Flavors 518

Yesterday I left work and my summer intern on his last day said "Thanks for everything this summer. Its been real." Then, I decided to stop in at Grafton Lakes on the way home. I waded in the water and called a former coworker who has a whole new position at my old job. Her boyfriend wants to go to grad school, I'm going to do some work in NYC  - so many new things.  Then the loud speaker announced "Everyone out of the water, this is the end of the day and the end of the summer. Please come back next year!". I squeezed my toes in my sand and felt ok leaving. There have been times in past years I tried so hard to pretend summer wasn't ending - trying to convince my husband to go on a last minute humid, hazy Labor Day trip to the Finger Lakes. But this time it  feels like something different. People say spring is a season of newness, but we spend our school years starting anew in September. We spend much of our lives having to pretend to be so many differ...

We like Dragon City Chinese Restaurant on Western Avenue for take-out. Here is the Times Union review I read posted on the wall as I waited for our food . Here is what is good about it: Very cheap. We got enough for like 4 meals for under $20. (Pictured above is the curry beef and the broccoli with garlic sauce, not pictured is the hot and sour soup which my husband, a connoisseur of hot and sour soup, seemed to really enjoy.) Unlike lesser Chinese restaurants you actually get a good amount of fresh tasting vegetables (the above linked Times Union review notes this fact). In this way, Chinese food can be a really cheap take out option that actually offers real vegetables (maybe Wendy's and Taco Bell should offer a side of broccoli?). They are fast too. I browsed their Time magazines from around the time of Hurricane Katrina and when Jonathan Franzen's Freedom came out (far from current), and before I knew it my order was ready. This is good since it can be hard to k...