The Cat is Back

Dean came back to NJ this weekend. He spent Fall 2004 in the Chicagoland area with my parents. I was in DC and Rich had been traveling to Austin and back, so having him with my parents made sense. We drove down to DC after work on Friday, and picked my mom up from Dulles. Before her flight, we stopped in Silver Spring, MD, for some dinner at Thai Derm.

The next morning, we packed the cat back up and drove back to New Jersey. We dropped the cat off, hoped that he wasn't too angry at us, and hopped on a train to NYC. We met up with Xcott at the Port Authority Bus terminal where he'd just arrived from Binghamton. Jeffrey, and the rest of us headed over to the Queen of Sheba to meet up with Cynthia and Ed for some Ethiopian food. (Happy Birthday, Ed!)

We hit NYC on a great day to walk through the Gates in Central Park. (I'll post a picture or 2.) (My idea of a good time is walking around the city with friends and seeing the sites. It may seem to others that I have no plan, and that we're just running around, but really, that's what I think fun is.) Cynthia recommended MarieBelle for hot chocolate. I can't believe how good it is. I recommend the Spicy and the Dark. We spent the early afternoon walking all over the place, starting at MarieBell to Katz's Deli for some pastrami sandwiches. Cynthia had recommended MarieBelle for having the best hot chocolate ever, and she was right! I can't believe how good it is. I recommend the Spicy and the Dark. Mike had seen a news story on the pastrami at Katz's Deli (of Harry met Sally fame) and had wanted to go there. Afterwards, we walked to Chinatown and Little Italy to try to find Efstradios and some red bean buns to bring to Ed's birthday party in the Village. (That's a lot of walking!) Ed's party was a big hit, with lots of people.