The End. Reflections on Encounters of a Humankind

On the plane back, just over Wales

I’ve finished traveling, for a while, and over the course of my time in America visited some amazing places, seen some impressive & world famous: buildings / skylines / art etc, and had experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Yet it is very hard for me to say what my favourite thing is.

Instead, I keep on returning to the people I have met. (And I’m not just referring to Americans here, though they certainly feature). Traveling is awesome. The world is full of brilliant people, and traveling allows you to sample a diverse range of them.  Conversations can be so rich in nature and many give you their time, share their stories and their lives with you after only the briefest of introductions – it is a real privilege. As somebody said in Toronto of the whole traveling thing: ‘it’s the people that make it’.

I know that if I’m in Washington DC again, I’ve got a place to stay. Ditto Brazil, ditto Ohio, ditto Toronto, and China. And likewise, if these people are in the Southwest of England, then I’d happily put them up.

In Boston I had a delightful time with a Spaniard & and Canadian, meandering around the streets, complaining about how sweet the food was & marveling at how cheap the market was. An encounter in Boston also reinforced just how ‘new’ America is – two college students ( from California & Florida ) were gushing in amazement over the fact there were cobbles & everything was so ‘old’. I had to laugh, and explain to my fellow travellers that my village was older than America.

New York was a bit of a blur, but the Germans & Dutch guy were a great crowd to hang out with. Plus the ferry tour guide was, well, mad. In Philadelphia instead of watching Les Mis ( I’m sorry but the screen version is the stage’s poorer cousin ) I spent hours chatting with a Canadian who was studying for a PhD in Government at LSE. We talked about her research, UK & Canadian Politics, civil servants ( she was a Canadian civil servant with her fees being paid by her government ) student calling, the EU, the LSE-BBC affair and what I should do in Toronto. Hopefully we’ll go for coffee in London.

Also in Philadelphia, I found some good company in the form of a Brazilian who was here for an academic conference. Up until Philadelphia I had been going to museums on my own, so when we visited the Museum of Art & took Rocky pictures (even though neither of us had seen the film) it was enjoyable to complain about the art to an actual human being instead of using voices in my head…

Also, we suffered together –  trying a Philly Cheese Stake  & most mornings waking up a little worse for wear… I also encountered a gentlemen called Tiberius, who had escaped from Romania in 1968. He was, er, interesting / eccentric. He gave me 3 tips ( not all helpful! ): 1. Save as many cents as you can, because you spend in dollars. 2. If you can keep a Czech girl, you can keep any. 3. Marry an intelligent woman, don’t just go for beauty as your kids will be stupid and you’ll despair ! 

Staying in DC, I have had the delightful company of many interesting people. I arrived back to the hostel on my second day to see a posse of  scouts & a wall of noise hit me. Luckily, that was just initial excitement & when you have been on a coach for 7ish hours ( they had come from MA ) you need to let it off. Later that evening the leaders invited any and everyone to join them for dinner as they had made far too much food (meatballs & pasta). I joined them & they were really friendly & it was great to talk about Boston, and what else I should do on my trip!

I had an enjoyable encounter with an American, who out of the blue paid for my meal ( read about it here ).  I met another Phd student, also on a research trip, looking at 13th Century Chinese art. He was a lovely guy, but what was more amazing was that he spoke excellent Chinese – ( studied it at Cambridge & lived in Taiwan) the Chinese travelers and everybody else were agog –  apparently even the throat sounds were correct & they were clapping him. Personally I was agog as his English had a soft Scottish burr & he didn’t fit a traditional stereotype! There was also an America in the hostel who spoke Chinese, but he had learnt his at a listening post in Taiwan in the late 60s….! Within this hostel mix, I also met retired librarian from Ohio called Jerry. He was pretty cool & a delight to talk to.

Attending an alumni event, I ended up making three new friends ( only one was a York grad! ) and we promptly drank most of the night away, along the way talking corgis, farm subsidies, Clinton for 2016 and what on earth ICAN is….

