Misc. Eating from Tuesday: All Ubuntu, All the Time

It's true, we're in LA, but I just wanted to write about Tuesday's eating while I wait for the Poland vs. Ecuador game to start. Lots of LA food to talk about later.

Tuesday was an amazing day for Ubuntu Education Fund, so by extension, for me as well. They hosted their largest ever fundraiser at the Puck Building, which was emceed by Kevin Bacon and featured the Archbishop Desmond Tutu as the keynote speaker (Sus and I got our picture taken with him!).

I was asked the previous evening to take Archbishop Tutu's special assistant, the Reverend Keith de Vos, on a tour of NYC on Tuesday. Suffice it to say, I felt honored and accepted, but I was a little nervous that my true spazzy nature would sneak out to say 'hello' to him. I picked him up at his hotel at 10:00A on Tuesday morning where I also made the acquaintance of His Grace, the Archbishop Tutu! For maybe the second or third time in my life, I was nearly speechless, but managed to squeak out what an honor it was to meet him.

The Rev. and I didn't actually have that much time, so we were only able to hit the top of the Empire State Building and the Staten Island Ferry, stopping for a quick lunch in-between. En route from the subway to the ferry, I made us stop at one of those awesome financial district food trucks for a real New Yorky experience, plus we were in a huge hurry. The truck had P.S. Chicken & Rice written on the side. I think it was at the intersection of Pearl and Whitehall, but I can't be certain. Regardless, I LOVED this truck. It was delicious. I had super crispy and non-greasy chicken fingers with french fries and the Rev. had a cheeseburger with french fries and a Coca-Cola. AND we ate it on the ferry! Scarfing NYC street food with a true humanitarian and man of the cloth on the goddamn Staten Island Ferry will go down as one of my favorite memories ever. EVER.

Later that evening was the main event - the fundraiser. I was especially looking forward to it because it was catered by Blue Ribbon, plus I knew that Iman was going to be there (she looked gorgeous by the way, though unfortunately, sans Mr. Bowie). During cocktail hour, in addition to several Bombay & Tonics, I had 6 oysters from the raw bar (from Nova Scotia, did not catch the exact variety), 5 pieces of shrimp cocktail, 1 spinach pie type puff, 2 bites of biltong and 2 cubes of some mellow white cheese (not sure what kind though). I saw some sort of beef skewer circulating, but much to my dismay, I found the servers of them to be utterly elusive. After cocktail hour we moved into the Grand Ballroom for a lovely seated dinner. The first course was a nice mixed green salad with pignoli nuts and dried cranberries. For the main course they served leg of lamb, salmon, a nice selection of mixed vegetables (great zucchini and squash) and some sort of rice, which I of course passed on. Between the salad and dinner service we heard from Archbishop Tutu and I can assure you, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Oh, and the Bacon was great too. Funny and charming. I know, not quite the type of bacon you were looking for - sorry...

Afterward, we went across the street to Puck Fair for some more drinks and then I passed out, feeling rather fortunate that all I had to do the next day was sit on a plane to LAX for five hours. Next entry - Misc. Eating from Wednesday in LA!