no one's home

momma v has always had a lot of ideas. . . like most moms she is a worrywort and was paranoid about everything.

don't get in cars with strangers b/c they will kidnap, rape you, or kill you and stuff your body with drugs

don't sleep over your friend's house

if you see someone get hurt, don't touch them! they might sue you!

the best though, was during halloween.

don't go trick-or-treating b/c they might give you candy that's really drugs but looks like candy

don't open the door for trick-or-treaters b/c they might actually be a serial killer, rapist, etc

so of course i've been trick-or-treating maybe twice in my life and the protocol was to turn off all the lights in the front of the house and hide when the bell rang!!!

that's a little "treat" for you all to enjoy!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

not quite southern or hospitable

VK and i decided to meet up for an early dinner tonight. since i didn't have any particular cravings and was meeting up with one of the most laid back and accomodating people i know, it took awhile to figure out where to go. however, by the time i managed to get through midtown traffic, i was tired of dealing with idiot pedestirans and incompetent drivers that i has an overwhelming desire to head back uptown.


i suggested southern hospitality, a restaurant i've been meaning to check out for awhile despite the mixed reviews. how could i resist a supposedly good southern restaurant so close to my abode, especially when it's backed by favorite ex-boy bander justin timberlake? (naony, that bit is for you)

we ordered the nachos, buffalo wings, a side of cornbread, and a side of collard greens.

bad. bad. bad. not bad.

the nachos were drenched in velveeta cheese and the corn chips were not fresh let alone homemade. the buffalo wings were not spicy although the waitress claimed they were hot. they also had a strange mushy texture that i couldn't figure out. were they pre-fried then reheated or kept warm under a heat lamp ala micky d's? the cornbread came out in little mini-muffin form and were a bit hard- indicating overbaking or staleness. the tasted okay but were more like corn muffins than traditional cornbread. the collard greens were not too bad and had sizeable chunks of bacon though i'm used to a more spicy, vinegary bite.

overall, the food was not particularly authentic or good. moreover the wait staff had a tendency to rush their customers. i will concede the fact that our sampling of the menu may not be representative of the traditional southern bbq (ribs, brisket, pulled pork). that being said, the sign of a quality restaurant is being able to get the basics right and making every dish good if not great.

while the food left much to be desired and i feel like i wasted calories on a subpar meal, my curiosity has been quenched. and so, while JT may continue to bring sexy back, that will never be enough to bring me back to southern hospitality.

coming to terms with coming of age

as theng predicted, tonight ended up being quite rainy. q2 was busy with work and neither theng or i were motivated to hang out. it ended up being the perfect night to stay in and put some semblance of order back into my tiny abode. before heading home, i decided to stop by a couple of stores in a last ditch attempt to find shoes to go with my party dress for saturday night. the dress is gorgeous, silvery gray that is remiscent of a flapper dress with the intricate beading and tiered layers at the bottom. i had almost bought a pair of mustard pumps in gainesville but they only had the floor sample which wasn't in the best shape. . .so lo and behold, i was very pleased to find these beauts at aldo!!!!

with treasure in hand, i made my way back home and made some tuna melt pitas for a quick dinner. after chatting with the boy online, sweeping, mopping, and tidying up the apartment, i headed to the gym for some cardio action. i got on my currently preferred cardio machine and plugged in my headphones. fabulous! gossip girl was playing. i started to program in my settings.

workout profile: 5
workout goal: time
workout time: 60 minutes
age: 2-7

and it dawned on me. . . starting tomorrow, i could never (honestly) put in 27 as my age. . . i have definately reached the late 20's early 30's bracket and there's no going back! all that being said. . . the late-mid 20s have been amazing and i would never want to be 18, 21, or even 25 again. . .26 and 27 have been all about growing into my own skin and as cheesy as it sounds, finding myself and the journey has been good. so cheers to 28 and let the adventures continue!

making chili out of catfish?

due to corporate visits, atypically long work hours, and attempts to maintain a social life, i've been getting out of my normal gym routine and eating way too much. . .both which are starting to affect my waistline and bother me a great deal.

i planned to jumpstart my health kick by working out after work today. . somehow, working out on sundays makes me feel as though i'm getting a head start on the week. it looked a little close, i didn't leave work until 7:45, traffic was miserably slow, and the gym closes at 10pm on sunday nights. luckily, i got home by 9:05, was dressed in workout clothes by 9:10, and at the gym by 9:15. i got a solid 40 minute cardio workout in and rushed home.

i had bought come ground beef last week and decided to make some chili for my lunch at work. i chopped garlic, onions, red and green peppers, and chili pepper, and started heating them up in a sauce pan. i pulled out the ground beef. . .ack!!! it was no longer red but brown. crap. . now what am i supposed to do?

