Tuesday, September 30, 2008

"Stella!!!"

went to bloomies on my way home from work last thursday to pick up some shoes that i had presold.

i had to flag down three different associates to find out where to retrieve my merchandise. apparently in an effort to be more organized- there was a presell pick up area with one associate designated specifically to hand out pre-sells. FABULOUS!

unfortunately, the person was completely MIA. . and waiting in line before me was stella from project runway!! looking and sounding far more normal in person that what the show makes her out to be. . . sure, she was a bit annoyed with the wait but she was surprisingly patient and didn't show much 'tude. in any case, i asked her if she had seen anyone working at the pick up area. after she said "no", i awkwardly stood behind her and tried not to be too obvious about checking her out.

guess it's not so crazy of a siting- she is from astoria after all.

mesmerizing

more of the fabulous tay zonday

Monday, September 29, 2008

aye aye captain

i promised the captain a report of my evening watching isaac mizrahi's band. yes- the one and only isaac mizrahi- fashion designer extraordinaire, author, actor, and aspiring cabaret performer!!!

about a month ago, megs had emailed me saying that isaac mizrahi's band, The Ben Walzter Quintet, was performing at joe's pub at the end of september. always game for new and interesting experiences- i opted to go. i had no idea what to expect- except the promise that mizrahi would "chat, take your questions, sing, sketch and maybe even do a jig".

indeed, there was chatting and pleny of singing, but sadly (?) no sketching or jigging.

whle i certainly had not high hopes of mizrahi's performing chops, i was pleasantly surprised. clearly, mizrahi was a well rounded individual with many skills and interests- and the current focus (besides taking on the task of reinventing and revitailizing liz claiborne) was a career as a performer. the music was pure bluesy/jazzy stuffs,. mizrahi actually had a decent singing voice but more importantly, showed a genuine passion for performing, an excellent repetoire with guests, and good sense of humor.

songs were interjected with little stories, jokes, and a little re-gift giving to his guests (i scored a hideous vase shaped like a dress which will forever serve as a makeup brush/tooth brush holder).

the show was completely enjoyable and somehow felt like a very "new york" experience. while not needing a repeat performance, it was a completely satisfactory way to spend three hours of my weekend.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

one door closes. . .

funny how things work out.

taz had introduced me to mag via email several months ago- she was moving to tribeca in august with her husband and didn't know many people in nyc. always happy to make new friends, we decided to meet for dinner once mag was feeling more settled in. several rounds of email and we had picked a date and restaurant.

thursday came, overcast and dreary. . i was feeling a little run down from the week but was still game for meeting up. lo and behold- mag's was worn out herself and we decided to postpone until next thursday.

minutes later, i get an email from dandy asking me if i was free for a drink. it's always difficult meeting up with dandy- since we both tend to keep busy schedules but he's much more spontaneous while my plans tend to be set in advance. so despite having started to look forward to relaxing at home, i decided to meet up for dinner. we settled on boka, a new korean restaurant on st.marks.

the restaurant is downstairs and a narrow space with a bar up front and tables in the back with trendy decor and thumping music. dandy was sitting at the bar reading a book and having a beer. we grabbed a table and after purusing the menu- ordered some edamame, the gal bi bi bim bap, and a medium order of bon chon chicken. i was pleased that the food was solid- especially nice considering we were in the east village and not in k-town. the bon chon chicken was not quite as good as that at rock star music factory, while the skin was spot on, the chicken was slightly bulbous which threw me off. in any case, boka was a great find and it may become a new regular.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

home early

i've mentioned feeling a little out of whack lately- but the face staring- nay- i should say squinting back at me in the bathroom mirror made me do a double take. my left eye was so swollen and puffy i could only half open it. i inched my face towards the mirror to better inspect the damage.

no mucus or liquid. check.
no redness. check.
no itchiness. check.

i decided to go sans makeup and contacts rather than risk irritiating my bad eye any more. the upside is i was out the door in 15 minutes from getting out of bed. i knew that my boss would be concerned so i avoided her for the better part of the morning. of course, she inevitably noticed and despite assuring her that i wasn't in pain and felt fine, she suggested i see a doctor and insisted i go home early. so i wrapped up the key tasks for the day and headed home.

on the ride, i spotted carl at the M15 limited bus stop and sitting in the back of my bus, an old guy with a 40 oz can of budweiser. it was 1pm. weird.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

music videos

was at the gym doing cardio and flipping through the music channels trying to find a song with a fast beat. then i became mesmerized by tainted love by soft cell. it's a song i've always loved though the lyrics are somewhat bittersweet.

never realized how weird the video is.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

meetings

today was one of those days with non-stop meetings. the only time i got anything done was from 8:30-10 AM before my first meeting and from 5:30-8:30 after my last meeting and the office was empty.

frustrating that i still didn't get everything i needed to get done, done. and i fear that tomorrow is just going to be a repeat.

so here, i'm gonna remind myself of a line from eulalie.

it doesn't matter.

it's the perk of working in an industry that doesn't involve saving people's lives or anything so serious.

