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jebbypalWow, 2 day trips with constant slide review and revisions is not the most fun thing ever. Most of this trip was completely hotel based, though we did go out to dinner the last night.
So, Wyndam Apollo Hotel is where I was stuck for most of it. Nice enough hotel, but was in the basement and could hear loud plumbing noises whenever surrounding rooms took showers, flushed the toilet etc. Not fun at 2 am in the morning when you're desperately trying to sleep after about 30 hours awake (minus the occasional 30 minute nap)
Food:
Had a sushi platter snack. Really just cuts of tuna and salmon sans any rice. Also, sushi there, at least outside any japanese restaurant, comes sans pickled ginger. I can do salmon without pickled ginger but anything else is hard for me given that I have slight issues with fishy tastes thanks to long ago food poisoning on fish sticks. (I am not saying that pickled ginger is 100% safe, but if I drink lots of water, I generally do okay with it. And it's yum).
Dinner in the hotel restaurant:
Not a lot on the menu looked safe. But I grabbed a burger. When it came, I pulled of the bun (per usual) and the pickles leaving the meat w/ some lettuce and tomato. I might have made a mistake in that I chose to dab a bit of the mayo they'd provided on it. It tasted very good, however, I had a small GI problem that night. Not multiple hours though which may mean it was just a sign of ODing slightly on coffee, though coffee there was no where near as strong as in spain or france.
One issue with coffee: sugar only came in sugar cubes. This made me nervous but I didn't notice any major issues, and I was more scared of a caffeine migraine.
Breakfast:
Lots and lots of breads and then sausage, bacon, etc. The place was busy so I didn't feel like worrying about communication issues and used my judgement. Which equaled 2 boiled eggs, grated cucumber, and chopped tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was very good. :) (Cucumber seems to be a pretty big deal there).
WE had our meeting that day so for lunch I had one of my hamburger buns as an almond butter/honey sandwich using the ingredients I brought. The platters of sandwiches the rest of the group had during the meeting did smell very good, but my granola bars cut down on the hunger pains the smells induced :P And the smells from everyone's food did not give me a headache unlike what happens so often w/ deli sandwiches during meetings in the US.
Dinner:
We started out at a wine bar having small platters called Vine. Then we went to their sister restaurant called Envy for dinner.
Due to sulfites, I don't do wine, but I didn't ID any tequila on the menu so I went ahead and went with a Heineken even though I really dislike them (only beer they had on tap since there's a heineken brewery in the city). It tasted less skunky than US versions, but better, did not trigger any corn headache (which can't be said for Amstel or STella for me). Of the small dishes, I went ahead and sampled the prosciutto/salami platters they brought out because I was STARVING, and it was sliced thin enough I figured I'd be okay. OMG, I know it's been a long long time since I've had lunch meat, but this stuff was heavenly. I didn't seem to be getting any "corn high" but with 3 beers that would be difficult to judge initially. Still, I think it was safe enough.
Then we went to Envy. I'd had some granola bars during our earlier drinking, so I wasn't starving. Still, was hungry and I knew we probably had a long while here. We were ordering the tasting menu and the waitress asked if anyone had any allergies. So I told her my issues with legumes and basic corn (no corn starch, corn syrup, corn oil, maltodextrin). She assured me on each course that things should be safe.
We started with another platter of meats, but I was getting a little over salted. They also had bread w/ olive oil and I needed something else to help w/ the beer (though I stopped drinking at this point), so I grabbed a couple of pieces of what looked like French bread and ate them.
Second course was sushi/shrimp/beef tartar. I had one thing of the salmon. It also came w/ a cucumber cream shot that I was going to avoid but the client kept pushing me to try and saying that "this is europe. there's nothing in the cream but cream". I don't know 100% that that's certain, but I gave in. Of course, when I was on my last sip of it, I remembered that cream still = lactose and belatedly scrambled to take my milk digestant pills. The rest of the night I was very ... gassy, but it never seemed to progress beyond that. I didn't have a headache, and I'm fairly certain I never go the corn high so I think I was safe all night.
Third course was grilled fish in a butter sauce that was absolutely yummy! Mmm. Fourth course was grilled angus steak on bed of couscous that was also very good. I skipped on the dessert because I felt like I'd pushed my luck enough at that point.
Airport to leave
So, apparently small airports in the US aren't the only one with crap designs in the TSA era. Each individual gate has security stations, and no, you can't take liquids through. So I had to abandon my purchased water when I went into the gate. They do have vending machines in the gate, BUT, the gate we were in had a broken machine. *head desk* No drinking fountains either. Since it was a 7 hour flight and I didn't want to get dehydrated, or not have water to take pills if I started getting a migraine, I filled my camelback water bottle in the bathroom sink. Still, that was for emergencies only and I subsisted on the water provided by the drink service on the plane.
All in all, pretty good though I didn't get to see much of the city. We did take a canal cruise that was nice. I would have preferred to just walk around though.
