Thursday, December 29, 2005

some new year's resolutions

on my drive yesterday, i had time to reflect on the past year and all the changes in my life and what may come in the year ahead. in an effort towards self improvement, i came up with a list of goals for myself for 2006. here it goes:

1. learn (begin to, at least) a new language

2. learn how to salsa

3. learn how to swim properly

4. run another marathon

5. travel to someplace new (S. America, Spain, Vietnam?)

some new year's resolutions

on my drive yesterday, i had time to reflect on the past year and all the changes in my life and what may come in the year ahead. in an effort towards self improvement, i came up with a list of goals for myself for 2006. here it goes:

1. learn (begin to, at least) a new language

2. learn how to salsa

3. learn how to swim properly

4. run another marathon

5. travel to someplace new (S. America, Spain, Vietnam?)

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

home sweet home

it's been a long day and i'm about ready to crash. stayed up last last night chatting with the brother-in-law and sis. didn't go to bed until around 2 am and woke up around 7 am.

i hit the road a little after 9am and met cassanova at a cool art museum on the harbor in baltimore around 1 pm. after a nice lunch, but not nearly enough time to catch up, i was back on the road. stopped in newtown to pick up the roommie and rest up for a bit. had a nice home cooked chinese dinner and it was back on the road again. there was a major bottleneck between jersey and n.y. and we spent what felt like eternity waiting to get through the holland tunnel. actually just to get up to it.




we got to new york before 10 pm and i just finished putting everything away. it's funny how i had four days off of work but feel more exhausted than before i left! sorry for the unexciting
post, i'm simply too tired to come up with something more witty. at least i included cool pictures- V-POWER!!!

Monday, December 26, 2005

traveling during the holidays

sat night i was up until 4 a.m. finishing the scarf i was knitting for my mom and packing my things. my flight was at 8 a.m. at laguardia and i called a car service to pick me up at 6. i decided to take a "nap" for an hour and get up around 5 and finish getting ready. of course i passed out and woke up to hear my phone vibrating on the floor. somehow i managed to turn off or not hear my alarm.

i got dressed and ready in 15 mintues and was out of the apartment by 6:05. i got to laguardia in about 15-20 minutes and was able to check in fairly quickly. just as i was starting to relax and feel i had plenty of time to buy some magazines and a i heart NY shirt for my niece, i saw the line to go through security to get to the gates. it snaked all around the entrance waiting area and outside.

luckily i had over an hour before my flight and got through with twenty minutes to spare. a little after 8, i boarded the plane only to end up sitting on the runway for two hours. the time passed by quickly as i slept straight through the waiting period and the flight.

the rest of the evening was typical for any holiday. lazying around, eating too much, and watching t.v. ahhh, bliss. . .

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

in the middle of last minute packing. mariah carey's "all i want for christmas is you" playing the background.

i'm exhausted but the idea of seeing my precious nephew and niece, the rest of the clan, and a couple old friends is keeping me going. need to finish my mom's christmas present, wrap it, put together a little presentation, and maybe get a few hours of sleep. . i'm going to be plum worn out tomorrow.

last night Q2 and i took jpan out to dinner at the spice market and out dancing at b.o.b. afterwards. it's been a long time since i've enjoyed a girls night out but we had much to celebrate- namely, jpan's engagement. dinner was delicious (although i'm not sure if it lives up to the hype). we shared spicy chicken samosas (yum), a crab noodle salad (so-so), very spicey (read: lots of kim chi) striped sea bass, the most tender spareribs, coconut sticky rice and a very good pinot noir. the restaurant's decor was amazing, very south-east asian.

b.o.b. was great as usual. fabulous music and low-key. it wasn't too busy so we were able to sit and to dance without fighting for elbow room. we all got hit on. . i guess that's what happens when girls go out by themselves. Q2 by a vegan personal trainer. me by an electrician that lives in brooklyn and is from st.croix. jpan by his cousin. . . luckily they weren't pushy, just friendly and making conversation.

the girls crashed at my place and we didn't go to sleep until around 2am. then i woke up around 6:30 to go to work since i had to take public transport (the roomie took the car back to philly). worked from 9:30-2:30. got home and took a short nap and got cleaned up and met R & Q2 for a hearty korean dinner at hanbat. excellent pajun despite having a different consistency/texture than what i'm used to.

anyways, i hope everyone is spending the holidays with loved ones and getting some much needed R&R!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

the kindness of strangers

this morning i was prepared to walk in the bitter cold, over the williamsburg bridge, and attempt to grab a cab once i got to manhattan in order to come into work. i bundled up in layers of clothes and with ipod and new camera in hand, i was out the door.

as i was walking along bedford ave, a woman in a SUV called out to me:

Woman 1: Are you going to Manhattan?

V: Yes

Woman 1: Do you want a ride?

V: Yes!! Thanks so much.

There were two other women in the backseat so I got into the passenger's seat in the front. They all introduced themselves. At first I thought they all knew one another, but after a few minutes of comfortable but superficial conversation I realized we were all strangers. We made small talk about the strike, when it would end, what we all did yesterday in terms of work, etc.
The driver was going to the upper east side, Park and the 50's. The other girls were dropped off on the other side of the Williamsburg bridge and around E 14th & 1st Ave. I was the last drop off and got off at 33rd and walked a few blocks over to Park. So, what I expected to be an hour and a half commute turned into a 45 minute commute.

I was lucky. Another girl that works in the office who lives in Long Island said that it took her over three hours to get home. She was waiting outside Penn Station for an hour and a half just fighting the crowds to get to the LIRR. Guess it's the whole survival instinct surfacing.

Now, I just need to figure out how I'm going to get home. . .

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Strike Halts New York Subways and Buses

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/20cnd-strike.html?hp&ex=1135141200&en=76117d48a59c9e0c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

i guess it's strategic on behalf of the union to strike one week before christmas when everyone would be doing their last minute holiday shopping.

personally i'm not pro- or anti-union but in this case (not because i'm feeling incovenienced) i feel that the union's demands are quite unreasonable. essentially it seems as they want a cut of the momentary surplus that the MTA finds itself with. what they are asking are for permanent increases in wages and improvements in their health care. commonsense will tell you that this will leave the MTA in serious future debt as this year's surplus is transient and is most likely not recurring.

ironically, i think everyone will lose out with the strike. the loss of tax revenue, cost of increased police patrol, loss revenue to businesses, etc will surely outweigh the MTA's surplus. happy holidays, huh?

Monday, December 19, 2005

a little bit of justice

the guy that stole money from D's parents was arrested. the kid was 20 something years old and within a very short amount of time spent 10 G. turns out he had overheard the parents talking about the money that was in the moving truck. luckily or unluckily for the family, by starting the fire to cover his tracks, the kid left enough evidence to lead to his arrest.

the insurance company will cover up to 100G in damages. sadly, there's no way of recovering what was lost- D's mom's wedding dress, photo albums, etc.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

chance meeting

saturday night i found myself waiting for the 1 bronx bound train to go to riverdale. yes, the bronx. over an hour commute from my place. however, it was my turn to visit my middle school friend MF since he's come to williamsburg or met up with me halfway every time we've hung out. plus, he was cooking dinner for me.

i came prepared for the long commute and had my ipod blaring and knitting needles and yarn. before i could knit my first stich, i hear a deep voice yell/ask "V"? i looked up and saw a familiar, slightly aged face that i haven't seen in 6-7 years.

"W?"- i respond. we hugged and spent the trainride catching up on gossip and our lives. we had met in beijing when i was studying abroad there. he had dated a friend of mind and i had dated someone from his school. half british/half american- he ended up back in new york where his mom's side of the family lived. since beijing, he had completed a masters in england and worked at columbia for a while and is now looking for work and planning on pursuing a law degree in the states. he had just moved to riverdale and is living with his girlfriend. i gave him a very shortened version of my saga. it would be nice to expand my social circle and make new friends so i hope we do actually hang out in the future and it's not just one of those polite these you say to someone that you haven't seen in a long time.

these chance meetings with old friends/acquaintances always reminds me how small the world really is. . .

Saturday, December 17, 2005

starting new friendships as a single woman

it's always tricky starting new friendships with guys, especially when you are currently unattached. . . maybe it's the prudish side of me or something. my parents' reminder for me to act dang wang or proper. this is especially true in front of people of the opposite sex. this means- no flirting, talking or laughing too loudly, touching inappropriately, and heaven forbid- drinking more than one alcoholic drink in public!

perhaps this is why i've always been a bit cautious with how i act with guy friends. at least in the beginning of a friendship and particularly if i suspect that a guy might be interested in more than friendship (and i'm not feeling the same way). so while i'm generally an affectionate person, i always try to maintain distance and minimize physical contact until i'm sure the friendship is solid.

you might think this is silly. . .but i've learned from experience. in college i made the mistake of being friendly to a guy that i thought was just a friend. then it got messy because he was interested in more and i wasn't.

so i found myself in one of these beginning stages of a new friendship with a guy and in an awkward moment. we decided to meet up for drinks. as usual, the conversation was nice and i found myself having a good time. we closed the place down and as we said goodbye, there was a slight awkward pause where had it been a date, you would hug or kiss. luckily there was enough distance between us that it would have been too obvious had he made a move.

in retrospect- i wonder if i'm being slightly paranoid/neurotic. i've been in one serious relationship after another for the past 10 years and now as a young, single woman i am finding myself in a lot of new situations. i'm comin to the realization that i am woefully inexperienced with handling weird "dating" situations, flirtatious encounters, and relationships with men. i have a feeling it's going to be an interesting 2006. . .

