Wednesday, February 27

alcohol blanket

thank god for Coleslaw or else my Valentine's Day would've just come and gone w/no special to-do about it. instead, she decided to have a little Valentine's dinner party for the girls which was exactly what the doctor ordered. however, since it's me, nothing's ever easy.


initially i wanted to go to Trader Joe's and pick up some wine to bring to Coleslaw's, so i gathered my stuff and planned to go after Professional Responsibility which ends at 4:00 pm. i trudged over to Trader Joe's in Union Square, spent 30 mins shopping around for wines, then waited in that always long line to check out. except, as i approached the register, i discovered i didn't have my ID on me (it's a boring and stupid story as to why). so of course, they wouldn't let me purchase the wine. but i was determined, so i hopped back on the subway and headed to Chinatown to run my 2nd errand which took about another hour (have you ever tried to find duck tongue in Chinatown? it's impossible! i'll have to ask Snoopy to recommend a place next time. and yes, some chinese ppl eat duck tongue, my family included. and don't say blech till you try it). i finally arrived back at Feil, picked up my ID and headed back to Union Square and waited in an even longer check-out line before being able to purchase the wine.


the guy at the register made the mistake of asking "and how's your day going," so i told him about my previous excursion and how they had denied me last time. the girl at the register next to him tried to spin it and said, "well you do have a young face" to which i promptly replied, "yes, i know, however i'm 25 and will be 26 this april which is a far cry from 21 or younger." to this she responded, "well we live under the NYU dorms so we can never be to careful." touche. whatevers, i know i'll love it when i'm 40 and ppl still think i'm 30 but honestly, stuff like that just blows right now.

i got back to Feil and then headed over to Coleslaw's (at this point it was about 7:30) where she had filet mignon and jumbo shrimp waiting for me (yea fresh direct!). she even went to the trouble of ordering a pound of strawberries and a fruit plate to go w/the chocolate fondue she made, as well as a chocolate plate full of goodies like brownies, chocolate chip cookies, milk chocolate bark and rugelah. it was a good time full of drinking, noshing and 90's dance party. around 1 am, everybody decided to head out to Brazen for more drinks but alas, i had to pack b/c i was going home for the long weekend and had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to catch the bus home. by the time i'd finished packing it was around 3 am and i hit the sack for 2 hrs before getting up and heading over to Port Authority to catch the 6:45 am bus back to Jersey.


while at Port Authority i had to wait for the ticket window to open before i could purchase my ticket. there i was on the escalator up to my gate, groggily holding the ticket i'd just purchased 5 mins ago when my butter fingers dropped the ticket and it fell into the crack of the escalator. i swear, i was about to tear up. the 2 hrs of sleep, my reedonkulously heavy bag full of stuff to bring home, laptop and books, and slight headache from drinking had made me seriously grumpy and the ticket falling was the last straw b/c i knew i would have to purchase another 1 (which i did, even tho i tried to go to the operations controller but they couldn't do anything). i had just wanted to throw my hands up and say "why God why?"


see, nothing's ever easy for me.

Monday, February 25

why is kansas so windy?

b/c Oklahoma sucks and Nebraska blows!

i'm not sure how long Egg was waiting to tell this joke but when he finally did it was perfect timing. we were sitting at Floyd's and on the left side him was a guy from Nebraska while on the right side of him sat a girl from Oklahoma. how much better a set up for that joke can you get?

aside from that moment of hilarity, he was also involved in another pretty comical incident. when we 1st got to the bar (which smelled like fish that night-blech), we had to wait at the bar for a drink. all of a sudden a Dolly Parton song comes on and Egg, being Egg, loved it and he promptly said so. then this random girl sitting in front of us turned around and announced:

"this song sucks."

it was so weird! it's not like we knew her! and here she was striking up a random convo w/Egg while he had me and another girl already w/him. how did she know Egg wasn't 1 of ours' boyfriend? ok, so he's not, but still she didn't know that. regardless she goes through a whole spiel about how the song sucks and how Floyd's is so crowded b/c all tourists go there (implying Egg's a tourist) and etc. so when we finally get our drinks and join the others who have a table Egg immediately goes into what happened and i chime in about the boyfriend part and how that's such an immature way to start a flirty convo. this naturally sparks the interest of the ppl at the table who weren't there for this incident and they all start looking towards the bar to get a glimpse of this girl. we decide to send Egg back to the bar and stand behind the girl and point her out while we all watch. it was a pretty funny image. there's Egg, who's about 6 ft tall, standing behind the girl w/his finger pointing down at her from above her head while all of us at the table are staring straight at him.

i had't planned on going out for a drink but Egg convinced me and just based on the joke and that incident it was totally worth it.