Monday, September 15, 2008

a little out of whack

perhaps it was the hot and humid summer weekend followed by two very fall like days, or the fact that it's starting to get dark by 6:30 pm, or the nonstop meetings and deadlines at work that leave no time to really think rather shift into overdrive mode. . . but i find myself feeling a bit out of sorts. losing track of time- which is very unlike me, oversleeping way too often, and having difficulty falling into routine.

i'm hoping to kickstart my morning tomorrow with some gym time and coffee, put a solid 9 or 10 hours, and end the day with an art exhibit with meg. . . but it's probably overly ambitious and we'll see what the day brings. . .

mixed bag

went out for happy hour drinks (i know, i know, it's a monday), but it's been our (not well kept) tradition of drinking of the 15th of the month, with some work friends. we decided to meet up at sunburnt cow for their 2 for 1 drink and aussie burger specials. it was a particularly special night as there were two birthdays in the group.

the conversation flowed from seeing issac mizrahi's band at joe's pub and seeing vampire weekend at the delancey for $5 to weddings in puerto rico to views on teaching creationism and evolution and lid tossing competitions. it started to sink in how amazing it was that we had all become good friends despite having such different backgrounds and stories. i suppose it helps that we are all generally speaking, fun loving and open minded people.

and i felt grateful for working in the company that i do, which has allowed me to develop some amazing friendships with people who i may not normally encounter or really get to know otherwise.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

new find!

woke up feeling not so great this morning- late night with one too many cocktails, not enough water, and not enough sleep. got up around 8:45 and debated about going to the gym but decided to go back to bed. i fell back in and out of sleep thinking about a toasted multigrain bagel with light lox from the bagel store on the corner of 78th and 1st ave.

around 11, i got my butt out of bed and headed to the gym. midway through work out, celestial texted me and asked if we could move dim sum up to 1:30. the thought of savory chinese food wone out and i cut my cardio minutes by 15 minutes and raced home to shower and get dressed.

by 12:45 i was out the door and headed to 2nd ave to catch the m15 limited. unfortunately, i waited for half an hour with three local buses passing by before i was able to board the limited bus. i got to chatham square restaurant around 1:45pm and luckily celestial had already ordered a couple dishes- turnip cakes and beef rice noodle rolls, and chrysanthemum tea. the turnip cakes were delicious- with delightfully more of the crisped friedness on the outside than usual which was suprising because it was not greasy. we also ordered shrimp dumplings, pork & waterchesnut dumplings, tripe, and spareribs. hands down the best tripe i've ever had and i was pleased with every fresh and flavorful dish.

it's clean, calmer, and a little less overwhelming than golden bridge which has been hit or miss lately. . . plus, the whole new buffet type line they have going on is just weird. not really what dim sum is supposed to be like. i think chatham square restaurant has just become a new dim sum regular.

Friday, September 12, 2008

venturing out

it's been awhile since i've tried a new tapas restaurant so i was excited to go to xunta with theng on friday night. i got to the restaurant around 7:30 and grabbed a table fashioned out of a large barrel towards the center of the room. theng was having trouble getting downtown so she told me to order a couple of dishes while i waited. i ordered a glass of red wine, chicken empanada and the tortilla espanola con cebola (spanish omelette with onions).

around 8:30, theng and hosmillo arrived and at shortly after, the first two dishes were brought out. to round out the meal, we ordered a bottle of cava for the table, morzolla con cebola (blood sausage), camarons o allo (garlic shrimp), lulas anel (fried calamari), and champinos bebeidos (mushrooms in brandy).

