Monday, January 26

Another One Bites the Dust

goodbye to Bubby.

and NYC loses another resident. Bubby has officially moved to South Carolina. why you ask me? why?!?! honestly, there's no real reason. i refuse to believe it. and i'm positive she'll be back. i'd bank on it (but the lawyer in me also wants to add a caveat just in case).

the weather's been amazing lately and it seems to have brought all the dogs out. on the walk to school this morning, i almost stepped in dog poop twice. and keep in mind that i live only 3 blocks from school. and i had class at 9 AM. i mean, really?! come on people!

Thursday, January 15

Graceful as a Ballerina

i hate losing contact w/friends, but it's inevitable when they don't live in the same city. and if they're in Cali, then the time difference also plays a part in whether or not significant phone conversations are made. which is why when AmericanJoe called me to let me know he was gonna be in NYC, i was beyond ecstatic.

AmericanJoe is a friend i met when i studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland for my junior year of college. i'm not sure why, but we really hit it off and i truly love this boy (altho not in that way, tho i'm not sure why because he's adorable and very funny). regardless, he was arriving from Cali and staying with his brother before they headed home together for their Christmas family reunion so of course we had to meet up.

i thought we were meeting for drinks or coffee in the afternoon, but that ended up changing to dinner at Schiller's Liquor Bar on the LES. that wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that by the time i showed up i really, truly couldn't eat a bite. however, i didn't want to be that girl who orders nothing while everyone is eating, so i ordered to Mac & Cheese which is served w/bacon bits. however, i only could eat 2 bites. AmericanJoe's brother had been raving about the dish and how he could eat 3 servings by himself, so i offered it to him but he said "no". and since we were going somewhere after dinner, it wasn't practical to have it packed up, especially since i was carrying a clutch person as opposed to a bag i could put it in.

it was probably one of my saddest moments to see them throw away an almost full portion of food.

the party we went to was around the corner and while AmericanJoe and i hung back the others went into the party. just as we were negotiating with the bouncer to get in (there was a cover-i hate covers. honestly, you're not that cool), our party came back out. turns out the party was very whack and not fun so we just bounced to a nearby bar for a drink or 2 before we split and headed home.

did i mention that it had started snowing while we were out? and the ground had turned very icy? o yea, it had and it did. so i was walking down the subway in my high-heel boots and i slid down the stairs. yes, it's embarassing as it sounds. and i broke my heel.

what was the best was when the couple that'd been walking next to me and saw me fall came over to check on me. i was fine except for my bruised and embarassed ego. and then the girl said, "well, that was really graceful. the way you fell."

Sunday, January 11

late anniversary dinner




how cool is that? i really, really like this group. apparently Prepix was the inspiration for the Jabbawockeez (but that's unconfirmed, so don't quote me). this is also the choreography they created for my currently favorite korean song altho their dance and execution is a lot better than 2PM's.

Restaurant Week is rolling around the corner again: January 18th-23rd and 26th-31st. yeah! it's one of the few times this year i'm allowing my fat ass to eat that much (and spend that much). Coleslaw and i already have reservations for Park Avenue Winter.

as a blast from the past, i recommend going to Brandy Library if you're into whiskeys, cognacs, and brandy (i don't know what the differences are but they're all nice). this place is super classy and quiet, perfect for a date. and if you're the girl, you'll def impress the guy by knowing about this place. there's an overwhelming amount of drinks on the menu, and it's perfect for the guy who likes whiskeys etc. because you can get a tasting of everything. i kind of want to go back there right now...

after the Brandy Library, i went to the Harrison for dinner. in case you didn't know, the Harrison is the restaurant that the 1st winner of Top Chef came from (Harold, who has subsequently opened Perilla after winning Top Chef). it's been over 2 yrs since i was there and it looks like the menu has changed, but i remember the dining experience as extremely pleasant. since it was a date, the atmosphere was good for a date, nice and intimate, but in other sections of the restaurant there were definitely ppl having dinner parties. and when i went downstairs to the bathroom, there was a beautiful private room where, if you can afford it, it'd be great to have a dinner party of 10 ppl or so.

now that i'm reminiscing about this date, i'm getting a little sad. that was prob my last real nice date...

Monday, January 5

My Pheromones are On the Fritz

last night, while making kimbap with Egg, somehow the conversation came up where he mentioned that Japan had created a national law against obesity. and it's true! who would've guessed? it looks like the way it works is that company and govs have to do an annual checkup of their employees and included in that is a mandatory measuring of waistlines. if the waistline is over the national standard, the company has 3 months to "re-educate" the individual and see if they lose weight. if they don't, the company or gov gets fined. here's the newspaper article.

i wonder if a law like this would be effective against me, even if i was the person who had to pay the fines. there'd definitely be some inner turmoil about whether it'd be worth it to pay the fine just so i could eat my favorite foods. money vs food; hmm, that's a toughie. speaking of eating, i went out for a last hurrah dinner w/Debs, who's moving to Cali tomorrow ::sniffle, sniffle:: we ended up eating at Yakitori Taisho since we are both pretty strapped for cash. love that place for hot food and it's pretty good when you're just 2 ppl b/c it still feels intimate.

now there's something i have to say about Debs. i'm sure i've mentioned it before, but Debs has this unexplainable effect on boys. i mean, of course, she's cute, she's very intelligent, classy, and dresses elegant and far from trashy, so yes, she's got all that going for her. but that's not the Debs effect. without fail, whenever i go out with her, and to tranquil things like quiet dinners or coffee, someone always hits on her. this is a tried and true theory i've come to realize.

as we were leaving dinner, the guys at the table sitting behind her totally made a mild, giggly pass at her. and then, after dinner, we went to St. Alps for tea and some dessert toast, and the guys at the table next to us stopped to ask her what she was eating and have a whole convo. now, this wouldn't be considered much, except the guys had already finished and had no intention of ordering anything else. so see? we went to only 2 places, and neither were typical pick-up spots, yet Debs managed to have male attention at both places. and this is the norm.

Debs must have the most powerful pheromones on the plane. and mine must be broken.

Thursday, January 1

Detroit in the House

DRC has turned 1 year older. congrats to DRC! the celebration was 3-fold: dinner at Joya, pre-game at DRC's apartment, the final party at M1-5.

the dinner at Joya got botched b/c Joya messed up the reservation so instead we ended up eating at Cafe Chili, which i've never been to before but
had heard good things about. the price is slightly higher than Joya but, for me, the quality was comparable, altho the number of options weren't as plenty as Joya's. there's also a whole Italian side of the menu that you can order from, but the prices for those entrees were exorbitant.the real celebration was when the drinking started (of course).

by the time we arrived at M1-5, DRC was pretty rocked (as should be expected of the birthday girl). DRC reserved tables and got comped a bottle of champagne and some drink tickets which helped to make my night better and i definitely drank a sufficient amount to the point i kept leaving floaters of Jack and Coke all over the place.


as fun as it was, i'd broken my heel right before we entered the bar (i never even knew that really happened!) and when the party started to move to Williamsburg i decided to forego. it wasn't so bad to go home earlier tho b/c at least i got to share a cab w/Crush <3>