Friday, December 16, 2005

tragedy

looks like i didn't get my day of R&R like i had hoped yesterday. under the circumstances, i hardly have reason to complain. around 11am my long island boss called to ask if i could work in the afternoon. D had taken the morning off thursday so she could help her parents move (they were moving from long island to new jersey). somehow, the moving van which contained all their possessions was burned in a fire.

it's all pretty shady. somehow the movers had packed one of the drawers up that had around 20G in it. D's mom realized it too late and mentioned this in front of the driver. coincidentally, that same drawer was not damaged in the fire and the money was missing.

of course, D couldn't work because there were fire marshals and police there investigating the scene. looks like i may be helping her sift through all the rubble and see what may be salvageable this weekend. i think her parents are in shell shock. i would be too, to lose everything. i can't imagine, things that you've had for years and with so many memories. my prayers really go out to her family at this time.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

the little differences

living in LA in no way prepared me for life in new york. while LA certainly qualifies as a big city, is is much more like a huge suburb than anything else. you drive everywhere- to the grocery store, to the bank, to the post office, to one end of the parking lot to the other (just kidding, sort of). because space is not at such a premium, and especially as a grad student, you stock up on things out of convenience. target & costco were king and at any given time i would have X number of paper towels, Y boxes of ziplock bags, and Z rolls of TP.

so i've adapted. (my roommate looked at me like i was crazy when i loaded up the cart with various paper products when we went to target for the first time) i only get items i need for that night or week from the grocery store, i no longer stock up on toiletries, and my fridge actually gets empty.

now with the winter settling in, running errands is unpleasant. luckily, everything in new york- and the US in general- has been evolving to deal with that. you can get groceries or any type of take out delivered to you at any time of day. there are laundromats that you can drop off and pick up your laundry. (my friend's cleaner in the bronx actually picks up his laundry and returns it to his address) it's quite amazing. . so today while i'm recovering from my cold, i will stay inside. watch "city of god" which i got in the mail via Netflix (love them!), do my christmas shopping online, and catch up on various projects i have going on the side.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

psycho-analysis at work

my boss is a character. usually he listens as D and i chat away about boys, life, etc. occasionally, he likes to say outrageous things and waits for our response.

example 1. v will be a mean step mother.

example 2. d will become a bitter woman and be an even meaner step mother than v.

of course these statements require a lot of assumptions. namely that i will get married, have children, and my children will be married. there are generally no explanations for his predictions, just a laugh and twinkle in his eye.

tuesday morning when we were all busy with various tasks: cleaning flowers, arranging flowers, and putting together fruit baskets, the boss actually made quite an insightful statement. my co-worker D is a wonderful girl. laid back, out-going, cute, and generous. despite her many wonderful qualities, she always ends up with guys that are jerks or don't treat her well.

for instance, D had gone out this past weekend with some guys, one of which was married. although she made it clear to him that they were only friends, the guy ended up getting angry that she wasn't giving him enough attention and winded up leaving her at some random bar in manattan during the wee hours of the morning. clearly, a d**k move.

the boss's observation was that D somehow gave men the impression that she is a casual, fun girl and that's why they don't take her seriously or treat her better. that leads me to the question, what makes one girl seem like a serious girl and another like a fun girl? is this the equivalent to guys being "just friends" material or "more than friends" material? another interesting comment raised by the boss is that women are silly by making such a clear distinction between friendship and boy/girlfriend relationships. he says that for men, those relationships are not two distinct points but lie on a continuum. hmm, still mulling over it. . .

Sunday, December 11, 2005

one of those days

ended up going out last night afterall. anthropology christmas party with the roomie. was fun & mellow. only bump in the evening was trying to find the place! it was in the stuversant apartments.

this morning got a late start. had brunch with the roomie at the williamsburg cafe. i've been meaning to try the place as it has good reviews on citysearch. was pleased with the brunch (esp the free bloody mary's!). i ordered cheese grits with chicken sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns. the hashbrowns were very fine but quite tasty. the bacon was perfectly cooked, packing a good crunch without being burnt! and how can cheese grits ever be bad? it was so rich i was only able to eat half, if that much!

then i was off to get my haircut in manhattan. a great place called the little hair shoppe. unfortunately it was a slightly rushed job. the earlier appointment ran over and i was supposed to meet Q2 at 4pm to see memoirs of a geisha. . only after rushing out of the salon at quarter til, i got the text from Q2 saying the 4pm showing was sold out and she got tix for the 6:40pm showing instead. . . i didn't really feel like staying out too late so i decided to go see the movie another night.

on my way to the subway, i decided to go to chinatown to do some grocery store shopping. got some baby bok choy, ginger, garlic, green onions, & asian pears. i walked into a vietnamese grocery store hoping to stock up on some frozen dumplings and canned goods but found out they only take cash and i was down to about $5. so instead i picked up a packet of chinese sausage and dried pork and headed home.

unfortunaetly, i wasn't paying attention and missed my stop a couple times. by the time i was home, i was cold, my feet hurt (breaking in my new boots), and my nose was running like crazy. . not a pretty sight. i spent the rest of the night cleaning up the apartment and knitting.

this next week promises to be busy. a close girl friend is visiting her family in long island so we're doing the sleepover thing tomorrow, wed dinner in UES, thur dinner in Willie-B or LES, sat dinner in UWS, and sunday hopefully will be dim sum. . lots of good eating. can't wait til i get over this cold, will (hopefully) start running again no matter how early i have to get up to do it or how cold it is.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

recent work

a few arrangements i've worked on the past couple weeks.




recent work

view outside

brrr. it's cold out. coming down with something. thing i'll stay in tonight. again.


view outside

Friday, December 09, 2005

girls night out

went to chibitini in the LES with VK last night. we made sure to get there for the happy hour- 2 for 1 cocktails. it is a tiny place, very quaint and there is a little, friendly pug-nosed dog that runs around. the entire night (we were the first and last customers to leave), there were only three parties! don't know how the place manages to stay open.

we ordered a bunch of appetizers and dumplings and had a couple cocktails each. the chibitini is suprisingly, deceptively strong. (read: i fell asleep with my light on last night and am not feeling so hot this morning) overall, the restaurant was fun and the food was good. my complaint is that we were overcharged for drinks.

towards the end of our meal- one of the other customers started talking to us. i guess he just moved to rivington from canal street. friendly guy. seems well traveled. just grabbing a quick meal before his blind date set up by a friend. the whole dating thing seems strange. especially in new york where you would expect it would be easy to meet people but it's just like any other city where everyone is doing there own thing and stuck in a the same old social circles.

there are so many events that are catered to people just trying to connect with another person. speed dating, wine tasting for singles, online dating, match.com, etc etc. it just seems a bit too coerced. then again, i've been lucky and have been able to meet people in school/academic settings which is a bit easier. . you already have a lot of information about the other person and there are more opportunities to hang out. i guess this is what all my formerly single girlfriends were complaining about post-college!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

new temp job

last week i started working at a start-up PR firm. it's been pretty interesting although i've been mostly doing administrative stuff. there are only 3 full-time employees at the ny branch, the president of the company, the director, and a senior account exec. there is also a california and two china branches. half of the company's clients are chinese firms and the rest are american firms.

the president started the company after her previous firm got bought out. although the company is less than a year old, it seems quite promising. they have some big name clients and seem to be growing quite a bit. right now they are subleasing space in a recruiting office which makes for an interesting set-up. i share an office with the president. . which has its perks (window view, big office) and downsides (i share an office with the president and can't really take a break). thank goodness they will be moving offices in march!

there is potential for a permanent position and expanding more into managing accounts. i'm not sure if that's the path i want to go. but luckily the president is fine with giving me time to decide what i want to do and also with seeing how the company grows and their needs change.

there was a period in college when i was interested in PR jobs so it's great being able to try it out and see if i actually like it.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

work is wearing me out

my posts have gotten less and less frequent. . . will make amends to be better about updating.

working 2 part-time jobs is wearing me out. . don't know how my friend/co-worker at the flower shop manages to work every day of the week!!! by the time i get home, all i have energy to do is eat and curl into bed!!

that's exactly what i did monday night. i had woken up early to move the car before street cleaning and drive to long island for work. i got up around 6:30 a.m. at work i was clumsier than usual, probably lack of coffee didn't help. i really need to get a travel mug so i can get my two doses of caffeine in! in any case, i went to bed at 10 pm. i can't remember the last time i've been to bed so early.

tuesday i was worried about the snow. so i left for work very early. too early it seems. . the snow that promised to be 6 inches and leave the roads slippery and treacherous was more like a light dusting. . in any case, i got to work an hour and a half early and used the time to make phone calls and knit.

last night i spent a good part of the evening putting up framed pictures that i got from IKEA (the frames not the pics). my room is almost complete. . i'll take photos soon and post. the roomie's room is looking much homier now too.

ok, it's 9am i should start working. post more later.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Cooking Club

Ever since moving to New York, I had planned on starting a cooking club. After feeling a bit more settled, I decided to make a go of it and sent an email out to all my old friends and a handful of new ones that live in the New York vicinity.

The premise of the club sounded simple. Ideally, a group of 8-10 of us would meet once a month. A different host would be selected for every month and the cooking club would meet at that host’s apartment. The host is responsible for coming up with a theme, find recipes, and setting up and cleaning up after the event. Everyone else cooks and buys ingredients.

Responses trickled in slowly, but a few days before the first meeting, it seemed as though there would be a good group of 8-9 people. As host of the first cooking club meeting, I decided to go for a Latin American theme- Peruvian ceviche, Argentinian empanadas, Leche Asada, and mojitos.

As the day wore on, and battling exhaustion (my fault, I stayed out drinking with friends til 2:30 a.m.) and frustration at work, my excitement about the cooking club began to wear thin. Also, four people backed out at the last minute and there were two unexpected (but welcome) arrivals, and two unexpected (not so welcome) guests came. Of course I was panicking because there would be less food. On my way home I stopped to buy ingredients for mojitos and picked up some Mexican pastries, chips, and salsa.

Of course in the end it worked out. Somehow there was just enough food for everyone to eat. The empanadas were delicious and I plan to try some variations on it with different fillings. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but it felt much more like any other party rather than a cooking club. Guess I’ll have to re-think the design, maybe fewer people and closer friends?

