HVRW Restaurant Week - Le Provincal w. Vicki

 

Hudson Valley Restaurant week (HVRW).  It comes twice each year, and I try to have at least one fancy dinner with Vicki each time it comes by.

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As you would expect, I usually present myself as Marian when dining with Vicki.  During HVRW, I always try to dress up a little when going to nice restaurants, and I made sure that I was wearing a nice dress with stockings (actually, tights) when she picked me up.  (I rarely present as a male when with Vicki.) Tonight's dinner was at Le Provincal, a French bistro in Mamaroneck. This is one of our go-to places for French food, but one we rarely eat at because of its normal price.  HVRW makes this place affordable to us, as we would likely spend close to $200 for a meal for two.

Vicki drives differently than I do, and this is not a criticism or compliment.  Like me, she tries to drive safely, but I noticed the differences in driving style, as I was a passenger for this trip.  Arriving in Mamaroneck, Vicki moved close to the center of the street so she could slide into a parking spot both quickly and easily.  However, some woman (Vicki used another word) decided to slide in between her and the cars to her right, stealing the spot from Vicki.  I looked at the driver, and I noticed that she was likely an immigrant from a place where cutting into lines was accepted, and that there would be no gain from arguing with a person who is that inconsiderate.  Vicki wanted to block this woman from getting to the parking spot, and I wanted to get another packing spot which would likely open up near the restaurant.  Eventually, Vicki relented, and we got a spot much closer to the restaurant than the first spot was.

Dinner was excellent (as usual), but the wait staff we expected to see was off for the night.  The dinner more than made up for the loss of the parking spot.  Sadly, dinner was over too soon, and we took the long way home to chat.  (It helped that Vicki missed my exit, and took side roads back to my place.)  All in all, this was a pleasant evening.  But next time, I'll do the driving.

 

RIP - Neighborhood Hofbrau House

 

Joseph Huber's Hofbrau.  May it rest in peace.

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This past weekend, RQS and I went to Mamaroneck to eat.  While there, we passed by an old building which had been closed up as long as I can remember - and that is a long time, as I started working in that era in 1984. (It was open when I started working in the area, but closed soon afterwards.)   I was very surprised to find that there were two people working inside, turning this long dormant neighborhood bar into a social club.

We walked in and chatted with the fellows doing the work, and found that they were taking the stained glass windows down, ostensibly for health reasons.  Although this may be true, I feel that the windows do not reflect the atmosphere they want in their new business. Luckily, they know the value of the stained glass windows, and will be preserving them for the future.

I wish the new owners well in their ventures....

The following are 4 of my shots of the place.

 

PS: If you're interested in another part of real estate history, read this: 

The Skinny House of Mamaroneck

A quick post on 2 unusual vehicles

 

The other day, RQS and I went for dinner in Mamaroneck, NY.  On the way there, we caught a glimpse of this three wheeled vehicle.  Is it a car?  Is it a motorcycle?  This is the problem that many DMV's across the United States have when they register vehicles like this - there is no national standard for motorcycles, and the licensing needed to drive them.

When I first heard about American 3 wheeled cars, Elio Motors was developing a small gas powered vehicle.  I had the pleasure of sitting in a prototype of this vehicle in 2016, and they were dealing with the problems of unfamiliarity with 3 wheeled cars, the problems of creating a new category of vehicle (to eliminate headaches such as wearing helmets in an enclosed vehicle), manufacturing these vehicles, and sales/service - something usually done by franchised stores.  At the price of roughly $7,000, I'd have took a gamble and bought one for an in-town station car.  Today, their target for an electric vehicle is $14,000. And I have no interest in dealing with the headaches of electric cars at this time.

Although I mentioned my loose familiarity with this type of vehicle to RQS, our conversation shifted to other, more interesting topics.  After dinner, we again saw this vehicle, and another nearby.

