Mrs. Conception

The latest news on the living situation is that Mr. Andrews & Co. will be working here in New Jersey until at least the beginning of December. I heard this news at about 11 o’clock this morning, and spent the rest of the day researching Thanksgiving in New York City.

Last Thanksgiving at my mom’s house

I am in love with New York. Since moving to the outskirts of the Greater New York area (at least according to LinkedIn) and becoming a perpetual tourist in the city, I have made obsessive use of Citysearch, OpenTable, and About.com’s New York City Travel section. I have found some cute, not ridiculously priced little restaurants like Mooncake Foods in SoHo (where we enjoyed our Pan-Asian dinner while trying to identify Noah Emmerich, who was eating at another table) and Peanut Butter & Co., an old-fashioned gourmet peanut butter sandwich shop, in Greenwich Village. I am kind of obsessed with food when I travel, and I don’t want to pull a Michael Scott, eating at Sbarro or something. Plus, I also discovered some cool activities like Shakespeare in the Park (free as long as you sit in line for a few hours in the morning) and Target Free Friday Nights at MoMA. Obviously, NYC can be overwhelming and expensive for those of us not in the know (the TGI Friday’s in Times Square charges $16 for a cheeseburger), so I like to get some insight before I go. I don’t want to get taken. Like the time we paid $15 for two hot dogs and 2 cans of soda at a cart outside of FAO Schwartz. I like to avoid stuff like that.

Anyway, from these resources, our Thanksgiving Day has been planned. Way back when we thought we’d be in Maryland by now, I had reserved a spot for Thanksgiving dinner at Georgia Brown’s in Washington D.C. (also located with the above websites). I have been reluctant to cancel that reservation (their Low Country menu has deep fried turkey with cornbread stuffing – mmm!). But even though it would be cool to celebrate Thanksgiving in the capital city, New York will most likely be more fun (and we can probably do Georgia Brown’s next year). I found out lots of good info about attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (and watching them set up the balloons the day before). I also found a bunch of restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinner and made reservations at Brasserie. They are serving a 3-course meal for $58 a piece. Cheaper than kenneling the dogs for four days and driving to my mom’s house in Massachusetts, and, hey, I like parades.

Now, I just hope the company doesn’t change their mind. Please don’t send us to Arkansas, where I will have to watch the parade on a hotel room tv!

Last Christmas at my mom’s house

As a bonus, and because I am addicted, I also did a bit of research on restaurants open on Christmas in San Francisco, which is where we are tentively planning to be this year (hooray for a cheap company that gives Mr. Andrews three weeks of unpaid vacation over the winter holidays!). I think our best (most affordable) bet is to dine in Chinatown, which is said to be bustling on Christmas Day. This makes Mr. Andrews very happy, as Ralphie and family ate Chinese food in A Christmas Story.

The holidays look to be shaping up nicely. Thanks, internet!