Not watching the 4th of July Fireworks

Written by Photography, Recipes / Food, Tania

Tania and I started the day off heading to ‘by Chloe’ vegan restaurant by Bleecker St. This place was recommended to me by a friend (who also recommended 3 other vegan spots in the city – which I plan to visit). We really enjoyed it. I got the Whiskey BBQ burger while Tania remained loyal to the vegan guacamole burger (which she also got from Pure Kitchn). Supplemental to the burgers were the air baked sweet potato french fries, and sesame ginger Soba. Both burgers were really good, but the fries were a bit greasy (were they really air baked?). The Soba was also good, but a bit salty. Here’s the address:

by CHLOE.
85 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012
(212) 290-8000

Next up, I wanted to go to B&H to check out the Asus Z Stylus. I had read a lot of reviews about it online and thought it would be a good companion to my Asus Zenpad S8. Of course, there were also other things I wanted to have a look at. I got to try the HTC Vive virtual reality headset demo they have upstairs. It was really really good. A much better experience than I had at the Progressive Motorcycle Show at Jacob Javits Center. I also had a chance to get a look at the new Macbook Pro. I have seen quite a few people carrying it, and thought it looked great. In person though the laptop was heavier than it appeared, and not as dark in color (there is a new Space Gray color).

Lastly, I looked at the Fujifilm X-Pro2. I have always loved the X-Pro1 since it launched back in 2012 and the X-Pro2 is a great successor. The camera feels great in the hands and the advanced hybrid multi viewfinder is just a joy. It allows switching between modes with the flick of your index finder. The images are really good also. I had asked to place my G16’s SD card into the camera to get some sample images. The camera had the 35mm kit lens attached and the quality was very very impressive. It probably is not as good as a DLSR, but much better than my G16. Here were a few shots taken at ISO 2500. The noise levels were much lower than the G16’s and the sharpness is spectacular. The one thing I always disliked about the camera was not being too familiar with its interface. The button layout is not familiar to me, and it took me a while to realize the aperture setting was on the lens and not on the camera body. I love the camera, but don’t think the price justifies an update anytime soon. Maybe in a few years. I had completely forgotten about the stylus I wanted to purchase, but wasn’t very interested after leaving anyway.

After leaving B&H, Tania and I both felt tired. In addition I started to feel dizzy (not sure if it was because of the HTC Vive headset or another reason). We skipped the 4th of July firework display and I fell asleep shortly after arriving home. Hopefully, next year we will make it.