Sunday, February 24

i'm the butch, you're the femme

this post has been a long time coming b/c i never miss a Restaurant Week in NYC. except this year Opentable was really slow sending out notices about reservations for Restaurant Week so i didn't get notified until right when it started. luckily for me, i happened to be in class w/Coleslaw who turned out to be just as fanatical about Restaurant Week as me. by the end of the class we had already made reservations at 2 different restaurants.

the 1st place i tried out was Butter and there were no reservation issues b/c we went for lunch vs. dinner. Coleslaw got all adorably dressed up for the occassion whereas i was too lazy to do that and just wore a white polo and jeans. when we showed up at Butter (which has a very datey atmosphere) and since it was the 2 of us, i decided that Coleslaw and i should consider our lunch a pseudo-lesbian date and, based on how we were dressed, i was obviously the butch and she was the femme. the meal at Butter was so delish. Coleslaw got the scallop ceviche app whereas i got lamb ravioli. of course we shared (you should always do this so that you get the best of both worlds). they were both perfect, very light vs. heavy. we ended up getting the same entrees (lamb) which was so tender that neither of us ever had to use a knife. my pseudo-lesbian date was such a nice mid-day lunch and Coleslaw and i got to have lots of heart-to-hearts and philosophical discussions.

later that week Coleslaw, Adidas and i went to Alfama which is a portuguese restaurant in the West Village. amazing. and it was even better that we got to go w/Coleslaw b/c she could advise us on things we didn't know on the menu and she ordered this amazing vinho verde which neither Adidas or i had ever had. i'm much more of a fan of vinho verde than white wine b/c it's a little sparkling but not too overpoweringly sweet like riesling (my least favorite white wines). Coleslaw even ordered off the Restaurant Week menu b/c of this amazing portuguese sausage that's served in flaming alcohol. we let Adidas be the man and take care of the turning while it was cooking in the flame (manly BBQ-style). since there were 3 of us we each got a diff app: goat cheese and pine nut salad, a platter of sliced portuguese sausages (chilled) and an amazing potato soup. the soup was the best, much more dense than the description made it sound (and of course it was Coleslaw that had ordered it). for entrees: shrimp and fish gratin (deliciously cheesy and creamy); a pork and beans stew (eh, not bad. served w/rice. but nothing special); and a hamburger. i know, i know. go to a portuguese restaurant and order a hamburger? but have you ever ordered the Alfama burger? if you have then you wouldn't wonder why anyone would order it. they don't just make the burger patty out of ground meat. there's more in there, but what it is is a mystery to me. and the fries are amazing. and then there was dessert. Coleslaw and i got this amazing pudding-thing that was topped w/crumble similar to that found on coffee cake. i could live on that crumble alone.

of course Restaurant Week wouldn't be complete w/o meeting up w/Bubby, Kiks and Debs. since we couldn't get reservations at One if by Land, Two if by Sea we picked Brasserie 8 1/2 instead. i went here last time w/Pal so i was prepared for that midtown work-trendy crowd. we ended up getting a pretty good booth in the back and Bubby and i immediately made a pact to share whatever we got. it ended up being pretty funny b/c everybody got the lobster consomme and duck entree except for me. the consomme was pretty good, altho a little salty but it was served w/3 lobster dumplings and those things were awesome. the duck was average, really nothing special. for me i got the scallop ceviche (the scallops were teeny-tiny. i always forget that the there's a difference btwn scallops and diver scallops which are the big ones i like) and the salmon. i totally got lucky w/the salmon. the portion was ginormous. and it was SO SO delish. aside from a yummy dinner, it was fun to hang out w/the girls and catch up. Debs in particular needed the girly support b/c she was having a rough time w/the job (altho her love life's on the up and up. totally jealous).

