Go see Wicked

I had a great weekend in NY with OB. It started off rocky, with his car breaking down and his car stereo getting stolen, but we finally arrived in NY on Friday night and went to his aunt's house. She was very generous and treated us to dinner and a jazz performance at a BBQ restaurant called Blue Smoke. The BBQ was awesome, much better than Red Bones, and probably the best ribs I've ever had. The jazz was awesome, especially the saxophone solos. We had dessert during the performance, which was also awesome. They made a mint chocolate chip ice cream with real mint flakes in it, delicious!! I think i'll try to make it myself with vanilla ice cream.

Saturday, I hung out with my sister. We went shopping at Jersey Gardens, a real New Jersey mall. Every time I go to a NJ mall, it just reaffirms my belief that malls in NJ are superior. Jersey Gardens is more of an outlet mall though.

After shopping, I rushed back to NY. OB had bought tickets to Wicked the musical. YOU MUST SEE THIS MUSICAL! What an extravaganza. True, I listened to the music and spoiled the plot line for myself, but I enjoyed it immensely. Not only is the music great, but also the production was gorgeous. The ensemble was large, the set was elaborate, the costumes wacky, the acting and singing were great, and the story is fun. We sat in the second row at the far right, so I could see all the actors, but some of the stage was blocked. Still, being up close was cool. I could actually see the singing spit! I think Wicked the musical will be in Boston next Fall, and I highly recommend it if you can't see it on Broadway.

While in NY, I also had some real NY pizza. I really miss it. If you've ever heard my rant about how bad Boston pizza is, you'll understand how special having genuine NY pizza is to me. We went to one of the first pizza chains in NY. The pizza was huge and floppy, just as pizza should be.

Anyway, OB planned even more this weekend. On our way back to Boston, we stopped in Foxboro to see an international soccer exhibition game. It was Milan vs. Chelsea. Chelsea won 1-0. Soccer is such a low scoring game, I was disappointed there was only one, but I still enjoyed it. There was one guy on Chelsea's team #24 who was really little and fast. I was cheering for him. He was so little! So that kept me amused for most of the second half of the game. Also, the crowd was doing waves, but then it kept stopping just to the left of us and I had fun booing them for breaking the wave.