Monday, July 25

HEEEEY yooooou guuuuuys~

mini-law school reunion in Richmond, VA! woot woot! SHOT SHOT SHOT, SHOTSHOT!

ok, so not quite that Jersey Shore-ish. but still fun nonetheless. haven't gone down to Richmond to visit BigBoobsMcGee and KappaGamma in a while so Kiddo, BGA, and i packed our bags and drove the 6 hrs down to Virginia for the weekend.

the drive down is always focused on 1 thing: when are we stopping at Chik-fil-A? there really is no other option since we're so Chik-fil-A deprived up in the north.  we always get pretty amped when  the "food" signs on the side of the highway start listing Chik-fil-A with the frequency of McDonald's. and since BGA had never had Chik-fil-A before, it sealed the deal as to where we would stop for dinner (we had been debating between Chik-fil-A or Sonic). and as BGA dug into his peach milkshake (with real peach fruit bits!) and his spicy crispy chicken sandwich, he had to admit, "hate tastes GOOD." for all of Chik-fil-A's religious, conversative, left-wing ideology and belief, it's some damn good food. which made Kiddo postulate the question, "i wonder what Nazi food tastes like?"  if hate has a direct ratio to taste, i can only guess it was delicious.

NOM NOM NOM! hate tastes delicious!
we arrived in Richmond after 11 p.m. and drove straight to Cous Cous to meet up with the law school crew, which included KG, BBM, and Cubed, who had flown down from Boston. we drank and danced to 80s and 90s hip hop until the wee hours of...1:30 a.m. o yea, i forgot, we're not in NYC anymore. bars actually do have closing times and last calls.


Cous Cous was a pretty great bar, although i haven't been in such a packed, sweaty environment in a while. it was like a sauna in there, but the cheap drinks made up for it (a Jameson on the rocks and a Jack & diet=$11.00). not to mention the daebak fashion. guys wearing jean cutoffs/ jorts and multi-colored tank tops with flip flops? daaaaebak. although at 1 point i realized how young the crowd was: Whitney Houston's, "How Will I Know" came on and BGA, KG and i belted our hearts out in excitement, which prompted this exchange:

"Wow, looks like you guys really grew up with this song" says RichmondHipster next to me wearing a cutoff sleeves t-shirt, bandana/headband, and jorts.
"Uh...yeah! you DIDN'T?"
"No... but i remember my older sister blasting this song all the time!"

uh...how old are you? that's when i looked around the room and realized how young these Virginia hipsters were. my night out had also become an impromptu babysitting excursion. the girl behind me clearly did not like HipsterBaby talking to me and promptly wedged herself between us (it was really weird, she was practically leaning on me in order to push us apart). i wanted to tell her, "don't worry. i'm not after your HipsterBaby because while i was bopping around to Whitney and Debbie, he was still in diapers and pacifiers."

after the bar closed, we headed back to BBM's where Cubed promptly passed out. or was he? we all attempted to wake Cubed up. when KG tried, Cubed reacted violently by yelling "don't touch me! you're too hot!" and slid from the air mattress down to the floor in his endeavor to escape from her. and although Cubed acted as if he was dead to the world, yet when i threatened to molest him if he didn't wake up, all of a sudden a mischievous smile appeared on his face...suspicious. very suspicious.

KG, BGA and i were the only ones still awake and since i'd had the foresight to request Firefly be purchased from the liquor store before our arrival, we continued the night. i'm still surprised we killed a whole new bottle of Firefly in the time between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. it was a total slumber party with talks about boys and sex and other inappropriate sleepover topics.

the next morning was a much needed liquid brunch from Village Cafe. the food was ok, but the real winner was the drinks! anything non-alcoholic is served in a mini-pitcher! considering how dehydrated i was, this was the perfect remedy. and the bloody mary was pretty good too, particularly if you like them spicy.