My Amtrak journey gave me the chance to talk to some more ‘typical’ Americans and I’m grateful for that. Chicago was fab, and I met Elliot – a Chinese student studying in Toronto. We had some great fun.

Mainly eating, but what is wrong with good food and conversation? And, I picked up some tips on how to take better pictures. We met up in Toronto, where he kindly invited me over to his apartment after giving me a tour of China town and beyond. He even offered to travel in China with me… ( very tempted!).

And so as I said on Facebook: North America, it was nice to meet you. I’ll be back.

The Windy City

Chicago has been pretty funky. It has some pretty cool public art:

The Bean:

And some pretty swanky places to eat food. Elliot and I ended up eating at The Purple Pig, a Tapas place.

Delicious Fava beans, crispy bacon & more.

Melt in your mouth bone marrow – so greasy but so so so tastey & flavourful.

The Milk braised pork was heavenly, melt in your mouth succulence. I think it was gammon, as it was rather salty ( the only drawback ).

Pudding was a posh doughnut, filled with Ricotta and chocolate. So good too!  The whole place was buzzing, and we had to wait 20min before we could get a table – again it was community seating – but it was great to ask others what they had enjoyed. I went back yesterday, and although it was just as good, if a little salty( I had a great pate & pork jowl, a ‘jlt’) I didn’t have as much fun, as the crucial thing about the Purple Pig is that it is designed for sharing and so you can eat widely off the menu, but the cost per person stays (slightly) lower! 

I had also realised that I had not experienced a great steak in America, so I did a bit of research and found myself at the Capital Grill – it had the interior of a gentleman’s club…

but was rather busy. I plumped for the Porterhouse and a side of French beans and tomatoes. Delicious. I was caught out when asked what temperature I wanted my steak to be cooked to… ( I’m a medium rare kinda guy). Anyway here is my delicious dry aged 24oz Steak:

Overall Chicago is very pretty, and I think it has a great location on the lake.

I popped up the Willis / Sears tower:

where it was hilarious to see lots of people not wanting to stand in the glass boxes that jut out!

I must go now, alas my time in America is almost up and I have to start making my way to the airport…. I’ve 3 more blogs planned. The long anticipated blog on Art, some final musing on North America and a final review of my trip.

Toronto

Toronto was pretty cool,

I walked round the edge of the CN tower:

Visited Niagara Falls:

And hung out with Elliot, a friend I had made in Chicago.

Sorry this is so brief, trying to cram in things to do on my last day in Chicago…

Wil does a stupid thing, that turns out to be really rather cool…

So, I’m in Toronto. Most of you will know that they have a rather large structure: The CN Tower:

As part of  it’s commercialisation, you can now ‘Edge Walk at the CN Tower’ . In the above photo see the first donut structure ( it is 350ish meters up). Well, they have built a gantry on top it and you walk around on it. I had toyed with the idea in the UK, and had moved my visit to Canada later in my grand-non-existant-plan so that it would be open. But the cost and other thoughts put me off. I was in the area earlier today, and I found myself at the Edge Walk desk. I thought ‘what the heck’ and if my credit card worked (it wasn’t an issue of funds – my credit card, for some unknown reason, had stopped working via chip and pin) I would be taking part.

Surprise, surprise – it worked; and my stomach jolted. As part of the fee you gain normal access to the tower, so I went up. It was enjoyable to have a 360 degree view: , and be able to go up even higher ( to the skydeck, at ). I had never come across glass panels in the floor with such a substantial drop!:

This was disconcerting:

as I would be doing something like this and more. However it was helpful to reassure the irrational part of my brain that I was perfectly safe…

It was a laborious process to Walk the Edge, but all of it justified. Initially, we had a breathalyzer test, then tested for explosives and drugs, oh, and we were scanned for metal. We had to remove anything loose from our persons, then we put on unflattering red jumpsuits, given coats, hats and gloves and most crucially a harness.

At the bottom, before we went up, everybody was asked how they were feeling. I replied I had gallows humour…. The smile above is forced… By the time we got to the top our equipment had been checked four times and we had been  searched twice.