i got to finish up the week going to a professional lacrosse game w/Coleslaw and DRC. Coleslaw had scored the tickets from friends she knew who's son plays for the San Jose Stealth (yea, yea, i know...the choice of city's unfortunate but i'm not gonna hold a grudge against a whole city b/c of Gohm). Coleslaw and i were pretty into the game, especially when the son of the ppl we knew got thrown out of the game for fighting (it was awesome! he totally clocked the other guy and that guy went down). DRC was cracking me up tho. she kept saying things like "no, stop it that's mean!" whenever ppl would hit each other w/their sticks while playing. it was very cute. and then she kept texting nerdy pick-up lines to ppl. the night capped off well tho b/c the Stealth won. yea go Stealth!

Thursday, February 21

Teacher Fetish

happy birthday Spoon!


Spoon had her bday party at Japas 38, my favorite karaoke bar b/c it does that amazing 2-3 hr deal of $30 per person which includes all the sake, beer, and wine you can drink as well as all the hot apps and sushi you can eat. and unlike many other asian karaoke bars, Japas also has a really good collection of songs.


i haven't been good about keeping in touch w/Spoon so when she asked me to her attend her birthday party of course i had to go. plus she always makes time for me when i invite her out so i gotta show the love. the night was fun, especially since i didn't eat anything before going which made all the sake bombs that much better (but, like a responsible girl, i ate plenty once i got there). Spoon definitely got wasted b/c she was keeping pace w/all the sake bombs her boy was doing, which was about every 10 mins. it was to the point where i had to take a breather b/c all that food and constant sake bombs were wreaking havoc on my stomach.


afterwards we went to Union Square Bar but we were literally there for about 10 mins before there was an announcement that Spoon's boy had thrown up in the bathroom and had to be taken home. luckily, Coleslaw and DRC were on there way into the city so i just waited for them to meet me at the bar and we headed over to Azza to meet up w/1 of DRC's many boys, in this case DearJohn. there was this ridiculous door policy at Azza and it turned out DearJohn wasn't able to get in b/c 1 of his friends was wearing sneakers and they were in the midst of deciding where to go and until then we just had to wait for them. thank god for being girls in NYC vs. guys b/c even tho Azza was only letting in ppl who were on guest lists for bday parties i cajoled the bouncer into letting us in since we were only 3 girls.


ive never been to Azza but the setting's pretty nice. lush harem-like sofas and a cigar-lounge style room in the back w/a pool table and everything. however, the music totally blows. so 80's white music kind of difficult to dance to, altho DRC was doing her best and whipping ppl in the face w/her extension-like hair.

it turned out DearJohn was at Galway Hooker, which was also coincidentally where Oppa was so i was game to go but DearJohn was on his way out and i couldn't finagle the girls to go to Galway Hooker. instead we ended up at BBar where DRC finally met up w/DearJohn (altho that scenario didn't work out exactly as planned, but let's not delve into it or else i'll have to go into how many times DRC asked "do you think he likes me?"). Coleslaw and i were more like escorts for DRC than actually out on the prowl but something funny did happen while we sat off to the side.


well 1st, when Coleslaw went up to get drinks somebody grabbed her ass. this was prob after being there for about 10 mins. and what's even better is that Coleslaw thought it was me so she didn't even turn around. but eventually she did and she saw it wasn't me and she gave those boys a what-are-you-kidding-me-i-don't-think-so look. honestly guys, why do you think it's ok to do that? unless you're in the age range of 18-21 yrs old, it's NEVER ok to do that (unless you know the person-then grab all you want).


2nd, Coleslaw and i both happened to be wearing out glasses that night and out of the blue, some guy came up to us and complimented us on our glasses. it's hard to describe why this wasn't cheesy, but it really wasn't. it was done in a perfectly gentlemanly way and he paid his compliment, talked for a few mins, and then scurried away. it was just right.

eventually the night ended w/us back at Coleslaw's just being weird. Ergo all the odd pics.