the perfect liquid brunch. in order of hydration quality: water, diet coke, and bloody mary. i'd also wanted a milkshake (they looked epic) but was convinced by BGA to wait until after the meal...and then we forgot.
after brunch was a romp in the St. James River. meh. i've never been much of an outdoorsy/nature girl so after 30 mins the novelty of the river wore off. the boys on the other hand, loved it, as did BBM. KG on the other hand, is even more nature-phobic than me. it probably took a good 25 mins before she was even willing to enter the water. and she claims she's not high maintenance some times.

after the river, BBM, BGA, and i headed out to pick up dinner from Cook Out. daeeebak. amazing milkshakes in over 20+ flavors and super cheap and delicious barbecue, burgers, chicken. although i totally ordered wrong by opting for a burger cheddar style (1/4 lb. patty topped with bacon, cheddar, onions and mayo) instead of the barbecue sandwich (pulled pork north carolina style meaning coleslaw and hot sauce), it was still amazing and a whole meal was only $4.39 + $1 for a specialty shake instead of a soda. you must go there now.

trouble started when we stopped at 7-11 for provisions. all of a sudden, BBM's car wouldn't start. now, although BBM, BGA, and i are all functioning and well adjusted adults, none of us knew jack about cars. and then the most amazing thing happened: a random stranger came over and asked BBM to pop her hood and began helping us!! i shit you not. when the hell does that ever happen?

turns out BBM needed to jump her battery but no one had jumper cables. fortuitously, we had broken down across the street from a car dealership so BGA and i trekked over to humbly request to borrow their jumper box. as the salesman handed us the jumper box, he said he needed us to leave some collateral like a wallet, purse, etc. which makes perfect sense to BGA and myself and we started to reach for something to leave with him. except he was kidding! whaaa?!?! you mean you'll let us just walk off with this piece of equipment and trust that we'll bring it back?

BGA and i just looked at each other in disbelief. where the hell were we? ohhhhh, right. we're in the South.

crisis averted, we brought the food home and all sat down to dinner, during which we realized BGA has not seen any of the classic 80s movie e.g. Pretty in Pink, Better Off Dead, Breakfast Club, Princess Bride, Sixteen Candles, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Goonies, etc. since we had made a liquor and beer run, we decided to bunk down for the night and watch Goonies and Princess Bride.

p.s. Goonies drinking game. daeeebak.

p.p.s. BGA didn't like (and might even hate) Princess Bride! i know! INCONCEIVABLE!

Sunday, July 17

Which Seth Meyers Was It?

ugh. every time my 18 year old sister gets action, she posts it on her tumblr. whenever i see it i have three simultaneous reactions:
1. nausea and revulsion (i'm considering them 1 single reaction)
2. trauma
3. the urge to severely harm/castrate the guy who's doing it

::involuntary convulsion & shudder:: in order to prevent myself from suffering PTS and facing assault and battery charges, let's talk about something else...


Kiddo and my NOM NOM faces!

ARGH!! of course they stamp my passport on top of other stamps i've received instead of using a new page.  i'm always trying to fill up my passport pages. FAIL.
it's been ages since i actually travelled anywhere, mainly because it's so hard to get people's schedules coordinated and nobody really has the funds (although sometimes i think that's a crock. we can spend $600 in a month on god-knows-what but can't spend that same money on a vacation? BOOOO). so when Kiddo mentioned he wanted to get away, i jumped on the opportunity. after much discussion and internet price comparing, we agreed on an all-inclusive long weekend in Playa del Carmen.

apparently everyone was in the same mindset as us because Oppa went to Playa del Carmen the week before us, and Spoon was actually in Playa del Carmen the same weekend as us. what are the odds?

i had all these lofty ideas for the vacation that were promptly thrown out the window when i contracted acute pharyingitis the week of the trip. go figure.  but i (wo)man-ed up, got myself some antibiotics, and continued on my way. of course, not being able to breath without coughing up a lung immediately nixed any ideas of snorkeling, cenotes, and hiking. but it didn't preclude laying on the beach and tanning. so all wasn't lost.
Mexico greets you with Hugs and Kisses on every corner!
Kiddo's first Eggs Benny!

arriving at the airport is always an exciting part of a trip for me because it signals the official start. the airport is your gateway to a new destination. and from check-in until your plane lands, the entire time is spent building up your anticipation and excitement for the trip itself.  not to mention all the fun distractions they have e.g. the Nintendo 3DS kiosk. Kiddo also ate his first Eggs Benedict! i can't believe he's lived these past 26 years without ever having eaten it-and even weirder that his first time was at the airport.