After a final safety briefing, we were led out to the Edge. Initially it was ‘Wow’ and ‘that is a long way down’. However our guide, Peanuts ( her nickname ), dispelled our fear by some ‘fun’ – walking to the edge and looking, leaning out bum first, and then face first. It was pretty wicked:

The grins from now on are not forced!:

So long as I didn’t look down to much…

I’ve got a video too, but I can’t upload it at the moment. Everything is on CD, so finding a CD drive was pretty hard. Anyway, today was pretty cool, and tomorrow should be too; I’m off to the Niagara Falls!

 

The wheels on the double decker train go round and round… slowly.

On Saturday afternoon, I headed down to Union Station in DC and caught the Amtrak train to Chicago. There were two reasons I decided to take the train – to see more of America ( at least at a glance ) and I enjoy train journeys* .They are fantastic, I find, for mulling things over or talking to random people.

I was given puzzled looks by multiple people – mostly on the day before I was to travel, so not helpful! –  of why on earth would I want to do that? & you have heard of flying….?

Anyway.

So the first thing I noticed was that we had to check in ( and if arriving early enough, check bags in ) airline style.  That was another thing. they expected you to turn up an hour before departure! Being accustomed to a train pulling up to a station and hopping on, and promptly departing,  this was odd. Adding to the experience was the fact we walked a good 5 minutes along the platform to the carriage we were in, where we were assigned seats in an add hoc way. Oh, and did I mention the platform was shared with the rails?! To compensate for this, a yellow step was provided to assist boarding… I have no idea how a disabled person would get a wheel chair on! 

The seat was like an an un-refurbished business class plane seat. The only thing missing, which later turned out to be very annoying, was a dividing handrail. Now the beauty of this and other long distance Amtrak trains is the Skydeck:

So, as soon as the train was underway, I chose a seat – after trying a few out – and watched Washington DC turn into Virginia and beyond :

The train was very civilised, with a dinning car and ‘community seating’ :  ‘ You WILL Make a Friend!’  – According to announcer! The food was nothing to note, however the conversation was pleasant. I was placed with a lady called Joy and her child who’s name I didn’t catch. She was in the Air Force, and was going to visit relatives.  We talked traveling ( she really wants to be posted to Europe, preferably England ) and what she did in the AirForce.  The conversation turned to food, especially southern food – I think the Mac and Cheese her daughter was picking at steered us there ( Joy’s daughter, aged 10, had run 5 miles that morning! as part of her martial arts training &  is hoping to compete in the nationals next year. ). The conversation drifted to BBQs and smoking via a seafood macaroni cheese – really want to try / eat! I asked lots of questions, and she willingly supplied her knowledge about BBQing (Joy said her husband knew more, but I found her to be very helpful). So now I have some  elaborate plans in mind for when I get  back to the UK , which I probably would have never formulated if I had flown!

Sleeping was a bit of an issue, so I meandered back to the skydeck, where I finished off my DC blog post & ended up talking to a home schooled Virginian kid about cars, delays, Raspberry Pi computers, internet radio  and much more. I can’t for the life of me remember the term he used for girlfriend, but I had to think for a couple of seconds before it clicked. I want to say he said: ‘ Do you have a honey?’ because I don’t think it was too far off the truth…

The train lost its allure as I tried to sleep. Although I was blessed with a thin passenger sitting next to me, he still encroached on my seat – they needed arm rests. In addition, my head lolled about as I had the isle seat ( making me pay for a guaranteed window seat on the way home – It cost £28; but will be worth every penny) .This lolling could also be partly attributed to the rocking of the train, that at times, was quite servere.

However it was nice to see this from the end carriage at dawn :

Breakfast was disappointing on two levels – food and conversation. America must just run on Coffee, because what they serve as food is not great. My breakfasting companion  on my side of the bench valiantly tried to maintain conversation, but was stymied by the couple opposite us who gave closed replies or ignored her. Arriving into Chicago, a little later than expected, the cold hit me and I made my way in a sleep deprived state to the hostel. I dropped my bags, and recharged for a bit before exploring the city. First impression of Chicago – a lot of public art!

