Buffalo
Highlight
- I finally got my pass…hurray.
- Spent most of my day on the phone on a call with Chicago, except they kept discussing things that were on a board, so it was useless for me to follow. I really should’ve gone there instead of to Buffalo, but they would never let me go.
- Ate my huge salad for lunch so didn’t even grace the canteen.
- Went to the HSBC Arena to watch the Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers. The Sabres won 3-1, so the crowd was happy. Apparently because it was a Thursday night and also because these people weren’t real rivals, the crowd was subdue. Still, there were so many people there, it was exciting. Not much atmosphere, not compared to the English football .
- Enjoyed American food, and watched American kitsch… Kiss cam, dance cam, lost of campness in general.
- Food was revolting…I only managed to eat about a quarter, but I was full from beer
- A quick hop on the tram back so it wasn’t too bad.
Food
- Hyatt breakfast:
- yoghurt with dried fruit and nut
- blueberry danish
- Spinach Salad
- jumbo hotdog ($3.50)
- butter popcorn
- draught beer
- sour lollies
Buffalo
Highlight
- Had one meeting today, but otherwise an uneventful day at the office. The highlight was probably getting my security pass from the weirdo who has all these America Most Wanted pictures up on his wall…I don’t get my pass until tomorrow so still need to rely on people in the meantime.
- The great weather didn’t last by the afternoon. It was so so windy…I was planning ot walk back to the hotel, but I was absolutely blown away by the end, so ended up waiting in the cold, behind some posters, for the tram.
- Went to dinner by myself again, this time tired Laughlin’s…it’s a bar/bistro but it was dead on a Wednesday night. The food took so long to arrive, and then it didn’t taste that great. Although there was a mountain of it.
- I ate so little that I ended up taking some time because I felt guilty.
Food
- Hyatt breakfast:
- yoghurt with dried fruit and nut
- blueberry muffin
- minestrone
- Laughlin’s dinner:
- Buffalo Wings ($8.95) - Hot
- Spinach Salad ($8.95) - Baby Spinach, Shredded Cheese, Onion, Tomato, Olives, Cucumbers, Almond Slivers, Bacon, Croutons , Egg with Hot Bacon Dressing
Buffalo
Highlight
- Off to work, met almost everyone on the team. They don’t have open plan so it’s good. Everything is kinda old.
- I don’t have a pass so have to keep getting people to open the door for me.
- Checked out the gym, which was really small. You can’t even have more than one person working on the floor.
- Lee San ditched me for dinner so that meant I could go and eat whatever I wanted. Chose Bacchus as it was raining and this was close by, plus you can get points on Open Table.
- The service was really nice, the atmosphere was good….for Buffalo, but the food took ages to arrive. The sauce was a little salty, but otherwise the food was really nice, if a bit expensive, but you do get a lot.
Food
- Hyatt breakfast:
- yoghurt with dried fruit and nut
- blueberry bagel with Philly cheese
- Mushroom and barley soup
- Bacchus Wine Bar dinner:
- Lamb cutlet with Dijon crust, Butternut Risotto and Asparagus spears
- Californian Merlot
London -. Toronto -> Buffalo
Highlight
- BA was doing a roaring trade in the business area, so even though there was a fast track line, there were so many people there that it wasn’t much faster. As a result I didn’t get that much time in the lounge…but I really didn’t miss out on much, as the food was limited and not appealing, and the Elemis Spa was so fast (<15 mins) and nothing to wow over.
- My flight managed to leave and land on time.
- The service, compared to the only other time I flew business was terrible. The air stewardess told me she couldn’t help me put my bag in the overhead locker because she wasn’t allowed to, but told me to stand on my chair to reach it instead? What if I had actually fallen over from doing it? Luckily I found a nice young man to do it for me.
- Flight was bad…even though we were on the new club world seats, they didn’t have entertainment on demand?!? What the. I thought it’s a given in business class since most economy airlines have it now…
- Arrived in Toronto, but there was no one to greet me. Waited over an hour before I found out that I was supposed to go to some booth to tell them I’ve arrived.
- Never mind, once we got over that, everything went smoothly. Joe the driver was very nice, and had been transporting all these people from work for years, so knows them better than I do.
- The Hyatt was better than expected. The room was newly renovated and I like the new decoration. There’s a nice flat screen TV, plenty of space and the right amenity. Minus are that there is no fridge, safe and the walls are so thin you can hear everything.
- Met up with Lee San and went to her favourite restaurant, Papaya, for dinner. I was full from eating so much today already, so just ordered something light. The food was good, atmosphere was good, so I’m sure we’ll be back, especially since Lee San doesn’t eat half the food that’s out there.