haven't had blood sausage since going to the latin market with eddie several years back- so the blood sausage hit the spot. the chicken empanada was tasty with a flaky crust and a rectangular shape- different from what i'm accustomed to. as for the rest of the dishes, they were all good but perhaps somewhat underwhelming and unmemorable. around 9:30 the music volume skyrocketed making conversation across the table a bit more difficult. all in all, an enjoyable dinner catching up with friends and at least i won't have to keep wondering what xunta is like.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

just another popularity contest

sometimes i think the whole internet-social-networking thing is out of control. first there was myspace, then friendster, now facebook plus a whole slew of other online communities. i don't discredit the many values it has for helping to reconnect old friends, connect people with similar interests, share pictures, . . . plus it can be F-U-N!

sometimes, i just feel that it's easier to correspond through more direct means. don't send me a message on facebook if you have my email address, that just adds one more step to the process of me getting back to you. my biggest pet peeve though, is how people that i don't even know try to "add me as a friend" on facebook.

yes, we may have gone to the same high school so you recognize my name (hullo, how many vietnamese girls grew up in newport blues), but do we really need to be friends? . . . or are you just trying to amass as many "friends" as possible to show the internet community just how popular you are.

so call me a jerk if you wish, but if you've asked to be my friend, and we've had only a passing conversation once in our lives, please don't be sour when i ignore your request.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

dunkin donuts

i always have mixed feelings about my neighborhood. . .

the upside:
safe
quiet at night
nice running path along the east river
relatively close to central park
4 grocery stores nearby
bus stop just outside my apartment that gets me to work in 15 minutes
good wing place a block away
nice neighborhood video store a block away where the staff actually knows movies
good bagel place a block away
rainbow- in it's all around weirdness
good "trash"

the downside:
overpriced, subpar restaurants
mostly fratty, sports bars
babystrollers and nannies galore
overpriced grocery stores
lack of cute boutiques and shops
lack of diversity
lack of grittiness
dogs that pee all over the good "trash"

and now to add to the negative list- dunkin donuts- representing the sad but seemingly inevitable sprawl of the chain establishments to all parts of manhattan. . . don't get me wrong- i enjoy dunkin donuts and target as much as the next person . . . but i fear this will take away one of the things the UES still has going for it, the mom n pop stores & restaurants (albeit expensive and not necessarily the best, but at least independent) which help distinguish the neighborhood from the rest of the country.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

mini reunion

just a few weeks ago i remember confiding in the boy about how sad it was that my friends seem to be slowly migrating out of nyc. his response was how suprised i was that so many of my friends wound up in nyc.

tonight reminded me of that fact. ddt, collins, and i met up for dinner at spice on east 10th and university place. the three of us go way back to middle school and became close while working on odyssey of the mind together in 7th grade. we were all creative, nerdy, overambitious, and all slightly oustiders in our own ways. . . in that regard, it makes sense that we all ended up in nyc.

but blame it on life- busy schedules, relationship ups and downs, school, work, etc- but somehow we had all never managed to meet up. so dinner tonight was a special treat. ddt is still working at her high profile cosmetics job, collins is fullfilling his dreams doing production work, and i'm happy in my work. as we sat trading stories and catching up news/gossip regarding various high school acquaintances, i could not help but feel a true sense of happiness- that while we certainly do not lead problem free lives- at least we are living and pursuing what we love/enjoy.

Monday, September 08, 2008

the speech

it only took three iterations and some honest feedback from keting2 (way too biographical, short and funny) and the boy, but i managed to crank out my maid-of-honor speech just in time. . . i was feeling quite anxious having to speak in front of a huge crowd, but perhaps because the crowd wasn't really paying attention, the delivery went fine- and i even managed to garner a few laughs from the bride. so for those who only heard snippets- here it is.

it is with great honor that i stand before you as vk's maid-of-honor. vk and i met in graduate school; perhaps because were were two of the handful of americans in the programs, it was inevitable that we became regular lunch partners. my first impression of vk was that she was shy, sweet, and possibly the slowest eater i've ever met. teeny. tiny. bites.

needless to say, we became close- bonding over how stressful graduate school was and trading stories about our kooky roommates. for instance, there was the time vk's roommate forced fed her colloidal silver when she was sick with the flu. or the time my roommate fled into my room in the middle of the night and asked to sleep in my bed because she was having night terrors. and this was within a week of moving in with her.

our roommate problem was solved when we decided to room together and found a cute apartment in tiny tokyo. vk is the best roommate i have ever had. i took out the trash. she wiped down the kitchen. i killed all the spiders. vk watched me kill the spiders, frozen in place with fear. i helped vk pick the right purse or belt to go with her outfit. and vk would help me get lost on almost every excursion.

