Tag: NYC

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This year will be full of surprises

Chinatown restaurants

The below took place before our cocktail party, as we were planning out what food to have for it.

Sara works with various schools around Manhattan, one of which is in Chinatown, which means that we have a good excuse to eat down there alla time.

Me: I gotta tell you something.
Her: What?
Me: I’ve never been to Wo Hop.
Her: Really?! Me neither, let’s go then!

There are all these really classic dives down there that I’ve gone to like Big Wong‘s and Noodletown – I practically lived there as a teen – but some I’ve missed, like Wo Hop, so off we went.

It’s a NYC institution – if you go to YouTube, you’ll see all these people trying it out.

Now, when I was a kid, the only people that went there were Chinese.

But when we went there, I was literally the only Chinese person (that didn’t work there) there – there were hipsters and all other races, just no Chinese.

Plus, the menu was entirely in English with no pictures, so I had no idea what to order, so I just pointed at three things.

All were carb-y and delicious.


Oddly, later on that week, we went to the local bistro (above a supermarket) and Sara said…

Her: Hey, did you see that they’re selling food from Nom Wah?
Me: Wait, what?

Nom Wah is another Chinatown institution; it’s reportedly the oldest continuingly operating dim sum restaurant in New York City, having opened in 1920.

Sara and I went for a date night there a little over a year ago.

A younger generation of cousins went in and revamped a lot of things to make it more Instagram friendly while keeping the same classic menu and recipes.

Unfortunately, the scuttlebutt is that the cousins had a massive falling out and now the business is in jeopardy, so we’ll see how that plays out.

But, getting back to the bistro, we’d both already had a full meal…

…but I couldn’t say no to some classic Nom Wah dim sum so I ordered some dumplings that were really good, actually.

I told you once years ago that a companion is someone you sit and eat with, and I’m grateful for Sara’s companionship.

I think that’s why I write about food so much – in addition to the fact that, deep down, I’m still a fatty-fat-fat – because food and family are so intertwined.

Shame about Nom Wah and alla that family drama.

Here’s hoping that its got another hundred years in it.

Her: Look how happy you are!
Me: I’m gonna regret this in the morning, but…yeah.

Mood: still potentially sick
Music: nuthin looks better than old school vibe (Spotify)
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A Wedding Cocktail Party

A party in the West Village

Sara and I debated whether or not to do something here in the states to celebrate our marriage.

I felt that heading out to Taiwan and the photographs were enough, but Sara didn’t get to have any of her family around, while I did.

Plus, the ABFF and my friends around the way both felt that we should do something, so we spent a little time looking at places.

But Sara and the Surgeon’s wife got to talking.

Sara: Well, we did Taiwan and really just want to keep things simple.
Her: Let us host it here! We have more than enough space.
Sara: What? We’re talking almost 100 people.
Her: Oh, it’s fine. This place screams “event space.” We’d love to host you.
Sara: Wow! That’s incredibly kind of you to offer! I’d have to talk to Logan…
Her: It’s done! Yay! I love a good party!

Obviously, that was super generous of them and pretty amazing, so we jumped at the offer.

For me, I was happy to let Sara take complete control and just handle everything – her cousin Jen even came a day earlier to help out with everything, which was clutch.

The Surgeon lives in a converted department store in the Village so he’s got like 18-foot ceilings, or something nuts like that, as well as 2,200 SF to work with BUT we still had to be judicious with whom we could invite over.

I ended up not inviting any of my relatives – including my own brother and sister – as (a) I have soooo many of them, (b) I got see some of them in Taiwan.

I figured I would have something separate for them down the road.

Plus, we agreed not to invite anyone that I’d not spoken directly to in over a year as well, with limited exceptions.

This is why Sara and I were out in Queens the other day; we had to buy a ton of liquor for the bartenders that we hired for the party.

On that note, the bartenders were total pros that made three signature cocktails for us to have at the party.

Him: What are you looking for?
Sara: We only have one really hard and fast rule and that’s no tequila or mezcal – long story there.
Him: (laughing) OK, well, what do you want then?
Her: Well, he likes rum and I love prosecco.
Him: Got you. And a colour scheme?
Her: Oh, red would be great! It’s the color of good luck in Chinese culture.

But I was busy too as I also ended up running down to Chinatown that day to grab six pans of delicious dumplings – over 300 of them – while Sara took care of all the other food.

