Text 17846, 107 rader
Skriven 2014-10-07 20:45:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: wanderings 65
=========================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 10-05-14  02:29 <=-

 ML>> Out here most of the cooks are Central Americans, mostly
 ML>> Salvadoran. 
 NB>> And where might "out here" be...?
 ML> I was referring to the coast, specifically Boston and
 ML> Washington. 

I'm never quite sure where you are...  ;)

 ML> In New York I'm given to understand from
 ML> what Bourdain and others say that the cooks are Mexican
 ML> in all but the Mexican restaurants!

Maybe in the City... I have essentially no experience at all with any
NYC restaurants...  When I visited my brother there, I think we ate at
home the whole time...  

 ML>> I've still got 32000 miles left in the works this year, most
 ML>> of it on one giant trip to see Glen Jamieson and his wicked
 ML>> cohorts.
 NB>> That sounds like a lovely trip...  do say howdy to Glen for me... I
 NB>> don't think that any one else there would know me.  :)
 ML> I'm sure it will be a fine trip, and I will indeed say
 ML> howdy to the crew from the crew.
 
When IS that scheduled for...?  About now...?

 ML>> I have a Cessna flight booked for the end of this month, and
 ML>> it's free; unfortunately subsequently Lilli has asked me to
 ML>> join her on a ride from San Jose to Pacific Grove at the same
 ML>> time, plus I'll have to split gas. Tough decision.
 NB>> That makes yet another of those being-pulled-2-ways things for this
 NB>> year...  :)
 ML> Yes indeedy. Usually these days the choices are the
 ML> greater of two goods, for which I am lucky and thankful.

At least then, you know you'll enjoy whichever one you do pick... :)

 NB>>> Different times, different places... and different circumstances...
 ML>> Of course. And the flight I mention below will be 14 1/2 hr,
 ML>> whereas it would have taken him 5 days on the earliest
 ML>> flights or over 2 weeks on an ocean liner.
 NB>> So one could only put in just so many trips, given the time it would
 NB>> take to accomplish them...
 ML> My grandfather spent an inordinate amount of time on
 ML> ships. I don't think he suffered too much, though.

I doubt it... Nowadays that's the luxury way to travel, I'm told.. ;)

 ML>> I suppose if I got really hard up I could take them
 ML>> to a bank and exchange them for Euros or something
 ML>> at a horridly unfavorable rate.
 NB>> Mine were all in pounds sterling for my Brit trips... I think I
 NB>> finally used them up.. but I'd have to go rummage to be sure... :)  
 ML> In any case, absent a chance to go there again (tip:
 ML> don't fly direct to the UK, there's a huge tax that
 ML> you can mostly avoid by flying into Ireland, even
 ML> northern Ireland, which levies according to a smaller
 ML> schedule. I fixed this by flying into either Dublin
 ML> or Brussels and connecting to Heathrow.)

I'll keep that in mind, or at least try to...  ;)

 ML> you'd be hit with an exchange fee if you tried to change
 ML> them at a US bank.
 
I do believe that informed my decision to not turn them in, but to
try to use them up elsewise..  :)   I think that I've read that one can
do better to exchange at AAA, but I haven't followed up on that, and
haven't had need for foreign currency for a while now, at least not for
traveling... 

 ML>> we use the stripe and signature or at best the chip and
 ML>> signature system, whereas the rest of the world has gone
 ML>> to the chip and PIN. At the train stations, for example,
 ML>> I can't use the ticket automat but must go to an actual
 ML>> manned window, and sometimes even that doesn't work.
 NB>> That's a cautionary tale...  I was aware of it somewhat, as my oldest
 NB>> credit card just replaced the card with one with the chip, citing the
 NB>> new worldwide standards as partial cause... it wasn't even near its
 NB>> expiration date... I think one has the option to add the PIN...
 ML> If it's a Bank of America card, they specifically tell you
 ML> that the PIN is usable only in the US and Canada, which
 ML> makes the feature well-nigh worthless.

No, my chipped card is a Chase card (that's gone through many
permutations and buyouts etc, too)...
 
 NB>> You'd think.  My ESL debit card has a 1% foreign transaction fee.
 ML> 1% I could live with. 3% is a bit much.

Agreed.

 ML>> I was going to put this recipe at the end of the bam
 ML>> post to Ruth, only I didn't, you'll know why.
 ML> Calf's Liver with Bacon, Caramelized Onions and Sherry

Yup, figured it out... ;)

ttyl         neb

... Every time I get my act together, the curtain comes down.

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