i still had two fillets of catfish left from the dinner i cooked on friday night. working quickly, i remembered i had a chicken chili seasoning mix. i threw that in with the beans and diced tomatoes. i added some paprika, tomato paste, and ended up with a fairly decent fish stew.

crappy giant

last night celestial and i took q2 to little giant for her b-day dinner. . i had been there long ago with q2 and debs but that was a lifetime ago. . . a cozy, tiny little restaurant low-lit that makes new american, hearty, comfort food.

around 6:50PM both q2 and celestial contacted me to let me know that celestial would be late to dinner. . . i swing by q2's place to pick her up and we walk to the restaurant from her pad. arrive just a few minutes after our reservation at 7:30pm. we tell the hostess that our 3rd party member may or may not be coming. . .


ho-stess: so did you want to wait for your friend before you order?


v: no, we're not sure if she'll make it in time for dinner. we'll go ahead and sit and eat.


ho-stess: well, i can't hold a big table for you. you can sit here or here (motioning to two tables in non-ideal locations). i'll have to break the tables up but if no one else sits here when your friend comes then she can sit here.


there was a two top at my left and our table that was squeezed in next to a plant. it was a four top- two tables pushed together. the hostess wanted us to sit further away from the occupied two top. q2 didn't look happen and muttered something about feeling smushed.


v: uh, is it possible to sit on the left table?

ho-stess: (huffily) fine

we sit and puruse the menu and decide to share the chicken liver pate, fig & prosciutto salad, braised short ribs, and brussel sprouts. after the appetizers arrive, celestial calls and tells us she's on her way. i notify the hostess.

waiter 1: is your friend coming?

v: yes she's on her way.

waiter 1: well can you order for her?

v: we asked her, she wants to order when she gets here.

waiter 1: (huffily) fine. it would help to get her order in sooner.

v: well, she wants to order when she ges here.

we chat, enjoy our appetizers, which are delicious but i'm starting to really get annoyed with how much they are rushing us. . don't get me wrong, i totally understand they are just trying to run a business and a restaurant needs to flip more tables so they can make more money. . but not at the mistreatment of their current guests!

celestial arrives and looks over the menu. she places her order and soon after our entrees start coming out. everything is well prepared, flavors carefully balanced. short rib is wonderful, tender, succulent, but the portion is somewhat small. the brussel sprouts were a tad sweet for my tastes but contrasted well with the pork. celestial ordered the beet and arugula salad and scallop entree which were both solid. while we were munching on the food the waiter stopped by as if to clear our plates which we were still working on.

i told him we were still working on it then he left us alone til everything was pretty much gone. after clearing out plates he brought us dessert menus. before we even had a chance to glance it over, he stopped by and asked us if we knew what we wanted.

celestial: we haven't had a chance to look it over.

granted we continued to carry on our juicy conversation. . 30 seconds into it, the waiter stopped by again.

waiter 1: what would you like?

celestial: actually, could we have another minute?

waiter 1: it would be great if you could place your dessert order so we can get the table ready for our next guests. there's a long line and we have to get to our next reservation.

we had only been there for an hour and a half!! that was the last straw. we asked for the check. the angry little asian girl in me was ready to ask to speak to the manager but my girlfriends asked me not to make a fuss. so i let it go. . but i will never ever go back to little giant and i will never recommend it to anyone.

while i might not expect good service at a dive or certain restaurants (vietnamese, chinese, etc), if i'm gonna pay over $25 for an entree i expect an all around quality dining experience including decent customer service!

like a kid in a candy store

it's always rough going back to work after an enjoyable weekend. . . especially bordering on visit/event days where i'm pulling 2 stretches (working open to close) in a row.

on saturday, the boy and i went to his friend and former co-worker's wedding in norwalk, ct. the ceremony was quite picturesque. we lucked out with a gorgeous fall day for an outdoor wedding in the garden of an inn facing a lake and encompassed by trees with leaves in shades of rust, gold, and brick. the ceremony itself was short, sincere, and sweet- marred by the sound of cars whizzing by, a lawn mower/weed wacker, and bees (the pitfalls of outdoor weddings). guests dispersed to the patio of the inn while the bridal party took photos.

the wedding seemed to go off without any hitches- first dance, father/bride dance, mother/groom dance, toasts, and the typical greeting from table to table. it was a blur of new faces but by the end of the reception, i had befriended most of the people at our table. afterwards, a large group of us decided to head somewhere else for drinks and we ended up at gingerman in so-no, yep, that's south norwalk for you non-ct'ers.

the boy and i decided to head back to the city around 9, which seemed quite late but i suppose i had been up since 6AM and we'd been drinking since noon? we dropped off glue-guy and then after deliberation decided to meet up with meandering moses for drinks in willie-b. it was a good time but i was beat by midnight.