We ordered waaaaaayyy too much food.

The donut tower below was my idea, of course.

No peanut butter or whole wheat, though.

We did have a bit of a scare the week before the party, which was that Sara’s son got the flu, so that meant that my kid and I didn’t see them at all the week before.

She and her son socially distanced for the whole time.

Amazingly, he got better pretty quickly and the rest of us didn’t get sick at all.

Sara: OMG, if I had to miss my own cocktail party, I would cry so hard.
Me: Imagine if we both couldn’t show up!

But we were still stressed out because there was supposed to be a major snowstorm that weekend AND six people cancelled because of the flu, while one couldn’t make it because of a last-minute family emergency.

Still, all-in-all, it went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a grand time.

Really wish I had more time to spend with everyone but, the way these things go, she and I barely had 10 minutes with each guest, but it was nice seeing everyone.

Me: Well, it looks like we’re finally done with wedding stuff.
Her: Yup! Well, ours at least. We still have weddings to go to later on this year.
Me: Is that still happening?
Her: Logan Lo!
Me: Right, right, yay, love…

Location: a locksmith, getting keys for the kids
Mood: potentially sick
Music: I bought a rock, I tied the knot, and I’m making her my wife (Spotify)
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Snowmageddon 2026

A weekend of fam and snow

My brother was in town last week, so it was nice catching up with him for a bit.

I think he comes to NYC partly to see the family and partly to eat pizza.

I was hoping to head over to see my mom and sis while he was here but wasn’t able to swing it.

So, Sara, the kid, and I went to see my mom and sis on our own a week after he left.

We rented a car for the first time in a while, the day before the big snowstorm, but it was a mess.

They took over an hour to get us our electric car, so they gave us a Mercedes – which I had to spend a solid five minutes trying to figure out how to even put the damn thing into drive…

Sara: Oh, did my old man get confused by the new technology?
Me: (grumble)

…but after I drove it off the lot, I realized it only had 31 minutes of charge on it.

Me: I’m sorry, that won’t get us out to Queens.
Lady at the desk: Oh no, no it won’t. We’ll take care of you. Hold on, honey.

They ended up getting us a Kia, which was fine because we just wanted to get going.

Part of the reason we rented a car was to head over to BJ’s Wholesale Club to pick up stuff we needed around the house – we had to borrow my sister’s card for that.

Sara: This is my kinda speed.
Me: The suburbs?
Her: Yep – and I love me a big box store.

After we bought an obscene amount of stuff, we went back to have dinner with my mom and sis.

My sis and her husband were so cool – they actually threw Sara a mini “Welcome to the Family” party, complete with flowers, a massive amount of food…

…(Greek, no less) AND a full homemade pan of keto cake.

Sister: We wanted to give you a warm welcome to the family!
Sara: That’s so sweet of you! I’m so happy to be the newest Lo.

Sara was thrilled, as I was – by both the sentiment and the Greek food.

The other reason I had to head home was that the last few entries I put up made me realize that I was missing a ton of my childhood photos.

So, to this end, I took a HUGE pile of perhaps 12-14 of full photo albums from my mom back to my pad to scan.

It was a little bittersweet because part of the reason I never scanned them before was that mom was loathe to let them go.

But this time, however, she encouraged me to take them. Almost as if she was handing them over to my stewardship.

I’ll end this part here because it’s bumming me out.

Now, the kid was living his best life this past weekend because he had two sleepovers, got to hang out with his cousins, AND had three of his classmates come by for a snowy playdate today.

All-in-all, despite all the snow, it was a pretty good weekend for us.

But, I realize that it was a weekend of horror for many others.

I have a lot of thoughts on what’s been going with the murders of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti, none of it good, but I’m still trying to process it all.

It’s wholly awful and sickening, though.

And I’m waiting for all the Second Amendment people who have been talking for decades about standing up against Federal overreach for years to actually do something but – thus far – it’s been crickets.

The only surprising thing that’s happened is that the NRA has weighed in to demand a thorough investigation.

Somehow, I feel that’s not going to happen.

Location: knee-deep in snow and anger
Mood: insanely upset
Music: I’ve been wronged and you, you don’t know me (Spotify)
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Harry Potter and the Taiwan Bear

Broadway and Chinatown

Her: I got tickets to see Harry Potter on Broadway!
Me: Oh, nice! Who are you going with?
Her: (puzzled) You?
Me: Oh…

I never read any of the Harry Potter books and only saw the first movie with Sara relatively recently last year with the kids.