Food
- BA lounge:
- pain au chocolate
- apple juice
- mushroom and tomato baguette
- yoghurt and dried fruits
- BA snack:
- BA lunch:
- Seared Scallops with Fennel and Pesto
- Fresh Seasonal salad served with vinaigrette
- Lamb Cutlets with Paloise Sauce
- White Chocolate and Caramel Toffee Cheese Cake with Toffee Praline Sauce
- BA snack:
- vanilla bean ice cream
- Grilled Artichoke and Asparagus Salad with classic Vinaigrette
- Fruit Scones served Warm with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Preserve
- Raspberry Madeleine
- Camomile Tea
- Papaya dinner:
- Tom Yom Goong ($5) - Shrimp, oyster mushroom, lemon grass, galanga, lime leaves, Thai basil
- Pepper Tuna ($10.50) - Pan seared ahi tuna, spicy sesame seaweed salad, spicy daikon relish.
London -> Cambridge -> London
Highlight
- The bus there wasn’t very full, but the seats were quite comfortable with a cushioned head rest.
- Arrived at around 10:30am, on a grey and overcast day, but there were lots of people out and about.
- Our first stop was to be Kings College since we missed out on seeing this last time. However, we forgot that it was Sunday and there was a service on, so we couldn’t go in. So had a talk around the grounds outside.
- As expected, the grounds were very beautiful, with the punts on the Cam, green everywhere, and delightful old buildings.
- Walked around Corpus Christi College with its peaceful lawn
- Visited the Market Square again, with the market in full swing. There was a very small farmers market going on but we didn’t manage to find something we wanted to buy.
- Lunched at a Turkish restaurant. We had booked nothing to start with because we thought we would have a quick lunch, but because we had seen always everything and because I was tired so easily from my illness, we wanted to have a sit-down lunch. The place itself wasn’t bad, passable food (entrees were the best, with each subsequent course getting worst and worst), ok atmosphere. Read the full review here
- Walked around the lovely grounds of Clare College.
- Visited St John College, with the Bridge of Signs and some lovely buildings. Saw lots of people being punted around.
- Had to wait until the afternoon before we were allowed on the inside of Queen’s College. This is actually my favourite, with a Tudor style wooden house, the wonderfully named Mathematical Bridge (rumoured to have been held together without bolts in the olden days)
- Sat around waiting for the Evensong at the Kings College Chapel, since mass is just about the only time you can visit on a Sunday. We had to sit in the back section as we had to catch the bus and couldn’t sit through the whole service. The ceiling was very impressive, with their fan-shaped support, but other than that, the chapel looks like any other chapel. The choir was very very good…and they certainly sang a lot during the service.
- A full bus on the way back. We were stuck in traffic for a long time (typical of every Sunday of course), but luckily we got off at Aldgate instead of having to make our way from Victoria.
Food
- Anatolia Restaurant lunch:
- Mixed Meze:
- Spinach Tarator - strained yoghurt with spinach, garlic and olive oil
- Stuffed Vine Leaves - vine leaves, pine kernels
- Pilaki - pinto beans in a tomato sauce
- Cacik - Yoghurt with cucumber and a hint of garlic
- Humus - puree of chick peas, tahini, lemon and garlic
- Tabbouleh - parsley salad with mint, bulgar, tomato and onion
- Borek - filo pastry filled with cheese, parsley and herbs
- Chicken Shish - Marinated grilled chicken on a skewer
- Kul Basti - Grilled fillets of lamb with oregano and mint sauce
- Baklava - Crushed nuts in a filo pastry topped with syrup
London -> Canterbury -> London
Highlight
- For once there was no trouble with the transport.
- As we arrived relatively early, we took a quick tour around the central streets before the world came out. The place reminds me of the other cathedral towns we have been to, most notable York and Cambridge in terms of the architecture, the layout and the range of shops.
- Had a quick look at the Westgate as well as a stroll along the Tyne river, with its shady tree setting, before making our way towards the Cathedral in time for mass.
- The Cathedral was indeed impressive, although, as usual, they were doing restoration work on it. Only a very small section of the outside had been restored, and looked very clean, but the rest was in major need of the scrub up.
- For such an important church, there were relatively few people who were at the sung Eucharist. We sat through the very long service, with the highlight being we were actually interacting with the High Priest himself when it was time for the “peace be with you” segment.
- After the service, had a look around the impressive Cathedral…crypt, the altar and the abbey and cloisters on the outside before we left, saving ourselves the £7 entry fee.
- Lunch was very nice at Michael Caines. The portions were very small, like tasting menu portions. We were actually not full afterwards – which really is not such a bad thing The execution was very well done, although the service left a lot to be desired.
- There wasn’t that much to see other than the Cathedral, we visited the old Norman castle, which really didn’t have much to recommend it, as most of it had been destroyed.
- Took a walk along a section of the City Wall, and up a which was artificially created in ancient times.