* iff they are on time

It was hard drinking this… too distracted

Drinking a Martini on the 96th(?) floor of the John Hancock Building

Visiting North Korea’s Ultimate Target…

Washington  has been pretty fun and mostly sunny! I hear in the UK it has only just been appearing…..

I arrived Saturday afternoon, and it was great to see a familiar face from York in the evening. I wouldn’t trade in the company I have been keeping, – I can now stay in DC, Brazil, Ohio and elsewhere for free! – but it was nice to talk to somebody who I knew from back home. Walking round Georgetown and it’s waterfront with Andrea was a bit surreal but never the less enjoyable!

On the Sunday, I hired a bike ( DC has  scheme just like the Boris Bikes in London) and frantically raced to find the next docking point close enough to the memorials. Later in the week I decided not to renew my bike pass as cycling on the opposite side of the road to what you are used to was a challenge at times….

The Vietnam Memorial was subtle and impressive & it was interesting to see how many people were coming to find loved ones. The Korean war memorial was quite popular with tourists too, and had a striking inscription

The Lincon Memorial was very grand, and edifying:

Looking up towards Congress

, and seeing the vast space & where Martin Luther King stood:

I don’t think anybody could imagine the full extent the crowds or the atmosphere, and a little shiver ran down my back.

Washington is full of brilliant, and crucially free, museums ( Mostly under the auspices of the Smithsonian ). The holocaust museum was rich in detail and carefully covered a ghastly period of world history.

  The Air Space Museum had a vast collection ( and I didn’t go to it’s other site!) of aeronautical and space items. I touched moon rock! and thought it was a bit odd to see drones and footage from their cameras….

Next door was the Native American Museum, which comprehensively covered the different tribes, their cultures and customs. One highlight for me was the cafe, which served cuisine inspired by Native American food traditions. I ordered the platter, which gave a diverse introduction to native american cooking:

I had Buffalo ( which was a bit tough, and rich ) and Bing Cherry infused pinenut butter ( odd )  Cedar  Planked Salmon ( delicious, though I didn’t need the cranberries on top ) steamed chard, roasted courgettes that had a hidden fiery quality ( you would bite into it and not until after you had swallowed did the heat hit) and a wild rice salad ( had a sweet n sour aspect ) . It was a good journey though Native American cuisine and a great way to showcase culture.

I visited the national gallery, although mostly full of paintings that I’m not a fan of! The natural history museum seemed to do action taxidermy:

and there was, well in my opinion, odd American history museum which had a section on Americas wars:

Britain, our war with them is still pretty big business! it is very interesting to see a different narrative!

The National Zoo is also free and has two pandas!

Who were captivating. At first I thought they were robots!

I managed to visit the Capitol:

and get access to the gallery of the House of Representatives . The building, especially the visitors centre ( all underground )was impressive, but slightly troubling / interesting was the mural on the ceiling of the rotunda which almost worshiped Lincoln:

I also saw the constitution of the Unites States and for some reason they had an original copy of the Magna Carta !!!

I ate at some pretty interesting places and twice (!) had my meal paid for me ( see my previous blog post about the first time! ).
I also attended a University of York alumni event, which was enjoyable and I’m glad I extended my stay in Washington to go.

Washington has thrown up some interesting observations about America, and I’ll probably write about them in another blog post. I know I have promised quite a lot of blog posts, and I intend to write them, but, alas my time in America is coming to an end so they might be written after I get back.

Great Generosity knows no bounds

This is a brief blog, (in addition to regular service) partly about food, but mainly about the generosity of others.

Coming back from the Zoo, I passed Busboys & Poets on 14th & U street. It looked cool and finding out from a staff member at the Hostel it did do great food, I went back to check it out.