It was fine but not really my thing.

When the books first came out, I was dating the Reporter at the time and she was super into it, and I tried reading it a few times but just couldn’t get into it.

So, when Sara told me that she got tickets, I was less than enthused.

Still, Sara was really looking forward to it because the actor (Tom Felton) that played the blond kid Draco Malfoy returned to play the same character as an adult.

So, when the day that the play rolled around, I just shut and up went.

It was snowing like mad when we left.

But it was a quick ride and we were there before we knew it.

She told me it won several awards for its special effects and, I gotta say, I was pretty impressed with the show overall.

It was kinda like a play and a magic show rolled up in one.

The story itself wasn’t bad – at all. But the special effects were really impressive.

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Her: So, what did you think?
Me: Honestly? It was pretty good. I’m glad you got the tickets. Thanks!
Her: Sure, thanks for coming.

Afterward, we stepped out to Times Square where I almost lost her as she took a little video.

That’s her in the pink below.

Later on that week, we got a hankering for more Taiwanese food again.

Because the kids were away, we headed to a new – well, new to us – joint downtown called Taiwan Bear House.

It was good but not as good as our usual dive that we loved.

We had decided to do a mini-food crawl so, afterward, we went to get Vietnamese coffee, a bánh mì, and some pho.

The bill was actually cheaper than the listed menu price.

Me: Oh, we got the Chinese discount!
Her: There’s a Chinese discount?
Me: (laughing) Sometimes. This is one of those times.
Her: Sweeeeeet.

We both miss our kids but it’s still nice having some times to ourselves, even if it’s just for a little bit.

Location: Canto in the UWS
Mood: chilly
Music: people need a melody to open their eyes (Spotify)
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All friends are great…

…but your old ones are gold

Her: Logan, congratulations! Are you and Mrs. L free on Dec 13? [We’d] would like to take you out to celebrate.
Me: Hola, and yes, I think so but we’re in Korea ATM and heading to Taiwan tomorrow AM. Back on the 30th. Firm up then?

My friends around the way plus RE Mike and his wife dropped me a line the other day.

I’ve known them all for at least a quarter of a century when they all lived close by.

Said it before that all friends are great, but your old ones are gold.

We actually went to a new Greek restaurant in the neighborhood that I’d not been to yet.

The food was killer and RE Mike, being RE Mike, chatted up the owner, who spent a good deal of time at our table telling us all about everything.

Me: Thanks so much for taking us out, it’s really so nice of you.
Her: We wanted to celebrate you two!
Me: Well, thank you, we’re definitely grateful…and fat.

Later that week, we met up with the ABFF and went to one of her friend’s places for a holiday party.

Someone made some lasagna, which I have a hard time saying no to, and it turned out to be the fella that does The Dad Bod Pod, a podcast that interviews fathers.

Him: Do you want to do an episode?
Me: (shrugging) Sure – I’m not sure what I’d talk about but, I’m game.
Him: OK! You can’t take it back now…

OK, I realize there’s no lasagna in this picture. I forgot to take a picture of it. Just trust me here…

There were a whole buncha kids there and they wanted to head up to the roof so up we went.

The views were pretty killer.

Although I liked one view in particular.

It was a school night, so we ended relatively early.

Like I said, all friends are good, but the old ones are gold.

Firecracker: You have nice friends.
Me: Yeah, I try not to keep the douchebags around.

Location: yet another holiday party, this time with a lava cake
Mood: fat…so fat
Music: I bought a rock, I tied the knot, and I’m making her my wife (Spotify)
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Nightmares and noctambulation

Telling our stories our way

Her: Hey man, so my fiancé’s doing a pop up this coming Thursday at Tiki Chick!
Me: Wha!? Ok! Lemme see if the Firecracker and I can make it

My buddy Katrina hit me up the other day to tell me that her boyfriend fiancé was bartending at my local bar, Tiki Chick.

So, off we went.

This is the Aaaaaaaaah!

He made this drink he called the Aaaaaaaaah! for the Halloween theme of the night and it was honestly delicious – one of the best drinks I’d ever had.

Unfortunately, it was a little sweet, so I only had one.

But we kept getting comped drinks – both by her fiancé and the waiter – that we got pretty snockered.

