After brunch on Saturday, January 8, 2011, I drove down to San Jose to see the San Jose Museum of Art. I figured if I explore museums in other cities, I should explore them when I'm in the bay area as well.
I took some pictures on this excursion.
I first visited the special exhibit on Leo Villareal. He builds luminous animated light sculptures. Some look like softly changing abstract paintings, others like the vision test for blind spots, and still others evolve like Conway's Game of Life. Some of his pieces are mesmerizing.
The museum also had a regular exhibit on photography and an exhibit of photographs connecting the viewer with people/things one doesn't ordinarily see. There was also an exhibit of modern art exploring life and breathing. I enjoyed more, however, the exhibit on art with a retro look. It included things from pedal-powered juicers to a video of a man in Turkey using bagpipes to inflate a flat tire. For this exhibit's highlights, see the text in the pictures.
Also, there was a tiny, neat exhibit in the museum's cafe about stroboscopes, high-speed cameras that can capture events such as bullets through apples.
Overall, I found the museum disappointingly small for such a large city. It effectively has only five large galleries. I spent a bit over an hour in it. I saw some neat stuff though (and quite of a bit of non-neat stuff).
Because my visit was faster than I expected, I trotted over to The Tech Museum, kitty-corner across a park. I wandered around the outside, looked at the brochures for its advertised exhibits, examined a map, and browsed the gift shop, but decided not to pay the entry fee to see the displays. I headed home.
San Jose Museum of Art
Maine late-December 2010
After leaving Chicago on Tuesday, December 28, 2010, I stayed with my parents in Maine until January 2011, when I could move into my new apartment in California. I flew to California on Sunday, January 2, 2011.
Nothing much happened during my time in Maine. I didn't take any pictures. I mostly spent the days at the mall taking advantage of post-Christmas sales to restock my wardrobe. The most exciting part of this visit was Sunday, the day I attempted to return to the bay area.
Sunday
The flight I booked was supposed to take me from Boston to Chicago (with a brief stop there but no transfer) to Los Angeles to San Jose. But not everything went as planned. My Boston flight left late because someone who checked a bag didn't get on the plane. It took the baggage clerks half an hour to remove the baggage, find and remove the person's item, and reload the baggage. Then, because we landed late in Chicago, Southwest re-arranged the plane assignments so I had to transfer for my continuation flight to Los Angeles, which was now ninety minutes delayed. After I boarded that flight, it was then further delayed by another thirty minutes while we waited for baggage to load. The baggage carriers must have been short-handed in Chicago; there was only one loading baggage onto our flight instead of the usual two. Meantime, the captain entertained us by running a name-that-song contest over the announcement system. :) He'd play stuff from his ipod and the first person to identify the band would either get a fresh McDonald's cookie or a free alcoholic drink.
Eventually, we landed in Los Angeles under heavy rain. Obviously I missed the flight I was supposed to be on (which was scheduled to leave more than an hour earlier). I got myself rebooked on the next flight to San Jose, a flight on which I had to sit next to a sick baby. Luckily, after coughing a while, the baby slept most of the flight.
Finally in San Jose, I picked up my baggage and took a shuttle to my new apartment to meet my new landlords. They and the apartment are nice. The apartment in particular surpasses the expectations I formed from looking at the pictures.
This trip may sound like a horrible day, but things could've gone much worse: I might've not been able to check my bags originally (the self-help check-in line at Boston was so long that I thought there was a chance I'd miss the bag cut-off time; obviously I didn't), my bags might've been misplaced during the complicated journey, or I could've been stranded in Los Angeles. (When I talked to a gate agent in Chicago after I realized I'd be missing my flight from L.A. to San Jose, she said all the later flights to San Jose were fully booked. Being stranded in L.A. was a distinct possibility in my mind.)
Earlier Week
After eating relatively large, heavy meals in restaurants with my grandma, upon our return to Maine my parents and I wanted lighter meals. Hence we mostly ate at home.
On Wednesday for lunch I had leftover red chili chicken rice. For dinner we ate scallops (that tasted metallic) in a butter sauce with onions, tomatoes, and garlic, and served over pasta.
On Thursday, I made myself a turkey and avocado sandwich for lunch. For dinner we ate pork chops with an apple-onion gravy, roasted brussels sprouts, roasted mushrooms, and leftover pumpkin pie (which apparently freezes well!).
On Friday, New Year's Eve, I had a turkey and bacon sandwich for lunch. Our large dinner spread included brisket, kugel, potato pancakes, peas, carrots, and, for dessert, brownies.