Monday, November 28, 2005

christmas decorating

Today the boss put me in charge of re-decorating the store for Christmas. So essentially, D and I spent the entire day cleaning, reorganizing, and decorating the store window. We ransacked the boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations, ribbons, greenery, and etc leftover from the previous owner. After wading through some truly terrible stuff, we were able to scrounge up some nice wreaths, ornaments, berries, etc and began to make some decorations from scratch.
It was basically a craft day and tons of fun! So of course the day just flew by. I guess the couple days following Thanksgiving are slow so the boss let us decorate to our hearts delight. There’s still some finishing touches left, putting the lights up, etc, but I must say the store window looks quite nice.

After a nice meal of leftovers (ahh, great thing about Turkey Day), finding a restaurant to go to Wednesday night with a college friend, and cleaning up the kitchen, I’m about ready to crash!! I still have some emails (A.H., wonderful to hear from you and I miss you too- expect a nice long email your way!) and internet research to do, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow night or Wed when I'm better rested.

Another Lazy Sunday

After the group dispersed, I cleaned up and started to watch “Saving Face”. A movie about an Asian American doctor who lives in New York and hides the fact that she is a lesbian from her mother. Her mother, played by a still beautiful Joan Chen, becomes pregnant out of wedlock and therefore a disgrace to her father. She moved in with her daughter who has recently become involved with a ballet/modern dancer. Despite being a very good movie, and probably aided by the mulled wine, I fell asleep midway through.

I woke up this morning around 10 and finished watching it. Then I picked up my laundry, moved the roomie’s car to the other side of the street, and spent some time putting clothes away and organizing. I went for a run at McCarren park and by the time I was done it was already close to 3 p.m. My plans to go to the NY Public Library out the window, I decided to call up a friend to catch a movie.

We met up around 5pm and walked around Times Square, Bryant Park, etc. Stopped and bought a sandwich for the friend at Kosher Delight where I got an unexpected phone call from a friend. Turns out JPan is engaged!!!! I have never heard her sound so happy and excited!! Which makes me happy and excited! Congratulations Xiao Pang and JPan!!!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

A Smok’n Thanksgiving Pot-luck

So my new resolution is to make sure I buy groceries for a dinner party in advance!! I have never felt so flustered when preparing for a party. . .

I had originally planned to head back to Brooklyn on Friday morning after doing laundry. . .but being in the suburbs in a spacious home, comfy sofas, and hundreds of channels on t.v. sidetracked me. The roomie and I spent the better part of the morning finishing laundry and decided to try Geno’s cheesesteaks and hit up IKEA.

Sidenote: It really is a toss up between Pat’s and Geno’s as far as who has the best cheese steaks. The meat is in slices rather than shredded at Geno’s and the bread is better, but my provolone wasn’t fully melted, the onions were undercooked, and the cheese fries were not as good (although still quite good). To top it off, I overdid it with the hot sauce (which is the best hot sauce I’ve had, quite spicy and flavorful and packs a punch) so I couldn’t get a real taste of the meat.

In any case, I didn’t get back to Manhattan until around 9:30 p.m. and I was just too tired/lazy to go to Whole Foods. I woke up early and was at Whole Foods by 10 a.m. I was put in a state of mild panic when I found that they were out of oysters and duck breasts. So after getting some wild mushrooms and chives from the farmer’s market at Union Square, I high tailed it to Dean & Deluca’s. I talked to the guy working the seafood counter (great South African accent), and he told me that they had gone through bottles and bottles of shucked oysters but they were all sold out. After a bit of negotiating, he offered to shuck a little under a pound of oysters for me but it would take a couple of hours. I looked at my watch and it was already 11 a.m. and the dinner party was supposed to start at 5pm. Guessing that the situation would be the same at other grocery stores, I agreed. Luckily, they had the duck breasts too and I was able to get the majority of the other ingredients there.

I was out the door around 1pm and stopped at a local deli-mart to get flowers, a loaf of bread, before hitting the wine shop for a bottle of cooking wine and burgundy for mulled wine. I awkwardly lugged up my bulky bags up four flights of stairs and was in my apartment cooking by 1:30. As I was frantically chopping vegetables and preparing ingredients, I glanced at the clock and began to worry that I would not be finished cooking and tidying up the apartment by 5pm.

I called Q2 and pondered about whether I should postpone the pot-luck until 6pm. . She reasoned that most people would be late and no one would mind if things didn’t start on time. By 4 pm, I was in a groove and had time to clean up the apartment and myself.

There was a slight miscalculation with the duck recipe. I had doubled the recipe and the cooking time suggested was clearly not long enough (8 minutes on the stove was supposed to get the duck medium rare but it looked rare to me). Following the recipe, I put the sautéed mushrooms in a large dish and cut the duck in slices and placed it on top. Then I put the plate in the oven so the duck could cook some more. . unfortunately, fat drippings from the duck flowed down to the bottom of the oven and the entire apartment got smoky. Luckily Chan came to the rescue and cleaned it up and we opened up all the windows to air out the apartment.

Despite not being ready quite on time, the oyster leek stuffing and duck with wild mushrooms in a fig-red wine reduction came out okay (slightly overdone perhaps, but it’s my first time cooking duck), and the mulled wine was a hit with both the ladies and men.

After several rounds of mafia/cops/civilians we all called it a drunken night. As usual, a great low-key evening (except for self-inflicted stress). . .but I learned my lesson and will make sure to have all the ingredients bought in advance!

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Lazy Sunday

The party wiped me out. I didn’t get back home until 3:30 a.m. and slept until noon!! For those that know me well, that is pretty unheard of!

Roomie and I went to Teddy’s for brunch and then RMA, a Buddhist art museum around Chelsea. The presentation was excellent and the art work was quite amazing. The museum was also pretty interactive with thorough descriptions and live music. Quite nice and I think I’ll start making a bigger effort to visit the art galleries, museums, and performances that NYC has to offer.

After debating what we were going to do for dinner- usual conversation goes something like this:

Roomie: Do you want to cook, or eat out?

Me: I don’t care either way. What do you want to do?

Roomie: I don’t know. Where would you want to eat out if we eat out?

Me: I’m craving Asian. What about dumplings or something?

Roomie: You always crave Asian- sushi, Vietnamese, Chinese- It is probably cheaper to eat in.

Me: Well, let’s eat in then. We should probably have to go to the grocery store then.

Roomie: What are we going to make?

Me: I have to think about it. There’s frozen chicken and fish but we probably have to stop and buy some more things.

Roomie: Do you want to eat out or make something at home?

Me: I don’t’ care.

So after circling around the issue for a few minutes, we decided to go to Planet Thai since I’d never been there and just feeling to lazy to cook (yes, it happens from time to time). I had the spicy noodles, not bad, but probably not as good as the Sea’s drunken noodles. In any case, I’m glad I finally had the chance to go and see how it compared.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

One Hour Commute- Woo Hoo!!!

My roomie let me borrow his car to drive to Huntington today for work. . .I was nervous about driving in New York but since I wasn’t driving in the city and it was all mostly highway driving and suburbs so it was completely manageable. It took me just under an hour to get there!!! Far better than the usual 2.5 hours it takes me through mass transit. . of course, traffic was less congested since it was a weekend.

I was in much better spirits and much less tired by the end of the workday. Work was slow so I ended up washing buckets and sweeping a lot. Pretty uneventful.

I got home from work around 4pm and lazed around a bit before cooking dinner. Around 8pm I headed out to meet some friends to go to a party in the Upper West Side. We stopped for a couple drinks at the Dive Bar (I thought it was kind of amusing that the name of the restaurant was actually called “dive bar” but I guess there was some sort of nautical theme going on. The party was fun. The crowd was mostly anthropologists (99.99%) but luckily I knew a few people there already and so I wasn’t too far out of my element. I guess at the end of the day, once everyone starts drinking, it doesn’t matter too much.

Blistering Cold

Today I temped at Marie Claire. The work was pretty mindless- as temp work seems to go- but it was fun just being able to work at a fashion magazine. Not surprisingly the majority of the staff was female, casually dressed in jeans and cute tops. Essentially my job was to prepare the December magazine mailings to Marie Claire’s agents and clients. This means I went through and bookmarked all the ads for each client/agent. Pretty time consuming, but a smart business-sales move.

After work, I went back to Willie-B to get dressed up for dinner. Q2 and some friends and I were meeting up at the Bridge Café at the South Street Seaport for dinner. I took the train to the Brooklyn Bridge stop. Unfortunately, I had decided to wear a cute dress and heels. . but the walk was long and bitterly cold and by the end of the 45 minutes it took me (very high heels, I might add) to get to the restaurant, I was cursing up a storm and angry at myself.

But once I got inside the restaurant, had a drink to warm me up, and was in the company of good friends I was fine. I can already tell though that it’s going to take a lot of willpower to get myself to go out when the weather gets even colder!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

day off

Haven’t heard from the temp agency so it looks like I’ll have another day off. . not that I mind. Yesterday I was able to go for a nice 5 mile run and enjoy the weather! Went to C-town with Mikey and got some groceries and just hung out.

