Jambalaya

US Travel Blog - Overview

Well I finally got round to blogging my trip to the US. It took a while and it’s a lot of words but I hope you’ll want to read some or all of it. There are several ways to do that. Firstly you can go to my Tumblr page and scroll down until you see the ‘US Travel Blog 1 - Introduction’ and ‘read up’ from there. Or you can go straight to US Travel Blog 1 - Introduction and click on the link at the bottom of each post to go to the next section or you can use the handy links below to visit the section of your choice:

1. Introduction
2. Travel
3. Food & Drink
4. Entertainment
5. Sightseeing
6. Shopping

I won’t be offended if you don’t want to read it all. If you DO read it all, and I hope you do, then I sincerely hope you enjoy it almost as much as I enjoyed the trip.

Thanks for reading :)

USA Travel Blog 6 - Shopping

For a while, a couple of years ago, shopping was probably the primary reason why non-business people visited the US from the UK. With the pound riding high at almost two dollars and with prices in the US generally being at or close to $=£ then virtually half-price bargains were there for the taking. Every item you buy makes your suitcase heavier and, if it was something you needed anyway, your trip a little bit cheaper! (in a perverse way of looking at things). New York City is an amazing place to do shopping. You could spend months there and still not have time to visit even the majority of retail outlets. The choice is staggering, the offering is of a high quality and the experience is generally superb. But what a lot of people don’t realise is that if you’re buying a decent amount of stuff, especially clothes, then you can save a small fortune just by popping over to New Jersey.

The state of New Jersey doesn’t charge sales tax on clothing and the overall rate is lower on everything. So, right off the bat, you avoid that typical tourists’ annoyance of choosing something for $100 and getting to the till to be charged closer to $110 because prices shown exclude sales tax which, in New York City, is the oh-so-easy 8.875%. New Jersey has an abundance of malls, several of which are located nice and close to where my sister lives. The best of these, in terms of savings, is the Premium Outlet Mall at Tinton Falls which, as you can see by clicking on that link, has a vast array of designer outlets offering premium products at discount prices. I spent a small fortune there and walked away with a large fortune worth of clothing.

The second mall we visited was the Monmouth Mall which again boasts a vast array of stores including J.C. Penney and Macy’s. For overseas visitors Macy’s is a particularly good place to shop because if you visit customer services with your passport they will give you an Overseas Discount Card which garners an 11% discount on purchases. If you’re shopping in New York that more than negates the sales tax and if you’re shopping in New Jersey it’s simply an added bonus.

Shopping in New York was, this time, limited to window shopping. Having bought up half of New Jersey, and with a bulging suitcase, I couldn’t really manage any more but that didn’t stop me taking an wander round Tiffany and Co. and the Apple Store, with its iconic glass cube entrance.

On the day we left New York to return home a Farmers market sprung up at the Rockefeller Center. Sadly it was too late to be able to enjoy any of their produce, most of which would have been illegal to bring back to the UK, but we wandered up and down and took a few pictures which would have to suffice.

So whilst the exchange rate is no longer as good as it was, it’s still good enough to be able to grab a great many bargains…if you know where to go.

And that really is all I have to say about my trip. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed :)

USA Travel Blog 5 - Sightseeing

I’m not normally a fan of ‘sight-seeing’ in the usual sense. Few things in the flesh ever live up to the anticipation of seeing them that builds up from having seen them on TV or in the movies. So far, the only truly amazing thing that I have seen that was even better than I could ever have imagined was the Grand Canyon. It is simply breathtaking and I don’t believe, as long as I live, that I will see anything to top it in terms of sheer natural magnificence.

That said, however, there are gems, both famous and non-famous, that are waiting to be discovered throughout the world. The Twin Lights of Navesink would, I venture, fall into this category. Not only do you have a lighthouse, majestically standing ashore aiding navigation in the pre-GPS days but you have TWO of them. Together. Double bonus! But this site is notable for more than being a pair of matching lighthouses that are difficult to find if you follow the official map. It is highly important in the world of global communication, tied as it is to Marconi’s development and demonstration of wireless telegraphy. He covered the America’s Cup Yacht Races for the New York Herald from a boat offshore transmitting messages to his receiver at Twin Lights. Prior to that it had been used as a semaphore station for The Mechants Exchange where it would pass messages to ships heading to Manhattan.

Sightseeing in New York is a different story. We all become so accustomed to seeing New York depicted in movies and on television that any time spent wandering around the city is a sightseeing experience in itself. From iconic retail outlets such as Macy’s and Tiffany & Co. to the bright lights of Broadway and Times Square the city really is one large sightseeing extravaganza.

The one sight of New York which must never be overlooked is Central Park. A staggering 25 million people visit Central Park each year and it’s easy to see why. Set right in the centre of the hustle and bustle of the world’s best known metropolis it’s an oasis of calm and tranquility. Comprising an incredible 843 acres of what would undoubtedly be prime real estate, Central Park is a delightful mixture of walks, roads, water features, statues, bridges, zoos and flora & fauna which runs from midtown Manhattan right up to Harlem. It can be enjoyed all year round and there is something for everyone. I make a point to visit Central Park every time I’m in New York and the contrast is always sublime.

