i heart stew

the boy and i have been planning to take a drive out to CT one weekend. on the agenda- a trip to the elephant trunk's country flea market and stew leonards.

we woke up around 5AM and were on the road by 6:30AM, loaded up with coffee, mcdonalds breakfast, and a full tank of gas. the boy was hoping to score some old school tools and i love any type of market. and being the foodie i am, i can't help but find great pleasure in going to gourmet markets or any type of place with fresh produce and intersting food. so of course, it was an amazing day for me.

my best purchases- a basil and mint plant from the flea market. huge fried corn kernels, wasabi flavored cheese, and incredibly fresh produce. and with my two young artichokes, i plan on making this.

The girl who couldn’t stop coughing

We are nearing the end of our fall marketing/strategy meetings with our vendors. This morning the whole team was attending- my boss, her counterpart, the divisional, and my counterparts. We left our office at 20 til 11AM and started trekking to the vendor’s office.

Unfortunately, I did not realize the meeting would be 10 blocks and 3 avenues away- that feels like miles away in heels. We arrived not too late and were whisked away into a nicely decorated conference room. Rounds of introductions were made and the first of a series of presentations began.

About an hour into the presentation, I started to feel a tickle in my throat.

Oough cough.

The presenter continued to talk.

Cough cough

My boss looked at me with a concerned expression and mouthed “Are you ok?” I nodded but for the next two minutes proceeded to cough nonstop. My cheeks flushed red as I realized that all eyes were focusing on me. My boss asked for some water and I excused myself from the room and continued to cough for a solid minute.

I’ve had an ongoing cough- the remnants of a cold for almost two weeks. . and nothing- not sleep, not cough suppressants, were doing anything to relieve it. . . in fact it seems to be getting worse.

I returned to the room feeling a little better but now my throat was so raw from coughing that even the slightest tickle would bring on a new fit of coughing. Over the course of the next two hours I proceeded to down three bottles of water which helped tremendously- though the occasional cough would let itself out. . . part of me was slightly moritifed- and I'm certain that I'll forever be referred to as that girl who couldn't stop coughing.

On the way back to our office, my boss asked if I was okay and suggested I go home early. I protested that I wasn’t feeling horrible. As we made our way back to the office, I started to feel flushed and unwell.

So that’s how I have found myself on a Thursday afternoon in pajamas, laying in bed and blogging. I have a couple magazines and dvd’s by my side and plan to take it easy. . . and hopefully a good night’s sleep will make me all better by tomorrow..

forecasting change

last night Q2, theng, and i met up for dinner. . .it's been such a delight having the 3 of our college foursome, living in new york- we're the SATC without our charlotte (e.g. jpan).

over a deliciously fatty meal of bacon wrapped dates, flash fried calamari, broiled shrimp, spicy chorizo, bacalao in an amazing sauce, and spanish cheese, we gossiped, caught one another up on the past few weeks, and talked about the future. the main topic was jpan's pregnancy and hashing out the logistics of throwing a baby shower in her honor.

times are a changing.

a year from now. jpan will be a mom. theng will most likely be living in CT or white plains, baby on the way. Q2 hopes to be working and living in china. for myself, i hope to be promoted and facing the challenges of a new job and possibly new division. although i occasionally daydream about moving back to brooklyn, i don't really see myself leaving manhattan anytime soon

i suppose only time will tell how things will pan out. regardless, i foresee a lot of exciting things to look forward to.

breaking out the all clad

before leaving my last job, i made one final splurge. a 7 piece all clad copper core cookware set. it came out to a little more than half off. such an amazing deal that i know i'd kick myself if i let the opportunity pass.

so for the past four three and a half months, the box has been sitting in my apartment. in mint condition. untouched. part of me was debating if i should return it. and to be honest, part of me has felt like i don't deserve such a nice cookware set in this stage in my life.

but today, amidst spring cleaning- from the bathroom, to the oven, to loads of laundry- i decided to throw caution and reason to the wind. and just like that, my new dinner ware set was out of the box and resting on hooks in my kitchen.

it all seemed so right. and my home felt a little more. homey.

when silence means just that

time and time again, we are told that one of the keys to a successful relationship, marriage, or friendship is communication. . . of course the fact that men and women speak two different languages makes this a lot easier in theory than in practice.

sometimes, you just have to laugh.

(eulalie, thanks for the laugh)

i hate home depot

after hemming and hawing over the expense and deliberating for weeks on what washing/drying machine, i finally settled on the LG WM3431. i was given a delivery date of may 8th.


V: what time can i expect someone to come?


customer service rep (CSR): someone will give you a call the night before to give you a 4 hour time frame.


V: they can't be more specific than that?


csr: no ma'am.