Saturday lunch was leftovers from previous meals. Dinner was a roasted chicken from Market Basket, plus an Ethiopian cabbage, potatoes, and carrots dish that I made. As for dessert, my mom had made three different types of brownies. We had a brownie tasting! :)
Chicago December 2010
I meant to spend Sunday, December 19, 2010, through Sunday, December 26, in Chicago with my parents, my grandma, and (for some of the time) my aunt S. We were there to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday (!) and Christmas. Thus, we spent most days hanging around the condo, not doing much other than being in each others' presence. At times I tried to work remotely using my cell phone as a modem--this worked surprisingly well.
I stayed in Chicago two extra days, through Tuesday, December 28. A blizzard on the east coast on the 26th caused our flight to the east coast (to Boston) to be cancelled.
The weather in Chicago was gentle during our entire stay: various minor snowstorms, mild cold (30s).
We generally ate either in the condo or at whatever restaurants my grandma was willing to tolerate. Here's the list:
19th dinner: Macaroni Grill (also with grandma's nephews and nieces) (I had the pasta milano, which was so garlicky I could barely eat it)
20th dinner: Outback Steakhouse
21nd lunch: Cheesecake Factory (the usual eggplant mozzarella sandwich and kobe beef burger)
22nd lunch: Pita Inn (without grandma) (the usual lamb pita)
23rd lunch: Portillo's (I had a grilled vegetable sandwich)
23rd dinner: Thai takeout and Chinese takeout (forgot the names of the restaurants, and what we ate isn't important)
24th: didn't leave the condo
25th (Christmas dinner): Johnny's (I had ribs)
26th dinner: India House (vegetables!: spinach and mustard greens, cabbage and spices, tandoori roti)
27th lunch: a Chicago-style pizza place (I forget the name). It was okay. Even my parents admit that it wasn't as good as it should be. They've ordered from this place before and thought it was good before.
28th lunch: Kentucky Fried Chicken
Flying east on Tuesday, December 28, was easier than I expected. Grandma drove us to the train station. We took a train to the dedicated airport bus to the airport tram to our terminal. Our flight's airplane was changed at the last minute to a 777 that just arrived from Shanghai! That meant there were many more seats than originally allocated, and we got upgraded to premium economy. :) I bet you I know why they used a larger plane: due to the numerous cancelled flights to the east coast, 150 people flew stand-by on the flight!
Once in Boston, baggage claim took a while so we missed the bus we wanted to take and had to wait for the next one an hour later. That bus--a pleasant ride on C&J--dropped us off at the bus station in Maine around midnight. We were anxious about cleaning off the car from the large east coast snowstorm, but I guess it didn't hit Maine much--there was nothing to clean! :) We were relieved.
Incidentally, in the Chicago airport, I discovered I like the smoothies I make better than Jamba Juice's--Jamba Juice's smoothies taste too sweet for me nowadays.
Maine mid-December 2010
I returned to the states from London on Wednesday, December 15, 2010. I stayed with my parents until Sunday, December 19, when we all boarded a flight to Chicago to visit my grandma. Di Yin, who returned to the states via New York on the 15th, came up to Maine on the 16th to stay with me and my parents until the trip to Chicago.
Sorry, I didn't take any pictures during this visit to Maine.
I didn't do much during these couple of days other than to rest and recover from the flu I caught the previous weekend. Thus, we ate at home a lot. Here are my notes:
On Thursday, we had bean soup for lunch and quite a spread for dinner: lamb chops, kugel, potato pancakes, and vegetables. I had pumpkin pie for dessert.
On Friday, for lunch Di Yin made us all sandwiches of fried pork, bok choy, and cilantro on baguette. Di Yin also cooked dinner: udon noodle soup, plus more pork, plus her oyster sauce eggplant dish that I love (this time it included pork). We sometimes ate the eggplant straight and sometimes ate it on toast. For dessert, we split some baked goods (a chocolate cake, almond macaroons) that Di Yin brought from Clear Flour in Boston. I was reminded again that although it's a shockingly expensive bakery, it's nevertheless worth the price. It's certainly the best bakery in New England.
On Saturday, we headed to a pizza joint, La Festa Brick & Brew, in Dover. I keep thinking this is the misspelled name of a Mexican restaurant, but it's correct. The decor feels like Round Table. The restaurant sells pizza by the slice in a large variety of styles. The pizzas are made in a brick oven. I tried the plain cheese, the bbq chicken, and I think something else, along with the (intense) garlic knots. The pizza, made in a doughy style, was respectable.
Afterwards, my parents showed Di Yin and me the most remarkable place in Dover: an amazing waterfall and rapids in downtown Dover! They're near an old mill. It's a shocking sight. We heard it before we saw it. I wish I had my camera. I'd have photographed especially the rocks with ice crystals that looked like fractals.
By the way, I looked for pictures of the waterfall on the web. Of the few I found, fewer still were taken during the winter, and none show the ice crystals. I would've been the first person to visually record the phenomenon! But I did not... :(
For dinner, we had more pork, eggplant, and another vegetable soup from Di Yin.