There are many other sights to see around New York, New Jersey and, indeed, the entire United States. Maybe one day I’ll see them all…if I live to be a few thousand years old!

Now, surely it’s time for shopping?

USA Travel Blog 4 - Entertainment

Entertainment comes in many forms and this trip had most of them. With my nephew I sampled the delights of The Wiggles, a troupe of Australian idiots in bright costumes that sing silly songs that children enjoy, and re-acquainted myself with the world of Thomas the Tank Engine, most notably through the excellent CGI-animated Hero of the Rails about an old engine called Hiro who Thomas finds rusting in the woods and, with the help of his friends, restores to his former glory of ‘Master of the Rails’. I watched the start about a million times, because young children have no attention span, but it wasn’t until the last day, with Ryan safely at daycare, I finally managed to see the conclusion.

One of the evenings I went, along with Judith and Adam, to the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank to see notable director and Red Bank son Kevin Smith give a Q&A evening in honour of his 40th birthday. The event was filmed for TV and DVD and if you get a chance to see it then do. Kevin Smith is well known for giving entertaining evenings in this manner where literally anything goes. It’s not for children and it’s not for the faint-hearted - five hours is a short show - and whilst it’s not ‘stand-up comedy’ per se, it’s a frank and hilarious look into the normal life of a somewhat-famous person. The first half - the bit being filmed - started with a question along the lines of ‘how did it feel to finally get to direct Bruce Willis?’. As the questioner stood at the microphone awaiting his answer Kevin started with the words ‘This is going to be a long one; you might want to sit down’ much to the delight of the audience. And a long one it was because it took up the whole of the recording which, as he admitted in the second half, was something he’d always wanted to try. The story took us up and down seemingly-irrelevant alleys and through many rabbit holes until we finally knew every tiny aspect of exactly how he came to direct Cop Out, and thus Bruce Willis, via the means of marijuana. Wayne Gretsky and a prom bus. The second half consisted of much more concise answers to, frankly, more mundane questions but it was never boring and we each got a free towel out of it!

No trip to America would be complete without a few movies. As I mentioned in my Travel post, I managed three on the journey there and one on the journey home thanks to the V-Port entertainment system. These were, in order, Shutter Island, Kick Ass, Cemetery Junction and Cop Out. All four were well worth my time although Kick Ass was far and away the best of the lot. It is, in fact, one of the best movies I’ve seen for a long time. Cop Out - the Kevin Smith movie with Bruce Willis - was enjoyable but nothing to write home about. Shutter Island was deliciously conceived and realised and gave much to think about whilst Cemetery Junction was a welcome slice of England to keep me in mind of home.

I saw nothing on TV that bears much mention other than a reasonably entertaining MLS game between the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire. It ended 0-0 but, those of you who know association football know that that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a dull game.

Just as no visit to America would be complete without a few movies, so no visit to New York would be complete without seeing a play either on or off Broadway. Thanks to my friend Jack (@JackAaron on twitter) I knew exactly what I wanted to see and, fortunately, the TKTS booth had half-price tickets available. And so it was, with much anticipation, that Mother and I headed to the St James Theater on 44th street and saw American Idiot. Over recent years there have been many attempts to shoe-horn ‘popular music’ into a ‘musical theatre’ format - some successful and some not so. American Idiot is the same idea using the music of Green Day with which some of you will no doubt be familiar. The musical tells the story of a group of teenagers growing up in a post-9/11 world in small-town American. They make plans to leave for something better but it doesn’t quite all go to plan. The story is excellently told and the music, mostly from the American Idiot album, tells the story well. That may be to do with the fact that the American Idiot album is already telling the story to the extent where it often feels like it’s the soundtrack to a musical anyway. The combination of the music and visuals however, with an excellently versatile ‘single set’ stage peppered with televisions and an on-stage ‘orchestra’, makes what has to be the most enjoyable show I’ve seen at the theatre in a long time. I’d almost go so far as to say it’s worth the trip to New York in itself.

After the show the cast take to the stage with acoustic guitars to sing Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) which is probably the best way to end a show ever!

There were many others, but those were the entertainment highlights of my trip.

Fancy a bit of sightseeing?

USA Travel Blog 3 - Food and Drink

One of the things about America which is both pleasant and annoying is that they grant cheap access to a LOT of food. Wandering round even the smallest of supermarkets (which, to British eyes, really isn’t that small at all) they have a vast array of, well, just about anything you could imagine. It’s all piled high, it’s all packaged shinily and it all has one purpose - to make you want it. The choice can be horrendous at times. You want bread? Imagine the choice in Subway multiplied by fifteen million times and that’s how hard it is to choose bread. But in America you can eat, and eat well, at all times. And that’s what we did. You don’t, of course, need to know about the bolognese I cooked on the Monday (even though it was spectacular) nor do you need to know about the orange juice I drank each morning. But there were some highlights of the trip which I shall present to you here.

