lovely weekend

it's a constant struggle for me to find balance in my life, to get better at saying no and accomplishing/doing all the things i really want to do. instead, i find myself in one of two predicaments:

1. being so busy during the week with work, gymming and social outings that i'm too exhausted to do or want to do anything besides veg out

2. being so busy on the weekends with appointments, chores, and catching up with friends that i am too tired and unmotivated to do anything during the work week

this week, it's #2. i had an unexpected dinner with british dave at my place. both exercise-aholics, we both squeezed in workouts before an impromptu meal of chili, meatballs and red wine at my place. i have the notion that british dave is too polite to tell me he really wasn't too fond of the meal as he ate only one bowl of chili and one meatball but continued to devour the loaf of multigrain bread!! nonetheless, it was wonderful to catch up.

saturday i met up with celestial in chinatown where i had my first visit with dr D. i've been trying to find a good doctor in nyc for ages, and was happy celestial recommended hers. the experience was undoubtedly odd! on bowery, just steps away from my favorite banh mi store, you step into a commercial building. the two sets of elevators are readily spotted by a swarm of chinese people trying to enter/exit. in the elevator, there are two doors which are adjacent to one other but only one opens depending on which floor you are on. since dr D had gotten in late, appointments were over an hour behind schedule. celestial and i decided to kill time and go grocery shopping. by the time we got back, it was only another 15 minutes of waiting before it was my time to go in.

dr D was a nice, middle aged chinese woman with the kind of straightforward talk that only a middle aged chinese woman could get away with. over the course of the visit, she told me i had an "old person's name", fat people put talcum powder "down there" but that's bad because it may be linked to cancer, and that women used to grow their arm hair out and that was OK.

after the visit, celestial and i headed back to LIC and watched vicky, christina, barcelona. then celestial made a delicious feast of okonomiyaki, tofu with edamame, and stir fried squid. we listened to some music and got dressed for dancing. in the end, we skipped the birthday parties and went to la caverna to dance. hours later (forgot how much i love to dance) and even making a new friend, we went to schillers for a quick snack and evening recap before splitting around 3AM.

sunday was a more relaxed day. i met up with dandy at prune for brunch. a southwest bloody mary and butter crumbled poached eggs with spicy stewed chickpeas for me and a green lake bloody mary and soft scrambled eggs for him. the food is as well thought out and executed as i remembered. really, one of my favorite restaurants in nyc. after brunch we went to spa belles where we got manicures and i was so relaxed i could have fallen asleep. we walked back to union square, stopping by trader joe's for a bit before parting ways.

who couldn't use a laugh

compliments of BD!!!

only in newport blues

look closely

DC trip

left work early so the boy and i could head down to DC for the william elliot whitmore show a DC9. unexpectedly bad traffic made the drive particularly stressful although we managed to make decent time once outside of new york. while we missed a handful of songs, WEW was in even better form than i remembered making our trip well worth the effort! after the show, the boys bought memoriabilia and i queued to talk to WEW. got a nice little handshake and the chance to share how much i love his work.

after the show, we headed to ben's chili bowl for a late dinner which was absolutely delicious but totally negated a week's worth or working out. we had a quickish drink at a nearby bar before heading back to gangsta's apartment. we chatted for a bit before i retired for bed and let the boys play.

next day was a lazy start- a little reading, hanging out, and watching t.v. the plan had been to meet up with my gradeschool friend reesy for dinner. turned out her wonderful hubby was able to join as well- the question was where to go? after calling one restaurant after the next, it became evident that dinner reservations for a party of six were not to be had. so gangsta and i decided to cook dinner. we bought groceries from eastern market and harris teeter.

we whipped up a nice little dinner of bacon wrapped shrimp, arugula salad in a lemon dressing, wild mushroom risotto, skirt steak, and a small plate of cheese & prosciutto. everything turned out nicely and i was excited to see seconds being taken on the risotto. . .no better compliment to the cook! turned out that gangsta and reesy knew some common folk and conversation flowed smoothly. all around a nice evening.

sorting through

the mood has been strange of late and i can't help but feel affected. the economic downturn has turned into a stressful environment at work. everyone is working at least twice as hard for fewer returns. to make matters worse, there is an undercurrent of fear- for getting laid off at worst and never getting promoted at best.

a colleague's boyfriend passed away this morning. . . i feel terribly for her and the sadness weighs on me.

at the same time, her loss reminds me of how extremely fortunate i am, leaving me with a sense of guilt. while my life is far from perfect- i have family, friends, a partner that are all in good health and who i love immensely and continue to enrich my life. and so i feel compelled to demonstrate my gratitude and appreciation to all of my loved ones and savor every shared moment and memory.

"once around" feels quite apropos and a poignant reminder to focus on what is really important in life.

first pass

there are many foods that i love but never try to make- indian, chinese, mexican, and etc. . these are all foods that are best eaten in hole in the wall restaurants or someone's home.

but given that it's so hard to find cheap, delicious mexican food in nyc (c'mon, i was spoiled by southern california!) and the boy's affinity for it, i decided to try my hand at making it from scratch. for the past couple weeks i scoured the internet for authentic recipes. . . thereby happening on a chowhound discussion about the best carnitas recipe which reminded me of the fact that the best home cooked, ethnic foods are often made without recipes. at least not the carefully measured, precisely spelled out, step by step variety. rather, the general description of ingredients and loose guidelines. thereby leaving the success of the meal to the inventiveness and taste of the chef.

after rounding out the menu with guajillo salsa and queso fundido, i was pumped up!! after a full day of lazying, the boy and i took the bus to east harlem (or shall i call it food heaven) to get groceries.

good quality meat and produce for cheap!!! something possessed me as i can barely remember what i bought and vaguely recall just grabbing at things i might need later on. a couple hours later, we headed back home both happy- the boy armed with coconut drinks, the biggest beer EVER, and me with enough food to fill my tiny fridge to capacity. we got home, watched the "secret lives of altar boys", then feasted on chorizo arepas before falling asleep.

dinner came together relatively seemlessly and while my guests did not complain about the food i was not really satisfied. while quite fragrant and hearty, the carnitas was lacking in "bite", the consistency of the queso fundido went from too watery to too sticky, and the salsa while having a fresh and smoky flavor, was not nearly as spicy as proclaimed. . . think i'll have to try, try again.