So, Wyndam Apollo Hotel is where I was stuck for most of it. Nice enough hotel, but was in the basement and could hear loud plumbing noises whenever surrounding rooms took showers, flushed the toilet etc. Not fun at 2 am in the morning when you're desperately trying to sleep after about 30 hours awake (minus the occasional 30 minute nap)
Food:
Had a sushi platter snack. Really just cuts of tuna and salmon sans any rice. Also, sushi there, at least outside any japanese restaurant, comes sans pickled ginger. I can do salmon without pickled ginger but anything else is hard for me given that I have slight issues with fishy tastes thanks to long ago food poisoning on fish sticks. (I am not saying that pickled ginger is 100% safe, but if I drink lots of water, I generally do okay with it. And it's yum).
Dinner in the hotel restaurant:
Not a lot on the menu looked safe. But I grabbed a burger. When it came, I pulled of the bun (per usual) and the pickles leaving the meat w/ some lettuce and tomato. I might have made a mistake in that I chose to dab a bit of the mayo they'd provided on it. It tasted very good, however, I had a small GI problem that night. Not multiple hours though which may mean it was just a sign of ODing slightly on coffee, though coffee there was no where near as strong as in spain or france.
One issue with coffee: sugar only came in sugar cubes. This made me nervous but I didn't notice any major issues, and I was more scared of a caffeine migraine.
Breakfast:
Lots and lots of breads and then sausage, bacon, etc. The place was busy so I didn't feel like worrying about communication issues and used my judgement. Which equaled 2 boiled eggs, grated cucumber, and chopped tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was very good. :) (Cucumber seems to be a pretty big deal there).
WE had our meeting that day so for lunch I had one of my hamburger buns as an almond butter/honey sandwich using the ingredients I brought. The platters of sandwiches the rest of the group had during the meeting did smell very good, but my granola bars cut down on the hunger pains the smells induced :P And the smells from everyone's food did not give me a headache unlike what happens so often w/ deli sandwiches during meetings in the US.
Dinner:
We started out at a wine bar having small platters called Vine. Then we went to their sister restaurant called Envy for dinner.
Due to sulfites, I don't do wine, but I didn't ID any tequila on the menu so I went ahead and went with a Heineken even though I really dislike them (only beer they had on tap since there's a heineken brewery in the city). It tasted less skunky than US versions, but better, did not trigger any corn headache (which can't be said for Amstel or STella for me). Of the small dishes, I went ahead and sampled the prosciutto/salami platters they brought out because I was STARVING, and it was sliced thin enough I figured I'd be okay. OMG, I know it's been a long long time since I've had lunch meat, but this stuff was heavenly. I didn't seem to be getting any "corn high" but with 3 beers that would be difficult to judge initially. Still, I think it was safe enough.
Then we went to Envy. I'd had some granola bars during our earlier drinking, so I wasn't starving. Still, was hungry and I knew we probably had a long while here. We were ordering the tasting menu and the waitress asked if anyone had any allergies. So I told her my issues with legumes and basic corn (no corn starch, corn syrup, corn oil, maltodextrin). She assured me on each course that things should be safe.
We started with another platter of meats, but I was getting a little over salted. They also had bread w/ olive oil and I needed something else to help w/ the beer (though I stopped drinking at this point), so I grabbed a couple of pieces of what looked like French bread and ate them.
Second course was sushi/shrimp/beef tartar. I had one thing of the salmon. It also came w/ a cucumber cream shot that I was going to avoid but the client kept pushing me to try and saying that "this is europe. there's nothing in the cream but cream". I don't know 100% that that's certain, but I gave in. Of course, when I was on my last sip of it, I remembered that cream still = lactose and belatedly scrambled to take my milk digestant pills. The rest of the night I was very ... gassy, but it never seemed to progress beyond that. I didn't have a headache, and I'm fairly certain I never go the corn high so I think I was safe all night.
Third course was grilled fish in a butter sauce that was absolutely yummy! Mmm. Fourth course was grilled angus steak on bed of couscous that was also very good. I skipped on the dessert because I felt like I'd pushed my luck enough at that point.
Airport to leave
So, apparently small airports in the US aren't the only one with crap designs in the TSA era. Each individual gate has security stations, and no, you can't take liquids through. So I had to abandon my purchased water when I went into the gate. They do have vending machines in the gate, BUT, the gate we were in had a broken machine. *head desk* No drinking fountains either. Since it was a 7 hour flight and I didn't want to get dehydrated, or not have water to take pills if I started getting a migraine, I filled my camelback water bottle in the bathroom sink. Still, that was for emergencies only and I subsisted on the water provided by the drink service on the plane.
All in all, pretty good though I didn't get to see much of the city. We did take a canal cruise that was nice. I would have preferred to just walk around though.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-19 01:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-19 06:33 pm (UTC)Mmmm...