The Philly Cheesesteak sandwich is an institution from Philadelphia which is both obligatory and tasty. Given that New Jersey is but a hop and a skip from that most noble of Pennsylvania cities you can, of course, get a decent Philly Cheesesteak there too. I had mine from a shopping mall and it was, as ever, delightful. It consists of a strip of steak cooked with your choice of onions, mushrooms and peppers, placed on your choice of bread with your choice of cheese. It’s simple but enjoyable. And very messy.

One evening, Judith, Adam, Mother and I left Ryan at home with a babysitter and set off looking forward to an evening of exquisite dining at Raven and The Peach in Fair Haven, NJ, just a short taxi ride from where they live. We weren’t disappointed. I decided, as I often do in good restaurants, to embrace foods from which I would normally shy away. I started with a simple vodka and orange as my pre-dinner drink which I enjoyed whilst perusing the menu.

My appetiser of Tempura Lobster Sushi Rolls was the most adventurous given that I have always believed myself to not like sushi and have always regarded lobster with suspicion. It was, however, delicious. It came with an assortment of stuff on the side - wasabi, pickled ginger etc - and it combined to cause a frenzy of delight on my palate. My entree, however, took this frenzied baton and ran with it. It was one of the day’s specials, milk-fed veal with horseradish potatoes and blue cheese mousse, and it was simply divine. The veal was cooked to perfection and was delightfully tender, the potatoes had just the right amount of horseradish to compliment, rather than overpower, the meat and the blue cheese mousse rounded off the taste expertly. The main course was accompanied by the Cakebread Cellars 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon which was quite simply the best Cab Sav I have ever tasted.

Now, anyone who knows me well will know that I have a VERY sweet tooth. For me, no meal is complete without something sweet to end it and so, along with a glass of very old port, I ordered a Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé with orange sauce and Tahitian vanilla gelato. I can’t say for sure that I could tell the vanilla was from Tahiti but I could very definitely tell that the chocolate wasn’t Hershey’s. A good chocolate soufflé is the perfect way to end a meal, in my opinion, and this was one of the best. It was light as air and risen to perfection and the orange sauce mingled with the chocolate to generate a sensational flavour which was perfectly pitched on the sweetness scale.

On to New York then, where dining takes on an ‘anything goes’ attitude. Sadly this time we didn’t have time to visit Serendipity 3 - still my all-time favourite New York eating experience - but we did have time to visit another favourite, Heartland Brewery where I enjoyed the Hickory Smoked BBQ St. Louis Ribs, the best ribs I’ve ever tasted. The meat was so tender that it literally fell off the bones at the merest provocation and the BBQ sauce surrounding it was almost alive with flavour. Cookie cake rounded off that meal well and it was nicely washed down with a couple of pints of their excellent Cornhusker Lager. For our pre-theatre dinner we visited the Pig and Whistle Irish pub where I enjoyed a delightfully large burger, a pint of Heineken and a divinely mixed Woo Woo…heavy on the alcohol and light on the juice, just as it should be.

The New York highlight for me though was lunch at the French-American bistro La Bonne Soupe which never disappoints. We had to queue on arrival, which is always a good sign unless you’re short on time, and with good reason. Although a reasonable size, with dining on two floors, its reputation for dispensing good, wholesome, no-nonsense food means that it is constantly in demand. The soups, which come with salad, bread, beverage and dessert, are delightful and I imagine the rest of the food is too. Mother chose the classic French Onion soup and I chose a Soup Thailandaise which was somewhat akin to Thai green curry. Both were spectacular as were the Crème Caramel and the mousse au chocolat which Mother and I respectively enjoyed. All in all an excellent ‘last meal’ which ended the holiday on a high culinary note.

Still not enough?

USA Travel Blog 1 - Introduction

I’ve been wondering for a few days how to blog my trip to the US. That may sound strange but you have to get these things right, otherwise people die…of boredom…whilst reading. Or worse, they don’t bother reading it at all…and that makes kittens sad. So, I’m splitting it up into a handful of various small(-ish) posts, each on a theme. As I’ve been to the US a great many times in the past I’ll be attempting to bring my previous experiences to bear in an orgy of comparative delight. It’ll be fun, trust me!

Before we march onwards into deepest darkest bloggery, however, I should introduce your main protagonists. Firstly we have myself, a 33 year old male of laid back countenance and chameleonic character. Next up comes Mother, a 64 year old woman with an ability to enjoy virtually anything…but with knitting and sudoku enjoying special regard. Thirdly there’s my sister, Judith, a young woman of a mere 37 years whose job in the pharmaceutical industry keeps us all safe from harm. Married to her is my brother-in-law, Adam, who holds a similar job and who hails from Sutton Coldfield. Last, and very much by no means least, the newest addition to the family is my nephew, Ryan, a mere blink in the history of life at 2 years and 4 months old. The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice the absense of my father who decided that this trip was not for him and so stayed at home alone. It may well have been the best 11 days of his recent life.

Anyway…onwards?