V: then i'll have to schedule the delivery for another date. i have a big presentation that day. can we reschedule for friday?


csr: ok ma'am. let me contact the delivery people and see what we can do. would you mind holding?


V: no problem.


csr: ma'am. i'm sorry, but they are having a meeting right now. i'll see if we can reschedule the delivery date. if i can't, i'll call you back.


V: ok. so someone will call the night before the delivery to give me a time frame?


csr: yes ma'am.


no call back so i figure we're all set. wednesday night rolls around, no call. . . good, guess they'll definately deliver on friday. so you can imagine my consternation when i get out of my presentation on thursday and find two messages from the delivery guys saying they were at my building but no one was home so i needed to call and set up a new delivery date. argggg. . . so i proceeded to reschedule my delivery to tuesday. i call mondaynight to confirm the delivery window. 10:30-2:30. damn. it. i have an advertising turn-in scheduled at 10 AM that i can't get out of. luckily the boy offers to wait at my apartment for the delivery guys to come and i plan to rush home immediately after my meeting.


timing works out great. i'm on the bus by 10:15 and get a call from the delivery guys who say they are 30 minutes away. i am home by 10:30 and relieve the boy of waiting duties. the delivery guys arrive at 10:45. the installation guy surveys the machine.

installation guy 1(IG1): i'm sorry, i am not allowed to move the cabines. do you still want the machine?

V: i want you to take away the old machine and install the new one. the only reason why i used home depot was because this is their policy.

installation guy 2(IG2): impossible. we can't move the doors.

V: do you have a screw driver? what if we do it?

IG1: sure. we are on a tight timeline though. do you want the new machine?

V: yes, but you have to remove the old one.

IG1: i can't wait around for you to do this.

V: well, i can't take more time off of work to deal with this. you are going to install the new one today while we are all here. i will look for someone to help.

i go outside and luckily the condo maintenance guy (MG) is cleaning the stairwell. i tell him the situation and he agrees to help. within 5 minutes the doors are removed. the new machine is brought up.

IG1: you need a longer hose.

V: what? i don't understand?

by now, i am highly annoyed that these guys don't want to do their job and that the machine which i paid a pretty penny for doesn't come ready for installation. luckily, MG intercedes and instructs the guys to use the old hose and supervises the rest of the installation process. the machine is eventually installed with the only downside being it's a bit too big for the space and juts out past the countertop. but the machine works like a charm and is a beaute!

belated bday celebrations

to make up for missing dandy's bday party last weekend, i offered to cook a nice dinner for dandy and his beau, and the boy. for once, the menu and meal came together with relative ease- mussels in a saffron cream sauce, and grilled panchetta wraped asparagus. timing is always difficult with dinner parties and i always find myself struggling to make sure everything is prepared properly, that all the guests are having a good time, and have a tough time actually getting to relax, eat and drink myself.


after a leisurely dinner and gift exchange, the four of us headed out to williamsburg to drop off gifts and grab a couple of drinks. we ended up at trophy, a newish bar which unlike it's name suggests was not flashy or a scene. instead, it was instantly likeable and radiated that familiar feel that made you want to become a regular. i sided up to the bar to check out their drink selection and asked the bartender for some bourbon recommendations. she motioned to the woman sitting next to me, "you should ask her for a recommendation. she knows a lot more about bourbon."


so that began a 30 minute conversation with what turned out to be the bar owner- a personable, young woman with a passion for tequila and learned appreciation for bourbon. while nursing her recommended glass of michters (possibly the smoothess bourbon i've ever tasted), she told me about how she had worked for years in another bar before opening her own place,

the boy eventually found me and drew me back into the birthday celebration. we headed to another spot where dandy could get his groove on..midway through first rounds, we all started to fade quickly, reminding me once again of the fact that we're all getting older and can't stay out the way we once could. . . happy b-day?

the meeting

one of the components of my training program was being sectioned off into groups to compete in a group project. we were all assigned rhe same task and asked to come up with a business proposal and present it among an audience of our mentors, coaches. HR, and other related persons. the prize was the opportunity to present our ideas to the CEO and a free lunch (who says there is no such thing as a free lunch?).

my team won. the perks- the opportunity to make a good impression on the CEO. the downside balancing a persistent and nagging obligation to do an amazing job while learning to do our new jobs and get up to speed as soon as possible.

and and just like that *snap* it was over. the meeting was casual. we talked through our slides and he raised good questions. was actually quite fascinating hearing his thought process in terms of solving business problems.. . working in any particular industry for any period of time hinders one's ability to see things clearly. . . the more accustomed one is to analyzing business in a specific way, the more difficult it becomes to recognize obvious weakenesses and opportunites, and therefore solutions. a good lesson in staying grounded.