I’m cooking dinner for a couple of friends tonight. I had four different menus planned out and had to get VK (and the grocery store’s selection) narrow things down for me a bit. . I’ll be making:

Spinach and pear salad

Mussels and Shallots in a White Wine Sauce

Garlic Fries

Grilled Asparagus in a Balsamic Sauce
I’m always a little nervous cooking for someone for the first time so I like to make at least one dish that I’ve prepared before. Since I normally don’t cook elaborate meals for myself, this makes the rate of trying new recipes a little slow. . Luckily, Thanksgiving is around the corner so I’ll have a chance to experiment a little more!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

*this* close to quitting

i had a bad day at work yesterday. very bad. when i walked into the florist, i immediately sensed that something was wrong. then D pulled me to the side and whispered that the store manager had been fired that morning. as my boss re-told the story an hour later, the store manager – A - had an attitude problem so he had told her to take a month off and he’d probably re-hire her then.

mondays are normally busy days because that’s when the big flower orders are delivered. on top of that, there were quite a few orders and funeral arrangements. . without the store manager, the most experienced/talented/capable floral designer at the florist, it made for a very busy day. in the end, the owner ended up rolling up his sleeves and doing his share of the arranging and he was able to get another floral designer to come in after hours to take care of the more elaborate funeral arrangements.

during the day, more of the details of A’s firing came out. i guess A was going through a tough break up and was allowing that to affect her performance at work. moreover she was slacking on the job. the owner thought A had poor work ethics, treated the driver badly, and had a dark side. turns out the owner had planned on hiring another part-timer to help during the holiday seasons and to work on saturdays. . somehow it was believed that A had told the woman that there was no need for her to come in afterall.

D and i were on edge the entire day. . trying not to be too loud or annoy the owner too much. to top off all that mess, when i got to the train station, i found out that all trains headed east and westbound to penn station were not working because there were fires. . around 8:30 p.m. the trains were working again and i was able to catch a train around 9:33 and get back home around 11:30.

i guess this is the first time in my life where i have not had a car and had to rely on public transportation. . and i found myself really disliking the feeling of having to rely on other people for help. . .in any case, during my wait for the train and on that train ride home, i was really hating the commute from brooklyn to long island and thinking of quitting and finding a florist closer to home to work at.

but after getting some rest and realizing that i am learning a lot and i like the work environment and the owner’s work philosophy and vision, i decided to wait things out. doesn’t mean i won’t keep my eyes open for other positions though. . .

Friday, November 11, 2005

Dumplings and Data Work

Just got back from having dumplings with R in C-town followed by delicious tiramisu in Little Italy . . . can I say again just how much I love NYC? Anyways, the Shanghainese soup dumplings hit the spot!! Also got some pan-friend ones and a side of greens stirfried in a garlicky sauce! Decided to call it an early night since I have data work I promised my boss and which I’ve been procrastinating with!

Very excited about Eddie *one of my best male friends* visiting this weekend!! He arrives tomorrow around 3pm and I was able to arrange it so I can get off work at 4 p.m. and meet him in Willie-B. Should be a fun weekend with lots of good eating (of course)!

The Schedule:

Friday- Brooklyn Brewery for pre-dinner drinking and catching up
Dinner at the Sea Thai Bistro
Bar Hopping

Saturday- Bus Tour of Manhattan and wandering the streets
Brunch at Essex or Lunch at Momofuku
Tapas Dinner at Pintxos
(More drinking?)

So will update you on the weekend festivities next week. Now I'm off to do my data work!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

(almost) too exhausted to blog

So I have a new work schedule that is leaving me exhausted!!! On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays I commute 2 hours each way to Long Island to work at the florist. Wednesdays through Fridays I do as much temping as possible.

Thus far, I’ve loved working at the florist. The people that work there are really nice and fun and the work environment, though I’m sure can get quite hectic and stressful, is pretty laid back and casual. On Monday, the store manager showed me the basics on plant/flower care, upkeep of the shop, etc. On Tuesday, I was able to even do my first flower arrangement in a basket. It’s not much, but I had a wonderful time doing it and the owner liked it because it’s non-traditional.



Luckily both days were relatively slow so there was more time to train me. Nevertheless, because I spend 8 hours on my feet and then 4 hours on public transport, by the time I get home, I’m just starving and plum work out. Luckily on Monday the roommie helped me cook dinner. . but Tuesday was a sad day when I just ate white rice with dried pork and some cheese left over from the party.

Perhaps taking pity on my long commutes, the owner drove me to the train station on Monday and picked me up from it Tuesday morning. He was generous enough to drive me all the way to the LES Tuesday night after the store closed early. As usual, we had interesting conversations. On Tuesday morning he grilled me on what my weaknesses were. I didn’t have a ready response- left me thinking about it for the rest of the day. Then we talked about politics and animosity between the Japanese and Chinese. He’s Japanese married to a Chinese woman so it was interesting to hear about his personal experience with discrimination. We also talked about business, how women are more attractive after age 30 (supposedly then they are worthwhile to talk to? Less shallow ), about principles, etc. Definitely a hell of a lot more interesting than riding the train/subway by myself zoning out to my iPod.

Wednesday was a mindless day of helping the real estate investment company prepare for a mass mailing. Today and tomorrow will be more of the same. Mostly I just go into autopilot, which is good because lately I’ve been sleep deprived and my brain hasn’t been functioning as well.

After work I’ll grab some pan-fried dumplings with R and possibly drinks with an old college friend, her husband, and his law school friends.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Busy Weekend

Saturday night Q2 and I threw a wine and cheese tasting party at my apartment. I spent the majority of the day getting ready for the party- picked up candles from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, bought mini pumpkins, decorative corn, crab apples, and mini pears from the farmer’s market, and hit the grocery store.

The roomie and I cleaned up the apartment and re-arranged the furniture to create a more lounge-y type space. Then I spent the better part of the day cleaning and arranging fruit, making swiss cheese bread and shrimp wrapped with prosciutto and zucchini skewers.




Q2, her boy, and his friends came over a little after 4 to help with the set-up. B did an excellent job with the cheese tray and the apartment looked great with the dozens of tealights scattered around the apartment. The turnout was pretty decent, over 20 people stuffed into the kitchen and living room. All the makings of a nice party: lots of good wine, conversation, and food. . . It was great to see some old friends again and make some new ones.

Luckily, Sunday was a lazy day. Got up late-ish and went to Teddy’s for brunch with the roomie. They have the *best* bloody mary’s by the way. Yummy breakfast of pork sausage and baked cheese grits- great hangover food but left me feeling sluggish the rest of the day. Then we walked a block over to watch the trail end of the marathon. Made me realize how much I miss training and cemented my desire to run the NY Marathon in the near future.

The rest of the afternoon I whiled away surfing the net, editing a CV, and IM’ing with friends. My roomie joked that we’ve managed to replace the t.v. with our laptops. . kinda sad but true. . .

Friday, November 04, 2005

First Day of Temping

So it’s only 11 pm and I’m exhausted! I had my first ever temp job today, essentially what amounted to a data entry/internet research job. Mindless typing for 8 hours straight!!! But hey, money is money, right?

After work, btw, it did feel good to be working again, I met up with VK in Brooklyn for dinner. . went to Tacu Tacu which I expected to be a Mexican or Latin American restaurant but winded up being some sort of strange Latin American/Asian fusion. . the dishes were hit or miss. VK’s Saigon Salmon was pretty tasty but my red snapper was not so great. Kind of disappointing. But I guess the only way to discover good restaurants is through trial and error.

Tomorrow will be temping again at the same place. Hopefully I canl finish the job that I started on today. It isn’t too bad really, easy mindless work, I just let my mind coast while I was typing away. . . But it would be really sad to have a job like that for life. . ugh. . but it’s a means to an end.

A reader asked what I’m doing with my life. . afterall, I was on the path to a phD in Economics and now I’m talking about floral design jobs and temping!! Well, I decided that at the end of the day and personally speaking, it’s important for me to find a career that I look forward to every day and that I’m passionate about. . and honestly, I just couldn’t see that happening with my previous career path. Now, I’m just trying to find and pursue my passion. And while it’s not always glamorous or fun and sometimes it’s damn scary, I’m so much happier now that I have been in the past three years.

I’ve gotten a lot of comments about how brave (or crazy) my life changes have been, but really I’ve just been following my heart and instincts. Simply I wasn’t happen with where my life was going and I realized that all I had to do to change it was to just go for it.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

scary movie

Last night the roomie and I went to the Halloween Parade in the village. We left the apartment a little before 8 pm and walked around a bit until we found some wooden street dividers. A bunch of people were already standing on top of them but I was able to sneak my way onto the edge of one (good thing I’m small!).

From there, I was able to get a pretty good view of the parade. . it was the most amazing parade I’ve ever seen. There was a great vibe in the air, 90% of the onlookers were dressed up in various costumes, and the parade seemed to go on and on. In addition to the normal slutty (put whatever character/career that you can think of) costumes there were some imaginative ones as well. My favorite was probably the Mona Lisa with frame and everything.

After watching for an hour, we decided to head back to Williamsburg and rent a movie. For those that know me well, I can be indecisive at times (I like to think of it as being laid back) but paired with my equally indecisive roommate, it took us over half an hour to pick a movie. We ended up watching Ringu which was pretty good. I will be the first one to admit that I am a scaredy cat so needless to say, watching horror movies is a rare occasion for me.
This morning, I went to another temp agency and went through the whole testing/interview process again. . hopefully something will turn up soon. The rest of the afternoon I’ll be surfing the net for jobs, making a menu for dinner I’m cooking for George and the roomie tomorrow night, and maybe making a quick trip to Tops.

happy halloween

I was able to drag my butt kinda late out of bed Saturday morning. I went into the city to get the remaining parts of my costume- black gloves and some black plastic bracelets. I found them at Claire’s near Union Square.

By the time I got back to my apartment, it was time to start getting ready. I turned on my i-tunes and started blasting the Immaculate Conception to get into character. Did the smoky eye, red lips, drew a mole above my lips. After pinning my hair up in braids, I put the rest of my costume in a bag and headed over to Q2’s. I finished getting dressed there and then it was time to meet up with the rest of the group for dinner at Havana.



It was a large group of people, around 20, turns out it was a half Halloween half birthday celebration for T’s cousin. A young group averaging in at 24, I had difficulty relating to most of them. . . but I threw back some mojitos and did my best to make small talk. Dinner was decent, certainly not the best or most authentic Cuban food I have had. . but it was in a convenient location. Perhaps because of the long wait for the food, the relaxing music, and too heavy food I was feeling more ready for a nap than to go party it up.

