So we made good on our reservation at artichoke, and were even able to get some friends of ours from Dhaka to join us (a lot of people take advantage of the long weekends to travel, and Singapore is a popular destination). The whole experience was a trip. First, let's quote artichoke's Facebook page About section:

MIDDLE EASTERN x DUDE FOOD x RECKLESS COOKING
Rule-breaking dishes - really loud music - chummy service - no pretentious bullshit

Of course, that description is pretty hilariously pretentious, just in a new, hip way. Then again, they weren't lying. The service was pretty chummy. We were greeted upon our arrival by the the manager, who treated us like long lost friends. Awesome. We placed our orders for starters (it was mostly a mezze or tapas kind of place), including the baba ghanoush. The manager came by and let us know that if it wasn't the best we'd ever had, the dinner was free. Unfortunately for our wallets, but fortunately for our palates, we got no free meal.

The rest of dinner was equally great. Good food, good people, no complaints. At least until we were getting ready to go. The manager came by again and started talking to us. And talking to us. And talking to us. We only managed to escape when he was called over to another part of the restaurant. Even then, he still flagged us down and sent us off with little packages of special gummy treats, apparently Czech in origin. Wherever they were from, they were amazing, and we quickly polished them off despite just having shared an awesome baklava sampler for dessert.

Basically, if you're in Singapore and want some Middle Eastern cuisine, you could do far worse.

Part of the reason we were a bit eager to leave dinner was our plan to go to the Singapore Night Safari. Apparently one of Singapore's more famous attractions, it's basically a tram ride through a zoo at night. But it's so much more than that. Because it's at night, many animals are much more active than they would be during the day. Even cooler, most of the enclosures are designed in a way that relies on more "natural" barriers to keep the animals contained: moats, trenches, and similar. So there's no fence or wall in between you and (most of) the animals. There was really no hope for pictures, but we had an awesome time.

The night safari was actually quite a distance from where we were staying and, since we stayed until midnight (when it closed), there was an absolutely massive line of people waiting for cabs. Probably an hour's wait or more. For whatever reason, though, a cabby grabbed us just as we were getting in line and told us the guy who called him never showed so he was available. This sounded super sketchy, but we were in a group of four people and it's Singapore. We decided to risk it, which worked out just fine and probably saved us a whole lot of time. Still not sure why we were singled out. Maybe by looking particularly foreign and therefore likelier to tip? Who knows?

So our hotel was very close to the World Trade Center. Very, very close. While I was showering, the fire alarm went off. On September 11th. It was a test. Who tests the fire alarm system in a hotel in that location on that day?

Anyway, after getting ready I left to meet my friend (DP hereafter) for lunch in the Upper West Side. I've never seen as many on duty police officers in one place at one time before. Around our hotel and the neighborhood in general there were easily two per block. Every block. Pretty strange to see, but not that surprising.

DP and I decided to wait for Grace to finish work, so killed the time by grabbing a beer. A nearby bar seemed appealing in that it was implicitly vouched for by the two dozen firefighters there. We didn't take into account that this made us by far the least important customers. Oh well.

Once Grace arrived we set off in search of lunch. Ended up deciding on Jacob's Pickles. The website bills it as "a new American craft experience," which probably tells you everything you need to know: hip to the point of satire (of course you'll be drinking out of mason jars). Shamefully, this is pretty much right up my alley, despite not liking pickles much. I got draft root beer, something featuring fried chicken and deliciousness in equal amounts, and we all split a bunch of pickled veggies of various types. The pickles were tasty but formidable in quantity. It's hard to eat a whole lot of pickles.

After lunch, DP had to attend to some chemistry, so Grace and I went on our way to the Museum of Modern Art. It was awesome; I wish we could have spent more time there. I generally think taking pictures of existing art can be a bit silly (as I assume it's better documented elsewhere), but I snapped a few from our trip.

The Palace at 4 a.m. by Alberto Giacometti.

For whatever reason, I thought my granddad would like this one.

An absolutely massive Monet. Had to grab a picture to try to give a sense of the scale.

Grace checking out a Rothko. She had a print of his when we started dating. No idea where it is, now.

Not sure this really needs a caption. Shout out to Bruce.

The MoMA gift shop is almost as awesome as the museum itself. We did indeed exit through it. The rest of the evening was hanging out with family. Got to catch a glimpse of a 9/11 memorial, though.

Hard to see from this angle, but there are actually two separate beams of light.

Singapore Day 2: Dinner and a Night Safari!

9/11 in New York: Munching, Museums, Memorials