but the best was bachelor night. thursday nights. i would wait for her to get home from work and we'd have snacks and wine. we would devise and play drinking games. every time a contestant would say "i have found the man/woman of my dreams" or "i think he is my soulmate" or "will you please accept this rose?"- we would take a sip of wine.

tonight, vk is no longer a bachelorette and jackie is no longer a bachelor. so please join me by raising your glasses and toasting vk and jackie- to celebrate vk and jackie's meeting ten years ago in an economics study group, to their journey of discovering and rediscovering that they were meant to be together, and to the marriage vows they exchanged tonight.

congratulations. i love you both and wish you a lifetime of happiness.

eating my way around los angeles

fellow foodie travelers can understand my usual predicament with vacations- too much good food and too little stomach space. since i was traveling with the boy- who is resistant to the charms of the west coast, i was especially eager to have a proper sampling of the amazing food los angeles has to offer.


thursday was a long day of travel with a layover in denver where we stopped at mesa restaurant so the boy could have a smoke before the next leg. we had surpringly good queso fundido and i had an unsurprisingly regular bloody mary. we arrived in los angeles around 2pm , picked up the rental car, and after sorting out the majorly outdated GPS made our way to west LA for lunch at poquito mas. fish tacos for me and steak tacos for the boy and tostada carnitas to share. bellies full we decided to head back to keting2's apartment and rest. i worked on my maid-of-honor speech while the boy caught up on sleep.

for dinner, we met up with eulalie and keting2 at mr park's bbq which turned out to be just as good as keting2 promised- the kobe beef was tender and just slightly marbled, the pork belly dressed in an exquisite marinade, was flavorful and succulent. the seafood pajun was solid and the well seasoned side dishes perfectly complemented the meal. LA definately does korean food better than NY.

the next day we slept in and decided to hit up griddle in hollywood per my brother's recommendation. definately the heartiest breakfast i've ever seen. we shared an omelette, generous side of bacon, wheat pancakes, and french pressed coffee. ginormous. i don't know what else to say.

partially because i forgot just how bad LA traffic can be and because the cleaners almost lost the boy's shirt and pants, we were almost late to the wedding rehearsal. apparently, we weren't the only ones to get tied up in traffic as we managed to be the first to arrive at the grapevine arbor. we sorted through the logistics and set up with the staff and once the majority of the bridal party arrived, we walked through the ceremony. after two rounds, we wrapped up and headed over to mission 261 for the rehearsal dinner.

the next day was a flurry of activity and complete blur during which i managed to take the boy to in-n-out in pasadena, served as the wedding coordinator, and see one of my best friends get married. while the trip was a bit stressful at times, i wouldn't have wished to be anywhere else for i have never seen VK look so beautiful or her groom so happy.

Monday, September 01, 2008

reunions

lasagna was in town this weekend- an especially nice treat since the wife and mother of two rarely has an occasion to travel alone. she was invited to a wedding in long island and figured we could have a visit while she was in new york. . . which is how i found myself awkwardly standing around at a day-before-the-wedding picnic in huntington on saturday afternoon. while there were a scattering of faintly familiar faces from college - i began to feel like an intruder amongst an intimate group of old friends and family members.

after i greeted the bride and she warmly welcomed us, i felt immediately grateful for the bride's accomodating nature and extremely appreciative for the boy's willingness to drive and accompany us to what must have been an awkward social outing. a couple hours later, we said our good-byes and headed back to manhattan.

once home, we loaded up the boy's car with bikes (two!), beef jerkey, and cold coffee before he made his way down to frederick for two fun filled days of riding. lasagna and i freshened up (i.e. comfy shoes and jeans) and headed to felice for wine and snacks. all in all, it was like the old days- sleepover where we stayed up talking until we couldn't stay awake any longer, listening to music, and lasanga playing dress up and me playing hair stylist/make up artist.

the reception hall was lovely and the bride looked gorgeous, and most importantly, happy. . . i had to cut out before the entree was served to meet lori who i haven't seen since january. we stopped by her home, had a glass of wine with her and her hubby who gave me a turkish hand-rolled cigarette to smoke, and played with her granddaughter before the girls headed out for drinks in the village. . . time flew by, some apps and a drink later and it was already time to catch my train back home. and as moody and lori stood outside waving while they waited for my train to pull away from the station, i felt very loved and fortunate for the friends i have made.