Nonetheless, after finishing up dinner, we braved the blistering cold and headed to Roseland. Once we were finally let inside, it was incredible, certainly the most Asian people I’ve ever seen dressed up in various costumes. . of course, most of the girls went as “sexy” versions of everything under the sun and guys had a pretty typical array of costumes. . perhaps the most memorable was the delivery guy with a package literally attached to the front of his pants. . got a good chuckle over that.

The music eventually got better and our group started dancing. But by 1 a.m., Q2 and I were ready to call it a night. All in all, a fun Halloween, but I must say the process of getting in costume and the anticipation of the party was better than the actual thing. Maybe I’m too old for this sorta thing afterall.
madonna

Friday, October 28, 2005

career blazers

After a week of dragging my feet, I finally went to a temp agency. Career Blazers is on 5th Avenue, close to Bryant Park.

I arrived a few minutes early for my interview and started filling out paperwork. Next was a series of tests, primarily basic computer skills and typing. . .turns out I can type at 80 WPM (84 with mistakes), guess that that typing class in high school really paid off, and overall I scored above the 90th percentile for all the tests.

Then it was time to meet with Gallo. Rather than an interview, she primarily asked me questions regarding what I was looking for work-wise, what my flexibility was, and what other skills I have. Perhaps it was her job to be, but she seemed fairly optimistic that I would be able to find something quickly and easily. I explained that I was in transition from school to work and was open towards working in different industries and jobs. She mentioned temp work for Toyota, note-taking for focus groups, and some publishing houses.

At this point, I just need to start making money and feel productive again.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

more birthday celebrations

Last night I had a bigger birthday celebration. I met up with VK for drinks at Bua, a really chill bar, completely unpretentious and a great place to grab a drink or two. Then, we met up with the rest of the group at Hip Hop Chow for dinner. It’s a funky place that mixes Chinatown tackiness, a hip vibe, and good ol soul food.

http://www.hiphopchow.com/

Being unabashedly from the south, I was delighted to find a place in New York where I can get my fix of fried chicken, collard greens, mac n cheese, and cornbread. It was all quite delicious and I’m making plans to try some of the soul restaurants in Harlem too.

After dinner, four of us headed to bOb on Eldridge for a bit of dancing. . . it started off being pretty empty but after an hour or so the place livened up. The venue was pretty small and intimate and I had lots of fun dancing to decent hip hop music.

1st Birthday in New York

Today was a beautiful day. One of my dearest friends from LA came to visit me. She got to my place around 11 p.m. Monday night and is staying until Wednesday morning. It is nice to have some “girl time” and we did just that, staying up til the wee hours catching up on one another’s lives, clothing and earring shopping, etc.

Tuesday, we spent the majority of the afternoon at Century 21 and I scored on a piece for my “Madonna” Halloween costume and some cool jeans, cords, and turtleneck. The cashier double-charged me for an item which I didn’t discover until we had made it to the subway station. But in the end I was able to get my refund and conflict was avoided. Next we stopped at a cozy, café with a fireplace to have coffee with my friend’s younger sister. After chatting for an hour or two, we made our way to West 4th street and did some earring shopping. Happened across a great boutique called Jungle Planet where they have some beautiful and unique jewelry. The owner who is from South Africa was fabulous and made the shopping experience quite enjoyable.

Around 7pm, we met up with the roomie at Momofuku for some ramen which was followed by dessert at a nearby Italian restaurant. . .during dinner, my friend asked me what was my favorite birthday. And I honestly answered tonight. I was surrounded by friends, my day was peppered with emails, texts, and phone calls, and I simply felt loved. Really, what more can a girl ask for?? So thanks everyone for remembering and making me feel blessed!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

long commute

I had my first job interview since moving to New York this afternoon. The position was for an entry level floral designer at a small, recently opened florist in Huntington, Long Island. I took the L to 8 ave, transferred to the A, C, E to Penn Station. There, I bought a ticket on the Long Island Railway and got a ticket to Huntington. From the train station it was a good 30 minute walk to the florist. Altogether, the commute was almost 2 hours.

Interestingly, the owner is a scientist by training and had previously held an academic job then later and an industry job. It was more like a conversation than an interview. We talked about my reasons for entering and leaving graduate school, my career plans, and what I hoped to get out of the job. Recently, the owner decided to open up a floral shop that was like none other. That is one that encourages its florists to create non-traditional, unique floral arrangements. The company is really laid back and after giving workers basic training, florists are given free reign with their creativity. It would be a great opportunity to learn about the floral industry and get hands on experience and training in floral design. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

On the return train from Jamaica to Penn Station, I ended up making conversation with an older gentleman. I was looking at my subway map- trying to decide whether I should take the subway or the train back to Williamsburg- he thought I was lost and asked if I needed help. Turns out he’s a French native and a physics professor at Columbia. We talked about places we’ve traveled and would like to go in the future, compared lifestyles in the US vs. France, how we both ended up in New York, etc. . . it was a really nice discussion and made me think about how nice it is to randomly connect with a total stranger.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Weekend Recap

So the weekend with the folks was nice. The arrived around 5pm on Friday and I helped my dad unload the car and bring everything up the stairs. I forgot to warn them about the 4 flights of stairs and no elevator when they were deciding what to bring. After we finished unloading the van and they rested a bit, we all walked over to the Sea and had a nice dinner there. My parents loved the food and thought the prices were even better than Newport News!

Then we walked around Bedford Avenue for a bit and I showed them a little bit of Williamsburg. . but it was getting cold and they were tired so we made our way back to the apartment. My mom helped me sort through my boxes, put everything away, and do some light cleaning.

The sleeping quarters were a tight fit. My parents and I all in my bedroom! My dad was out cold by 8:30 p.m. and my mom by 9:30. . . I decided to go out to the living room and finish reading “Running with Scissors” before trying to go to bed around 1a.m. But between my dad’s snoring and their trips to the bathroom (I shouldn’t have served them so much tea!!) during which I would cringe because I worried they would wake up the roomie, I just couldn’t sleep. I told my dad to sleep on the bed and I grabbed the blanket and went to sleep on the sofas. . unfortunately, around 5 a.m. the heat started coming on. .and if you are not from New York, you cannot imagine the noises being emitted from the radiator and heating poles were making. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep.

The next morning was a slow start. I made breakfast and coffee for my parents and once the roomie was awake, my parents started chatting him up. I think he handled himself well. Eventually, we headed out to Chinatown and found Nha Trang Restaurant on Baxter. . .the appetizers were so so but the main courses: sour soup, beef stirfry with pickled vegetables, and a whole gingery fish hit the spot. The weather was miserable but we managed to go to Pearl River Mart and a few random clothing and furniture stores. By 3pm I was crashing, so my folks and I headed back to Williamsburg for a little R&R.

The roomie, George, Q2, my folks and I met up for dinner at ICI restaurant in Fort Greene. I finally decided on the restaurant after reading rave reviews on New York Metro, citysearch, and hearing good things about the place from a CT friend. The restaurant has a little bit of notoriety because the owner was the former general manager on the show the Restaurant.

http://www.icirestaurant.com/

You walk downstairs and enter a cozy restaurant lit with candles and instantly feel as though you could be in Europe. The food was delicious, simply but excellently prepared with fresh, quality ingredients. The waitress made a very good wine recommendation and was quite attentive throughout the meal. Between the six of us, we ordered almost everything off the menu and from the looks of enjoyment on everyone’s faces, there was not a bad dish on the menu! We ordered steamed clams with lime and cilantro and the grilled squid with smoked paprika and lemon to share. I ordered the skate with greens and a side of pureed butternut squash, my mom had the monkfish special, my dad and George both got the shortribs, Q2 ordered the flying pig, and roomie got the chicken. Of course, we all made just enough room for dessert and we split the chocolate cake, pomegranate panna cotta, and plum crème brulee. What I liked about the dining experience is you get wonderful food without the pretentiousness of a Manhattan restaurant, and at a fraction of the price to boot!

My parents left early in the morning and it was a nice visit. I’ll spend the rest of the day tidying up the apartment, getting a haircut, and looking for a Halloween costume. Maybe go to the grocery store, make some curry for dinner, and go watch Entourage at George's if I'm not too tired tonight.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Parents in town

The folks are descending on Brooklyn this late afternoon/evening. . . so my afternoon will consist of making my apartment look as presentable and clean as possible and figuring out where I will take them in the city.

Depending on what time they arrive and how tired they are, we’ll either go to a restaurant in Williamsburg or maybe Korean in mid-town. For lunch tomorrow I thought we’d try a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. I decided to give the Vietnamese restaurants here a second shot. I think since living in LA and having an overabundance of cheap and delicious Vietnamese restaurants, I have become a snob about Vietnamese food. (It probably doesn’t help that my mom is a very good cook) The problem is compounded by the fact that Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in New York are “hot” so there is much more emphasis on being trendy and cool rather than actually authenticity and taste of the food.

Most likely Sunday brunch will be dim sum. My birthday dinner I haven’t decided on a yet. All I know is that I will be dined out by the weekend. . .In the daytime we’ll probably walk around Chinatown and Soho and do some window shopping. Hopefully it’ll just be a low-key weekend with lots of quality time with my folks.

Belated birthday dinner

Yesterday was Q2’s birthday so tonight I treated her to dinner. We went to Momofuku on the LES for some tasty fusion Japanese food.

There are two owners- a Korean guy and a man from Texas. You can see their influences on the menu. We split two entrees: cheesy grits, shrimp, and pork sausage dish and pork neck noodles. The grits were delicious, a refined Southern dish. The noodle soup hit the spot with bold flavors that remind me of my mothers cooking.

After dinner we walked a couple blocks to ChikaLicious Desserts, a great little after dinner spot. The desserty specialized in a prix-fixe, three-course dessert, wine pairings for an additional fee, with three times a week menu changing..Q2 and I decided to share the more seasonal apple bread pudding/cake with granny smith ice-cream as the main dessert. It was preceded by the tiniest scoop of panna cotta and followed by petit fors.

