Bombay Palace, Washington, D.C.

Had Indian food for dinner tonight at Bombay Palace. It was a "nice" restaurant on the K Street restaurant row, but I wasn't overly impressed with the dishes. It wasn't bad or anything, just not "special," and since they were rather pricey for an Indian restaurant, I think it needs to be special.

Lei Garden, Washington, D.C.

Gung-Hay-Fat-Choy. That means "happy new year" in Chinese. The Chinese New Year started last night, and continues for a week. This is the first time I've lived in a city with a Chinatown and been here for the new year, so I went with a friend to Chinatown last night for dinner at Lei Garden. My friend is from Hong Kong, so I didn't have to do any of the ordering. There was this rapid exchange of conversation with the waiters in rather animated Chinese, and soon dishes began to appear.

Of course, I have no idea what some of the things were we ate, but they were all good. I particularly remember a scallop dish with snow peas and water chestnuts and a beef dish with hot peppers and bits of garlic and scallion mince with virtually no sauce. Another thing was a skewerful of salted, savory shrimp that was pretty tasty. The nice thing about ordering in Chinese, though, is our food was much more authentic, the sauces weren't sweet, and there wasn't much sauce either.

Starbuck's, Albuquerque, NM

I gained a new addiction in Albuquerque. Our first morning there, one of my colleagues picked me up (we were staying at adjacent hotels) and drove us to the meeting site, but along the way we stopped at a Starbucks for a brief meeting with some other people. She's not a coffee person, so I was surprised that she scheduled a meeting at a Starbucks, but once we were there and ordering, she requested something new I'd never heard of before. A Chantico.

Chanticos are new. Chanticos are wonderful. Chanticos are amazing.

It's chocolate. No, not cocoa, but drinking chocolate, steamed to a precise 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Then it's served in a special cup, tinier than the standard Starbuck's espresso single shot cup. One probably wouldn't want much more than this small sample—it's 390 calories as it is—and I'd venture to say that one would most likely die (blissfully, of course) if one were to special order a venti.

Now, I'm not a Starbucks fan. Aside from not really liking their coffees, they are an evil, expansionist, capitalistic empire. But now I have to tolerate them, because they are the only place where I can get my chocolate fix.