Haven, you can take the Acela Express for $87, but A and I opted for the Northeast Regional route for $44 each (booked online at www.amtrak.com).
Courtesy of A’s steady hands on an Amtrak train on the Northeast Regional route from Boston to New Haven on a Saturday afternoon during winter
Amtraking To New Haven from Belinda Dao on Vimeo.
Okay, so I have never been to Rodeo Drive (as if I could ever afford anything that is sold on that street), but I do know what it is, where it is, and the like. I know all the high end shops and designer name stores take up residence on Rodeo Drive and mostly only the rich and/or famous can afford to shop there. (As a side note, I find it incredibly ridiculous how some people spend so much money on something simply based on its name – it is just a damn name!) But since we had a day to ourselves, A and I decided to head to Back Bay in Boston. We made our way through the area until we found Newbury Street a.k.a. The Rodeo Drive of the East. From one end down to the other end, we window shopped through all the stores this street had to offer. Marc Jacobs. Armani. Valentino. Juicy Couture. BCBG. Betsey Johnson. The list goes on and on to include other high end stores as well as the not as highly priced stores, such as H&M, Urban Outfitters, and American Eagle. I was not at all wowed as I thought I would be and I could not see what the draw was all about. The only appeal I found was the historical looking nature of this street.
If you do, however, find yourself in Boston, I highly recommend Sephora at Prudential Center. Of all the Sephora stores I have been to, including the one at Southcoast Plaza and Downtown Disney, this store in Boston was, by far, the best one I have been to. A was mesmerized by the wider selection of make-up brands and products available at this store while I was giddy about the free samples. All in all, Sephora was the highlight of our stay in Boston while Newbury St. failed to impress me.
Out of all the menus we had given to us by the front desk at Best Western Roundhouse Suites in Boston, we narrowed our selection down to the restaurants that delivered for free. The reviews on Yelp were on the positive side and the price range was agreeable. I do not at all regret my decision of choosing Pizza Talia. We ordered a calzone, chicken carbonara (pasta), and fries.
The delivery was fast! The portions were huge! The quality of the food was great! This ended up being our meal for two nights instead of one and we were stuffed both times. As a side note, the pasta was much better than the calzone and they were generous with the serving of fries.