I have no idea what "Watkins" tastes like, but the bottle's cool, no? And then Kiddo and i tried to photograph something else and was scolded by airport security...
the JetBlue flight on the way to Mexico was comfy since Kiddo and i had a whole row to ourselves. being 5 ft 2, i don't worry too much about sitting space since i don't need too much of it. however, it was while looking at Kiddo that i realized exactly how spacious the JetBlue seats really are. Kiddo's at least 6 ft (i think-then again, anyone over 5'8 is a giant to me) and he still had plenty of space.


Amazing art and artist using spray paint and fire.
Playa del Carmen itself was, as expected, beautiful and the vacation was a well needed moment of rest and relaxation. if i hadn't contracted the Bubonic Plague, i would have loved to have gone snorkeling and hiking Tulum and all those activities. however, simply laying about on the beach and taking dips in the ocean sufficed for this trip; and gives me a reason to go back...

Cigar rolling on 5th Ave. Ahh, the smell of grandpas around the world (in a good way)

See the monkeys in the tree?

i have no regrets about this trip except for 1: when we arrived at the airport and made our way out to the taxi and shuttle stands, i noticed a car service holding up a sign that said: SETH MEYERS/CANCUN. i immediately thought of this person:
Isn't he an SNL cutie?
whereas Kiddo immediately thought of him:

The name is Seth MacFarlane, Kiddo!
except, in doing my research for this picture, i realized the creator of Family Guy is called Seth MacFarlane, not Seth Meyers. so although i'd wondered, "which Seth Meyers was in Cancun the weekend of May 25th?" it turns out it was all for naught.

and now the title to this post makes very little sense...


Wednesday, July 13

Summer Lovin'

it's always interesting how time can give you rose-colored glasses, regardless of what it is (a relationship, a friendship, college, high school, childhood).

this clearly applies to summer in the city. plenty of people i know are complaining about the unbearable heat, lack of A/C, the crowded tourists, etc., but for me, i'm completely in love with summer in the city. granted, it's not as great as fall (in my opinion), it's still up there.

and even if i'm drenched from head to toe in sweat from the 90+ degree weather outside and the 100+ degree weather in the subway station, i wouldn't trade it for anything. because the outdoor restaurant and bar seating, the open rooftops, the multitude of food and ice cream trucks, the endless free events, the multiplication of people outside walking, the ability to be outside in the summer sun, are all worth my slight uncomfortablness due to the heat.

i'm sure i never appreciated summer in the city the way i do now. ::sigh:: absence does make the heart grow fonder...

Tuesday, July 5

Kpop Extravaganzaaaa!

Happy July 4th! er...after the fact.

i haven't had any one-on-one face time with Kpopper in a long time. yes, i saw her for my birthday party (which, as you know, i can only hazily remember) and at Oppa's birthday party, but it's just not the same. so i was super excited to spend some QT with Kpopper on July 3rd.

here's how it went down:

[TEXT MESSAGE FROM KPOPPER] you wanna go to nrb?
[TEXT MESSAGE FROM KPOPPER] we an buy mgl & beer.
[TEXT MESSAGE FROM KPOPPER] and bring it.

if you're wondering what "nrb" and "mgl" mean, you're not alone. i was the recipient of these texts and didn't figure it out right away. in Kpopper text-language, "nrb" means norebang (the korean word for karaoke) and "mgl" means makgeolli (korean rice wine). i figured out the "mgl" right away but it took me a good 15 mins to decipher "nrb." and googling the term didn't help.

we made a whole day out of it, "day" meaning i got to Kpopper's house around 2:30 in the afternoon (i was supremely late. my bad). first off was a round of shopping at Woodbury Commons, which i haven't been to in a year, maybe more. the weather was amazing so it was just nice to be doing something outdoors where i can pretend i'm getting a tan and being active. i'm still regretting not buying these shoes. it's been tormenting me...