sunday was all about recuperation. the boy is coming down with a cold so i made chicken soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for us. afterwards, we went to go see "darjeeling limited". on the way back we stopped by dylan's candy store and we each picked out an unusual taffy, literally like two little kids in a candy store. in keeping with what is quickly become our sunday night routine, we stopped by death & co for a couple drinks before heading to yokocho for a late night snack.

a beautiful weekend and a delightful time with the boy.

loose ends

text-mex is moving to miami this fall. after several weeks of exchanging texts in attempts to coordinate a when i could pick up a couple things i had left at his apartment back in january, we finally managed to agree on dinner along with theng and kev at max's.

i'd been wanting to check out max's for some time now, won over by in vino's meatballs, excellent wine selection, and personable staff. upon entering max's, one immediately noticed the warmth (both in atmosphere and temperature) and coziness of the darkly lit, homestyle italian restaurant. long and narrow, the restaurant stretched back with a front and back dining space separated by the kitchen then small bar.

i arrived first and waited at the bar and nursed a glass of prosecco until text-mex arrived. shortly after theng and kev arrived. we were seated and purused the menu. i ordered the beet & avocado salad. kev ordered the gnocchi. theng the osso bucco. text-mex had the zucchini soup and meatloaf which essentially was one ginormous meatball. the salad was a surprisingly delicious contrast of flavors with the sweetness of the beets was offset by the creaminess of the avocado and goat cheese. theng's osso bucco was a tad salty and reminded me that while i always think i will like it, i never do. somehow the fattiness of lamb is not enjoyable the way well prepared pork belly can be. kev's gnocchi was tasty and extremely rich. the meatloaf was wonderful and an enormous amount of meat.

dinner was filled with light conversation and before i knew it two hours had past and i knew it was time to get home. i dropped everyone off.

at the end of the night, i was struck by how one's emotions, attachments, and life can change so much in a year's time. . . i've moved apartments, switched jobs, and started a new relationship.

no two jugglers are alike

today, along with 4 other managers from my workplace, i went to white plains for a training on "coaching". the woman giving the class is actually a gifted teacher/public speaker and kept us all engaged for a 7 hour long class.

what i learned about myself. . .

1. i may be a natural born juggler- during our first exercise, each group had a designated coach, performer, and observer. by default, i became the performer and the task at hand was to learn how to juggle. i was intially frozen with fear (those of you that know me, know that i can be uncoordinated) but decided to just go with it. started off just catching one ball with one hand. then two balls with two hands at a time. i was so surprised by that simple task that i have vowed to learn how to juggle with three balls.

2. i can be long winded and need to work on being more concise to more effectively communicate my message.

3. i don't miss the suburbs

yes, but i'm an accountant

some days, keeping my patience at work is extremely challenging. . . i had an annoying exchange with a customer that if i weren't involved, i would laugh. . .

c: excuse me, can you help me?

v: sure, how can i assist you?

c: i want to exchange this item i purchased on my registry. some of the crystals fell off.

v: ok, let me see if we have that item in stock.

i check the register and go back to the stockroom, lo and behold, we actually do have the merchandise and i happily bring it to the customer. after i start processing the exchange she stops me.

c: actually, i think i want to get these two items instead. . .

v: ok, let me check to see if we have them.

i bring out the boxes and first return the item c brought in and rang her up for the two new items.

c: wait, i didn't get my tax back?

v: i'm sorry, what's that?

c: you didn't give me my tax back. c brings out her cell phone and does some fuzzy math on her calculator.

c's mom: (in a smug tone) she is an ccountant. she will know.

wtf? all of this is automatically calculated.

v: i don't understand what you mean. everything is calculated pre-tax and that tax is added at the end so it all cancels out.

getting tired of the accountant's unconvincing explanation of how she was cheated out of tax, i pull out my calculator and re-calculate everything for her.

v: now, whether we tax before taking the difference or after doesn't matter.

let's say:
A= pre-tax amount you are due from the return
B= pre-tax amount you owe the store for the two items you are purchasing
so, C= A-B is the pre-tax amount you owe the store then C'=C * NY tax is the amount you owe the store including tax

now, let's say:

A'=A* NY tax is the amount you are due from the return including tax
B'=B* NY tax is what you owe for the two items including tax
then C'=(A* NY tax) - (B*NY tax)= (A-B) * NY tax= C * NY tax

so C' the net amount you owe including tax remains the same whether you tax the return and purchase amounts before you take the difference or after you take the difference.

c: ahhhh, i see. you're right.

damn right i'm right. after all. . i do have a masters in economics. but i would never say that out loud because that's obnoxious.