- Walked to the St Augustine Abbey, but it was part of the English Heritage property, so we didn’t go in.
- Just as well that we decided to skip this for another time as it started raining at this point, quite hard too. So off we trotted to the shops to waste some time before our bus.
- The shops were pretty much the same as everywhere else, but they all closed between 4pm and 5pm on Sunday, so we were still left with nothing to do between 5pm and 5:50pm.
- We actually arrived 10 minutes early on the way back, and there was no trouble, unless you count the mean bus driver who didn’t let people who put their luggage in the back section instead of the front, like he told them, get off at the stops they wanted and made them go all the way to Victoria.
Food
- Michael Caines at Abode Canterbury:
- Twice baked Roquefort soufflé - poached haddock, quail’s egg, hollandaise sauce
- Boudin Blanc - wild mushroom puree, roasted almond foam
- Roast Topside Kentish Beef - pomme puree, wild mushroom, red wine jus
- Pan Fried Mackerel - Serreno ham, smoked red pepper puree, basil and aged balsamic vinegar
- Orange Rhubarb Charlotte - orange cream, poached rhubarb
- Banoffee fool chocolate fudge muffin - caramel and cream sauce
London -> Newcastle-upon-Tyne -> London
Highlight
- Glimpsed the Angel of the North from the train. You can only see it as a speck in the distance. After all the hype I read about it, I expected it to be very spectacular. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.
- Everyone always brag out Newcastle, but I actually found the place very charming. Gorgeous Georgian buildings, wide street, great mix of shops…although they were right about all the people going around in t-shirts in freezing weather.
- Started by touring the historic Grainger Street and the Grainger Market. It wasn’t very exciting, but did contain the original Marks and Spencer Penny Bazaar, the smallest M&S in the world.
- Toured the historic centre, including Grey St, the Grey’s Monument statue, Central Arcade with its beautiful façade around Grainger Town…
- Visited St James Park, home of Newcastle United. But it looked like any other stadium to me. Their shop wasn’t even that exciting.
- Chinatown was very disappointing, there was only one street, and it looked really dead, with the exception of one shop – where there was a line of people waiting outside for it to open. It was an all you can eat buffet, so I was very curious. Since it was Valentine’s Day, all the restaurants were running these overpriced tacky menus, so we actually had no plans for lunch. So we joined the queue…afterall, we are suckers for queues.
- Bad mistake…this Chinese buffet is exactly how I imagined a Chinese buffet would be. I only managed 3 plates (must be getting old, my metabolism seems to have slowed right down), and felt sick from all the fried stuff afterwards. Slokky seemed to have enjoyed it though, said it brought back childhood memories (whereas my parents would never take me to a place like that for my childhood).
- What was really surprising was the amount of people that were coming in and out of this place. None of them really filled up their plates either, they just ate quickly and left, but more people took their place.
- When we emerged 1.5 hours later, we found Chinatown had come to life. There were people filling up all the all you can eat places….that’s Newcastle for you.
- Visited Blackfriars, an old monastery that has been converted into shops. Very charming.
- Visited St Nicholas Cathedral, which had helpful explanation, and doesn’t look too bad.
- Visited Castle Keep (£2.50), where they have an interesting display of some artefacts and you can walk through a few different rooms.
- Walked pass the front of the cool looking Bessie Surtee’s House
- Took a stroll by the waterfront, observing the famous bridges (Gateshead Millennium Bridge was my favourite, better than the Sydney Harbour Bridge lookalike) and the Sage Gatehead, designed by Sir Norman Foster.
- Spent the last part of the day in Baltic, a contemporary art gallery. There was a major perspective on Yoko Ono… and one particular video she said where she tells the world the “Onocode” – using blinks from a torch to say “I love you” was just darn weird. There were also lots of images of her and John Lennon.
- Rang out of things to do after that, so browsed the shops. Unfortunately these closed as well, so spent our time in Waitrose while waiting for the time to get the train.
- Delayed by 1.5 hours because of a broken down train, so didn’t get home until after midnight.
Food
- Lau’s Buffet King:
- Sweet and sour soup
- Fried chicken wing
- Crispy seaweed
- Crispy won-ton
- Spring roll
- Curry Samosa
- Sweet and sour spare rib
- Salt and pepper spare rib
- Peking Spare rib
- Egg Foo Yung
- Singapore Vermicelli
- Beef in black bean sauce
- Sweet and sour pork
- Pork in pepper sauce
- Lemon chicken
- Braised mushroom
- Stir fried vegetable
- Salt and pepper prawns
- Mussel in black bean sauce
- Pork & Veg in XO Sauce
- Stir fried beef with mushrooms
- Beef in black bean sauce
- Stir-fried roast pork
- Seafood & Mushroom Fried Rice
- Fried banana
- Fried pineapple
- Ice-cream with fruit salad