I was half way through my mains at the bar, when a late middle aged woman hopped onto the bar stool next to me. We stuck up a conversation – she was interested to hear about my trip & what I thought of the places I had been too & my impression of the capital. We talked Europe and the differences between us & the beauty of the Vietnam memorial & the New York Sky line from the Staten Island Ferry. 

We finished our drinks and food at the same time and asked me who served me. She then got my bill from them and said to me let me pay yours!  I protested, as I had had scallops for starters & a cocktail so my bill wasn’t going to be cheap. But she held out, saying I was having a great time in America, so let me get this for you. I tried again, but the protest fell on deaf ears.

The only condition she gave was that when I was old I would do the same. I fully intent to pay it forward ( borrowing that cheesey saying that has been doing the rounds on the web), because it was the most wonderful and shocking feeling to experience. I’m still smiling now, and I will be for a while.  I had never met this lady before in my life – before she walked into Busboys & Poets  & I chatted with her for 30 minutes; maximum.

Amazing generosity. So, to whoever you are ( we didn’t even exchange names…) thank you very much, you made my day & I fully intend to give an unspecting young person a free meal.

P.S. I’ll post about the food in my DC blog, probably on Saturday or Sunday.

‘Eat or Die’

Before I bog about my time in Philadelphia, including why the title is Eat or Die,  I want to briefly mention Boston.

Details are still emerging, but it has been interesting to see the reactions of people staying here in DC and the hostel. I arrived back at the hostel, here in DC, soon after the bombs exploded, so I didn’t experience the influx of ‘police with machine guns’ around the national memorials or the expansion of the White House security cordon like some of my fellow travelers did. Talking in the lobby afterwards, they knew something was wrong but nothing more. Out and about today at Arlington National Cemetery, a volunteer having found out a group was from Massachusetts simply said ‘I’m so sorry’.  That glumness is a repeated theme in peoples’ reactions.

For me, looking at the pictures on the television, it was odd to think that I had been in the vicinity of the bombs 3 weeks ago and shattered my frustration with security checks. Tonight, there were fireworks somewhere in the capital (following on from a parade & celebration today, I believe) but for some, reassurance that they were ‘only’ fireworks was needed.

Now, onto Philadelphia. She was certainly interesting and exponentially expanded my library of traveling tales (a pint / a delicious meal can be used to gain access).

First to note was that it was hot ( mostly ). On the first morning the sign by the desk said it was going to be 27 degrees c. My first question was where could I get shorts. You see, I had packed for spring – around 10 / 15 degrees at the most. – the day before in New York I had been wrapped up with hat, gloves and scarf. I received a puzzled look – and ‘but it is only going to last til Wednesday’. However, being from the UK, I was not going let this opportunity for wearing shorts on a genuinely hot day pass me by!  ( as luck would have it I wore shorts for 4 days in Philadelphia ).

Philadelphia oozed history. But in a modern seventeen hundreds and beyond sense. I avoided the queue ( some people  would wait in line for over an hour ) for the Liberty Bell:

And visited the national constitution center, where I felt they tried to brainwash visitors:

Happily in a JFK-Bush mock election I was 90% in agreement with Kennedy. I also visited the first congress buildings:

And the World’s first ‘true’ penitentiary:

It was designed so that an individual was always alone & had no contact with other prisoners for their entire sentence. Apparently this spot & my pose are famous… ?

A bunch of us went out a couple of times ( staying in the old quarter, there were some good bars about with good craft beers ) this was great, until we went to our second bar on the pub crawl and without cause or provocation, a firefighter in dress uniform & very drunk clamped his hand around the back of my neck and said: ‘Eat or Die’ and showed me some wraps. This went on for a couple of minutes, until his boss came over and had a word and others firefighters pulled him away. He said to me, if he touches you, we’ll kick the sh*t  out of him. I didn’t really find that helpful. Luckily the  situation was defused, without incident, and we decided to move on.

What was great to know the next morning was that my new found friends from the hostel had put down their drinks in anticipation of things getting out of hand. In addition I was the talk of the hostel & people came up to see how I was. In calm collected & alcohol free hindsight, I should have just eaten the food, (as the other option was die) instead of plumping for a nonexistent 3rd option.