Everything was superbly made and well presented. I would recommend it highly, especially if you are like me and feel that a meal is not complete without eating something sweet.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

"Before" Pics

I've gotten a few emails about how I haven't posted apartment photos yet.

So here it is. . this was basically the state of my apartment for the first two weeks of living in Brooklyn. . . pretty bare. More photos to follow.




Before

runner's high

The weather has been beautiful this week. After two weeks of being unable to work out (the first week of moving was just too hectic and it was raining every day last week), I finally started running again yesterday. It’s also a good way for me to get to know the roads and neighborhood better. I start from my apartment and run northeast to McCarren Park where there is a track. I do a few laps depending on how my legs are feeling and then loop back around the town, weaving through different streets. It feels so good to be running again.

Once I’m feeling more settled, I may join a running club. There’s two that sound particularly interesting: the Resevoir Dogs and the NY Harriers. Both sound laid back and like a good group of people.

Spent the afternoon looking and applying for jobs online. Then met up with a high school friend for dinner in the West Village. We went to Bar Pitti where of course we ordered the Rigatoni Pitti which was a yummy combination of pasta, turkey sausage, peas, and cream. The dinner was simple but quite tasty. That was followed by tea and a crepe for dessert at Café le Henry. Nice to catch up and think we’ll be hanging out more often.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Weekend

Saturday afternoon, the roomie, George, and I headed back to Newtown, Pennsylvania. We organized the furniture and things that we wanted to bring back to Brooklyn. By 7 pm, we were all hungry so after much deliberation, we settled on Chick-fil-a. Its one of the few fast food restaurants that I really like and would get cravings for while I lived in Los Angeles (there was only one Chick-fil-a that I knew about and it was in some random mall quite a drive away). In any case, it was George’s first time going and unfortunately the Newtown Chick-fil-a did not live up to normal standards. . the chicken was not crunchy enough, they messed up our orders, and the fries did not have their typical crispiness.

After dinner, we got ready for a hip-hop party being thrown by a co-worker of the roomie’s sister. The scene was like a big frat party except we were in a bar and everyone was of legal age. We stayed for an hour or so and made our way to another party a short distance away. That party was being held in a very, dimly lit club. The music was better and I got to dance a bit. Around 2:30 a.m. the lights came on and the DJ started playing some really cheesy song to get everyone to leave. Somehow we decided to go get a slice of pizza.

I guess in Philly, there are only two late-hour pizza joints. We waited for nearly an hour before we got our slices and spent probably 2 minutes eating it. . Exhausted, we all went back to the roomie’s sister’s apartment and crashed.

Four hours later, we woke up and went to the U-Haul to pick up the moving truck. The truck only had two seats in the front so George and I had to share a seat the whole day. Next, we drove back to Newtown and loaded the car with furniture. After a three hour drive, we were back in Brooklyn. We went to George’s and picked up a chaise then to El Taco Loco II for a late lunch. By 3:45 p.m. we were unloading the truck and carrying furniture up four flights of stairs. The move didn’t take so long but we were all exhausted, in need of showers, and a warm meal.

But it's done. . . and all the effort was worth it to have a more homey apartment.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

To Dine Alone or Not to?

Spent the afternoon working on cover letters and waiting for the cable guy to come. To my pleasant surprise, he showed up within the scheduled window! I can’t tell you how nice it is to be connected to the world again!

Went to Silver Spurs on Broadway with the roomie, George, and a couple of their friends. The burger I had was pretty tasty but of course did nothing to sate my longing for some good Asian grub. I would do anything for a bowl of hu tieu (thick rice noodles) with seafood, a sizzling pot of bibimbap or tofu soup, or a couple of heavenly rolls of sushi.

Sigh, but that would have meant dining alone. It’s strange since I have no qualms about going to a movie by myself. But restaurant dining, with the exception of fast food or airports, I just cannot bring myself to do alone. Maybe it’s the awkwardness of not having someone to talk to during the meal. Or perhaps the curious/pitying glances of other diners.

One of my best girl friends in LA would probably tell me that it’s ridiculous that I can’t just go to a restaurant by myself to enjoy the food that I would like to eat. But eating out, enjoying food is a communal experience that I feel should be shared with good friends and families. But then again, there will always be times when I won’t have a dining partner on hand. So perhaps I should follow the wisdom of Nike. . .

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Tea Haven

Sitting in “Splendor in a Kettle” on St. Marks place, enjoying a teapot of roasted matte and their wireless internet, and eavesdropping on the pair at the table next to me.

It’s a first meeting for a trainer and a potential client. In the hour that they’ve been meeting, I’ve learned the following:

-Her family is from Eastern Europe and the parents are currently living in California

-She’s been living in New York for a year attending Parson's

-The trainer was not athletic growing up but uses this to relate to his clients

-He’s from an Irish family, loves carbs, and loves to cook

-His motto is moderation is key

Turns out his hourly rate of $40 (preferably $50/hr) is kind of steep so she has to okay it with her parents. Although he’s pretty charming and says all the right things, I can’t tell if he’s sold her on it. They leave and he insists on picking up the tab. Smart move- I may have underestimated the guy.

dinner with fabulous P

Today was another dreary fall day. You know the type of day. You take one look out the window and it’s so cold and rainy that all you want to do is curl up under the warm covers and take refuge.

I spent the better part of the morning researching various temp agencies in New York. I found four that seemed particularly appealing. By the afternoon, I was feeling a bit stir crazy. So I went to Union Square to mail a package and find a coffee shop to work in. I spruced up my resume and finished a report that is long overdue.

I met up with P for dinner at the Republic. She’s as stylish, cool, and beautiful as ever. Always down to earth with a great attitude about life. Had some yummy calamari and the noodle soup hit the spot and warmed me up. P seems to be in a really good place in a happy relationship and nice job. It’s always to see good things happening to nice people.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

rained out

I am waiting to meet up with a friend that I’ve known since middle school. After what seems like forever, we are actually living in the same state again. In college, I was in Virginia or China and he was in New York or Israel. After college, I moved to Los Angeles and he was still in New York.

We were supposed to go to Central Park and walk around and catch up. It’s raining though so we’re going to meet up in Williamsburg and find a coffee shop. It’s nice having a history with someone. Don’t need to explain so much and you can just pick up where you left off.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Rather Uneventful Day

Waited for the beds to be delivered. They arrived at 2:45 p.m. (past the window that was agreed upon originally). Went to Chinatown to exchange some blinds for my windows and was able to get a wok with the store credit.

Came home and made a quick trip to the grocery store. Made some chicken orzo soup with a little too much orzo. The roomie put up blinds for me and we watched “Fight Club”.
Maekre had been suggesting I watch that movie for some time. It was pretty thought provoking. Think I’ll get more of the subtleties the second time around.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Weekend in Newtown

Friday was a good day. Went with VK to Aquagrill in SoHo and had a fabulous salmon sandwich. The East Village is such a cool area and I will definitely explore it more.

After that, met up with the roomie and George to go to Newtown, the roomie’s hometown. Before going to Penn Station, we stopped at 1-800-Matress to check out some beds. We tested out different beds for about half an hour before making our purchases. I ended up going with the Nation’s Pride Legacy Plush. It is an incredibly comfortable bed, with just enough firmness and softness. Probably the best bed I’ve ever owned and it better damn well last me 10 years cuz it wasn’t cheap!

Then we hopped onto an hour and a half train-ride to Trenton. The roomie and George amused themselves with monkey talk and taking photos. The evening was nice and relaxing; home cooked meal (stir-fried noodles and stir fried rice), drink at Isaac Newtons, then renting a movie. We stayed up until 3 a.m. watching Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and various dating shows.




The next day was comprised of an IKEA and Target run. We managed to go to Pat’s for the best Philly cheesesteak and cheesefries I’ve had to date. George and I were invited to stay for an extra night and dinner out since it was the roomie’s dad’s birthday. It was a nice dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. After dinner, we went through the roomie’s old furniture and things and decided what to bring back to Brooklyn.

This morning we filled the car up to capacity with various items and I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning and putting them away. Now I’m waiting to meet up with Q2. We are probably going to the Sea for dinner and maybe stop somewhere for drinks after that. Should be fun.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Pleasant sleep

In the middle of the night, I heard the sound of a heavy rainfall. I got up to close the windows. I fell back asleep to the steady beating of raindrops. This is something I've missed dearly while living in Los Angeles.

Ahhh, blissful sleep.

Crappy Cable Companies

Not having regular internet access has been a huge pain. Every morning I turn on my laptop hoping *please please please* that I can tap into someone’s wireless. Most mornings that wish is unfulfilled. When I get desperate enough, I make my way to the roomie’s lab to use the internet.

Two days ago I did some research to see what internet providers there are in Bklyn and what packages were offered. It seems that Time Warner Cable has a monopoly out here. So I called to find out more details. Of course they have one of those annoying automated systems.

The Machine: Say “1” if you speak English. Say “2” if you speak Spanish.

Me: One

The Machine: Do you have existing service or are you a new customer.

Me: New customer

The Machine: Say “cable” if you are interested in cable. Say “internet” if you are interested in internet. Say “digital phone” if you are interested in digital phone.

Me: Internet

The Machine: Please wait for a service representative to answer your call.

In the background is some recording extolling the great customer service that Time Warner Cable has.

So after a minute or two of waiting, a woman gets on the phone. She asks me what I’m interested in (wasn’t that the purpose of the automated system) and where I live. Then she proceeds to give me a range of options. It seems that I can get basic cable and internet on top of that for $29.99/month for the first six months. That sounds good but I have to double check with the roomie to make sure that’s okay.

After okaying things with him, I call Time Warner back and have to go through the same annoying routine. Finally a get a new sales rep on the phone. She again asks me what I’m interested in. I tell her I’m interested in internet and ask her what packages there are. She lists a variety of very expensive plans (lowest being $90+). I say that their website and a previous representative told me that I can get basic internet and internet for $29.99/month. She states that that is for returning customers only.

