Awaiting the Lady

On Saturday we went to the event I have been looking forward to since she came to Portland in September: a Lady Gaga concert. But first, a little background.

Dave and I left home at 5am on Friday morning so that we would have time to run errands in Allentown (Don't. Ask.) before picking Hannah up from Penn station in the afternoon. This made for a very long drive and a very cranky Allison. One of my biggest faults is irritability, brought on most readily by hunger, sleep deprivation and stress, in that order. Since we'd gotten about 3 hours of sleep, didn't eat an actual meal until about 3 in the afternoon, and were late picking up Hannah, I was pretty awful. I really am lucky that Dave didn't simply eject me from the car.

We finally got Hannah and met up with Jin in K Town (Korea town, for those of you without a predominantly Asian group of friends) for Korean barbecue and karaoke. Shilla (the barbecue house) wasn't bad, but it seemed more like a tourist trap than a legit Korean restaurant - not a lot of food for a very high price, and we had to ask for things that should have been complementary. We have been to another place in Flushing, Nam O Jung, that has better food and prices, but it is advised not to go there without a Korean escort - you will get decidedly better service with one.

We then went to Karaoke Wow and stayed for 3 hours. It was a lot of fun, but also very expensive. Pros: Very clean, nice staff, good sound system. Cons: No songs from the past few years (so only one Gaga song :( ), and astronomical prices. We were a group of nine, and each paid $40, and that isn't including the drinks some people got. $10 per person per hour is fine, but the $80 gratuity they added on for no apparent reason is not. We have been to a few other places in the city that were a lot cheaper, with a much wider song choice. So, lots of fun, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Three hours of karaoke meant we didn't go to sleep until extremely late. This actually lead to a moment of considerable amusement, as the alarm I had set for 4:30am for the previous morning went off as we were getting into bed. Naturally, we slept until the afternoon and had Chinese food all day. We went to Jade Asian Restaurant in Flushing for dim sum (no wait, good food, good price) and got amazing egg custard (warm from the oven, tasted deliciously eggy) from a bakery I sadly cannot remember the name of. I know it was on Roosevelt Ave. but so are about 14 other Chinese bakeries, so that doesn't help too much.

We also went to to 66 Lu's Seafood when we met up with a few other friends who hadn't eaten yet. None of us were particularly hungry, but Dave and I saw turtle soup on the menu and were intrigued. I wish we hadn't been. The most I can say is that I have now tried turtle soup, and that it was an experience. It was vile. I can still smell it. It haunts my dreams. Bleh.