In Philly, there is a famous CheeseStake:

I wasn’t impressed. The steak, more like scraps of beef, was dry and the cheese, well I’m sorry you couldn’t call it cheese. A, it came from a can:

and tasted like whey, rather than as claimed by the cook ‘it tastes like cheddar’ – I have no idea what sot of cheddar he was eating. It stuck to the roof of your mouth and teeth like toffee. The bread, for once, was ‘normal’ but that was the only real highlight. The room where we ate our sandwiches had lots of signed pictures etc – it seemed though they ‘newest’ was from the late 90s & this place was supposed to be a good place to go to try the delicacy.

I also tried a pop tart:

Ghastly.

Had pancakes, maple syrup & bacon:

Too much for me for breakfast. The pancakes were nice and the syrup worked but I wasn’t a fan of the bacon. For another breakfast at the Hostel I tried these:

This cereal has are more things wrong, ranging from the smell, taste and texture than I care to go into. Never buy ( ditto pop tarts ). I had a great time in Reading Terminal Market, wandering round the bustling market place, trying out some Amish apple pudding:

Savoury pastry worked well and was well made, though because it was heated up in the microwave it was a bit stodgey in parts. The cinnamon sauce wasn’t overpowering and the heavy cream complimented the dish. Most certainly homely cooking!

Leaving Philadelphia, I had a bad experience with the driver of the Greyhound Bus I was on. I boarded the bus last, so there was only two seats at the front front left. A large duffle bag was resting on them, with no apparent owner. I slid the bag across, so that it fitted on one seat and I sat down on the other. When the bus driver boarded, he asked me if I had moved his bag – I said yes I had and apologised, I didn’t know who’s it was . He then makes me stand up and shouts at me telling me I am a thief for touching his bag, that I have committed a felony and why should he trust me. The rhetoric rises, and he says I have pissed him off, and he has a good mind to throw me off the bus.

He disappears  for 15 minutes – the other passengers are very sympathetic, and say he was way out of line & I’ve paid for  seat, not his bag) then comes back and tries to make other people swap with me, so that he doesn’t have to look at me. In addition, with glares and finger pointing while driving  the bus driver makes me not look front left of the bus to where he is.  So feeling quite shaken ( and why this blog wasn’t posted on Monday ) I composed a letter of complain to Greyhound and sent it using the free wifi on the bus. We shall see what the outcome is. But overall I arrived safely and am enjoying DC.

I met some lovely people at the Apple Hostel, and I have bumped into a fair few here, so I’ll blog about them when I leave on Saturday and have plenty of time ( 17hrs) on the train to Chicago. I haven’t forgotten my planned art thoughts.

P.S. I am being careful & have every intention of staying safe.

  

Food, New York City & Wil

This blog will be devoted to my culinary adventures in New York. My thoughts on New York City can be found here. I have – on your behalf – sampled many Hot Dogs, found countless interesting eateries, traveled across town (and in the process nearly missed my bus to Philadelphia), and probably put on some weight*  to find the best food New York City has to offer at a reasonable price.

So on to the optimal Hot Dog. ( Savouring the best food til last :) ) Every New York City street corner with high footfall seems to be adorned with the same food cart – the one thing I think I have no proper picture of… see 2 photos below for a glimpse, –  or its older brother ( with the vendor inside, though there seems to be no room to swing a cat let alone cook… mind you it isn’t really ‘cooking’…). There must a cartel the food looks identical, the vans, and the vendors….

The only difference, occasionally, seems to be price. I’ve eaten $2 & $2.5 Hot Dogs. Paying any more isn’t worth it, and I’ve found the better the Hot Dog, the cheaper it is… Once you have found a reasonable price ( avoid museums, as they tend to be more expensive – though at snooty one, i.e Guggenheim, I don’t think street food is aimed at them…), it is time to select the sauces ‘Hot Sauce’ (mustard) is required. As is ‘Red’.

