BLUE SMOKE BBQ

During a recent visit to NYC, my sister CH treated me to a dinner at Blue Smoke on East 27th Street in Manhattan. Earlier in the day, we had an enjoyable walk and talk while visiting Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It was part of the agenda that we sisters should plan for a nice dinner and some quiet time just us girls. We did not have to wait long because CH already made reservation. I must say that the place was crowded for a Wednesday evening. (Recession or not people still need to eat and a place to hang out.)

We started with Blue Smoke Cornbread, two pieces at a cost of $4.50 (I commented to CH that for $4.50 I could get a box of cornbread mix and made us a whole large pan of cornbread). I selected Kansas City Spareribs ($19.95) with no side item. CH decided on the Memphis Baby Back Ribs, also with no side item. For drinks, I asked for a glass of clean water and ice while CH ordered a house beer.
While waiting for our dinner, we talked about the plans to visit Viet Nam, mostly when and what CH would like to do there. Just like in 1989 when I broke my promise to CH that after we graduated from college we would travel around Europe for a few months, I ran off and got married instead. This time it is because of the economic downturn and personal issues, I again would not be able to go to Viet Nam as we previous discussed earlier this year. We did not talk about our workplaces because we did not want to waste precious time talking about the environment that suffocate our spirits and about co-workers that continued to receive lavish bonus not doing any work and management for some reasons tolerate these employees who spent most of the time socializing and doing personal stuff. We talked about the places we visited, (my favorite is Alaska but CH could not decide between Scottland and Switzerland) about some long lost friends and a few that still connected, and about my plans to drive along Route 66 from California to Chicago.

The conversation stopped while we enjoyed the spareribs and babyback ribs. We did not have desserts after dinner. Overall the food was good, but it was nothing special and I would not recommend it as the place to be if you were in NYC. I looked at my watch; it was 9:30 p.m. I said to CH that it was almost my bedtime. We talked about plans for Mother's Day while waiting for the check. I did not ask CH whether she was dating anyone and she did not ask about my marriage. We talked about the changes at Hunter College and NYU since our graduation 20 years ago, how time flies!

When we were leaving Blue Smoke, there was a long line of people waiting to get into the Jazz Club. The subway ride was quiet as I was a bit tired. CH watched the late night news while I was ready to fall asleep on the sofa. It was a good day spending quality time with my sister.