Restaurant Review: Ivy Noodle New Haven

The Mo and I have been going to Ivy Noodle in New Haven, CT since the Quinnipiac days (circa 2003).  It was my quick fix for when I was craving the local rice noodle dishes that were always available in Lowell but not the rural town of Hamden.

Sure we ate at the usual Applesbees and the college cafeteria when we felt poor (on my Qcard) but we liked venturing out to New Haven for a date night when the Mo visited (almost every weekend.)

Since we were visiting mom for a post Christmas gathering this wekeend, the Mo and I headed to Ivy Noodle for a quick lunch to reminisce.

Holiday Party at Seasons 52

It's the most favorite time of the year, the month of December is filled with holiday parties.  During the week, we host luncheons with our best customer and during the weekend, my social calendar quickly fills up with holiday parties.  This year, I had the opportunity to put together our holiday party at work.  For the past few years, we've had our event at the former Beacon Grille in Woburn but now it's become a premier steak house, it was a little out of our budget.

Pho 1 Woburn

Working in the Burlington/Woburn area, there's not many places to go for a nice bowl of hot Pho noodle soup.  There's Green Basil in Woburn center, Mr. Chan's in Burlington (which is actually a Chinese restaurant), Lemon Tree also offers their own version (not recommended) and finally Pho #1 Woburn.

Although my coworkers and I are regulars at Mr.Chan's, my go to spot for good traditional Vietnamese pho is Pho #1 Woburn.

Restaurant Review: Madras Grill in Chelmsford

The Mo and I love our occasional fix of Indian food.  We love ordering off the menu in group style settings but when it's just us two, we settle for the buffet because it's more economical for us.  I found Madras Grill after googling the restaurant hours of our other staple Indian restaurant in Lowell.

We were still in vacation mode and I was too lazy to cook that Sunday we returned so we headed to the Indian restaurant located in a trip mall in Chelmsford.  Parking was

Space Needle and Chihuly in Seattle followed the Lost Pelican

After a long night of catching up on T.V. shows and microwaved popcorn in our room a the Maxwell, we were famished.                     We intended on waking up early but slept in and was awoken by the housekeeper at 11:00 AM, checkout was at noon.  We were able to request a late checkout and grabbed 

Luxury accommodations at the Fairmont Olympic and Wann's Happy Hour

Traveling through different times zones on long flights doesn't make us jet lag but going from high 80's to low 20's with the wind chill does make us sick.  On our first day in Seattle, we had sore throats, cough, stuffy nose and fever chills.

We had to suck it up, there was a lot to do and see in Seattle, Pike's Market, the Public Market, Original Starbucks, and the

Fairmont Makati's Singapore Slings and Doussants

We splurged a little and chose to stay at the new posh 5 Star Fairmont Makati recognized by Conde Nast as "Best New Hotel" in Manila.  The hotel boasted a beautiful infinity pool and fitness center (that we didn't have time to use) and large spacious guestrooms with modern amenities like all a neat bundle of cables you need to hook up anything electronic to the LCD TV or your laptop or both.
(photos from hotel's website, I forgot to take pics)

Boracay Bella Isa's Spa Package fit for a King & Queen

It was our last day in Boracay and we wanted to relax and unwind (not that we didn't enjoy partying hard the previous nights before)

Cocomongo's 15 shooters Bar & Boracay Island Hopping to Puka Island

We woke up to the same daily grind: Breakfast and blogging on the beachfront at the Red Coconut hotel in Borocay. We met up with our Singapore friends at 9:00 AM for our "Island Hopping" & Snorkeling tour.  The boat was delayed so Jasmine and I got our hair braided in the interim.