Friday, February 15

wrecklessly snacking

i got a call from Egg to meet up at St. Marks. i immediately thought "KENKA" but he threw me for a loop by asking me to meet him at a new place: Gyu-Kaku. what? but then he told me they were doing a sort of happy hour food and pitcher deal and i was immediately in. when we went they were doing 50% off all kalbi short ribs and $10 pitchers of japanese beer. not a bad deal if you ask me...if you're curious about what the specials are on what days follow this link. and, if you actually know me, don't forget to invite me!

i invited Snoopy to come along since he lives so close to St. Marks and is usually always up to hang out. we ate to our heart's content of korean bbq, although it still ended up being a little hefty (and i may have overexaggerated the "heart's content" part-it was more like i've got to stop b/c we've eaten 4 orders of bbq between the 2 of us). the food at Gyu-Kaku is definitely good, but the portions are smaller than you would get going to k-town for bbq, but the price also reflects that (after all, it's half-off). there was a better highlight at the end of meal when we ordered dessert. god, Snoopy's such an enabler: whenever i go out w/him he just keeps encouraging me to order more and more food. such a bad idea for my wallet and my stomach. anyways, for dessert we got these asian green tea pancake things which you heat up on the bbq grill (they bring you a new one so you don't have to grill on top of the 1 you used to cook meat) and it being all warm makes all the difference. overall, definitely want to eat at Gyu-Kaku again but definitely only for happy hour specials which basically means i'll be eating tons of bbq meat and pitchers of beer.

after the meal, Snoopy suggested a sake bar that he knew of so we went over to Decibel for drinks. this place is definitely a hidden gem. very cool, low-key local sake bar feel w/an extensive sake menu and interesting bar food. Snoopy and i ended up ordering wasabi shumai (see, he's such an enabler!). but this was prob 1 of the best wasabi shumai i've ever eaten. i'm not exaggerating here, but there is a signifcant amount of wasabi in these shumai. everybody who had a bite had that extreme-wasabi-choking-cough. it was awesome. Snoopy, as it turns out, is a wasabi junkie and we ended up ordering another plate. my sinuses were super-clear by the end of the night.

Monday, February 11

why does he get that glass while i get this one?

It's the Year of the Rat! yes, it doesn't sound as cute as last year's Year of the Pig but there are definite benefits to being born in the Year of the Rat (altho i don't know much about Chinese astrological signs except from what I've read off chinese restaurant placemats so i can't think of anything right now).

Co-Chair and i, in order to prepare for APALSA's lunch event, went into the city to pick up some decorations and prizes for the raffle. on the day of the ticker tape parade. BIG MISTAKE. it was such a nightmare b/c no one was allowed to cross Broadway and we'd made the mistake of attempting to go to Pearl River Mart. we took the 2 train to Chambers Street but b/c we couldn't get onto Broadway or cross over to get to Chinatown, we walked all the way down to Rector Street and then took the R to Canal Street. once we hit Chinatown it was as if the parade wasn't even going on b/c it was completely empty.

i took Co-Chair to real Chinatown to try and find things and we did get some stuff before heading over to tourist Chinatown where we found everything we needed. go figure right? the APALSA Lunar New Year lunch was held in the student lounge and it was a mini-mob scene but in a good way, although we only served fried rice and lo mein (i know, not original, but great for a big crowd). there was a little stress w/planning the event but in the end everything seemed to work out and i'm just glad it's over and i have a breather before the next event.

that night i met up for dinner w/Oppa at Sushi Lounge on St. Marks. we gave it a try based on someone else's suggestion b/c Sushi Lounge does happy hour sushi deals w/50% of all sushi. if we hadn't met up so early we could've caught the 10:00 pm and after 1/2 price drinks deal too. Oppa ordered about 5 or 6 rolls just for himself. before he'd ordered he'd warned me in advance how much he was going to order and wanted me to watch the waitress's face to see if there was any change or awe in her expression. however, the waitress had no reaction whatsoever. i think Oppa's pride was a little hurt by that...