Again, RQS asked: "What is it?"  And I had to mention that it is another cross between a car and a motorcycle.  Based on the helmet I saw in the vehicle, I have a feeling that New York still considers this to be a 3 wheeled motorcycle, and requires that all riding in wear helmets.

Have you seen vehicles like this?  If so, let me know what you think.

It was the day after the storm, and I made it into work.

 

This is what parts of Mamaroneck, NY looked like after hurricane/tropical storm Ida came through for its visit.  Much of Lower Westchester could be described as places that "You can't get there from here."  And looking at the picture above, it is easy to understand why this is so.

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Right now, there is a lot of finger pointing going on.  After any major storm, politicians will make a lot of noises and do a lot of nothing.  In the case of Ida, images should be a wake up call that major upgrades to our infrastructure are needed to deal with the effects of global warming.  Unfortunately, this takes money - something we don't have enough of.

My current path to work goes through areas which could get flooded out.  However, I was lucky, as that the only traffic jam I encountered was less than 2 miles away from my office.  Even then, there were no floods blocking my path to work.  Instead, other people's paths to work were blocked in front of me, and the cars going in the opposite direction from me prevented me from speeding off an exit ramp, then making a right turn to make it the last mile to work.  So I drove on the shoulder to do this, and made it to work only 5 minutes late.  Not much for me to get frustrated about. But I can only imagine how it was for the man who hired me - he had to come from Jersey....

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But things could be worse than to have a bad commute to work - One could have had to drive home in the middle of this storm.  There are some people who are not "emergency personnel" (Firemen, Police, Doctors, etc.) who had to be at work and do not have the option to work from home.  An example of this class of worker is a New York City based sportscaster covering an out of town ball game from his hometown ballpark. When the 83 y/o John Sterling left Yankee Stadium after the end of the game against the Angels, he drove home during some of Ida's worst rains.  Due to floods, he got stuck in his car somewhere in Edgewater, NJ. Luckily, Spanish Language announcer Rickie Ricardo (I couldn't but chuckle at the name, given classic TV shows) was able to rescue Sterling safely and deliver him home. 

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Hopefully, my local readers made it through the storm safe and sound, with minimal property damage.

 

I could have gone early and shopped, but....

I hate Christmas shopping.  It's a pain to find the things people really need, and even harder to find the things that people would like but wouldn't get for themselves.  When I asked the hostess of my Thursday night meetup what to get her kids, she mentioned that her son would like anything with Goldfish on it, and that her daughter would like a diary with a lock.  At this time, it looks very doubtful that the daughter will get what she wants (from me) for Christmas.  But I'll try to do so....

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One of the things I had to do for Christmas was a double gift - I usually get my dad a pair of sweatpants for his birthday, then a sweatshirt on Christmas.  There's not much he can use and safely keep in his nursing home.  So I take care of the clothing, and let my brother come up with the rest of the gift ideas.

Before I did anything today, I made sure to leave my cleaning lady's cell phone outside my door so that her son could pick it up on his way home.  This gave me the option of taking a drive to Jersey to do some clothes shopping, but would force me to do a longer drive to see Patty for dinner tonight.  Instead, I stayed in bed all day, and only started to get dressed when I had just enough time to make it to dinner on time.

The drive to Mamaroneck was god awful.  The rain and the headlights made the road hard to see, and I was wishing I had cancelled dinner for safety's sake.  But Patty and I made it to the restaurant on time and we spent 3 hours chatting about anything and everything.  It's too bad that her husband had the flu - it would have been nice to see him too.  We talked about New Years' plans, and she is going to the place that GFJ and I went a couple of years ago.  I made a joke about showing up as Marian, and she felt that no one would recognize me outside the context in which they knew me.  That's a good sign of how far I've come along in my path towards the feminine.

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All too soon, Patty and I had to part ways.  I decided to call GFJ on my way to Target in Mt. Kisco - but she was either asleep, or enjoying herself in South Jersey.  Again, I was wishing I had stayed at home.  But at least, I found sweats for my dad's year end presents.