Not EXACTLY this pair, but very similar.
after the shopping spree we headed out for my first meal ever in Palisades Park aka Pal Park for koreans and people born in NJ. since we'd eaten a late lunch, we weren't particularly hungry so we opted against korean bbq and instead went for naeng myun, figuring it had been a hot day and cold noodles would be refreshing and light. silly me.

You Chun in Pal Park is pretty famous for its naeng myun. so i wasn't surprised Kpopper brought me here without me even suggesting it. we both decided on the mool naeng myun which is the standard noodles in cold broth. when you sit down at the table, the server brings you a big thermos and 2 cups. however, don't be fooled into thinking there's water or hot tea in there. it's actually filled with a savory hot soup. while it feels weird to drink it when there's no food on the table, it makes perfect sense once the naeng myun appears. alternating between hot and cold is somehow comforting and delicious.

in addition to the noodles, Kpopper suggested bindae duk which are korean mung bean pancakes. i'd never ordered them before, instead sticking to the tried and true haemul pajeon or kimchi pajeon. however, i'd recently watched an episode of Running Man where the mission was to round up the top late night snack foods, and bindae duk ranked within the top 10, so i was definitely intrigued and glad to try it. the bindae duk at You Chun came out piping hot and was crispy on the outside but still very chewy and soft on the inside. so so good.

although the prices at You Chun aren't exactly cheap, $10.95 for the standard sized mool naeng myun, the portions are ginormous. i barely made a dent in my bowl, causing Kpopper to mock me and suggest i order the petite size next time. i brought the leftovers home (which made Kpopper's car super smelly) and ate them the next day. surprisingly, the noodles and broth held up well, remaining chewy and maintaining their texture, which isn't usually the case when noodles have sat soaking in soup.

next on the Pal Park tour was a stop at Coffee Prince. in korean this place is clearly called Coffee Prince, modeled after the korean drama series. but if you look carefully on the wall, you'll see that in english they translate it into Tiramisu Cafe. weird. regardless, the cafe's actually really nice and if i was an unemployed writer/student that lived nearby, i would definitely make it my base camp. plus, the server was a tall, good-looking asian guy (honestly, he was probably korean given where we were, but i don't want to assume. you know what they say when you do that).

we got a prime seat near the giant, floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking Broad Street, which turned out to be a more entertaining spot than i'd anticipated. across the street, directly at my eye-level was an apartment with it's blinds open and lights on. at first i'd just glanced into the apartment and wondered what those people were up to tonight. they were all sitting around the dining room table, just hanging out. one guy had his foot hanging out the window while he reclined in a chair. nothing too interesting. right when our server dropped off our coffees, i saw the guy and the girl in the apartment start making out. hardcore. pressing her against the wall and everything. WHOA! this just got a little more exciting... and then more and more people just started popping up. i was completely mesmerized by the happenings in this apartment and my brain was frantically trying to figure out what the hell was going on. it was like a car accident i couldn't peel my eyes away from. or a good fight outside of a club in NYC at 3 a.m.

properly energized by our latte and espresso, Kpopper and i headed off to norebang. with just the 2 of us. i've never gone karaoke-ing with 2 people. it seems to go against the very spirit of the activity. but i think it works great for Kpopper because she really just wants to practice all the korean kpop songs she's learned. it was a hilarious and impressive sight to watch Kpopper accurately sing 2PM and SS501, especially considering she's chinese. i mumbled and stumbled along the way with her realizing that although i listen to a buttload of kpop songs and can sing along with them in the car, it's totally different when i don't have someone to sing along to who can mask all my poor pronunciation and made-up words.

however embarassing that was, i still don't think i have the same dedication to kpop that Kpopper does to bother to learn the phonetic pronunciation for a whole song. i'll just continue to belt out made-up similar sounding words in the car.

