conduit

I'm surprised that it took this long for me to be called back to Houston, and slightly unfortunate that the project I went primarily went down for was put on hold last minute. Since the overall trip was quite last minute, as with al Diagnostics trips, I went with a connecting flight since a direct flight was very expensive. Surprisingly hotel prices were still reasonable.

Flying in winter sucks tho. My departure flight happen to coincide with the first legit snow storm of the season. Amazingly the flight arrived on time, and we even boarded mostly on time. But that was the end of good luck. It took a good half an hour or so before the plane managed to get de-iced, after of which the pilot found some control issues. So back to gate we went, and waited an hour or so for the mechanic to perform some inspections and clear us. Then another plane got stuck on the runway since the small vehicle pulling the plane lost traction, and we had to wait for that to clear before again making our way to the de-icing station and finally to be cleared for take off. Overall we were about 4 hours late.
The 4 hours wouldn't have been awful, except there were no more flights for the day to Houston. So I got stranded and spent the night at the airport hotel, which was rightfully vouchered. What was less acceptable was that no meal voucher was provided, and almost every airport food concession was closed by the time this was all sorted out. Perhaps the only highlight of this inbound flight was a good breakfast croissant sandwich, which is bread-y and with enough heft to support the filling, unlike the usual too delicate croissants.

After finally arriving in Houston, I checked into AC Hotel, which is now my favourite Marriott brand based on aesthetics. My only quip is that the pillows are way too thick and I ended up sleeping without one for my final 2 nights. Also I did not rest well for any night of this trip "orz The best aspect of this hotel is that it's located right across from Finn Hall, which is Houston's equivalent to Assembly Hall.

Now for what I ate:

I was greedy for dinner the first night and got two entrees from Dish Society: steak tacos and seasonal grain bowl. Both are quite good, and Texas-sized portions. I evidently forgot that I can barely finish one portion, and ended up having the grain bowl for breakfast another day.

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Breakfast the next morning was Amaya Coffee, which seems like a beloved local spot according to my limited research. The flat white was good, and the raison roll outstanding. I happen to like more bread-y pastries, but the highlight was properly hydrated raisons.

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Next dinner was at Oddballs, a falafel spot in Finn Hall. I forgot to take cutlery and ended up eating this with my hands, which was a bit of a challenge. The falafels looked brightly green, not sure if it was blended with some herbs? Tasted good but not outstanding.

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Last dinner was from the hotel. I ordered 'roasted salmon with spiced lentil stew", and the only accurate word in that name was the salmon. It was not roasted, but likely poached and had a salt & pepper crust. There was no lentil stew, but a seasoned buttery rice. Despite all that, this was very tasty and I would def order it again.

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Final lunch was at One Flew South, which I finally got to try. Ordered an open meatloaf sandwich and it did not disappoint. The meatloaf was super umami tasting with a light texture. The sauce was quite acidic and offered a good balance with the other heavy elements of this dish. The bread could be improved upon, it could not support the weight of everything on it.