I am obviously confused by the conflicting information and ask her if that is the best she can do in terms of plans. Then she cops an attitude and tells me that she has already told me what plans they offer and how could I ask for more. So I said thank you and hung up.

Fed up with dealing with Time Warner sales reps, I asked my roomie to take care of it. He got a completely different story yesterday when he called. Apparently, we could get cable internet without getting ANY internet. So he placed an order and hopefully a week from now, I’ll be set with internet.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

moving in

wireless internet in the apartment has been pretty spotty so i've been unable to blog regularly the past few days. i'm going to call time warner today to start internet and cable services- very exciting

moving into my new apartment has been a lot of fun, but it's going to take me at least a couple of weeks to get everything done. basically we are working from a clean slate as i sold/donated/gave away a lot of my things in los angeles. the sole piece of furniture i have in my bedroom is an airmatress that i've been sleeping on.

i have good friends. jpan came up for a couple days to help me clean the apartment and do some shopping. qq picked me up from the airport, brought take-out chinese, and lent me a comforter, sheets, and basic necessities.

the apartment is beautiful and has incredible potential. lots of space, high ceilings, great wood floors. my room has french doors and two large windows with great sized window sills. i found some blinds that are a natural, cream color at the pearl river mart. there will probably be an east-asian theme in my room.

actually, different rooms in the apartment will have different themes. the bathroom- african (which part, i'm not sure yet, ask my roomie, he's the expert) and kitchen- mediterranean/provencal. the kitchen is very spacious and has all new appliances. we'll put a high table/counter in the kitchen with tall stools/chairs for casual eating.

there is a common area that will be divided into a smaller dining area and a living room. the living room decor is going to be inspired by a tibetan wall hanging i bought in china 6 years ago. there's great colors in it including beautiful golds, oranges, reds. so i was planning on buying some gauzy material to hang on the walls and we'll buy some loungey stools, pillows, etc.

today i'm stuck at home waiting for deliveries. so i'll wash and put away the plates and glassware that we bought yesterday. surprisingly i found better prices for better quality at pottery barn than chinatown (who woulda guessed?)

tomorrow i'll try to upload some before pictures so you can see the progress.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

waiting for "john"

i hate tardiness. i got up extra early this morning to finish my last errands, e.g. workout at the west LA YMCA for the last time (aww), go to the post office, pick up drycleaning, and clear out the remaining odds and ends in the apartment, before the car transport guys were scheduled to come at 11am.

at first i didn't mind, i ate breakfast, repacked my suitcase, and waited. and waited.

it's now 12:20 p.m. and there's no sign of john, the driver. no call no nothing. i called the office and got no answer. so here i am, still sitting around in my dried sweat, gross, i know, but with my luck they'd call as soon as i start soaping up my hair!

i still have to meet with my landlady this afternoon to give her the keys and so she can take a look at the apartment. i did a good job cleaning. vk would be proud. in any case, i promised a friend that i'd get him a UCLA shirt so i have to make my way over to campus too. . and then there will be a nice dinner with some friends and a farewell party and karaoke this evening. should be fun. chikster promised to sing a song for me:)

and tomorrow will be the start of a whole new chapter. . .

Thursday, September 29, 2005

still in love with craigslist

so the used fridge that my old roomie, vk, and i had bought has been a pain up the wazoo. twice i almost had a sale and both times it fell through. the latter was just last night, two days before i have to move!

starting to get worried now. i just need to get it moved out and i don't want to put up the money to rent a truck and beg my friends to help me move it.

next i call the store that i buy it from. will they buy it back? no, they are overstocked. in fact they won't take it back for free!

now i'm getting desperate.

i talk to my landlady and she was unwilling to buy it from me or let me sell it to the next tenants. . in fact, she wanted to charge me $100 for movers to move it.

alright, i'm throwing in the towel. i need to move the damn fridge before tomorrow and decide to post it on craigslist for free.

within ten minutes, i've gotten five calls from people willing to pick it up today! ahhhh. relief.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

i am in love with inventor of craigslist

so yesterday i had a mild panic attack about the difficult task of selling/dontaing/getting rid of all my furniture. after an initial rush of purchases made through the econ dept, there were no bites. this was not good considering i have two days to move out of my apartment and a few days before i leave the west coast!

yesterday i decided to post a few of the larger items on craigslist. . within minutes i started getting calls!

this morning i was able to sell my sofa, my dining room table, two rocking/recliner chairs, a large black bookshelf, and a couple of small picture frames!!!

there were two sets of customers. the first was a couple, both undergraduate students. one at ucla one at usc. they managed to carry the massive, leather sofa out of the apartment. i was very impressed.

the second customer was a nicer, older guy. i was worried at first because he was wavering about the dining room table. in the end, he decided to go for it plus the whole slew of other items. turns out that the woman he was dating was goin to visit his apartment tonight for the first time. . although he had been in the process of re-doing his apartment for awhile, i guess he needed that stimulus to prompt him into action. it was actually cute that he was going through all that trouble to impress a girl. . .

well, just finished posting the rest of my furniture. . .keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Monday, September 26, 2005

one foot in LA

internet access has been sporadic the past couple days. . . good news is that the roomie and i decided on the williamsburg apartment. it's good to have a home:) it's still not an ideal situation but i think the best we can do under the circumstances.

i'm back in LA now, wrapping things up with school paperwork, moving, cleaning, running errands etc. i'll probably be moved outta here within a week or so. .

this weekend was nice. hit up hollywood with a couple of friends and got to get a little dancing in. (always fun) my friend's friends started a party bus/limo business. . great idea, the one drawback to going out in LA is public transportation is poor so whenever you go out in a big group you have to worry about having a designated driver. . a serious pain, plus a lot of clubs and bars are not walkable distances from one another, seriously limiting your options when you're in the mood to party. so their service allows you to bar/club hop without having to worry about driving yourself, you can bring all your friends, and party away! fabulous!

next weekend will be the going away party. one of my friends from san diego will be in town for the weekend so it'll be lots of fun.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Day Six (out of steam)

Basically today was a dud. The roommate and I looked at zero apartments. Not completely because of our lack of effort. We contacted a few real estate agencies but didn’t’ have any leads. On top of that, the broker for the Williamsburg RR apartment that we actually have first dibs on, called to ask what our decision was. There was another party that was interested in renting the apartment and had submitted an application.

Actually, There are two apartments open for rent in the building: one on the 2nd floor and one on the 4th. After mulling things over, we decided if the application was on the 2nd floor apartment we would take it and if it was an application for the 4th floor we would take more time. Turns out that the other applicant was flexible so we have more time.

The problem is that we are just t-i-r-e-d of looking! So we ended up just talking about the reality of signing the lease on the RR and living in that situation. I think we just feel defeated and are ready to give in. But then I realized that we each will have to put in over 2G for the 1st month’s rent, last month’s rent, and broker’s fee. . . (gulp), seriously wiping out all of my savings . . . really depressing. . I need to find a real job.

Day Five (slow day)

I think N and I are definitely slowing down in our apartment hunting, having exhausted most of our resources and our morale! We focused our efforts in Williamsburg (near Bedford, Lorimar, and Greenpoint) today.

We met up around 9 a.m. with ambitious plans: (1) meet with “no fees” company that acts as a middleman between apartment owners and potential tenants, (2) meet with Chinatown real estate agency, (3) meet with Williamsburg real estate agencies.

The “no fees” company had no listings that were in our price range or interesting for us. We decided that the novelty of living in Chinatown would eventually die down and then we’d be stuck in a dirty area of town in a tiny apartment with no closets.

So we headed to Williamsburg and found that none of the agencies opened before 10:30 a.m. Instead, we went to a bagel shop and got breakfast. I had an amazing everything bagel sandwich with eggwhites, cheese, and ham all for $3.00! It was large enough that I was able to save half and eat the rest for lunch! Hmmm . . . New York bagels are really significantly better than those in the West Coast!!

After killing time, we went to various real estate agents and over the course of the day looked at three apartments.

Apt 1. Essentially the same layout, in the same building, as the RR-style apartment on N5th near Bedford. Great location. Beautiful, dark hardwood floors and quite spacious.

Apt 2. On Bedford. Larger than Apt 1 but much more open and more difficult to divide into a share. Moreover, the apartment wasn’t as well maintained.

Apt 3. Greenpoint. Beautiful large apartment. Perhaps the largest apartment we’ve seen in New York. Large kitchen, and three rooms that could be used for bedrooms/living room as desired. The ceilings were high and it had been recently renovated. The only downside was that it is a fifteen minute walk to the L-train which would be a pain late at night and during inclimate weather.

Basically, I’ve decided that I have a stronger preference for living in a hip area of town vs. living in an awesome apartment that is farther from the hotspots. At the end of the day, I’m moving to New York so I can experience city life not to have a great apartment.

By 5pm, N and I were beat. So we rewarded ourselves with yummy frozen margaritas and the best chips and salsa I’ve had in awhile (Vera Cruz). Later we met up with J for dinner at the Sea. A great Thai restaurant, quite affordable by any standards, and which is beautifully designed. After dinner, we had a drink at Laila’s that was just a hop skip and jump away from the Sea. . . and on my way back on the L to the 6 Express uptown, I realized how nice it was to be able to be in walking distance to all of that and be a fifteen minute train ride back to Union Square. . . so tomorrow is another day, and hopefully the last day of searching!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Day Four (Williamsburg no More)

So today was a disappointing and thoroughly exhausting day. We looked at six apartments and found out that we did not get our first choice Williamsburg apartment.

Apt 1. Lower east side. Great location. A “flex-2 bedroom” which turned out to be essentially a one bedroom with a storage space that isn’t big enough to even sit up straight while sitting on the “ground”.