I also ate a lot, including two chicken sammies and this footlong hotdog with chili and spam.

There’s a lot more that’s been going on but two other things happened, the first of which was that I got my annual flu shot.

Then the Firecracker caught a cold, and I started feeling a bit rough, but I chalked it up to the shot.

Her: Are you blaming me for your cold?
Me: Yes.
Her: That’s fair.

Nope, I got sick as well and had the worst bout of insomnia I’d had for years, coupled with nightmares and noctambulation.

Plus, later on this week, I’m getting a steroid injection into my back, so…unfun.

I’ll tell you more once this brain fog goes away.

Location: bed, sick. Send soup.
Mood: craptastic
Music: We’ll see how far it goes I said (Spotify)
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A shoot, drinks, a pier, and a church

Plus a pitcher of ice

Me: You know what I love most about living in NYC?
Firecracker: What?
Me: It’s like that line in Fools Rush In that I’m always talking about – if you wait around long enough, pretty much the whole world will pass through.

Had an all-day Scenic Fights shoot the other night for a holiday special that we’re doing.

I’m sure you can guess what holiday from the main pic.

Had to cut out of filming at a certain time both to grab my kid as well as to meet an old friend of mine that was visiting from San Francisco.

I first met him about 2004 or so when he needed a place to stay in NYC.

Doesn’t feel like over two decades ago, and yet it was.

At that time, he was dating someone, and he ended up marrying and having two kids with her – both of whom are now in college.

In any case, his oldest is now in NYC – and I think graduating this year – and he and his wife were in town and asked to meet up.

I suggested a buncha places but, because the weather was perfect, I suggested Pier I, and they agreed and met us there.

It was nice catching up with everyone.

Firecracker: We usually have pretty quiet nights.
Me: That’s because of her addiction.
Firecracker: What addiction?!
Me: Big Two – we literally play a few hands almost every night.
Friend’s Wife: OMG, we LOVE Big Two! If we had cards, we could play right now.
Firecracker: I totally would! He’s right, I am addicted.
Me: Plus, I tried to convince her to hustle a buncha old Chinese in Boston.

One little thing that was annoying is that we ordered a pitcher of a mixed drink that – after taxes and tip – cost about $100.

But we were only able to get three drinks outta it.

So, I spoke to the manager who was super nice.

Me: Sorry, I don’t mean to be all Karen about this but…that works out to be about $33.50 per drink. It was like, all ice!
Her: Oh, I would be upset too. Can I mix you three more drinks?
Me: Oh, that’s a lot. I think two would be fair.
Her: (smiling) I’ll mix three, no problem.

So, that was pretty cool.

Afterward, we took mini walk around the hood.

Him: Hey, that’s my old apartment!
Me: Yup. Not much has changed with it in over two decades.

We walked by a church which, I’ll have to tell you about one day because – completely by coincidence – it was a major part of the lecture I gave in France all those years ago because it was involved in a seminal US Supreme Court case.

Anywho, the guy that manages the church is a friend of mine and, without our even asking, he unlocked it and let us marvel at the main rectory.

Afterward, they left and we went back home.

Like I said, if you wait long enough, pretty much the whole world filters through NYC, it seems.

Her: They were nice. And it was so cool that your friend gave us a private tour of the church.
Me: Yeah. I’ve met alotta really cool and nice people all these years. Hopefully, the kid can do the same.

Location: my pad on a zoom with my doc telling me I’ll probably need surgery at some point
Mood: discouraged
Music: knew I could regain my sight, and it feels alright (Spotify)
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Have you ever had mantis shrimp?

That too…

Me: Can I use this picture of you?
Her: What? Why?
Me: Because you look so ridiculous, I wanna put it up.
Her: What? You don’t think I look cute there?
Me: Well, sure, that too…

If you managed to hack into my social media feed, you would find the following types of videos being shown:

    • Videos about food
    • Videos about fighting
    • Videos about wild boar hunting (don’t ask)
    • Videos about mantis shrimp

For the last one, if you don’t know, the mantis shrimp has one of the most powerful punches on the planet, despite their diminutive size.

They can punch with the speed of a 22-caliber bullet and regularly smash aquariums.

Warning, kinda graphic.

Anywho, imagine my surprise when the Surgeon wrote me outta the blue.