London: Dec 12-15: Sick Last Days (Kew, Chiswick, Flying Home)
I was sick with the flu my last few days in London, from Sunday, December 12, 2010, until I left on Wednesday, December 15. As such, I didn't get to do any of my regular outings. I also stayed home from work. In addition, I missed my company holiday party. I didn't even bother bringing my camera on the limited things I did do. This entry is the abbreviated, picture-less notes about my final days in London.
Sunday
Our big activity on Sunday was switching apartments because we didn't have our apartment reserved for the final few days of our stay in London. Luckily, Di Yin has a friend in London, A, who let us crash with her and her husband for those days. In fact, during most days we had their townhouse to ourselves--A had already left London for the holidays and her husband left the day after we moved in.
On Sunday, we dragged our luggage (dragged is the operative word) across London to Kew, near Kew Gardens (which I still haven't visited). Their townhouse was cozy. Also of note are its great appliances. It has one of the best gas stoves--powerful flames with even heating--that I've ever used. One day I made an omelette without trying. (This should also be taken as a compliment to their pans.) The townhouse also has a spacious dishwasher and heated towel bars.
The neighborhood, however, leaves something to be desired. There's not much in it. There's even less in it than in Southfields (!), the area in the suburbs that we lived in during the summer of 2009.
We met A's husband S for dinner at a local restaurant/pub, The Inn. I ordered the night's special, pheasant, for which my reaction was meh. I tried Di Yin's and S's food too; their dishes were a little better but still only okay.
Monday
On Monday, lacking any food in the place we were staying in, I dragged my sorry self along with Di Yin to a restaurant about ten minutes up the road. The restaurant, Kew Greenhouse Cafe, was adorable. It's over a hundred years old and family owned. Though inside had lots of character (art from local artists on the walls, funky trinkets hanging from the ceiling, and lots of plants), we decided to eat in the glassed-off patio/greenhouse, a leafy, garden-like space with small tables and, naturally, also lots of plants. I ordered the English breakfast and, after a while, managed to eat most of the toast, the tomato, the mushrooms, and a bit of the eggs. I had enough trouble with those; hence, I avoided the meat.
For dinner, we cooked and ate in the townhouse.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I ate lunch at the townhouse we were staying in.
In the evening, we headed two underground stops northeast to the town of Chiswick. There, were ate at Cote, a U.K. French brasserie restaurant chain. It's a cute bistro. I had a good (pureed) mushroom soup and, as a main course, a French take on fish and chips. (It looked fancy. :> ) Both the fish and chips were remarkably fresh, and the tartar sauce was tasty as well. I think the fish and fries were unsalted, but that may just have been my illness speaking. We arrived early enough to do the early-bird set menu, making the restaurant a notably good deal for London.
After dinner, we strolled for a spell on Chiswick High Road. It's a long high street--we walked for a while in both directions and didn't see the end of it--and fairly nice. I appreciated the band of trees lining the sidewalks. There were definitely more trees here than on most high streets. They made strolling (even in the cold and dark while sick) more pleasant.
Wednesday
On Wednesday both Di Yin and I flew back to the states (she to New York, me to Boston). We shared a taxi to the airport even though my flight left a few hours before hers.
On my flight, I had an aisle seat at the end of a middle row of four seats where the middle seats were empty. I spread out, making the flight more enjoyable. Furthermore, Virgin Atlantic was willing to put my dinner on hold and heat it up when I asked for it. (I did this because I was sick and wanted to time my meal in order to better manage my blood sugar.) By the way, the food was pretty good.
I watched lots of tv and a movie (Toy Story 3). Virgin has a pretty good selection of videos. I listened to podcasts when my eyes got tired. (I didn't want to sleep much because staying awake would help me get onto east coast time.)
Neat observation: my flight left a bit before sunset and kept up with the setting sun most of the way.
London: Dec 11: Imperial War Museum
On Saturday, December 11, 2010, Di Yin and I headed across the Thames to the Imperial War Museum, a place she wanted to visit on our first trip to London but only now got around to visiting.
I took pictures.
The museum's lobby, overflowing with military vehicles, reminded us of the Air & Space Museum.
We spent a while in the special exhibit on The Ministry of Food, about food and rationing and production during WWII. The modest exhibit mostly comprised photos and posters (mostly propaganda ones such as "dig for victory" promoting growing vegetables), accompanied by wall labels of quotes and statistics and also short propaganda films. It was only about eating, getting food to, and growing food in Britain, nothing about the front lines. I learned a couple things at the exhibit. For instance, rationing lasted from 1940 through 1954! Kids received special dispensation not just of orange juice but also of cod liver oil. There were communal eating places during the war known as "British restaurants" that were designed so that people can go there and eat without worrying about rationing cards.
