schadenfreude and those big ass puddles by the sidewalk

there's just something amusing about watching someone getting splashed by a car going through a big puddle. i can't put my finger on why it is so entertaining. it's really not a nice thing to happen to someone, but even now i've got a smile on my face picturing a tall, 5-foot high mini-tsunami hitting the innocent, and usually unprepared, bystander. i guess it's just schadenfreude. anyways, this nearly happened to me last night walking from the lower east side, but i jumped out of the way in the nick of time.

what was i doing in the lower east side before narrowly avoiding disaster (and embarrasment, if anyone was watching)? i finally met up with my cousin sandia, who moved here about two years ago. i never got a chance to visit here in prior trips, as she lived in the boonies (way upper and pretty way east side), but we were finally able to schedule a dinner. i was beat from a long day at work (i was asked to be in at 8am to work, just in case something came up), but was refreshed by a great dinner at inoteca, followed by excellent desserts at the tasting room, where we were joined by greg, sandia's boyfriend. i highly recommend both spots, but be sure to make a reservation at the tasting room, as they have a very intimate 25-seat capacity (plus great music - they played my favorite nada surf and rilo kiley songs!).

this past weekend also had some clinary highlights, with great shanghai-nese at yeah shanghai deluxe (a great recommendation from tien), sangria and tapas at tia pol, burgers at blue 9, and las tbut not least, chicken and waffles at amy ruth's.

in addition to eating out, i also spent a few hours at the met on friday, as well as finally catching the darwin exhibit at the american museum of natural history with gerald and susana on monday.