Surgeon: I just saw mantis shrimp at a market in sunset park. Haven’t seen those since Vietnam.
Steel: Buy a ton of them and I’ll swing by tomorrow to cook them.
Surgeon: I got six pounds. Those dudes looked at me like I walked out of a UFO. (I’m regularly the only white guy in all of sunset park.)
Me: (laughing)

So, this past weekend, we all went to the Surgeon’s pad and had some.

Steel made a killer herbed butter to cook them…

…and then they prepped them…

…while I held down the rum-drinking portion of things.

They say that it tastes like a mix between shrimp and lobster.

I’d agree with that BUT I feel the texture is a bit softer, which I find slightly off putting but is otherwise, delicious (I prob just need to get used to it).

Afterward, we had some dessert before heading back home.

Unfortunately, there was an uninvited guest on the platform of our train.

Her: Rat aside, tonight was fun.
Me: They’re always a good time. Man, I had a lotta rum.
Her: At least it wasn’t mezcal.
Me: Ugh. Yeah…

Location: home, figuring out middle school stuff…
Mood: overwhelmed
Music: guessing that’s real good news (Spotify)
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The Handsome Mens Club

A new year

Me: When are you two free for the next meeting of the Handsome Mens Club (trademark pending)?
NFL Player: Next week or following week?
Thor: Absolutely.

It’s been a busy week of catching up with people now that school’s back in session.

It’s funny, before I was a parent, my year began in September just because that’s when it began as a kid.

But as a parent, it begins in September again because the kid’s year now begins in September.

And so does the year of all my friends with kids.

Case in point: Met up with Thor and the NFL Player for dinner around the way at a new joint called Sugarfish because they were both back in town from their summer travels.

The food was very good BUT the rice was warm – warmer than body temperature – and I’ve just never had warm sushi rice before.

Very odd.

Also checked out Thor’s new whip that he got just for fun.

Him: (proudly) Zero-to-sixty in less than three seconds.
Me: Jesus.

Then, that weekend, the Firecracker, the kids, and I all went down to the Surgeon’s for a little get-together where we finished an entire bottle of rum…

Me: (to Flutist, the Surgeon’s wife) Your husband almost killed me last time.
Surgeon: That’s why we’ve been drinking rum.
Flutist: It was that bad?
Firecracker: (nodding) Oh, yeah…oh, yeah…

…before we went up to their roof because the weather was just perfect.

Then, the very next morning, bright and early, I went over to Cappy’s like I said in the last entry.

There, I went to his roof and saw more spectacular skylines.

I live in the basement of a townhouse, so my views are of garbage cans and a parking lot.

Maybe someday, I’ll live in a place with gorgeous views.

Actually, nah.

Don’t wanna get spoiled.

Location: NJ, having what I thought was good Italian food. Others disagreed.
Mood: fatty-fat-fat
Music: wanna let you know I’m gonna build castles (Spotify)

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Sunday morning rolling

Plus a, little daydrinking

Him: Tomorrow, come with me to Brooklyn. I’ll get you and we can Uber on me. It starts around 1030-1045AM.
Me: Le what? Lemme talk to my girl about having her watch both kids.

Normally, my weekends are spent shuttling the kid from one thing to another but, because school just started, some days are still up in the air in terms of his schedule.

I’ve been hanging with this other surgeon that lives around me, and he knows that I do some grappling, so he invited me to this little gathering out in Brooklyn for an informal class.

Turned out that it was taught by a guy that my buddy Robinson describes as: “Probably the most knowledgeable (and dangerous) BJJ guy in New York after Jon Calestine and Eddie Cummings.”

Pretty high praise.

So, this past weekend, met up with the Fighter Surgeon and we headed out to the wilds of Brooklyn.

Interestingly, it was right by the old gym I used to head to in Brooklyn for a short stint.

It was actually a lotta fun, despite my back not being the best. Nice being on the mats again.

The instructor showed me some pretty clever tweaks to moves I already knew, which was a plus.

And everyone was very nice and chill.

Afterwards, we went around the corner and had a drink.

Me: Do you have a Michelob Ultra?
Him: God, you are such a woman.
Me: You try looking this good at 52!
Bartender: No, sorry. No light beers.
Me: Then just a rum and diet coke, then. Man, there’s nuthin like alcohol in the morning after violence.

It was a nice little change of pace from my usual quiet Sunday mornings.

Location: the kid’s hot classroom with two cameras
Mood: sweaty
Music: gonna try with a little help from my friends (Spotify)
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