We also glanced through the museum's section on war art, and wandered through the exhibit on WWII through children's eyes (evacuation, etc.).
There was one other exhibit I wanted to see in the museum, saving the rest of the museum for another visit. This last exhibit was on the Secret War. I wanted and expected a James Bond thing, as conveyed by the advertising, but was disappointed. I was hoping for cool technology, but the technology in this exhibit was invisible ink, wireless transmitters, and an enigma machine. There was a bit about undercover agents who sabotaged things overseas, and about secret forces behind enemy lines, but everything lacked the 007 flair.
After the museum, we ran some errands near Oxford and Piccadilly Circus then headed to dinner. Di Yin picked Koya, a Japanese udon noodle shop. It's a cute, spartan canteen that feels authentic. (Most of the customers and all the waitstaff speak Japanese.) The food felt clean, making me feel more righteous than eating ramen. It was good all around.
London: Dec 10: V&A Museum (again)
On Friday, December 10, 2010, my outing was once again to the V&A Museum, a museum I've visited numerous times before. I was there to see its new displays. I want to comment on two of them.
I took some pictures in the museum during this outing.
I went to a cute exhibit on Charles Holden and on the many tube and rail stations he designed in the 1920s and 1930s as chief architect for the Underground / London Transport. He was a prolific architect; the exhibit proclaimed he probably designed enough buildings in London to rival Christopher Wren.
The other interesting exhibit was on Isotype, a method to "present social facts [statistics] pictorially" in a way young and old and even people who don't read the language can understand. I liked this exhibit because I'm always interested in how to present detailed, complex statistics in clear, elegant ways. Maybe Isotype over-simplifies at times--one practitioner said that "to remember simplified pictures is better than to forget accurate figures"--but it's still commendable for its clarity. (Besides, maybe precision isn't as critical as people make it out to be.) Also, this exhibit showed examples of using similarly simple, Isotype-like presentation methods to teach (e.g., science) and to convey instructions (e.g., in case of disaster do this).
This was a fun little outing.
London: Dec 8: Saatchi Gallery, Theatre, and more
Wednesday, December 8, 2010, was a great day. Every place I went for both day and evening outings was fun.
First, I stopped by Leicester Square to pick up theatre tickets from the discount theatre booth there. I like walking by Leicester Square because many blocks surrounding it are pedestrianized. I continue, however, to think that the "Chinatown" one block away is an embarrassment to real Chinatowns everywhere.
Next, I trotted over to the National Gallery to see two small, new displays. Both turned out to be pretty cool.
One showed works by Ben Johnson. His pieces, actually paintings, are photographic but linear. He converts everything in his original photographs into line stencils, then spraypaints through them. It's a unique look in the full meaning of the word.
The other exhibit showed works by Bridget Riley. Most of her works play funky optical effects on your eye. For instance, Composition with Circles 7 (note: not a repeating pattern) makes one see weird bumps in the wall and double-vision in places. Meanwhile, Saraband looks like it has depth and that the lines wiggle. Similarly, Arrest 3 looks like it's moving, like waves, and has depth.
After these two exhibits at the National Gallery, I was in an exuberant mood and craving additional high-quality art. I headed over to Chelsea to visit the Saatchi Gallery. I loved it, actually more than almost all museums I've visited in London. It reminded me that some contemporary art truly is amazing. I took a picture in every other room. Here's a link to the pictures. In addition, the gallery space is open and welcoming, and, best yet, some art pieces have a sense of humor--admittedly a raunchy one--but one that nevertheless livens up a museum visit.
In the evening, I was to meet Di Yin at Waterloo Station so we could grab dinner and see our play. (Yes, our play's theatre was not in the West End, a.k.a. the theatre district.) We couldn't find each other at the station for a long time--Di Yin forgot her phone and our meeting location directions weren't clear enough--so we didn't end up having dinner together, but we found each other in time for the show.
We saw A Flea in Her Ear at The Old Vic theatre. Built in the early nineteenth century, The Old Vic is (naturally) an old building with an ornate, pretty interior. The play is a fun farce, a madcap romp of mistaken identity and comically disastrous rendezvouses. The plot revolves around a wife trying to trap her husband into revealing an affair (which doesn't exist) at the same time as other members of their household staff attempt to meet up (for their own affairs) at the same hotel.
The case of mistaken identity--the husband / master of the house, and the hotel's bellhop--were played by the same actor. This was an impressive feat that meant frequent changes in voice, physical habits, and costume. The actor did it seamlessly.
Beside the absurdity of the situations, many jokes come from pronunciations: the guy who drops his consonants, and the Spaniard (who speaks Spanish and also English with a Spanish accent). Sometimes I understood enough of what was being said to get the joke; other times I did not. Most laughs in the play, though, come from the situations.
The play is much in the style of Moliere. (An additional connection: the play was written in French.)
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