after dinner we decided to head over to Gama for a few drinks. Gama's the new korean place that opened up on St. Marks and i've never tried it. we didn't order any food but a party of 6 was eating up a storm next to the bar and even tho i was full, i was tempted to order a snack. we had the cutest bartender! Oppa ordered the drinks while i went to bathroom. i'd told him i wanted a Raspberry Stoli and soda but he only heard the Raspberry Stoli part so when i came back we each had different glasses. i had a short stout tumbler (the drink was on the rocks) whereas he had a skinny tall glass. i asked him why our glasses were different and this is what he said:

"she gave us glasses based on our body type"

WHAT!?!? of course he tried to save himself by quickly making it into a joke and then looking earnest as he swore up and down that he would never say that to me if it was even remotely true. sure, sure Oppa. so to get some revenge, when Oppa went to the bathroom i asked the bartender why she gave us different glasses (even tho i already knew at that point b/c i'd sipped my drink already). she told me why (o and p.s., Oppa had ordered a Stoli Vanilla w/tonic. he later admitted he likes to try all the girlie drinks w/me since he can't officially order them when he's out w/the guys) and then asked me why i'd asked her such a question. i told her what Oppa had said and her eyes grew wide and she instantly became my girl friend and was going on about how it doesn't matter who the guy is, he can't say that to a girl.

when Oppa got back from the bathroom and finished his drink, he ordered another 1 and the bartender gave him a dirty look and said he was mean. Oppa was totally stunned and then i started laughing hysterically. i had to wait until i was finished laughing before i could explain the situation to him.

see, this is why Oppa and i will obviously never date. we are SO oppa and tongsen.

Sunday, February 10

am i in high school? it sure feels like it

APALSA had its 1st welcome back event when the 2nd semester started. as if on cue, SALSA and another student org had their welcome back events on the same night, and SBA also had their Pre-Barrister's Ball event earlier in the night. however, all these events worked complementary to each other and created a large crowd of BLS students who were out for the night and bar-hopping from event to event. ppl started at Subotnick Center and had the option of moving to Brazen Head, Floyd's or Magetic Field.

i started the night at Subotnick Center w/Coleslaw where SBA was doing free wine and cheese (yea free!) then i jetted over to Magnetic Field to meet w/Co-Chair and help set up for the APALSA event, but not before inviting every person i knew at Subotnick to head to Magnetic Field to meet up for drinks (you've got to promote you're own event). the turn-out ended up well and i saw plenty of ppl i hadn't seen since break. Hi Goldilocks! Hi Oni! Hi Wifey and Adidas! i missed Egg, but he was excused b/c he had a note due the next day. even Chase Honeycup and AsianFetish made it out. it was a pretty hilarious night out w/an amusing tug-of-war situation re:an 1L and going to ktown for late night Kunjip and Coleslaw somehow having left her purse at Floyd's although she spent the rest of the night w/me at Magnetic Field.

the night ended w/Coleslaw, me and a couple of others stopping for food at the nearby deli. the guys we were w/were hungry for sandwiches and Coleslaw kept trying to persuade them not to get them, proclaiming how gross it was to get a sandwich from that deli. however, once we got to the deli, Coleslaw proceeded to get money from the ATM and then, as she watched their sandwiches getting made, turned to me and asked me if i wanted to split a sandwich w/her. we ended up getting a sandwich.

here's where high school comes in. Oni brought a date who apparently, in the world of Asian 6 degrees of separation knows some who knows someone i know. the relationship is as reedonkulously stretched out as it sounds: he is the brother of someone who's best friends w/the cousin of a girl who's the ex of my really good friend. phew! out of this reedonukulous Kevin Bacon chain, the only ppl i've personally met are the ones in bold. apparently, this cousin of the girl who's the ex of my really good friend heard i was talking about her. but i've never met her and have no real knowledge about her, personal or otherwise.

it's preposterous to think that somewhere out there, a girl i've never met and know nothing about thinks that i would want to talk about her. although, i am mentioning her now. but this doesn't count right? well, regardless, congrats to her, she's now made it and is someone i might passingly talk about! maybe that was the plan all along...

however, after discussing the initial preposterousness (is that a word? i doubt it but i'm claiming it anyway) of the whole situation i refuse to mention it again because i graduated from high school a long time ago

Friday, February 8

i need some more whities in my pics

good thing i've got Coleslaw and crew or else my blog would look like a Swerve/Loveboat blog huh?