Now as the bun ,nor napkin given are adequate, you have to be careful – the sauces  are runny so can easily drip onto you….   Occasionally onions are offered. They are not the traditional British version, but in tomato sauce. They can clash wonderfully with the mustard sauce. But don’t have all three. It is a dreadful clash & the potential for spilling increases tenfold. The roll seems to just be a delivery vehicle for the Hot Dog, so don’t expect much.

Slightly larger trucks are a better bet:

, and you are more likely to get some vegetables or salad. I tried this chicken combo:

Which was rather enjoyable – chicken thigh with some sort of seasoning; middle eastern I think. With good basmati rice, chickpeas, salad & ‘white sauce’. They had a good trade of office workers & had apparently been featured in the New York Times or Post or both – I can’t remember. The food was reasonable priced at $5. However, I found at this truck the chicken had been kept warm with water in the pot so the flavour was diluted. On the whole, it was good for fueling the afternoon of a very busy day!

Near the Hostel there was a small Malaysian restaurant which did some dumplings:

They were nothing special, even though I had been told they were, which was a shame.

Standing in the line to see the taping of Letterman, two gentlemen behind me were raving about Stake & Shake. On my way out, I was feeling peckish and it was way past dinner time, so I popped in.  This is how fast food i.e Mac Donalds should be done – (the following description is in the context of fast food, not proper food!) the stake burger had a good amount of plastic cheese, salad, fat and gherkin. This combination came together wonderfully, almost melting into one.

The fries, once again, failed to impress. However the milkshake was swell. It was freshly made, ‘with real milk’  and was gloopy, and strawberry flavoured. Although it also contained yogurt I dread to think how many calories it had, especially with the fresh whipped cream and cherry on top… :

It was so much better than Mac Donalds version!

It was suggested to me that I should visit Carnegie Deli, so I did. It almost turned me veggie!
I had the pastrami sandwich to go, and I didn’t open it til I got to the High Line. It was huge:

It had about 2.5 inches of pastrami between two tiny pieces of bread – really an afterthought to be honest. Also, I was given some mustard, and a gherkin. The pastrami had lots of flavour, with good peppery notes, but was very very salty. There was too much meat – I guess they had to justify their $18. I would have been happy with only a few strips of pastrami and a significant reduction in price. The sandwich was an interesting experience, but there really was far too much meat & salt.

So onto my final notable meal in New York City. In Time Out, I think; or some other listing mag, there was a feature of a Texan / South Carolina joint focusing on BBQing. BBQ in America is essentially slow cooking with smoke, and using certain rubs & logs for the fire as opposed to the British obsession burning.
The place I was going to was way out of my day, but was worth it. I smelt the place before I saw it…! I was torn between brisket, pulled pork and ribs.

As the pulled pork had just come out, I plumped for that. Though if I had the time, money, and cholesterol beating body I would have savoured everything – the smell was making my taste buds go into overdrive, fantasizing. Some amazing looking pulled pork went into a brioche bun, and there was a side of salad ( a choice of vinegar or mayo dressing) I also chose the baked beans – nowhere near Heniz. This had the burnt scraps added and lots of other bits and bobs – a southern speciality.

The brilliant food:

So how was it? The slowly smoked pork was so flavoursome,  with lovely smokey notes (obviously!) that gave amazing depth. Take the delight that slow roast pork is normally, and quadruple it. I’d love to try different smokes. A slight down note, was that parts were slightly dry. However over all it was awesome. Though again the bun, this time brioche, was a bit of a let down – I think I’m too attuned to to sweetness! The salad was needed. I’m not sure I would have chosen the mayo dressing as the food needed some acid to cut through the meat & fat. The baked beans were moorish, and the smokey depth given by the burnt bits brilliant. However the oil collecting on the top was slightly off putting, and so I didn’t finish them – my veins are probably getting clogged up enough / I’m not gung-ho enough…

Combined, it was a sumptuous half hour and worth the race to get back up to the hostel, collect my bag & get to the bus station – that must have burnt some of the calories… Right?!

* I’m already planning on losing it, honest!