Apt 2. Chinatown. The positives: proximity to Chinatown restaurants and shops, it has a small patio, and it had decently sized rooms for lower Manhattan. The negatives: a stone’s throw away from the train tracks, it is a basement level apartment, there are no closets, and probably no viable way of setting up an AC unit.

Apt 3. Chinatown. This apartment is actually adjacent to Apt 2 but much larger and had closets. The main downside- it had already been rented!

Apt 4. Park Slope. Perfect apartment: newly renovated, high ceilings, beautiful hard-wood floors, very large living room, medium sized bedrooms with closets, and a large kitchen. Most likely the largest apartment we’ve seen. Unfortunately, neither N nor I are pumped about living in Park Slope. Moreover, the apartment is about a fifteen minute walk from the busiest parts of town.

Apt 5. Park Slope. This apartment is smaller and not as nice as Apt 4.

Apt 6. Supposed to be in Park Slope but is actually in Prospect Heights. Very large but not in a great neighborhood.

I guess long story short. N and I were seriously deflated hearing that we didn’t get our first choice None of today’s apartments gave us the right vibe. And we feel that after four days of serious apartment searching, we’re back at square one . . . well, at least there are four more days of searching before I have to head back to LA. And there is always hope that a new day will bring better things.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Day Three (feels like thirty three)

Apartment hunting in the NYC is seriously a full time job. And after three days, I’m already getting exhausted. We saw six apartments today but are still homeless (well, technically I’m not but N is).

Apt 1. Boonies of Greenpoint. Apartment itself was nice but it is far far far from fun spots of town and a trek to the subway station. Very spacious and the neighbors/realtors seem quite friendly.

Apt 2. N and I both got the “this is it” feeling. It is a two bedroom share (supposedly railroad but the rooms are on opposite ends of the apartment) with a nice kitchen but tiny living room. But it is sunny, there is a shared garden out back, and it is a perfect location in Williamsburg.

Apt 3. Larger and only a few steps away from Apt 2. Would be great for a couple but is a railroad that was converted to a 2 bedroom. The bedrooms are separated by French doors which is not ideal in terms of privacy. There is a nice sized common area though and a larger kitchenette. There is also a private entrance for the back bedroom.

Apt 4/5. We actually never got to see the insides of these apartments because the broker brought the wrong sets of keys. They are both in Chinatown. The first quite close to the train so the problem will definitely be noise. However, it is in the basement so possibly it is not so bad. Looking into the windows, the apartment seemed quite spacious and there is supposedly a garden. The second apartment was a little farther away from the train tracks and closer to the center of town.

Apt 6. In the lower east side so location is great. In our price range but teeny tiny. The larger bedroom is decently sized but the smaller bedroom is tight and there is essentially no living/dining area.

I guess the decision that N and I still have to make is whether we’d prefer the cool parts of Brooklyn or the LES/C-town. The former definitely has appeal as far as a great artsy vibe, more open space, cleanliness, and seeming quality of life. The latter is more urban and has a grittier feel, which is also cool, and it is within walking distance of a very happening scene. Right now it’s a toss-up.

The upside is we had a possible lead in Williamsburg (cross your fingers and knock on wood) and should hear back from the agent soon. The idea of living in or near Chinatown is also appealing. It would be a neat cultural experience and the location is great to the cool spots in the lower east side and east/west village. Also, dining options are spectacular, affordable and I’d be close to cheap grocery stores.

Tomorrow will bring another day of searching. And another day of praying to the gods of Craigslist.

Monday, September 19, 2005

day two of apartment hunting: exploring williamsburg

Only looked at two apartments today. Both in Williamsburg. I really like the nabe. It definitely has a trendier vibe with lots of artists and young people. Would really like to live here too but apartment prices are really overpriced.

Apt 1. WAY overpriced. Not well maintained and a sketchy situation. The guy was trying to get out of a lease and was probably also trying to make a profit off of us.

Apt 2. Promising but wasn’t sold. Decent location. 15 minute walk to the hipster areas of Williamsburg. Newly renovated, nice kitchen and bathroom. The bedrooms were decently sized with okay sized closets. Teeny tiny living room though.
Had dinner with future roommate, his friend, and former roommate at Teddy’s. Had some delicious nachos and deep-fried portabella mushrooms. Walked around the nabe and had some frozen yogurt after that. . .now to rest up and start another day (hopefully with better luck) of apartment hunting.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

first day of apartment hunting

Started the first day, of what I forsee as a long week of apartment hunting today.

We looked at four apartments in Brooklyn today with no luck.

Apt 1. Not a great location. Not great for a share. Poor use of space.

Apt 2. Not a great location- too commercial.

Apt 3. Nice feel. Very nice, dark red wood floors. New paint. Nice skylight. TOO SMALL!!

Apt 4. Not a great location. Poor design and use of space.

The good news is that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like Brooklyn, especially Park Slope, Carroll Garden, Brooklyn Heights, etc. There’s a lively atmosphere with cute restaurants, shops, and bars. There is a nice park nearby. Overall, it seemed clean, safe, and fun. Moreover, there are amazing tree lined streets with gorgeous brownstones . . .I would be a very happy woman if I could find a decently priced apartment there.

The evening was fun. Met up with an old friend and her boyfriend for tapas. After the boyfriend went home, it was a relaxing girls’ night. Enjoyed some drinks and talked about love, life, relationships, etc. Girlfriends are wonderful.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

disappointing delta song

Spent most of the day in an airport or on a plane. I flew Delta Song for the first time in my life. . overall, I was not impressed. Although I appreciated being able to check 3 bags and free headset, I felt that the airline was trying too hard to be “cool” and not hard enough at being efficient. They also took away my blanket before we even landed! The regular Delta flights are much better organized, serviced, and managed.

My original flight was cancelled due to bad weather in New York, which I found hard to believe. Next, I was transferred to the next flight to New York. At first that flight was delayed by a half hour, then an hour, then two hours, then a half hour again!!!

In any case, I arrived at my friend’s apartment around 9 p.m.. After lugging 4 suitcases (3 large and one carry on) up four flights of stairs, we walked to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for a late dinner. My dish, lemongrass flavored beef skewers with rice rolls, was pretty good.

It was a nice evening. We stayed up until 2 a.m. just chatting.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

busy week

it's funny, one of my friends told me for someone that doesn't have a "job" i sure do keep busy.

on top of tutoring, i've been doing some editing work for one of my grad school friends. meanwhile, i'm also in the process of packing up, selling my stuff, and finding a new apartment. i'll be back east from the 16th-25th looking for a new pad and don't know how internet access and time will be. . so if you don't here from me for a week or so, don't panic.

and for my LA friends, don't despair. i'll be back to hang out and finish moving for a couple of weeks and will find myself back in sunny so-cal at the end of oct, mid-nov, and next june.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

locked out

i slept well. very well. 9 hours. that's is abnormal for me but i'll take it on the rare occasion that i do.

groggily (before my morning cup o joe), i made my way over to the kitchen and scanned the mess that i had left last night. i spent the evening organizing my recipes, looking through magazines, and doing some research. so gathered up the trash and decided to take the trash out. i grabbed my keys and trash bag and headed out the door. made my way out to the garbage cans out back of the apartment.

walked back up to my apartment and had a sinking sensation. i had forgotten to put the housekey back on my keychain!!! ARGG. i debated what to do. jiggled the handle for a few seconds. then decided to knock on a few of the neighbors' doors. no one answered.

then i realized that although i didn't have my cell phone and couldn't call my landlady (i have very few numbers memorized), i did have my car keys. i drove over to my friend's apartment and used her phone to call my former roommate. luckily she still had my landlady's phonenumber.

long story short. i called my landlady, stopped by her home, borrowed her set of keys, and got back into my apartment.

lesson to self: memorize landlady's number and never ever leave keys inside!

bummer

i had to cut my run short today because i was late for my meeting with the girl i am tutoring for. so after i finished tutoring, i decided to go for a walk, get some sun, and get a little more exercise.

because my clothes had no pockets and i didn't want to bring a bag, i grabbed my housekeys, ipod, and on a whim, stashed a $20 in my shoe. there's some cute japanese shops and grocery stores in walking distance to my apartment.

and off i went for a brisk 45 minute walk. weaving up and down the streets to the rhythm of the beatles. halfway through, i realized that i could no longer feel the bill in my shoe. i felt around for it for a bit.

seriously bummed.

20 bucks would have bought me the makings of a nice dinner or some cute new gadgets from the tokyo outlet store. . .eventually, i decided to let it go. and hey, i probably made someone else's day, right? no longer in a spending mood, i dug out some frozen fish and veggies and had a less than great meal at home. (sigh)

Monday, September 12, 2005

echo park and silver lake

just got back from e's. we met up this evening and decided to walk around echo park. it's got a beautiful park with a lake in the middle. the major attraction of the town. . what was even better was one street (douglas?) lined with rennovated victorian homes. finding it took some work. first we parked and attemped to walk it. after walking up and down some steep hills and circling around the same streets, we decided to get back in the car and find it by driving.

it was well worth the effort. some of the color schemes made me raise an eyebrow (shades of purple on one, dark forest green on another, etc) nonetheless, very beautiful and very east coast. made me forget that i was in LA.

after that, we drove over to silverlake. silverlake is a lot of fun. quite hip, bustling even on a sunday night with interesting shops and restaurants. we stopped at the "kitchen" for dinner. a smallish restaurant with only ten or twelve tables but pretty packed. we had a bottle of red wine left over from the hollywood bowl ($3 corkage fee!), shared a spinach salad with goat cheese, grapes, and walnuts tossed in a citrusy vinagrette. for an entree, i had the tri-tip beef stewed with onions over garlicky sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes. e had a soy-sesame marinated flank steak with wasabi mash and stirfried veggies. both were excellent. mine was tender and very flavorful. and the marinade on e's entree was suprisingly good. i've had similar dressings on seafood, but with steak it has a much more unique flavour. all in all, a delicious dinner without breaking the bank.