Ol' and Coleslaw's birthdays are a few days apart so they decided to celebrate it together, which is a very thoughtful thing for us friends. i went shopping in Union Square w/Ol' 1st to find some party gear to wear. ironically, the dress she ended up buying and wearing (it was superhot, no joke) was 1 that i had pulled off the rack and told her to try on, more as a jokey-what-if than an actual real choice. Ol' is quite, um, well-endowed (that's appropriate wording right?) and so really low-cut shirts and dresses usually don't work great on her and this dress was of the J.Lo-Oscar-dress style except in little-black-dress version. but lo and behold, she looked smoking. particularly when she wore it w/non-matching tube socks.

we did a pre-party dinner at Il Palazzo in Little Italy. a little on the pricey side for the size of the restaurant but there's a beautiful seating area in the back, the portions are ginormous, and it's very elegant/date-y. Coleslaw and me split a canteloup/honey dew (i always confuse the 2) and prosciutto salad which was so light and refreshing and was perfect as an appetizer before our super heavy pasta entrees. since i hate double-ordering and Coleslaw had already opted for the chicken canneloni w/bechamel sauce special i ended up ordering something else that i can't remember except it was in a vodka sauce w/prosciuotto. i lucked out either way b/c Coleslaw couldn't finish her meal and i got to take hers and my leftovers home. yea!
the party was at Sweet and Vicious which was only a couple of blocks away from the restaurant, so very convenient. good job DRC! i can tell that Sweet and Vicious would be prob be my favorite neighborhood bar if i lived in the neighborhood, but that weekend night it was so packed it was impossible to move. and the girls had a lot of friends coming for their party but we hadn't been able to book a table (some kind of miscommunication w/the bar). altho i really tried to tough it out, the unmovable sea of ppl and the heavy meal just caused me to get lethargic instead of partied up.


we did a 2nd mini-celebration on Monday for Ol' and went to Clinton Street Baking Co. for brunch. the wait was an insane 1 and 1/2 hours but the food made it pretty worth it. and the little silver dollar pancakes they dole out for the ppl waiting inside are quite delicious, particularly w/their maple butter. i could just drink the maple butter and i'd be happy. the food there really is heavenly. Coleslaw and Chap got the amazing breakfast sandwiches which has eggs and cheese on their ginormous homemade biscuits and i stuck w/a Spanish Omelette (i feel like i have to order eggs whenever i go out to brunch).




this outing was pretty much the start of my downward fatty spiral...

Tuesday, February 5

someone doesn't wear underwear...

everyone who knows me knows i'm not much of a sports fanatic.

but that doesn't mean i don't know how to watch sports. i think i probably learned b/c i wanted to hang out w/boys and be 1 of those cool girls that actually knew about sports. but when i actually sit down and watch games, i actually really get into it surprise surprise!

and what was the biggest sporting event going on recently? SUPERBOWL! went to a small party in Tribeca w/Bubby and Kiks, full of ppl i never knew before. the apartment building was sick w/an amazing view from the 19th floor and a community balcony on the 14th floor. phew...to be a VP at Goldman Sachs huh?

i got there around 5 which meant plenty of time for drinking before the actual game. by the time the game came around i was the only girl there that was actually watching it. it just meant more guy high-fives for me i guess. i haven't watched a football game like that probably since high school. i was literally jumping up and screaming every 10-15 mins. i also kept texting Oppa and Coleslaw whenever something would go down.

after the game i headed back to Brooklyn (altho not before watching Kiks make out and Bubby swear up and down that she was getting married at City Hall the next day) and popped into Egg's apartment (quite tipsy). i recounted the whole game for him since he didn't watch it. i mean, really?! Egg was getting ready for bed and was strolling around in his PJs and that's when i noticed...

ahem, never mind. what a great superbowl.