Friday, July 1

Recession Eating Frenzy

i love my friends. i love my food. i love my drinks. i love when all my loves come together.


unfortunately, that's not always possible. while i wish we were more creative in our ideas for outings, my friends and i tend to be limited in our activity choices: drinks and food. but not all my friends have the funds to support constant $10 drinks and $12 snacks (for itty bitty portions). being conscious of this, i've become more attuned to food and drink deals as a way to combine all my loves together.


this Saturday i met with Bubby for Jin's happy hour deal, which runs every day from 4-7 p.m.  The deal consists of a set menu where everything is only $3: this includes a nice variety of maki rolls and appetizers, as well a multitude of drinks including house sakes, beers (Kirin, Sapporo, Hoegarden etc.), and wines. the $3 drinks were the real reason i picked Jin (yes, i harbor an inner lush if you haven't already figured it out).


after ordering 3 maki rolls (eel avocado, spicy tuna crunch, alaska), a hiyayakko tofu appetizer,  4 cold sakes and 4 Kirin Ichiban drafts, the total amount per person was $24 including tip. not bad at all considering i was tipsy and Bubby was "a little bit drunk, i'm not gonna lie" (said with that universal lopsided smile that all drunk people exhibit).


clearly we weren't the only people who knew about Jin's happy hour special. when i showed up a little after 6 p.m., the place was packed. i was sat at the only table available at the time, which was a tiny 2-person table wedged extremely close to a very tall bamboo plant and only 6-8 feet away from the bathroom. while people usually complain about sitting close to the bathroom, i don't actually mind it so much as long as the bathroom's not smelly (which it wasn't). plus, it's not like i could actually see into the bathroom at any point. it wasn't that close. seeing a toilet while eating would be a no-no for me. on this particular occassion, being close enough to the bathroom was a blessing in disguise because drinking all that sake and beer made it so i had to make more than 1 trip to the lavatory so it was nice not to have to go far.


afterwards, Bubby and i headed uptown to Valhalla, a beer bar located in Hell's Kitchen. holy beer selection on draft.


although i'm not the biggest beer fan, even i have to admit that there's bound to be something at Valhalla that will tickle your fancy. and the bartender is very helpful in accomodating your tastes. so when Bubby and i decided to share a flight with the simple instructions, "we don't really like dark beers or ales. more summery and light?" she came up with a more than suitable flight ($23).


it being Gay Day, it was perfect that we were at Valhalla for Bubby's classmate's birthday party who is very of the same-sex persuasion. and totes hitting on Bubby. which she loves. although she may not be same-sex oriented (at least not soberly), she still loves the flirting. then again, who doesn't? 

2 beer flights later, Bubby was drinked-out. we decided to head down to St. Marks for some cheap snacks and ended up on Bleecker St. after some bad navigation on my part, we ended up going to Great Jones Cafe instead. i can't believe i've never eaten here before.

great hole-in-the-wall Southern restaurant. i only say it's a hole-in-the-wall because it's completely camouflaged from the street. if you didn't know about it before going there, you definitely wouldn't think the indescript restaurant was housing such great southern food.

Bubby was clearly on a food mission and quickly made the command decision to order the Wings. spicy, messy heaven. the came out piping hot and really hit the spot. and since i clearly wasn't going home with anyone sitting at our table (it was just Bubby, me, and BDayGirl), getting wing sauce all over my face and fingers was perfectly acceptable. we also split an order of the Lamb Po' Boy, which was extremely tender and flavorful lamb served with salty shoe string french fries.

it's been a while since i've done the drunken late night munchie but Great Jones Cafe was a great way to do it up and end the night.